章節 69: 16
Amelia, Ch 12
Taylor and I, ourselves this time, not some replicant, sat outside the Alcott home. Costumed, of course. I had to hand it to Coil- he had great tastes in vehicles. This limo was luxurious. We wouldn't be keeping it, of course. Nice of Lisa to provide one of her people as a driver. Very professional. Polite. Alert. Took it all in stride when we told him which streets to avoid and how to get here with the least trouble possible. Then again, he worked with Minerva. He had to be used to psychic teen girls by now.
The Alcott's lived in the affluent part of town, no more than maybe a mile from my... from where Carol and Mark lived. The preadolescent girl, Dinah, was shaking as Taylor carried her, bridal style. I'd done what I could. Except for her insistence that I do not treat her withdrawal symptoms. Purging the drugs and healing as much damage as I could, yes, but she wanted to go through withdrawal.
It seems there was a nearly 70% chance of relapse, had I 'cured' her completely. Less than a 10% if I let her suffer through it. She was a brave, brave child. I couldn't help but admire her. She was strong. Even as she shook so hard I was afraid she'd damage something, clinging weakly to Taylor.
It had been decided that I would be the one leave the vehicle and knock. Dinah was scared, and Taylor was doing everything to comfort her. Stockholm's syndrome? No, not quite. It reminded me of stories about people who survived the concentration camps. How, after they were liberated, many of them were afraid to leave. They'd become so accustomed to horrors they witnessed... that the outside world had become more alien and frightening to them than the hell they had lived through.
That, and I was one of the most capable healers in the world. Even if my bedside manner was comparable to Doctor Frankenstein. Chances were high that Dinah's parents would listen to me more readily than to a known supervillain.
I tried the doorbell. There was no sound. Or lights. They were home- if they weren't, Taylor would have known before we even left. So I simply knocked on the door.
It took a minute, and I was about to knock again when a man opened the door. I recognized him, vaguely at least. Older man, heavy set. Dinah got her brown hair from him, even if his was thinning out and going gray.
"Mister Alcott," I started. He wouldn't recognize me in my new costume. "I'm Gaea. Better known as Panacea." Although that's going to change quickly.
He hesitated. "Uh... of course... what brings you here?"
"We found Dinah," I answered. Not entirely untrue. I, at least, had met her exactly once- under an hour ago.
Not turning away from me, he shouted, "Anna!"
His wife appeared in the doorway to one of their interior rooms, peering out into the hallway toward me. She reacted as she saw me. "Please," the mom said. "Where is she?"
"Before that," I said, steeling myself for this, and cursing Coil with every word. "She was kept as a prisoner by a supervillain. As far as I could tell, she wasn't molested. She was kept drugged. To control her. I've done what I can to help her, but she'll need time to withdraw, and then she'll need to recover from partial malnutrition. On top of that... the psychological effects of the drugs will remain. She should be kept away from narcotics or tranquilizers under any circumstance, or she risks a relapse."
Mrs Alcott whimpered in distress.
"She's an addict?" the dad asked.
"Yes. There's nothing that can be done about that. She also needs to be watched in case others will try to abuse her power."
"She has abilities, then?" the dad asked.
"Precognition," I answered. "One of the most powerful I've ever heard of. Do everything you can to hide just how powerful she is. There are people who would stop at nothing to have that kind of power. And that includes the Protectorate. Keep in mind that it'll be at least a week before she's physically well enough to use her powers again at all. And I'm not going to begin to guess how long it will be until she recovers emotionally. Keep her safe. Let her know she's loved. And don't let anyone talk to her about her power until she wants them to."
"What about the man who already kidnapped her once?"
"No longer a threat," I answered. "Please don't make me elaborate."
"I... I understand," he replied. No, you really don't, I thought.
Taylor already knew, of course, that this conversation had come as far as it was going to.
She stepped out of the car, carrying a mumbling Dinah. I was too far away to hear the words. Which earned a brief moment of annoyance: in my Changeling, I could have heard it with ease. But I knew better than to rely too heavily upon them. Even more now that Riley had taken to upgrading the things.
Mrs. Alcott made a noise somewhere between a moan and a cry as she pushed past her husband and I. Rushing to take Dinah out of Taylor's arms. The little girl was instantly clinging to the mother she'd spent so long without. Her father only a step behind, wrapped his arms around them both. A family reunited. For a moment, they'd forgotten everything in the world, including us.
Taylor stepped back, giving them space as I had.
I moved to walk through the lawn toward the car. They didn't need us here, and I was glad for that.
"Wait," the dad called out. "Is there anything we can do to thank you?"
Words I'd heard often enough, as Panacea. This is the first time in years they actually meant more than just words to me. And it was the first time I was going to actually make good on that offer. I pulled a card from a pocket in the green robe that was my new costume. "This is in case you need any help protecting Dinah. And, there's no way to say this without it sounding selfish, but could you see that the mayor gets the number and calls us? Without telling anyone about it. It's important."
"I..." he looked at me. I had to hand it to the man, that he kept enough of a head on his shoulders to try and calculate what our angle was. I wasn't insulted, given it was both justified and true, to an extent. "Okay, I can do that much."
I had to wonder if that would cause some friction in the family. Hopefully once they knew the full story they'd agree that this was justified.
Skitter was already in the limo when I climbed in. I sat on the other side, facing toward her. She looked as miserable as I felt.
"Are you okay, over there?" She asked.
"Not really. I know what we did was a good thing, returning her to her family, but then I feel like shit for using it to advance our own agenda."
"I... was more caught up in how we're throwing away access to one of the most powerful resources on the planet. How tempted I was to fabricate an excuse to keep her. Wouldn't be all that difficult, y'know? The way she clung to me, it wouldn't have been difficult to convince her to stay with us."
"But, you didn't," I said. "You're a better person than you give yourself credit for."
"I guess," she responded, removing her face mask. "I'm just... seeing Dinah's parents like that. A family that, at least for a moment, was legitimately happy? I couldn't help but think of how much pain I must be putting my father through right now."
I lost it. I didn't whimper. Didn't sob. I don't think my expression even changed. But the tears came just the same.
Her eyes widened. "Oh god! I didn't think! I was so caught up in my own problems that I forgot!"
She basically jumped across the gap to sit next to me.
"God, I am such a bitch." She said as she pulled me against her, resting my head on her shoulder and holding my hair in her hand. I could smell Dinah on her. Weird how that's what I noticed. "You were trying to make me feel better and I didn't even think about what you must be going through."
"It's okay," I mumbled into her, I didn't lift my head.
"So, still think I'm a good person?" She asked after a couple minutes.
I gave a half hearted laugh. The tears, at least had stopped. "Yeah. I also think you give really good hugs."
She returned the half laugh. "I got it from my mother," she responded.
We stayed like that, silently, for the rest of the ride. If our driver thought anything of the scene going on in the back of the vehicle, he made no indication of it.Last edited: Feb 9, 2015 Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:Opinef, Caimito, Darkcoif and 155 othersTanaNariVerified DickJan 10, 2015Add bookmark#19Preemptive author's note. Those with weak stomachs might not want to read the third to last paragraph. When you get to that point, just skip to the next line. Refer to the A/Ns for a more pleasant summary.
====================
Amelia, Ch 13- Coil Interlude
"Good morning, my pet," I said as I entered Dinah's room. She'd taken to remaining dressed when she went to bed. A matter of not wanting to be caught changing when I came in to ask her questions. That is a good sign- it means the drugs are keeping her controlled, while still leaving her self aware. Much better than some of the early formulas that left her bedridden and in need of diapers.
"My usual questions, pet,"
"Sixty seven point three percent chance there's any problems here in the next hour. One hundred percent chance there's any problems before lunchtime."
She frowned. "One hundred percent chance there's any problems in the next hour."
What changed the numbers so suddenly?
"Twelve percent chance there's any problems in the next hour. Seventy three point four percent chance there will..."
This was going nowhere. Some kind of anti-precog? We had confirmed that Dinah simply could not use her powers to view Scion, Endbringers, and Eidolon. There was no reason not to believe there might be other, less known, powers with a similar ability. "Chances I'll survive and be able to continue my grand plan?"
"Ninety nine point six six percent."
That was good news, at least.
"Sir, we have a problem," came the voice of one of my men over the intercom.
//
I had just finished breakfast. Ordinarily, I might have closed the other timeline just then. But I needed to learn what the trouble was, first. Someone attacking at my base was either extremely confident in their power, or entirely suicidal.
And then the shouts came from outside. Three of my men were under attack. Exact same moment as the attack to my base. Maybe they had learned my patterns. A thinker of their own? Precogs were notoriously bad at predicting other precogs, even if Dinah seemed unphased by most.
Two women. They had dispatched my men with ease. I looked at them. Skitter- Khepri- her costume looked similar in terms of design, but was colored of metallic blue and gold. And Tattletale. Wearing themed leather armor that was feminized a bit too much to look historical, but not enough to look trashy. I only recognized her by her face. I hadn't known she'd joined Pantheon. I hadn't known she was still alive. The Travelers told me she died. Those traitors!
//
Two women. They were decimating my ranks. Khepri walked casually, shrugging off bullets. Climbing to her feet when she was taken down by one. My men didn't even have a chance to scream before they dropped. Except the unfortunates in the biohazard suits. She had a bug that was literally slicing the protection in half and allowing the swarm inside.
The other, Panacea. Gaea. Her costume- the brown body suit and green toga style dress that- was alive and doing most of the work. She was fast and strong enough to give most Brutes a run for their money. She could dodge bullets, though clearly didn't need to. Her costume lashing out with vine whips that carried enough force to break bones and fine enough control to pull weapons out of peoples' hands. Most frightening: she was able to melt through steel walls with a touch. Bypassing every defense. I would be heading for the escape tunnels. Except that I couldn't.
Two more women already stood there waiting. Another Khepri, watching passively with dead eyes. The other, I didn't recognize, she had a grin far too cheerful and innocent for the cleaver-like weapon she carried. Another Brute of some power, that weapon was comically oversized and must have weighed over fifty pounds, and yet was being carried like it was nothing. They only waited by the exit.
Then Khepri and Gaea were at my chamber.
//
They were in my kitchen. Khepri watched from the door, the same dull expression as her other two copies. Strangely, there was no alert from the base. Meaning they had not attacked it. How did they know?
Tattletale smiled a far, far too self satisfied smile. "How's the other timeline, Coil?" She asked.
"You don't already know?" Well, that was interesting.
"That badly, huh? Tell me, have your men at least fought back well enough to force them to call on the reinforcements? No? Well that's a shame. I'd have loved to see your reaction to plan 'B'. And plan 'C'. Especially plan 'C'."
I considered collapsing this timeline, just so I wouldn't have to deal with her.
//
Gaea extracted a cell phone and set it down on the desk in my chamber. There was a flicker, and a lifesized 3D hologram of Tattletale, in costume, appeared. "Hey, Coil, how's the other timeline?"
She paused. "Oh... I already did that one. And the backup plans. Dammit, I am so inconsiderate to myself."
So much for escape via alts. I glanced at the dead-eyed Khepri.
"Ah, you're wondering about her. We're trying to build up a way for Our Lady of Orwell and Kafka's Nightmares to maintain multiple humanoid bodies. Unfortunately, we haven't managed to work the bugs out. Haha! Get it? Bugs."
Oh god. Kill me now.
//
Another cell phone- or was it the same one?- had been set on my table, showing a hologram of Gaea.
"I just told the bug joke, didn't I? I did! Oh, that is so fucking cool!"
A child's voice could be heard yelling in the background of the phone. "Hey, stop swearing! It's crude!"
"Later, third scariest thing in the room with me. I'm having an alt-reality conversation with myself! Hi me!"
Indeed, she was. In the other timeline, she'd just responded. /"Hiya! So what do you want to talk about?"/
"Umm... I dunno... this is, like, a historical first. It has to be something truly special." /"I have an idea," Her 'other' voice dropped into something low and sultry. "What color underwear are you wearing?"/
Tattletale- the one in front of me, this time, giggled. "Ooh, you are dirty. But don't go starting that. We both know how Coilcast likes to drop calls."
I growled. "Okay, you've proven your point. Get on with it already!"
/I growled. "Okay, you've proven your point. Get on with it already!"/
"Very well," both Gaeas said at nearly the same time. "Thomas Calvert. Coil. You are guilty of crimes ranging from kidnapping a child to abuse her parahuman abilities, to murder, to treason. You have one of two choices to make, and no you may not make them both. The first: surrender and agree to work for us. In light of the dangerous nature of your power, you will accept a surgical implant that will prevent you from betraying Pantheon or any of our interests. If you accept, you will be allowed to continue much as you always have been, but supervised by Pantheon."
"It's going to be so cool working with a power like yours!" The child voice shouted- in both timelines again. "I can create a system to read the subprocesses in your ner-"
"Your other option, available at any time," Gaea continued, interrupting the girl. "You may reject our offer of work leniency and be free to leave. However, due to the nature of your crimes and lack of remorse, you will be stripped of your powers permanently."
She took a breath. "In both cases, your gains will be examined and potentially confiscated. Specific details will be discussed later."/
In my kitchen, the Gaea hologram continued. "We'll be keeping this timeline. You have five seconds to collapse the other, or you'll discover what plan 'C' is."
"Goodbye, Me," Tattletale shouted. "I'll remember our love forever!"
/"I'll cherish you for the next two seconds!"/
I resolved to keep the 'base' timeline active through whatever they attempted. They weren't alert, and I had my hidden gun. It should-
Then I started screaming. In both timelines. I didn't care about the lack of dignity. I didn't care that I had started to vomit, that my fingernails dug deep enough to peel skin as I scratched at my arms. THEY were growing inside me! Thousands of them! Horrific albino pale worms in every possible part of my body. They had burst forth, sending white hot agony throughout my body. From my tongue and my throat and my hands and my arms and my face and my... oh god, they're still in there! Able to come out at any time like they had in the collapsed timeline. I don't know how they got them in me, but they had to have been breeding.
The little girl let out an excited squee. "Oh wow, I'm so glad you didn't listen! Think of all the valuable data I'll be able to collect on you power interacts with your neurochemistry from this!"
All I could do was whimper and beg the three girls. "Take them out, please, I'll do anything. Just take them out of me."
======================
A/N- Guinea Worms. Only very slightly modified. Because why settle for bug armies when you can have bug infiltrators? Also- do not google the nightmares. *shudder*Last edited: Feb 8, 2015 Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:Opinef, Caimito, Darkcoif and 151 othersTanaNariVerified DickJan 10, 2015Add bookmark#20Amelia, Ch 13 b
"Okay, babies, dinner is served," Bonesaw sang cheerfully. 'Babies' in this case were tiger mosquitoes. 'Dinner' was a petri dish of synthetic blood infused with modified Guinea Worm lavae. Or... well, a lifeform based on my memories after I'd treated a few cases. I doubt they'd fool an expert.
Then they were modified further by Bonesaw to have a wider range of senses and a crude sort of telepathic link to one another. I included a modification that ensured only one could reach the adult stage and produce eggs. And even it was less than a quarter the size of the real thing. The rest... would reach only a bit more than an inch long. But there would be several thousand of them when they reached critical mass in two days. Then they'd stop reproducing until the population dropped.
"I can't feel them," Taylor informed us, even as she made the mosquitoes drink from the blood.
"You're not suppose to be able to," Bonesaw replied cheerfully. "I've been studying your power." She pointed excitedly to one of the several computer screens she had set up. "You're like a radio reciever. Or, maybe more like an eye. You can pick up a pretty wide range of signals, but there are others which there's no reason you can't see, except that you can't see them. Like skin mites. There are millions of them on every human being. Well, except for my big sister, of course."
She looked at me with what could only be described as adoration. I cringed. Really wish she'd stop with that. But being the one person alive that she wouldn't take apart and reassemble like a lego set was probably worth the discomfort. Keeping her from doing that very thing with others was more worth it.
"Okay," Taylor was now in thought. "So... why can't I sense those? It would be really helpful if I could."
"Dunno. Yet." Bonesaw continued, as her eyes went back to the pitri dish. "Maybe you just can't. Like humans can't see microwaves. Anyway, thanks to the changelings I've been toying with, I figured out how to set to a third frequency. Outside your range and different from the one they're using. But still able to piggyback off the relays Gaea set up to extend your power through the city. And they're tied up to my computer system, which will record every physiological and neurological detail here."
She tapped one of the screens and it powered on, showing a bunch of numbers and symbols. "Convert it to a 3D map here. She tapped another, which showed a wire model of a human body. Create datapoints over here. A third screen, a series of screens resembling an ECG or seismic reader. This is a sound translator that'll let me interpret everything he's saying. And over here we have..."
"All kinds of other tinker toys," Tattletale spoke up, interrupting the child monster's explanation. "But back up a second. Are you saying these things can hear?"
"No, not at all," Bonesaw corrected. "They can feel every movement of his lungs, diaphragm, throat and mouth and translate it into a moving 3D model. From there, it's really easy."
....
"You have to come see this!" Riley shouted. At six in the morning. She had rushed into my room and was literally started jumping on my bed. I muttered something, and immediately forgot what. "It's really really important!"
I forced myself out of bed and walked to her lab. Tattletale was already there, looking an awful lot like I felt. She had taken to staying with me and Riley. Pretending she was dead meant she couldn't really go outside. Until after Coil was dealt with.
"Why does Taylor get to sleep in?" She whined when she saw me.
"Nope, I'm here," One of the Taylor changelings stumbled into the room. "Too early for this."
"I keep telling you that you should let me install the no-sleep upgrade into all of you. Jack said it's my best- oh, sorry. I shouldn't talk about him."
"Doesn't matter," I interrupted. "So, what was so important."
"I got one! A recording of a full alt timeline!"
That woke Tattletale up at least. "No fucking way! How did you pull that off?"
She beamed like Christmas had just come early- entirely forgetting to notice Tattletale's casual profanity. "See, right here?" She pointed at a computer chart I couldn't hope to interpret, sitting next to a wire model of a brain. "There's a spike in activity when he activates his power. I wasn't sure at first, but it was followed by a series of anomalous emotional responses and neural activity.
"Which means?" Lisa prompted. We had discussed it earlier, and I had been warned to NOT reveal to Riley when I didn't know what she was doing. The girl was building me up the way she'd built up Jack. A god. More than a god. A parent as seen through the eyes of a five year old. The responsibility was terrifying. So Lisa and Taylor would play the 'ones who don't get it' for me, whenever possible. It helped that they really, legitimately, didn't get it. And I at least sometimes did.
"It means he feels everything happening in his alternate timeline! Every emotional event carries over and influences subconscious and physiological responses in both!"
"Okay, that's something we can definitely use," Lisa answered.
"The emotional information crosses over instantly. But, it's weird. The memory centers of the brain wait until much later, only responding after the alt timeline collapses."
"So... we know how the timelines work well enough to predict and potentially counter," Taylor concluded, having woken up enough to really participate. I, however, was still wondering if it was possible to create an organism in my own stomach that did nothing but produce caffeine.
"More than that," Lisa said with her foxlike grin. "I know how we can throw him off balance and force him into following our script. But first! I need to write a script!"
....
"That's strange," Minerva muttered, watching the screen. I looked up from the book I was reading on theoretical alien ecosystems. Some of the stuff in these was great for ideas. "Riley, come look at this!"
The little girl shouted back. "But I'm working on the fabrication pod!"
Another of our joint projects. Functionally like a biomechanical womb to mass produce whatever we needed. I'd still have to construct the original, but afterward, the pod would be able to scan it and build biologically identical copies at our leisure. It'd be really nice not to have to have to waste two hours every time Taylor managed to get one of her copies damaged beyond what I could mend. How does one person manage to lose limbs so easily?
"That can wait, I can't figure this out!"
"Oh, fiiiine, but you owe me an icecream!" Bonesaw whined.
"And you owe me a total of twenty seven hours of sleep!"
Riley walked in, looking an awful lot like the first time I met her, in child sized surgical scrubs and an apron. Only, this time the spatters of fluid on her clothes and in her hair were varying shades of green instead of red. She leaned over Lisa's shoulder. Lisa visibly cringed when some of the goop fell out of Riley's hair and landed on her shoulder. It proceeded to ooze its way down her back.
"Huh. That is strange. Adrenaline, endorphin spike, testosterone, looks like..." Riley paused and then managed to look sheepish as she whispered. "I think he was having ess-ee-ex."
Not something I really needed to know.
"Oh," Lisa responded, then paused. "No. My power's telling me that's not it. Similar. See the peaked aggression. And I've been around him. There's no one in the building that he's indicated that kind of... familiarity... with. And he collapsed timelines too recently to have brought someone in."
"Oh god, I can't believe I have to be the one to say this," I groaned. "But there doesn't necessarily need to be someone in the room with him to explain that."
"I..." Lisa frowned. "Still don't think so. This seems more like... an addiction?"
Riley grabbed the mouse and started moving things. She was now pretty much dangling on Lisa's shoulder. "That would fit most of the data."
Time for me to volunteer again. "Maybe he has drugs he only takes in timelines he ends, so he can enjoy the high without suffering the consequences? I could imagine someone doing that with Coil's power."
Lisa continued frowning. "I don't... know what? It really doesn't matter. What does matter is we know just how closely tied the two bodies are, in spite of separate timelines. Now all we need to do is make him upset and frustrated in both, and I'll be able to figure out what my alternate self is currently up to."
"In other words, you plan on doing what you do best."
"Not only that. I plan on doing it twice at the same time while metaphorically blindfolded from miles away," She laughed. "It shall be the highlight of my career."
....
"Okay, everyone's in position," Taylor told us. We were all sitting in the sewer-basement. She was the only one who wasn't wearing the newest iteration in what had stopped being a cocoon and become more like a virtual reality suit. Tattletale also had a couple computer screen interfaces that were designed to show us the important information about Coil's body. That, plus what information she could acquire from her own puppet, and the hologram tinker video phone thing we'd purchased, meant she was poised to watch Coil from on multiple levels.
Taylor muttered to us. "You know I'm going to mostly useless split three ways like this. I have to manage every movement of these puppets manually when using them like this. It's a royal pain in the ass."
"How do you think I feel? I have to fix the things after you break them."
"Okay, he's now asking Dinah questions in his other timeline..." Minerva said, interrupting us. "Oh, shit, she predicted us! Operation's ab... nevermind, she changed it, we can... and it's changed again..."
"Too late now," Taylor said, her voice going cold. She'd switched to 'Skitter mode'. "We're already committed, we attack now."
I felt a cold thrill run down my spine. This was going to be epic.
....
As it turns out, 'committed' in this case meant Riley and I sat around doing nothing for a while. Minerva went full Tattletale on Coil. I read him his rights, such as they were. And it was all quite boring.
Minerva assured us that the other timeline was a complete and total curb stomp. I didn't even need to use my Yggdrasil for the battle. Though Coil was stupid enough to let plan 'C' happen in spite of the warning.
Riley spent the next four hours studying everything.
....
"So, Coil, how are you feeling?" I asked. I felt kinda stupid asking that, but it had been a weird day. We'd delivered Dinah home. Coil had given the orders to let us do so. His men didn't seem happy about the whole affair- but they didn't do anything about it. Of course, it helped that we made it clear just how utterly they'd lose by having Khepri use her new tranquilizer mosquitoes on many of the guards. Harmless enough, all considered. And fun to watch. They knew they were were hopelessly outclassed.
"I feel well enough," he answered. Rigid. Calculating. We hadn't stripped him of free will. For the most part. I had a hand on his his arm. It was one of the three lie detectors we had focused on him right now. On top of a system that meant he couldn't lie to any acknowledged Pantheon member.
"Do you feel about giving up Dinah?"
"I... would have preferred to keep her. But I believe cooperation with you will prove far more effective and profitable in the long term."
Good enough, I suppose. The man was as unrepentant as Riley, and didn't have any of her excuses. His choice of a serpent as his theme was entirely appropriate.
"What about betraying Pantheon's goals?"
"I wou..." He paused and his face scrunched up. I saw all the signs of confusion. "I apologize. It seems I forgot the question."
Holy hell. Riley not only implanted a system that would keep him from betraying us... it would keep him from even being able to think of betraying us, or realizing that we'd done so. Well played. A horrific violation of free will, but incredibly well played.
I soothed my conscience by remembering that every year we would deactivate the device and present the same choice as today- he can stay in a position of working with us. Or he can surrender his powers and be free to leave.
But, honestly, his goals mostly coincided with our own. He was intent on taking leadership of the PRT and creating a sort of parahuman golden age. We were intent on seeing the corruption purged from the PRT and Protectorate, and justice done for those who warranted it. Motives differed. But I could live with that.
I could live with a lot of things, these days.Last edited: Jan 17, 2015 Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:Opinef, Caimito, Darkcoif and 158 othersTanaNariVerified DickJan 10, 2015Add bookmark#21Amelia, Ch 15
With Coil 'dealt with', we were free to act openly. Our main fear was he'd leave the state. More for his sake than ours, as we'd gotten those horrific parasites in him within the second day. There were at most four healers on the continent that could have saved his life once they went active. Two of them were on our team. Granted, they'd never be able to breed or jump to a new host- but they would have destroyed him.
"I really think we should focus on Noelle first," Trickster said as we walked down the hall. Coil's guards eyed us as we moved, but took no action to stop us. We pretty much had free run of the facility, now.
"Krouse," the small blond girl with us said with a disapproving voice. "We know we can fix Jess. Noelle is still an unknown."
The man muttered something I couldn't hear- again the annoyance of a natural body, as opposed to the constructs that were fast becoming more Riley's project than my own.
We reached the 'wing' that had the Travelers' quarters. The blond, Sundancer, knocked. "Hey, Jess, we've brought her."
She looked up at me. I could tell she'd been a paraplegic for a while- that kind of complete atrophy takes time to occur. Most of her life, at least.
"Hey," she said as she smiled at me. Aside the legs, she was a rather unremarkable looking girl. "Gaea, was it?"
"You can call me Amelia," I replied.
"I'm Jessie," she answered back. "So, how does this work?"
I smiled at the girl, even if my thoughts had drifted. "Well, have to ask one question first. Is your disability related to your powers? It happens sometimes, and that is a lot more difficult to repair."
"No," she responded. "I was born like this.
"The other question is, how much do you want me to repair? I can give you use of your legs easily enough, but the years of atrophy... either I alter your metabolism and you can regain strength naturally. Or I can fix it wholesale, but it'll require a lot of raw biomass, and it'll hurt like hell as everything is forcefully reshaped. And I can't simply turn off your pain receptors. Not for something like this, where your body doesn't already know what 'healthy' looks like."
She looked me dead in the eyes. "I've endured enough surgeries to write my own medical textbook. Trust me, I know what pain is. Hit me with everything you've got, I'll be fine."
"Okay. One step at a time, though," I put my hand on her arm and reached out with my power. I didn't do much healing anymore, but I dipped into her brain as I'd begun doing with every parahuman. Something happened to me, I was certain of it now. Something broke inside me. Or, more appropriately, something was fixed. With everything that happened after Victoria died. It altered me on a fundamental level. And that change freed me from some of my Passenger's power over me. They were... alive. Dormant. Sleeping. But alive nonetheless. I could see them now, though my powers could not touch them. And I knew I wasn't suppose to have that knowledge. They were afraid. Didn't want us to see beyond our petri dish.
I was a mistake. And they, for whatever reason, hadn't realized something went wrong with me. But talking about it with the others was useless. It was like what Riley had done to Coil. They simply couldn't think about it. Just as I used to be unable to scan into brains- I made excuses about it, invented reasons why I wouldn't. Much as Coil was inventing reasons why he was okay with what we had done, and were doing. Convinced by Riley's Tinkering that it was all part of what he wanted, instead of what we wanted.
And now I was looking at Jess. Genesis. Every part of her neurology, including the source of her powers. The Corona Pollentia. And... what?
"You're a Case 53?" I asked, before realizing what I'd said.
"What? No. Why would you think that?" The girl's emotions spiked. Fear? Not quite. Paranoia. I was getting good at this emotion reading thing.
"Your powers are..." I frowned, how to explain this. "They're... different than most. They're similar to the Case 53s that I've examined. Was there something unusual about how you obtained them?"
Trickster answered. "No. Sure, something went wrong with Noelle's power. But that doesn't..."
"Seriously, Krouse?" Sundancer interrupted. "Considering what she's doing for us? We might as well just come clean about the serum."
I froze, and then spoke. "Of course. Cauldron."
"You know about them?" Jess asked, shocked.
"Not a lot. They're responsible for the monster capes. And they've been selling powers in a vial. Or so it seems."
Sundancer sighed even as Krouse muttered something that I'm sure was a curse. "I guess that explains what Noelle is. One of the monster capes."
"It would explain the existence of the case 53s. Selling powers makes sense. Up until now, we weren't sure the point of Case 53s. They might, like Noelle, be accidents of some sort."
Jess nodded. "The stuff we took had a seven digit price tag. And it came with a warning that it might cause mutations."
"Usually they've had their memories erased, somehow. I take it that's not the case with Noelle."
"No," Trickster answered. "But we sort of... we weren't who the vials were meant for."
The girl whose arm I was touching just had an emotional peak. Not a lie, but there was something about her teammate's answer that she felt wasn't quite true. "I... see. Know how I said we weren't going to expect a payment? That's changing. After I get done here, you're going to get together with Tattletale and answer every possible question she can think to ask. We've been looking into Cauldron since before Pantheon was even formed. That is acceptable, right?"
Jess nodded her head and Sundancer answered with a "We can do that, right Krouse?"
"If it means Noelle is fixed, I'll do anything," Krouse responded. "Besides. It's their poison that did this to her in the first place."
There was that emotional jump again. Something left unsaid. And... anger? No... disgust. Contempt.
"Well, I've figured out the basics. This will only take a few minutes. Sundancer, Trickster. I'll need you to hold her down."
My costume's vines wrapped around Jess and moved her to the bed, as her teammates moved to either side. Most of the toga-like outer layer of my costume started pealing off as they wrapped around her legs. It was enough mass to bring her up to a healthy- though definitely not athletic- mass and density. They were, of course, made from the same Yggdrasil as everything else I was using of late.
They wrapped tight around her atrophied legs, and then started piercing into her flesh and pumping their mass into her. Making them, by whatever bizarre definition my passenger was using, a single lifeform so my power could interact with them both. Jess had a remarkable tolerance for pain. But this was the easy part.
My cloak-cum-symbiote was quickly converted into some semblance of human flesh, and I began binding it, inch by inch, into her existing bone, muscle, circulatory system, skin, and nerves.
That's when she started to scream.
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