The River Keeps Running

[YseultNott]

Lisa







"I'm going to go to New York," Taylor says.

Lisa knew she would say that. She knew it. She knew it.

It hurts anyway.

"So am I," Colin says. "I'd suggest we travel together, but I'm going to get picked up by the Protectorate in Boston."

"You're going back to the Protectorate?" Brian asks.

"Yes," Colin says.

He doesn't elaborate. Lisa doesn't need him to.

That, too, she expected.

"I'll come with you," Taylor says. "To Boston. And then to New York."

Colin starts in surprise.

"Really?" he says. "I was under the impression that you cared little for the Protectorate."

"It will be a new beginning," Taylor says. "For everyone."

 

[YseultNott]

Brian







Brian isn't surprised Colin is leaving, not really. They got closer to the man during the year they spent in Capole, became something akin to friends, but he has always made clear that he was a hero. That he would go back to being one as soon as they went home.

They are home, even if it doesn't feel like it.

Brian expected Colin to leave. Not Taylor.

He thought the Undersiders would stay together.

"I'm staying," Brian says.

He still has to take care of Aisha.

Taylor is leaving. Brian is staying.

No matter what the others do, there will be a parting of the ways.

 

[YseultNott]

Brian







Brian doesn't need Lisa's power to know she's going to leave.

Brian isn't stupid. He knows Lisa pretty well, by now. He knows that between Taylor and the rest of the group, she'd pretty much always chose Taylor.

Taylor is leaving. Lisa will, too.

They're not going back to how they were before they met Taylor. To the four original Undersiders. This is, truly, a parting of the way.

Things won't go back to the way they were before. They got home, yes, as they were trying to do, but home isn't home anymore.

"I'm leaving, too," Lisa says.

Brian didn't need her power to know she would.

 

[Eman Resu]

Is this like an experiment in minimalism or something? The short chapters are still getting the points across and still have weight to them, so i would say that it is working. I think i still prefer more, but this style isn't wrong.

-edit
Forgot or missed that someone already explained that to me. Went back and marked their post informative.

 

[YseultNott]

Rachel







"You could stay," Aisha says.

Rachel doesn't answer, but she does look at her.

"It would be useful to have someone like you here," Aisha continues. "Most streets are too damaged for cars, and we don't have the ressources to fix them. You could help with emergency transportations."

Rachel stays silent, and Aisha keeps speaking.

"A lot of dogs survived the attack, but got lost or abandoned, or had their owners die," she says, "so we have a lot of strays. A few people are running a kind of shelter, trying to take care of them and train them. You could help them."

Aisha pauses.

"Just… think about it," she says.

 

[YseultNott]

Rachel







Staying or leaving.

Leaving or staying.

Rachel has to make a choice.

She could stay. She could take care of the dogs, here, work for Aisha. She might even be able to work at the shelter with other people, the way she did in Capole.

No crowds, no laws, no heroes. No one would bother her here.

It would be so, so easy to stay.

Rachel remembers the last day she spent in Brockton Bay. The day of the bomb.

She remembers being lonely.

She remembers being unhappy, remembers wondering why the others weren't, remembers thinking humans are pack animals.

The Undersiders are splitting up. Taylor is leaving.

Taylor is the best friend Rachel ever had.

 

[YseultNott]

Alec







So.

Spidey is leaving for New York City, and the Dork is going with him and starting a new life, and Rachel and Lisa are following the Dork.

Brian is staying. They're splitting up. Going separate ways.

This is the end of the Undersiders as a team, isn't it?

The world must think them dead. Dear old Dad probably stopped looking for him, by now. He probably believes him dead in some cape fight gone wrong.

As long as he doesn't make waves, he will be safe on that front.

Alec thinks he's going to stay.

No one will look for him here.

 

[YseultNott]

Alec







Now that everyone know where they're going, it's time to outline the logistics of how to actually get there.

For Brian and himself, it's not that hard. They're staying. It's only a matter of having Brian's sister find them rooms. Not everyone lives in the shelter full time, so there isn't much of a problem with that, and Brian even gets to live near his sister.

For Lisa, Rachel, the Dork and Spidey, it's a bit more complicated.

In the end, the plan they come up with is as follow:

1) Rachel will use her powers on Palte and Angelica, and the four of them will ride them until they reach a functional road.

2) They will hitch a ride to Boston.

3) After reaching Boston, they will split up, with Spidey and the Dork surrendering to the local Protectorate and Lisa and Rachel getting to New York on their own.

They will leave tomorrow.

 

[Qro]

So... they're betting everything on the fact that Taylor and Colin will be moved to NY? Not sure why else Lisa and Rachel would split from the other two, considering that Taylor is the main reason they're leaving in the first place.

 

[YseultNott]

So... they're betting everything on the fact that Taylor and Colin will be moved to NY? Not sure why else Lisa and Rachel would split from the other two, considering that Taylor is the main reason they're leaving in the first place.

Click to shrink...

Because as they have no intention of surrendering to the PRT they can't go with Taylor when she *does*? And Taylor going to NY is a pretty safe bet given that her dad is there, and it's not like they can't move if she ends up somewhere else?

 

[Qro]

Because as they have no intention of surrendering to the PRT they can't go with Taylor when she *does*? And Taylor going to NY is a pretty safe bet given that her dad is there, and it's not like they can't move if she ends up somewhere else?

Click to shrink...

Fair enough. Since there's a fairly high chance that her father is a member of the Protectorate now (think there was some new "Oracle" or something)... yeah, I guess it would be fairly logical. How would they keep in contact around Legend and others would be interesting to see.

 

[YseultNott]

Fair enough. Since there's a fairly high chance that her father is a member of the Protectorate now (think there was some new "Oracle" or something)... yeah, I guess it would be fairly logical. How would they keep in contact around Legend and others would be interesting to see.

Click to shrink...

Oracle is actually Dinah.

 

[YseultNott]

Colin







Why does saying goodbye have to be so awkward?

Colin is used to goodbyes. He was moved around a lot while on the strike squad, before he was assigned to Brockton Bay.

It never used to be so hard. Even before… Before he triggered, his life was designed around the ability to just leave any time he wanted. No attaches to hold him back.

Maybe that's the problem. He got attached.

Colin isn't surprised most of the Undersiders will stay villains. He expected them to.

Still. Taylor is switching sides, and it looks like Rachel, at least, will try to be more of a Rogue.

He's proud of them.

 

[Rini]

Colin isn't surprised most of the Undersiders will stay villains. He expected them to.

Click to shrink...

I would not say they are staying villains. Aisha is running a city the world walked out on. Brian is staying with her to be with his remaining family. Alex is staying to keep his remaining family from ever finding him. Taylor is leaving to find her father, the last of her family. Rachel is leaving to be near her friend. And, Lisa is leaving to be near Taylor too. None of those would require them to do villainess actions. But, I don't expect they will be given a lot of good choices in being able to take care of themselves without the heroes wanting to push them for things, like Rachel's trigger event and railroading. Which pushed her into the path she took. Lisa was escaping family and captured by Coil. They are still guilty of some crimes, but they are not that villainess when compared to others, like Cauldron's black sea of crimes. And, they were all minors when those crimes took place, some of them are still minors. Brian may be over 18 now, but was not before and has not committed any crimes yet. Likely, they were all declared dead, which may have cleaned their record, even if they are able to get themselves redeclared as living. It is unlikely anyone would push on the old charges now.
Now, I am wondering if Coil/Thomas survived, if he didn't Lisa may be able to find some of his still hidden accounts and drain them. This would take care of the need for her and Rachel to do any crimes to pay for their needs. Rachel would have only been doing anything to feed her animals. Lisa is the only one that I would be wondering about.

 

[YseultNott]

SNIP

Click to shrink...

It was stated that the Undersiders (bar Taylor) committed crimes in the other world:

Meanwhile, the Undersiders…

Well. They're not exactly wanted criminals, but that's more because they were discreet than because they followed the law. They have a tacit understanding with Spidey and the Dork that they will ignore it as long as they mainly target other criminals and keep property damages to a minimum. Which isn't very hard without any capes on the other side.

Click to shrink...

Colin thinks they're going to keep being villains because, even when they got dropped into another world where they could start from zero, they became criminals. Aisha doesn't count as an Undersiders for him, he doesn't think of her as a villain, but Brian, Alec and Lisa never stopped being criminals.

Coil got killed by a stray shot from one of the defending capes

Click to shrink...

Coil is indeed dead.

 

[YseultNott]

Colin







It's time.

The final parting of the way. Lisa hugs Taylor. Rachel insists they pet Palte and Angelica one last time before they go.

Colin thinks he might miss Palte. Having something warm and soft and unconditionally loving. He'll miss Rachel, too. She grew, during the year he knew her.

He's not sure what the Protectorate will do with him, but if he gets put in a stable location, maybe he'll get himself a pet.

Rachel and Lisa leaves, and Colin puts a hand on Taylor's shoulder.

They stay like that for a few seconds before she pulls away and they start walking toward the PRT building.

It's time.

 

[YseultNott]

Taylor







Taylor will be on probation. It's inconvenient.

It's fair, probably. She was a villain. She did commit crimes.

It seems so very far away.

It could be worse, Taylor knows. Had she committed worse crimes or been a villain longer. Had she not disappeared for a year. Had Colin not vouched for her. Had the Protectorate and Wards not bled off heroes after the Echidna revelations. Her probation could have been much more stringent. She could have done jail time.

Taylor still knows she will chafe. She knows it will be hard, especially at first, as she gets accustomed to the rules and relearns how to live in the United States of America, Earth Bet.

She still believes it was worth it.

Or, at the very least, that it will be.

 

[YseultNott]

Taylor







It takes a while for the PRT to contact her Dad.

She knows why, rationally. She understands that the circumstances are strange and suspicious, understands that they need to make sure Colin and her are who they say they are before they allow her contact with an unpowered civilian, understands that they have to be careful.

It's still grating, frustrating. To be so close to her goal, so close to him, in the same city on the same planet in the same universe, to be so close and still have wait.

It takes a while for the PRT to contact her Dad.

It takes more for him to believe them. To believe it's her, she's alive, she's there.

Finally, finally, she's allowed to see him.

It's awkward, for a second. Two strangers facing each other, neither knowing what to say. And then, he opens his arms and holds her like she's a lifeline.

He's crying, but those are good tears.

They're going to be all right.