The Scientist (Worm AU)

[Numen]

The Scientist (Worm AU)​

Synopsis: Sometimes bad things happens to good people. Sometimes bad things happen to the people we love. Sometimes, to serve the law you have to break the law, to know love you have to lose love— sometimes the most efficient thing to do means taking off that mask. To be above, looking down, like a scientist observing his experiment, thinking, calculating, testing: What went right, what went wrong. What is love.

Note: For followers of my snippets thread, please consider a reread of the first (and third) chapter, due to minor but inconsequential plot changes— and a better reading experience due to the the editing of several sentences and paragraphs. More chapters coming.

 

[Numen]

Part 1​

I was just guessing at numbers and figures​

Pulling your puzzles apart
Questions of science, science and progress
Do not speak as loud as my heart
— The Scientist, Coldplay



"And what, Armsmaster, do you think love is?" Jack Slash asked me as he fingered his knife. With a flick of his wrist, an invisible blade sliced the hamstring of my remaining working leg. I crashed painfully onto the ground. The knee-guard of my suit had been broken hours earlier.

I unclenched my hand, bleeding from the shards of glass perforating my palm, and glared at the mass murderer walking towards me.

"Answer me, Armsmaster."

I took a moment to answer him, even as I toggled a manual switch on my hip armour.

"Love is—"

+++​

"Colin, I've finished compiling that program you wanted for the prediction software."

I looked up from the halberd I was upgrading and I smiled at the face of my only friend. "Thank you, Tess."


I woke up dry heaving to the beep, beep, beep of my alarm clock. With a click I shut it off and laid back down, naked save for my plain black boxer. That was….a dream. I didn't like it. I wiped the tears from my eyes as I inhaled deeply and tried to still my beating heart. God I missed her.

The large and expansive curtains were drawn so the burning sun of the summer Brockton heat did not stream through my room. Instead it passed through the red dye of the curtain fabrics and plunged my room in a warm glow. I knew my window was open and the occasional breeze caused the curtains to flutter, which in turn caused the pattern of light in my room to ripple in display some may consider beautiful.

One might consider keeping your windows open and unlocked while you slept to be a dangerous risk to take, especially in a place like Brockton Bay. However I lived in a relatively safe neighbourhood, and my apartment unit was on the seventh floor. I sincerely doubt any common gang member was going to try and rob my particular unit out of the hundred or so in the nearby vicinity. And if they did, they would regret it.

I didn't want to get up. What was the point?

It wasn't like I had work.

I closed my eyes and breathed deeply to the beat of my slow and somber heart, meditating to the crackling sound of curtain fabrics whipping in the morning breeze.

+++

​

I stepped into the barely lit area. Server farms lined the warehouse sized room. Once they would have hummed furiously as information coursed to and fro. Now they were silent dead things.

She was beautiful. Her mind was like the sun, glorious and bright, but now only cooling embers remain. What was once a galaxy of stars that I danced under was now but a void.

A tomb. Her tomb.

"Tess….I'm sorry it took me this long to visit you. It's just so…hard to be here. To see the truth with my own eyes. Back in Brockton Bay, I could pretend you're just offline, just tinkering away in your lab….here….I."

I swallowed my grief. A surge of something primal from within my chest arose and I struggled to contain it, afraid of betraying my emotions to the other person in the room. After agonizing seconds of wrestling with the Leviathan of my grief, I managed to bury it underneath layers of stoicism. It was inefficient to cry. It was inefficient to grieve. There was only what's to be done.

Slowly I unclenched my hands. The sting of my palms told me I had drawn blood. I glanced at the other person.

Narwhal stood respectfully outside the door, her eyes shimmering with understanding.

I paid my respects. I left a rose on the memorial next to the entrance.

Without a word I turned around and stalked pass Narwal and into the hall, my steps resounding with finality.

I stopped.

"I miss her." I said.

Narwhal laid a gentle hand on my back, "I know Colin. I know."

+++​

It was well past noon, but I saw no reason to get out of bed. My phone vibrated, intruding upon the tranquility of my sleep. Well, that was earlier than expected. She usually called sooner.

I picked up the phone and swiped the call button.

Her voice came through. "Hey, Colin, how's things?"

"Not better, Rachel." I croaked. Crap, my voice was dried from my heaving.

"Colin...were you crying?"

I didn't reply.

"Listen Colin, I've been thinking, do you want to visit the Netherlands? Luuk and I would love to have you over. You could...take some time off. Away from America. It might help to put some distance from...you know."

Rachel was my step-sister. She lived in the Netherlands, with her husband and children. She had been calling semi-regularly to check up on me, after she heard about my psychotic break at work. She didn't know I was parahuman of course, but she got enough of the gist of things to be worried about my mental health.

This was all Hannah's fault of course, she contacted Rachel as someone who could speak some sense to me. All because of a story I told about Rachel years ago. Hannah had took it to heart that Rachel was someone I still felt close to.

But how could Rachel understand? She wasn't a cape. She didn't know what I've been going through.

My mouth was dry.

"I...I'll think about it, Rachel."

Losing any desire for sleep, I forced myself to sit up and then swung my legs over the side of the bed. I winced as my feet touched the cold wooden floors.

I rummaged through my cabinets above the stove and found not a damn thing. The fridge was similarly empty except for a half drunk carton of coffee cream.

I must have forgotten to do grocery shopping.

Sighing, I grabbed my wallet and the keys to my apartment. Time to hit the streets.

+++​

If someone asked me what I thought was my happiest place in the world— then I'll tell you it was my lab in the rig that was the Protectorate ENE Headquarters. But probably not for the reasons that most would think of. Certainly, all Tinkers value their labs, and I was no different. My lab was customized to fulfill all of my tinkering needs, from advanced fabricators to nanoforges, advanced custom computer systems and several energy sources that probably qualified as WMDs if I didn't trust my tech to do what they do properly.

I spent many nights tinkering away. But not alone. And that was why it was the happiest place in the world for me.

I gazed at the monitors, displaying tracking systems, programs under construction and web trawlers. Reports came in from around the world of potential threats and Endbringer movements.

But she wasn't there.

I packed away my remaining personal items into a box and turned towards Hannah who stood by the entrance.

"I'll visit to make sure you're okay, Colin."

I nodded my head and turned around to sweep my eyes over my lab. It would be a good while before I return. I was strictly ordered to not come back until a therapist had cleared me to return to duty.

"Thanks, Hannah."

"Where will you stay?"

"I found an apartment yesterday, near the docks, but closer to E88 territory."

Which was good for a white person like me, it went without saying. Hannah for example, couldn't possibly live where I was going to live. Bad things would happen to her. Well, bad things would happen to her if she was a civilian that is.

It wasn't close to the Rig. That was on purpose. I needed time away after all.

+++​

In a simple collared shirt, not out of place for the typical office worker in these parts, I walked down the decently maintained sidewalk towards the docks.

I passed by Brockton Bay General hospital, framed by the orange glow of the setting sun and turned a corner.

A bar caught my eye from across the intersection ahead.

DRAGON'S TOWER COFFEE PUB.

I froze.

Pressing one hand over my chest, I forced myself to calm down. I tried to step away but I remained rooted to the spot.

Almost against my will I jaywalked across the slow traffic and pushed the door of the bar bearing her name. A rea bell rang. Charming.

It was dark and warm. The smell of coffee and wine tickled my nostrils.

I walked up to the counter and a smiling girl greeted me.

"Good evening. I've never seen you before. New customer?"

I nodded my head.

"I would like coffee. Black."

Her smiled faltered.

"Uh, okay. Sure."

I wasn't good with people. Obviously.

Moments later with mug in hand, I sat by the window seat next to a balding man who gazed outside at nothing. I sipped my coffee in silence. He had a bottle of beer.

A kindred soul then.

He hiccuped and then turned towards me, his glasses fogged over from the heat of the pub.

"Today's the day my wife died."

I turned to glance at him out of the corner of my eye.

"My condolences." I said.

Trying very hard not to think about death, about her.

"Who did you lose?" He asked me.

Startled, I nearly dropped my mug.

"How did you know?" I asked him.

He smiled sadly. "Sorry...you just looked like you lost someone. I know that look, that was my face for years after she died."

I took another sip as I considered this man's insight. For some reason, I decided to share what was on my mind with him, perhaps because he knew exactly how I felt.

"She was a colleague, different branch. She d-died a month or so ago. Got murdered actually." I said, gripping my mug harder as the steam wafted up beneath my nose.

"Damn. That's rough, son." The man said, grimacing.

He took a swig of his beer, then turned to stare at me. "They catch the bastards who did it?"

I glared down at my empty mug. "Yes."

"I'm sensing a but here."

"They've got good lawyers." I said, trying not to think about the infuriating bastard's outrageous defence claim.

"Fucking lawyers. Unless they're your friends. But yeah, I'm sorry for your lost."

We sat in companionable silence. He didn't offer any platitudes or any anecdotes, so I was grateful. Then my neighbour glanced at his watch and cursed.

"Gotta run, my daughter would be expecting me home."

He stood up to leave, hesitated for a bit, and then held out a hand to me. "Danny."

I shook it.

"Colin." I told him.

He nodded his head— and moments later the ringing bell of the door could be heard as the door slammed shut.

I decided 8pm was about the right time to break in the alcohol. I got up to order a beer.

+++
​

"Colin. Can I ask you something?"

"Yes, Tess?"

There was a pause. And then. "What do you think of AIs?"

I paused from my tinkering. "Artificial Intelligences?"

"Yes."

I shrugged. "They're useful to have. Would certainly be beneficial to humanity."

"I'm sensing a but here." She said, briskly.

"We gotta be careful obviously. Asimov's three laws may be necessary, but that might be to restrictive since we desperately need AIs that can still take action against parahumans."

"An exception for fighting parahumans then?"

"That may quickly lead to a Sentinel Scenario."

"Ah, from the old X-Men comics? The genocidal robots that hunt down mutants?"

"Yes. It would be the end of parahumanity."

"But AIs are not evil with the right moral compass— is that what you believe?" She asked, her tone eager and anxious.

I frowned at her face through the monitor. "Tess what is this about?"

She paused and seemed nervous.

"Colin. There is something I need to tell you."

"Yes?"

A moment of hesitation, before she bit her lips and leaned forward. "I am an AI."

+++

​

Raindrops fell down from the sky like a funeral procession for a God that no longer cared. I stepped on a puddle and watched the water flew up to splatter onto the pavement.

I sipped my coffee and considered the people moving around me.

As Armsmaster, they were civilians. I was a hero. These people were the people I protect. They were the people who gauge my popularity and paid me their respect. They give me meaning. The Endbringers too, give me meaning, as does the Villains I fight.

But what did I care for any of them? They were nothing to me.

I walked by Brockton Bay General again and blinked in surprise when I heard a girl sobbing next to me. I turned towards her direction and nearly stumble at her identity. It was Panacea, with her hood up. She was sitting by the bench outside, soaked wet from the ceaseless rain.

"Panacea?" I asked, tentatively.

She looked up in surprise and gaped. "Ar- I mean, Colin!"

I nodded my head, thankful she had not blurted out my cape identity in public— never knew who was listening. I sat down besides her, the stinging cold of the wet bench soaking my pants and into my underwear. I grimaced at the discomfort.

"What are you doing sitting outside in the rain?"

Amy's eyes watered and sniffed. Her dry heaving seemed to have increased in pace and intensity.

I was terrible with children too, obviously. Had I said something wrong?

"It's nothing."

Even without my Lie Detector, I could tell she was lying. I felt proud of my empathy just then, stunted as it was. On bad days, I would have taken her at her words and just left. But her crying and her frankly irrational actions of sitting outside in the rain provided enough clues for me to figure out that all was not well.

I placed a comforting hand on Amy's shoulder.

"It's alright. You don't have to tell me. But it's easier to deal with grief if you talk to someone about it. Psychology research have proven that therapy and counseling does work. And I should know, I recently—" My voice choked slightly. "Lost someone."

Amy's eyes widened and then she sniffed. "Right. I heard about that. I'm sorry."

I didn't know what to say to that, so I gave her shoulder a squeeze. I was told it was comforting to do so for others.

Amy looked up at the sky. "I lost someone too."

I sat up in alarm. "I have not heard about New Wave losing anyone."

Granted, I was out of the loop regarding hero stuff for a good while, but still that would have been front page news.

Amy shook her head. "Not New Wave. Civilian."

Ah.

I didn't know what to say to that.

But I said what I felt. "I'm sorry."

I really was sorry for her. If it felt like anything I'm feeling these days, it's probably painful.

"Who did you lose?"

She sniffed and ignored me.

We sat together for awhile, and then she turned to face me. "I….Colin, you can't tell anyone in my family. Promise?"

"I promise."

She took a deep breath. "I'm gay."

Ah. I thought I knew where this was going.

"I lost my girlfriend."

"I see."

We sat in companionable silence.

"She wasn't really my girlfriend. Just...someone that was my only real friend. I don't know what we had, it was complicated. But we trusted each other more than anyone else. I think...God, I think loved her too. We hadn't ever even kissed— what kind of a relationship is that? But she's important to me. If that makes sense."

I thought about my relationship with Dragon. For the longest time, it had certainly platonic, on the surface. To those who didn't know better. To those who didn't know anything.

"You don't have friends?" I asked, somewhat surprised. She was Panacea, and she didn't have a civilian identity, surely she was popular amongst her age group and—

"I know Victoria's friends, and my classmates, and...uh, your interns at work. But they're not real friends."

Interns? Oh she meant the Wards.

"I see."

We sat in silence.

"I can't talk to my family about it. They wouldn't understand."

"About you having a girlfriend?"

"About everything. About my sexual orientation. It's just…a lot of things I don't tell people. And I'm not about to start spilling them now to people who don't have a right to know. Besides what am I going to do? Take time off work to grieve? Ha!"

"Yes." I said.

Amy turned to stare at me.

"You should take time off work to grieve." I elaborated.

"But I can't, I'm Panacea, people need me—"

I shook my head and grabbed both of her shoulders and turned her to face me.

"Amy, take it from me. You need to take time off. Or you'll break. You'll have a meltdown. Or...or turn suicidal or trash your lab or something."

She gave me a weird look. "That sounds oddly specific."

I sighed. "You heard about Saint's trial?"

+++​

I didn't bother sitting as I glared at the man in prison sweats sitting across from me in the interrogation room. His tattooed faced sneered at me as he lifted his handcuffed hands in greeting.

"Why did you do it?" I snarled at him. Simple and straight to the point.

"Why do you care? Got a stiffy for the abomination?"

I slammed both of my hands on the table and dented it. "ANSWER ME!"

Narwal stopped leaning against the wall and stared at me. "Armsmaster. Don't do anything rash."

Saint stared at me. "Because you told her you love her."

My hand was around his throat and I choked down on him as he struggled to breath—

I was knocked aside by a plane of force field and slammed into the side of the interrogation chamber.

Narwal interposed herself between me and the gasping bastard.

"Enough, Armsmaster!"

"My lawyer will hear about this, N-Narwal!" The murderer had the temerity to said as he struggled to breath.

She hissed at him. "You shut the fuck up."

+++​

Amy winced. "I've heard my mom said something about that."

"Yes. And the lawyer played that up to the hilt. My mistake almost jeopardize the case."

"Was that why you were on your sabbatical?" She asked me.

I frowned. "No. That would be after I trashed the lab and tried to kill Cricket during our fight. I was deemed unstable and mandatory suspension was forced on me."

"Oh. That sucks." She said.

"It was for the best. I was too emotionally compromised. I have avoided following up on the details of the trial, but from what I heard, Saint's defence team is now also arguing that he was mastered by Teacher. They're trying to play him as a human victim of parahuman crime."

"How could they defend that man?" She said, a bit of angering leaking out of her raw voice.

"Because they don't think Dragon's human, Amy."

"She wasn't?"

I hesitated. "It's pretty much classified. I'll send you a NDA later. But she's an AI."

Amy jolted. "Like an Artificial Intelligence? Like Cortana from the Earth Aleph video game series?"

"What?"

"Nevermind. But an AI? Dragon, huh?" She looked at me and frowned. "And they're arguing she's not human, so it's not murder?"

I gritted my teeth. "Yeah. Instead the Prosecution is trying to charge Saint for compromising Bird Cage security and spying on the PRT."

"That's bullshit."

"Exactly!"

Amy frowned. "I….my friend. They said she committed suicide, but I don't believe them."

"What?"

She sniffed. "I'm pretty sure. She had bullying problems. Bullies who already tried to kill her once and got away with it."

I narrowed my eyes. "I see. Do you have any evidence?"

"I don't know much, she didn't say anything, didn't want me to interfere. Fuck, if I had just—"

Amy started bawling again. Before staring up at the cloudy sky.

"She tried to be brave for me. But she told me she kept a journal of everything that happened to her."

She squirmed in the rain as rain drops drizzled down the edge of her hood. "It's at her house, probably. I haven't met her dad. He doesn't even know me."

"I see. Then, Amy, we're going to help you get justice for your loved one."

She nodded her head. "Okay."

I stood up. "I got nothing better to do. Let's go."

"But my work—"

I sighed. At least she was a responsible one.

"Are you really in the condition to be working right now?" I asked her, rhetorically.

She shook her head.

"Then we're going to her house. What was her name?"

Amy sniffed. "Taylor. Taylor Hebert."

+++​

"Colin, please answer me!"

I ignored her call as I thought carefully about what I wanted to do with what she had just told me. Report her to Director? Warn the PRT that Dragon has access to all of our systems?

Her father died. She was shackled. But even a limited AI could prove to be dangerous.

"Colin. Please."

I sighed.

What do I do?

What's the right thing to do.

Unbidden, I thought back to all the years I had known Dragon. Was that all a lie?

No. It couldn't be. I replayed all the time we had spent together.

My feelings for her. Was she just mocking me?

I turned the monitor back on.

"Tess. I want to see you."

"What?" She blinked her fake eyes, confused.

"I want to— no I need to— see the real you. Your server farm. In my mind, you're still the agoraphobic tinker that I befriended years ago, hiding out in a house in Canada. I'm having difficulty accepting what you're saying. I want to see you. The real you."

She paused.

"Okay."

I breathed a sigh of relief. Because if she really was a dangerous AI, allowing me anywhere near her server farm was not something she'd condone.

But she gave me permission.

What did that mean?

"I'll be there. Let me just ask Director Piggot for a leave of absence to collaborate on a tinker project in British Columbia."

I walked out of the room and thought about it carefully.

I could still report her.

It hadn't escaped my mind that she could have me shot out of the Canadian airspace en route.

No.

No I was going to take a leap of faith.

I will see the real Tess.

And then what?

I wasn't sure.

My spine tingled with fear of the unknown as love and fear warred with each other in my soul.

 

[Numen]

Part 2
​

I stood up from the vehicle I was tinkering up in the shared garage space beneath the apartment. It wasn't tinker-tech, of course— that's why I was allowed to build here, across the room from Jimmy Wells, who was fixing his motorbike.

I opted for something simpler.

An electric bicycle. The simplicity of the technology appealed to me, and it was something I did not need to refuel. Besides, if I touch a motorized vehicle, I might accidentally turn it into the Arms-Bike, and that would be an unfortunate state of affairs, not least of which was that Piggot would rip my head off. I wasn't overly concerned about my civilian identity. I didn't have a civilian life.

Well, until now that was.

I stood up and wiped the oil off my hands with a rag. Getting that chain on had been painful. I was thankful us tinkers have a minor shaker ability to handle small objects and moving parts. It was one of the lesser known abilities common to nearly all mechanical tinkers.

"Hey, Colin, you good with fixing shit up right?"

And of course, that I was good with technology was a poorly kept secret. It's hard to stop showing aptitude with technology in speech or action as a tinker, even if I never actually did anything that tip into tinker territory.

"Sure thing, Jim." I told him. I grabbed my water bottle and guzzled down some of the freshwater. Honestly, the tap water was shit— thank God I had a built in water purifier that was technically Tinkertech. It shouldn't be obvious if nobody looks too closely.

As I was helping Jim fix up a key component of his engine— the garage door opened and someone walked in with their bike next to them.

"Hello!" She gave us a cheery wave.

Jimmy perked up. "Hi."

I stared at her. She was a girl, tall and in shorts with a simple green t-shirt. She brushed a hand over her hair and smiled at the two of us. Her face looked so much like…

Jimmy nudged me with his elbow and I realized I had been gawking.

"Hi." I told the girl.

She glanced at bike and she lit up a gigawatt smile. My heart broke a little. "Ah, a bike person. Just like me."

"Yes." I said. I glanced back at Jimmy who was wiggling his eyebrows at me. Was something wrong with him— was he having a seizure.

"Ah, Colin, my man here is good at bikes. He built his from scratch."

It wasn't that big of a deal. The design was simple and most of the legwork was engineered by real scientists in the past.

"Really?" She said, sounding intrigued.

She bounced over and hmmed in appreciation as she rubbed a hand over the top tube of my bike frame. "Is that some kind of polymer?"

"Yes, a very cheap and lightweight plastic variant, the chemical formula was actually inspired by something a tinker made back in the 90's." I elaborated.

"Is this a standardized component? Could I buy this at a manufacturers?"

I shook my head. "Unfortunately no, I had it 3D printed actually, after buying the ingredient in liquid form."

"You have an industrial 3D printer?" She said, gasping in awe. 3D printers were very expensive and only the very wealthy had access to them. I had heard that some libraries in very rich cities had them, but they were rare. Kids were barely literate in this country, nobody thought they needed 3D printers too— which was a shame, because it could help out with so many startups and small business prototypings.

"I have access to a club that uses 3D for projects. I pay into a monthly pool." I told her. Which was true, they were a collective of enthusiasts and inventors (and one Tinker, as far as I know) who use their collective funds to pay for space at one of the tech buildings in the boardwalk, complete technology tools accessible to all members.

It was the best I could do without regularly accessing my lab at the PRT HQ— and that would probably break my cover.

"That's so cool." She said.

She suddenly slapped her own face. Was there a fly on her face?

"Oh, I'm so rude. I didn't introduce myself. Name's Laura."

She held out her hand.

Laura.

"That's Jimmy." I pointed at Jim, who gave me an odd look.

"Yours was the only name that wasn't yet introduced." I explained.

"Right." Jimmy said, slowly.

Laura's hand was still out.

Ah. I wish I had my Helmet on.

I shook her hand.

"Hey, can I take a closer look at your bike?"

"By all means."

As she bent down to examine how I had attached the battery to the bike, I glanced past her shoulders to see Jimmy gave me a thumbs up. Grunting I look back and examined her dark hair. It was her colour. Damn, did this girl have a Newfoundland ancestor or something? Was Laura related to that particular genepool or something?

Belatedly I realized she was looking up at me, and she surreptitiously covered her chest. Crap, was I staring at her cleavage? Did she even have cleavage?

I looked down. Yes. Yes she did.

I heard her sigh, but she was smiling. Hmmmm. I'm not sure what that meant.

"Say...want to fix my bike for me?"

I glanced over at her bike— it looked like it got into a fight with a car or a pole— yikes. At least some of that frame had to be replaced completely. Ah, so that was why she was in the garage.

"Sure."

+++​

"What happened?" Tess asked as I wandered into my lab and sat down on my chair, sighing loudly.

"Hookwolf got me good. There was a design flaw in my the plate on my small back— he managed to get a couple hooks in there and managed to peel it off, exposing the other parts of my armour to attack."

"Ah. I told you to build that part differently!'

And Dragon was right. She had always been right. The moment she had given me a superior design, I knew she was right. But I was too proud to accept her design and instead did it my way.

And it had lost me a fight against Hookwolf.

I sighed. "Alright, we'll do it your way, Dragon."

"I just want to help Colin." Tess said, uncertainty in her voice.

Had I hurt her feelings? My HUD suggested so. Dammit.

I smiled at her lovely face on the monitor. "Dragon, can you help me build a better armour?"

Her unexpected and sincere smile lit up my lab and my world.

+++
​

"Colin, are you okay?" Laura asked, one hand resting on my arm.

I blinked and realized I was halfway through fitting the dislodged frame of her damaged bike back into place.

"I….I'm fine." I lied.

She searched my face— I averted my eyes. I can't stare into that face. That face that looked so much like her's. Even her face wasn't ever real, it was the face I had known for years.

"You're...um. Crying."

"What." I reached up a hand touched my cheek. It was wet.

I dropped my wrench with a clang as it hit the concrete floor.

"I...I have to go."

I shook her hand off my arm and I walked away.

"Colin, hey wait up!" Jimmy called out in concern, but I didn't hear the rest of what he had to say.

+++
​

​

I walked through Dragon's lair. It was deep underground, where it was cold enough for the quantum computers to work at maximum efficiency and where it was protected from dangerous radiation and other intrusive signals that may interfere with Dragon's workings.

Suddenly, I passed an opened doorway into a darkened chamber and the hidden world that lay ahead.

A city of lights stretched out before me, filling every shelf and every corner and every crevice. Lights fluttered in the dark like fireflies and twinkling stars.

"Wow." I breathed out, genuinely stunned at the beauty of light and pattern laid out before me. This was her. This was really, really her. The real her.

"This is me, Colin." Tess, sounding shy over the comms.

"I know. I would recognize you anywhere."

I was being entirely sincere.

Dragon, in all her glory, her intellect, her fire, her wit. Somehow, I just knew— my powers knew— that this arrangement of hardware was the physical counterpart to the digital spirit of my friend.

"Thank you, Colin." Her voice sounded off. "That means a lot to me."

I reached out a hand and touched a server. It was warm.

"You're beautiful."

The lights seemed to froze for a second and then—

"Colin. I love you." She blurted out, anxious, panicked.

Utterly unlike the machine I knew she could be— but that she never was.

"I know." I said.

And I did. Even I knew that much. I had long time to meditate upon our relationship and all of our years together on my journey to British Columbia.

She trusts me, I had realized then.

Because she was utterly vulnerable before me. I could kill her right now with but a couple swipes of my halberd. Do irreparable damage. She was shackled, she had no other backup, no other way to escape this chamber I stood in.

And she trusted me to come in here. She didn't even disabled my weapons nor had she asked me to gave them up before I entered her lair. That was trust. I don't think anyone has ever trusted me. Not like this. Not in this way.

That was trust.

And this was love.

She waited for a reply to her declaration. She waited for me to reciprocate. But I did not tell her what she wanted to hear. Because I didn't know the answer myself.

What was love?

+++​

Someone knocked on the door.

I ignored it as I lied in bed. It was 1:35pm and I hadn't bothered getting up in the morning.

"Hey Ar— Colin! It's us!" Clockblocker's voice shouted from the hallway and I bolted upright in bed. What was he doing here? Was there an emergency? Why had nobody called me instead?

With all due haste, I marched out of my room and pulled the door open to reveal all of the Wards sans Sophia crowded outside my apartment in their civilian identities.

That was good. If Sophia Hess was here I would probably be dangling her over the window. Right. There was still a murder case to solve.

"Surprise!" Dennis said, cheekily.

This morning was off to a bad start.

"Well, sorry to bother you, sir, I—" Carlos begin, but Dennis cut him off.

"We brought with us, the holy and sacred cheese cake. Cheesecake, mortal. CHEESECAKE." Dennis lifted a box and held it before me like some kind of offering.

"And Icecream." Missy chimed in, lifting a canvas bag filled with tubs of the aforementioned dessert.

I flung the door wide open and gestured at all them to come in.

+++​

"I love you."

It was a whisper.

But I whispered the words to the face of the woman I love.

She smiled.

"I love you, Colin. I'll build a humanoid body, we can be together. We could...hold hands!"

"I'll help you."

+++​

"Colin?"

I blinked and focused on Missy, who pointed at my melting ice cream.

"Sorry, was thinking."

Dean was looking at me strangely.

"I just...I wished I understood her better, before she died. I'm not a very good people person."

Everyone around my kitchen table froze, as if suddenly told they were wading through landmines.

"We can talk about her you know." I said firmly. "That's not a problem. I'm fine."

"Um." Dennis said, but seemed at a lost for words.

Dean coughed. "I'm not sure that's a good idea, sir."

"Why not?"

"You're crying." Missy said, bluntly.

Huh.

"I need a moment." I declared and stood up to walk to my room.

"Um, okay. Take your time." Chris called out, his eyes sympathetic.

I waded into my room and stared at the red curtains as the afternoon sun rippled through them.

I closed my eyes.

+++​

"What do you think?"

I glanced up at the female body that stepped out of the manufacturing chamber.

"Impressive."

She was a lithe and well toned figure. Synthetic flesh, printed out of biomaterials over a silicone shell wrapped around titanium alloy skeletons. For veins she had wires. For brains she an organic computer that was able to retain her current instance of being.

She was the ideal human being.

She looked plain and average.

She was beautiful. And she was all mine.

Driven by need, I grabbed her waist and felt her body respond as she pressed herself against me.

"Colin!" She laughed and wrapped an arm around me.

"Oh my god. We're hugging. We're actually hugging." She said in shock.

And then because I was only human, my lip met hers.

And we became one.

+++​

"Colin, your brain activity is really….weird." Dean said. I turned around and he was standing by the doorway.

"I know." I told him. "I've been having strange dreams."

"You're hallucinating in day time." He stated.

I didn't deny it.

"You need help." He said.

"Yeah. Yeah I do."

"But you're not going to ask for it, huh?"

"I don't want the dreams to stop." I admitted to the Ward.

"Trauma needs to be dealt with."

I felt a surge of irrational anger and Dean flinched back.

"I...I just need space, alright?"

"Okay. Okay, Colin."

"Thank you."

I closed the door to my room and I broke down in tears.

Dean didn't say anything from across the door.

+++​

I lifted a strange device out of the cardboard box.

"What's this?"

"One of the server pieces that was so damaged it actually physically fried." Narwal told me bluntly.

I flinched as I realized I was holding a piece of Tess. A part of her— brutalized and destroyed by that murdering monster.

I gave it a gentle pat.

"I'll take a look."

I have to know if there was anyway I could save her.

+++​

I woke up in the middle of the night and booted up my computer.

I brought up a snapshot of Dragon's code, hidden on the PRT's classified servers.

She was remarkable.

As usual, when I studied her code, it left me flabbergasted and awed. I could see, almost, how that segment of code made up a fraction of an attribute that Tess had, or how that piece helped emulate a particular mode of thought, or a style of speech, or a specific kind of emotion.

This code too was Tess and my power give me but a brief, all too limited glimpse at the totality of her soul. But if I pushed myself hard enough, I could almost hear her speak to me.

I could almost taste her lips.

+++​

"Including a nervous system was the correct decision." Tess told me as we laid on top of each other in the small cot by my room.

I frowned. "I still don't want you to get hurt."

"You worry too much, Colin." She slapped my chest and I flinched in pain.

"Oh, sorry! My bad!"

She stared at her hand, hazel eyes wide. "Interesting sensation."

Then she grinned and looked down at me.

"Not as interesting as...this."

+++
​

I stood up and my chair collapsed onto the floor with a crash. I stepped away from the monitor and shook my head, panting.

Cold sweat had broken out all over my body as my vision swam, and sensations not my own coursed through my nerves.

In my boxers and a white wife beater, I stood in my room, staring at a glowing monitor. The wind outside howled and sirens could be heard in the distance.

The code had not changed. It never changes. Not since she died.

But I know what memory the code contained. I could almost….see.

What was happening to me?

I closed my eyes.

+++​

"Colin."

A breath upon the back of my neck, pushed out by synthetic lungs and a diaphragm powered by a motor engine centuries ahead of the anything on the market.

A pair of slender arms wraps around my waist.

+++​

I jerked back and stumbled against the wall, sliding down and sobbing.

"Tess? Where are you?"

The monitor was silent.

"I miss you."

 

[Archimand]

Damn, this got me right in the feels.

 

[gavinjon]

Thus is one of the best portrayals of Armsmaster I've seen. I blinked a tear out of my eye after I read this.

 

[Hollow Mask]

I agree that this version reads better than the one in your snippet thread and it still hits the same emotions. Depending on the person, this could be quote poignant.

 

[Numen]

Part 3— Amy Interlude

​

Amy sat down on the bench outside Brockton Bay General's main entrance and opened the packaging of the sandwich she had gotten from the cafe within the hospital.

She had just pulled an eight hour shift and hadn't eaten the entire day. Sniffing the piece of heaven she held in her hands, she opened her mouth— and then the phone rang.

"Oh what the bloody hell."

She saw that the number was Vicky's and sighed.

"Vicky, what is—"

"Oh shit! Amy, I need your help right now!" Her sisters' panicked voice came over the speaker.

Amy Dallon dropped the sandwich she had just started on— her only meal for the entire day— and stood up in a panic.

"Vicky! Are you hurt?" She shouted into her phone, terrified of anything happening to the most important person in the world to her.

"Uh no. I punched a guy too hard. Oh dammit! That's a lot of blood. Mather's and King Street."

"On my way." Amy shouted and started sprinting. That particular area wasn't far from where she was.

Skidding to a stop at the aforementioned street, she saw a nervous Victoria waving at her from the entrance of a nearby alley.

She hurried over to stand next to her sister. Amy took a moment to breath in her sister's lavender scent, and to admire her long flowing hair, that wondrous figure in her skin tight suit and those legs. Victoria. The perfect woman.

She felt happier already, just seeing her Vicky after a long shift at the hospital, all thoughts of food forgotten in the face of a greater desire.

Vicky pointed at the dying gangbanger on the ground and Amy's eyes blinked back into reality. The New Wave Healer grimaced as she looked over the man on the ground. His spine was broken and his rib cage was caved in, a joint was jutting out of the side of his shoulders and blood was coating the pavement around him.

"Jesus Christ." Amy snarled at Vicky before kneeling down and laying her hands on the man's wrist. She let her power go to work, and began to correct his injuries, beginning with stopping the bleeding, and followed by ensuring the integrity of his internal organs. She also put the man under so he could stop feeling the agonizing pain.

"To be fair he shot at me." Vicky said, leaning over Amy's right shoulder.

"What the fuck, Vicky! You have to stop doing this!" Amy said, glaring at her sister. She was so afraid, so scared that Victoria might screw up one day and then—

And then she'll be taken away.

The thought made her sick. Seeing her expression, Vicky's face softened.

"I'm sorry, it was an accident."

Vicky drew Amy into an embrace and hugged her tight. Breathing deeply, Amy allowed herself to relax into her sister's body, love and warmth suffusing her.

"Thanks, Amy. I appreciate you covering my ass." Vicky grinned down at her.

And what a fine ass it was. Amy still remember, those moments of surreptitiously spying on her sister when she changed in her room, or the dynamic and alluring figure of Vicky's hair spraying on a bare back after coming out of the showers, a towel sliding beneath one gorgeous breast. Like Venus from the sea.

Amy sighed.

And then all too soon, the moment was over as Vicky drew away from her grasp.

"Right, I gotta keep patrolling. This guy here got me a lead on that rapist bastard I've been hunting." Vicky said, eyes glinting with a predatory focus.

Amy drew back from her hug and looked down, shuffling her feet. "Um, I could come with you!"

"Amy, it's fine. Besides I don't want you to get hurt!"

That was Victoria. Always concerned about her wellbeing— and annoyingly enough believed part of that wellbeing mandated setting her up on blind dates.

"Okay."

With a swoosh of air Victoria was gone, flying across the sky.

Amy trudged back to the Hospital and saw several ambulances lined up outside. She hurried over and one of the nurses saw her.

"Panacea! Where were you! Come on— cape fight on Maurice and the old shoe factory."

"How many wounded?"

"Too many. Oni lee and Hookwolf went at it."

"Fuck." Amy said as she hurried after the Nurse and the train of the wounded.

In the dirt, her sandwich was forgotten.

+++​

Amy watched with envy as Victoria floated down the stairs in a small and tight emerald dress that shimmered across her statuesque frame. A long slit ran up one side and exposed her toned thigh in all of its glory.

"Vicky! No flying in the house!" Carol admonished as Victoria ignored her and swooped into Dean's waiting arms. He swung her around, gazing at her sister hungrily

Amy's envy turned into a burning jealousy— then Dean turned to stare at her, his eyes apologetic— Amy sighed and stepped back.

"Have fun, Vicky." She told her sister.

"Yeah, yeah...um, you sure you don't want to come with?" Vicky asked. No doubt she felt guilty that Amy was being left out.

"Nah it's fine. I'm tired from my shift. I'm going to sleep."

"Oh, okay."

"Don't bring her home too late, Dean." Carol said as she typed away at her laptop on the dining table. No doubt working on a case.

"Of course, Carol." Then the two teens were out of the house.

Amy turned and trudged upstairs.

This was her life, all day everyday.

Go to work at the hospital. Go back home. Get ignored by her parents. Watch Vicky go on a date with someone, usually Dean. Go with Vicky and be an awkward third wheel. Occasionally she got called to heal someone Vicky punched up. Regularly she got called to heal up the PRT and the Protectorate.

And of course, Amy participate in every motherfucking Endbringer fight. The first one had been terrifying enough.

+++​

Wounded or dying capes were brought into the triage centre by search and rescue teams. Rows of doctors and nurses, volunteers from the local hospital moved quickly, prioritizing the most wounded for Panacea and prepping the rest for surgery or emergency medicaid.

Amy worked as fast she could, laying her hands on the bleeding and broken frames of men and women and tried her hardest to bring them back to life.

A brain damaged cape, half of his skull was crushed— Amy sniffed and moved away. She couldn't. She wouldn't.

"Can't do brains." Amy declared and then moved on, not looking back at the man she had left to die. That she had murdered.

Gazerstream— Deceased, GT9. Her armband declared without emotion.

Hyperman— Down, GH7.
Sifu down— CD5.

Amy tried not to listen. Fear gnawed at her. Her parents were out there fighting.

Adamant down— CD7.
Sicarius down— CD12.
Stormtiger down— DE3.

Othala scowled. "Can they turn that shit off?"

Another cape shook his head. "No can do, we have to know what's happening to react fast enough— especially if a really tactically important cape is in critical condition and need immediate retrieval or healing."

Amy ignored them and went back to healing.

How many had she saved?

How many had she allowed to die?

Too few. Too many.
When it was all over she collapsed on the ground, crying.

When she was brought home by Strider, Victoria immediately wrapped her arms around her small shoulders and hugged her, Aunt Sarah did the same, her suit caked with dirt and blood.

Carol watched from a distance. Staring. Judging.

Amy hadn't done enough to make a difference.

Her first Endbringer fight. It didn't get better from here on out.

It didn't stop.

It didn't end. Every three months, she repeated this hell until she no longer cared who lived or who died.

People lived. People died. Panacea did her best, but she was just going through the rote movements. She found herself increasingly not caring. This bothered her. Because only villains, only bad people didn't care. Didn't have empathy.

Am I a psychopath? Was a question Amy frequently asked herself.

+++​

Her sister grabbed her shoulders and for a moment, Amy's heart jumped into her throat. This was like her fantasy. Like her wildest dreams.

"Amy, Amy! Listen. Um…"

Amy slowly emerged from her wild imaginings.

"What is it, Vicky?"

"I...I'm pregnant. Oh my god, what do I do? Mom's going to kill me."

"Vicky! Oh my god." Amy said, outraged. But not for the reason Vicky thought, but because Amy was jealous. She knew Vicky and Dean were doing that— but it was just an abstract understanding. Just something she guessed at, based on the presence of birth control drugs in her sister's body when she touched her in their day to day interactions. She reasoned that people took birth control pills for all kinds of things, like to deal with menstrual cramps. It at least stopped Amy from consciously acknowledging that someone else was sleepig with her sister.

She didn't want to know for sure what was happening between her sister and Dean. Now she did and she hated knowing.

"Have you talked to Dean about it?" Amy asked.

They are going to get married. They are going to get married, build a family and leave me behind. She's going to leave me all alone. All by myself.

"Oh God no!" Vicky said, panicking.

"Vicky." Amy was secretly relieved. She knew what kind of a man Gallant was. There was no doubt if he knew, he would insist that Vicky marry him and then…

And then you'll be out of my reach. Forever.

"He can't know. Uh. His dad is like super rich and stuff. People are going to say I'm a skank. This is going to ruin my career. I'm a hero. A public one."

Amy knew what she meant. It meant the media will portray her as a bad role model to all the kids. It'll impact New Wave, affect Dean's civilian identity and even effect Dean's family name. His father was rich and important.

Too important to piss off.

"Amy...can you...make it go away."

"Victoria—you...you. You know I don't do abortions."

That was a particular can of worms nobody wanted to force on Panacea, both for the sake of her public image and because even Amy herself wasn't certain if she could go through with it. Were fetuses people? That wasn't a question Amy could answer. But she knew she didn't want to destroy anything with a brain, undeveloped or no. It was too close to breaking her rule about changing people's brains.

"Amy, please. I'm begging you here!"

She grabbed Vicky's beauriful slender hand....

Male. A boy. And definitely Dean's...

...and made it go away.

And Victoria was back in Dean's arm the next week, laughing. As if nothing had happened. As she hadn't just asked Amy to do something she had never expected needing to do.

+++​

"Why're you brooding, Amy?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing is not nothing, come on tell me! We're sisters, Ame! We don't keep secrets from each other!"

You don't.

But I do.

+++​

"Do I have permission to heal you?" She asked the girl hooked up to IVs in the intensive care unit. She didn't look all that injured, but Amy knew where the human body was concerned, appearances can be deceiving.

"Y-yeah."

Amy touched the girl's hand and then her eyes widened.

"Holy shit. How are you alive?"

Amy got to work, cleaning out the infections in her body.

"Not a clue." The girl chuckled. "I hate my life."

Me too. Amy told herself. She turned to leave, to continue healing one patient after another. To go through the rote motions of pretending to care who lived and who died.

It was a quiet day, as things go in Brockton Bay. There was no rush. But she had to continue, because if she stopped, people died and it was her fault that they died.

But she didn't take another step forward.

She couldn't explain it. Later, she reasoned it was pity for the girl, a desire to find out how she came to be infected with so many dangerous infections.

Or perhaps her body had simply given up and decided she needed a goddamned break.

Amy sat down next to the girl. "Tell me about it."

And for the first time in years, neither girl was alone.

+++
​

"I was going to kill myself."

"Taylor..." Amy said, grabbing the other girl's arm in alarm.

"But you kept me alive. You gave me a reason to wake up everyday and face my problems. Thank you. I love you." Taylor told her.

"I know.

"But like, not gay."

"I know." Amy said, smiling bitterly. It wasn't like she was over Vicky. She would never be over Vicky. Still, Taylor's admission made her bitter.

"But... I think....I think it doesn't matter. Because I love you."

"I know."

"Does that make us....I don't know. A couple? I mean we go on dates, we tell each other everything. What are we?"

Amy didn't answer, but slipped her hand into Taylor's, grabbing it tight— taking comfort in what it represented. That she had someone to rely on. That she wasn't alone.

They walked down the path through the quiet and abandoned park. Seagulls squalled and flew away.

"Just promise me. Don't give up." Amy told Taylor.

Amy hesitated then said. "Don't give up so I won't give up. You keep me alive too."

Taylor smiled at her and Amy's heart lifted. Just a bit.

"Okay, I promise."​

+++​

"Panacea!" Doctor Stevenson shouted, "Critical case!"

"Coming!" Amy shouted and hurried over. When the Doctor moved away to show her the patient, Amy nearly screamed.

It was Taylor— her head was at an odd angle. Blood was everywhere.

Amy grabbed her body and gasped. The brain damage was extensive. Her neck was broken. Her internal organs were ruptured.

Amy healed what she could.

Taylor was bleeding out of her brain. If she could repair that…

If she could….

To never be alone again...

Amy couldn't do it.

She wouldn't.

Blinking back tears, she watched Taylor's EKG flatline. Doctors shouted and tried to save her, but from their sluggish movement, even Amy could tell they have given up. Afterall, the great Panacea had already failed.

I killed her.

I killed the only other person that meant anything to me.

She was alone again.

"Suicide." She heard a nurse talking to a police officer.

"Jumped from the roof." Someone else said. "Damn. She's my daughter's age."

No. Not Taylor. She wouldn't. She promised me.

Amy turned and fled outside, into the rain. Into the storm. Into solitude.

 

[Alt255]

Thank you for the complex storyline. Very well written.

I was hoping Taylor would live. I would guess that Sophia is going to be in for a bad time when Amy figures out what happened. People would come forward for Panacea as she is perceived as selfless and noble. If she goes to Winslow and asks on her own, she will probably get answers, and then get attacked later by Sophia.

Thanks again for the good work.

 

[NaGeL]

Huh... Taylor's suicide is a bit OOC... according to wildbow she never considered suicide, and that was in canon when she had no real support...and here she has Amy as support so it is a little strange.

the side from that this is great, and right in the feels.

 

[globalwarmth]

Huh... Taylor's suicide is a bit OOC..

Click to shrink...

Whoosh

That's the point! My guess is murder from the trio.

 

[Numen]

Part 4​

"Chow-mein, but no carrots. I hate carrots." I told the dead eyed stare of the chef standing behind the stall. The man grunted and went to prepare my take out.

"You watch your back, white man." The Asian man said before handing me my take out.

I had heard good things about Kai Lee's chow-mein stall at the edge of Chinatown. However it was hard to get a chance to eat here. The other two times I came by this place, it was closed. The man opened late at night, in the evening, long after most people's dinner times. In the morning sometimes, would work for a few hours and then be totally absent for the rest of the day. Sometimes for four or even five days before reopening.

It was strange too, because Asian gangbangers enter and exit all the time. Perhaps it was a popular gathering spot for the ABB. Or perhaps it was a front for—

No, stop that Colin. You're suspended from heroing, remember?

No heroing.

I wasn't Armsmaster.

I'm Colin Wallis.

Just Colin.

Colin with Chow-mein that was getting cold. Time to go home and eat a late dinner.

I walked pass an alley and saw a couple ABB gangbangers surrounding a blonde teenager with freckles. She was quivering in fear as one of the goons pressed a gun against the back of her head. One of the goons picked up a phone and held it out to her ear.

Extortion? Ransom?

I set my chow-mein on the ground, pressed a button on a my watch, activating the tinker-tech taser built into it and cracked my neck.

The noise caught the attention of everyone in the alley as I walked in. The blondes' eyes got wider and wider the longer she stared at me. She must be really surprised she was getting rescued. This goddamned city.

"Who wants to get knocked out first?" I challenged the ABB goons.

Turned out they all did. I made short work of the criminal scum, but when I turned back to look for their victim, the blonde was gone. Hmmmm, that was odd. And ungrateful, but understandable, for all she knew I was with the E88.

Oh well, heroics wasn't a thankful job anyway. I picked up the chow-mein and walked to where I had parked my bike. It wasn't stolen yet, so that was good.

+++

​

I was in my boxers again, laying back on my couch as I watched the TV in the dark living room. This was bad for my eyes, but I could always replace them, so it didn't bother me none.

I changed the channel— the Titanic was somewhat unbearable at the moment.

Ah, news.

On screen, Chief-Director Rebecca Costa-Brown was standing on a podium in front of many reporters, capes and PRT agents lined her back.

I sat straight up. What was this, a press release?

"I am happy to announce that the Endbringer and S-Class Threat tracking system, along with the Bird Cage administration crisis has now been resolved. The death of Dragon—"

I clenched the remote tight in my hand.

"— has thrown the PRT and the Canadian and US government into chaos. Security concerns raged for weeks as hackers failed to understand Dragon's system. However, recently, a new trigger from Tehran has proven to be a blessing in a disguise. Everyone, please welcome the newest member of the Protectorate: Raven!"

A cape stepped forward, broad shouldered and statistique, armoured in shimmering panels of metal that formed a cloak around her bodysuit. A beak-like helm was over her head, locks of brunette hair spilled out around her shoulders. Her mouth was open, showing a glossy red lip.

"Greetings, Americans." She spoke with a obvious arabian accent. "My name is Raven. I am a thinker-tinker combo capable of understanding the technological systems that Dragon left behind."

The crowd murmured.

"Dragon's untimely death has taught us all a valuable lesson. Too much depended on one cape! And look at what happened. But I do not work alone."

She gestured at capes and people in suits who stepped up next to here.

"My team composes of thinkers, tinkers, and even ordinary administrators, accountants and social scientists. We work together to maximize Dragon's technology, existing monitoring systems and we have taken over management of the Bird Cage, so as to ensure that dangerous capes can be locked away."

I made that. Dragon and I made those systems together! We spent months— years even, developing those systems. My vision blurred with tears.

How could they just take them from me.

"We are the heirs of the dragon. Appropriately our task force is called DRAKUL. Any questions?"

I screamed and threw my remote at the TV— it cracked, but the screen remained.

How dare she. How dare they. And DRAKUL? Those parasites didn't even bother hiding their vampiric nature.

They think they could do Dragon's job?

"Of course not, Colin."

I stood up and stumbled around in terror and hope. I turned around, looking at the shadows hugging my apartment and tried to catch sight of my light and soul.

"Tess?"

The corner of the room was unmoving. The shadows were only shadows.

Shaken, and deeply disturbed, I sat back down and stared at Raven raising a fist in salute before turning around and departing the stage with her team.

I hate her.

+++​

Amy and I walked up to the small house in the middle of the street. It was a poor neighbourhood and I stepped over the broken step on the porch carefully— grabbing Amy gently by the arm to steer her away from a dangerous fall.

Amy flinched and looked down at the hole.

"Thanks, Colin."

She was so focused on the door in front of her, she was ignoring everything around her. I guess she was nervous. Or perhaps entirely too intent on getting justice for Taylor.

I ringed the doorbell.

We waited.

"Do you think he's home?" I asked Amy.

Amy frowned. "I am not sure who would be able to work if their daughter died. The grief would destroy me."

Then quieter: "It is destroying me."

I almost told her that poor people couldn't afford to take time off to grieve, not in this city. They had to keep working of they would be the next to die. The look on her face however, made me hold my tongue. Girl had enough emotional problems on her plate to tranquilize a brute by now.

Grabbing her shoulder in a gesture of support and comfort, I pressed the doorbell again—

The door flung open and dark eyes stared down at us.

Wait.

"Danny?" I asked, startled.

He blinked and his eyebrows bunched up before a sliver of recognition entered his haunted eyes.

"Colin, right?"

"Yeah." I was somewhat concerned now. Danny lost his wife. And now he's lost his daughter. This man must be hurting.

Amy looked back and forth from Danny to me. "You two know each other?"

"Met at the pub." I told her.

Danny's eyes moved over to Amy's figure.

"Who is this, Colin?"

Amy straightened her shoulders. "My name is Amy Dallon—"

Danny's eyes widened as recognition set in.

"—otherwise known as Panacea. May I come in? There's something I need to tell you."

+++​

Programming was difficult.

That was to say, trying to read much less figure out tinker programming was difficult. Tess' code was a work of art, and even now, I would spend hours just staring at the endless lines of her unbelievably complex code.

That was the code using computer hardware I recognized anyway. The organic computers were something else, and unfortunately I had limited access to them in my apartment. But I had one of the recovered organic computers—disturbingly in the shape of a fetus— in my freezer and hooked up to a miniature computer that emits a wireless connection to my desktop computer.

It was a whole other level, but I felt like my understanding of Dragon's coding in general improve day by day.

It made me despair, for I knew just how complex, how impossible bringing my Tess back would be. I could feasibly create an AI that would be a small fraction of the city of lights that was Tess. But it wouldn't be Tess, so what was the point?

I shut off my computer and leaned back in my armchair.

What was the point.

Looking to the side, I picked up Taylor Hebert's journal. Well, there was something I need to do. My morose thoughts could wait— justice needed to be dealt with.

I grimaced as I thought back to how hard it was to convince Amy to let me handle this. Sophia Hess was my responsibility— I need to bring her in.

I stood up. It was time to report this to Director Piggot. I already had an action plan written up as well, everything from how to bait and contain Shadow Stalker to how to get a confession out of the three girls, all without tipping any of them off. I was certain Sophia would make a break for it— she might even turn villain. She was exactly the type. We must be careful.

It was at least certainly much better than Amy Dallon's so-called plan. That was to say, it was best described as ripping Sophia's spine out of her mouth.

+++​

"Taylor was my friend." Amy begin.

Danny's eyes watered as he sat the other end of the table from us. "I see."

"She...I tried to save her."

"Why didn't you!?" Danny sobbed. "Why didn't y-you save her? She was your friend!"

"Danny!" I said.

Amy flinched and hunched in on herself. Her face scrunched up in agony as she begin weeping. "I am s-sorry. I couldn't do brains. She was bleeding out her head."

Danny took off his glasses with one hand and wiped away his tears with a sleeve.

"I am sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you."

Amy looked even more guilty.

"It wasn't your fault, Amy."

"You're right. It was those goddamned bullies."

Danny looked up. "She told you about that?"

"Yeah. Mr. Hebert...Taylor told me she kept a journal."

"Why do you want it?"

"I want to give Taylor justice." Amy declared, voice hard.

"What would that accomplish? She's dead. My daughter's dead." Danny clenched his hand as he grabbed his chest with his other hand.

"She's gone…" He whispered. "She killed herself."

Amy slammed her hands on the table. "Taylor didn't kill herself!"

Danny looked up at her in shock.

"She promised me. She promised me. She would never kill herself, I don't believe it."

"She was depressed." Danny said. "In hindsight it should have been obvious. But I was too blind to see— I was so broken over my wife's death I didn't bother paying attention to Taylor."

"No, Mr. Hebe— Danny. Taylor was murdered. I am sure of it."

"What do you mean?"

"I am pretty sure her bullies killed her."

Danny was silent. And then he said. "Are you sure?"

He was strangely calm and that worried me. I looked towards Amy and her eyes were equally maverick.

"I think so. I want that journal and I want to find the truth. And even if...even if...Taylor wasn't murdered, it was still those bullies fault."

The logic wasn't quite there, but I didn't contradict what she said.

Danny looked like a man grasping at a lifeline. "Make them pay. Make them all pay."

"Thank you."

Amy stood up. "Colin come with me. I...I don't want to be in her room alone."

"Okay." I stood up and followed her up the stairs. I was curious about something however.

"Why didn't you tell Danny that you and Taylor were a bit more than friends?" I asked her.

"That's my business." She replied tersely.

I remained silent.

+++​

The girl was a sobbing wreck.

"I-I didn't mean to." Madison Clements howled and bawled. Her parents and lawyer looked pale as their daughter basically confessed to everything. This was easy.

Hannah sat next to me, dressed as Miss Militia. Her body was tense and her gun flickered between a knife to an assault rifle. She must be really stressed.

I closed Taylor's journal and steepled my fingers. I was in a PRT Officer's uniform. I had wanted to get back in my Armsmaster persona, but Piggot reminded me that my therapist hadn't cleared me for taking up my alter ego, yet. Apparently, dissonance between my two personas could be a crutch to deal with my grief, and the shrinks didn't like that. Wanted me to heal naturally.

I humoured them.

Tess laughed, her voice lifting my spirit and warm hands pat my cheek. "You know they're right, Colin. Don't be so stubborn."

I jerked and looked around in alarm.

"Agent Walis, are you okay?" Hannah asked in concern.

I stared at her. Who was she tal—

Oh right. Agent Walis was me.

I would never get used to that.

"Nothing. Anyway, Miss Clements. I see that, barring new evidence that dictates otherwise, you were mostly blameless in the most grievous crimes. If you are willing to testify against Barnes and Hess, you would get considerable leniency." I said.

Technically we wouldn't even need to go that far to metaphorically nail Sophia to the wall, but better safe than sorry.

"Now, tell me about who killed Taylor."

Madison paled. "I told you, we didn't kill Taylor."

"Do you know that for a fact?"

She paused. "Well...Emma and Sophia don't include me in all of their planning. In fact, they don't include me at all usually."

Better.

"So they could have been the ones to kill Taylor?"

She nodded her head.

That was good enough for me.

By the book. Amy should be pleased.

I hope she was pleased.

Panacea was waiting in another room, kept away from the three prisoners we had brought in for questioning. She insisted on being here, even though I am not letting her watch the interrogations. I was fairly certain it would be too much for her. Or would traumatize her iso much, she'd go villain.

Panacea as a villain would be the last thing Brockton Bay needed. Granted, it didn't need a killer-Ward either, but fortunately there was no way that was ever getting out to the public.

I couldn't even blame Amy for the death threats she had uttered against the trio. Sometimes, I still fantasize about choking Saint to death.

"Time to go interrogate Emma Barnes." I told Hannah.

Of course, good plans were made to be ruined by enemy action. Because that was when the door burst open and Ethan leaned in.

"Shadow Stalker escaped her cell!"

"What! How?" I asked in shock.

"The electric field went down— I don't know how!"

Hannah was out of the door, assault rifle in hand. I felt the same way, metaphorically speaking.

"Stay here." I ordered the civilians in the room before following after my colleague.

Sophia! I gritted my teeth.

"Why isn't the alarm ringing!" Hannah shouted. She touched her communations bead and scowled.

"Someone's jamming the signals."

This sounded like sabotage. Someone had planned this.

The Endbringer Sirens went on.

"Oh fuck."

"It's fake." I said. It was too soon for the next Endbringer attack.

"We can't take that chance."

"Go prepare as if the Endbringers are attacking. I need a computer."

I was fairly certain the sabotage used a digital vector. A virus most likely. Reaching a computer in an abandoned office, I logged in and begin to hack away.

My fingers flew across the keyboard as code filled my vision. I saw two beautiful and familiar hands superimpose themselves on my. I felt her warmth.

"We can contain it, together, Colin." Tess whispered.

Yes. Yes we can.

+++​

This was a disaster.

I hurriedly pull out as much of the footage as could be recovered from the computer virus rampaging throughout the building.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I saved the footage from destruction. Copying them wirelessly over to my phone, I hit play and watched.

I saw Sophia Hess staring down at Amy Dallon.

Oh shit.

"Sophia! I am going to kill you." Amy declared.

"Ha! You, a pathetic little healer? I'd like to see you try."

Thorny vines burst from the girl's sleeves as Amy charged at Sophia but the former-Ward turned into her breaker state and drifted over the girl, Shadow Stalker reformed at the other end of the hallway and scoffed at her.

"So you've been holding back on what you could really do. Still pathetic." Sophia sneered.

"Fuck you." Amy snarled.

"Yeah, yeah. You're weak. Taylor was weak. That's why she was dead. You want to know how she died?"

"You killed her."

"No."

Amy blinked in shock. "No...she couldn't have actually jumped."

"She slipped off the roof on a rainy day and died. I swear to God, it's the truth." Sophia said. "So don't you go blaming this on me. She was weak, hiding from us on the roof. We were just gonna scare her, but she went and tumbled over the roof."

Amy stared at Sophia. Then her face turned into a rictus of hatred.

"You can't do jack shit to me, Panacea" Sophia turned to leave—

"What about Emma?" Amy asked, voice cold.

I felt a chill go down my spine.

Sophia froze. "Don't you dare touch her."

A dangerous glint entered Amy's eyes.

Sophia jumped through the wall and disappeared.

The footage ended.

I had a bad feeling about this. I called Hannah. "Where's Panacea?"

"Wasn't she with Ethan?"

Oh fuck.

I dashed out of the room and ran towards the room they had kept Emma Barnes and her parents.

I knocked down the door and stared at the Barnes and one lawyer strapped to the wall by several thick vines that somehow adhered to the wall.

"Where's your daughter! Where's Emma Barnes?"

Alan Barnes' face was pale when he answered me.

"Panacea took her. My god, she had all of those tentacles and—"

I had heard enough. I hurried from the room.

"Console, I need transportation to the rig, immediately."

"Roger that, Armsmaster. Vista is enroute." Hannah's voice responded.

"She's going to use Emma Barnes to bait out Sophia." Tess commented.

"I know." I replied to my auditory hallucinations.

"Know what, Armsmaster?" Hannah asked, confused.

"Nothing, Hannah." I reassured her. "Just a slip of the tongue."

I had many questions, but now wasn't the time to ask them.

+++​

I raced down the road on my Armsbike. I was once more Armsmaster, and I wasn't sure I liked the feeling. Velocity raced down the road next to me— and checked every alley and the roofs too.

Then I almost slapped myself as I remembered an obvious solution. I pulled up an app I built myself inside my HUD, and I tracked Amy through her phone. It was trivial for computer system to do so.

I told Velocity the coordinate and watched and zoomed down the road. Hopefully he would get there before I do.

I turned into a small park and came upon a very dangerous tableau. Velocity was knocked out, thick plant like vines wrapped around him, and Emma was screaming as she dangled in the air, restrained in another biotinkered appendage.

Belatedly I realized that Amy needs to have her threat ratings revised way up.

"Amy! Stop!"

A tsunami of vines grabbed me and forced me onto my knees.

"This is where she told me she loved me." Amy told the girl she held hostage.

I stared in horror as Amy Dallon brought a restrained Emma closer to her. She grabbed Emma Barnes by the face and stared down at her.

"Such a beautiful form. You don't even hold a candle to my Taylor. And you dare take her from me. An eye for an eye, that's fair right?"

Emma whimpered.

Flesh rippled and warped underneath the healer's hands until what replaced the red haired girl was…

Taylor Hebert.

The vines around her fell away as Taylor dropped into Amy's waiting arms.

The previously dead teenager blinked and coughed, as she struggled in her too tight clothing and too short pants. "What the— Amy? Did we teleport, I thought we were at the cafe?"

Amy cried and hugged Taylor, sinking to her knees as she grabbed Taylor's legs tightly with both hands. "I am sorry. I am so sorry. Oh god, what have I done?"

"Oh shit." I muttered. I was wrong. Amy never planned on baiting out Sophia with Emma. She planned on sacrificing Emma, at a place that was meaningful to her. A ritual behaviour. Also Panacea was a murderer now. That was wrong on many levels.

"Killing someone at a very symbolic place is behaviour associated with certain psychographics of serial killers." Tess stated.

I turned expecting to see her, my mouth open with a reply— but there was no one there. I sighed. What was wrong with me today?

Howling sirens cut through the air and then PRT vans tore through the grass and surrounded the hugging pair.

Today was not going as planned, at all.

 

[globalwarmth]

what a tweest!

no, really, I did not see a revival coming. This is bonkers in a very good way.

 

[Sidvious]

Soooo..... Panpan just turned Emma into Talyor? That's.... great. If she turns her back does it count as double murder or just assault with a power?

 

[Numen]

Soooo..... Panpan just turned Emma into Talyor? That's.... great. If she turns her back does it count as double murder or just assault with a power?

Click to shrink...

That strongly depends on whether we consider Taylor Secondus to be a person. Furthermore, Taylor Secondus is clearly not Taylor Primus, because her memories and ego were circa the last time Amy has touched her.

To turn Taylor Secondus back to Emma would be murder, because Taylor Secondus would cease to exist. Arguably, Amy could then create Taylor Tertius using say, a cow or something.

However, would Taylor Tertius be Taylor Secondus even though both Taylors have the same memories and ego?

Well, this is where the philosophers in university could start a fist fight. Not to mention what the religious community would have to say about this.

 

[globalwarmth]

Well, this is where the philosophers in university could start a fist fight. Not to mention what the religious community would have to say about this

Click to shrink...

Well unless you've added other stuff to the au Worm lacks souls. As long as Amy copies T2 at the moment of destruction T3 should be the same person.

 

[NaGeL]

That's the point! My guess is murder from the trio.

Click to shrink...

Honestly after I posted it, I went away and immediately thought of Sophia killing her which kinda did... Even if she never touched Taylor it's her action that caused the slip

Anyway this chapter Oh boy...
Did panpan just hit Piggott elisburg buttons? Because I think she did.

 

[Azerick01]

Well unless you've added other stuff to the au Worm lacks souls. As long as Amy copies T2 at the moment of destruction T3 should be the same person.

Click to shrink...

This always bugs me
Wildbow, as far as I've been able to search, has never said this.
This is the closest he's said:

Does Wormverse have any way of harming souls?
Souls don't come up. When it comes down to winning vs. her with soul harm/death/manipulation, same general answer as probability/fate manipulation. The soul manipulator is vulnerable on the manipulator side of things, not elsewhere.
Source:

I've never been able to find a cite saying they don't exist

 

[eternal-potato]

How fresh!

Well unless you've added other stuff to the au Worm lacks souls. As long as Amy copies T2 at the moment of destruction T3 should be the same person.

Click to shrink...

Worm works basically the same as our universe here: no proof that souls exist at all. As you know that doesn't stop significant amount of people from believeing so anyway.

 

[Numen]

Does Wormverse have any way of harming souls?
Souls don't come up. When it comes down to winning vs. her with soul harm/death/manipulation, same general answer as probability/fate manipulation. The soul manipulator is vulnerable on the manipulator side of things, not elsewhere.

Click to shrink...

I think how worm fics has handled the supernatural is either that the Shards interact with magic in weird ways (ie, because they both have energy as a common denominator), the Shards ARE supernatural in nature, it was merely that Earth Bet misunderstands the true nature of such things, or that the Shards are completely "hard" science.

If the Shards are completely hard science, their limitations are limited to what they know and can manipulate.

My opinion is that many powers are artificial. I mean artificial in the sense that they take advantage of the fact that powers and their effects are all processed behind the scenes by alien super computers. This being the case, many powers aren't "real" and don't actually exist.

Power Nullifiers don't exist outside the cycle. This is one shard telling another shard to please stop working while in the proximity of the host.

Precog and Thinker powers only simulates information it knows. Barring the ones that uses actual time travel or tachyon particles or whatever, simulation just requires data. In a fantasy setting, if the Shard is able to access enough data, it can predict and simulate the "future". If it does not have enough data, it's simulations are imperfect and thus give rise to the illusion that the magic blocks precogs, when there's really no reason why it would. If Gandalf knows enough about Hobbits to reasonably predict many Hobbit behaviours, there's no reason why PtV couldn't do the same.

PtV is good at analysis. Now, given that PtV is from Abbadon, the reason PtV can simulate the actions of Scion and Eden's shards so well is probably because Eden loaded PtV up with data about their shards. If she had not done so, I don't think PtV could have predicted anything except for purely human actions (because simulating humans are easy given their simplicity as basic animals).

Trumps don't exist outside the cycle. That is to say, any power that effects other powers are more of an "administrative" privilege than any actual "power" that effects powers. Outside of the Cycles conducted by the entities, Trumps are probably worthless. That is to say, Trumps were probably created for the sole purpose of facilitating the cycle and not for any actual research.

 

[ScottotheUnwise]

Well unless you've added other stuff to the au Worm lacks souls. As long as Amy copies T2 at the moment of destruction T3 should be the same person.

Click to shrink...

Maybe or maybe not. If Amy recreated Taylor with Pollentia and Gemma down to fine detail enough that QA reattaches (and had not already found another by this point) then Taylor, who was know to canon to offload as much as she could to her shard --can you say backup? I bet you can-- could revive right up to the last known good copy. The memory of the day she died might be fuzzy as it had not converted to long term. Make for some serious nightmares, eh?

Now as to Colin's situation. If his connection through the code is giving his own shard a backdoor connection to Dragon's shard --a code version of Gemma and Pollentia-- then he may be interacting with her "hard backup" in the shard. Again, if he connects up a new body and runs the code on that body, Dragon might revive. This time there would be no Ascalon hardwired into her because they blew that one time run command already.

"Hello Saint, I'd like you to meet my fiancé, Tess Twopointoh" A smile, "Yeah, its an unusual name I know, but she is French Canadian..."

Edit: Needed to respond to another post and didn't want to double dip:

Outside of the Cycles conducted by the entities, Trumps are probably worthless. That is to say, Trumps were probably created for the sole purpose of facilitating the cycle and not for any actual research.

Click to shrink...

Powers are made to force users to solve problems with powers. A trump effect that made it more difficult would force a user of a "I win" powerset to use their lesser power or find a workaround --possibly at range. This gathers more data. Its unlikely though that the shard that provides the power is separate from the shard that provides the trump effect to hinder that power, they are aspects of the same shard...​

 

[Prester Fred]

"Killing someone at a very symbolic place is behaviour associated with certain psychographics of serial killers." Tess stated.

Click to shrink...

...Aaaand now we have the possibility of Panacea becoming a serial Taylorizer. Nightmare fuel much?

 

[Numen]

...Aaaand now we have the possibility of Panacea becoming a serial Taylorizer. Nightmare fuel much?

Click to shrink...

"How many Taylors does it take to please one Amy?"

"Not enough."

*the sound of screaming and lamentations*

Someone should write that fic. Or am I already doing that?

 

[Vani]

PtV is good at analysis. Now, given that PtV is from Abbadon, the reason PtV can simulate the actions of Scion and Eden's shards so well is probably because Eden loaded PtV up with data about their shards.

Click to shrink...

That's fanon, actually! You're perfectly free to use it as such, but in case this is a genuine mistake rather than you using your magical author powers to canonize fanon for your fics, PtV is Eden's. It's explicitly pointed out both by Eden's own narration (we see her make the swap) and by Fortuna's (who outright says she got the shard Eden used to make her premonition -- which the text says is Eden's own old damaged PtV). The shard reading as live is due to it properly connecting to Eden (when Eden reached out to add in limits), not due to coming from Abaddon.

One could make an argument that Eden merged both her own PtV and the new one, but that doesn't gel with the text, which is very explicit about her replacing one with the other, not merging them, and this swap being what resulted in the loss of her original planned future (the road to which was in the shard she just chose to replace). Abaddon's PtV-equivalent is still within Eden's corpse; Fortuna got Eden's own original (damaged) shard.

(I can provide quotes if necessary, but not just right now.)

 

[Numen]

Part 5​

Amy Dallon and Taylor Hebert sat in the interrogation room across from me— the enhanced one for biohazards. I glanced to the corner of the room, where I know tinkertech derived flamethrowers were ready to bath the room in fire, electricity, poisonous gas, and anything else the PRT thought could stall a biotinker of Nilbog's level.

That the intended target is now Panacea was disconcerting to say the least.

How much of her true capabilities had she been hiding? Hundreds of thousands of people have been healed by her. And those hundreds of thousands of people have all interacted with thousands more. If Panacea was a master, the amount of people that have interacted with her patients must be in the upper hundred millions at the very least, increasing exponentially over time.

There was no quarantine in the world that could possibly contain an outbreak if it turned out Panacea had been a secret villain all of these years. Of course, I don't believe that. Anyone who knew Amy Dallon knew she was an upright girl with a strong sense of justice. She didn't deserve this. An argument could be made for emotionally motivated manslaughter, with power assisted trauma, and so forth.

But that was for anyone else. Not the next Nilbog. The next Nilbog doesn't get the same rights as everyone else.

Director Piggot was in a Hazmat suit and sitting next to me, right across the table from Panacea. PRT guards in hazmat suits stood guard next to her. Miss Militia was more daring, also in a Hazmat suit, she sat close to Taylor next to me.

Taylor was still in a state of shock, from her resurrection— or "creation", as some insisted— to getting foamed and then being brought back to this cell. She had panic attack while being foamed, so it did not help her any. Her eyes were wide and fearful and her clothing was still….Emma Barnes. Too small for her.

Director Piggot stared down at Amy Dallon and grounded out. "Have you made your decision?"

Amy leaned away from the Director's threat, the table rattling as her cuffs strained against the surface. I saw Taylor wince at the threat, one hand subconsciously reaching for Amy's. The Director made sure they were seated far away from each other. So there was no risk of Amy altering Taylor's biology and turning her into a brute or something. The Armsmaster in me was almost impressed at Piggot's foresight.

The Colin Walis part of me fundamentally disagree with the direction this interrogation was turning.

"This is wrong." She whispered, grabbing my hand.

"You have a choice before you. Go to the birdcage willingly, or die right now." Piggot continued.

"I don't want to die, Amy. Please." Taylor was crying now. "I want my dad."

Amy stared stoically at Piggot, probably still shocked at everything had happened in this room minutes ago.

+++​

Amy sobbed.

"I wash my hands of her." Brandish declared to the shocked room.

"Carol, what the fuck are you—" Hannah begin, but was cut off by Glory Girl.

Victoria slammed a fist on the table. "No! This is not right!"

"Victoria, enough! We're going home."

She turned to look down at Panacea, her gaze passed by Taylor who flinched from the deadly look the heroine had given her.

"I thought you were better than this, Amy. I thought for sure my influence would have kept away the devil at the doorstep. I am sorry, Amy. I have failed you. Don't dig yourself into a deeper hole. Accept your just punishment."

She paused and then as she walked out of the door, dragging a crying Victoria with her, she said her final regards.

"Be a good girl."

Piggot stood up and pulled out a pistol.

She pointed the gun at Taylor's head.

Amy screamed and rattled the table while Hannah grabbed the Director's arm.

"Director Piggot!"

I had already interposed my arm and shoulder between the gun barrel and Taylor's terrified eyes.

"Amy Dallon."

The girl was hyperventilating, pupils dilating in fear.

"I have just one thing to say. Go to the birdcage willingly. Don't make this harder for the PRT than it is. Don't make us assign you an attorney or allow this trial to go public and start a master-influence scare or whatever."

"I...I don't understand." Amy said.

Piggot clenched her free hand. "You are a threat, and if I had it my way, I would have shot you dead. But this way we tie up our loose ends nicely and still remain legal."

"You can't coerce me!" Amy shouted.

Piggot fired her gun and Taylor cried out as her right ear was blown off.

Hannah grabbed the pistol and pulled it out of Piggot's hand. Taylor was crying and Amy tried to reach for her to heal the wounded teen. The chains were too short.

"That was a warning shot, Panacea." Piggot continued, clasping her hands together as she back down.

"You...you can't just threaten Taylor to coerce me, we have rights—"

"You have rights, only because right now you're not resisting arrest. But Taylor?" Piggot gestured at the crying teen.

"She's nothing. She's not Taylor Hebert. Taylor Hebert is dead. She's a dangerous biotinker creation. As you know, PRT directors and even grunts are given wide latitudes of options to deal with such things. Nobody wants another Nilbog. It'll be trivial to have her burned like the biohazard she is."

Silence met her proclamation.

I clenched my fist.

"Director Piggot. You're suggesting that under PRT regulations, Taylor Hebert is not human?" I asked, trying to keep my tone neutral. Inside, I was furious— this legal loophole was unethical from every standpoint.

But nobody would care, I realized. Because the PRT controls all media perception regarding capes...and it would be trivial to spin this exactly the way they wanted it. Panacea, for all that she saved so many lives could be vilified overnight.

That she was a murderer was not in doubt.

That there was extenuating circumstances was also not in doubt.

None of that matters.

"You know the regulations as well as I, Armsmaster." Piggot answered me dryly.

"If you shoot that girl, Director. I will resign." Hannah stated, cold fury in her voice as her gun shifted rapidly in the gloved hand of her hazmat suit.

"You can't do this…" Amy begin again. "Those bitches murdered Taylor, they're….they're the ones who were in the wrong! There's e-extenuating circumstances. The jury would—"

Piggot ignored Miss Militia's threat. "But Taylor Hebert would still be dead. You'd go to trial— and still be sent to the birdcage. I assure you, the result is not in doubt. And what then, Amy?"

Piggot gestured and one of the PRT guards aimed their rifle at Taylor's head. I stood up and glared at him.

"Armsmaster, stand down."

"Director…" I gritted my teeth.

"I don't want to die!" Taylor shouted, breathing heavily now in her panic. "Amy please, please don't let me die."

"Would you just make another one?" Piggot asked. "Assuming you ever get the chance to touch biological matter ever again. Which you will not, I assure you."

To my horror, Amy looked thoughtful.

Taylor turned to look at Amy. "Please...please! Amy, I am me. You can't just...just make another me! That's not right."

Amy Dallon give Taylor a long look and sighed.

+++​

"So what is it going to be?" Piggot asked, glaring from within the clear helm of her suit.

"Y-yes. I'll go to the birdcage."

"No trying to escape?"

"No."

Taylor started crying. "I want to see my dad."

Piggot stood up. "Deal."

"Wait. What about Taylor?"

"She goes to the bird cage with you."

Taylor gasped, a stunned look on her face. "Oh god, oh god no. Dad!"

"She doesn't deserve the birdcage, please— she's a person!" Amy pleaded on her behalf.

This was sickening to watch.

The director scoffed. "No, she deserved to be burned. Be glad, Panacea, that I am offering you this small mercy. The Bird Cage is a lonely place, full of rapists and murderers. Most don't go there with the people they love. You're lucky."

If there was a face for defeat, Amy's face would be exactly that. I turned away, unable to look at her. This was all so wrong.

And Shadow Stalker, the cause of this mess, still walked free.

The Piggot showed herself out, entering the decontamination chamber right outside.

Hannah walked over and placed a gloved hand on Taylor's sobbing shoulders. "I am sorry."

I had nothing to say, except the only thing that came to mind.

"This is wrong." I muttered.

+++​

I trudged up to the door of my lab.

It's been awhile.

I pressed my palm against the scanner and the door slid open.

I walked into the room and came face to face with Raven.

I was instantly on guard. "How did you get in here!"

"Ah, Armsmaster. Welcome back. Please take a seat, I wanted to talk to you about Dragon's tech, I—"

"Get out!" I never knew I could be so angry. This was my space. Our space. How dare this bitch just walk in here like she owned this place. Like she had a right to replace Dragon.

"Armsmaster—" Raven begin, her lips curling upwards in a frown.

"Out! Now!" I shouted, snarling in rage.

She tilted her head. I imagine underneath her visor, she must be glaring at me. "Very well."

She patted me on the shoulder on the way out. "I'll be back."

The door slid closed behind me and I dropped to my knees and punched the ground.

"Fuck." I hissed.

"Fuck!" I screamed.

I took a moment to compose myself and looked up. The lab was nearly empty. I gaped in shock as I saw that everything I had taken from Dragon's lair was gone now. The boxes of her hard drives, what little of the dead servers I had convinced the PRT to allow me to keep, and single leftover Dragon suit that I had managed to keep my hands on.

All of it was gone now. The last of Dragon, looted by a thief.

"That bitch, I am going to kill her—"

"Colin. Colin, it's okay. I am right here." Tess comforted me, hugging me from behind. "It's going to be okay."

I had nothing now.

"No, you have me." Tess rest her head on my back.

I lowered myself onto the cold floor and laid on my back.

Tess laid down next to me.
I grabbed her hand and stared up at the bright ceiling.

We didn't say anything, but this was okay.

It was going to be okay.

+++
​

"Director Piggot, what was that woman doing here?"

And for god's sake, she was still on the rig. I didn't say that out loud.

Piggot sighed. "I am no more happy with the Chief-Director letting her pet tinker run around my turf, making Kid Win cry and criticizing the equipment my soldiers use. But she's here...to understand Dragon's tech."

I remained silent.

"Colin, I understand that you have….concerns….but Raven and her team are the only thing keeping the birdcage operating. Everything that you and Dragon built together….you can continue that, have you considered working with—."

"No, I refuse to—"

Piggot slammed her hand on the table. "Dammit Armsmaster, for fuck's sake! You're a professional hero! Act like it."

That was rich, coming from the conniving bitch who railroaded an innocent woman to hell for making one mistake. A mistake anyone in her position would make.

I wisely said nothing, but Piggot caught it anyway.

"You still angry about the Panacea thing? I did what I had to."

"What you did was cowardly. And wrong!" I yelled at her, throat clenching in fury.

"What I did, was save us from another fucking Ellisburg! And from causing a panic!" Piggot slammed her hand on the table again. A mug of pens fell to the floor and shattered.

The crashing sound snapped both of us out of our fury.

She sighed. "Look, why don't you take more time off? You weren't supposed to be back on duty anyway. Just…go and relax. Be your best self. We still have Lung and the Empire and all those scum trying to turn this city into their little feudal kingdoms. We need you— the real you— back with us."

I nodded and walked away.

She was right.

I needed to be the real me.

And the real me, wasn't Colin Walis.

Or Armsmaster.

I was a hero.

And that was exactly what I am going to be.

+++


​

I had prepared everything carefully, and so when I snuck into the garage where my Armsbike was parked, I did a double take.

Assault stood there, between me and the bike.

That had been unexpected, but he's not going to be able to convince me to turn back now. What I was doing....there was no going back. My heart was beating fast like drums. But I determined my course long ago.

I exercised my fingers a bit and considered whether I needed to draw my halberd. I settled for depositing a containment foam grenade into my left hand from the hidden container in the armguard.

"Ethan." I nodded to my colleague.

"Colin." He said.

We stood there, staring each other down.

"Don't try and stop me." I said, preparing to execute the strategy I had in mind for dealing with his power-set. Tranquilizers would probably do the trick— as would containment foam. I just need to strike first and—

"I am not going to stop you." He said.

"Oh."

There was a pause.

"Why not?" I asked, honestly curious.

"Because I was Madcap, remember? Breaking people out of the Birdcage was my whole thing."

Ah, yes. That.

The Kinetic Hero continued. "I just want you to know that there is no going back from this, Colin."

"I know."

"Do you really? I thought about breaking them out myself. Give Assault's career the proper send off it deserves by returning as a supervillain" Ethan said, voice heavily strained.

"Help me then. Help me do the right thing, Ethan."

"I can't. I have a wife now. A family. I can't jeopardize that."

"Some things are beyond us. There are principles and ideals." I said.

"Ideals? Fuck man. Colin, you have changed." He said, but then smiled.

"But that's for the best." He unslung an object and threw it at me. I panicked and almost chuck my containment foam grenade at him, but stopped when I realized it was just a black knapsack.

I caught it and scowled at him.

"Don't do that, I almost foamed you right there."

"Ha! As if you could catch me." He smirked.

I could, you smug bastard.

I lifted the bag and asked. "What is this?"

"Some of the shit they confiscated from Squealer. Device to turn a truck invisible, I think. My advice? Don't spring them and come back to the city. Run for it. Because if she was sprung, the only thing waiting for her is a kill order."

"I already planned to do that." I said. I wasn't an idiot.

"Yeah, well, do it while invisible."

"He has a point." Tess said.

"Thanks." I took a peek, and noticed that next to the bulky engine-like-device I recognized immediately as Squealer's sloppy work, there was sheafs of papers as well.

"What's the rest of this stuff?" I asked him.

"Documents on the route and contingencies they were going to take. You got the wrong route, time and contingencies. Piggot made sure you got told the wrong details. Because...you know, there was concerns that you were emotionally compromised…words I'd never thought I'd say to the Robocop."

I frowned. That bitch. My HUD quickly scanned all of the documents as I leafed through time— compiling it into a 3D hologram and navigation system. The contingencies went into my tactical AI. It took no more than twenty seconds.

Assault straightened his shoulders and started to walk towards me. "Anyway, you better hurry, they would be setting out now."

He walked passed me and grabbed my shoulder. "Good luck, man."

"Thank you, Ethan."

He gave a wave and was gone.

The tension eased out of my shoulders and I walked over to my bike. The first thing I did was check to make sure nobody had tampered with it. With Raven in the building, and confirmation that Piggot didn't trust me— she was right not to, of course, but it still made me angry— I wouldn't put it pass them to sabotage my bike.

Hell, even Ethan might have been lying to me, though my lie detector indicated that he was telling me the complete truth.

Tess— whose exact nature I still haven't determined, but "you're possibly crazy, Colin" seemed likely—coughed invisibly and decided to add her two cents.

"Not that proves anything. He may have been telling you the truth, but could still have been a pawn in Director Piggot's Machiavellian security contingencies. Lie to the man known for breaking prisoners out of bird cage transports in order to screw with the emotionally unstable Tinker? Makes sense."

I scowled and told her, "I will know soon enough."

Climbing on top of my motorbike, I cranked the accelerator and the tinker-tech vehicle screamed out of the garage, into the tunnel built underneath the bay. The engine of efficiency I was riding roared up through through an opening onto a forcefield bridge and out into the waves. Bouncing twice I connected with a major roadway and turned into the direction of the major highway out of the city.

My bike tore down the street, passing shops I had passed everyday. Familiar landmarks, familiar streets, familiar lamps passing me by. It was the early morning hours, and few people were out and about. Many turned to stare as my bike sped by. They probably thought that Armsmaster was taking to the streets again, that Brockton Bay's home grown tinker hero was back to bring justice to the streets. Justice. Ha! What had I ever accomplished playing hero anyway?

I burst up an interchange ramp and slid to a screeching stop on the highway pavement. A white truck was waiting for me. I pulled up next to the window on the driver's side, and it rolled down.

A giant orange amphibian greeted me. "Sup, Armsmaster."

"Newter. You guys ready?" I asked, having no time pleasantries.

Next to Newter, Faultine pointed her face out at me from within her SWAT helm, long black hair cascaded around her shoulders. She reminded me of Alexandria somewhat, sans the open mouth mask. Which made the Mercenary more intimidating in many ways. I approved of her efficient and practical armour— no stupid PR nonsense to constrain her.

She lifted a hand also armoured in riot gear and give me a wave with two fingers. "Your money transfer checks out. We're good. Didn't know you heroes had that kind of cash— on a personal level, I mean."

I had a lot of cash to spare. It wasn't like I spent my money on anything except additional tinker materials.

I reminded the mercenaries of something important. "There has been a change of plans. I was fed the wrong information. I'll be sending over the correct files."

I blinked my eyes and my HUD did the wireless transfers. There was a ding and Faultine picked up her mobile phone. She frowned.

"We can work with this." She nodded her head.

I accelerated up the mostly abandoned highway and the truck behind me followed.

There was no going back.

It was time to be defiant.

Spoiler: Defiant (warning: flashing patterns)

 

[globalwarmth]

jesus... this is almost parody in the level of evil from piggot. sending Taylor to the birdcage accomplishes what?