Behold a grim dark omake for a grim dark age written in a grim dark room. In a grim dark village.
'Life isn't fair' it's one of the most commonly used cop outs in the world, when you can't explain why something horrible has happened just say those magic words. That fact that saying them inevitably just makes it feels worse doesn't help either; but hey misery isn't something you half ass. As the wise frog once said "Do or do not". Anyway enough angst for now. Okay I lied, here's the soap opera that passes for my back story.
My name is Danah Everett; my parents were Alex Everett and Rebecca Costa-Brown or if have no idea who they are well you might have known them by their other names. Atlas and Alexandria. Yes really. Or if you still don't know what that means then a) pull your head out the ground and b) try it this way. One was the most powerful shaker in Parahuman history and the other is a brute so fast and resilient that she can use her own body as a WMD. Turns out if your throw 70 odd kilos of mass at something at several times the speed of sound you get one hell of a bang.
Now for the background material. All the way back in in primeval era known to scholars as 1987; my parents lived mostly happy lives. Then they got sick; the fatal kind of sick and met each other at the hospital while they waited for the inevitable. Only it never came, they triggered with what I am reliably informed are "Bullshit tier powers" and in doing so their bodies were healed granting them a new lease on life. This is the bit where the story reaches public knowledge. They form a team with several other oddly powerful people from completely different parts of the country somehow finding each other despite never using their powers publicly. Odd right; it's almost as if someone set it all up.
Then came London where they saved us all. Then they did again. And again. And again. And somewhere in the middle of all this they made me; something I will be eternally grateful for. For a time all was well. they saved the world, they came home to me and then they left to save the world again. Then the inevitable happened. They finally found a foe that even they couldn't beat.
Mirror master; the lord of infinite realities as one particularly hysterical newspaper called. He caught Alex in a dimensional trap and that's where's he's been stuck ever since. Sure MM could have let him out; too bad Jack cut his head off before he could be 'persuaded' too. After that things went bad; mom. No... Rebecca. As much as Rebecca used to love me it was always dad that pulled her back from the edge, dad who pushed her to keep pretending that she wasn't a super-powered robot. To feel not just think. With him gone she slowly slipped away little by little. There was always another crisis; always another idiot politician encouraging the worst parts of humanity; always another villain taking a crack at being a warlord. Logic stated that every second spent on a nine year old was time that could be spent on keeping humanity going. So less and less time was.
Ironically it was David of all people who stepped up to raise me. Frickin' Eidolon a man who needed thinker powers to survive talking to his 'friends'. Don't get me wrong I loved him to bits but dear god he had issues. Issues that he hid from through liberal use of powers. Then he died too. For him it was Siberian; turns out all the powers in the universe aren't helpful in tight quarters with the textbook definition of unstoppable force. One second everything is fine the next Hero is on the floor having parted from company with his left arm and most of his face and Eidolon has an invulnerable fist through his sternum. Blaster; shaker and brute. All the powers in the world yet in the end he just didn't have the right ones when he really needed them.
After that everyone just stopped pretending to follow Dads plan for saving humanity. Every member of the Founders were irreplaceable; natural triggers simply didn't form powers of sufficient magnitude without screwing up the host to the point that death was a mercy. While artificial triggers were only (somewhat) safe at a low intensity something powerful enough was near guaranteed to kill the host and even if they did the side effects could be just as bad as natural triggers. Mantons daughter certainly wasn't batshit before the resident mad scientist fed her a vial turning her into Siberian.
Incidentally this is the bit where I triggered and by triggered I mean I used my connection to Doormaker to sneak into Cauldrons base and stole several vials from the high risk storage unit. Or if I'm being honest with myself; Doctor mother let me in. Either I died and a awkward loose end she couldn't directly target was finally tied off or I triggered with something useful. Still jokes on the old bat considering that path to victory no longer works on me.
Anyway back to the plan. Dad's plan had failed as far as they were concerned. Stabilising the world simply resulted in the overseer shards turning up the heat with an endless array of poor sods triggering in the worst possible place with the worst possible power. As more and more people triggered the semi-sane cauldron capes had their influence gradually watered down leaving the crazies in charge and the icing on top was that taking the soft touch got the only two capes capable of challenging Scion killed. Heads rolled. Mine included.
After that I just left. I left a note saying where I was going and why I was leaving because I'm not a complete ass. No one followed.
After that I wandered; every so often I found someone my power insisted was 'worthy' and I gave them a choice. Stop being amazing and become legendary or take the smart option and go on with their lives. Senua; Doom; Lightspeed all of them became S-class capes. Hero, Villain or something in between; my power couldn't tell me how they'd use their power but it did guarantee something amazing. Nine capes who changed the world all because they took a chance on a crazy woman with a crazier story and a bag of vials.
Now we get to the really important bit. As I assure you I don't just hand over my life story to just anyone...
Do you want to be cape number 10?
Fin.
