Safety and Confidentiality would seem like it'd go hand in hand. One can't hack an account they can't find.
How much verification is required is probably related to how much money is being moved. A few thousand wouldn't require much, but most of his bank account probably would. NM should be able to easily afford some good tinker-tech voice recognition which could probably see through Emma's attempts at copying it from Coils mind, and there are several other possible options what with the resources NM has at his disposal.
Edit: An explanation for what I'm meaning for the Voice Recognition. I'm certain that Emma can copy his voice well enough to fool any person, but machines can have higher levels of percision than people. Lets say the machine knows HOW he says it, like maybe he tends to say his r's slightly longer than average. Coil himself wouldn't know that feature of himself, and unless we hear Coil say it and copy that memory exactly we probably wouldn't know to extend our r's slightly. And this is the low end of hte spectrum, it's possible that he has tinker-tech that, after having the person say some randomized phrase, it can take how he said it to figure out the construction of his vocal cords. Given it's a randomized phrase, we can't even have him say it ahead of time for us to copy. The only way around this I can think of is actual hacking, or to Master him. Neither of which we can (easily) do right now.
And even if we manage to take the money, there's still the problem of Coil being alive to complain. He looks at his balance, and sees a big whopping 0, and he'll of course say
"What happened to all my freaking money!"
"You transfered it to this account."
"No I didn't!"
"One moment... It appears your account was hacked. One moment, there, we've returned your funds and apologize for the inconvenience. We'll put in measures to prevent this from happening again."
After all, all of our money is still in NMs system, it'd be simple, and pretty much expected, for him to fix errors like this. If he didn't, I don't see why anyone would trust him.
@Z488411 can we have a ruling of how did coil and the oni gang interacted with the number man? We are going in circles and there are arguments for either security in obscurity and paranoid Swiss banking.
I'm still thinking about it. I'm leaning toward stealing from NMs accounts not being too easy in part because if Coil can build bases like that and hire so many people not to mention what Tattletale had available to her in canon, we are talking about multiple millions. We could steal some and mess with his computer but to empty his accounts entirely, I think NM would probably only concede the point after mastering him. I'll elaborate on that once we have more chances to explore the benefits of higher level telepathy. In part because they would like to see the Coil experiment continue. Letting it fail because of one event that may well be a fluke seems counterprouctive. Once they figure out what's going wrong with their precogs, they may change their minds, but for now I believe Cauldron would prefer to keep Coil in the game.
On the other hand, we should have no problem taking over Oni-Lee's or Kantoku's accounts.
I believe that, for NM, all's fair in the Money Game. You managed to get not only the accounts details but their passwords from a Villain without him realizing? GG mate, keep it you've earned it.
He's not only a Cauldron affiliate, he's an ex Slaughterhouse 9 member! You think he cares about fairness? Nope. Not the tiniest bit.
And do you think people would believe a two bit villain no one cares about (ffs some thought he was powerless) against the go-to (is that even Canon or fanon?) Independent Capes' accountant?
Nah, everyone will think Tommy dearest fucked up.
And really if we don't think we can trust an unknown like NM, we could contact a Cape specialized lawyer. Someone who would know how parahuman bank accounts work and could help counsel in the legal labyrinth that is taxes and how to play them. Someone we could meet in person in order to lightly scan their motives and loyalty.
Heck maybe there are actual cape accountants that manage an independent's money. Maybe Faultline's group work with one, as they are semi-legal (very loosely ok, but no one fucks with their known business not even the authorities) mercenaries and not full out villains. After all, in Canon we learned about NM because Coil had ties with Cauldron and thus used their affiliated money-manager. Not all capes can say that, so most likely there are accountants in Bet who saw the potential new market of "vigilante money making" and decided to help parahumans with their banking issues. So maybe they'd get paid nicely doing so, but at least they can help make the money legally your Cape Persona's own. If we stay on the right side of the law, we don't need to plunge into Bet's DeepWeb-lite network. We're not obvious villain's who earned our riches from crimes, we're not wanted criminals, so what if the provenance of our fortune isn't clear? Better be us using it than the guys we most likely stole it from.
I believe that in Bet, they'd rather vigilantes be happy and legal with their dubious money than annoy them about the hows and wheres and push hero-types into full-blown villainy. In such a fucked up world, you learn to be pragmatic.
Faultline will help us get a good lawyer and we will need to do so. Carol Dallon is another option, but she kind of doesn't like us for the whole master powers and what we did to Vicky thing and would not be ok with some of the extralegal things we may or may not be planning.
In this fic, there are a number of ways for both vigilantes and villains to do banking. Canon or no canon, although cauldron capes are more likely to employ NM.
I don't think he cares about fairness, I think he cares about reputation. The general fanon message I've been getting is EVERYONE uses him for his banking. To get such a widespread popularity, that means people have to trust him. If he's knowingly letting clients steal from each other, I don't see him being trusted.
Well, I thought NM accounts were more like "impossible to hack" and "no questions asked about origin of money" and that was why capes used them. Nothing more complicated. NM is actively a Cauldron helper, he help them make money and look for willing tests subjects for their vials. He got no time to deal with all the accounts he opened for capes. He created a place impossible to hack with good security and not under scrutiny. Then he gave it to you, that's your toy now if you break tough luck.
So someone managing to get all necessary details to hijack them? It's your own damn fault. A bank will help if there's system errors or a hacker got in the banks system to reach your accounts, but if someone saw your passwords and took your card number? That's your own damn fault, no blaming the bank agency.
Number Man is plotting with the others to take over the world save humanity, he manages the financial side of Cauldron. That's a full time job even if you're gifted at it. He most likely help new capes open account to keep an eye on new and upcoming parahumans. For Vial Capes, that's just a way to keep an eye on them and when Cauldron needs more funding they know which of their experiments to ask for which favors.
He doesn't manages those accounts full time.
In this fic, there are a number of ways for both vigilantes and villains to do banking. Canon or no canon, although cauldron capes are more likely to employ NM.
Technically Harbinger was part of the Slaughterhouse back when King ran the show, and it was closer to a traditional cape gang (think Merchants or Teeth) than the traveling band of murder hobos it became under Jack Slash after he and Harbinger managed to take down King.
I wonder how the takedown of the Horikoshi -kai will affect Cedric. The remaining Asian gangs will probably fight over their territory so maybe it won't be safe for him to go running with us? Actually, it might not be safe for unpowered Taylor either, considering where she lives. Looking back at Chapter 1.7, the Yue Hua are the only ones specifically mentioned to demand protection money, though it wouldn't be surprising if the others did as well. They're described as attacking their enemies from the shadows so it's possible that there won't actually be open cape fights in their territory.
The power vacuum might either help or hurt Cedric's family. The gang might be too distracted to really pay attention to them, or they might demand more in protection money to get either more monetary resources or new recruits when people can't pay up. As of last chapter, we were 70% of the way to a new mask so we might want to start saving points in case we can suddenly recruit Cedric. We should need about 5 points as of next chapter, which also happens to be the same amount of points needed to call for backup so we should probably be trying to save that many points anyway.
Well a lot depend's on how much of a fight there is over the turf.
Odds are that there are 2-3 border gangs who will be competing for that space.
That said given how fast and hard we took them down if one gang acts fast enough they may be able to secure the zone pretty fast. Especially if whatever normal gang members weren't caught tonight scatter, change allegiance, or otherwise aren't able to slow them down much.
This would likely be the gang with the better moles in the PRT/Cops, or failing that the better movers.
If no gang manages a fast grab you could easily see a fight break out, but geography comes into play. If one of the competing gangs is under enough pressure from neighbors, especially one of the gangs near the empire border, they may decide not to push the issue if they don't manage a decent fast grab, because they don't want prolonged combat on too many fronts. Especially if they think Hastur and Sciona might be looking for their next target.
Ironically the best thing for Cedric is the worst thing for us. The asian gangs all agree to stop fighting each other until they can crush either the empire or the new heroes wrecking their shit.
In order to prevent this I suggest nailing the empire or someone else next so they don't think we're specifically targeting them.
I mean if we do well enough they'll unite against anyway, but if we can put that off for a bit we'll have more time to get ready for that, and drain their capes.
If anything we might wanna hit the merchants next...
Unless...
As much as it pains me not to stomp on them, maybe we should leave them be for a bit. Focus on the Proto-abb gangs and the empire.
Maybe even leave the occasional small clue for the gangs to find that implicate a Merchant connection?
I mean it'd take a lot for them to believe it, but just muddying the water would be good and if we can convince them to waste time and resources going after the merchants, it might get them to make moves against the druggies we can capitalize on, such as drawing out their capes.
EDIT: Of course if the territory borders empire or merchant holdings we may have an issue. The non-asian gang will almost certainly make a play and that will escalate the conflict and may well unify the asian gangs, somewhat at least.
Of course then we might be able to pacify the zone by patrolling it and coming down hard on any gang activity in the area, but that means getting into a protracted fight we aren't set up for unless we can get new wave to help us out.
EDIT: Of course if the territory borders empire or merchant holdings we may have an issue. The non-asian gang will almost certainly make a play and that will escalate the conflict and may well unify the asian gangs, somewhat at least.
Of course then we might be able to pacify the zone by patrolling it and coming down hard on any gang activity in the area, but that means getting into a protracted fight we aren't set up for unless we can get new wave to help us out.
I'd rather avoid patrolling the zone because then it might look like we took the gang out for their territory. I'd prefer focus on the Merchants next too, but maybe if we have to take out the Yue Hua, we can say that we found out that they were pressuring people into the gang in order to fight for the human trafficking gang's former territory and that we felt responsible? It would make us look pretty naive and might suggest that we're based in the Asian gangs' territory though, to come across 2 separate gangs.
A possibility, but it kind of leaves us back where we started, except now there's two gangs worth of territory up for grabs. Which doubles the odds of the merchies or the empire getting involved.
See the problem with going too hard at either the empire or the asian gangs is that whichever one we nail the other will go around fucking up people while we're busy.
Lung would actually simplify the problem if he showed up by vastly reducing the number of capes in the asian gangs, we could focus on nibbling on the empire after taking out his luitenants.
Taking out the merchants first is another viable tactic since they generally don't occupy territory the other gangs care much about anyway.
The big priorities in my mind, are avoiding a major push by ensuring that one gang doesn't get too much of an advantage, and preventing break outs to keep our work form being wasted.
A possibility, but it kind of leaves us back where we started, except now there's two gangs worth of territory up for grabs. Which doubles the odds of the merchies or the empire getting involved.
See the problem with going too hard at either the empire or the asian gangs is that whichever one we nail the other will go around fucking up people while we're busy.
Lung would actually simplify the problem if he showed up by vastly reducing the number of capes in the asian gangs, we could focus on nibbling on the empire after taking out his luitenants.
Taking out the merchants first is another viable tactic since they generally don't occupy territory the other gangs care much about anyway.
The big priorities in my mind, are avoiding a major push by ensuring that one gang doesn't get too much of an advantage, and preventing break outs to keep our work form being wasted.
Yeah, I've been wondering what to do about the Empire. They're strong enough to take on everyone else including New Wave, and we're taking out some of their opponents without really hurting them. Who knows, maybe Hookwolf's cell will attack us for capturing Cricket and we can capture them? Or maybe New Wave will call upon us to help fight them in hopes of making a lasting difference? One reason why I want to set up a police informant identity is so that we can feed the police, and indirectly the PRT and Protectorate, information on the Empire so that they can fight the Empire smarter while we're taking on some of the smaller gangs. Hopefully, capturing some of the smaller gangs will also reduce pressure on the police/PRT/Protectorate and not just the Empire.
As far as the empire goes our priority is ensuring that Cricket doesn't escape. Which probably means finding out their rescue plans and being on site to fuck them up, and/or tipping off the PRoTectorate. IF we can ensure Cricket gets tried and put away for a while we weaken the Empire's image, and their rescue attempt will hopefully leave a few more of their capes in our clutches.
This will then probably free us up for a while to nail another of the asian gangs, or crash in on a few merchant capes.
The Empire is right now the single largest faction so while we should maintain a rota the balance should be skewed slightly to keep them from being able to take advantage of our activities.
We may also want to look into co-ordinating with Protectorate heroes or someone besides new wave. Again I don't expect people to honestly be fooled into thinking we aren't the major driving force behind any new push against the gangs, but slowing down how quickly they become secure in that assumption is to our benefit.
As far as the empire goes our priority is ensuring that Cricket doesn't escape. Which probably means finding out their rescue plans and being on site to fuck them up, and/or tipping off the PRoTectorate. IF we can ensure Cricket gets tried and put away for a while we weaken the Empire's image, and their rescue attempt will hopefully leave a few more of their capes in our clutches.
This will then probably free us up for a while to nail another of the asian gangs, or crash in on a few merchant capes.
The Empire is right now the single largest faction so while we should maintain a rota the balance should be skewed slightly to keep them from being able to take advantage of our activities.
We may also want to look into co-ordinating with Protectorate heroes or someone besides new wave. Again I don't expect people to honestly be fooled into thinking we aren't the major driving force behind any new push against the gangs, but slowing down how quickly they become secure in that assumption is to our benefit.
I'm pretty sure that Cricket was already rescued. I don't remember what chapter it was, but the Empire set up some sort of diversion while they rescued her. The Merchants were involved somehow, and Alabaster and Mush were captured.
Nailing kaiser sounds good, but I'm not sure we could pull it off since he's not likely to be able to isolate easily, and fighting an experienced shaker with decent body guards is not a fun time.
Nailing kaiser sounds good, but I'm not sure we could pull it off since he's not likely to be able to isolate easily, and fighting an experienced shaker with decent body guards is not a fun time.
Enter invisible, mind knock out on kaiser, Emma enters with a couple flashbangs and decoy illusions, grab kaiser and turn him invisible, flee carrying the guy (the only flyer is purity and I doubt she can detect invisisquid), then...
A) mind control the guy and let him be broken out of transport so he can sabotage from inside
B) deliver and prevent escapes so they devolve into infighting for top spot
Although we are not built for staying power we're better as ambush predators that shadow stalker. the problem is so far we've been trying to fight defensive battles to protect a vulnerable objective.
Nailing kaiser sounds good, but I'm not sure we could pull it off since he's not likely to be able to isolate easily, and fighting an experienced shaker with decent body guards is not a fun time.
Actually, now would probably be a good time to capture the Merchants before they can rescue Mush. One cape doesn't make much of a difference for the Empire, but it makes a much bigger difference for the Merchants.
If we can get a police informant identity set up though, we could try to let them know about any attempt to rescue Alabaster so that they could work with the PRT and Protectorate to stop it. I'm not sure if we have time to set up the identity and provide a number of reliable tips first though. The PRT might also have a tip hotline, but they have no reason to trust a random first-time informant either, especially since it might be a decoy.
Enter invisible, mind knock out on kaiser, Emma enters with a couple flashbangs and decoy illusions, grab kaiser and turn him invisible, flee carrying the guy (the only flyer is purity and I doubt she can detect invisisquid), then...
A) mind control the guy and let him be broken out of transport so he can sabotage from inside
B) deliver and prevent escapes so they devolve into infighting for top spot
Although we are not built for staying power we're better as ambush predators that shadow stalker. the problem is so far we've been trying to fight defensive battles to protect a vulnerable objective.
If we attack Kaiser at home, then we are violating the unwritten rules and letting the villains declare open season on us with little help from the heroes. If we attack Kaiser in his parahuman identity, then he'll have at least his 2 parahuman bodyguards and probably whoever he was meeting with as well. They might not be able to fly, but they can certainly chase a screaming Kaiser. Kaiser is also pretty heavy with his metal armor so I don't know if we can fly with him yet. While capturing Kaiser would be useful in breaking up the Empire, I'm not sure we can pull it off right now.
I mean if we had a brute mask we could try things like that. Hastur cloaks people and mind-whammies the target. Sciona provides distractions and runs interference. The brute, Enkidu maybe, grabs the target and everyone can GTFO.
What energy you did have was put into pushing Calm, warmth, and hope to the people underneath you and pulling an ammunition and magazine pile out of your gun pile. Pushing back the numb hysteria. The realisations setting in and maybe even some of the memories. You could have pushed those memories back too, but that would be too much.
They couldn't find out.
They couldn't.
So the best you could do was try and make them feel better. Maybe take a bit of it away, even if they were still dazed, even if reality would only set in very slowly.
Emma was doing her best to suppress the shivering. The memories.
A quick request had her included in your efforts as well. But there were more questions. Brandish's grin more feral than not. Glory Girl's fierce but simple sense of justice. Grue's conflict to the side. Panacea was rubbing her arms through her robes as if she were cold. Horror spreading out from her, but you didn't dare touch her mind without permission or request. Not after what you had done to Victoria.
"Hastur, would you mind including Panacea, Shielder, Laserdream and perhaps Lady Photon as well?" They did not feel good either, but you had to wait, while Emma looked for confirmation. Felt two hesitant nods being given, after a moment followed by a third you knew you wouldn't have gotten if she weren't so desperate to get away from those feelings. You slowly started sending your warmth, calm and hope to them as well, before projecting Grue's location to Emma. Manpower, Lady Photon and Brandish were thinking about what to say already. You had to choose what to say too. Maybe even what to do with the video inside that camera on your collar. Lady Photon looked up at you. One arm around her husband.
"Hastur, what are they being included in?"
'Calm. I am attempting to combat their fears.'
She hesitated. You could feel memories rise up again, the way she was holding her stomach contents back. Trying not to shake. But also her concern for her children. What you were doing to them, even if they didn't look as shaken anymore. "Then include me as well." Just to make sure everyone was safe. If it was not, she would be able to tell for herself.
You had no problem broadcasting to her as well, while Emma, Siona, was talking to Grue.
"Grue, before we decide what to say," Before Armsmaster and Miss Militia got to him, "Do you want any credit? How much would you like us to mention?"
To say he was conflicted, had been for the whole operation was an understatement. He was supposed to be a mercenary. A thug, hired help for whatever was needed just as long as it wasn't anything too illegal. He would never kill anyone of he had a choice. He would never do what these people did. But he couldn't stand by. No matter how much he told himself this was business, he couldn't just watch. Grue had helped them out onto the street, he had helped as best as he could and tried to calm everyone down. They would remember him. He had no intention to ever associate himself with this kind of activity. But what would it do for his reputation?
What would his father think?
Aisha? What if any of this happened to her?
You could feel his tension. You didn't have a lot of time left.
Felt the way Grue was fighting himself, but the image of Aisha was superimposed over one of the younger girls. His fists clenched. "Tell them I helped."
He took a deep breath. "I left because of my other activities, but there are some things I can't stand aside for." Couldn't watch and did not at all mind losing clientele if those were the jobs he might have been hired for. Nodding at Siona, invisible or not, he started walking away, while she went back to talk to New Wave.
"Grue left, but said we shouldn't hide his involvement." Her eyes turned toward the money pile. "I believe this should be donated to be split equally among the victims. Hastur?" You nodded. Siona paused for a moment before continuing. "Brandish, do you think you would be able to set something up for the money we are, well Hastur is, donating or do you know anyone who could? Neither of us is an expert on charitable donations." And New Wave operated as a kind of charity, didn't it? "Also is there anything you would like us not to say?"
Lady Photon responded. "Don't mention the exact nature of your arrangement with Grue. Whether it's fair or not, it will be better for everyone if the Protectorate don't have confirmation of whether money changed hands, regardless of what you did." Or didn't. You hadn't exactly mentioned it, but she had been suspecting. Siona just nodded.
After that, you could already hear them stopping behind the PRT vans. Police and ambulances as well, blocking off the street, slowly starting to pick their way through your work.
It was probably a very good thing those on the ground weren't conscious enough to influence you at the moment.
You didn't have anything else to focus on but the emotions you were projecting and it wasn't nearly enough to distract you from Armsmaster's and Miss Militia's thoughts.
After all you were an unknown and despite everything, you didn't exactly look nonthreatening. The gun, money and ammo piles didn't exactly help. You were just lucky that Siona did in fact look quite heroic and New Wave was with you. Even if they already knew why you were there, they couldn't trust you. Miss Militia wanted to avoid a conflict, but Armsmaster obviously didn't care.
He was marching toward Lady Photon directly, eyeing the expressions of the people you were projecting to suspiciously. He knew well enough that they shouldn't be nearly as calm. There were paramedics a short distance away, standing their ground, policemen right next to them, while their colleagues picked up the unconscious gang members. But the emergency wasn't immediate enough to as much as try approaching before the Heroes had done their piece. You could feel the shock radiating from both of them though. They hadn't expected it, although you knew at least Armsmaster had suspected something like this might be going on, but never had enough proof or motivation to step in. Not with the rest of his workload and projects to be finished. What you felt from him was frustration. Frustration, anger and resentment. Miss Militia's awkwardness easily faded into the background in comparison.
"Lady Photon. Manpower. Brandish." He looked up at you under his helmet, then flicked to Siona. "We would like you to give a statement concerning the arrest of the Parahuman Oni-Lee and the as of yet unidentified other Parahuman already in custody as well as your operations tonight." And he was angry at you, for doing what he couldn't, and ruining his reputation by comparison alone. Angry at Dad, because all of his devices would fail against him, for finding Coil a supervillain under his city he had never been able to detect. Ruining his career, making him seem unimportant in comparison, and most of all for making Dragon abandon him. You really didn't think he only saw her as a friend, even if Armsmaster probably wasn't aware of it.
Miss Militia was focused entirely on you and Siona, while Brandish replied: "You will receive our full statements tomorrow. The unknown Parahuman has been identified by Hastur to be Kantoku and was working with the Horikoshi-kai when we encountered him. He has shown some Mover and Brute abilities, but no other obvious powers. I believe everything else can wait until tomorrow."
"Not quite. Unknown Parahumans, descend and identify yourselves." He was staring at you, just you while he said so. Siona it seemed was normal enough, heroic enough, but you were different. Miss Militia was thinking you two might be on the same team, seeing as you wore the same masks, and hadn't fully drawn any other conclusions yet, but Armsmaster was already convinced there was Tinkertech involved here. Nonetheless, you really didn't think starting a fight with or getting on your Dad's colleagues' bad side was a good idea. Even if you couldn't exactly make yourself feel gravity again, you could descend to almost ground level and bow at the same moment Siona nodded.
"I am Siona, it's a pleasure to meet you." She stepped forward and extended one hand, but Armsmaster was frozen in place. Going through all the information he had on her and the note left by an invisible person. Already labelling her as dangerous and potentially unstable. Utterly uncaring about the fact that he left her standing there for half a minute. If you hadn't kept her updated, Siona might have said something to make things worse.
Your 'You may call me Hastur' went almost entirely unnoticed by Armsmaster, although Miss Militia focused on the letters as soon as they appeared. The weapon currently held behind her back shaped to a machine pistol entirely on instinct. She didn't trust you. Nor did she like you or what she had done, but she was trying her best not to escalate the situation, especially since you were with New Wave. She was the one who nodded slowly at you, all the while trying to keep her eyes on all of your tentacles at once, while Armsmaster finally decided to shake Siona's hand.
"You may think you are Heroes, but if you decide to cause the same damage we observed on your first appearance again, don't think we will be able to count you as such." He was trying to fixate Siona through his visor, with moderate success. You had to admit, being afraid of him was somewhat difficult, with very nearly full control over his suit and weapons. And you would definitely have to go over all of that again in your memories. It was mind-boggling, just how much stuff he had managed to squeeze into it. You were definitely a bit jealous.
Siona nodded and replied, before he could get around to making more than a brief glance toward your words. "My apologies. We were still inexperienced and Cricket did not leave us as many options as we would have liked. We will try to do better of course." Her eyes narrowed to even more extreme sickles as she said so. Sparkling and full of life. Tail slowly swishing back and forth behind her, though not quite as languidly as your tendrils were moving at the moment.
Miss Militia coughed. "Nice to meet you, Hastur." She was still confused as to why you had decided to write in the air, but definitely accepted this portion of your powers easily enough, especially since you were flying anyway.
"Hastur is unfortunately mute, but as you can see, he is perfectly able to make do. I assume you would like a statement from us as well?" While you smiled, Armsmaster was doing his best to nod. "Would it be possible to deliver our statements tomorrow as well, or should we just tell you here? We're both quite tired by now and these people need medical treatment."
Miss Militia replied for him, before Armsmaster could. Which, considering his thoughts on the matter, was probably a good thing. "You could also come to the PRT headquarters to give your statement there. We have beds available if need be, but we can also take your statement here. As new independents, I hope you can understand why it's difficult to trust you to come in for it later."
Siona produced a sigh, shook out her hair and mentally asked you to make sure her story would match the one New Wave was intending to tell.
"I understand. It's simply an upsetting story to tell. I suppose it started when Hastur went out to fly maybe two weeks ago, to get a better idea of the area." You nodded along with her, tendrils coiling more tightly as you did so."I suppose I should say one of his abilities lets him feel the emotions of those around him and when he passed over this place… It affected him a lot. It may not be perfectly precise, but I hope you can understand, how a place with so much fear and pain would attract his attention. Hastur and to a lesser extent I went to have a closer look after that. We started making observations, and gathering information, but until yesterday, we just weren't able to do anything and avoid something like the fight with Cricket or much worse. We met Grue earlier – he will be gone by now, I think – but we only had any real chance after meeting New Wave and asked them as well as Grue if they would help us put a permanent end to this." she looked over to Lady Photon.
It was not a perfect report by any means but it would do. And disguise anything you left out as simple mistakes. At least the police and paramedics had no problems going through while you were still talking. Having a look at everyone's injuries with Brandish making sure all evidence would be recorded properly, and Lady Photon talking to the Paramedics and Police as well as keeping an eye on everything together with her husband.
Siona continued. "After that, I'm sure New Wave will tell you the same thing. Hastur used his invisibility to hide all of us and we used our plans to know where to go. He opened the -"
"Hastur used his invisibility to hide all of you?"Armsmaster's hand was clenched around his halberd, but Siona just nodded along, while you let both of you flicker in and out of invisibility for less than a second.
"He can extend it to more than just himself. Hastur?"
'I am able to hide perhaps ten people at most.' Not including yourself, but the very thought of you and Siona walking around invisibly, or even more people doing so with no means of detecting you, because Armsmaster had just confirmed it did work for all forms of light and your flight was entirely silent… They seemed to care about that even more than what you had done tonight. Armsmaster was still going through scenarios in his head, power ratings, Piggot's response, until Miss Militia put one hand on his shoulder.
"We may talk about that later. Please continue." She wasn't quite as unnerved, but even more than that, she would follow protocol and unlike Armsmaster was actually trying to treat you as well as she could. Even if she would go through her memories later and try to come up with possibilities and solutions too.
"As I said, Hasttur used his invisibility to hide all of us. As I'm sure you know, we went after the outliers first. Hastur opened the windows and doors, while Lady Photon and Shielder I believe got into position to protect people while Hastur took their guns and the rest of us took them down. Hastur was on overwatch, making sure no phone calls would be made, and to use his emotional projection ability to overload anyone that everyone else couldn't handle. We ran into problems with Kantoku being present in one of the locations, but managed to take him down without too much damage. I used my Striker power to render all of them unconscious afterwards. It may be effective, but unfortunately it's not instantaneous." Her hair swished in tune with her tail. "They should stay out for another seven hours or so, by the way, without any damage. Anyway, Brandish called the police, Hastur managed to block almost all of the calls and then we went to apply almost the same strategy here. Glory Girl and Manpower went to draw out Oni-Lee, Lady Photon, Laserdream and Shielder went to protect the victims, Panacea was waiting somewhere where she couldn't get shot, though I'm not sure where exactly. Grue went with Glory Girl and Manpower, because Oni-Lee's power is based on sight."
You were pretty sure only Miss Militia's hand was keeping Armsmaster from asking a dozen questions and he was definitely currently busy making an alphabetical list on his helmet interface.
"Someone did manage to alert them, although I'm sure they didn't get anywhere close to all the information. Oni-Lee didn't go where we intended and Hastur wasn't able to get all the guns ahead of time, but Grue managed to cover him and negate his power anyway. Hastur used his emotional projection to overload him, to let me take him down. Suffice to say after that things went smoothly enough." You prodded her shoulder. "With a little help from Hastur messing with their aim and taking down anyone he could to make things easier and a lot of help from New Wave to protect people and make all of this possible of course. New Wave's shields and Brute abilities are absolutely amazing. Grue was helping with both some of the fighting and to get people out too and I think without Panacea some of these gang members would not have gone straight to jail." After that the very overworked authorities had been called again.
"I will recite to ensure I'm understanding you correctly. Hastur is able to prevent phone calls, open windows, detect firearms and remove them and project emotions powerfully enough to cause unconsciousness at range?"
She didn't have much choice but to nod. "He can sense objects around him, including mobile phones and manipulate them up to a certain weight. He can't put a lot of force behind it, but it's enough to open some windows and doors. His emotional projection ability won't put anyone down for more than twenty seconds or so, but he can, yes."
"Whereas your own power is a longer lasting Striker ability."
"Of course, I do have some other powers too, but they're not really relevant here. You can ask New Wave about them later, but unless you need anything else, we would really like to go and ensure everyone gets to the hospital safely. Or failing that try to get at least some sleep tonight."
"One moment." Miss Militia was watching people quite carefully and she definitely hadn't missed how surprisingly upbeat everyone was, given the situation. Even if you weren't projecting enough to override anything, almost everyone looked much too relaxed. "I'm surprised you can deal with this situation so calmly, or rather everyone here is dealing with this situation so calmly."
"Oh. Um. Hastur is helping calm everyone down. We were afraid after coming out of something like this…." she shuddered.
"Siona requested for me and some of our younger members to be included, with their agreement. It's not overpowering, but I should thank you." Lady Photon jumped in. Because it was helping. Helping her keep it together and helping everyone else keep it together until they were home and could talk about it. Until all of those people were at hospital and hopefully got someone else helping them instead.
'You are welcome. I'm sorry I can't do more.'
Miss Militia didn't seem as pleased, but she could at least see the benefit. Armsmaster seemed to think of it as a Master effect first and everything else second. And was somewhat ironically considering making a technological version. Nonetheless she nodded.
"I hope this will clear things up for you."
Miss Militia fixated her again. "With New Wave's testimony and if you were willing to send us footage from that camera of yours..." she eyes it speculatively. "I don't see any more reason to keep you."
'The camera should not contain much useful footage I'm afraid. I never entered the buildings myself. New Wave will be able to tell you much more than it ever could.'
She pulled out a card, while Armsmaster was looking over to her unhappily. Technically he was the leader of the Protectorate, but both of them knew she was much better with people and starting an argument here would not make them look good. "Please feel free to contact me with the details any time and if you could make a more detailed statement of what you found, that would be very helpful too, but we won't keep you any longer. Despite the trouble, we are very grateful to see more Heroes in the city."
You looked over to Emma and sent the question. Neither of you were tired, but the Paramedics wouldn't let you come. They didn't need you anymore, the gun pile was being confiscated and you had Oni-Lee's and Kantoku's bank and credit card details. And also a pile of money, to be equally distributed between all of their victims, which you definitely would not leave behind. Although you couldn't split it right now, you knew their names, even if you were trying to stay distant to stay in control. The entire place was still wearing on you. Being gone was starting to sound amazing and you knew, New Wave felt the same way, although Brandish was giving statements to the Police. You would write one and send it off too. Just not now.
The money would go toward helping them. You would send it or set up a charity, but just handing it out, without everyone even present didn't feel right.
A small nod from Emma later, you were both invisible again.
Dad would be worried sick. Emma had gotten hurt. The sheer feelings of Pain, the Terror, hopelessness, resentment, everything… you won. You won, but you still couldn't think about it without it trying to overwhelm you all over again.
Wrapping Emma in your cape, carrying her up with you despite the way it was approaching your weight limit made you feel a little better. Her warmth, just Emma being with you made everything feel just a bit better. As if it would be okay somehow. She was still there. She was getting better and if she could… it wasn't the same, but you had to think those people could get better too. Somehow.
Dad was still awake.
Of course he was.
You opened the garden door silently, money floating behind you, and put Emma down inside.
Tried to put Emma down inside, but no matter what sort of face she had shown, she needed this just as much as you did. You let your invisibility slip away, when you undid your bond with Aletheia and allowed her to fall off your face. Your arms still around Emma. Just Emma now. Her mask was falling off too, projecting its body in mid air. And somehow, neither of you had more than a few red marks and sore muscles from a morning that might as well have been weeks ago to show for all of it.
Dad was there. Watching the news, but right now, all you wanted was to hug Emma and to keep hugging her until your head didn't feel as heavy, until you could push some of everything you had felt, had perceived, and knew, away. Aletheia wrapping her tentacles around you in turn, Choire's paws somewhere trying to wrap around your and Emma's waist.
You had no idea how long you stood there, until you asked Aletheia to close the door.
Until you untangled one arm and half turned to face the inevitable.
"Dad?"
Dad. Coming up the stairs, black rungs under his eyes, strange headset left behind. Aletheia knew he was using it to communicate with the Protectorate. He had almost been on duty tonight, but apparently pushing the issue of needing more sleep for training had gotten him out of it. Dad looked like he hadn't slept in days, just wrapping his arms around both of you.
"Taylor…."
"And Emma, of course." Dad sighed, but his arms felt good around you. Heavy as they were and cramped as it was with all five of you. But you didn't say anything.
"You're okay." And he sounded painfully relieved, even if…
"Physically." Emma shuddered. That was what you hadn't been able to say.
Dad just sighed. "Yes."
Neither of you spoke for a a while.
"I'm sorry. I wish you'd never have to see that. That people like this never existed or this… city was just a little better." He sounded so beat, holding onto both of you. Forcing his eyes shut and taking a deep breath. Holding on. "I'm glad you're alright. Both of you. Even if it is just physically." A weak smile was all he could manage. "You came back. I wish you'd never had to see that but..."
"It's too late though. I've already seen it. We've already seen it and just because we didn't know before didn't mean it wasn't there. And it's not like it just lets you not see. Because it's just not like that and if we don't care, if we don't do anything, nobody knows, so they won't. We'll never be safe unless we make ourselves safe and everyone else too." Emma's hands were clenched into fists.
"Yes, you have. I didn't say you were wrong. I said, I wish you didn't feel like you have to. I'm very glad you at least waited to recruit New Wave. I never wanted to see you like this, but..."
"I want you two to know I'm proud of you. You planned your raid, you managed to think a way out of it not going according to plan too and you were thinking about the victims instead of just beating up the criminals first. You'll give your old man a heart attack one of these ways, but..."
"But you're a superhero and you can't exactly tell me not to be one if you're killing yourself too?" You managed a smile up at him. If Dad weren't so tired, he would have been angry. If he were anything but utterly exhausted he might have been shouting instead and he was still unhappy, but it was somehow good to know that under all of that, he still wanted you to be happy. He was glad you were home safe and had stayed up even if he didn't have to.
He sighed. "Yes. And as long as both of you are careful with what you're doing and are still trying to help, I'm not going to stop you…" He pushed back from you.
"But what were you thinking not telling me what you were up to? I could have helped! The Protectorate could have helped! Taylor. I know you found Allies, but you don't have to do this alone and any rescue would have been much faster if you had just asked!" Dad took a deep breath. "I know the Protectorate has moles, but I could have found an excuse. I could have found a hundred of them and they would have believed me! This. You were still in danger. I heard the news. You..."
"They had a precog and maybe my precog resistance covers you, but it definitely does not cover the entire Protectorate and PRT! He would have known we were coming. And it was safe. We had a plan. We had a backup plan! We brought Panacea and we had a backup plan after that. Dad! We were okay. We won, dammit! We did. They never even saw me! Just… we have to prepare, but we can't just keep preparing. I know you don't want to see us get hurt, but Dad, they can't find me, they can't find us and we're going to be okay."
You were going to pass out.
Dad sighed. "I know. I know, but I'm your father. Watching my two little girls go out, no matter how much power you have…" He rubbed over his face. "I would say you don't understand, but you do, don't you? I don't think it'll ever feel good."
"We're not little girls." You understood, but Emma definitely didn't.
"But you're not women yet either, are you?" Dad was smiling tiredly. She had done absolutely nothing to change his mind on the matter. "I'm proud of what you did. Both of you, even if it doesn't feel right for you to be doing it, you helped a lot of people tonight. But I would still feel much better if I knew all of your plans beforehand."
"As long as you don't call the Protectorate on us and hear us out?"
Dad nodded. "Let's get downstairs, shall we?" There wasn't really anything else you could say to that either. It was well past midnight and you were all stumbling a little, but your memories were a little further away now.
You didn't quite fall into bed yet, no matter how tired you were. You told Dad the actual plan and your contingencies, Emma was describing what she had done. You were trying to explain the boosts, moving them around, the problem with becoming overwhelmed and doing many things at once – Dad recommended practising your multitasking because you were doing very well at it in at least some cases, as well as needing more practice to stay calm – you had ice cream and talked about what would happen now, and told Dad about your plans for the next day too.
You might not be getting a lot of sleep, but when all three of you did fall into bed, you definitely felt better. Lingering thoughts aside, talking in the kitchen late at night had helped. And Dad promised to help with whatever future plans you had, especially whenever he wasn't as tired. At least they would be starting on Eagleton next week. Dragon was just finishing off some final preparations and negotiations to bring in other Heroes were in their final phases.
When you woke up, Emma next to you, with Aletheia stretched out on top of you and Choire seemingly being used as Emma's stuffed animal of choice, you were still sore. Not to mention anything but well rested. Even if you skipped breakfast, four hours of sleep and aching muscles did not go well together. Or apart. If you hadn't promised Cedric you would be there and weren't worried about his situation, you would probably just have stayed in bed. Which was already tempting as is, especially since you could just tell Aletheia to switch the alarm off and be done with it.
Unfortunately, you already had only half an hour to get there and taking walking time into consideration…
You shook Emma awake. Your costumes were at the foot of your bed, in a pile. Choire was moving too, producing a brilliant imitation of the sound of Mom's flute and prodding Emma with her nose. Who took a moment to feel around herself before she could finally open her eyes and rub whatever grime had managed to accumulate out of them. Only to promptly latch onto you and try to use you as a pillow.
No matter how much Emma complained, you had absolutely needed that half hour to get ready and get there on time and were still almost late. Possibly only saved by the fact that Cedric didn't turn up until three minutes later, looking just as asleep deprived as you did and still trying to rub sleep from his eyes. He might try to smile, but he felt anything but happy to Aletheia. Too much fear.
"Hey..."
He smiled back at you in return, despite the shadows under his eyes. Some of the conflict he felt went away.
"Hey." Cedric yawned, but even so he didn't miss that you were just as sleep deprived as he was. "Are you ok?"
"We should be asking you that, you know? We both heard and couldn't sleep either, but I think you were a lot closer." She took the opportunity to rub her eyes again. "And Taylor still dragged me out of bed."
"I had to figure out whether we'd have to go look for him after all… that. I mean I know they said there weren't any casualties but… "
"Right." Emma knew much too well exactly what else might have happened to try and resist the notion.
Cedric was busy rubbing the back of his neck and looking anywhere but at the two of you. "It's… fine I guess. Nothing happened yet. We just heard the gunshots and with the sirens so close and no one knowing what's going on, it's hard to get sleep." He took the opportunity to lean against a wall, while you not quite subtly tried to stretch the pain from your last run away. Whether you were in better shape now or not, you had pushed yourself beyond anything your body was comfortable with and would just have to face the consequences, while Cedric watched in silence. Silence and growing concern.
"...Are you sure I shouldn't be asking whether you're okay too?"
Emma grumbled. "We're fine, just shouldn't have done that yesterday."
"You don't usually though."
But yesterday had not been anything usual. Still, how were you ever going to explain this?"Just worried about my dad. Work issues." Sort of. You were definitely worried about Armsmaster and Coil, but it hadn't had anything to do with yesterday.
Unfortunately for you, Cedric wasn't stupid. He knew when you were avoiding something and he could tell well enough that something definitely was not right. Although it wasn't family pushing you to do anything exactly or putting you on edge. Actually, family was putting both of you on edge, just not in the way he was thinking. Aletheia was both incredibly helpful and shattering your confidence in your acting skills. You supposed you were very lucky that Hastur's face didn't show expressions in the same way and your body language while fused with Aletheia was completely different too.
"I can't say what it is. Dad would be in danger, sorry." Which even applied to PRT agents, which he was officially employed as if anyone asked.
"Oh yeah, he would, wouldn't he? I mean, more in danger than usual."
Cedric looked back and forth between you. You sighed.
"Taylor's dad works for the PRT. So whenever we hear shots or anything is on TV about Capes..." You really felt guilty having to lie to him, or for Emma to be doing it, but you had no idea whether dragging Cedric into all of this would help his situation any. Then again, if he didn't do anything, you could only see it get worse. The absolute best case scenario was for nothing more to happen, but you were almost sure the gangs would need more members and come for more money too. Money Cedric didn't think they had.
Cedric was thinking about what that might mean for his brother now. How long he could stay out of it, but their chances were slipping. And it might just be a question of time. Maybe they could sell something. "Yeah… I can see why you would worry. Why didn't you just say that?"
"Because… I guess I'm afraid what people will think?" You tried to smile, but it was another half truth. Deflection. And it felt terrible.
"The PRT isn't exactly popular everywhere. They try and everything but it's not like this city's all that safe, is it?" Emma's smile was both biting and bitter.
"No..." any sense that it might sort of be had disappeared once his family figured out what you had done the night before. Too close to a home you weren't supposed to be able to find. You could feel how difficult maintaining his Cedric persona was getting. And a part of it was just that. A persona or mask, being scratched at only somewhat intentionally, just because you kept coming back to the heavy topics and he didn't mind discussing them as much as he maybe should. "I guess it isn't."
"So..." You were not looking forward to running. Not today, but you definitely weren't about to give up.
"Do you just want to walk today? You look half dead and it's not like we can't skip a day." It wasn't like his mom was about to come and check. If anything he relished the idea of just skipping one day at something without anyone complaining or trying to push him harder.
"Yes please! I swear Taylor you were trying to kill yourself yesterday. You seriously need to find another way to take your mind off things. Or you know, stop when your legs are starting to fall off."
"Weren't you right behind me?" You grinned somewhat tiredly, but Emma just huffed.
Cedric smiled too.
You would be taking a somewhat smaller route today. You had probably read somewhere that it wouldn't do that much damage to your training to skip a single day. Yes, apparently you had. Aletheia was wonderful. Or maybe that was just your improved memory talking. "I'll try. " One more thing to add to a growing mental list.
For a few minutes you were just walking in silence, letting your feet carry you around, away from the reactions of people waking up and checking the news, but it turned out to be surprisingly difficult. Even people who hadn't been kept awake by the sirens were finding out now after all and you couldn't walk far enough to get anywhere where no one would have heard and get back on time without cheating.
"So… What's going to happen now?"
Cedric almost missed a step. He didn't, but he still stumbled for a moment.
"No idea. No one's done anything yet. Haven't heard much of anything either. Too early. They'll want the territory I guess, but I've got no idea who it'll go to. I just hope the Empire doesn't get the opportunity to move in and make everything even worse." His hand was clenched into a fist. Struggling. But you were strangers, you weren't family, you weren't even Chinese and it wasn't as if you could tell anyone. "I just wish I could do something. Anything. They keep asking for more money, but it's still better than fucking Nazis. Most of them anyway. I hope, but I can't even say that anymore, can I?" Japanese or not, the notion that they would go so far meant all of them would be seen as rapists and slavers now and he was probably right in thinking the Empire would use this. And he couldn't even say it was entirely undeserved now.
"They're better than Nazis, because you can pay them to leave you alone I guess." And the PRT did nothing. He could actually understand why you were or would be hesitant to tell him about your Dad's job and his involvement with the PRT.
But something else stuck with you. 'I just wish I could do something. Anything.'
Anything to keep it from getting worse. Emma's eyes met your own.
"Yeah."
But you could. You could feel you were getting closer to another mask too. It may not be there yet, not for days, maybe over a week, but you couldn't help thinking about it at least a little. What should you ask for? Or should you do the same thing you had done to get Terpsichore again? If you asked… what would Cedric's Mask look like? Would it just make his life worse if you tried, with how much pressure he was facing? What if you offered? Would his life actually get any better if everything just continued along?
You couldn't even say that...
You thought he probably would keep your secret, one way or another, but you had absolutely no idea how he was going to react. Aletheia thought he might take it relatively well, but with how much shock she was predicting, it could still go poorly. And then you may need that boosted telepathy. And lose a new… friend?
You definitely had started to think of him as a friend by now.
And what else could you do with another mask? You didn't know Grue nearly as well, Dad would never be able to use one… New Wave were their own group. So what? A backup set of powers might be nice, but your Masks improved so much while they were being worn and while they might have their problems, you liked Aletheia's powers. And it wasn't as if you could wear two masks simultaneously.
You spent the last half hour of your walk talking about ways to make money. Increasingly unhinged ways to do so, including selling highly elaborate Tinkertech forgeries by stealing Leet's abandoned or broken gear, stealing Leet's current gear and starting a cult. The atmosphere was still just a little bit tense, but when you went back home, all three of you were smiling. Sure, it might not last, especially since you were trying to coax Aletheia into editing your camera footage from another room while you were waiting for Emma to shower – Technopathy was surprisingly useful even just to do things so much faster than it would otherwise have been possible – but it was something.
It probably helped that you didn't have to cut out many portions and weren't going to use any of the more complicated functions either.
Anyway, after a quick shower, you decided to go back to Emma's place the normal way. She was wearing Choire and helping you by letting you use her boost, but you still took the bus. Just to be sitting and relaxing a bit after everything. Flying might be relaxing too, but you just felt like trying to have a relatively normal day with your thoughts.
Relatively.
You were still meditating on the things you felt. The powers drifting by you.
Giant form with increased durability…. At the edge of your perception. Menja or Fenja, you couldn't be sure. You could still feel the data streams being gathered by Terpsichore even while Emma was fused with her. Her body… elsewhere? Partially melded partially elsewhere. This was just weird. Like she had been shunted into some alternate dimension and somehow Terpsichore and possibly Aletheia and maybe even whatever you were connected to had parts of themselves in alternate dimensions too? Actually, weird and confusing didn't even begin to cover any of this.
Aletheia was gathering Data, currently trying to figure you out actually, since following your instructions in editing the video had not been easy for her. Using her Telepathy to try and build models a little like some kind of computer amalgamation. Or something that was at least part computer and part very attached alien. You supposed you really should not have been surprised, because absolutely nothing about powers made any sense whatsoever to you.
Terpsichore was gathering Data too and whatever was linked to you was doing the same thing, although it seemed to be looking for vastly more, weirder data to... well… be able to make your next Mask you supposed. And create another multidimensional thing that was trying to both help you and obviously improve its abilities. Though you had absolutely no idea how they got new ones. They were getting them somehow, but the criteria for those were anything but obvious.
You did notice, that Emma and Terpsichore were able to make fire now though. And that somehow being linked to a human brain improved the connection and allowed them to use its infrastructure to use the power more efficiently if compatible. This definitely sounded a bit like a computer. Especially since you were now aware that Aletheia was using the third iteration of her sensory telepathy for example.
And you could both see the activation of Emma's sound manipulation scaring a skinhead further ahead in your bus and her thoughts and his reaction, through Aletheia. You could even see how Aletheia was linking up to you and how much of it was just you knowing what your power did. But if those things you felt passing by, like Fenja were other people's powers… then you were reasonably sure yours was more than just a bit different. Maybe there were some categories of powers you weren't aware of?
You decided to just give it some more thought later and get back to what you were actually doing.
Which was to say getting off the bus and joining an increasingly nervous Emma on her way home.
She wasn't even wrong about her concerns either. You had called ahead, even called to say which bus you were on and you didn't even need to unlock the door or ring the bell. It flew open as soon as you were getting close and Mrs. Barnes was waiting in the door.
"Emma! Taylor! Are okay? You look terrible! You should have said something and we could have used the car. You didn't see anything on the bus did you?"
"We saw people." Emma rolled her eyes. "Mom we were fine. We were with Mr. Hebert, at Taylor's house. We just heard the sirens and couldn't sleep." She still let her hug her and a moment later you too. She had worried and it did feel good. Ever since Emma and Mr. Barnes had been attacked she didn't like the idea of letting her out of sight, not even with you. The news hadn't helped in the slightest. Her being away all the time now didn't exactly help. You had to admit, the hug felt nice though. Awkward, but nice.
"Taylor, is it really safe where you live?"
You shrugged. "I think so. It's a nice house and I've never heard of anything happening there." Not that you had looked, but that wasn't the point. You could forgive yourself, since with your masks and Dad present, you were about as safe as you could be, unless you decided to move in at the Rig or something.
"It's just close enough to hear, it's not gang territory, Mom." Emma pushed her back. "We're fine." And she didn't like being reminded besides.
Mrs. Barnes sighed. "I'm so glad you're both fine. Did you watch the news?"
Both of you nodded. She seemed to catch on soon enough though especially since Mr. Barnes was standing in the hallway as well. He didn't seem to know what to think. On the one hand, he was being employed by Carol Dallon. On the other hand, this was another example of how normal people couldn't do anything. And how guns were utterly useless against capes, with the gang members only mentioned in a single sentence to announce the presumed dissolution of the gang, while the newly discovered and promptly arrested Kantoku and Oni-Lee took up most of the airtime.
Nonetheless at least he seemed to agree that being around Dad was making you safer in this case.
"Next time, please try to find some other time to go visit Taylor, or at least call. We were all worried."
Um. Yeah. About that. You Looked at Emma. Emma looked back at you.
"Sorry. Phone ran out of battery and I didn't notice. I'll try to remember." She smiled and if she looked guilty, it had to be because she just never considered what they might have been going through, didn't it? Not because you both knew you would be doing it again. Though maybe there were benefits to fighting away from your home, you hadn't considered yet.
Needless to say, they still weren't exactly happy, but with her ostensibly being exactly where she said she had been and the relief of seeing her back entirely unharmed, if tired, they couldn't really ground her for it and didn't get enough time to chastise her again.
"Emma!"
Mainly because she had just been attacked by a very excitable red headed missile. She'd had to pretend to stumble before she could catch her, but Annie was not going to let go. She'd been worried too. Annie hadn't slept either, and you had more or less had your phones off until after your not-run, just because you'd forgotten. Yeah. You definitely felt guilty. You should have remembered.
"You're okay!"
Even if Annie only cared that her sister and as a somewhat secondary concern her sister's best friend were safe. She did hug you too after what seemed like several minutes of hugging her sister and disapproving expressions from Emma's parents. That really made the guilt hit home didn't it? Even if it wasn't as if they had any reason to assume you wouldn't be fine at home, cape fights were usually much messier than any you had been involved in…
"I'm fine. Of course I'm fine. They would probably have told you if I weren't, right?" Emma smiled down at her still short sister.
"Well yea, but wait what if they didn't know? What if they had no idea you were there huh?"
"Taylor would have told them, right?"
"Sure. Or Dad. Or my neighbours." Who you might want to visit instead of just copying their cooking actually. Whenever you had the time.
"But what if they're not okay either?"
"Then the building would have come down and I'm sure you would have found out about that pretty fast."
"You got attacked before."
"I was inside! In Taylor's apartment behind a bunch of locks on the tenth floor!"
Annie just pushed her lower lip forward. "But you got attacked before."
"But never inside."
Their staring contest was sort of cute. Emma might be trying her hardest to ignore those memories, but fused with Choire, it wasn't all that difficult to feel safe for her.
Annie crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"Fine! But next time you're calling."
"I said I was sorry. I'm going to call, don't worry."
She was adorable. Nodding like that. Even more so because you were sure her parents had put her up to it and it was working. She would just have to get better at using her sound manipulation for that too. Maybe they would be able to hide any calls she might have to make..
"You're never here anymore."
"I live here."
"You sleep here. But you're always gone now." Annie glared at her sister. Somehow you didn't think getting involved would help any and you didn't trust your ability to lie. Plus looking guilty might make Mr. Barnes less mad at you.
"I'm here now though, right? Soooo what did you want to do?"
"I want you to stay."
"So you're really just going to stay inside all day? Maybe you could use some exercise too." Emma couldn't help but smirk looking at Annie's thin arms and legs. Even if your own were only just starting to build muscles.
Annie just shrugged. "It's Julie's birthday tomorrow."
Which apparently meant you had to go and make chocolates. Lots and lots of chocolates. Most of which may or may not have ended up all over your clothes. Going out could wait until tomorrow, you had to somehow finish this. Without any thermometers and only ice cube molds, and only very vague instructions. Emma's mom wasn't too much help either.
You were convinced she was trying to be as unhelpful as possible just to see what sort of weird thing you would try next and only your previous experience with chocolate and your smartphone saved you from complete sticky disaster. Tempering chocolate was not as easy as it sounded and of course everything had to be perfect. For some definition of perfect.
You made lollipops with sprinkles all over them, tried a dozen different fillings until you figured out a few all of you liked, got half of those fillings all over various items of clothing by accident, after reminding Emma that she couldn't dodge every spill. Working with chocolate was probably just bound to be a huge mess at all times. Although Annie's idea of drawing little bats and faces on her finished products was adorable, you had managed to use more or less every pot and bowl in the entire kitchen in some way or another. They would definitely have to go shopping tomorrow and every piece of chocolate in the house may well have been melted down at some point.
Still, the finished product actually looked quite nice. A few errors aside.
You still had to clean the kitchen and everything in it but with a dishwasher and three people involved, that didn't take too long either.
So you ended up sitting in front of the TV with Annie, Emma and Mr. Barnes. Turning off the sound to listen to his explanation instead. Or at least whatever he did know. New Wave's press release had made it out while you had been busy after all and of course it would be at least slightly misinterpreted. Mr. Barnes was busy reassuring you that Brandish still regarded Grue with an awful lot of suspicion, but all three of you could convince him that he had just been trying to help. After all Mr Barnes had some not so nice clients too, but he still mostly tries to do the right thing. It wasn't so hard to understand that someone who mostly stuck to legal or at least semi legal mercenary jobs would still have morals anyway. Not to mention that the exact nature of what you had done helped a lot in making him feel generous toward both you and him.
It felt… nice.
You would have to go before dinner of course, but it still did. Emma could spend more time with Annie and a quick visit to the bathroom let her take Choire off too. Although both of you couldn't wait until you finally had a large enough range to let her just keep her mask on even without you there. You did think it was expanding after all, but it would still take a very long time to reach her house from yours. You supposed that was to be expected though and you weren't sure whether it was possible to sleep with your Mask on anyway.
When you left, no matter how much you had seen and felt, you did feel better. Somehow, spending a day or even just half of one with Annie, doing silly things and just thinking about something else helped. Maybe if it could keep Cedric sane, it could do the same to you? It did sound more or less right anyway.
Unfortunately, you had at least some work left to do anyway. Your mapping project wasn't done yet and you had to cook after all. But this time, you focused on other things too.
Trying to make sand grains each make individual movements. While time slowed around you and you continued your project. Not individual movements as in simply lifting them and forming a rope. Different, independent movements for each one, as many as you could manage. No longer forming real cohesive shapes or patterns, which seemed to make things easier for you, grouping them into units of sorts, but to really do all of those things at once.
Two ways of multitasking so to speak. And one was vastly more complicated than the other. You played with Choire's boosts too. Tried to make the most outlandish things with your telekinesis while you catalogued the suburbs. Most of them were not very interesting after all. Although you did find Coil's house – which the unwritten rules would not let you touch – another base, several Empire members and entirely too many things that weren't illegal but you definitely didn't need to know. And were fervently wishing you could forget about them entirely.
Of course, Aletheia's memory wouldn't let you.
Still, with your exercises it was simultaneously complex, frustrating, useful, and mentally exhausting, but you thought you were making good progress. When you moved away from the suburbs to other parts of the city, you even started recording your first bit of evidence. At least now you didn't just have to sit by. You could do something and you could hand that in to the police.
Invisible cameras were surprisingly handy.
You did end up having to get takeout for Dad and yourself again, but with your map finished in your Lair, you couldn't bring yourself to regret it. You even managed to draft up a post for PHO, send it to Emma for approval and then put it up together with your video, although getting your Cape verifications would have to wait until tomorrow, when you and Emma had a little more time available. For Cedric, for exploring the market, for Faultline and also for that.
When exactly did you start thinking about school as some sort of slightly dull but peaceful vacation?
Also, what should you do about Cedric?
Should you tell him?
[ ] Yes, you were almost at a new mask. Maybe not tomorrow but the day after. He wanted to help and you were worried he might break if he couldn't do anything. Or give up entirely. And it was definitely driving you apart one way or another or maybe more accurately, keeping him from opening up.
[ ] No, wait until you have a new mask.
[ ] No, you can't be sure he would react well and while you may be able to to start altering memories, with help from Choire and Aletheia, you couldn't risk it.
Points: 5 (+2 question/discussion points, +2 points for partial betaing and correcting my spelling to +2 spelling points to @Mount Elements)
(-8 Points to buy Pyrokinesis)
These can be acquired with omakes, posts in the thread I find amusing, art, helping me out, etc. and can be used to reveal details or get boons. Boons, in essence are a lucky circumstance, something to add to the story that would be decidedly unlikely, but not impossible. The more unlikely, the higher the cost.
One point per detail revealed, boon cost variable (5 points translate to one wards patrol or a single protectorate member).
You may trade one point for 25 exp or 5% progress to the next mask.
Mask abilities or ability upgrades not taken may be purchased for 8 points at current
[ ] Spend Points
- How
[ ] Don't spend Points
If you don't want any points to be spent, please vote as such
Masks:
Aletheia
Status: healthy, active
Understanding?
Level 3
155/350 exp
Terpsichore
Status: healthy, active
?
Level 3
45/350 exp
Progress to next Mask: 80%
Pyrokinesis level 1: able to conjure fire out of thin air, control about four cubic feet of it and heat it to about 200 degrees celsius in a 30 foot radius around yourself, control includes slowly extinguishing existing fire.
Pyrokinesis level 2: able to conjure fire out of thin air, control about eight cubic feet of it and heat it to about 350 degrees celsius in a 60 foot radius around yourself, control includes slowly extinguishing existing fire.
It's really late again. Oh well.
No, boosting yourself does not make you get new masks faster, I just felt like giving you double mask progress.
[x] No, you can't be sure he would react well and while you may be able to to start altering memories, with help from Choire and Aletheia, you couldn't risk it.
[x] Don't spend Points
[x] free (continue with pending tasks)
ahhh nice decompression and interctions with the Barnes. as for Armsmaster, he can suck an egg. We're not cooperating with the ass as long as he mistreats Danny.
[x] No, you can't be sure he would react well and while you may be able to to start altering memories, with help from Choire and Aletheia, you couldn't risk it.
[x] Don't spend Points
[x] No, you can't be sure he would react well and while you may be able to to start altering memories, with help from Choire and Aletheia, you couldn't risk it.
[x] Don't spend Points
[x] free (continue with pending tasks)
---
Might revise this when it's not late enough to be early here. You keep updating when I'm about to go to bed.
Hmm, I'm really not sure what to do about Cedric. While I wouldn't mind giving him a mask, I don't want to be sucked into fighting more Asian gangs and the Nazis right now. I'd rather focus on the Merchants first. Is there any other way that we can help him? I suppose that we could just set things up so that he comes across a pile of money somehow that he could use to pay off the gangs, but then we end up with a mask that we don't have anyone to wear.
Also, are we telekinetically moving an invisible camera around the city to record crimes? I'm glad that we can finally get started on a police informant identity. Can we vote on what alias to use?
We would need to discuss this further with Emma but I would be tempted to say
[X] Yes, you were almost at a new mask. Maybe not tomorrow but the day after. He wanted to help and you were worried he might break if he couldn't do anything. Or give up entirely. And it was definitely driving you apart one way or another or maybe more accurately, keeping him from opening up.
And spend the points necessary to make a new mask. It is a good opportunity to secure a new teammate.
[X] Spend Points
To whom should we gift the next mask if not him ? The people from self defense class ? Alan Barnes himself ? Keep it to ourselves so that we have another pool of power to draw from ?
ahhh nice decompression and interctions with the Barnes. as for Armsmaster, he can suck an egg. We're not cooperating with the ass as long as he mistreats Danny.
Yeah I'd say we should not be cooperating anymore then we already have anyway; he is an arsehole and acted like one too, the PRT is compromised, it does not benefit us in any way and it might (one can dream) teach them that a heavy handed approach for first dealing with mentally scarred people with superpowers is sometimes counter-productive.
We should also start working on our non physical infrastructure: reputation (public and cape> how is our version of the events received on PHO ?), available funds and most importantly legal representation.
Who should we seek as our counsel, Brandish, (awkwardly) Barnes, someone recommended by Faustline ?
Now that we have made our real debut, these things are starting to become more urgent.
I wonder what's our PRT rating now ? I mean it's not like they know we are a thinker, stranger, shaker, mover, master, trump; they don't know about the trump part .
As for our police informant name: the King in Yellow (we Have a yellow call sign now) ? All seeing eye ? Big Brother (because we are creepy enough to pull it off) ?
We should also start working on our non physical infrastructure: reputation (public and cape> how is our version of the events received on PHO ?), available funds and most
I say we should develop Hastur and Siona's image as the (compassionate) straight man and quirky girl respectively. The alien mute squid does make for great deadpan humor and Emma is the most vibrant, that it helps turn the attention to our party face and away from the terrifying trump is a big plus.
importantly legal representation.
Who should we seek as our counsel, Brandish, (awkwardly) Barnes, someone recommended by Faustline ?
Now that we have made our real debut, these things are starting to become more urgent.
I'm fond of Quinn Cale. He is professional, unflappable, and really good at his job. the fact that he won't blink twice at representing villains in canon means that he is ideal for when we begin "reforming" new teammates. he is part of a firm that is more likely to be able to help on the financial side on the scale we're planning too, plus nothing is scarier to the protectorate than a new independent hero with a Lawyer 10 on call.
I wonder what's our PRT rating now ? I mean it's not like they know we are a thinker, stranger, shaker, mover, master, trump; they don't know about the trump part .
As for our police informant name: the King in Yellow (we Have a yellow call sign now) ? All seeing eye ? Big Brother (because we are creepy enough to pull it off) ?
If secret surveillance is legal in Earth bet (likely) I see no problem with attaching the Hastur name to it. If not, Richard Pickman from "Pickman's Model".
.