Incense and Powdered Diamond
- Thread starter Lucifra
- Start date
Kagemoto
I stand against the Infinite Horizon
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high.
I am all for this upcoming shenaneganarey, Coyote, and Mouse Protector is going to be a wild ride.
As for the God, it's possible it's a Creator God or an Earth God of sorts?
The line 'well established and powerful' pushes us in a certain direction of who they are, a concerning one at that.
Scion may be a bit stronger this time around.
As for the God, it's possible it's a Creator God or an Earth God of sorts?
The line 'well established and powerful' pushes us in a certain direction of who they are, a concerning one at that.
Scion may be a bit stronger this time around.
- Pronouns
- She/They
A bit, but as I said on SpaceBattles, Odin could have stomped him into the ground if he hadn't died. Eden would have maybe won by using Thinkerness, but it's not guaranteed that she could outwit Odin since the Runes don't like to play nice with precognition like PtV.
That was comparing Shaper to the Fragile One. The god that was broken into Shaper was similar in stature to Asclepius.
His power is severely curtailed by his lacking a body, and Taylor isn't strong enough to do it in time.
Kagemoto
I stand against the Infinite Horizon
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high.
Hard to outwit the OG of trickiness umu
Ah, definitely misread that then, but still, the fact that a god of medicine is strapped to shaper isn't good, but since Scion is a bit stronger than he was in Canon, I wonder what other gods he has strapped?
Considering the Coyote is up and about there is a handful that is probably free...
Well regardless, I look forward to what happens next!
- Pronouns
- She/They
Not any human ones, that's for sure. They mostly process gods into shards after the cycle, and they don't have any locals captured for that purpose. No, most of the old gods are dead, either from natural causes, humans, or capes/Endbringers killing them. Old Coyote and Odin are two of the biggest fish left in this particular section of the ocean, but there are smaller fish still swimming around, and (if you'll excuse the metaphor mixing) plenty of swords in stones as well.
Kagemoto
I stand against the Infinite Horizon
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high.
So the Kings in the Mountain are safe?
- Pronouns
- She/They
Not from Behemoth, and those that do escape him better hope that Taylor gets good enough to take on Scion. Then again, Arthur might have a chance, with Excalibur…
Kagemoto
I stand against the Infinite Horizon
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high.
Oof, well hopefully the Golem of Prague is ok at least, at the very least to thumb at Gelshaft and the Empire.
Anyways, Panacea and Taylor Collapsing, Glory Girl is going to flip...
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Epic level spoilerage.
Does that imply that Entity precognition like PtV rely on mathematical precision and predictability like Asimov's Psychohistory, while magic relies quantum flux, which is the antithesis of Psychohistory and things like it.
So I guess my mental note that Amy is hooked up to a god of healing/medicine is correct.
So it remains a future possibility.
I can't wait to see what else bubbles up to the surface. And the vast possibilities presented by Excalibur-tier artifacts tucked away in one hole or another and either being pulled out or making their way in to the proper hands is ridiculously exciting.
The Warrior will never know what hit him until it is too late and Cauldron will be all bent out out shape when the army of godlings and demigods start taking action. Yes, that is a ways off, but the seeds for it are all there.
What about the sleeping giants?
Arthur is not the only one prophesied to come back when his nation needs him the most. Charlemagne and at least one, and maybe two, of his knights are to return in their nations hour of need. The one I know for sure is a Dane called Osric. I think the other one was from Hungry.
Oh that would be perfect. Supposedly, that Golem is still around standing immobile on a pedestal in Prague, wrapped in iron chains.
I wonder if there is a stone axe head tucked away somewhere with "If anyone be worthy, let him bear the power of Thor," inscribed in it? Is there a man of Greek descent who has a dusty, old bottle that his family has been guarding for centuries?
Indra's mythical cudgel has a real-world counterpart.
Re-Shaping the Future
- Pronouns
- She/They
The alterations that Odin has made… propagate.
Also, this is heavily inspired by Billymorph's Implacable, so it's not Piggot- or ENE-friendly.
"Where the hell are we?"
Ah, something related to Panacea. Right, that made more sense.
"Uh… apparently, this is where our powers spend their spare time?"
Panacea whirled on Taylor. "What the fuck is even up with you, anyways? You didn't have a Gemma last week, now you do, without any of the hallmarks of another Trigger event, and your physiology is changing but you've got the Gemma structure of a Master! Like, seriously, what the fuck is up with the energy channels growing in your hands, or the alterations in your skeletomuscular tissues, or your lung capacity, or-"
At some point during that tirade, Odin manifested at Taylor's side, and chose that moment to cut in, eye glowing gold. "Shaper really does have its hooks into you, doesn't it."
Panacea stopped, then blinked. "I'm sorry, who the fuck are you?"
"Odin. Taylor's mentor, in a sense," came his reply.
"You say that as if it even remotely resembles an answer to my question." Panacea lunged forwards and wrapped her hand around Odin's wrist, then frowned. "What the fuck is this? I can't read you!"
"You wouldn't, not here," said Odin. "Your bodies aren't truly here, they're more… thought constructs."
"And your body, Mr. Mentor?" Panacea shot back.
"My skeleton," said Odin gravely, "lies inside the rib cage of Fenris Wolf. That is all that remains of my body now."
Panacea blinked, her rising ire clearly derailed by this response. "Wait, what?"
"The mechanics of my existence aren't exactly important at the moment. What is important, I think, is why your power brought us here." Odin gestured with his chin at something behind Panacea.
The thing he was indicating took a moment for Taylor to parse, visually speaking. At first blush, it looked like a massive, roiling puddle of blood suspended in midair. Upon closer inspection, however, it was possible to see bones, muscles, and… other body parts within the puddle, and then a large, somewhat triangular skull that resembled a deer skull, in much the same way that a modern-day printer resembled Gutenberg's original printing press: clearly for the same purpose, if looked at by one who knew what they were looking at, but one was vastly more developed than the other.
"Odin Allfather," rumbled a wheezy voice with undertones that left the two mortal (well, mostly, in Taylor's case) listeners paralyzed, much as a tiger's roar would. "Amelia Lavere. Taylor Hebert. This is… unexpected. Why has my call for Shaper's host brought a godling and her eidolon guardian along with her?"
"Not so much an eidolon, or the hero Eidolon," this last was directed to the two young ladies with Odin, "and more an echo of the past to guide and teach."
"Very well. So, Amelia Lavere, tell me. Why do you persist? Why do you resist the Shaper's manipulations and the Waste's flailings?"
"The what now?" asked Taylor, recovering from the other entity's voice faster than Panacea, whose face exhibited a puzzled expression not dissimilar to the one that Taylor was affecting.
"The way that Shaper manipulated your brain chemistry to try and make you use its powers, or the way that Waste does the same to those around it to make them more inclined to strong feelings about its host. Do you truly not understand what its unrestrained bouts of mental thuggery are, or how they've caused your attr-?" There was a sort of confused incredulity in the being's voice at this.
"Ah, I think I understand. No, she only has the ability to see as well as Shaper allows, and the Administrator's ilk are seldom willing to allow their hosts to see their acts," said Odin, cutting off the being in mid-word and saving Panacea a great deal of… something, which they both acknowledged with silent, tiny nods, which went unnoticed by Taylor and unremarked by the bloodlike being.
"Ah, so you are not a complete fool, just… a lesser being. Excusable for now, but you cannot slay the Warrior as it stands. Are you ready?"
Panacea's eyes narrowed. "Who is the Warrior? Ready for what? For that matter, who the hell are you, and why appear to me, here and now?"
Despite the skull's lack of eyes or eyelids to convey the impression, it seemed that its gaze towards Panacea intensified. "The… thing… made from the shredded remains of my body enslaved to an alien decided your father, and then you, were expedient tools for its research. I have chosen you because of that, to slay the golden parasite that destroyed my planet and my people. As for who I am… well, that much was stripped from me by the Warrior. I was a god of the flesh, the strongest of our world, but more than that is… lost to me. But I know enough to say that what is left of the power I had could grow, in your hands, drawing in the energy that this planet is all but drowning in and molding it to yourself."
"You say that," said Panacea, ire rising in her voice, "as if it explains anything."
"You will understand," said the being, as if it had already been decided. "Or you will not, and the power I leave you will find a superior bearer. It matters not. I will become the downfall of the Warrior, through you or another. Prepare yourself."
Odin's eye widened a hair, context clues finally slotting together to paint a picture in his mind. "Worry not, lass," he said to Panacea. "Ye shall not be alone in your journey. If needs must, I shall guide you as well, if this means what I think it means."
There was no time for the healer to respond, because the bloodred pool surged forward, almost seeming to skip frames in reality, and surrounded her completely in an orb of mostly-liquid.
Then, it began to shrink.
In a matter of seconds, it had already receded to a sphere roughly six feet in diameter, and mere heartbeats later, it had completely absorbed into Panacea, the only signs it had ever been there being a dimming red glow from her irises and the hovering skull in front of her, slowly flaking into dust.
"Use it well," came the fading voice of the being, the odd depth missing. Then, it finished disintegrating, blowing away in a phantom breeze.
"Oh- Oh god, the Warrior, the Cycle, I-" Panacea stuttered out, and then-
They were back in Taylor's living room, blinking grit from their eyes.
"What happened?" asked Glory Girl frantically, hovering over Panacea in evident worry.
"Well… that's a long story." Panacea frowned, then pushed herself upright, ignoring the buzzing of her phone. "You see…"
Eventually, after Odin said that he'd start her on runecasting tomorrow only if she went to bed within twenty minutes, she broke out of her own head and prepared herself for bed, thinking about the basics of runic theory he'd been drilling her on for the past few days until her head hit the pillow and she closed her eyes.
Moments later, she opened her eyes, thirst urging her out of her bed. She got up, stretched, then made her way to the kitchen.
She made it halfway down the stairs before she realized that it was daylight.
"Ah, good morning," said Odin. "You looked like you had a rough night, so we let you sleep in."
"Uh… thanks, I think? Why was I so tired last night?" asked Taylor, frowning.
"Ah, that's fairly simple. The method that the god that passed their power onto Panacea used to draw your mind into the dimension of the Shards was extremely rough. You survived, but you needed to sleep it off. A normal human would have suffered… something comparable to a moderate case of the bends, I think."
"Wait, really? Why wasn't Panacea similarly affected?"
"It had root access to her connection to her Shard, Shaper, and it drew her in through that. Your connection to the Administrator is much more shielded, and as such, the deity had to use the more harrowing method. Now, come to eat. You'll need your strength to begin casting runes today." Odin floated aside and gestured to the table, which Taylor rapidly made her way to.
It was about 10 AM, so her father had already left for work, leaving her and Odin the run of the house. Taylor felt the familiar ache of her father's absence, but at this point she was resigned to it: he had better things to do than take care of her 24/7, and he did still need to work.
The fact that he was actually trying to get a lawyer to sue the school on her behalf was more than enough to clear that ache up, and then she refocused on eating.
Before he knew it, her morning routine was completely cleared through, and she was ready to begin casting.
"Now, don't try to focus on a singular rune, lass. Your first rune is always random, and it's always something that you hold near and dear to your heart. Just… let the energy flow through you, and see what you get." Some of this advice Odin had said before, but some was new, and Taylor let her will focus entirely on coaxing out the stream of energy tucked away in a back corner of her brain,until-
Every lock in the house clicked open as a large rune that appeared like a more angular capital B appeared in front of her, glimmering in silver light.
Odin laughed, causing Taylor's concentration to fade, taking the runic manifestation with it. "Oh, well done, lass! That's Beorc, the rune of freedom, among other things. Now, let's lock the house up and try and do it again.
Taylor would describe the next several hours to her father as "hard, but the fun kind of hard that means you actually did something".
"Uh… no?" The look that Vista undoubtedly thought was cute enough to deter Piggot's inquiry was not nearly up to snuff for that purpose. "I thought Wards personnel records were available for other Wards in good standing to peruse, and that's what I was looking at."
Piggot could feel her teeth grinding as much as hear them. "Their educational records," she said, anger rising in her chest, "are not."
"Disciplinary records are. I checked the Handbook, and that's what it says. By the way, why do you have disciplinary records pulled for Taylor Hebert?" asked the disrespectful brat.
"That's none of your business, and you still haven't told me why." Piggot gave the recalcitrant Ward a level look.
It took almost a minute of tense silence, but the child eventually knuckled under. "Fine, I heard some things about Taylor Hebert being attacked by Shadow Stalker from Panacea and wanted to check it out. Turns out that she's been orchestrating a massive campaign against Miss Hebert that culminated in attempted murder."
Piggot's straight face concealed her internal turmoil at the fact that the brat put together all that information from the (heavily redacted) files they allowed the Wards to access. On one hand, it was good that she was able to make such analytical strides, but on the other, the fact that she was being so confrontational didn't bode well for her reaction.
Piggot decided to take a more aggressive tack to determine how Vista would respond. "And what of it?"
"What do you mean, what of it? Shadow Stalker attempted to murder Taylor Hebert, and your response is 'and what of it'? What the fuck?" Vista shot back, her ire visibly rising.
"As long as Shadow Stalker is willing to grab a bucket and bail out the city, one civilian girl is an… acceptable sacrifice." Piggot shrugged. "It's a callous attitude, but ultimately, it's the one that we have to take if we want to have any chance of even maintaining the status quo."
Vista didn't move for a moment, just trembling, just trembling in place, then: "You're just like them," she whispered, pupils shrinking.
"I what?" asked the Director, thrown off her rhythm.
"You're just like them," repeated Vista, venom dripping from her voice as her telltale visual distortions started to appear around her. "You don't care about us, you just want to trot us out like good little tools, to further your own agendas."
The Director sighed, meeting Vista's rage with exhaustion. "Vista, the city is at risk of going under and being quarantined. We need everything we ca-"
"Shut UP!" screamed the Cape in question. "We're not child soldiers for you to fight your goddamn crusade for the city with!"
"Young lady," said Piggot, steel in her voice, "you will treat me with the respect that I am due, as your elder and your supervisor!"
Vista laughed, an oddly unhinged sound. "I am, Director. You just burned every ounce of it that you earned."
With that, Vista rose from her chair, took a step in a direction that hurt Piggot's head to think about, and vanished.
Piggot sighed. Either Vista would come to her senses and realize that it was necessary for the integrity of the city and return more cooperative, or she wouldn't, and that would bring its own set of challenges and opportunities.
Absently noting that she was glad that Hannah wasn't present for the meeting and more specifically Vista's crack about child soldiers, Piggot turned back to her computer and tapped in a note for Hebert's file.
Potential Trigger Event 01/03/2011. Scope out for recruitment, investigate for potential leverage to induce membership in Wards in the event of refusal.
The god that gave their power to Panacea is dead, full stop. Panacea has some of their knowledge, but they will not be appearing as a character in this story from here on out. In fact, the only god beyond Odin that I'm eyeing for a potential long-term role in this story is Coyote, because once again, fuck the rules is their whole gimmick.
That's about it, so read, review, enjoy, and have a nice day!
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FYI, I'm not using Glaistig Uaine's names for all of the shards for the purposes of this fic. Also, fried meme dinner that I am not treating canon as gospel, since this is very AU just from the fact that gods exist and also Scion and Eden have only gone through the cycle ~12 times before Earth, so if you want to complain about that… well, I warned you.Also, this is heavily inspired by Billymorph's Implacable, so it's not Piggot- or ENE-friendly.
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Taylor's reaction to appearing in the same red crystal landscape that she had first met the Administrator earlier that week was confusion. The arachnoid entity had made it clear that they wasn't able to give them any more information than they already had, so why-"Where the hell are we?"
Ah, something related to Panacea. Right, that made more sense.
"Uh… apparently, this is where our powers spend their spare time?"
Panacea whirled on Taylor. "What the fuck is even up with you, anyways? You didn't have a Gemma last week, now you do, without any of the hallmarks of another Trigger event, and your physiology is changing but you've got the Gemma structure of a Master! Like, seriously, what the fuck is up with the energy channels growing in your hands, or the alterations in your skeletomuscular tissues, or your lung capacity, or-"
At some point during that tirade, Odin manifested at Taylor's side, and chose that moment to cut in, eye glowing gold. "Shaper really does have its hooks into you, doesn't it."
Panacea stopped, then blinked. "I'm sorry, who the fuck are you?"
"Odin. Taylor's mentor, in a sense," came his reply.
"You say that as if it even remotely resembles an answer to my question." Panacea lunged forwards and wrapped her hand around Odin's wrist, then frowned. "What the fuck is this? I can't read you!"
"You wouldn't, not here," said Odin. "Your bodies aren't truly here, they're more… thought constructs."
"And your body, Mr. Mentor?" Panacea shot back.
"My skeleton," said Odin gravely, "lies inside the rib cage of Fenris Wolf. That is all that remains of my body now."
Panacea blinked, her rising ire clearly derailed by this response. "Wait, what?"
"The mechanics of my existence aren't exactly important at the moment. What is important, I think, is why your power brought us here." Odin gestured with his chin at something behind Panacea.
The thing he was indicating took a moment for Taylor to parse, visually speaking. At first blush, it looked like a massive, roiling puddle of blood suspended in midair. Upon closer inspection, however, it was possible to see bones, muscles, and… other body parts within the puddle, and then a large, somewhat triangular skull that resembled a deer skull, in much the same way that a modern-day printer resembled Gutenberg's original printing press: clearly for the same purpose, if looked at by one who knew what they were looking at, but one was vastly more developed than the other.
"Odin Allfather," rumbled a wheezy voice with undertones that left the two mortal (well, mostly, in Taylor's case) listeners paralyzed, much as a tiger's roar would. "Amelia Lavere. Taylor Hebert. This is… unexpected. Why has my call for Shaper's host brought a godling and her eidolon guardian along with her?"
"Not so much an eidolon, or the hero Eidolon," this last was directed to the two young ladies with Odin, "and more an echo of the past to guide and teach."
"Very well. So, Amelia Lavere, tell me. Why do you persist? Why do you resist the Shaper's manipulations and the Waste's flailings?"
"The what now?" asked Taylor, recovering from the other entity's voice faster than Panacea, whose face exhibited a puzzled expression not dissimilar to the one that Taylor was affecting.
"The way that Shaper manipulated your brain chemistry to try and make you use its powers, or the way that Waste does the same to those around it to make them more inclined to strong feelings about its host. Do you truly not understand what its unrestrained bouts of mental thuggery are, or how they've caused your attr-?" There was a sort of confused incredulity in the being's voice at this.
"Ah, I think I understand. No, she only has the ability to see as well as Shaper allows, and the Administrator's ilk are seldom willing to allow their hosts to see their acts," said Odin, cutting off the being in mid-word and saving Panacea a great deal of… something, which they both acknowledged with silent, tiny nods, which went unnoticed by Taylor and unremarked by the bloodlike being.
"Ah, so you are not a complete fool, just… a lesser being. Excusable for now, but you cannot slay the Warrior as it stands. Are you ready?"
Panacea's eyes narrowed. "Who is the Warrior? Ready for what? For that matter, who the hell are you, and why appear to me, here and now?"
Despite the skull's lack of eyes or eyelids to convey the impression, it seemed that its gaze towards Panacea intensified. "The… thing… made from the shredded remains of my body enslaved to an alien decided your father, and then you, were expedient tools for its research. I have chosen you because of that, to slay the golden parasite that destroyed my planet and my people. As for who I am… well, that much was stripped from me by the Warrior. I was a god of the flesh, the strongest of our world, but more than that is… lost to me. But I know enough to say that what is left of the power I had could grow, in your hands, drawing in the energy that this planet is all but drowning in and molding it to yourself."
"You say that," said Panacea, ire rising in her voice, "as if it explains anything."
"You will understand," said the being, as if it had already been decided. "Or you will not, and the power I leave you will find a superior bearer. It matters not. I will become the downfall of the Warrior, through you or another. Prepare yourself."
Odin's eye widened a hair, context clues finally slotting together to paint a picture in his mind. "Worry not, lass," he said to Panacea. "Ye shall not be alone in your journey. If needs must, I shall guide you as well, if this means what I think it means."
There was no time for the healer to respond, because the bloodred pool surged forward, almost seeming to skip frames in reality, and surrounded her completely in an orb of mostly-liquid.
Then, it began to shrink.
In a matter of seconds, it had already receded to a sphere roughly six feet in diameter, and mere heartbeats later, it had completely absorbed into Panacea, the only signs it had ever been there being a dimming red glow from her irises and the hovering skull in front of her, slowly flaking into dust.
"Use it well," came the fading voice of the being, the odd depth missing. Then, it finished disintegrating, blowing away in a phantom breeze.
"Oh- Oh god, the Warrior, the Cycle, I-" Panacea stuttered out, and then-
They were back in Taylor's living room, blinking grit from their eyes.
"What happened?" asked Glory Girl frantically, hovering over Panacea in evident worry.
"Well… that's a long story." Panacea frowned, then pushed herself upright, ignoring the buzzing of her phone. "You see…"
-----
In the Birdcage, Marquis turned over in his sleep, his power vanishing for just a fraction of a heartbeat as his coronae dissolved into regular brain tissue. Come the morning, his power would be just a touch more responsive than he could ever remember it being before.-----
By the time that the two New Wave heroines had departed from her house several hours later, Taylor was quite thoroughly confused, and mentally drained to boot. Panacea's revelation that Scion was an alien hive mind bent on destroying the planet and harvesting its energy after using the super powers that he had been the harbinger of to harvest human creativity was… troubling, certainly, but it certainly put some of the things that the Administrator had said into perspective. The revelation that Earth was a metaphorical Chernobyl of mystical energy was more troubling, but the diminutive healer assured Taylor that that was only relevant to alien gods that attempted to set up shop on Earth, and as such it wasn't something she had to worry about.Eventually, after Odin said that he'd start her on runecasting tomorrow only if she went to bed within twenty minutes, she broke out of her own head and prepared herself for bed, thinking about the basics of runic theory he'd been drilling her on for the past few days until her head hit the pillow and she closed her eyes.
Moments later, she opened her eyes, thirst urging her out of her bed. She got up, stretched, then made her way to the kitchen.
She made it halfway down the stairs before she realized that it was daylight.
"Ah, good morning," said Odin. "You looked like you had a rough night, so we let you sleep in."
"Uh… thanks, I think? Why was I so tired last night?" asked Taylor, frowning.
"Ah, that's fairly simple. The method that the god that passed their power onto Panacea used to draw your mind into the dimension of the Shards was extremely rough. You survived, but you needed to sleep it off. A normal human would have suffered… something comparable to a moderate case of the bends, I think."
"Wait, really? Why wasn't Panacea similarly affected?"
"It had root access to her connection to her Shard, Shaper, and it drew her in through that. Your connection to the Administrator is much more shielded, and as such, the deity had to use the more harrowing method. Now, come to eat. You'll need your strength to begin casting runes today." Odin floated aside and gestured to the table, which Taylor rapidly made her way to.
It was about 10 AM, so her father had already left for work, leaving her and Odin the run of the house. Taylor felt the familiar ache of her father's absence, but at this point she was resigned to it: he had better things to do than take care of her 24/7, and he did still need to work.
The fact that he was actually trying to get a lawyer to sue the school on her behalf was more than enough to clear that ache up, and then she refocused on eating.
Before he knew it, her morning routine was completely cleared through, and she was ready to begin casting.
"Now, don't try to focus on a singular rune, lass. Your first rune is always random, and it's always something that you hold near and dear to your heart. Just… let the energy flow through you, and see what you get." Some of this advice Odin had said before, but some was new, and Taylor let her will focus entirely on coaxing out the stream of energy tucked away in a back corner of her brain,until-
Every lock in the house clicked open as a large rune that appeared like a more angular capital B appeared in front of her, glimmering in silver light.
Odin laughed, causing Taylor's concentration to fade, taking the runic manifestation with it. "Oh, well done, lass! That's Beorc, the rune of freedom, among other things. Now, let's lock the house up and try and do it again.
Taylor would describe the next several hours to her father as "hard, but the fun kind of hard that means you actually did something".
-----
"So, young lady," said Director Piggot, a carefully calculated amount of tired disappointment leaking through. "Do you want to let me know why you were poking around in the restricted files?""Uh… no?" The look that Vista undoubtedly thought was cute enough to deter Piggot's inquiry was not nearly up to snuff for that purpose. "I thought Wards personnel records were available for other Wards in good standing to peruse, and that's what I was looking at."
Piggot could feel her teeth grinding as much as hear them. "Their educational records," she said, anger rising in her chest, "are not."
"Disciplinary records are. I checked the Handbook, and that's what it says. By the way, why do you have disciplinary records pulled for Taylor Hebert?" asked the disrespectful brat.
"That's none of your business, and you still haven't told me why." Piggot gave the recalcitrant Ward a level look.
It took almost a minute of tense silence, but the child eventually knuckled under. "Fine, I heard some things about Taylor Hebert being attacked by Shadow Stalker from Panacea and wanted to check it out. Turns out that she's been orchestrating a massive campaign against Miss Hebert that culminated in attempted murder."
Piggot's straight face concealed her internal turmoil at the fact that the brat put together all that information from the (heavily redacted) files they allowed the Wards to access. On one hand, it was good that she was able to make such analytical strides, but on the other, the fact that she was being so confrontational didn't bode well for her reaction.
Piggot decided to take a more aggressive tack to determine how Vista would respond. "And what of it?"
"What do you mean, what of it? Shadow Stalker attempted to murder Taylor Hebert, and your response is 'and what of it'? What the fuck?" Vista shot back, her ire visibly rising.
"As long as Shadow Stalker is willing to grab a bucket and bail out the city, one civilian girl is an… acceptable sacrifice." Piggot shrugged. "It's a callous attitude, but ultimately, it's the one that we have to take if we want to have any chance of even maintaining the status quo."
Vista didn't move for a moment, just trembling, just trembling in place, then: "You're just like them," she whispered, pupils shrinking.
"I what?" asked the Director, thrown off her rhythm.
"You're just like them," repeated Vista, venom dripping from her voice as her telltale visual distortions started to appear around her. "You don't care about us, you just want to trot us out like good little tools, to further your own agendas."
The Director sighed, meeting Vista's rage with exhaustion. "Vista, the city is at risk of going under and being quarantined. We need everything we ca-"
"Shut UP!" screamed the Cape in question. "We're not child soldiers for you to fight your goddamn crusade for the city with!"
"Young lady," said Piggot, steel in her voice, "you will treat me with the respect that I am due, as your elder and your supervisor!"
Vista laughed, an oddly unhinged sound. "I am, Director. You just burned every ounce of it that you earned."
With that, Vista rose from her chair, took a step in a direction that hurt Piggot's head to think about, and vanished.
Piggot sighed. Either Vista would come to her senses and realize that it was necessary for the integrity of the city and return more cooperative, or she wouldn't, and that would bring its own set of challenges and opportunities.
Absently noting that she was glad that Hannah wasn't present for the meeting and more specifically Vista's crack about child soldiers, Piggot turned back to her computer and tapped in a note for Hebert's file.
Potential Trigger Event 01/03/2011. Scope out for recruitment, investigate for potential leverage to induce membership in Wards in the event of refusal.
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Alright, so, that's that. I would have it out sooner, but my muse got hijacked by the Symbol of Peace and also Lantern Rings.The god that gave their power to Panacea is dead, full stop. Panacea has some of their knowledge, but they will not be appearing as a character in this story from here on out. In fact, the only god beyond Odin that I'm eyeing for a potential long-term role in this story is Coyote, because once again, fuck the rules is their whole gimmick.
That's about it, so read, review, enjoy, and have a nice day!
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- Pronouns
- She/They
They're WIPs, that may or may not see the light of day eventually, referring specifically to All Might and the idea of a protagonist with a Lantern Ring from DC. For now, I'm gonna stick to this story.
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Laying the Groundwork
- Pronouns
- She/They
The wheels of bureaucracy turn, some to aid Taylor and some not.
Taylor looked up from her notebook on runic theory. "Ready… for what?" she asked, confused.
"Remember? Today's the appointment to talk with the lawyer to talk about suing the school." Danny frowned, concerned. "Are you okay?"
Taylor frowned, then drew on some of the mental capacity of her bugs, offloading the meditative pseudo-trance that she often fell into while studying runic magic into a portion of the swarm, then frowned, remembering the discussion she'd had earlier in the week about it. "Yeah, sorry. Part of the rune thing means that I have to enter a sort of trance to learn about them."
"...If you're sure," replied Danny. "So, are you ready to go?"
"Yeah, give me two minutes." Taylor sat down on the floor heavily, then proceeded to slip her shoes on.
"Ye have been running yourself too hard, lass," said Odin, concern glimmering in his eye. "Especially since you're still recovering."
"I can't afford to do anything less," said Taylor. "Not if I want to be ready to deal with Emma and her group."
While Danny's jaw locked up and he turned to leave, Odin gave Taylor an appraising look and then sighed. "That's why we're going to the lawyer, lass," he said, patting Taylor gently on her head. "The sooner we can get you out of there, the sooner that we can deal with the other issues with the city."
"I know, it just… it feels weird, you know?"
Odin nodded. "Aye, lass, it does, but ye must be able to stand on your own, at least a little, before ye can help others safely, and ye need closure to do that. Now come along, we have a lawyer to talk to."
Still somewhat skeptical, Taylor sighed tiredly and nodded. "Alright, let's get going."
The car ride to the lawyer's office was quiet, partially because Danny's ire was still up from the reminder of his failure to protect Taylor (even though she'd done her level best to hide it from him) and partially because the fluctuation in the bugs nearby as they drove pushed her back towards the trancelike state of earlier that morning, although by the end of the drive she had made progress at shifting the runic trance into the hive mind her power granted her as it changed around her.
The reception area of Truth and Liberty Law Office was minimalist, with sleek furniture and blank white walls, in a way that reminded Taylor of nothing so much as the hospital. Even the receptionist that Danny handed a sheaf of papers and a check, despite her vibrant red hair, seemed almost washed out.
"Hebert?" asked a man in a suit, strong but with bone-white hair, stepping through a door that had almost seemed a part of the wall. Seeing her and her father perk up at their name, he nodded. "I'm Aides Truth."
"Danny Hebert," came the reply, the balding man walking over and shaking the hand that Truth offered with the hand not holding a copy of Taylor's bullying journal. "This is my daughter, Taylor."
"A pleasure to meet you both," said Truth, showing his teeth in a flash of white that could generously be called a smile. "Right this way."
The two followed him back into a less sterile office, with dark wood furnishings and a tastefully-sized desk, which Truth took a seat behind. "So, what can the offices of Truth and Liberty do for you, Mr. Hebert?"
"We'd like to bring suit against Winslow High School for gross negligence leading to severe injury to my daughter," Danny replied.
Truth's eyes flickered to Taylor's eye patch for a moment, then returned to Danny. "I see. Well, Mr. Hebert, I am provisionally interested. Your retainer fee has been accepted, so I am currently bound by attorney-client privilege, so with that in mind… tell me what you can."
"Emma Barnes has been spearheading a systematic campaign of harassment against me in school for the last 18 months," said Taylor, quiet steel in her voice. "She was my best friend for years, and then one day before my freshman year of high school, she just… changed. I thought she just didn't want to see me, but when I got to school, she was just there with her new friends. It wasn't that bad, at first, just… whispers, rumors, that kind of thing. Then, she… well, she escalated, slowly but surely. Rumors became insults became pouring juice on me in the bathroom became shoving me into walls. They'd steal things from my locker, or leave things there, and send me emails telling me to kill myself, and whenever I went to the teachers to change things… well, Emma always was charismatic, Sophia is an athlete and can get away with anything, and Madison isn't anyone who looks like she can participate in those kinds of things, so I got called attention-seeking and ignored."
"I take it that Emma, Sophia, and Madison were the three primary harassers?" Taylor looked up to meet Truth's eyes to see a glimmer of something in the otherwise placid brown, something hard and angry, before it vanished to the depths of his eyes, leaving tranquility behind. It almost comforted her, seeing that someone else beside her dad or Odin saw something wrong with her situation.
"Yes, sir. There have been a lot more, but that Trio is the core of it."
"I understand," said Truth, and Taylor got the sense that he did. "Continue."
"The last thing that happened… the last thing that happened was the Locker." Taylor closed her eye for a moment. "Somehow, they managed to fill it up with a bunch of old feminine hygiene products over Winter break, and then the first day back, Sophia shoved me into it." Taylor clenched a fist in her lap, willing herself not to break. "I lost nine days of my life in the hospital before I woke up."
Truth pressed his hands flat to his desk. "And I take it that nothing has come of it since?"
Odin placed a comforting hand on Taylor's shoulder, and she shook her head. "No sir. The police haven't approached us for anything, and it's been a while since I woke up, and the school barely offered us enough money to cover half the hospital bills."
Truth's eyes narrowed. "I see. Well then, given the current details of the case, I believe that I will be more than happy to take your case on contingency."
Danny's jaw dropped. "Are- Are you sure, Mr. Truth?"
"Absolutely, Mr. Hebert. I have spent a long time in this line of work, and I have seen very few cases that I would call assured victories. This is one of them."
"In that case," said Danny, hope glimmering in his eyes, "I will be taking you up on this. It's good to be working with you, Mr. Truth."
"Likewise, Mr. Hebert, Miss Hebert."
Ultimately, they left satisfied, Taylor with justice within her grasp and Danny with vindication that the school would not survive their neglect.
Their good mood lasted long enough to pick up takeout from their favorite hole-in-the-wall Italian place and make it home, where a purple-striped PRT van blocking off their driveway put in enough effort to kill the upbeat atmosphere to put the apocryphal tales of Rasputin's assassination to shame.
As Danny rolled to a stop, he saw a blank-helmeted officer come away from the (thankfully still closed) front door, identify them, then swiftly move past the van to the window to Danny's truck, which he swiftly rolled down.
"Sir," said the PRT officer, voice artificially flat and sterile from a vocal filter, "are you the resident of this house?"
"Yeah, I am. Why is your van blocking my driveway?" Danny returned evenly.
"We need to talk to you and your daughter about the events of January 3rd, sir."
Danny's gaze sharpened. "Alright. Let us in to park, and we can talk."
"Sir, right here is fine. Put the car in park."
"Be very careful, lass," said Odin, making sure that Taylor's the only one that could see him. "I sense an ulterior motive in this situation, one way or another."
Taylor tossed the specter a quick thumbs up to show she understood, hidden by her body, as Danny put the old truck in park. "Alright, what's going on here?"
"Sir, we have reports of a potential crisis point your daughter went through at the beginning of this month. We'd like to ask you some questions about it."
"Ask," said Danny.
"We had reports that Taylor Hebert was hospitalized on the third of this month for ten days, during which time she was visited by Panacea. Is this correct?"
"Yeah, why?" Danny frowned.
A thought occurred to Taylor. "Hang on, have you been looking at my medical information?"
"That's classified, miss," responded the officer. "Now then-"
"Wait, how is that legal? I'm a civilian, why do you have access to my medical records?" asked Taylor, voice rising.
"Ma'am, we have access to all medical records pertaining to suspected parahumans. Next question: Have you noticed anything different, anything that wouldn't be ordinarily explained by your ordeal?"
"What, like being able to sneeze laser beams? Yeah, right," snarked Taylor.
"Is there a purpose to this, officer?" asked Danny.
The officer's voice had a hint of frustration sneaking past their voice modulator. "One last question, then, for now. Have you had any contact with a young woman named Melissa Biron? She looks like this." The picture the officer showed was of a blonde girl, about twelve or thirteen, with a number of barely-visible scars along her hands and a self-confident smile.
"Ah," said Odin, eye flashing gold, "not yet lass, but you will soon."
"No, officer, should we have?" asked Danny.
"No sir. One of my coworkers' kids ran away and we decided to pitch in and see if anyone saw her. If you have any information about miss Biron, or any questions or concerns, please come to the PRT HQ and ask. Have a good day." The officer turned and walked away, a few snatches of words carrying to them on the wind before the officer re-entered the van: "commander Cal-" something and "wayward ward" being the two that Taylor took not of.
"That was… weird," said Taylor.
"You can say that again," agreed Danny, nodding, while Odin's eye just narrowed. Something was up, and it twigged his instincts. No matter what happened, he had to be ready to react, be it weal or woe.
Of course, her father abandoning her in the mountain lion-infested section of the woods with nothing but the bow she had gotten as a seven-year-old (the draw weight was so low that it could barely be used as a weapon) hadn't helped, and if she hadn't gained her power, she wouldn't have survived for long enough for the seventh Butcher to find her, the wilderness training and hunting experience with her then-deceased grandfather be damned.
She might have only joined the Teeth out of a mix of gratitude, fear, and desperation, but that didn't stop her from enjoying it when he had Vex hold her dad down for her to put an arrow through his eye with that same bow.
The only member of her family to keep in any semblance of contact with her… well, she didn't want to expose little Missy to the Teeth, so she limited her communication with her to just calls and texts.
But now wasn't the time to be thinking on her old family. Now it was dinner prep time, and Hemorrhagia was a notoriously strict taskmaster in the kitchen, especially when preparing for Spree's birthday dinner (he insisted on eating with all his clones for his birthday, for some reason, so they had to start meal prep in midafternoon).
After about fifteen minutes of cooking, Quarrel's phone began to ring.
"Ignore it," said Hemorrhagia without looking.
Just as she was about to click off the ringer, she registered what ringtone she was hearing. It wasn't something she was used to hearing, for good reason: whenever she and Missy talked on the phone, she was always the one to call the younger one, and thus she rarely heard "All the Single Ladies" from her phone.
"Can't, it's family." With that, Quarrel flipped open the phone. "What's up, squirt?"
"M-Mina? Can you come over?"
The quaver in Missy's voice set something in Quarrel's chest to hurting.
"What's going on, Missy?" asked Quarrel, hunching into a combat stance before belatedly remembering that she wasn't under direct physical threat.
"The P-PRT isn't… it isn't safe for me anymore." Quarrel knew that Missy's home wasn't safe for her, just leaving the PRT, but if the only other place in Brockton she could reliably spend time wasn't safe for her anymore…
"I'm on my way, kiddo. Hold tight. Outside the old exploring place?"
"I'll be there. Thanks, Mina," said Missy, before hanging up.
"You're not going anywhere, Quarrel," said Hemorrhagia.
"Yeah, sorry, Hemorrhagia. The kid cousin needs help, and I made a promise to her. I'm not leaving her hanging." Quarrel's hand dipped into her pocket. If Hemorrhagia wanted to fight, her options were limited, more so if she dallied or chose not to kill her.
"I don't give a good goddamn. You gave up all other family when you came here to join the Teeth, and you're staying here."
"I'm afraid I can't do that." Quarrel sighed, then flicked her power on, instantly becoming aware of the projectiles in her hand. "I never much liked you anyways."
"Shut the-" Hemorrhagia was interrupted by a beanbag filling her mouth, impossible accuracy explained away by Quarrel's spatial warping, then slammed back into the wall, eyes going fuzzy as the sap bounced perfectly from her forehead back into Quarrel's hand.
"I thought you would have understood," said Quarrel, darting from the room. If she hurried, she could grab her bow and quiver in time to hop on her motorcycle and be on her way before anyone raised the alarm.
I originally planned to have the lawyer's name be Fidelio Truth, but I figured that just the last name was enough of a homage to Implacable for this chapter, and I think this first name suits him anyways (hehe suit pun because lawyer).
I'm probably gonna scrap the Gungnir stuff I had planned (sorry, consultants), but I honestly lost track of what I was planning.
I will be posting part 1 of the original omake I wrote in the Implacable thread at some point before the next chapter goes live, so be ready for that.
That's about it, so read, review, enjoy, and have a nice day!
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So… I'm not dead, September just actively hated me and October just started to calm down. (also my muse wants to see Master Fay or Revan teaching Taylor and I have to say no for now)-----
"Hey, kiddo. Are you ready to go?"Taylor looked up from her notebook on runic theory. "Ready… for what?" she asked, confused.
"Remember? Today's the appointment to talk with the lawyer to talk about suing the school." Danny frowned, concerned. "Are you okay?"
Taylor frowned, then drew on some of the mental capacity of her bugs, offloading the meditative pseudo-trance that she often fell into while studying runic magic into a portion of the swarm, then frowned, remembering the discussion she'd had earlier in the week about it. "Yeah, sorry. Part of the rune thing means that I have to enter a sort of trance to learn about them."
"...If you're sure," replied Danny. "So, are you ready to go?"
"Yeah, give me two minutes." Taylor sat down on the floor heavily, then proceeded to slip her shoes on.
"Ye have been running yourself too hard, lass," said Odin, concern glimmering in his eye. "Especially since you're still recovering."
"I can't afford to do anything less," said Taylor. "Not if I want to be ready to deal with Emma and her group."
While Danny's jaw locked up and he turned to leave, Odin gave Taylor an appraising look and then sighed. "That's why we're going to the lawyer, lass," he said, patting Taylor gently on her head. "The sooner we can get you out of there, the sooner that we can deal with the other issues with the city."
"I know, it just… it feels weird, you know?"
Odin nodded. "Aye, lass, it does, but ye must be able to stand on your own, at least a little, before ye can help others safely, and ye need closure to do that. Now come along, we have a lawyer to talk to."
Still somewhat skeptical, Taylor sighed tiredly and nodded. "Alright, let's get going."
The car ride to the lawyer's office was quiet, partially because Danny's ire was still up from the reminder of his failure to protect Taylor (even though she'd done her level best to hide it from him) and partially because the fluctuation in the bugs nearby as they drove pushed her back towards the trancelike state of earlier that morning, although by the end of the drive she had made progress at shifting the runic trance into the hive mind her power granted her as it changed around her.
The reception area of Truth and Liberty Law Office was minimalist, with sleek furniture and blank white walls, in a way that reminded Taylor of nothing so much as the hospital. Even the receptionist that Danny handed a sheaf of papers and a check, despite her vibrant red hair, seemed almost washed out.
"Hebert?" asked a man in a suit, strong but with bone-white hair, stepping through a door that had almost seemed a part of the wall. Seeing her and her father perk up at their name, he nodded. "I'm Aides Truth."
"Danny Hebert," came the reply, the balding man walking over and shaking the hand that Truth offered with the hand not holding a copy of Taylor's bullying journal. "This is my daughter, Taylor."
"A pleasure to meet you both," said Truth, showing his teeth in a flash of white that could generously be called a smile. "Right this way."
The two followed him back into a less sterile office, with dark wood furnishings and a tastefully-sized desk, which Truth took a seat behind. "So, what can the offices of Truth and Liberty do for you, Mr. Hebert?"
"We'd like to bring suit against Winslow High School for gross negligence leading to severe injury to my daughter," Danny replied.
Truth's eyes flickered to Taylor's eye patch for a moment, then returned to Danny. "I see. Well, Mr. Hebert, I am provisionally interested. Your retainer fee has been accepted, so I am currently bound by attorney-client privilege, so with that in mind… tell me what you can."
"Emma Barnes has been spearheading a systematic campaign of harassment against me in school for the last 18 months," said Taylor, quiet steel in her voice. "She was my best friend for years, and then one day before my freshman year of high school, she just… changed. I thought she just didn't want to see me, but when I got to school, she was just there with her new friends. It wasn't that bad, at first, just… whispers, rumors, that kind of thing. Then, she… well, she escalated, slowly but surely. Rumors became insults became pouring juice on me in the bathroom became shoving me into walls. They'd steal things from my locker, or leave things there, and send me emails telling me to kill myself, and whenever I went to the teachers to change things… well, Emma always was charismatic, Sophia is an athlete and can get away with anything, and Madison isn't anyone who looks like she can participate in those kinds of things, so I got called attention-seeking and ignored."
"I take it that Emma, Sophia, and Madison were the three primary harassers?" Taylor looked up to meet Truth's eyes to see a glimmer of something in the otherwise placid brown, something hard and angry, before it vanished to the depths of his eyes, leaving tranquility behind. It almost comforted her, seeing that someone else beside her dad or Odin saw something wrong with her situation.
"Yes, sir. There have been a lot more, but that Trio is the core of it."
"I understand," said Truth, and Taylor got the sense that he did. "Continue."
"The last thing that happened… the last thing that happened was the Locker." Taylor closed her eye for a moment. "Somehow, they managed to fill it up with a bunch of old feminine hygiene products over Winter break, and then the first day back, Sophia shoved me into it." Taylor clenched a fist in her lap, willing herself not to break. "I lost nine days of my life in the hospital before I woke up."
Truth pressed his hands flat to his desk. "And I take it that nothing has come of it since?"
Odin placed a comforting hand on Taylor's shoulder, and she shook her head. "No sir. The police haven't approached us for anything, and it's been a while since I woke up, and the school barely offered us enough money to cover half the hospital bills."
Truth's eyes narrowed. "I see. Well then, given the current details of the case, I believe that I will be more than happy to take your case on contingency."
Danny's jaw dropped. "Are- Are you sure, Mr. Truth?"
"Absolutely, Mr. Hebert. I have spent a long time in this line of work, and I have seen very few cases that I would call assured victories. This is one of them."
"In that case," said Danny, hope glimmering in his eyes, "I will be taking you up on this. It's good to be working with you, Mr. Truth."
"Likewise, Mr. Hebert, Miss Hebert."
-----
The next three hours were a whirlwind of legalese, contracts, and discussion that not even Odin's whispering in her ear helped Taylor keep abreast of. Then again, she hadn't particularly expected to, given that Truth was a veteran lawyer and her father was an experienced negotiator, even if his specialty was employment contracts instead of those required for lawsuits.Ultimately, they left satisfied, Taylor with justice within her grasp and Danny with vindication that the school would not survive their neglect.
Their good mood lasted long enough to pick up takeout from their favorite hole-in-the-wall Italian place and make it home, where a purple-striped PRT van blocking off their driveway put in enough effort to kill the upbeat atmosphere to put the apocryphal tales of Rasputin's assassination to shame.
As Danny rolled to a stop, he saw a blank-helmeted officer come away from the (thankfully still closed) front door, identify them, then swiftly move past the van to the window to Danny's truck, which he swiftly rolled down.
"Sir," said the PRT officer, voice artificially flat and sterile from a vocal filter, "are you the resident of this house?"
"Yeah, I am. Why is your van blocking my driveway?" Danny returned evenly.
"We need to talk to you and your daughter about the events of January 3rd, sir."
Danny's gaze sharpened. "Alright. Let us in to park, and we can talk."
"Sir, right here is fine. Put the car in park."
"Be very careful, lass," said Odin, making sure that Taylor's the only one that could see him. "I sense an ulterior motive in this situation, one way or another."
Taylor tossed the specter a quick thumbs up to show she understood, hidden by her body, as Danny put the old truck in park. "Alright, what's going on here?"
"Sir, we have reports of a potential crisis point your daughter went through at the beginning of this month. We'd like to ask you some questions about it."
"Ask," said Danny.
"We had reports that Taylor Hebert was hospitalized on the third of this month for ten days, during which time she was visited by Panacea. Is this correct?"
"Yeah, why?" Danny frowned.
A thought occurred to Taylor. "Hang on, have you been looking at my medical information?"
"That's classified, miss," responded the officer. "Now then-"
"Wait, how is that legal? I'm a civilian, why do you have access to my medical records?" asked Taylor, voice rising.
"Ma'am, we have access to all medical records pertaining to suspected parahumans. Next question: Have you noticed anything different, anything that wouldn't be ordinarily explained by your ordeal?"
"What, like being able to sneeze laser beams? Yeah, right," snarked Taylor.
"Is there a purpose to this, officer?" asked Danny.
The officer's voice had a hint of frustration sneaking past their voice modulator. "One last question, then, for now. Have you had any contact with a young woman named Melissa Biron? She looks like this." The picture the officer showed was of a blonde girl, about twelve or thirteen, with a number of barely-visible scars along her hands and a self-confident smile.
"Ah," said Odin, eye flashing gold, "not yet lass, but you will soon."
"No, officer, should we have?" asked Danny.
"No sir. One of my coworkers' kids ran away and we decided to pitch in and see if anyone saw her. If you have any information about miss Biron, or any questions or concerns, please come to the PRT HQ and ask. Have a good day." The officer turned and walked away, a few snatches of words carrying to them on the wind before the officer re-entered the van: "commander Cal-" something and "wayward ward" being the two that Taylor took not of.
"That was… weird," said Taylor.
"You can say that again," agreed Danny, nodding, while Odin's eye just narrowed. Something was up, and it twigged his instincts. No matter what happened, he had to be ready to react, be it weal or woe.
-----
Quarrel knew that she wasn't a good person. Good people didn't join up with the Teeth, no matter the situation, and she had. There wasn't an extenuating circumstance that could excuse that.Of course, her father abandoning her in the mountain lion-infested section of the woods with nothing but the bow she had gotten as a seven-year-old (the draw weight was so low that it could barely be used as a weapon) hadn't helped, and if she hadn't gained her power, she wouldn't have survived for long enough for the seventh Butcher to find her, the wilderness training and hunting experience with her then-deceased grandfather be damned.
She might have only joined the Teeth out of a mix of gratitude, fear, and desperation, but that didn't stop her from enjoying it when he had Vex hold her dad down for her to put an arrow through his eye with that same bow.
The only member of her family to keep in any semblance of contact with her… well, she didn't want to expose little Missy to the Teeth, so she limited her communication with her to just calls and texts.
But now wasn't the time to be thinking on her old family. Now it was dinner prep time, and Hemorrhagia was a notoriously strict taskmaster in the kitchen, especially when preparing for Spree's birthday dinner (he insisted on eating with all his clones for his birthday, for some reason, so they had to start meal prep in midafternoon).
After about fifteen minutes of cooking, Quarrel's phone began to ring.
"Ignore it," said Hemorrhagia without looking.
Just as she was about to click off the ringer, she registered what ringtone she was hearing. It wasn't something she was used to hearing, for good reason: whenever she and Missy talked on the phone, she was always the one to call the younger one, and thus she rarely heard "All the Single Ladies" from her phone.
"Can't, it's family." With that, Quarrel flipped open the phone. "What's up, squirt?"
"M-Mina? Can you come over?"
The quaver in Missy's voice set something in Quarrel's chest to hurting.
"What's going on, Missy?" asked Quarrel, hunching into a combat stance before belatedly remembering that she wasn't under direct physical threat.
"The P-PRT isn't… it isn't safe for me anymore." Quarrel knew that Missy's home wasn't safe for her, just leaving the PRT, but if the only other place in Brockton she could reliably spend time wasn't safe for her anymore…
"I'm on my way, kiddo. Hold tight. Outside the old exploring place?"
"I'll be there. Thanks, Mina," said Missy, before hanging up.
"You're not going anywhere, Quarrel," said Hemorrhagia.
"Yeah, sorry, Hemorrhagia. The kid cousin needs help, and I made a promise to her. I'm not leaving her hanging." Quarrel's hand dipped into her pocket. If Hemorrhagia wanted to fight, her options were limited, more so if she dallied or chose not to kill her.
"I don't give a good goddamn. You gave up all other family when you came here to join the Teeth, and you're staying here."
"I'm afraid I can't do that." Quarrel sighed, then flicked her power on, instantly becoming aware of the projectiles in her hand. "I never much liked you anyways."
"Shut the-" Hemorrhagia was interrupted by a beanbag filling her mouth, impossible accuracy explained away by Quarrel's spatial warping, then slammed back into the wall, eyes going fuzzy as the sap bounced perfectly from her forehead back into Quarrel's hand.
"I thought you would have understood," said Quarrel, darting from the room. If she hurried, she could grab her bow and quiver in time to hop on her motorcycle and be on her way before anyone raised the alarm.
-----
And that's that! I can't promise the next chapter will be anytime soon, but I'll try my best.I originally planned to have the lawyer's name be Fidelio Truth, but I figured that just the last name was enough of a homage to Implacable for this chapter, and I think this first name suits him anyways (hehe suit pun because lawyer).
I'm probably gonna scrap the Gungnir stuff I had planned (sorry, consultants), but I honestly lost track of what I was planning.
I will be posting part 1 of the original omake I wrote in the Implacable thread at some point before the next chapter goes live, so be ready for that.
That's about it, so read, review, enjoy, and have a nice day!
Radek
Promethean
- Location
- A Cryptum, somewhere
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
So the PRT just went and outed Vista? I doubt that will go over well, unless they have permission.
Facts on the ground are thus:
1. People go missing all the time for many different reasons, so much so even the police rarely puts in more than a token effort to locate them.
2. An ordinary runaway is of no concern whatsoever to the PRT.
3. Melissa Biron must thus be a cape, and not just any cape for the "heroes" to start asking questions.
4. A Ward then. As the team is mostly older guys and Shadow Stalker is suspected to be closer to Taylor´s age, that only leaves one option.
Shitstorm time then?
Facts on the ground are thus:
1. People go missing all the time for many different reasons, so much so even the police rarely puts in more than a token effort to locate them.
2. An ordinary runaway is of no concern whatsoever to the PRT.
3. Melissa Biron must thus be a cape, and not just any cape for the "heroes" to start asking questions.
4. A Ward then. As the team is mostly older guys and Shadow Stalker is suspected to be closer to Taylor´s age, that only leaves one option.
Shitstorm time then?
- Pronouns
- She/They
Not really. It came across as a "oh my friend's kid ran away and I was wondering if you've seen her" kind of thing, at least to Danny. Taylor's suspicious and Odin knows that the PRT rep was lying, but not that Missy is Vista, yet.
Sandy River DL
(Verified Destroyer Leader)
- Location
- Lake Michigan
- Pronouns
- Her/She
Missy-as-Quarrel's-cousin is not something I saw coming. Cool though, and makes a surprising amount of sense.
*sigh* and the quoting system messed up here I'll have to try and find this section again and edit the post after
EDIT: here's what the above was supposed to be
Before she knew it?
missing space
missing"
Nine Days and Nine Nights on Yggdrasil
- Pronouns
- She/They
Here's the omake that originally spawned this story, copied over from my post on the Implacable thread. The other omake in this series is coming at some point after chapter 6, which hopefully shouldn't take a month and a half.
By the time her tears had run dry, the pad they had given her to cover her eye (the only barebones concession to medical aid that had been offered, and that was because the troopers were too disturbed to keep looking at the ruin that was her eye) had been completely soaked through with blood and other, less easily recognizable fluids.
Taylor kept the pad pressed to her eye regardless, out of vanity if nothing else.
The collar around her neck shocked her every time her shields moved in anything beyond a random pattern, so she couldn't even rely on her power as anything beyond a small, cold comfort.
Her house was gone, burned down by a "careless" PRT trooper, as much as she believed that.
Her father was being held by police on charges of conspiracy to violate of the Vikare Act, which was similarly unbelievable.
She had nothing left outside this room, not really.
She sat in that room, alone and confined, with food and water delivered twice daily, for nine days and nine nights, far longer than most would have suspected it would take for a second Trigger given her original Trigger.
Of course, the event that took place exactly 216 hours after her internment in this cell wasn't a true Trigger Event. Not in the parahuman sense, at least.
So it was understandable that, when Taylor's ruined eye socket began glowing with golden light that blasted the pad off her face, none of the troopers guarding her cell quite knew how to react. Not until it was far, far too late for them to avert the catastrophe that was coming to bury ENE.
"Oh, that's simple," replied the older woman, allowing herself a self-satisfied grin. "The idiot girl attacked PRT troopers in her home, so they dealt with her, and she's in the isolation cells for two weeks, then we'll see if she's willing to play ball. If not... another two weeks." The director shrugged.
"Wait," said Vista, frown visible through her visor. "Why were PRT troopers in her home?"
"Because they were executing a no-knock warrant against her. Keep up, girl," snapped Piggot, walking away.
"Why?" asked Vista, still frowning. Something didn't add up here, and she was determined to find out what.
Piggot sighed. "Because she won't get with the program and do as she's told. We're willing to forgive Shadow Stalker's... indiscretions... and causing Pisces' Trigger since she actually helps with the state of the city, but since Pisces won't..." She shrugged. "She has to think about the consequences of her actions."
Vista froze the moment she heard Piggot say "do as she's told", memories of her parents' fights roaring in her head, but not loud enough to drown out the rest of Piggot's statement.
"You..." Vista's voice was fragile. "You forced Pisces to work with the one who caused her Trigger, then threw in solitary because she wouldn't play along?"
Piggot snorted. "That's not the half of it. We got lucky and managed to recover data about a lawsuit against Winslow from her father's computer after her house burned down, so he's going down for the Vikare Act too. All because that idiotic brat won't fall in line like you good soldiers do."
"You don't care about us as people, do you. You just care about what we can do for you." At this point, tears were streaming down Vista's face.
"You swore an oath when you joined the Wards," replied Piggot, not noticing the miniscule warps in space surrounding the pint-sized Shaker, "that your duty to the city came before anything else, including yourself."
"You..." said Vista, after a moment of silence. "You're just like them.
"Like who?" snapped Piggot. "Hurry up, girl! I have a great many things to do to ensure this city remains functional, and I can't have you standing in the way of them!"
"You're just like my parents. You don't care about us, just what we can do for you." Vista glared at Piggot. "We're just like- like tools to you, aren't we."
Piggot took just long enough scrambling for a response that Vista shook her head.
"I hate you!" she screamed, then held statue-still for a moment.
"After all I've-"
"You ruined this place for me, when you made Pisces work with Shadow Stalker! I'm going to fix it!" interrupted Vista, who promptly vanished through one of her telltale spatial distortions.
"Fuck," spat Piggot. Then, she slipped her duty phone from her pocket and called security. "Lock down the building under Master/Stranger protocols. Vista is to be considered Mastered and should be detained if at all possible."
"Sorry, ma'am," came the voice on the other end of the line. "Vista just left the building."
"Dammit," she hissed, then hung up.
That was going to be a problem, especially since the brat's visor had a video camera and audio recorder that was programmed to activate whenever it was being worn. If she got to the Youth Guard, as unlikely as that alternative was, things would be bad. If she went to the news... well, things might be manageable, if-
Boom!
Piggot's head snapped up in time to see the golden light from the direction of the Rig fade, and she clenched her fists. Today looked to be getting better and better.
Her head snapped up. Had she finally broken, after so long alone?"
"No, lass. Your mind stands strong yet," replied that same voice, a firm, fatherly tone to it.
Taylor turned her head, looking for the source of the voice and the sudden warm light in the room.
"Who are you?" she asked hoarsely, voice weak from lack of use.
The man she saw, a gray-bearded man old enough to be her grandfather and with an eyepatch mirroring her lost eye, smiled kindly at her, radiating a warm golden glow. "I am a man of many names. I have gone by Bölverk, Fjölnir, Ganglari, Jörmunr, Vadderung, and many more besides, but the name you're most likely to know me by is Odin One-Eye."
Taylor's remaining eye widened. "What?"
The gray-bearded man chuckled. "Yes, the Odin of the Nords. Worry not, child. Now is not your time to die, for if it was you'd be seeing one of the Valkyrjur and not myself. No, this is... well. If you'll indulge an old man to tell you a story from his youth, I think that would help you understand the situation greatly."
"Uh... sure?" Taylor had no way to know what was happening, but indulging powerful parahumans was always a good thing to do.
"In that case, allow me to tell you the tale of how I learned the runes." The old man's eye went distant. "I was watching the Norns work their powers, one day, and I realized that, if I could use the runecraft that they could. I would be better able to serve my people. So, I asked what I would need to do in order to earn the runes, and they told me thusly:
"A price must all pay, for the runes' wisdom
From Yggdrasil shall ye sway, no others nearby
In blood are all runes forged, and your own ye must provide,
Then will your mind have surged, and the world ye shall ken."
Odin smiled. "Seven days it took me to puzzle out what they meant by that. Once I learned, I hanged myself from Yggdrasil-" here, he gestured to the collar around Taylor's neck, "-implaled myself upon Gungnir to pay the price of blood-" he gestured to her eye and broken ribs. "-and gazed into the depths of the Well of Urdr. Nine days and nine nights did I remain there," said the venerable warrior, "and as the tenth day dawned, the runes judged me worthy, and the spirit of the last Runekeeper appeared to me. Old Mimir gave me his knowledge, his powers, and I returned to Asgard a better king."
"So..." Taylor frowned. "Am I to be your successor?"
Odin nodded. "Aye, lass. You've paid your price, you've earned the runes, with the help of your Administrator friend. My time has passed, passed long before the Warrior from beyond the stars came. I, of all people, did not need to survive Ragnarök, and yet here I am. It's high time someone younger became the Runekeeper."
"So... what happens now?" asked Taylor, playing along.
"Oh, simple, lass. You awaken with the knowledge of the runes and the realms, and my spirit to whisper wisdom in your ear. You, now, shall become Rúnatyr." Odin raised his hand. "Are you ready?"
"And... and then what?"
"And then... well, it's your choice. Once you are the Runekeeper, the power is yours to use. I am just an advisor."
Taylor thought for a moment. "I... I still want to be a hero, but... with what the PRT did... I'm not sure I can..."
Odin hesitated for a moment, then wrapped the trembling girl in a hug. "Not all heroes are the same, as they are, lass. Your Midgard... well, the runes can make it better, if you so choose."
Taylor took in a deep breath, then nodded. "Alright. I'll do it."
Odin smiled, then patted her shoulder. "You have a warrior's spirit, lass. With it, we can reforge this tarnished world yet."
He moved his hand to her head, and her vision went gold. "I, Odin Rúnatyr, hereby designate Taylor Hebert as my successor, and the first of the New Gods. Let her legends be glorious and her actions be just!"
In one glorious, headache-inducing flash of golden light, Taylor's mind expanded. More than that, she understood, now, the way the world came together, and how to press on the seams to alter it ever so slightly (or more than slightly), and what her power was, and more. Oh, so much more.
"Pisces, I'll call ye for now, lass, until ye can get to safety," came Odin's voice in her head, and Pisces smiled the smile of one who, while not safe yet, had just seen Eidolon land in between them and the villains menacing them.
Between one heartbeat and the next, Pisces' shields changed. Instead of smooth silver disks, they took on a rough-hewn appearance, maintaining their silver, all of which had at least one Futhark symbol inscribed on its surface in blood-red contrast, glowing with a dim inner golden glow.
One landed on the collar around her neck and sparked gold, and the collar clicked open. The runestone (for that is what they were, now) vanished in that flash, but seconds later, an identical copy peeled itself off of Pisces' skin and began to orbit her with the rest.
Another runestone landed on Pisces' ribs, and in its flash, stole away the break, leaving only smooth, unmarred bone.
"Freeze!" The door that Pisces had been shoved into nine days earlier slammed open, a number of troopers arrayed outside with foam sprayers. To the Pisces of yesterday, they would have been a significant obstacle, but now, she had more options.
"No," said Pisces, flicking a hand at the troopers. A quintet of runes peeled off from their orbit of her and slammed into the ground, glow intensifying and conjuring a curved barrier blocking the sprayed foam from impacting her.
Then, she turned her attention to the back wall.
"You're clear on the other side, lass. It's an outside wall," said Odin, and she nodded.
Two runes slammed into the wall, and in a massive flash of golden light (blinding all in the room save Pisces), it disintegrated with a hollow Boom!
Another set of runes assembled on Pisces' back, and a set of silver raven's wings formed on her back. She wasted no time in leaping from the hole where the wall had been, falling almost twenty feet before extending the wings and taking flight proper.
"Where to next, lass?" asked Odin thirty seconds later, shocking Pisces out of the euphoria of flight.
"Uh... to Glory Girl, I guess?"
"Onward, then, to meet our ally."
"But first, I think I need to hide my identity," said Pisces to herself. A set of six runestones alighted on her: one on each hand and foot, one on the center of her forehead, and one at the base of her sternum, and her old cloud of shields manifested itself around her, albeit arranged to not interfere with her wings.
Seven minutes later, Pisces touched down outside the Dallon household, with all four denizens already standing outside. "Pisces," said Glory Girl, "I think we have a lot to talk about."
Pisces nodded, allowing the wings to vanish and her shields to thin out. "I agree," she replied, her one eye making contact with the Alexandria package's two. "We have a great deal to talk about."
That's about it, so read, review, enjoy, and have a nice day!
-----
Nine Days and Nine Nights On Yggdrasil
-----
For the first couple of hours Taylor spent alone in the silent, pitch-black cell, Taylor lay on her side and cried, regardless of the fact that it wasn't helping her ruined eye (from the trooper who smashed her in the head to finally put her down) or her broken ribs (the result of a trooper stepping on her after she was already downed).Nine Days and Nine Nights On Yggdrasil
-----
By the time her tears had run dry, the pad they had given her to cover her eye (the only barebones concession to medical aid that had been offered, and that was because the troopers were too disturbed to keep looking at the ruin that was her eye) had been completely soaked through with blood and other, less easily recognizable fluids.
Taylor kept the pad pressed to her eye regardless, out of vanity if nothing else.
The collar around her neck shocked her every time her shields moved in anything beyond a random pattern, so she couldn't even rely on her power as anything beyond a small, cold comfort.
Her house was gone, burned down by a "careless" PRT trooper, as much as she believed that.
Her father was being held by police on charges of conspiracy to violate of the Vikare Act, which was similarly unbelievable.
She had nothing left outside this room, not really.
She sat in that room, alone and confined, with food and water delivered twice daily, for nine days and nine nights, far longer than most would have suspected it would take for a second Trigger given her original Trigger.
Of course, the event that took place exactly 216 hours after her internment in this cell wasn't a true Trigger Event. Not in the parahuman sense, at least.
So it was understandable that, when Taylor's ruined eye socket began glowing with golden light that blasted the pad off her face, none of the troopers guarding her cell quite knew how to react. Not until it was far, far too late for them to avert the catastrophe that was coming to bury ENE.
-----
"Director?" asked Vista frowning. "What happened to Pisces?""Oh, that's simple," replied the older woman, allowing herself a self-satisfied grin. "The idiot girl attacked PRT troopers in her home, so they dealt with her, and she's in the isolation cells for two weeks, then we'll see if she's willing to play ball. If not... another two weeks." The director shrugged.
"Wait," said Vista, frown visible through her visor. "Why were PRT troopers in her home?"
"Because they were executing a no-knock warrant against her. Keep up, girl," snapped Piggot, walking away.
"Why?" asked Vista, still frowning. Something didn't add up here, and she was determined to find out what.
Piggot sighed. "Because she won't get with the program and do as she's told. We're willing to forgive Shadow Stalker's... indiscretions... and causing Pisces' Trigger since she actually helps with the state of the city, but since Pisces won't..." She shrugged. "She has to think about the consequences of her actions."
Vista froze the moment she heard Piggot say "do as she's told", memories of her parents' fights roaring in her head, but not loud enough to drown out the rest of Piggot's statement.
"You..." Vista's voice was fragile. "You forced Pisces to work with the one who caused her Trigger, then threw in solitary because she wouldn't play along?"
Piggot snorted. "That's not the half of it. We got lucky and managed to recover data about a lawsuit against Winslow from her father's computer after her house burned down, so he's going down for the Vikare Act too. All because that idiotic brat won't fall in line like you good soldiers do."
"You don't care about us as people, do you. You just care about what we can do for you." At this point, tears were streaming down Vista's face.
"You swore an oath when you joined the Wards," replied Piggot, not noticing the miniscule warps in space surrounding the pint-sized Shaker, "that your duty to the city came before anything else, including yourself."
"You..." said Vista, after a moment of silence. "You're just like them.
"Like who?" snapped Piggot. "Hurry up, girl! I have a great many things to do to ensure this city remains functional, and I can't have you standing in the way of them!"
"You're just like my parents. You don't care about us, just what we can do for you." Vista glared at Piggot. "We're just like- like tools to you, aren't we."
Piggot took just long enough scrambling for a response that Vista shook her head.
"I hate you!" she screamed, then held statue-still for a moment.
"After all I've-"
"You ruined this place for me, when you made Pisces work with Shadow Stalker! I'm going to fix it!" interrupted Vista, who promptly vanished through one of her telltale spatial distortions.
"Fuck," spat Piggot. Then, she slipped her duty phone from her pocket and called security. "Lock down the building under Master/Stranger protocols. Vista is to be considered Mastered and should be detained if at all possible."
"Sorry, ma'am," came the voice on the other end of the line. "Vista just left the building."
"Dammit," she hissed, then hung up.
That was going to be a problem, especially since the brat's visor had a video camera and audio recorder that was programmed to activate whenever it was being worn. If she got to the Youth Guard, as unlikely as that alternative was, things would be bad. If she went to the news... well, things might be manageable, if-
Boom!
Piggot's head snapped up in time to see the golden light from the direction of the Rig fade, and she clenched her fists. Today looked to be getting better and better.
-----
Moments ago...
"Taylor Hebert."Moments ago...
Her head snapped up. Had she finally broken, after so long alone?"
"No, lass. Your mind stands strong yet," replied that same voice, a firm, fatherly tone to it.
Taylor turned her head, looking for the source of the voice and the sudden warm light in the room.
"Who are you?" she asked hoarsely, voice weak from lack of use.
The man she saw, a gray-bearded man old enough to be her grandfather and with an eyepatch mirroring her lost eye, smiled kindly at her, radiating a warm golden glow. "I am a man of many names. I have gone by Bölverk, Fjölnir, Ganglari, Jörmunr, Vadderung, and many more besides, but the name you're most likely to know me by is Odin One-Eye."
Taylor's remaining eye widened. "What?"
The gray-bearded man chuckled. "Yes, the Odin of the Nords. Worry not, child. Now is not your time to die, for if it was you'd be seeing one of the Valkyrjur and not myself. No, this is... well. If you'll indulge an old man to tell you a story from his youth, I think that would help you understand the situation greatly."
"Uh... sure?" Taylor had no way to know what was happening, but indulging powerful parahumans was always a good thing to do.
"In that case, allow me to tell you the tale of how I learned the runes." The old man's eye went distant. "I was watching the Norns work their powers, one day, and I realized that, if I could use the runecraft that they could. I would be better able to serve my people. So, I asked what I would need to do in order to earn the runes, and they told me thusly:
"A price must all pay, for the runes' wisdom
From Yggdrasil shall ye sway, no others nearby
In blood are all runes forged, and your own ye must provide,
Then will your mind have surged, and the world ye shall ken."
Odin smiled. "Seven days it took me to puzzle out what they meant by that. Once I learned, I hanged myself from Yggdrasil-" here, he gestured to the collar around Taylor's neck, "-implaled myself upon Gungnir to pay the price of blood-" he gestured to her eye and broken ribs. "-and gazed into the depths of the Well of Urdr. Nine days and nine nights did I remain there," said the venerable warrior, "and as the tenth day dawned, the runes judged me worthy, and the spirit of the last Runekeeper appeared to me. Old Mimir gave me his knowledge, his powers, and I returned to Asgard a better king."
"So..." Taylor frowned. "Am I to be your successor?"
Odin nodded. "Aye, lass. You've paid your price, you've earned the runes, with the help of your Administrator friend. My time has passed, passed long before the Warrior from beyond the stars came. I, of all people, did not need to survive Ragnarök, and yet here I am. It's high time someone younger became the Runekeeper."
"So... what happens now?" asked Taylor, playing along.
"Oh, simple, lass. You awaken with the knowledge of the runes and the realms, and my spirit to whisper wisdom in your ear. You, now, shall become Rúnatyr." Odin raised his hand. "Are you ready?"
"And... and then what?"
"And then... well, it's your choice. Once you are the Runekeeper, the power is yours to use. I am just an advisor."
Taylor thought for a moment. "I... I still want to be a hero, but... with what the PRT did... I'm not sure I can..."
Odin hesitated for a moment, then wrapped the trembling girl in a hug. "Not all heroes are the same, as they are, lass. Your Midgard... well, the runes can make it better, if you so choose."
Taylor took in a deep breath, then nodded. "Alright. I'll do it."
Odin smiled, then patted her shoulder. "You have a warrior's spirit, lass. With it, we can reforge this tarnished world yet."
He moved his hand to her head, and her vision went gold. "I, Odin Rúnatyr, hereby designate Taylor Hebert as my successor, and the first of the New Gods. Let her legends be glorious and her actions be just!"
In one glorious, headache-inducing flash of golden light, Taylor's mind expanded. More than that, she understood, now, the way the world came together, and how to press on the seams to alter it ever so slightly (or more than slightly), and what her power was, and more. Oh, so much more.
-----
The young woman who awoke in that pitch-black cell bore a great resemblance to Pisces, in the same way that the Champion who stood on Mt. Silver bore a great resemblance to that young boy who set out from Pallet Town years ago."Pisces, I'll call ye for now, lass, until ye can get to safety," came Odin's voice in her head, and Pisces smiled the smile of one who, while not safe yet, had just seen Eidolon land in between them and the villains menacing them.
Between one heartbeat and the next, Pisces' shields changed. Instead of smooth silver disks, they took on a rough-hewn appearance, maintaining their silver, all of which had at least one Futhark symbol inscribed on its surface in blood-red contrast, glowing with a dim inner golden glow.
One landed on the collar around her neck and sparked gold, and the collar clicked open. The runestone (for that is what they were, now) vanished in that flash, but seconds later, an identical copy peeled itself off of Pisces' skin and began to orbit her with the rest.
Another runestone landed on Pisces' ribs, and in its flash, stole away the break, leaving only smooth, unmarred bone.
"Freeze!" The door that Pisces had been shoved into nine days earlier slammed open, a number of troopers arrayed outside with foam sprayers. To the Pisces of yesterday, they would have been a significant obstacle, but now, she had more options.
"No," said Pisces, flicking a hand at the troopers. A quintet of runes peeled off from their orbit of her and slammed into the ground, glow intensifying and conjuring a curved barrier blocking the sprayed foam from impacting her.
Then, she turned her attention to the back wall.
"You're clear on the other side, lass. It's an outside wall," said Odin, and she nodded.
Two runes slammed into the wall, and in a massive flash of golden light (blinding all in the room save Pisces), it disintegrated with a hollow Boom!
Another set of runes assembled on Pisces' back, and a set of silver raven's wings formed on her back. She wasted no time in leaping from the hole where the wall had been, falling almost twenty feet before extending the wings and taking flight proper.
"Where to next, lass?" asked Odin thirty seconds later, shocking Pisces out of the euphoria of flight.
"Uh... to Glory Girl, I guess?"
"Onward, then, to meet our ally."
"But first, I think I need to hide my identity," said Pisces to herself. A set of six runestones alighted on her: one on each hand and foot, one on the center of her forehead, and one at the base of her sternum, and her old cloud of shields manifested itself around her, albeit arranged to not interfere with her wings.
Seven minutes later, Pisces touched down outside the Dallon household, with all four denizens already standing outside. "Pisces," said Glory Girl, "I think we have a lot to talk about."
Pisces nodded, allowing the wings to vanish and her shields to thin out. "I agree," she replied, her one eye making contact with the Alexandria package's two. "We have a great deal to talk about."
-----
That's it! Hopefully I can get Ch. 6 out soon, but if my muse keeps trying to go for Star Wars I might have another active story before that happens. We'll see.That's about it, so read, review, enjoy, and have a nice day!
Sandy River DL
(Verified Destroyer Leader)
- Location
- Lake Michigan
- Pronouns
- Her/She
That's more or less Implacable in a nutshell. Stupid and illegal actions by people who really should know better, justified by supposed necessity despite actually making things worse.
Runic meanings
- Pronouns
- She/They
Just so I don't have to hunt it down again, and so y'all can take a gander at it, I'm using the Elder Futhark table from this website. I'm working on the next update now, ETA hopefully within a couple of days.