After about fifteen minutes a man sat down next to Hermes, not in the same table but close enough to be noticeable. He was on the taller side at 6 feet even, sporting a tan on Caucasian skin, short dark brown hair with matching eyes, sideburns, and beard. He was moderately built, leaning casually in his chair. ”Our friend stressed getting done in a timely manner,” his voice carried just enough to reach Hermes while he continued to look in a different direction while sipping on a drink.

Nodding his head, James looked over and spoke. "It’s more suspicious for you to be sitting over there talking to no one than sitting next to me.” He said, "It’s your prerogative though.” He glanced back to his food and continued eating. Had (probably) Furnace watched too many spy movies/TV shows? Regardless James found it silly.

Furnace switched tables easily. ”Didn't want to surprise you. Jerry Stein,” he said with an offered hand. He was dressed casually, and if Hermes took the hand the handshake would be firm.

James finished chewing before shaking the hand. He wiped his mouth before cracking a smile at the introduction. "James Scott.” It was weird saying his name like that, it had actually been a while. Civilian identity had mattered a lot less when he had become Jaunt. Same with becoming Hermes.

”Whenever you're ready, then!” came the reply with a brilliant smile. ”I've heard rumors that the man has been less than inconspicuous lately, which given his track record…”

James gave a nod, enjoying the positivity that Jerry absolutely radiated. ”Lay it on me. If all goes well I’d like to finish this tonight.” He said. The thought that the megaphone of a man was being less conspicuous than normal was quite amusing honestly.

”Yes, that would be great. Our friends wanted to be contacted soon. Okay, so!” he stood up smoothly. ”Last I heard he was staying to the edges of the more populated sections, mostly off of downtown. Nothing serious, but still….I find his behavior a little odd. Not the same man who broke into the Pentagon. Any ideas on what might've happened?”

”A man who broke into the pentagon with a power that does literally all the work for him.” Regrettably he glanced down at his food as he stood up. He had wanted to finish it, but the rush was understandable. Glancing up at Jerry, he spoke again. ”Where are we headed, specifically? Or are we just gonna scout?”

”I don't have an exact location, but word on the street is that he'd been been spotted downtown near El Chapultepec last night. With a little luck and our combined talents I'm sure we'll be able to approach him without spooking the guy.” The explanation was smooth as they walked outside. And then, with a hint of amusement in his voice, Jerry asked, ”You don't mind walking, do you?”

An uncomfortable laugh escaped his lips at the question. ”You might’ve guessed I’m out of practice. It’ll be good for me though, so I really don’t mind. James said. ”Hopefully he hasn’t moved too much recently. He wished out loud as he kept pace with Jerry.

Jerry was mindful, keeping them at a brisk pace without pressing on too much for James’ sake. ”Sounds like he sticks around for a day or two before going somewhere else. Some noise complaints. Nothing really problematic. You're familiar with his power, right?”

”Not the specifics honestly. He has supreme luck sometimes is what I’ve heard, but that’s the extent of it. I’d love to know more though if you do know?” James seemed pretty happy to learn something new in this situation while admitting his own shortcomings It definitely helped that he liked Jerry. He honestly was a bit bad at walking right now, the long distance already making him breath heavy.

Jerry nodded to himself for a moment as he collected his thoughts. ”I don't have access to the files of the PRT but there were plenty of reports. Definitely luck based, potentially to the point of granting superhuman capabilities temporarily, and made him formidable enough to break into and hack the Pentagon itself…. By himself.” He slowed down a little. ”Rumor had it that he took out the entire squad transporting him when the Jacks broke him out?” He looked over for confirmation.

Thinking, James looked a bit more concerned. If his power always gave him luck this would be a much harder problem, but if it had to be activated it could be dealt with with a surprise attack. Considering he had been captured, it was pretty reasonable to assume his power was not foolproof. ”So we try to surprise him and incapacitate him as fast as possible?” James said, nodding at Jerry. ”Think it’ll work?”

”Yeah, I don't see a problem with that. A bit of recon, catch him unaware, should be easy enough. Just can't let him get away from us.”

---

Most of the rest of the walk passed with mild pleasantries between the two, until they came to the club in question. Sure enough they could faintly hear a relatively loud yelling of general gibberish from the alley, the line of people to get in laughing at whoever was making a scene. Jerry motioned for them to get closer, carefully.

Reaching the line they could make out the words. ”They're fucking lying to all of us. The PRT wants the conflict between Capes, they want the terrible an the bad, they're trying to make children soldiers and you all just laugh!”

James acknowledged the signal from Jerry, trying to act casual as he rounded the corner, trying his best to read the crowd. They didn’t seem upset in any way, just interested. ”We act like he’s schizophrenic to draw him away from the crowd, like he’s a friend or something? Some 90’s shitty comedy movie stunt? He suggested quietly, keeping an eye on the crowd.

”Careful not to draw too much attention, but it could work. The crowd doesn't seem overly invested in his antics,” Jerry replied quietly. ”I can make a scene at the door, distract the crowd so you can move him, then catch up quickly.”

Jerry’s idea seemed easier to execute without a hitch than James, so he nodded. ”You do yours, I’ll play up mine for anyone who stays,” He said, shifting forward to push slowly through the crowd. He tried not to make it look too obvious he wanted to be at the front, but people moved out of the way for people like James.

Jerry strode forward confidently alongside the crowd, whistling merrily, before he stopped in front of the bouncer. ”I believe my brother is waiting for me.”

As his conversation quickly became heated with the bouncer, egged on by Jerry, most of the crowd did indeed turn to the new developments like toddlers to a brightly colored and flashy television show. Only a few paid any direct attention towards Gamble, and even those were more cursory glances than not, but he continued his tirade without pause.

”There you are, cmon, you’re bothering the nice people. Have you been taking your medicine? James said, hamming it up as he put his arm around Gamble, his attention half divided between the crowd around him, and the volatile explosive under his arm. James started walking away from the crowd, pulling Gamble along with him.

”What, no. Who are you and what do you think you're doing to me?” Gamble growled, reaching into his pocket for his cellphone. ”I'm not going, I don't care who you are!”

He swung a fist at James’ face, winding up almost comically far beforehand.

James kept pulling him along, moving his head out of the way of the punch that was visible a mile away. ”Wow there, you don’t recognize me? Christ you’re fucked up, how much have you drank?” He said, pulling him a bit harder to throw him off balance momentarily, before catching him. ”You can barely walk!”

”What? Are you mad? Let go of me,” came the reply as Gamble stumbled. He pulled his head back and tried to headbutt James forcefully, pulling against the grip that held him.

”Not mad, but a little disappointed, James said, again moving his head out of the way of the incoming attack. Was Gamble not going to use his power? This was way too easy. He was almost at the corner, at which point he could probably teleport depending on the foot traffic.

”Whatever fucker, who hired you? I can pay double.” He got his phone from his pocket, finally, quickly sliding it unlocked.

”That sounds absolutely wonderful,” James lied as they finally rounded the corner. He checked to see if anyone was behind him, and how many people were on the street.

Surprisingly enough it was, at the moment, clear. A few people were facing away, walking and chatting amicably, as a lone car waited on them to make a left. Gamble, meanwhile, pulled his head back again as his fingers pressed quickly on the phone..

Seeing the lone car made James stopped momentarily, before switching gears and hoping it was related to Cauldron. Shrugging, he quickly, grabbed both of Gamble’s hands, putting his knee against the mans back and taking him to the ground. It wasn’t hard to tell that he was an ex-cop at that moment. The phone would probably fall out of Gamble’s hand, but James wasn’t really paying attention to it. ”Let’s get this over with.” He said, half to Gamble and half to himself. He helped him back to his feet, holding him by his two wrists and forcing to either fall over again or continue walking forward towards the car. James found it strange, not having cuffs to complete this process.

Gamble put up a mild fight, but he was obviously outmatched by James. The phone did indeed fall, an unsent text message on the now cracked screen as they moved away. The car, now that the people were gone, turned onto their street, and stopped exactly in the path that James was walking.

With a quiet efficiency a man exited the driver's seat when James got near. Slipping a gag effortlessly into place he took Gamble with a quick slap of a restraint on his wrists.

Jerry came up, looking at the phone, and stopped when he saw the exchange. ”That's that, then?”

The man in the suit nodded absently, pushing Gamble into the backseat. As he got into the driver's seat, he looked at them for a moment.

“That's one, each. We'll be in touch.”

”Why is it always fucking Mariah Carey” Visage thought as her drink finally arrived. She could almost smell the water in the Jack Daniels. Disgusting. If the contact she had come to meet actually showed up, it’d do good to inform them why they should never visit this bar again. Despite her internal anger, she drank her shitty drink and waited in the shitty bar, for a hopefully less than shitty Mire to show up. Mariah Carey continued to play over the static ridden speakers regardless of Visage’s lack of effort.

Madison toddled into the bar and looked around, she wasn’t quite sure what this “Visage” girl looked like but they’d organized to meet at the bar itself as to save time. And aside from a few lonely gentlemen there was a bouncy woman. So this was the person offering her work, Madison could do much worse that was for sure. But Madison wasn’t here for a pretty face she was here for a job and it was time to see what this woman had to offer, so Madison made her way over and took a seat next to Visage. ”Hello!” Madison said in a chipper tone.

Turning slowly, Visage looked at Mire with a questioning, and then understanding gaze. ”Hello. I’m guessing you’re Mire. It must’ve been hard to find me, with us being the only ladies here and all that.” She flourished her hand. There were other woman present, and Visage was definitely trying to insult them. ”Do you wanna stay here, or walk and talk?” Genuinely. Visage didn’t seem to have a preference.

”I vote walk and talk! Then we can talk about,” Madison would lean in and whisper. ”All the fun stuff.” Madison slid off her seat taking a moment to look Visage up and down before shooting her a hand. ”Also call me Madison, actually no call me Maddy. Maddy sounds better for sure.”

Standing up, Visage pushed away the drink with the slightest bit of disgust. Turning away right before Madison offered the handshake, she started leading the way out of the bar. ”I prefer Maddy as well.” She said, pushing out the door, and holding it open for Maddy. She scanned the street out of habit, but it was dead, midday not drawing many people to this shitty neighborhood.

Maddy tilted her head as Visage walked off seemingly ignoring the handshake offer. Maddy frowned and followed after her hand still extended for a handshake, she was getting a handshake one way or another. She continued to hold her hand extended to Visage looking between her hand and Visage. ”Shake?”

Right before Maddy spoke up Visage saw her hand out of the corner of her eye. She obliged, giving a firm handshake. Strange girl. Locking eyes, Visage set a node. She scanned her own appearance using her power. A purple beanie sat on top of her head, her hair completely obscured by it with stylish, thin rimmed glasses resting on her nose.

The beanie was helping to hide the fact that she was wearing a blonde wig, which was the only hair peeking out of her beanie. There was a dark blue cardigan resting on her shoulders, with a white tanktop underneath, and a gym bag over her left shoulder. Tight jeans hugged her legs, with slip-on sneakers completing the outfit. She had almost no makeup on, clearly trying to go for a more naturalistic look.

The mental review was over. She looked nonthreatening, not straddling the border of dangerous like Visage did. Still, she was meeting as Visage, and so half of that metaphorical mask still hung from her identity in front of Maddy.

”You want work then, money of course, but what else? Because in my experience it's never just the money.” Back to business, she started walking, making sure to fall back a bit after they started so that they walked side by side. Equals for now.

”Well I just need money, I mean sure you can steal stuff but like. Money is just super useful for getting things, like the internet and stuff. You know how boring it is living on the stree-” Maddy froze for a moment raising a finger and screwing up her face as if in a moment of intense concentration. ”You wouldn’t happen to have accommodation with access to the internet, pay TV and current gen video game consoles would you?” Maddy quickly lowered her hand and gave Visage a rather intense stare.

Normally collected Visage was at a bit of a loss. She looked Maddy across again. How young was she? A breath escaped her lips as she actually thought up an answer. Honestly what was requested wasn't that big of a deal to organize. Visage waved her hand, trying to signal that the request would be easy to organize. Internally she thought the desperate are the best employees. The words she spoke didn't quite match that sentiment though. ”That all can be arranged as a-a signing bonus. I still need to know if you're the right fit for the company, Maddy, darling”

She held out her hand a bit, signalling that they should turn into an alley. It was empty, barely more than a sideways dumpster in length, which was proven by just that interrupting the straight path. Two closed and locked doors led into the alley from adjacent buildings. It terminated at another building, with broken glass scattered around the dumpster’s right side. The smell wasn't as bad as one might expect.

”Show me what you can do?” it was in that sweet spot between question and command.

Maddy nodded to Visage and walked a few feet away, making sure that she had enough room. She took a deep breath getting herself ready (not that she needed to but hey, why not put on a little show?) she then rolled both her shoulders. ”Alright. Prepare to be amazed! Actually wait a second. What kind of work am I going to be doing? Like I’m not going to be shifting boxes or any shit like that right?”

”I-I don't know what your power is. Show me? Unless it's not flashy I guess.” Visage seemed exasperated. Maddy was definitely not on the same wavelength as Visage here.

”Fine fine fine, Jeez.” Maddy grumbled, taking off her bag and gently placing it on the ground. Then with what looked like a puff of smoke Maddy shifted into her breaker form her body dispersing into a thick black mist with massive bright white spheres in place of her eyes. The thick mist condensed down into a pitch black body much like a silhouette. She was still leaking smoke from almost all of her body, the cloud quickly blanketing her.

Obviously this wouldn’t be enough to prove anything to Visage, so Mire morphed one of her arms into a massive spike, then thrusted her weaponized appendage into the dumpster punching a hole in its side. ”So? What do you think?” Mire’s arm slowly morphed back to a normal human shape before she shifted back to human form, all the mist that once surrounded her collapsing in on itself and condensing back into flesh. ”Oh also I can make you trip mad balls with the mist that comes off me.” Maddy then glanced back at the perforated dumpster. ”That might’ve been a bit loud, maybe we should walk again yeah?”

A bit dazed, Visage nodded, visibly impressed. Even if the first part was the entire power she would’ve been very happy, but it also had a lot of danger to it. The whole “I can make you trip mad balls” part didn’t register until they had removed themselves from the premises. Once they were a couple blocks away, she managed to compose herself, and consider the power fully. Visage didn’t speak, she just kept considering the different possibilities.

The first idea that really stood out to her was keeping Mire in the shadows so to speak, make it seem like it was all Visage’s power after a second trigger. That was a wonderful look, that could even be enhanced by her own power.

Another option was to dress Maddy in inverse colors, and then turn herself into white mist when Maddy turned in to black mist. A beautiful display, but one that would take some work. With enough ‘twins’ running around, it might even throw the PRT onto the scent of a duplicator. There was always the fallback aesthetic of just having her be another high powered chess piece. Not a pawn to throw away, but a queen to trade with effectively in the end game.

Lost in her own thoughts, she kept walking with Maddy, not speaking at all.

Maddy walked alongside Visage noticing the girl was in deep thought, Maddy tilted her head and decided to get another good look at her possible new boss. Maddy was actual a decent amount shorter that Visage, though she’d come to expect being the shortest person around in most cases. While Maddy looked up at Visage she notice how well equipped she was, without a moment of hesitation Maddy extended out a hand and poked the side of Visage’s bust. ”Oh fuck those are real!” Maddy said untiling her head and looking back up at Visage.

The first thought that crossed Visage’s mind was why is she touching me?, with the second being stay diplomatic. You might have to teach her how to act how you’d like, but this. . . horrifying monster is vulnerable. She forced a laugh that at least sounded genuine, brushing her hands over her body from hips to torso. ”Believe it or not, this isn’t.” She said, bringing her hands the rest of the way to point at her hair.

Visage removed the beanie and wig, letting her striking dark red hair fall down. She opened the gym bag, putting the headwear in there, as well as the glasses. She drew a thick= white jacket from the bag before removing her cardigan and placing it inside, Putting on the jacket, she finished with a flourish, tossing her hair up a bit.

”Ta-dah.”

”Oh shit would you look at that. You’re a master of disguise! That’s pretty cool.” Maddy sped up so she could walk in front of Visage and get a batter look at her face, Visage was cute for sure there was no question about that. The red hair was also stunning, Maddy hadn’t gotten the chance to see many red heads. All things considered though this might not actually be the real Visage’s look, for all Maddy knew this could be another disguise though honestly it didn’t bother her.

”Oh before I forget! Now that you’ve seen what I can do, what’s the job you’re offering me?” Maddy shifted back to walking besides Visage, she wasn’t super fussed with the job at this point, Visage was interesting and Maddy wanted some more time to get to know her. Who knows, it could be fun.

”Obviously this isn’t the kind of job you can put on a portfolio. You’re going to be working for the Rockers under my command, and honestly more important than the actual work you do, will be postering. I want you to present yourself in a certain way. First things first we should get you a hot meal, a hot shower, and a warm place to sleep.”

Visage maintained periodic eye contact throughout to drive certain points home, and a warm smile crept across her face during the last sentence.

”And of course the pay will be exceptionally generous.”

Maddy was kind of touched by what Visage was saying, though it also kind of reminded her of a motherly figure, needless to say she wasn’t fond of remembering her mother. Maddy hid her feelings behind a smile. ”It’s had to refuse an offer like that! Lead the way boss.” Maddy felt her eyes drift back to Visages equipment again though she quickly shook her head and focused on the thought of a warm meal, god she’d gotten so sick of shitty takeaway foods or leftover scraps.

Two medium gym bags hung from Visage’s shoulder as she walked down the hallway, the edges misshapen by the volume of material inside.. She was again wearing the disguise from the first time they met, with basically the same outfit. It was a nicer apartment complex, and the rent price unfortunately reflected that. She had to use about half the money the Rockers had paid her so far to actually afford Maddy’s signing bonus. Not a huge drain on the bank account all in all, but it was still hard to watch it go. She day dreamed about the nice things she could’ve bought with it as she reached room number 44. After knocking loudly she leaned back on one foot, setting one of the gym bags on the ground.

”Coming just give me a sec!” Maddy would call out as she rolled off the couch and headed for the door. She peaked through the eye hole just to make sure it was who she thought it was before swinging open the door and throwing her arms into the air, she was in a nice clean set of clothes her hair still dripping wet from what one would assume was a shower. ”Visage!” Maddy exclaimed as she threw her arms around Visage giving her a solid hug. ”This place you got me is actually amazing it smells so nice! I smell so nice! Look smell!” Maddy grabbed a clump of her hair and held it up to Visage’s face.

Though hesitant at first, Visage obliged in the hug. She had a genuine looking smile when Maddy pulled away, though she scrunched her nose a bit when told to sniff her hair. It smelled sweet, which was better than before. Visage had been insisting that Maddy stay clean, so she assumed she had been asked to smell Maddy’s hair for her own benefit more than Maddy’s. Though maybe she wasn’t actually that conniving. Moving back a bit, she picked up the bag she had set down and moved to enter the apartment. ”I’m very glad you’re enjoying the apartment! I don’t know if you got the text, but did you look up the various parahumans in the area?” Visage asked, looking over Maddy a bit.

Maddy hopped back onto her couch, that was surprisingly enough very clean much like the rest of the apartment. ”I looked up some of them yeah, though how come you wanted me to do that? You planning on having me kick their asses or something?” Maddy tilted her head and picked her laptop up off the coffee table that sat next to the couch.

”Not even that, believe it or not, though I am glad you’re not squeamish. It’s just for your own safety when you’re out in the field. I don’t want you getting caught off guard by someone like Epsilon.” She seemed pretty nonchalant about it, though it was hard to tell whether it was because she thought Maddy could fend for herself or a different darker reason. ”Now let's get into brass tacks: Costume and general presentation will be our first section. I had a couple different ideas, but first–um where–do you have a good mirror, darling?”

Maddy placed the laptop back on the table then hopped over the back of her couch and headed off down a tiny corridor that had a door on both the left and right. ”In here!” She said as she pushed open the door to the left, revealing a rather spectacular bathroom with a huge full body mirror, fancy glass shower and a rather extravagant sink which had its own mirror. ”So what’s the plan? Gunna make me sexy as fuck or something?”

Maddy stood in front of the full body mirror and posed dramatically, her thick brown mane dropped over her shoulders still rather damp. Her shirt wasn’t flattering at all being a baggy long sleeved almost jumper looking thing that concealed most of her petite frame. Her pants were a pair of navy blue tracksuit pants that were obviously made for comfort and not looks and hardly clung to her at all looking as if they might fall off. She made sure to pout her lips to make them look plump, though she failed miserably.

Visage set the gym bags down on the far side of the room, before setting her purse down on the counter. ”Sex appeal is always a nice touch, we’ll see what we can do in that department of course.” Again, Visage removed the various pieces of her disguise, the beanie, glasses, and wig, and placed them in a side pocket of the gym bag. She grabbed a brush out of her purse next. It was clear when she was in front of the mirror again that she had actually gone a bit heavier on the makeup this time. ”You can brush your hair a bit while I talk, make this more efficient.” She offered the brush handle first while keeping eye contact through the mirror.

Maddy nodded and took the brush her left eye twitching a little. ”Alright, no problem. A-also don’t worry about sexyness, I’m chill.” Maddy took the brush from Visage and started running it through her hair, the long strokes getting frequently interrupted by the many knots that had accumulated in Mire hair. The twinges of pain were clearly upsetting Maddy.

”Idea number one is simple. You. Don’t. Exist. I act like my power got an upgrade, in the living mist that follows me. When a situation gets dangerous, you’ll be more dangerous, but you’ll also be unseen.”

Maddy tilted her head and puffed up her cheeks, she looked like she was thinking about it rather thoroughly. Then her expression changed to one of uncertainty, ”I don’t know…”

”There’s other ideas, don’t worry if one doesn’t strike your fancy. My next idea was to do a yin and yang type situation. We wear inverted colors, and. . . I only got as far as the look honestly.” She paused, considering for a moment.

Maddy straight up shook her head at that idea. ”No thank you, that sounds kinda cheesy and lame. No offense.”[

”Offence taken, but I’m strong, I’ll take it in stride.” Visage said, her jaw barely twitching before she stopped it by adjusting her mouth. Cheesy, says the bitch who chose the ‘underwhelming’ filter when decorating her body. Taking a small breath, she spoke again, completely composed. ”I don’t quite know the precision with which you can control the mist or your mistlike form, or if I should even refer to the two as separate things. I feel like you could easily be a shadowy figure following me, or a general shadow. Might tie in a bit with the first idea, I’m not sure on the details with that idea either.”

Maddy grunted as she forced the comb through a particularly matted part of her hair then paused. She tapped her index finger on her lips ”Hmmmm, I mean I’d have a lot more freedom that way for sure. And I could easily squash myself down like that, and the mist shouldn’t affect anyone. Well unless they decide to shove their head to the floor but at that point the fucker is asking for it.”

A small bubbly laugh escaped Visage’s lips, ”I agree. Not right now, but I would like to experience the mist at some point. I want to know what we’re subjecting others to, and be able to warn you if it is affecting me in the future. Would you like to play off you being a shadowy figure as an extension of my power, or do you want your cut of the limelight?”

”I want people to know that it’s me kicking their ass! Though I’m fine with being a shadow, but I want to be a shadow with a name. I’ll not be forgotten.” Maddy’s tone had gone serious, something that Visage hadn’t been exposed to yet. Though Maddy’s expression went back to a childish smile after a little moment of tension.

A small nod came from Visage, and she offered to take the brush from Maddy. ”Alright shadow sounds good, but being a shadow is also aggressive, plus I don’t know if it is exhausting. Do you want an actual costume as well?”

”Wait how could me being a shadow on the ground be aggressive? Actually I could be very aggressive. And a costume could be nice but I’m not sure, maybe just a mask? Actually a full costume would be good, just something so people don’t know my face and stuff. Unless I’ll be a shadow all the time, then I don’t need a costume.” Maddy smiled and handed Visage the brush. ”I’ll be plenty comfortable as a puddle on the floor, it’s not uncomfortable or anything.”

Nodding slowly, Visage considered it. ”I think a costume still might be a good idea. A nice halfway point between your civilian identity and Mire.” She said, smiling slightly with eye contact.

Maddy tilted her head ”Oh? What did you have in mind? Greys and blacks I assume?” Maddy smiled back at Visage, then she suddenly twitched. ”Ok what the fuck was that?” She looked from side to side with a slightly agitated look on her face.

Visage had to change gears a little bit, as she was about to answer the question when Maddy had a moment. ”What was what, honey? She asked, trying to read Maddy. She also started considering the only escape route, just in case push came to shove.

Maddy let out a short hiss before sighing. ”Nevermind, the fly fucked off. Anyway, what are your costume ideas?” Maddy’s mood had shifted to that of an excited child. ”Playing dress up might actually be pretty fun!”

The breath Visage didn't know she'd been holding was let out in a small sigh. ”First things first, let's establish a theme.” She said as she recalled Maddy's node to the front of her mind. With dissonance dialed to max, she changed into the costumed persona of Visage. ”I want it close enough that it's clear at a glance that we're the same side”

Maddy squinted in the mirror looking at herself and at Visage, she tilted her head as Visages’ look completely changed. She then had to take another moment to analyze Visages’ new look.”So I should have blue on and show off my tits?” Mire looked down at her chest and then back at Visages. ”Yeah that’s not going to work well, at least not the boob part.”

Leaning forward, she grinned and set her hands on Maddy’s shoulders. ”You’ll be surprised how much you can do with only a little.” Visage said, quieter and closer than earlier. ”Plus I have a utility belt and a mask, we can’t just write those off. Important for breaking up the flow.”

”You’re the master of disguise, costume me up girl!” Maddy stood in a T pose ready for Visage to sort her out. ”My body is ready.”

A small giggle escaped Visage’s lips. ”I’m gonna walk you through the basics first. Try to think of your costume in layers.” Visage changed her appearance again through the node. A thin gray strapless tube top covered her torso now, the bottom of which stretched over the gray leggings she now wore. It wasn’t conservative in the least. ”As an example, this is the first layer. I can wear a thicker tank top if the weather is less than favorable.” She said, before changing her appearance again. Now she was wearing the bare minimum of her tight suit, but it seemed a little off in terms of proportions. ”This is the second layer without the mask. It’s not quite decent though, so I add a third layer that is held in place by the second.” Now she was wearing her full suit, with the proportions rounded out. ”Small bits of padding her and there so I don’t have a camel toe or anything else unsightly,” Visage changed the node one last time, and her porcelain mask appeared, covering the top half of her face with cut outs for her eyes.

”So we need to decide a first layer for you. It probably needs to be thin enough to not be seen through the costume. If you want to go for sexy, a pushup bra is obviously an option, but that’ll be a bit uncomfortable as I’m sure you know. You also could try to emphasize your ass more, which would be the more comfortable route, but I don’t know if you’re okay with that. Even if we don’t go the route of giving you sex appeal, we still need to emphasize fashion over form, since your smoke form won’t have to deal with the consequences of your style decisions. Though fashion is going to come along with later layers as well, this is still the foundation.”

Maddy watched as Visage continued to swap appearance, her clothing just changing on the fly. This was the first time Maddy had been able to see a power in play this close up, at least in a non aggressive way. It was pretty interesting to just see something like that happen. ”So if my first layer isn’t going to be seen… You think some black leggings and shirt would work? I don’t know fashion.” She then poked her own chest. ”Just forget the boobs. That’ll be your thing.”

Visage frowned, but it was clearly not genuine. ”Too bad. What kind of shirt do you want?” She asked, moving over to unzip one of the gym bags. The pressure being reduced meant some of the contents threatened to fall onto the floor. It was absolutely stuffed with various clothes, along with a couple different masks on top of the piled in wardrobe.

Maddy glanced down at the gym bags and was a little lost in the sheer amount of clothes. ”I-uhhh. Maybe a long sleeve one?” Maddy was so used to having super dirty and worn out cloths at this point. ”It is just the under layer, so it doesn’t matter if it’s not fancy right?”

”Doesn’t really matter, nope.” Visage searched through the bag without much care for the organization, leading credence to the thought that she hadn’t.bothered to. ”Gotta be thin though, otherwise you can see it through the costume.” She pulled out a thin light gray shirt that looked like it had been mixed with a hoodie. ”We can take the hood off of this and use it, if you’d like?”

Maddy clapped her hands together like a giddy child. ”Oooo this is so exciting! I’ma look like a badass.” Maddy then started wrestling with her jumper as she struggled to get it off.

A quick glance confirmed what Visage already expected. Underwhelming. She pulled some black leggings out of the gym bag, and black socks. ”We can move on to the next layer once you put these on. The appearance won’t really be final with this, because I still need to remove the hood, but it should be a good indicator.” She stood up, and leaned her back against the bathroom wall, not bothering to avert her eyes.

Maddy finally got out of the jumper, throwing it to the floor then flipping it off. She then glanced at the hoodie. ”Don’t worry I’ll get rid of it.” Maddy suddenly shifted to her breaker form, being sure not to let her mist come into contact with Visage. She then morphed her left arm turning into a savage looking blade, she also made an extra arm grow underneath her bladed arm so she could properly hold the hoodie in place. Then in one quick motion Mire slashed the hood off of the hoodie, quickly retracting her blade arm into her body, the extra arm she sprouted shifting up to replace it. ”See, easy.”

Mire then shifted back into human form and slid into the grey hoodie. After that was done she slipped off her shorts and put on the black leggins and socks. ”Ok so that’s step one. What’s next?”

Completely stone faced, Visage masked the small amount of horror she felt. The main reason she had suggested she could do it was because she knew it had to be sewn shut after she was done, but now it was a bit late for that. Maddy did not treat clothes well apparently. "Next would be the actual costume layer, the first layer that will be seen by the public. Color is a lot easier for us than the Protectorate, we get our choice of darker blues, almost any shade of red as an accent, blacks, greys, and even dark greens. I'd suggest dark blue to match me, but if you want any accent colors that won't really be a problem either. Visage said.

Sounding slightly disappointed, she added "No sex appeal in your costume then? I feel like everyone could use a little. Makes you stand out more in the news."

Maddy frowned. ”You can be the sexy one, I mean you already are. And then I’ll be the scary one! They’ll do stuff for you cus you’re hot, and they’ll do things for me because they want to keep their fingers.” Maddy smiled up at Visage. ”Hmmm. What if I had a black shirt with dark blue accents or something or maybe even the other way around!” Maddy tilted her head as she looked up at Visages, kind of like a puppy looking for approval.

”People don’t do things for me because I’m hot. It doesn’t hurt though.” Visage said. She put on a show of thinking about the colors, but she had already decided. After a nod of approval was given, she started searching through the second gym bag, which was just as filled with clothes as the first. Swiftly, she found a thick black shirt with a diamond shape cut out of it around halfway down on both sides.. Setting it aside, she started searching again, this time pulling out dark blue shirt that was a bit thinner and much tighter. Visage tossed the shirts to Maddy, before returning to her search for some sort of leg wear.

”And what kind of mask are we thinking?” Visage asked, setting a few down on the bathroom floor.

Maddy caught the suit and shirt, holding them against herself and looking in the mirror. She nodded with an exaggerated “Pacha ok” look on her face. ”This looks like it’ll come out nicely.” Maddy then took a moment to quickly get into the shirts. ”Ok this looks pretty good. I gotta admit.” She said as she posed a few times to get a good look at the costume. She frowned as she realized she was still just in leggins. ”Ok I know you’re the expert. So what’d you say to black jeans? Like tight ones to bring out my butt? Since you seem to like thought of my costume having some sex appeal.”

”I just like the thought of you having more sex appeal. Black jeans might be a bit hard to maneuver-oh wait, you don’t have to worry about that! Hell yeah.” Visage said, finding some black jeans pretty easily in the first gym bag. After pulling out another mask, she moved them so they were in a line. The first one was a demon thing, white base with red teeth and black thick lines. It looked like it was from an Asian country, but Visage just got it because it looked cool. There were also a couple masquerade masks of different colors and descriptions.

Maddy kinda blushed a little at the comment lightly swinging a leg back and forth. ”D'aww shucks.” Maddy slipped on the black jeans with a fair bit of effort, they were right tight albeit not in a bad way. And they definitely made her butt look big. Maddy didn’t bother wasting time on giving the masks a through look, her hand pointing straight at the demon looking one. ”That’s obviously the best one.”

A self satisfied smile crossed Visage’s lips when she saw Maddy’s reaction to her compliment. Easy peasy. It disappeared however when Maddy chose her mask. Why did I bring that one? She thought, but decided not to speak up. The costume had really come together honestly, and the jeans helped the outfit border sexy without being indecent.

”Alright we’ll talk etiquette on the cab ride there, Mire.” Visage said, pulling out her phone to call a cab.

”Groooooaaaaan! Etiquette is so boring. I just gotta not stab people and not speak with my mouth full right?” Maddy said as she slipped on the mask. ”Oh yeah I already feel more badass.”

Quickly, Visage gave the address to the cab company, and closed her phone, idly looking at the completed costume that Mire was now wearing. ”Cab should be here in ten, then it’s about a thirty minute ride give or take until we get to our destination,” She said, smiling a bit.

Maddy kept looking herself up and down a few times, she did like this look. Even the slightly jagged cut where the hood used to be, it felt like a nice touch. ”So only thirty minutes away? Not that far away then, I thought we’d be in some kind of abandoned factory out of town or something. So where is out destination exactly?”

A small shrug was Visage’s response. ”Rocker HQ, you get to meet the boss.” She said before walking out of the bathroom.

Sheila walked unseen through familiar streets. When here, it felt like just maybe, she could put everything behind her and just return to this pleasant neighborhood, of people she somewhat recognized, the sound of food being grilled, and children playing here and there. Yet, for as much as she loved these streets, she had to be invisible when crossing. It would not do to be recognized before she arrived where she was going.

She rang the bell at a house she had visited more times than she could count in the past. While throwing a gaze so that nobody around her would see her appearing out of thin air, Sheila then made herself visible again. She was colouring her hair blonde, like it used to be, and was wearing a white jumper and blue jeans, a simple outfit for the public. And now… now she came.

‘Yes, yes, I’m coming!’ Chloe’s voice came from the other side, and Sheila breathed a sigh of relief that she had chose her time well, as the girl’s parents weren’t home yet. The door flung open, and an excitable girl with brown hair opened the door, looking at Sheila in surprise for a second. Sheila merely gave a small unsure smile, before being tackle-hugged by the energetic girl.

‘Sheila! It is you! I was- we were all so worried! Wh-where did you go!? Why did you go!? Aaaah, it doesn’t matter, you’re here now~!’ Chloe rambled out, like Sheila had expected her to, and she but smiled at the reaction, giving the girl a small pat on her head.

‘Yeah… I’m here for now. Listen, I have something to talk to you about. Can I come in?’ Sheila asked, not wanting to remain on the streets for too long.

‘Right! Of course! Come on in!’ Chloe waved her in with the brightest of smiles, and then they went to sit in the chairs in Chloe’s room.

At first Sheila denied talking about herself, insisting to hear how Chloe and the others had been doing. She was disheartened to hear they had somewhat drifted apart. Sheila had vanished and Theresa had moved away. That last was a bit of a hit to her, Theresa was one of those she had thought had a good chance of accepting. Good thing she hadn’t gone to her first, like she had intended to. But, they were alive, healthy, and incredibly worried about where Sheila had gone. One day she had just disappeared.

‘… But that’s enough about us! You! Where have you been!? We’ve been worried sick! What’s been going on!?’ Chloe insisted, and Sheila sighed. It was time, then. There really was no easy way to say this.

‘I’m… sorry about this, but I am going to ask you do not tell anyone about what I am about to show you, and say. Promise me you will,’ Sheila asked of her.

‘Huh? S-sure, Sheila. I promise I won’t tell anyone. You’re kinda scaring me, though,’ Chloe said, looking slightly perturbed.

Sheila nodded, satisfied. Then, she held out her hand. With it, she coelessed a ball of shadow. Then, she sent it off, letting it spin around herself. She also created three more, letting them take off and spin around. It was really just four spots of darkness she was letting float about her, but it wouldn’t do any good for her to broadcast what her real power was.

‘… You’re a cape!’ Chloe laughed out in amazement. ‘Aaaah, but now you’re revealing your identity to me! Ah, I should speak quieter,’ she suddenly said, smile still wide. Then, however, her smile vanished and her expression twisted in worry. ‘… But, then… you had a trigger event.’ Chloe pieced together what that meant, and looked considerably worried. Sheila bit it together, but nodded.

‘Listen, Chloe. I came today to give you a bit of peace of mind, and to ask for help,’ Sheila said, looking at her with a focused look. Chloe looked a bit worried, but made herself smile and nodded.

‘Oh, you need some mundane help to kick villain ass? Sure! If it’s within my power…’ she started excitedly. Sheila couldn’t help but smile at the girl’s antics. Her desire to help was what convinced Sheila to eventually go to her first. So, here goes. Sheila stood up, confusing Chloe as to why she stood up.

‘I’m a villain. Or, more accurately, I’m pretending to be a villain,’ Sheila said, Chloe looking towards her in alarm. Okay. To elaborate. ‘I joined the villains, hoping to catch villain plots in the motion before they come into fruition. There’s information that you’re only privy to, as a villain. Like the fact there are these vials which can grant a person powers, which I was given in order to make my own super-powered subordinates.’ Saying so, Sheila took out one of the vials, presenting it to Chloe.

‘The vials are not without risk. I have no idea what powers this vial contains. It might transform the one who drinks it into an unrecognizable monster, or leave their mind unhinged. However, it comes with a potential to change the world for the better. A power, a gift that few others have. The ability to do some good in this world, for the prize of probably leaving everything one has now behind. … And I offer it to you, if you’d like to join me,’ so she said.

‘I’d really want to avoid creating more villains. That’s why, I’d much prefer an ally. Someone who’d be able to stand by my side, support me as we pretend to be villains, doing villain operations for a time before the time comes when we make a flashy betrayal and become heroes once again with me. An ally and a friend that I can trust,’ Sheila said, hoping that her words had effect. She looked at Chloe with a slight smile. ‘There’s precious few who I trust enough to ask this of,’

‘So, what do you think? Would you like to become a cape and stand at my side against the dangers I now face?’ Sheila asked. That was it. That was her offer. She really hoped it came across well. Chloe looked stunned. Okay. Time for the second part. ‘Of course, I am not going to ask you to decide now, far too major a decision.’ Sheila said, putting back the vial. ‘I’ll return in a couple of days. Then you can-’

‘N-no,’ Chloe interrupted her, breathing out. ‘No, there’s no need for that.’ Chloe shook her head, and then gave Sheila a slight smile. ‘You were always so brave when it mattered. Shy on the outside, but when it really came to it, you were determined and decisive. Yeah. This suits you.’ Sheila stood frozen. This sounded like the beginning of…

‘But that’s… not for me,’ Chloe shook her head. ‘I didn’t tell you, did I? I’ve gotten myself a boyfriend. We’re planning on moving in together, when we get a little older. I have a lot of proud parents and people who expect lots from me. My studies are going really well, and I’m happy here. I’ve heard that cape-life is really dangerous, and really, really sad, right? … I’m sorry, but I’m too much of a coward to actually give up what I have. I’m sorry.’ So Chloe said, and bowed to Sheila.

Sheila reeled a little. It was… it wasn’t unexpected, was it. No reasonable person would throw away what they had for the sake of becoming a cape, would they? No, there definitely were people who would, but Chloe was not one of them. A normal person from a friend-circle living a good life wouldn’t.

‘It-it’s alright,’ Sheila said, struggling to get confidence back. ‘I know the request was unreasonable…’

Except, after Chloe, everyone was now less likely to accept.

___________

‘You- you crazy bitch!’ Kimberly called, anger in her eyes. Sheila recoiled. ‘You’re asking me to become a known villain, for you!? For some perceived notion that you’re doing some good in this world!? Grow up, Sheila!’ Kimberly took a deep breath, and held forward her hand. ‘Give me the vials, Sheila. We need to give these to the Protectorate. Then they’ll-’

Sheila turned and walked, feeling regret.

‘You- I’m not done with you!’ Kimberly shouted, jumping after Sheila and attempting to grab her. However, her arms went right through Sheila, as Sheila had displaced her image a bit to the side, and then Kimberly was greeted with the image of Sheila standing calmly, hand raised towards her, a ball of shadow visually charging as if ready to launch in her hand. Kimberly froze.

‘I’m sorry. I’m going to leave now. I apologize,’ Sheila said. She snuffed out the actually entirely harmless ball of darkness, and then walked for the door.

‘Crazy lunatic. You know this is going to end up with you either mangled by the side of the road or in jail, right!? You fucking…’ Kimberly shook her head, and then returned to her room as Sheila exited. She had really hoped Kimberly would be excited for the idea of having powers and beating up some villains. This was looking less and less like a good idea.

___________

‘…’ Hanna just sat, wide-eyed and hands over her mouth in fright, looking towards Sheila. She looked so utterly terrified. It was far worse than she had imagined. Sheila really felt like she was being viewed as a threat here.

‘Hey, don’t worry, I’m not going to-’ Sheila started, just reaching forth a hand to hold Hanna’s in order to comfort her…

‘No! Stay away!’ Hanna called, panicked, turning her shoulder towards her supposed friend. Sheila was taken aback. Hanna had become extremely unresponsive ever since Sheila had shared that she had become a villain. No, wait, was it since showing she was a cape, at all? Regardless, she couldn’t work with this.

‘I’m…’ How would she even say this? Suppose there was no other way. ‘I’m sorry. I’ll never show up again.’ So she said, and walked out.

___________

‘The idea that you could get powers from vials is ridiculous, Sheila,’ the analytical Mary said. ‘Who gave you those vials? A villain?’

‘I…’ Sheila stopped short, not able to deny. ‘I saw the effect happen as a grunt not of the dealer’s group drank it. He gained powers, I know he did…’

‘Sheila. You know very well they collaborated and tricked you by making you think these vials could give someone powers. You must know it. Those vials have another, sinister effect on those who drink it. And now…’ Mary frowned. ‘… And now you’re willing to sacrifice your friends, just to see if it would work and possibly give you an edge.’

‘That’s not-’ Sheila stopped short. She could see Mary’s logic. But, that was not what she had been…

‘It seems you have truly become a villain. I’m disappointed in you. I want none of your dealings. Get out of my house.’

Sheila, on the verge of tears, obliged.

___________

‘…’ Sheila stood on the outside of the house of her final female friend, Susan. She was invisible, peeking in through a window. Susan was there, talking on the phone.

‘Yeah, it was so thrilling! And after the robbery, we took off and spent it on a luxurious pool party! It was the best! I never knew there was such a side to being in a gang. Look, if we’re doing it again, I’d be happy to…’

Sheila left, disappointed.

___________

Was this… actually a good idea? Had this been a frankly absolutely terrible idea? Sheila didn’t know, but after her attempt everything had seemed so stupid. There was a crushing weight on her mind, which told that everything was terrible and she should feel bad. So many people knew of her now, and she couldn’t be entirely sure she actually could trust a couple of them to keep quiet. That… that was terrible. Absolutely, indistinguishably terrible.

Still. She had two more people she could visit. Chad, and him. Sheila’s stomach turned at the thought. … Okay, then. Here goes, she guessed, as she took a specific turn on the street.

Earlier…

‘You stopped hanging out with Chad?’ Sheila asked, worried about what she was hearing.

‘Yeah. Things just happened like that,’ Kimberly answered, lying back lazily. ‘After you vanished, things got quiet between us. We still gathered, but Chad didn’t join us. We didn’t entirely feel like inviting him when he wasn’t coming on his own, so eventually it just ended up like that.’ So she said.

‘I see…’ Sheila muttered, considering it.

‘And then… that happened,’ Kimberly said, sounding cryptic.

‘That?’ Sheila naturally asked, eyes worried.

Kimberly leaned forward, a frown on her face. She looked as if she was considering how to say this before continuing.

‘He ended up in hospital. A couple of supposed bullies who supposedly did it ended up in jail, but quite a few of those accused managed to get away scot-free. Chad eventually returned a couple of months later, and then we didn’t really talk anymore. Then… a bomb or something went off in a school locker room, and one of them lost his eye. Now, he was a deserving bastard, but that’s beside the point. The point is… we’re pretty sure Chad bombed him. Nobody was able to find any proof of it… but after that, all of us agreed we didn’t want to associate with him. You understand?’

Sheila sat silent. To think such a thing happened to someone who she considered her friend. Honestly, she triggered for less. Now, she wasn’t sure about the rumor… but there was an opportunity there. Sheila didn’t really like considering it an opportunity, but it was there. An excuse for a trigger, and a person that might not object to powers. Sheila took a deep breath, and made a decision.

___________

Sheila knew what time school ended. It was a simple matter to walk there at the optimum moment. She entered the school while invisible, sneaking through the halls and avoiding other students. It felt weird walking in here while disguising herself, these familiar halls and these familiar outfits, yet here she was. She snuck off towards her classroom… and then leaned on the side. There wasn’t a window to peek in through. She could hardly open the door while invisible, and opening the door while visible was liable to cause an even greater stir. So, she waited until class ended, off to the side while calibrating for that a lot of people would be coming out soon. She was waiting for a specific friend of her past…

The last class in Chad’s schedule today was chemistry. Not any major experiments, just a quick exercise showing off thermodynamics, in this case how much heat was transferred from a hot metal plate to a cold one in ten minutes, and how much heat energy was lost in the process. Everyone was in pairs, even him, though his partner was doing her dutiful best to ignore him without getting caught on her phone. That was fine. He’d done the setup and testing on his own. There was a lot he could do on his own. This was easy by comparison.

He really wanted class to end so he could get to the gym. He was starting to fantasize about grabbing his partner’s hair and just pressing her stupid bitchy face into the hot plate with the bunsen burner still on it... hell, just take the bunsen and set her hair on fire, maybe, or burn one of her eyes until it popped...

Fuck, he cringed. She had no idea how much he wanted to do that to her. When there was nothing to do, and he had even a minor issue with somebody’s behaviour around him, his mind went down dark, dark paths, and if nobody was around to fantasize about, he started fantasizing about going on generic murder sprees. He hated it. But at least nobody else cared enough to question him about it.

Finally, the bell rang. Mrs. Dolores announced their homework for next week, and everybody left. The girl next to him couldn’t get away fast enough; Chad himself politely waited until everyone else was on their way out before standing up and gathering his things. Nobody else wanted to be near him, and it was better that he just let them get out of the way before he did anything. By the time he was out of the classroom, everyone else was down the end of the corridor, and with a sigh, he followed the larger mass of students to the front entrance, and then out of the school grounds outright, trudging a now-familiar path away from his house. Mom knew he’d be at the gym for a couple of hours anyway. He had some demons to work out, literally.

For a moment, Sheila had been worried he wouldn’t be there. But, there he was, exiting the room last. And… he was distinctly more muscular than she had seen him last. Huh. Earlier, she would have pointed him out as having a “nerdy” appearance, but today he looked halfway to the other side. She was a bit taken aback at this. Regardless, that didn’t change anything. In fact, it may actually be for the better. She followed him in silence, as she didn’t want to be seen anywhere close to her old school right now. She simply intended on following him for a bit, but she couldn’t help but note that he was not heading home. Hm. Then it was for the better she got a move on. Sheila no longer had the privilege of being able to spend time as she wanted.

First, she made herself appear for the world they were approaching, letting people looking out windows and such see her. Then, as they walked into this new area, the inside of the gym he was heading to, the place she had decided to show herself to would overtake the one that never saw her. As such, with a work of selective invisibility, Sheila had always been there for some and never existed for others. And then… to show herself to the one that mattered.

‘Chad,’ she spoke softly. She stood behind him in a simple white jumper and blue jeans, hands grasping one another in front of her. Her hair momentarily coloured blonde by her power, for that’s how it had been before she triggered. She looked the mildest nervous, though kept her eyes focused on him. She kept quiet for now, intent on weathering the initial reaction of seeing her.

It didn’t take him too long to reach the gym, maybe fifteen minutes or so. It was bizarre to think that a comparatively short time ago, he’d never even known this place existed; yet now he felt he knew it like the back of his hand. Or maybe like the veins on his wrist. He’d done some research on the blood vessels in the average human arm, actually, just to see what the best position to make a cut would be if he ever felt the urge to cut somebody there. Himself, another person. Somebody.

Before he’d even entered the changing room, a voice murmured his name, a shock to his system. No, he’d not been talked to here before, not really. Nobody had even come up to him before now, much less learned his name. He turned, saw who had asked, and realised immediately that, yeah, this was it. This was the moment his brain had decided to tip off the precipice of sanity. Hallucinations of the only real friend he’d ever known had started accosting him, that was the only explanation he had for Sheila being here.

Seconds passed. She hadn’t vanished yet. He rubbed his eyes, closed them for several seconds and breathed to give his mind a moment to reset, yet she was still there. Finally, he cautiously stepped forward, stretching his hand out with utmost caution to pat at where her face ought to be- that was no hallucination, he could feel her hand under his fingertips as she blocked him from getting in her personal space, and then the texture of her jumper as he poked at that too, and the shock ricocheted through him as he realised all this. No. No, this was impossible. How. She’d vanished. She- how-

‘You’re real.’ His affect was rather flat for having had a long-term friend reappear before him- behind him, even- after two thirds of a year. Seven or eight months of her just being gone, no word, no communication with anybody, certainly not with him. Maybe that was the shock causing it. When had his hand started shaking? Why could he not think of anything particularly interesting to say to her? ‘Hi, Sheila. What’s been happening on your end of things?’ Holy shit, this might actually be real. She might actually have come back at last, holy shit, holy shit.

Sheila stood still, analyzing his reaction to her. Disbelief, it appeared. She could understand that, this wasn’t the place one would expect to see an old disappeared acquaintance. Then… he reached for her. Now, as much as she could understand the idea of having to confirm what he was seeing, she also somewhat treasured her personal space. As such, she’d lift her hand to block that particular exploration of her face, feeling a little queasy. Then there was the touch to her jumper. Geesh. She felt more than a little awkward, but okay. Then… then he confirmed she was real. Sheila nodded, expression just the slightest uncomfortable. And then… a nearly casual question. That wasn’t what he really was thinking, though. Sheila sighed.

‘Nevermind me for now. I heard you got sent to the hospital. It made me really worried. Are you doing alright, now?’ she asked, worry in her voice.

‘Oh. Yeah, I healed up fine. Or I'm not dead, anyway,’ he clarified, not noting that his death probably wouldn’t have changed anything for anybody. He didn’t think any truly permanent damage had been done to him, even if he had taken months to recover. The gym work had, surprisingly, helped take him the rest of the way after that - speaking of which, he added ‘Getting stronger, too, my life needed some, uh... improvement.’ Which was one way of putting it. Using it as a means of self-punishment was another.

He could hardly believe she was here, for real. It was a more and more exciting prospect for him, like those videos of dogs seeing their owners for the first time in a while after they come back home from deployment. But then, that was still a bit too good to be true, surely... ‘You're, um. You're actually real, right?’ he asked, frowning as if it’d make things clearer for him.

‘… Yeah, I’m real. Though I understand if I may have come across as unnatural.’ More than mildly speaking, she had just stalked him while invisible. She looked over his muscles a bit… ‘… I’m happy you’re doing okay. You’re… looking good. Stronger,’ she said, fumbling a little over her choice of words, not sure how they’d come across.

‘Er, a-a little bit,’ he muttered, a reply to both of her statements, before he realised he probably should respond to both separately. ‘I mean, I am physically stronger, I started going to the gym a bit to build up my figure. Thought it might help with... well. Some things.’ No need to elaborate on what those things were.

‘But I mean, it’s just... it’s hard to believe you’ve come back after so long,’ he said, scratching his head as questions started to fly. ‘I-I mean, where do I start? Why did you leave? Where did you go, were you being homeschooled, was- what’s gotten you to come back, and, and, did a family member die or something, were you deathly ill-’ He made himself shut up at that point, because he was just making himself look even worse.

Sheila smiled, somewhat happy that he’d suggest so common explanations that she may have prefered over the truth. Still… even with complete sight of everything around her, in front of the changing room was just a tad too exposed for her liking.

‘I’d like to speak to you somewhere more private, if that’s alright?’ Instead of answering any questions, she went with that for now.

Private? Like, for... no, Chad, that wouldn’t be reasonable. They never had any chemistry like that, would she seriously decide she wanted to bang him just because he got a little more muscular? He knew some women were that shallow, sure, but not Sheila, never Sheila. He’d gotten to know Sheila pretty well, or so he thought, and even after a year gone, she’d never have just done something like that. He was stalling, he needed to hurry up and respond.

‘Erm, yeah, private. I was gonna do some gym stuff, but...’ He paused for a moment before continuing. ‘Yeah, this is more important. We can continue chatting in my room once we’re back at my place, if you want? Not for. Just for whatever you want to talk about, not anything else. Or- no, we could just go into the woods or something, since nobody would be around, and they probably wouldn’t be interested in listening in on us even if they were.’ Maybe they’d get a chance to catch up some along the way, to boot. He could only hope, right?

‘Woods will do. Let’s go,’ Sheila said with finality. It seemed in his words that Chad had gotten a somewhat incorrect impression, given the “not for” lines, but that was alright. This had to seem like something out of a fantasy already. She then turned and walked, fully simply intending for Chad to follow her. She wouldn’t say anything until she got there, which potentially meant Chad could say something.

The walk up into the woods was, Chad felt, uncomfortably quiet. He tried asking Sheila how she’d been doing, what had happened in her life since she’d vanished, and was her family doing okay? But not a word out of her about the latter two points, and just a generic platitude about how things had been okay to the first. So instead, he rambled on for a little while about his own life, how he’d finally stopped being bullied so much, and was instead mostly left alone. He’d started going to the gym, too, so maybe he was starting to... turn things around...

His rambling trailed off as he realised he wasn’t really turning anything around. His life was still terrible, he hadn’t gotten over any of the bad stuff from his past, and he was no better as a person as a result. The last five minutes of the walk, he remained dead silent, ruminating about how much of a failure he was, until they were firmly in the woods and out of earshot.

‘So, private location, nobody around,’ he mumbled, still awkward from how he’d made such a fool of himself in front of her so quickly. ‘What, um, what needed to be discussed privately?’

Sheila mostly listened as Chad started talking, paying attention as she kept walking. The bullies, huh. The ones that had put him in hospital and… Sheila kept walking, hearing him about how it was perhaps getting better, but she did note how he got quiet. He didn’t really feel that, did he? …

Among trees and secluded from sight, Sheila turned around to him, her expression serious.

‘I need you to promise me. Promise me that you will not tell anyone of what you’ll learn today. Promise me that, and I’ll tell you what happened.’ … So she said.

‘Of course I won’t tell anybody,’ Chad said almost immediately. ‘You’re my best- ...erm. We- are we still friends?’ he asked, for the first time showing nerves about the situation. ‘I just want to make sure you still think of me as a friend, I mean you vanished for a year, maybe you... changed your friend groups.’ Unspoken went the words “maybe you realised how worthless I am”, but he hoped she didn’t pick up that much from how he spoke.

‘Say the word. Promise,’ Sheila said first, ignoring the latter part for now.

‘...I promise I won’t tell anybody any of what you tell me here,’ Chad muttered, guessing that maybe he might be in the clear after all. ‘Swear on my life.’

‘… Good. Phew.’ Sheila smiled, just a bit, and then continued. ‘Let me tell you right away that I wouldn’t show you the following if I did not consider you a friend.’

Saying so, she held a hand forward, palm upwards, while still looking towards Chad. She left it there a second or so during which she envisioned for herself how she’d make this look, and then… and then she had what appeared to be darkness coalesce into a single entity floating above her hand, shaping itself into a decently sized ball of shadow. She waved her fingers, and the ball flew off to orbit around her a number of laps, before she caught it again with her hand, where she closed her fingers over it and snuffed it out. Of course, that had simply been a round space that she had used light-powers to devoid of light, but it would do no good to reveal her real power at this time.

‘… I was kidnapped, alongside my sister, and in captivity I triggered. This because my father sold me for his own protection to the villains whose faces I had accidentally seen unmasked. Point is… I’m a cape, now.’ … That’d do for the second.

...oh. Holy crap. She could control that sphere of darkness, apparently, and just... what did it do? He didn’t know, and he didn’t make a move to touch it. And along with came the inevitable horror story: she was kidnapped, sold out by her own dad. Even if his life sucked, he hadn’t ever been betrayed by his parents. Dear God.

‘...I’m really sorry to hear that,’ Chad said, finding himself scratching his shoulder. ‘I- jeez. I wish I could do something to help that, but...’ Yes, something to help. Something to crush the people who’d done it to her. Rip out their guts, maybe, or cut their heads off with a chainsaw. He knew how to make bombs. Plant an explosive in their base and turn them to red paste, watch their goo spill out...

He coughed suddenly, fully aware that his expression had turned gradually murderous. ‘Then what happened?’ he asked, trying to divert his mind from the particular topic of killing people for a bit. ‘I guess you couldn’t or wouldn’t go home to your dad, so...’

Sheila had not missed the expression, albeit she wasn’t entirely sure what it meant. Still… it was something she could use.

‘… Do you mean that?’ Sheila asked. ‘Would you still mean that, even if it meant you had to leave your entire life behind?’ … Sheila continued before he could answer that.

‘I joined a villain gang. Not because that I am bad at heart or anything, but because there’s some information that you’re only privy of if you join the villains. From there, I intend to find the most dangerous of the villains and snuff them out, or leak information about them to the good guys where I can. As a part of this, I made a deal with a villain with a most terrifying ability…’ Saying so, Sheila reached into the pocket of her jumper and took out the vial. A small vial of fluid, unknown in its origin. ‘He’s been distributing these vials among the villains of Denver. They have the power to grant the one who drinks them powers.’ … She left that to hang, as she looked towards Chad.

Chad was no fool. He understood how Sheila worked, or at least how he thought she worked, and he knew she was a good person at heart. Why would she be friends with him otherwise? And... if she really thought it was the best way, why else would she join a villain gang? Gather information that overt heroes didn’t have access to, leak information, and take out the worst villains of the world, the truly evil members of society who made themselves monsters in the process of gaining power, the sort of person who... who deserved to be hurt. To die. Who he wanted to see in pain.

‘...and all I’d have to do to get it is join you and abandon my life.’ The thought was monumental. To just drop everything and follow on after a friend he’d honestly made peace with never seeing again. His only real friend, ultimately, here to ask him to do something utterly insane. Take a vial of superpowers, join a villain gang, kill bad guys whilst pretending to be a bad guy.

He didn’t have much of a life to leave behind, though, did he? Nobody at school cared to interact with him, the education he was getting could be gotten just as easily on his own terms. All he had was a pre-paid gym membership and his parents. And whilst the sunk cost fallacy meant leaving the gym membership behind would be at least tolerable... well, it’d be rough of him to just abandon his family with no warning.

‘...if I go with you... can I... can I at least pack some things? Maybe say goodbye to my family?’ he asked quietly. Somehow, he felt he might know what the answer to these questions would be already. Why would she bring him out here if he might risk telling others, after all?

He got the idea. Sheila nodded slowly, as he seemed to be considering it. She gave him time. It was a heavy thing, after all. Then he asked that… and Sheila raised her eyebrows a little.

‘Don’t be foolish. I’m not going to give you the vial right now, even if you accept. I’m going to ask you to go home and consider it, for numerous days, before I return. Even if you accept, I’m not going to tell you to abandon your family, if you somehow find a way to balance that life with this. As long as you’re present when I need you, you might not even need to leave school. Depends on how much you want to invest in me. I would need you to be a known presence under me, but even villains have lives. That all depends on you,’ Sheila declared.

‘Though, I must warn. I have no idea what this vial will do to you. I don’t know what power it will grant, because neither did the one who distributed them. It could be good or bad. It could make you the next Alexandria, or it could make you join the numbers of the various monsters that have shown up among parahumans. Your physical form might be twisted, or perhaps the vial will drive you insane. Regardless, I’ve never heard of a power that did not make the cape a force to be reckoned with. It’s a throw of the dice, a high-risk high-reward gamble. I ask that you think this out carefully, and if you decide you wish to join my fight, prepare yourself accordingly. Understood?’

...oh. Oh! Okay, that was different from what he thought was going to happen, way different. He wouldn’t need to leave his family behind... he’d just need to take a power vial that might leave him a mutated monstrosity, or worse a maniac with no self control. He... honestly, he felt like self control was one of his better traits. He didn’t have many others, frankly.

‘Erm. Yeah. Okay, I’ll think about it, then,’ he finally said, lamely. What more could he say? This was, ultimately, a situation requiring more thought than just a few minutes of discussion could finalise... but, did he already have that thought in mind already? Would further thinking be necessary? Regardless, he’d have more than enough time for it.

‘Good,’ Sheila nodded. She was a bit afraid that she may have scared him away. Ultimately that had been part of the goal of the speech, to make sure he knew what he’d be getting into… but at the same time, she really rather needed him. ‘If you have any questions you’d like answered, now’s your opportunity,’ Sheila said.

Questions? No, he didn’t have any questions for his best friend, who was kidnapped months ago and only showed up again recently, having gained new superhuman powers and joined a gang of all things in an effort to take out the worst of the worst.

‘Erm. Kind of,’ he murmured. ‘I guess... how’s your stuff been going? Did you get anybody yet? Or any information I mean, there’s- both of those are options for you. Is, um, is your family doing well, if you still talk to people in your family?’

Sheila held a somewhat somber expression as she answered. ‘It’s been going okay. I won’t be telling you if I “got” someone unless you decide to join.’ A fairly simple arrangement. ‘… And no, I don’t talk to anyone in my family anymore. I don’t know how they’re doing.’ … And even to Chad, she wouldn’t share the current condition of her sister. That part was off-limits to the entire world.

‘That’s fair enough,’ he uttered, nodding understandingly. ‘Shame about your family; I get your dad, sure, but your sister seemed like a nice enough person.’ He... geez, when was the last time he’d seen her around? They didn’t interact that much, but she was always pretty nice when he did say hello to her. But like the rest of Sheila’s friends... that was the kicker, huh? “Sheila’s friends”. Not “Chad’s friends”, not even “Chad’s acquaintances”. They just happened to share a person they intersected with, and with Sheila vanishing...

‘Alright, I’ll think about what to do,’ he agreed. ‘I... if you decide you don’t need me, then I hope we can see each other again.’

Sheila kept quiet as Chad brought up her sister, wondering silently if there had been a better lie she could have told. However, then it seemed that would be enough. Sheila nodded in relief, and gave a little hopeful smile. ‘Alright. I’ll visit in a couple of days, then. And… if that happens… I’ll see what I can do.’ Visiting a friend that knows who she is already and talk about what’s going on could actually be nice. ‘I’ll see you later, then,’ she said with some finality.

‘Alright, cool. I’ll see you again soon, then,’ he agreed, waving farewell as he turned to walk home. He... he’d needed this chat, honestly. It was, if nothing else, a little bit of catharsis, to know what had happened to Sheila in the end, even if it didn’t help him immensely overall. But then, with a power of some sort... well, he might need to think about that just a little bit more. But maybe his life was about to turn around after all.

Sheila nodded, and waved after him. … Phew. Okay, that went reasonably well, compared to the visits to her other friends. That’s nice to know. She might actually have a chance with this one. She breathed out in relief.

Though, then the dread came back.

With how terrible all the other visits went, she needed to visit one more person.

Sheila suppressed her shivers, and started to mentally preparing herself.

Him. It was time to visit him.

Sheila felt her internal organs quiver a bit, as she stood before the door. She wasn’t sure she was mentally ready for this. The fear she had for this encounter wasn’t entirely reasonable. It wasn’t as if he had been a bad guy or anything, after all. It was just a visit to someone who she knew wouldn’t betray her. … At least, that’s what she thought. Maybe after the time she had dumped him he had developed a seething hatred for her or something. Regardless, now she was here. At the very least, she had decided to give him peace of mind in that she was still alive, since he might have been worried after her sudden disappearance from school all those months ago. She took a deep breath, and steeled herself.

She knocked on the door. She was currently colouring her hair blonde, as it had been at the time of her triggering. She was wearing a simple white jumper and blue jeans, casual clothes for a seemingly casual visit. Her expression was somewhat nervous. But… that’d do.

The door cracked open a hair, a bloodshot eye and a mess of unkempt brown hair visible before it shut with a snap.

A moment later, with the sound of a chain being pulled, and it opened fully to reveal a boy in winked jeans and a t-shirt that looked just a little worse for wear.

“Sheila? What - why - I don't….” He trailed off in confusion.

Sheila could understand the confusion. She awkwardly nodded a bit.

‘I’m sorry for appearing unannounced like this. May I come in?’ First things first, she wanted out of sight of the public…

“Yeah, yeah, sure. No one's home but me,” he said quickly, stepping back and holding the door.

Sheila nodded, and walked in, keeping her mouth closed for now.

The inside was widely boring, as common as any other house one might find with the exception of a little more mess than most people found agreeable.

“Sit wherever. Uh. I think we've got some pop and bottled water? Or something like juice?”

Sheila accepted, and sat down at the first dining table she could find. ‘Some water would be nice,’ she said, keeping watch on him partly through her power. It felt a bit solemn, watching him like this. It was rather apparent he wasn’t as excitable as when he’d been going out with her, and numerous more of the signs pointed to the worse, but he was acting normally, and that was a relief. He came and gave her a glass of water, which she gave her thanks to and took a sip, calming herself down.

‘How are you holding up?’ she asked, looking at him in slight worry.

He shrugged noncommittally, practically dropping into a seat across from her. “Quit school. Been home alone a lot. I'm fine.”

‘Oh.’ That didn’t entirely sound fine, but okay. Sheila struck a blank as to what to say for a couple of seconds. Then… ‘Is there anything you’d like to ask me, then?’ she asked, somewhat because she wanted to calm any burning questions he might have.

“Why are you here?” he asked bluntly, a shiver of real emotion cutting into his voice. Hurt.

Sheila recoiled a bit internally. She had somewhat been ready for that particular question, but not for it to be delivered with those emotions. Okay. There was a possibility this was a bad idea. Better get to the point, then. She closed her eyes and leaned her head forward a little.

‘I-I’d like you to promise that… you won’t tell anyone else what I want to share with you, as unreasonable as that sounds.’

“You know I'd do anything for you…” he said quietly, grimacing immediately after. “Sorry.”

Oh. So that was still the case? That… that was both a relief and a regret. Alright, then. Sheila nodded to him, and then took a deep breath. She held forth her hand, palm up, the same way she had multiple times now to different friends. Above her hand, she created the illusion of darkness gathering and shaping a dark ball of swirling shadows. She directed the illusion so only he could see it, even if someone else was peeking. She let it be there, her eyes focused on what was really just a spherical absence of light, before she caught it in that same hand, closing her fingers over it and snuffing it out. Not finding the immediate words to say, she let him react on his own for now.

A look of comprehension crossed his face, followed by concern and doubt. “Is that why you….” he asked quietly. “I'm sorry I couldn't - that I didn't - that you went through….” He stopped, swallowing visibly. “Why are you telling me? I thought you…. Hated me.”

Sheila kept quiet as she saw the emotions going through him and his words, even though her eyes weren’t actually directed towards him. At the end, though… he claimed that. Sheila shook her head, and looked at him.

‘No. Never hated. Just… didn’t love. … But you remain one of few people I think I can trust,’ Sheila said, aware her words might still hurt. She mentally prepared herself for what she had to say next.

“..... okay,” he said quietly, staring at the table. He didn't breath for a moment before letting out a long breath. “What do you need? Is… do you need help? I think my aunt still has an apartment in town or….”

‘… Yeah, I need help. I need so much help…’ Sheila muttered, mostly to herself. She took another deep breath. ‘I’m… currently in a villain gang. Worse than that, I’m…’ She stopped herself from saying “I’m the leader”. ‘The reason I’m among villains is because there’s information there that you cannot get if you’re among the good guys. I pick my missions, leak select information to the heroes, and make moves to snuff out the more dangerous villains. That’s my plan. It’s probably a foolish plan, but it’s what I have right now, it’s the opportunity that was provided to me.’ She leaned her head back a little, blowing out into the air.

‘… One of them has a very disturbing power. I’m, uh, not even sure that is his power, but nonetheless, someone he has connections to has this power. In any case. He obtains these vials. They give the people who drink them powers, no strings attached. And… as a part of the villain alliance that is focused on taking out the growing threat of the Community, he distributed these among the villains of Denver…’ … Saying so, Sheila took out the vial from her pocket and placed on the table in front of her, sighing in its direction as she let it lie there.

“.... You want me to join you?” His voice was different, conflicted perhaps? But definitely not outright hostile or dismissive.

‘You have to understand that I have precious few options. I’d rather avoid creating more villains, yet if I don’t show up with a subordinate he’s going to wonder what I did with his precious vial. I’m- I’m not going to make you come with me. This is an offer, one which would change your life forever if you accepted. I fully understand if you would not give that for me. I wouldn’t expect it. It’s too big…’

“Sheila, stop,” he interrupted. “I - I'd do anything for you but I can't. I….”

He sighed, standing up suddenly, nervously picking at his shirt. “I always loved you. And you - it killed me. I couldn't be the same because all I ever wanted was you to be happy and you left. I can't accept your vial because…..” he trailed off, a flicker of intense emotion playing across his face before it went blank and a creature popped into existence. It had several strong legs and arms, almost spider-like in appearance, with slits instead of openings on its 'face’.

“I can't because you broke me and made me a Cape. You were my heart but now my heart makes monsters.”

He slumped down the counter behind him, sitting on the floor as the creature vanished as quickly as it had appeared. “I want to help but…. Do you really want me? I don't want that vial, so am I really of any use to you now?”

Sheila quieted down when he interrupted her. He said he can’t accept the vial, and for that brief second, Sheila felt a bit of relief. Good, she wouldn’t have to drag him down with her. He’s recognized that he can’t keep following the person he loves so much as that will only hurt him, and- and that wasn’t the case at all.

The creature popped out, and Sheila’s eyes widened. Startled, she stood up in a hurry, the chair pushed back behind her where she stood alarmed. That, that couldn’t be real, her mind told her. Yet, it surely was. He explained it as such.

‘A-ah…’ Sheila, dumbfounded, left her mouth wide-open as he slumped down and the creature disappeared. He had triggered… because of her? She had? Sheila had made him this?

Sheila stood frozen as the sheer horror of that realization swept over her, looking at him with traces of fear and alarm. How was that… even possible…? He was so obsessed with her, that…

While somewhat aware of how her current appearance had to be affecting him, she had to back away a bit towards a wall while trying to calm down and think about this logically, her gaze fixed on him while breathing a bit heavily, muscles tense. Okay. Okay, Sheila, just calm down. This is actually an excellent opportunity… … … she just had to get her emotions under control first…

“.... Yeah. I figured that would be your reaction. Sorry. I'm a real freak, I know. I get it…”

‘… Tchk!’ Sheila bit together, closed her eyes hard, closed her hands into fists in front of her and leaned her head forward in regret. Yeah. She couldn’t deny. He was. You had to be mentally ill on some level to trigger from being dumped. The fact he desired her THAT much was both just a bit touching and horrifically disturbing. How close was he to suddenly feeling like his morals or her desires meant less to him than his love for her? … That thought may have been an insult to him, but it was a worry which crossed her mind. Yet, she had to act. She had to…!

‘I…!’ Sheila forced herself to look at him, traces of fear in her voice. ‘I can’t give you what you want. But…!’ “I still need you”. She clenched her teeth. The sentence that had formed in her mind sounded so paper-thin. She stopped and adjusted her words. ‘… Th-the offer still stands, vial or no! I’ve become the leader of the Rockers-’ Wait, no. She hadn’t meant to say that. Sheila froze for a panicked second. Well, darn. I-in that case, she’d just have to spin on with it, huh. ‘- a-and I plan to make them a force to be reckoned with! One with a place in the villain community, from where I can sow my seeds of goodness from behind enemy lines! I might have to commit a few crimes along the way, or clash with heroes on more than one occasion, but it’s all ultimately to make Denver a better place!’

She took another deep breath, stood straight, and faced him, fearful but determined.

‘As Creep, I say that I could use a man of your talents! Consider this the official invitation to become a commanding officer of the Rockers! A-and… as Sheila…’ She grimaced slightly, as she went on. ‘… I could really use the help and support. I understand if you’d rather not be branded a villain, few would, but… that’s my offer.’ So she said, and then shut up, looking at him with a vulnerable, expectant look.

“Okay.” He said it simply, matter of fact. “If a Villain is what you need, then whatever. I'll do it. Anything is better than sitting here, alone, forever.” He shrugged, standing up slowly with a bit of light his eyes. “I'll be the best minion, you'll see. The great - mhmm. I'm going to need a name.”

Sheila breathed out, the tension waning. He had accepted. It felt a bit weird how easily he had accepted, but she wouldn’t be complaining.

‘Okay,’ she nodded. ‘I welcome you to the Rockers, then. I suppose we have quite a bit to discuss…’ Yeah, all the little details that came with being a villain. Name, costume, how to appear before grunts, all kinds of things…

He had accepted, and that was good, yet something felt off for Sheila. It felt like one way or another, this was going to go wrong. She forced the feeling aside. She had gained a valuable ally, after all, no matter what she felt. She’d just have to hope her premonition was wrong.

Five days later, and not another word from Sheila yet. Chad was starting to think that maybe she’d decided to just ditch him after all. It’d make sense, honestly, since everyone else had by now anyway, but it was still a shitty thing to do to a person. Lie to them, tell them they might be worth something when they were worth nothing. The thought upset him greatly, took him into fantasies about strangling her and ripping out her throat, but the moment he caught himself doing it, he felt instant, agonising regret even compared to his usual flinching. That was Sheila he was having murder fantasies over now. If he couldn’t even keep her safe in his own head, what the hell would he do if he got his power, then lost his composure and hurt her? Or worse...

Don’t even think about it, he chastised himself, returning his focus to the computer. Well, the monitor, a decently-sized screen showing off a Wikipedia article about deep sea trawling, along with a black XP computer that was, oh, about two years old by now, he wanted to say. The rest of the room was pretty plain, blue and cream walls with a few shelves for stuff, a hardwood wardrobe in one corner and a bed with an old Legend cover on the duvet in the other. A boring room, all told, and still the happiest place he had.

Said happy place was now disturbed by the sound of light impacts on the glass of a window. Sheila had taken a turn around the house to knock directly on the window of Chad’s room. She had her usual slightly nervous expression, which she had when she wasn’t being determined about something, looking through the window at Chad as she had made sure he was in there before knocking.

Oh. She was here after all. That was, that was good, yeah. He stepped over to the window, pulling it up and ushering Sheila in with a quick ‘Hi, how are you?’ Once platitudes had been exchanged, he sat back down on the bed, then sighed mostly to himself. ‘So... I guess before anything else, am I still needed for anything?’ He had his answer for her if she did, but if not, he could deal with it. It just meant life going on as before, was all, with or without Sheila saying “hi” to him every so often. He could... he could deal with it, either way.

‘I’m alright,’ Sheila breathed out as she carefully made sure she didn’t accidentally tear anything down as she stepped in through the window, taking off her shoes as she did. She was wearing the same clothes as five days ago, white jumper and jeans. She stood by herself as looked about the room and Chad asked that question. She gave him a bit of a stare.

‘… The situation hasn’t changed, if that’s what you mean. The offer is still relevant. Have you considered it?’ Sheila asked back, standing by the window she came in through.

‘...huh.’ Chad was quiet for a while, mulling his options over one last time, and then trying to figure out what to say to convey his point. Eventually, though, he nodded, and looked at Sheila with just a hint of sadness.

‘My life hasn’t really gotten better since you disappeared. Actually, you could argue it got worse for a while, but at the moment, it’s about the same. I’m going to the gym, I’m getting good grades, I’m not being bullied, but then nobody’s there who wants me to convey those successes to them. No teachers care, I’m actively avoided nowadays, and my parents are... well, supportive. Just not in the ways that matter.

‘...psh. Look at me,’ he joked, a half-hearted smile on his face, ‘even now I’m just being a self-pitying piece of shit. That’s not something anybody likes. I guess my point is... that wasn’t your fault, I think. If you were still at school with me, I’d still get the shit kicked out of me and be in hospital for several months; I’d still wind up unbullied and friendless, probably; I’d still have tried the gym as a way of bettering myself... and, well. I’d still be the same weirdo as I am now,’ he concluded, frowning down at his knees. ‘The difference now is, you’re offering a way to let me make something of my life, or at least take a stab at it.’

He sighed again, only to set his expression and stare at Sheila, an unusual steadfastness on his face. ‘I want to help you. I’m probably screwed anyway, right? So I might as well go for broke, and you’re the only person who’d probably appreciate my efforts in the process, so to hell with it.’

Sheila kept quiet, listening to every word with a steady, blank expression. Finally, she walked away from the window to stand in front of Chad, turning towards him. She paused for a moment, then took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. ‘Alright. Then, for one last confirmation.’

The room around them darkened. Sheila gradually extinguished the lights around them, seemingly all of it for Chad. The only things she left lit were herself and him. With her eyes still closed, she darkened her own clothes into the same black as she’d wear when out in costume, and also changed her blonde hair to the brown which she had chosen as her hair-colour when in costume. There, in this sphere of darkness, she opened her eyes to look sharply at Chad with her still blue eyes.

‘I am Creep, newly appointed leader of the Rockers. I intend to sow the seeds of goodness in Denver from behind enemy lines, finding the information that heroes could never uncover by themselves. In my journey, I will likely commit atrocious crimes, end up in conflict with heroes and be branded a villain by the public. Chances are likely things will go wrong, I and any that follow me may be wounded, jailed or killed in the process, but no matter how it goes, it is a journey from which there’ll be no turning back. Chad Belton. Do you have the determination to stand by my side, to do battle due to the decisions I make, to see my journey through to the end?’ … Now, maybe she was being needlessly dramatic, but she had to be sure.

If there was anything he’d been anticipating, it surely wasn’t this. She was... okay, he hadn’t heard of Creep before, ever, but Sheila wasn’t just part of a villain gang, she was leading a villain gang. She was the head of a gang. And that... that was a strange contradiction. Sowing the seeds of goodness whilst committing atrocious crimes. On the one hand, he couldn’t ever have imagined her doing something like this in the past; and on the other... she’d never choose something like this unless she was absolutely sure it was a good idea, would she? And frankly, he wanted to help her. He wanted to be a part of her life again, he wanted to be useful. Who else would want that assistance from him, but her?

‘I’ll do it,’ he agreed, standing up with conviction more intense than anything he’d felt before now, or at least that he remembered. After all, this was the most important decision he’d ever make. ‘I’ll help you, Sheila- or, uh, Creep, or Boss, whichever you’d prefer.’ A moment of pause, and then he added ‘My friend’ to the end of that list, just to make sure every option was covered.

‘I’ll take all of the above.’ Sheila dared give a little smile, filled with elation at the fact he’d accepted with such passion. ‘Then, drink it,’ she said, pulling out the vial from a pocket and offering it forward. ‘Drink it all. I don’t care what it tastes like, you don’t get the effect if you don’t drink every drop.’ The Broker had said something to that effect, so she went with that. After Chad grabbed the vial, Sheila let the shadows wane, and took a few steps backwards. … Just in case.

Chad took the vial from Sheila, staring at it with an intense frown. This was it. This was the turning point in his life. Either he started making his way up in the world... or his life was about to get a whole lot worse. Either way, he’d be doing it at the side of the only friend he’d ever known. That was enough for him.

He flicked the top off of the vial, and downed the contents as fast as he could.

One and a half weeks had gone since Creep had gained control of the Rockers. One and a half weeks had been spent with plenty of toil and complications going on, yet so far they were holding strong, she’d like to think.

Sheila had somewhat of a vision for the Rockers. She wanted it to have a community that was inviting to other young, dumb delinquents and that they wouldn’t be seen as like they were that bad. They should be cool. … To be cool, the miners’ theme had to go. Honestly, that was lame. They’re the Rockers, because they rock. Both with their music and attitude. That’ll be the reason behind the name from now on. We’re the Rockers and we’re the coolest.

That said, there were numerous rules to be implemented among the Rockers. Don’t be bullies. They can be villains and not be bullies. Actually, really, be nice when demanding protection money. It’s just a fact of life right now. Would it be preferable to give us money over giving it to the Community or Purge? They’d be better. They’d be the villains the public wanted. The piracy business? Yeah, the Rockers are just giving the people of the world what they want, anytime they want it. Because they’re that cool.



Of course, they still do crimes. They’re villains, Sheila wasn’t under the impression she could take that away from them. However, she commanded to avoid committing these crimes against families. They should avoid creating sob stories about how mean the Rockers are. Instead, they’d aim at businesses. Faceless corporations, especially if they have a bad reputation with the public. They could loot their warehouses and spread their turf. And, if they saw civilians or stores under threat from other gangs, the order was to save them, if reasoned possible. Improve the Rocker’s public image and make people think twice.

Creep went through the trouble of talking with the distinguished members of the Rockers. Build their faith in her. Listen to the conditions of the men and what they think about things. Grow her impression of their capabilities, and then decide which ones are suitable for processing new recruits for these rules of hers. Because they’d be recruiting. They’d find minor gangs about, bust them over, and then give them a generous offer to join, as long as they followed the rules.

There’d be punishment for those who didn’t act accordingly. Deductions in pay at first. Then a sudden fall from Creep’s power, after that perhaps having heavy guys stepping on their hands or getting them kicked around a bit while their vision was controlled by her power and others watched. In worst of cases, if most of the Rockers agreed that particular member was terrible, they’d instead be found bound tightly in front of a police’s office because the Rockers didn’t want them on the street, along with a note about the crimes of the particular specimen. Always, the threat lingered that Creep could be right behind them when they were acting up… and she would interfere occasionally, to keep them on their toes.

Of course, she couldn’t always be there. Creep had to scout with her power, she had to go home and sleep while talking to Viola and keep her controlled. Those were times when having Visage around was a blessing. It meant Creep could almost always be there, even when Sheila wasn’t. Of course, Sheila made sure to keep proper tabs on Visage’s actions whenever she could, through the voices of a couple Rockers she confided in, who had been on her side during that particular debate.

She called back to the Broker shortly after she gained control of Boulder. Now she also rallied the Rockers to stand along with the rest of the city to do battle against the Community. As the Community already knew the enemy had a Stranger, she went ahead and attacked from nowhere with both knives and tasers which she had brought over, while her men then outed them. However, they were always ready to sound the retreat, because there was no way they’d win every fight against the likes of the Community like this, but Creep did her best to save them if they ran into trouble. She then reported to the Broker all which she had found out… as was the deal.

Visage had said she had a pet project. That was fine. Sheila had one of her own, after all. Every now and again, she’d slip away to see to her new recruits before they were ready to appear as commanders of the Rockers. There was things to do, names to decide, costumes to obtain, strategies to make up… Yeah. The whole lot.

They had needed to switch headquarters, which Visage had pointed out to her, the last one was compromised with Swarm’s one-time invasion and the capture of their leaders. Instead, Sheila had them obtain an office-area on the ground floor of a building within their area, within which they proceeded to bash up the walls and get themselves an open enough area to party. She obviously kept the boss’s office to herself and all the things she needed to look over. She also had to make periodic visits to Boulder, lest they might forget she’s the boss there as well.

It was so much. So little time for Sheila to go home and spend time with Viola. Less time for her to go out as Wisp and do random good deeds and steal things for her sister as to not show a sudden change in the mystery thief’s pattern at the same time as Creep came to power. … Yet, she had to do the latter. Wisp had to continue be the good person. She even let Wisp attack Rockers who were committing robberies, as to dispel the possible idea that they were the same, and then make a show of feigning annoyance when the reports of Wisp’s attacks came. She just had to make sure Visage was never in the area when she was out as Wisp… because Visage would know it was her immediately.

In order to spread their reputation, Creep had a couple of the tech-savvy guys put some info about them online. Only some, they couldn’t leak everything. Just… just enough that the world knew that Creep was the leader of the Rockers. She was more than a figure that appeared alongside the Rockers in the streets. She took the time to appear with them as well, periodically leading attacks and doing crimes to show her face. It was… simply natural. The boss leads her men.

That said, while the war against the Community was going on, there couldn’t be too much of that. There was a truce in place, after all, and they couldn’t be too hostile towards the public during that time. For now… take things easy, as easy as you could while a gang-war was going on, anyway.

Before taking off from her duties at the Rockers, she periodically took the time to take one carefully selected Rocker to a back room so that he could teach her a thing or two about fighting. Despite her age, the constant dodging of people who couldn’t see her in the streets had finely honed Sheila’s senses and trained her body, and she suspected her power somewhat helped her reaction time. … Or perhaps that was just an illusion. It comforted her, anyways. Regardless, in order to be a little more ready when it came to it, she ensured a reasonable and at least somewhat combat-trained Rocker train her in the ways he saw fitting, after she had located him by asking around for a capable combatant among the Rockers. While she didn’t know if she’d actually get better, some manner of proclaimed combat-training had to come in handy one day.

Honestly, this was all taking a toll on Sheila’s sleeping schedule. Her greatest ally was unpredictability and lack of schedule. Her grunts had no idea when she could be behind them if she varied when she did her interruptions, if there was no pattern between Creep’s and Wisp’s appearances then nobody could point to that as a possible connection, and if the Rockers as a whole struck at different times of day then they couldn’t be predicted ahead of time. Criminals thrive in chaos… but the human body wasn’t built for chaos. Often, Sheila threw around her sleeping schedule… and now she often found herself almost drifting to sleep at the Rockers HQ, which was less than ideal. She quickly taught herself the art of the power-nap, hoping it would allow her to maintain this lifestyle, that her body would get used to these frantic shifts in activity. She dearly hoped so.

‘… I’ve been made the leader of the Rockers,’ Sheila stated, unceremoniously, sitting at the table and their dinner.

Viola, opposite of her, stared at her blankly with mouth partly open, bringing up her elbows to the table and leaning her cheeks against her hands, staring at her big sister.

‘Wow. Um. Okay,’ she but started. Sheila nodded. They were silent a couple of seconds, before Viola broke the silence once again.

‘So, what will you do with them? Try to make good people out of them? Hand them all over to the police in a way that they wouldn’t suspect?’

Sheila blew out the breath she had been holding. Yeah, those were both options she had considered. … However, neither was desirable. Not as long as that deal existed.

‘No,’ Sheila said, shaking her head. ‘I’m going to see if I can do something good with this opportunity. After all, it’s a unique, once in a lifetime opportunity, and I’ll see what I can make of it. The Rockers were going to be criminals regardless. I’ll see if I can steer them a bit, to make Denver a safer place. At the very least, I’ll use them as a weapon to try defeating the Community alongside the rest of Denver,’ Sheila said, nodding as she thought about it. It felt reasonable in her mind. This power granted to her, in some weird way, why not attempt using it?

‘Huh. Okay, then. So, what do I do?’ Viola asked, looking intently at Sheila. Why, of course she’d wonder. Sheila took another breath.

‘… Don’t do anything, Viola. As long as Patriarch is on the streets, I don’t want you anywhere where you’d be known. You’re too much of a tempting target. I also don’t want you associating with villains. I have a power malleable enough that I can simply cast off my persona and be Wisp full-time whenever I decide. You can’t. Your power does one thing, and it cannot be mistaken. So, the only choice I am leaving you is potentially going to go join the Wards, which…’

Viola shook her head, no doubt thinking of all the routines and protocols that’d have to come with doing that. It was no fun. Sheila smiled, nodding.

‘Yeah. Stay put. I’ll sort out the streets in the meantime,’ Sheila said, confident Viola’s keep still.

‘So, uh,’ Viola asked. ‘What’ll you do i- when you’ve taken out Patriarch? What do you do then?’

Sheila frowned and considered, looking at her sister. At the moment, she just intended to lead the Rockers as a “better than the alternative” villain gang, but if it allowed her to eliminate horrible villains on then it was all the better. Her thoughts wandered to a single individual. Yeah, there was one more villain she had her eyes on. Other than possibly Purge, but Purge scared her halfway to death and wasn’t looking like he was conducting any immediate mastermind like plans, so…

‘… I’ve recently ran into a greater threat. He calls himself the-’ -Suddenly it felt like her head had split itself open. A high-pitched noise escaped her mouth and her arms went over her head, eyes wide as she flew up to her feet from the pain and then stumbled back against the wall. Someone was attacking her, it had to be. A panicked Viola watched Sheila vanish from sight, before a noise of the door being shoved open as Sheila dashed outside. She spent a bit of time searching, before coming back inside.

‘Wh-what’s going on?’ Viola asked, scared. Sheila gritted her teeth, using her power to look in all directions.

‘Someone… did something to me. C’mon, we must leave. The-’ “The Broker might have followed me”, was what she was about to say, but instead she found her head take another heavy blow, and her legs buckled as she let out another cry of pain. Her eyes widened. What… just when she had…

‘Th-,’ -And another shot of pain, causing her to curl together on the floor, tears streaming down her cheeks as she pieced it together. ‘O-, oh, no…’

‘Sis! What’s wrong!?’ Viola had sped herself up to get closer to her sister, and the world around them grinded to a near halt as they were sped up by Viola’s power. Viola was now looking around for their unseen attacker, but…

‘Th-there’s nobody there…’ Sheila stammered out, getting onto her knees, head still throbbing. She was trying to piece together what the power was. This was, without a shadow of a doubt, either the Broker’s power or the power of one of his capes. It was reasonable to assume she couldn’t divulge any information regarding him. But… she had told the Rockers just fine? What was… … … How deep had he gone? Could he see through her eyes? Could he read her mind? … The possibilities terrified her. How much did he know? Was all he did imprint commands onto her mind, or did he know more? If he at all could get information through his power, then she was already… More importantly.

Sheila gripped Viola’s arm, hard enough to cause her sister to yelp.

‘It is time… we have a discussion of what you’ll do in case I never come home one day. … Or if someone comes here, looking for you…’ So she said, glaring at her sister. Viola was stunned, staring in fright in return. It seemed the day where Sheila couldn’t protect her sister might not be so far off. That settled it. This opponent she couldn’t even tell others about…

She had to defeat him.

Sheila goes and visits multiple friends to try to convince them if they want to gain super-powers and help her in a villain team. Friends say no. Sheila sad.

Then she finds out Chad was hospitalized but since got out. Troubling. She goes and says she can offer him a vial to change his life. She’s to come back numerous days later after he has properly thought about it.

She visits her former boyfriend, too, because she’s out of options. But, when offering him a vial, turns out he had already triggered from Sheila dumping him. Sheila’s shocked, but offers the position in the Rockers anyway. He accepts.

Five days later, Sheila returns to Chad’s home. She does a dramatic show where she reveals who she is and Chad has to choose if he drinks the vial or not. He does.

Sheila intends to lead the Rockers as a cool gang. Don’t hunt families, hunt corporations. Don’t be bullies, but do commit crimes as villains. She keeps contact with the Broker.

She tells her sister about being leader of the Rockers, with Viola keeping at home. Sheila tries to tell Viola about the Broker, but her head promptly hurts like heck, and she realizes the Broker is way more dangerous than she previously thought and decides she has to defeat him.

That’s about it.

”... ngh…” Farce was the sibling that awoke in the smoke and dust first, pushing up to her knees and looking around at everything she could see, which was heavily limited to her allies and one mysterious figure. ”Is everyone okay?”

Mantis came to and got on one knee. He thought to himself, ”More triggers?!” Mantis nodded at Farce’s question. Then he attempted to gather some information on the triggered being. He quietly spoke to his team, ”No one approach. I'm getting some information first..” Mantis focused his attention and empath ability on the one who stood up. He waited to see how they would react. What powers they had. This was a risky endeavour, but it didn't look like they could escape now.

“Wait...is that what happened to you guys earlier? And...does this mean one of the bad guys got a superpower?” Allison said to the others, still behind the barrier as she spoke, a distinct hint of concern in her voice.

The figure became noticeable and the sight that met them was disturbing. One of the goons stood, his body covered in a shiny metal not unlike what Excal's blades seemed to be made of, the material seeming to stab into them. As they watched more of the metal grew from the injuries, some falling to the ground.

With an idle curiosity he picked it up, a small blade not unlike a shiv, before he threw it at the group. It embedded into the barrier as he let out a laugh.

And then, before their very eyes, he seemed to shimmer and shift before he was replaced with another man who was covered in a multicolored thread from the waist down. He looked at it, running a hand along it, and his hand began to bleed. Quickly it stopped, blood replaced with more of the material.

He said something, quiet, and then the other was back in his place.

He took a step forward, grinning at Lethal Force, as the metal continued to spread and grow and fall off into little weapons.

Mantis, during all of this, could feel the triumph and confidence growing, the surprise and wonder, and above all the anger.

It was clear: this Cape, these two men, were out for blood.

Whip swung her string, cutting deep into his chest. The same thing happened again, the very same string she just used growing and coating the wound.

She hesitated, glancing at the others. Was that… Fear?

Mantis looked on in amazement. Their powers seemed to complement one another within the same body. The feeling of confidence flowed through them. This was a real problem. Whipstitch's razor sharp string seemed to have no effect.

Different scenarios ran through Mantis’ head. They could try to run. They would have to move the barrier or escape another route. They could throw everything they got at it and pray that something affected them. One of their bodies wasn't harmed by physical damage. However, that was no guarantee their minds wouldn't succumb to repeated emotional and thought manipulation.

Since they were members of The Community, Mantis already knew that they were brainwashed into following Patriarch. Trying to get them to change their ways was a lost cause. He decided to play into their confidence, making them overconfident. That way, they would become foolhardy with no regard for themselves. At that point, he would possibly be able to get them to focus in on Limbo and how hideous she was. She was still considered a lieutenant and in command of them. If he played into this superiority complex he could turn them against her. What need would a super powered being have for a weak and disgusting lieutenant? He could even get them to think they could take her place if she died..

Mantis began putting his plan into action by sending the thought to his allies, ”Throwing a flashbang. Try not to engage them directly, I have a plan.” With that he released enormous swells of confidence toward the two enemies. More than they experienced already by far. Then he targeted their thoughts by imparting, ”They have nothing on me. Time to step forward and destroy them.”. While he did this he threw his second flashbang at that very area in order to blind them. It would help Lethal Force buy some time..

”This isn’t going to go well, is it?”

Not at all.

”Dammit.” Farce turned her eyes away from the flashbang as she heard Mantis put his plan into action. Her gun was grabbed from the ground, and it was prepped and ready to fire, though how many bullets it had was up to chance. She didn’t know the exact amount, and that’s one of the scarier things here.

The other scary thing had just occurred to her, and she couldn’t help but speak out loud.

”... where’s Limbo? She’d have made a snarky comment by now... right?”

Allison felt the fear of death creeping into her upon seeing what these two…”new” parahumans could do. She’d only heard of such sorts of things as they could do in the textbooks or other matters and theories her professors talked about when it came to parahumans. If she had to place a guess, an educated one at that, this was what was called a “multi-trigger”. Or in layman’s terms, people developing powers in the middle of a giant clusterfuck of superpower usage. This could happen at Endbringer events, but….shit, to see this right now was far more terrifying than exciting to her mind.

Then it seemed that Mantis was going to be trying something, a plan of sorts to deal with them. But would they be able to resist his efforts or deflect them? That she didn’t know for sure. If Mantis’ power had been at play, or even potentially just influenced, what these two guys had gotten in powers that could be a bad sign...er, potentially that is.

“This is why we need a damn escape plan…,” Allison mumbled to herself under her breath, not wanting to distract the others but also wanting to somewhat vent the frustrations within her at how things had gone thus far. They needed to think of an escape no matter how it went down, have some plan of some sort (in her mind) to try to bolt.

Looking upwards, through the gaps in the upper barrier part she had made, Allison tried to briefly analyze what it was like in hopes that...well, something could be done. Even caving a bit of the place in could help, right? At least if it was possible...

As Allison looked up, looking for anything that could be helpful, she would be disappointed. There were no obvious flaws to the cave roof here, and it would obviously take some effort to create any form of collapse. She could try, though.

Farce's thought was a solid realization, but still Limbo didn't reappear and it didn't seem like she was planning on doing so anytime soon.

Mantis' impulse, however, worked as planned. The man started walking forward, a grin on his face, right into the flashbang. He staggered, blinded, before he shimmered and the other was in his place, moving forward slowly and picking up one of the metal shivs from the ground.

”You just had to fucking come after us. You couldn't just fucking fuck off.” The man growled the words, walking forward and engaging with Whip. The blade went through her body, as normal, over the course of several swift stab attempts. Whip, unused to fighting in close combat and having a fit of wanting to attack and run at the same time, was slow to react as he grabbed her by the neck and forced her head up.

The next stab didn't phase through and her shocked gasp seemed to almost echo through the cavern. In a second her body exploded with string, shoving him back and cutting into his skin. Again it seemed that he grew that odd mimicking armor, and several more metal bits fell down and pooled together into a small shield shape.

”I'll kill you all for what you did to us.”

Whip, now on the ground, pushed herself back with a grimace as she held her stomach.

Seeing Whip get stabbed for the first time was shocking to Mantis. If they were to take this thing down it would be through their concentrated efforts. Mantis imparted the thought to their enemies, ”These characters are sooo weak. We are strong. What need do we have for our lieutenant now? She is hideous..”

Even though Limbo had disappeared, Mantis hoped he could compromise their actions through getting them to think on her. Mantis stepped out of cover and fired another burst from his submachine gun at the shiv they picked up.

Farce sprung up as well and shot her revolver at the two thugs, thinking Mantis’ SMG firing was an opener for her to attack. It wasn’t entirely that, either. The girl genuinely cared for the well-being of Whipstitch, and seeing her get hurt like that was alarming to say the least. She wasn’t a fan of that at all.

”You asked for this!” Farce shouted in response to the thugs.

I’ve got a bad feeling about this.

Allison mentally noted how the situation was turning out, taking side glances at Mantis and wondering if he was trying to do some work on the guys with some emotional manipulation. Internally she was panicking, but as she took some controlled breaths and began to think. This was bad. Possibly blocked escape, not obvious points to cause a collapse that could provide an escape chance, floating mutilated looking ghost thing floating in the air before them, and two thugs who had apparently multi-triggered….well, at least triggered in general. Taking in one last, long, deep breath, Allison steeled herself for what was to come….what she would do.

”Ah...when in doubt, see what shit sticks to the wall.”

Before she could wait for a response, she popped up and began to fire streams of blades….at the cave ceiling...trying to create a circle of forceful, wide, thick blades to crack up the ceiling as badly and deeply as possible, all in order to collapse a circle of cave roof down on the enemies below. She would keep an eye out to move back down as needed, but even if so she would pop up again to try to continue carving out her plan as time went on. Even so, she attempted to embrace the fear of death coursing in her veins right now, generated by the intense fight or flight response that so desperately wanted to kick into full “flight” mode right now.

Whip was leaving a trail, thick and slippery, of blood as she slowly moved backwards. Her breathing was shallow and labored and it looked like she was using all her willpower to not just fall over. With almost careless ease the goon kicked her wound, bringing about a pathetic whimper from Whip.

“Pathetic." He turned away, his boot grinding against her wound, as the others opened fire. Mantis knocked the blade from their hand, bullets tearing into flesh, as Farce fired several rounds that landed in his shoulders and chest.

Overall it seemed… Ineffective. More metal was spreading across his skin, pooling into a larger looking shield at his feet. Almost casually he switched to the other form, picking up a knife that had formed on the ground. It was larger than the shiv and he started moving towards the group behind the defensive cover.

Above some rubble and dust fell…

Their weapons were ineffective. They would have to kill it in one move or at least immobilize it with something. That's when he saw the rubble above. Excal was trying collapse the ceiling on their foe. Mantis sprung into action, heading for the fiend. He shot his remaining rounds from his submachine gun. Mantis aimed at the head and weapon in their hand. Hopefully a good hit to the brain would kill them immediately or at least disarm it.

When he ran out of ammunition, Mantis dropped his gun and drew his combat knife. It was apparent he was going in hand to hand. He angled himself appropriately in order to maneuver them right underneath Excal’s cave in. Mantis also implanted the thought, ”I’ll end him there.” Referring to the area in question.

Once he got in close, right outside the falling rubble, Mantis would unleash a flurry of slashes, kicks and elbows at them. If one replaced another he would continue his onslaught on the other. Years of training in Krav Maga made him more comfortable in situations like these..

Farce noticed the rubble above her fall down. ”Uh… guys? This place is coming down I think…!” She immediately went into a panic as she ran over and grabbed Whip, struggling to keep her up in her arms. ”Forget them, Mantis! We’ve gotta go!”

With that, she ran in a direction she thought was the way out, and didn’t look behind her as she moved. ”C’mon Whip! We’re getting you out of here.”

Allison continued to fire off blades of the same style as before at the cavern roof, aiming for vulnerable weight-bearing points as well now, seeking to collapse the entire cavern roof in upon everything….and everyone. Maybe the group could escape if this gave them a chance, perhaps the new bad guys might be buried in the rubble temporarily so they could get out. This was a dangerous development overall, and the fact they had walked into this was a terrible idea. If enough of them lived beyond this, she was going to give them a piece of her mind-.....oh.

The idea of potentially most of them dying shook her a bit. She hadn’t gone through a trigger event for any of this….what if….what if this event potentially complicated her situation? Could a parahuman have a secondary trigger if they used, well, whatever vial thing she had acquired from these people? Or had her brain chemistry and body been altered to not be able to “evolve” her current state any more?

Wait…...why was she considering this in the first place? She was trying to help them all get out of here!

“Mantis, get the fuck away from there ya’ damn pancake!“ Allison yelled at him as she continued to play out her plan as teammates scrambled to get away and Mantis seemed to be outright getting into her line of fire.

Mantis’ shots went wide, but that wasn't what he was looking for anyways. He came into close combat, and while this cape had the basics… Mantis was well above his skill level. Soon he was bleeding, and bad, before he switched to the other. Their little duel continued, Mantis being hit several times by the metal on the guy's fist, but Mantis was undeniably winning.

And that's was when there was an ear splitting crack above them. As the roof started to collapse down, bits of Excal's blades coming with, Whip hooked Mantis with her string - cutting into his waist a little - and pulled. As rock and metal fell, there was only the new cape underneath.

The cave in was thunderous, shaking the ground, before it was over. Mantis, Whip, and Farce were on the opposite side of the crash as Excal, but the blade shooting girl could crawl over the rocks to reach them if she felt so inclined.

Whip, meanwhile, was limp in Farce's hands. She looked up at the other woman in concern, her lips moving without making a sound. And then…. The light in her eyes faded and Whip was no more.

”Guys! We’ve got to go NOW!” Farce didn’t care if Whip was limp and lifeless, she wasn’t leaving her there to be buried by rubble. She was gonna get Whip out or die trying! ”COME ON-WAUGH!”

Farce fell forward with Whip, a sudden uttering of ”Sparce!” coming into play as the twins kept running. Sparce could more easily carry Whip’s body, but he couldn’t do it for long.

Mantis jumped up as quickly as his bruised and cut body could. He reached for his weapon on the ground as an afterthought. Then he yelled out, ”Limbo is in here and I'm going to find her! Follow me or get out! We can regroup at my place!”

With that said, Mantis ran deeper into the tunnels. He sensed for any emotions that he could identify as a human being. It wasn't a stretch to assume Limbo's body was close to her projection. Anyone who wished would be able to follow Mantis deeper into the tunnels. Limbo's time had come…

”Hey! Er, Farce! Are you guys alive over there? Whip, you ok?” Allison shouted from her side of the rock wall now blocking her from the others. Albeit, she knew the way they had come in was just behind her.

Yet…

She was worried. It didn’t sound like Mantis was going to stop this “mission” anytime soon. What….what an idiot! The brand-new parahuman couldn’t believe that this mission was worth potentially throwing everyone’s lives away at. Allison noted to herself how she had thought this would be a proper heroic mission, albeit not with the same blind idealism a comic book character might show. She hadn’t heard Whip calling out though…..she could hear Farce and Sparce talking though. Mantis had said something about them being able to leave and regroup at his place, but then again she had no idea where the place was. She knew where the car was, at least, but could she even use the thing if she got that far and ran?

But if she stayed….was Mantis going to sacrifice them all for this shit revenge?! A pang of frustrations suddenly washed over her, albeit briefly. Sure one could say they needed to get things done no matter what, but at the same time was it worth being the Captain Ahab of all of this? She had no idea if the two other superhuman multi-trigger guys were alive or dead, and at that there had been that ghostly gross looking chick from before...wait, where had that woman gone to anywho? That was another potential worry. Plus if one ambush had seemingly been waiting for them…..ah hell it could be worse.

Mantis yelled back to Excal, ”No! Everything is not fine and we need your help NOW!” He continued his way into the tunnels. Hopefully the others would follow him in.

“Excaliblast”....no, Allison had followed along with all of this….she chose to stay instead of run. Despite her anger at Mantis for sounding like a madman, with this….Captain Ahab sounding pursuit! She couldn’t leave them behind. Sparce and Farce had sounded desperate, she couldn’t hear Whip, and Mantis…..dammit even that damned idiot might need help too! They’d walked into what seemed like a trap...and been ambushed in a bad spot. They’d gotten into a firefight, the first in her entire life, and the reality of death had begun to sink in. She’d desperately sought to do something to save them….but she had no idea what effect it had been on them even. She’d experienced being in the presence of a trigger, a multi-trigger at that, and seen a terrifying couple of powers approaching them like monsters emerging from the ether into this world. She’d even seen a ghastly looking monstrosity of a...a phantom floating in the air.

She had witnessed something incredible not too long ago, as if waking up from real life and moving into a dream. She, fulfilling that childhood dream, had gotten powers. She had become a parahuman, the type of people she had sought to understood, been studying for a good time by now. All of that time and money spent, all of the parties and sexy times with cuties….all of the stress and the struggle over tests and projects even. And as she had climbed over that rock barrier, as she had desperately followed the group with adrenaline pumping through her system, she had even so hoped….hoped for the best.

Even without an immature idealism clinging to her heart, wasn’t that one thing humans and parahumans had in common? Hope. The one thing that had clung inside Pandora’s Box whilst all the evils had left it to swarm about the Earth. A force that could move gods, as it had during the tale of Orpheus in the Underworld, and something that even poor Oedipus clung to as he had sought to defy his fate. It was something even the common man in all walks seemed to cling to even in this day and age.

She had, in this line of thought, placed her hopes into this. On taking the dive, seeking to become a hero...and why so? To merely fulfill a childhood dream or some fancy? Had she done it out of the best goodwill of her heart, with the best possible intentions? Or...had she impulsively done it to escape the loops her life had become? To remove herself from the monotony of rising debt and increasing stress, and the nagging of some family who didn’t like her choice of future already? Perhaps it was to get away from the pressure to succeed, or financial support from home might cut out despite its limited nature?

Whatever it was, it wasn’t all altruistic. In a sense….it had always been a selfish desire, hadn’t it?

Mantis, Sparce, Excal and the body of Whip headed further into the cave, following a small tunnel. Excal could now either follow… Or abandon them and try to escape the way they had entered originally.

It came to an end fairly quickly, Mantis able to pick up hints of anger, and as they stepped into a small room Limbo's ghost appeared directly in Mantis’ face and several gunshots went off. Surprisingly none of them hit Mantis, who was in front.

Even more surprisingly, however, was the bullet that planted itself directly between Sparce’s eyes, causing Farce to immediately appear, falling forward with Whip’s body underneath her immediately limp form.

And then Limbo, Excal, and Mantis collapsed…

Allison had darted into the room. She bore witness to the horror as a bullet rang true, and….Farce’s body collapsed to the floor. Similarly, she too collapsed to the floor….only to arise shortly after as the other two in the room had. And in doing this, she felt a cold sweat on her back, certain realizations hitting her mind, glancing at Mantis and then Limbo and then at Mantis again as if she had seen a ghost. Then she looked to her side...at the limp bodies in the room...lying atop each other.

’Oh no. Nonono. NONONONONONONON!!! her mind seemed to say aloud within itself, the sound growing louder and louder until it was like a scream ringing between her ears.

Allison crawled in the dirt and grime over to where Farce’s body lay limp over Whip. Frantically, desperately the new parahuman tried to check for vital signs, first on Whip, and….cold. Lingering warmth seemed to be there, but...ah. Whip wasn’t alive...not anymore. That glazed look in the body’s eyes, the lack of a pulse... And that bullet, and Sparce….and now Farce was limp like this. She felt she didn’t even need to check the other “body” right now.

Her face felt numb, or perhaps hot, her mind like a live wire of the worst kind. Her pulse raced more than before, and before she could speak her guts lurched and her head turned to the side….as vile green vomit poured out of her lips and splatted wet on the ground next to her and the bodies. Her eyes were too glazed over a bit, disbelief and a mix of emotions writhing within her. Her stomach couldn’t handle this, the contents of it emptying as the realization of things hit her. This was her fault. She, that damn fool of a girl who had thought herself a potential hero….this was HER FAULT.

She had collapsed the cavern, and now Whip was….dead. She had followed these people in, but….she couldn’t prevent Sparce and Farce from dying. She had taken on the responsibility to go with these people, but what if she had refused? Might they have come anyways to die here? Might they have gone back home safely, if they merely hadn’t acquired another number to come along for this...this SUICIDE MISSION?!

When Mantis came to, he had tears welling up in his eyes. He slowly got on his hands and knees. Liquid began to dot the cold, damp floor. Steadily, emotion began to fill the entirety of the room. Rage, anger, and fear.

Mantis reached for his balaclava with one swift motion and pulled it down off of his mouth. He looked toward the ceiling and screamed at the top of his lungs in agony, ”AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” The sheer intensity of the feelings were overpowering. Pure dread fell upon whomever had the misfortune of being in the wave that crashed over the room.

Suddenly, Mantis jumped to his feet as he lunged at Limbo's true form. He had no regard for his own safety as he charged at the armed woman. She stood behind a metal desk with her gun in hand. Mantis leapt over the desk with a flying kick. A steel toed boot made contact with Limbo's torso. She flew backwards and crashed into a bulletin board. She lost her grip on her weapon as it clattered to the floor. Papers scattered everywhere.

Mantis stepped forward, staring right into her eyes with the intensity of a ferocious predator. Limbo trembled from the fear. Her hands went up to protect her face from whatever came next. It would not be enough.

When he got within range, Mantis began to throw violent punches at her torso. Limbo keeled over, gasping for air. Then he took her head in his hands and used it as leverage to deliver a devastating knee to her face. A loud crack could be heard as her nose broke from the impact. Blood gushed on Mantis and the floor below. He didn't even notice. It was like his combat instincts had fully taken control.

Then Mantis slammed his elbow down upon the back of her head. She crashed to the floor as her blood splattered around. Limbo groaned in agony and pleaded, ”Please...don’t kill me...I was only defending myself..” Seeing her apart from her apparition made her seem like a normal woman. Groveling and frail. But Mantis wasn't finished with her yet.

He began to kick her repeatedly in the ribs. One by one they cracked from the blunt trauma. Finally, he stomped her right arm which snapped backwards. She cried out in horrible pain as Mantis looked on, breathing heavily. He stared for some time while Limbo quietly whimpered in a pool of her own blood. Then he finally asked in a strangely calm voice, ”Give me one good reason why I should keep you alive.”




Turning her head to the side, as if feeling stuck in a dream, Allison watched in pale horror as Mantis went to work. Pure dread coming from him washed over her like a tidal wave, and his rage, his anger, his fear as well in turn came into her mind. She could see the terror of Limbo as this”enemy” was pummeled into a bloody pulp on the ground, and began to torture her with ribs blows and breaking her arm in front of her. Almost poetically, this person looked as frail as those bodies did next to Allison herself….and Mantis as vengeful as the multi-trigger monsters that had attacked them all not too long prior.

Heh….so easily the roles could reverse, the victim becomes the monster. The monster becomes the victim. These weren’t Endbringers, beasts of an entirely different scale and might level, but merely….humans. Humans beating each other into a pulp, releasing their anger and emotions, seeking to slay each other for some reason or another like animals.

It made her sick….sick to her stomach, though dry heaves were all she might get now. But as she watched this, a now wave of something rose within her, as if spurred on by whatever Mantis had been emanating. Angry. No….hated, fury, pure spite of the deepest kind, all darkened by the color of the blood spilt here into a shade of tainted crimson.

Mantis, no better than what he had perhaps sought to destroy or bring vengeance upon here. “Limbo”, as this one was called, no better than a murderer trying to tap into the emotions, the closing curtain upon them as they tried to in their weakest state beg for a mercy they perhaps never would give...if she had to make some inferences here.

…..this was no dream, though. This was a darkened nightmare, the more vile side of the world made manifest. Not all the world’s evils, but merely a fragment of them.

“Stop...Mantis…..please stop…..i…...i……we’re supposed to be…...“

Her voice felt weak, her throat hoarse as if she had been screaming. Her body as if about to collapse from it all. Yet right then, as if a fine rope had at last been cut….something snapped. Her arms silently raised up, hands and wrists in the right position, pointed at the two individuals as Mantis merely stood there over Limbo at the time. She felt the emotions surge through her towards those wrists of hers, the pain, the shame, the guilt, the fury, and everything that was roaring within her right now.

“BOTH OF YOU FUCKING STOP ALREADY!!!“

At the same moment, blades began to pour forth out of her wrists like a stream….like a raging river unleashed from behind the wall of a dam. At the speed of bullets, like a true machine gun firing off on the battlefield, they flew to their marks….towards mainly one of the two figures. Several sunk into the neck and skull of Limbo, those in the neck cutting off the head of the snake…...but those aimed for the head being so large they were gruesomely splitting open the skull of the “villain” and splattering brains and bone splinters and blood all over the ground in front of Mantis. Other embedded themselves in the corpse of the woman, exerting a level of overkill as they cut and maimed it horridly.

Then again, several blades landed around Mantis as well, embedded into the ground around him as if like a...fence.

Slowly rising to her feet, slightly shaky at first but eventually gaining some strength, Allison stood tall, her wrists still aimed in Mantis’ direction, her eyes keeping track of the man’s movements. Several tears were running down her face….no, it was more like a cascade of rain in effect really, as they streamed down her face. Was she some naieve baby? She didn’t think so….but regardless of that she knew she wasn’t one right now.

”I just want answers. But if you even try any of your mind tricks on me, and even if i just suspect it, i will shoot you and this entire underground until it is nothing but a solid steel cemetery for the three of us. It’s as natural as breathing to do this, so do not fucking try me.

Now….answer me this…..was this worth it? Was it worth all their lives…...just for this?! Was it all worth this bitch’s death, just to watch her squirm like an ant underneath you? You look like a monster, Mantis, just as ugly as that damn ghost we saw in the other room. No different than what i’ve seen people call parahumans more than enough times in my life to be sick of it, and what people describe cold-blooded killers as being at that.

This isn’t some idealistic bullshit, i just want to know, Mantis!!! Answer me dammit!!!”

As Excaliblast impaled Limbo with her blades, Mantis simply stared down at her lifeless body. Then he quietly muttered, ”Nice work..” Suddenly, more blades surrounded him in a makeshift cage. He slowly turned his head toward Alison as she interrogated him, tears in her eyes. She was so...innocent. So human. She reminded Mantis of his early days on the police force. Ready to change the world, one call at a time.

The longer she continued the more his mind became clear. The rage had subsided. Replaced with a soberness. Mantis looked back at Limbo's corpse. When Alison had finished he quietly replied, ”Was it worth it..? I've been asking myself that question ever since I lost my friends and gained these powers...I'm too far in this to go back now, Alison..”

Then he looked up at her with a solemn resolve in his eyes and stated, ”So are you.”

Director Kens continued to hang around until everyone else had excused themselves from the room. It was, after all, his duty to maintain his presence as the one in charge. He dismissed them, after all. It was only the natural order to things. Everything went in accordance to the natural order as well, as everyone filed out of the room, and Decoy’s hologram projector shut off, terminating the tinker’s presence in the room. However this natural order was thrown off as Lillian approached him rather than leave, and asked a question.

”A meeting with Decoy?” he repeated, raising his eyebrow and straightening his tie. ”I don’t see why not. Decoy, are you still listening?”

In response to his question, the projector turned back on, flickering the image of the overweight Japanese man back into existence. ”I am,” it spoke, heavy with accent.

”Right then, I have too much work to do and a fortnight’s worth of sleep to miss. I’ll just leave you two to it.” Director Kens stood up, pushed in his chair, and made a beeline for the door, clearly hoping that nobody requested anything else from him.

Lillian waited, watching and listening, until everyone was gone and it was just her and the holographic projection. Even then she waited for a few moments, her face switching between various emotions as she thought. And then, finally, she opened her mouth to talk. ”Ira's leaving. And… I'm - well, she said some things and there was something weird and I'm just not sure -” she took a deep breath before continuing. " You were closest to her and, I don't know, I guess I'm hoping there's at least you and I'm not all alone and maybe you can make this make sense.”

She knew she was rambling, she was wringing her hands and pacing after all, but she couldn't help it.

For several moments the projection said nothing. It didn’t move, save for the slight flicker and hum that was omnipresent. The projection gave no indication that Lillian’s words had been registered or heard by any living thing. Finally, after several painfully awkward moments, the projection spurred to life with only a single sentence. ”We need to talk in person.” Then without warning, Lillian was left the only one in the room. Isolated all around, but a beep on her communicator let her know she had not been abandoned. A room had been highlighted on her schematics of the building.

Lillian started as the projection left, opening her mouth before she heard the beep. Biting her lip she obliged the schematics, confusion growing. What was going on?

She stopped outside the door, hesitating before she raised her hand to knock once. She heard an audible click as the door unlocked itself. With a moment's hesitation she entered with a low ”H-hello?"

The door sealed shut behind Lillian no sooner than her back heel had crossed the threshold, leaving her in a most unfamiliar, yet small room. It appeared to be more of a middle chamber, one which bridged the gap between the outside hall, and a larger room. In some ways it reminded her of an air lock, or a pressure room in an underwater station. A middle point to be exposed to space, or ocean, and then back to normal atmosphere. The comparisons continued as a ray of light swept over Lillian, scanning her body for several moments, before the light shut down and the door on the opposite end clicked open.

Lillian stepped in and froze as the door shut behind her. If she were claustrophobic this room would be hell. She cleared her throat nervously before the light came and she froze again. Her eyes closed briefly as she held her breath and then came the telltale sound of the other door opened.

Cautiously she moved forward, almost worried that she might break something, as she called out nervously. ”This is all cool and stuff but I'm kinda freaking out right now.” Still, though, she pushed through into the next room slowly.

As Lillian opened the door, first in a crack but widening more and more, a voice spoke out to her quite calmly in what sounded like Japanese. Odd enough, but moreso the voice had been decidedly feminine. Then the door opened in its entirety, and Lillian beheld the personal, private sanctum of Decoy. A large room with technical equipment along all of the walls, a central computer dominated the middle. Holographic displays saturated the air and walls all around, and in the center of it all sat a woman monitoring the various video feeds.

She took a moment to tear her eyes away from the constant information output to meet Lillian’s gaze, and spoke again in Japanese. Recognizing the lack of understanding in Lillian’s eyes, the woman playfully smacked herself on the forehead, then addressed the younger girl again, this time in perfect English. ”Apologies, Grant-chan. I am used to speaking with Riese-chan in our native tongue, and do not allow other visitors. Please, make yourself comfortable. Partake in any drink or snack you like.” She gestured to a table not too far away, which housed a large number of cookies, sweets, and snacks, as well as various teas.

Lillian stood just inside the room, staring almost blankly at the woman and the unknown language being spoken. And then her brow furrowed as her confusion depended, looking between the woman and the table, before she spoke up hesitantly. ”I didn't think your cape name would be….literal like this.” she blurted out. She flushed immediately after, muttering a small apology. ”Uhm. I suppose I should be honored? It's definitely not what I expected to happen today, though really nothing that happened today was expected between the fight, Ira, Sonar, that mess I made downstairs, and I'm rambling aren't I?”

Decoy nodded as Lillian spoke, following along with every word. It was the only indication Lillina had that the older cape were listening at all, since she had returned her attention to the holographics displays that surrounded her. ”It is a natural reaction to being uncomfortable, Grant-chan. I imagine a great deal of today has been… Trying.”

”Yeahhhhhhhh. It started off absolutely amazing and then got weird but then it was good again and now everything is just confusing and -” she paused momentarily before continuing much slower and quieter. ”I'm scared. I don't know what's going on or who I can talk to. Who I can trust or if I'm just taking something said at a bad time in the wrong way and letting it color my thoughts."

Decoy blinked. The first blink Lillian had seen the woman go through since walking in. She got the impression that it did not happen very often, and marked a radical change in emotion for the tinker. As it were, Decoy stood up from her seat, and slowly approached Lillian with open arms, but stopped a few feet away. She would not embrace the younger girl without some effort on Lillian’s part. ”All too well do I know the feeling of questioning your own judgment. Ever since my trigger event, I… Have not trusted anybody easily. Myself included. Letting you inside my room is something that I am… Extremely uncomfortable with. But let us take steps together.”

Lillian looked up at the older woman uncertainly before slipping forward to hug her. ”Ira said she's leaving. And she said something else and I just don't know who else I could go to. You're the central communication point, right? You worked with her. So…I was hoping I could trust you?”

Decoy held the Ward tight for several moments before she let the girl go. She sighed, heavily, before speaking again. ”Riese-chan has… Justified reasons for wanting to leave. Despite my best efforts, I cannot convince her to stay. Finding out her intentions has been devastating. She was the only one I could grow close to. Bond with. Leviathan destroyed our home. We collaborated as tinkers. I tutored her as her personal teacher. This development is difficult…” She trailed off, glancing to the side. Reaching out with a hand, Decoy typed out on a holographic keyboard. With two key presses, one of the monitors shut off. What had it been displaying?

”I am the one who informed her that we have a mole in the facility somewhere. I had hoped she would be able to help determine who it is, or at least clear the rest of the Wards from suspicion. If I am being honest, you are not completely clear from my suspicions either, Grant-chan.” Her eyes narrowed by reflex, but then were made softer, with some effort. She appeared to be intentionally trying not to come across as abrasive.

”I admit, the chances of you being the mole are considerably less than most others. Evidence of our information leak began before you joined. But that does not preclude multiple moles. An infiltration building a larger force from within. But Riese-chan trusted you with this vital information, so I have little choice in the matter. I will believe in your innocence.”

”I can't believe it's true,” Lillian said softly. ”I haven't heard anything and nothing seemed any different when I'm staying -” she trailed off as her eyes turned distant. ”It could be anyone. And what if it's the most obvious, but the least likely at the same time? Right? The old comics always were like that, from what Dad always said…” She sighed. ”I visited Sonar. Oh, yeah, I already said that. Sorry. I just want to help…”

Decoy nodded along once again, acknowledging Lillian’s words. Once the Ward began to trail off, Decoy’s eyes opened up in sudden surprise, like she has just seen some sort of a viper. Quickly, she made a swiping motion with her hand, and a holographic keyboard suddenly appeared in front of her, fingers tapping away at the keys made of light. ”I am certain that you can help, Grant-chan. To begin however, why don’t you tell me how things have been going between yourself and Heather-chan?”

Her tone remained steady, but her eyes told a different story. A screen appeared between the two, with words typing quickly across for Lillian to read. Play along, and be careful what you say. The screen came equipped with its own keyboard, which Lillian could use with her own hands.

Lillian opened her mouth in confusion, shutting it without saying anything as she read the text. She looked, searching Decoy's face, before replying in a cheerful tone. ”Good but I'm kinda nervous. I've never really made good friends before and I'm not entirely sure what to do.” As she spoke her fingers moved across the keyboard quickly. What's going on?

Decoy, a bit amused by the direction Lillian had taken it, smiled as she typed away. ”Good friends? Yes, let us pretend that is what you and Heather-chan have become, hmhmhm.” I had never considered Sonar as a suspect before you mentioned him. It would make sense. I informed Riese-chan that the information leak was released with Ward communications access, and being under Riese-chan’s nullifier would be a good cover… If it were active. My records show it has been shut off the majority of the time he has remained in his room.

”Well, I mean, it only happened today. I've never - y'know? I'm pretty nervous.” ... He said he could hear Ira and I outside his room talking but we hadn't been loud. But he seemed to be really considering the Nullification vial thing Ira made?

”Perhaps your nerves are instinctual? A lack of comfort could be your senses picking up on something more sinister. Heather-chan is as suspicious as the other Wards, perhaps moreso with her extra clearance.” I constructed his room to be 100% soundproof to aid in his recovery. Short of you transforming and bellowing your loudest roar, it is impossible for him to have heard anything outside his door.

”But I'm fairly comfortable with her. It's Ev that makes me scared and uncomfor - I can't believe I just said that.” Well, he heard us. He said so. Unless he was lying about that for some reason.

”Interesting. Chambers-chan makes you uncomfortable? Tell me, did that begin before, or after today’s events?” There is only one possible explanation. My system registers the device inactive at the time, which means he is perfectly capable of controlling his power without the helmet.

”... Since the warehouse." So he lied to everyone? He's been, what, listening in for weeks and weeks?

”A most terrible time for you all. Riese-chan in particular has had to deal with an awful trauma of that event. But what happened then with Chambers-chan?” It is possible that I am missing crucial details, in fact I am nearly certain of it, but that is the conclusion the evidence seems to support.

”Her power. And today she just seemed so angry and it just… Scares me.” But if he's the mole, then how's he getting information out? Unless he's really not the only one. And Ira! She told me right in front of him.

”An understandable position. Her attitude is troubling, yes. Extremists often get buried in the holes they dig, but she is dealing with a great deal of her own stress. Unless you think she could be our mole?” As I said, I suspect we do not have a full understanding, but it is definitely Ward access that is leaking the information. He could provide that access to any of his nurses or doctors if they are in on it, as well as any other staff. His power makes this incredibly troublesome, because if I am correct, then Riese-chan speaking in front of him means nothing and he has known that I have been looking for him since day one.

”No, I couldn't see her working with villains. Unless she was a really good actor… She's got a pretty hard stance there. Honestly the only current Ward that I'm really unsure about is Elliot. He's never really socialized with us and he's a little eccentric. I've wanted to reach out but it's just so hard to get him when we're not on duty.” You're smart. I'm sure you're right. What about someone visiting a lot. You should be able to see that, right? Wouldn't that make them a higher suspect?

”It’s not uncommon for actors to oversell their role, but you raise a significant point. As for Pratt-kun… I would not consider him especially suspicious. A case of bark worse than bite, as it were, and I wouldn’t think him to be intelligent enough to pull off a deception of this magnitude.” Not necessarily. You were recruited after his hospitalization, so you were never privy to a second use of his power the public did not know. He is able to speak directly to anybody he wishes within the same range as his hearing. Personal visitors are possible, but given his capabilities, it wouldn’t be smart.

Lillian giggled before blushing. ”Sorry. That was funny. I think Elliot just needs some friends and needs to be willing to have them.” That's… Insane. Wow. Okay. Well, what about the Protectorate? Morales smells and so does the Director. Like alcohol and cigarettes, respectively. Mom always said people do those because of stress or pain. Inkscape just smells like paint and wet rubber. And Protean had no real smell. It was weird. Sorry, I'm rambling in text!

”Friends and the situations they create are overrated. I should know from experience. In any case, I can imagine zero possibilities that he is our mole.” It is only natural they should smell as they do. The director has the most stressful job of all, and the captain is also a professional mixologist. His drinks are divine. To be frank, I do have a suspect among my fellow Protectorates.

”Yeah...I know about that well enough… But okay, at least I understand the smells now." May I ask who?

”The more you know, right? Heh heh.” You let me worry about it. The more you know, the bigger target you become. For now, keep an eye on your fellow Wards, just in case. They all possess access to communicate outside this building.

”I guess so. I'm kinda glad it all led to me being transferred out of that school, to be honest.” That hardly seems fair to you. I should do more to help. How can I be a hero when we're always being given the minor stuff? I want to help.

”Well, I suppose that about wraps this up. More investigation is required, so I require you to do so. Stay alert, and pay special attention to Heather-chan. Her authority grants special permissions that places her in the best position for this betrayal, and your role as her girlfriend places you in the best position to divine any suspicious activities on her part.” Negative. This is off the books investigation, not even the director knows. It’s to protect you from the system as much as the enemy. Be sure you do not speak a word aloud within half a mile of this building.

”Of course, ma'am. Thank you for everything," Lillian said quietly, subdued, before taking her leave.

Alright. Here we go, then.

Sheila had ensured there was a path into the HQ that currently didn’t contain any Rockers grunts for this moment. It was the time to introduce people, and hope things went well. Herself, she was in full Creep costume, black coat and a black tattered cape which she’d discard if she’d actually be in battle but it looked cool whenever she wasn’t. Blindfold and mask on, hair coloured brown by use of her power, hood currently down. It was easier like that. First, she had escorted Jacob into her office. Now, she came through for the second time, having retrieved Chad. It was time for them both to meet again, now. She didn’t know how much they actually knew of one another… but here it was.

Sheila opened the door and walked aside, turning to look at each of them as she let the encounter happen without any interference on her part. She’d told them both the one they’d meet would be another ally of hers, but left everything else exceedingly vague, just in case they wanted to keep their identities hidden… but chances were they’d know.

Jacob stood there, looking on casually at the other. An ally. The only one to accept the offer, if he had to guess. What a shame. She deserved more than just…. Well, him and another.

He'd come simple. He didn't want anything impressive for a costume, it just wasn't his thing. Instead he was in a black hoodie, hood up and a pretty standard black Domino mask on underneath framed by his untidy hair. Old black cargo pants, torn in a few places, over well worn shoes. He could pass on the streets as any random person. He nodded at the other, raising his voice a little. ”The name's Pester.”

Comparing himself to the other guy here, Chad couldn’t help but wonder if he’d asked too much of Sheila. He’d suggested for himself something akin to a firefighter’s outfit, complete with mask and head cover, not expecting her to actually go out of her way to grab one for him. Since then, he’d customised the mask with a tinted layer, letting him see out whilst blocking his face from observation and muffling his voice. He felt like he’d appreciate that notion, honestly. Given his ability, if he accidentally killed someone, he’d want to make sure his real identity wasn’t compromised.

One benefit of his power: he didn’t really feel heat the same way. Sure, it was hot under his outfit, but it wasn’t affecting him the way one might anticipate, which was certainly a plus. Helped him keep his cool around... this guy. He had a feeling he recognised the hair, but he didn’t bring anything up for now, just in case he was wrong.

Instead, he introduced himself dispassionately. ‘I go by Salem. Pleasure to meet you.’

Jacob licked his lips and swallowed before continuing, having looked the guy over. ”It should be…. Interesting…. Working together.”

Sheila looked at them both at the same time, using her power. Hm, well. Seemed like they’d do fine, but they were slightly strapped for time. ‘Alright, good. I’d take more time with this introduction, but Visage is on her way. Visage is on the Rockers and an ally of us, but she’s not like me. She’s a proper villain,’ Sheila said with her voice-changer on, making it more creepy and hoarse yet still decidedly female. ‘I don’t entirely trust her, but we’ll be working together. I trust you two to be my allies… if something were to happen. In any case. She has the ability to take my form. She can change people’s perception of her, just like I can. She’s going to help lead the Rockers while taking my form, to make “Creep” a mightier and more everpresent entity. … But that’s also why, at any point I enter your field of vision…’

She blinked at them. A small white light, blinking in the center of her dark form at the two of them, a separate light for each. Each light was directed only at their eyes and at nothing else, giving a small blinking-star like appearance at a harmless level of light.

‘… I’ll give you this sign that it is me. Nobody around but those I want to see it can see it. Visage won’t know it, and I trust neither of you will tell her. This way you’ll be able to tell, no matter what.’ Sheila nodded, thinking that’d do. ‘Alright. Stand by me, or make ready any way you want. Visage will be here any minute.’ Saying so, Sheila turned to the door Visage would likely appear from, given it was the only way into the office. Just standing straight in the middle of the room, in a way nobody would unless they were obviously waiting for someone.

Jacob nodded once, moving to lean against a wall silently.

Oh, right, Visage. She’d been... mentioned before, with a hint of caution in Sheila’s voice when she did so. At the time, Chad had been a bit put off by how it turned out she could look like Creep at any time she wanted, with no obvious hints that she was indeed a different person. Now, with some time to process the notion, and especially with this new revelation of how to tell who was the real Creep and who was merely an imposter, Chad felt much more at ease about that matter.

‘Understood,’ he agreed, taking his position next to Sheila in preparation for what came next. He’d been practicing his “cool guy” persona for a few days, so that he could mask his persona as well as his physical features from those he definitely didn’t want to know about it. He was a bit of a twat normally, he’d admit that much to himself any day, but the average Rocker didn’t need to know about that. Visage, from what he’d heard about her, didn’t need to know either.

---

”No mentioning stabbing people, be respectful to Creep, do I need to reiterate anything else?” Visage closed the cab door behind Mire, fixing her mask to her face a bit better. Now she was actually wearing her full costume, as opposed to just manipulating the node like before. Listening for a response, she started leading the way towards the Rocker HQ. Without thinking about it too much, she dismissed the node she had set on the cab driver.

Mire counted her fingers while mumbling to herself as she went over the many points Visage had discussed with her while on the drive. ”Uhhhh-no I don’t think so. Yeah no I think we’re good.” Mire was shaking with excitement as they walked towards what she was assuming to the be Rockers HQ building. She took a deep breath and made sure her knife was sheathed securely. ”Ok yeah one hundred percent ready.”

The lack of Rocker grunts in the HQ kind of surprised Visage, though she tried not to show it. Letting the heavy door close behind them, she stayed ahead of Mire, and headed for Creep’s new office. It wasn’t new new, it was new to Creep, Visage assumed. She opened the door, and went in first, motioning Mire to follow her as she took stock of the new people. She hadn’t met either of them before, it seemed, as no nodes were present except Creep’s.

”Wow we were on similar wavelengths, eh?” Visage joked, flourishing her hand at Mire, before waving it again to reference the two others. ”New allies I presume?”

So quick to find the words. Creep had been intending to speak immediately, yet Visage had construed entire sentences before Creep got out her pre-prepared one. ‘Hm.’ Creep crossed her arms and let out a mildly amused little sound. ‘I did say I’d be looking into inviting some friends, did I not?’ So the pet project was a new ally? Interesting, and slightly worrying. Still, it was promising. Creep turned her face to Mire despite not needing to in order to see her. ‘I am Creep, leader of the Rockers. And these… Gentlemen, if you would,’ she said, intending that the other two can introduce themselves.

‘Salem.’ Yeah, just his Cape name would work. Maybe cross his arms, too? Hell yeah, that definitely looked badass.

”Pester." Jacob's voice was resoundingly unemotional, borderline bored, as he remained where he was.

Maybe a little less impactful than Creep would have liked, but alright, then. ‘Now, who’s this?’

Mire looked at all the new people, you had the boss Creep and her goons Salem and Pester. So this is what she’d gotten herself into. After a brief glance back at Visage Mire looked back at the others and shot out her arms towards the two boys, inviting them to a handshake. ”Pleasure to meet you all. I’m Mire! I look forward to working with you!”

Bracing herself, Visage didn’t expect Mire to do-wow. That was actually perfect. Visage smiled slightly, now watching Salem and Pester’s reaction. Honestly if Mire was just very polite the entire time, it would make it difficult for anyone else here to act out, unless they wanted to lose respect.

Oh-ho. An energetic one, Creep thought. That might actually be a boon to the group. She stayed quiet for now, looking on.

Jacob nodded slightly, looking at the hand offered before pulling himself off the wall and accepting with an easy smile. ”Any ally of Creep is an ally of mine." The words were casual as he looked into Mire's eyes.

”Same!” Mire said with a slightly giddy tone before turning her head towards Salem. Wiggling her fingers as she waited for him to go for the extended hand.

Chad had expected a much less... perky ally in Mire, admittedly. Then again, he hadn’t been expecting any other allies than Visage. Sheila hadn’t mentioned this, but from the sound of things, she hadn’t known about it either. That said, since she was offering her hand, Chad extended his hand to take it.

Just as Chad had almost reached her had Mire quickly retracted in and ran it over her head and rubbed the back of her neck. ”Ooooo too slow.” Mire chuckled a little. ”I’m sorry I jest.” Mire then re-extended her hand back out and gave Chad a firm handshake.

...that stung, a lot. Memories arose of times when he’d been subjected to bullying, so much bullying. And he’d just been about to greet her cordially, too. He was almost tempted to just retract his hand entirely, but for the sake of politeness, kept his hand extended until the shake was over before folding his arms again. Bitch thought she was a jokester, huh? He imagined the idiot wouldn’t be laughing so much if she had her arms torn off. Or maybe her fingers broken one by one, or... hell, he could just start melting her body inch by slow, painful, torturous inch...

Auuuuugh. He hated bullies. Managing to suppress a violent twitch of recoil from his own broken psyche down to a slight shudder, he responded ‘I hope we can get along well,’ nodding politely in Mire and Visage’s direction. He’d certainly make sure Mire didn’t start fucking with him regularly. Somehow, maybe.

Jacob's grip on Mire's hand tightened slightly as a flash of irritation passed over his face. ”I think that was uncalled for." With that he let go with one final squeeze and returned to Sheila's side.

‘Now, now,’ Creep raised her voice a bit directly after Pester’s comment, in a way to signify that the boss was talking. ‘Play nice. Mire, I’d appreciate if you avoided making my members feel slighted. Pester, in the same vein, avoid scaring new members when you inform them they’ve done wrong. We need them to like being Rockers.’ Creep took it onto herself to make a good first impression for the girl. While her face was covered, she made herself smile under the mask as she stepped forward to calmly extend her own hand.

‘Welcome to the Rockers. I look forward to seeing how you’ll do.’

Mire tilted her head at Jacob as he let go of her hand, she didn’t think she was going to like these two. Soft as fucking marshmallows they were. That’s when the boss raised her voice, she also voiced out against her harmless prank though it seemed like she was trying to keep everyone happy over actually being annoyed by it. It was cute how Creep thought Pester could actually be scary, with how thin that kid’s skin was Mire didn’t think he’d be capable of anything that she would consider even remotely frightening.

Mire accepted Creep’s handshake, giving her a surprisingly sturdy handshake for someone of her size. ”I look forward to working with you too. I hope I’ll be able to pull my weight.”

Gentlemen. This is a boy at best, child at worst. Visage didn't even consider shaking their hands, but she still had to tease them somehow. She walked over to Pester, leaning forward, eyes intent on the side of his face, directly below the right side of his domino mask. Having already looked him over, this was literally just for show. If he glanced down at her cleavage he would get quite the show, but he'd also lose in Visage's eyes. ”I like you, Pester. Name makes me think of pestilence. Hopefully it's not in reference to what children do.” She stood straight again, walking over to stand in front of Creep but keeping her distance still. ”Are we gonna show off a little of what they can do? Or is now not the time for that?”

Jacob looked on, unfazed, with a slightly raised eyebrow. He glanced at Creep before speaking. ”It's a reference to what I'll become. What I am." He looked again at Creep for confirmation about displaying abilities, a hint of concern on his face.

Visage was definitely flashing Pester, right? That wasn’t just a trick of his mind, was it? Maybe he was just imagining it. Yeah, that made sense. But honestly, he felt like what Creep had said about playing nice wouldn’t matter, since he was able to play as nice as anybody could want, even if he was wanting to put his fingers through their- no, Chad, no, stop it. The point was, she had accused Pester of pestering, and he’d responded with a statement about who he intended to become. And as for himself, somewhat on the sidelines... well, he hoped he hadn’t fulfilled a prophecy in his own right by naming himself after an infamous incident of mass hysteria.

Creep watched Visage very closely for what she was doing that close to Pester, albeit she was still turned towards Mire. Nothing particular happened and Pester held his own, good. Creep finished her handshaking with Mire and nodded, until Visage then asked asked if they’d show off what they could do. … Hm. Both her new recruits had certain negative drawbacks upon using their powers. One internal, the other highly external. Still…

‘Yes. We need to understand one another’s abilities going forward, for when we fight side by side it is to our advantage to know exactly what to expect of our companions. With that in mind…’ … Creep took a bit of a breath as she prepared to show off her own power first.

She made a show of suddenly being blown into dust in front of the rest, little parts of her scattering into nothing. Though, she was still standing there. ‘I twist perception for those looking in my direction. While my range is short, I can redirect any image I perceive around me in any direction I please, or break it apart as it suits me.’ For those present, she made a little show of an image of themselves as she could see them appearing in her place, looking back at them. ‘… That said, I am no artist. I can only use images I have available, I can’t create new ones from scratch. But I can break them.’ She cracked the images in a lot of pieces, scattering them in the winds, Creep standing there behind, looking towards them.

‘So. Currently, all of you seem to see me looking at you. Which way am I actually looking?’ … She had the vision of herself collapse into shadows, leaving herself facing the wall. ‘… The answer is all of them, because I manipulate my own perception so I can see in all directions at once. I don’t need to face anywhere, anymore.’ She breathed out a bit. ‘So, my range is short and have limitations. However, when someone’s within my range…’ So, Mire had been close to her for that handshake, so Creep was going to use her for her own demonstration.

To Mire, Creep remained standing in front of her. To the rest, Sheila briefly left a transparent version of herself standing where she had been as the real her walked in a half-circle around Mire on soft, silent feet. The transparent version of herself vanished quickly, but Mire still saw Creep in front of her, yet none of the rest did. Finally, behind Mire, she spoke. ‘When people are within my range, I control exactly what they see. They’re effectively mine.’ With that, the Creep in front of Mire, to only her, blew into dust as Creep backed away towards the wall behind her. ‘I can choose who I want to see me and who to not. As such, I’ll show myself as transparent if I want you to see me but want to signal that our opponents cannot. At worst, I’m a Stranger with a knife. And that’s what I can do. A Creep creeping up behind you without you ever knowing, and taking control of your reality.’

… Maybe she went overboard there. Maybe. She had thought about that demonstration a lot. … Of course, that wasn’t all she could do, but that was entirely intentional.

‘The rest of you can demonstrate if you wish. I leave that to you,’ Creep said, leaning to the wall now.

Frowning for a moment, Chad looked down at the ground before him. He’d learned by now to filter out the additional sense when he didn’t need to use it, but when he focused on it just a little, the floor and walls around him gladly offered themselves up as subjects to his ability. At a whim, he could probably kill everybody else in the room before they could blink... but, that would be counter-productive. And it’d mean Sheila died, too.

‘You’ll figure it out,’ he uttered to the other three. Coldly, or coolly? Crap, had he been too chilly with his response? He was trying to sound cool, not douchey. If he came off as a douche, they might decide he was worth killing after all... oh, hell, he hoped they wouldn’t do it to him.

Jacob smirked, walking away from everyone a little, showing the first real signs of emotions since the meeting had started.

With a little snap of his fingers, for show of course, a lean reptilian looking creature appeared near him. It immediately took off, running around the group, between people, and going so far as to even pull off a little flip before climbing a wall. And then….

It was gone just as soon as it had appeared. Jacob's face went from joy to…. Nothing. In an almost mechanical voice he spoke up, ”Yeah, so, I use my emotions to make a thing that kinda listens and does whatever you'd expect that emotion to do. Leaves me emotionless for a few hours or so.”

Mire stood in place after she shook Creeps hand, just looking around at people as they said their stuff. And it seemed they had planned to show off their powers so they could better work together and all that spicy stuff, that was cool. Oooh, the big boss was going first, Mire was interested in this one. Mire tilted her head at Creep as the girl appeared to just, fade away but like she was still there talking. Oh boy it was another mind fucker illusion person dam there were like 3 of them standing in the room! Man fighting them would be like fucking a disco.

Then it seemed Creep was focused on messing around with Mire, she could see the image of the boss clearly in front of her but her voice was coming from behind. That was some sneaky shit right there, Mire wasn’t sure how she felt about it. Then it was fireman Sam’s turn, though he just blurted out some ominous crap and didn’t do anything. I mean Mire wasn’t expecting much from the dude anywho. Then came another interesting power, summoning animal companion based on emotion… Hmm what if they could bleed, oh wait could she stab them and then nobody except a projection would die? Shiiiiiit she might like this kid after all. Mire looked around and then pointed to herself? ”Oh is it my turn now? Oh a-ah ok, I think taking a few steps back would be a good move.”

Mire walked as far as she could away from the others, as she wanted to show off the mist a bit without actually making them get fricked the heck up by it. Mire rolled her shoulders and shifted to her breaker form with a quick puff of smoke. Instantly Mire’s Mist started to expand and fill the room, though Mire was taking care that the cloud would not reach the others. ”My power is made up of two main parts, there is the mist that you all see in front of you. If you were to come into contact with it you would start to see things, hear things, feel things, that are not truly there. Well most of them.” Mire’s voice was much different from her normal one, it sounded like an echo except it was clearly coming from one direction instead of all around. The mist stayed in place as Mire made her way closer to the group though she was still currently concealed by her mist, but instead of normal footsteps everyone would hear heavy thudding, like something big was coming.

That is when Mire’s form would peek out of the mist, still partly concealed by it. What stood there was clearly not human, it was a towering beast that’s hunched back was almost scraping against the ceiling. In place of a human head was what looked like a mix between a bear and a shark head, in place of arms the creature had two sets of bladed appendages like massive bladed hooks. The main bulk of the body and rear end of the beast was still hidden in the mist. ”The secondary part of my power lets me edit my form in a multitude of ways, I’m a shape shifter.” With that said Mire descended back into the mist which quickly started to collapse in on itself, eventually disappearing to show Mire standing there. ”Ta da!” Mire did a dramatic bow before walking back towards the group.

First there was Creep’s performance, which informed Visage of her power in ways she hadn’t before known. She took some mental notes, trying to remind herself to write this down at some point in the future. Know thy enemy, and all that jazz. Next was Salem who- Alright, did nothing. Was he going for edge? Regardless, Visage found herself slightly perturbed, though she did her best to remain straight faced.

Next next next, next was Pester. The moment she saw the thing appear she frowned. It moved around the room a bit, and Visage had to hold back an involuntary screech. God she hated creepy things like this. That gave her a mental note to not bring Pester on missions with her unless he was going to be using his power very far away from Visage.

At long last our dear Mire, she showed her true color, which was black smoke. Another self satisfied smile crossed her face, sticking there until Mire reverted. Wonderful. She mouthed, mostly to herself. So far she’d seen a woman who could control her image in a more abstract way, a boy with performance anxiety, a reptile summoner, and the incomparable Mire. Visage was definitely winning.

Oh, and herself. She idly wondered if they had actually been told about her power. It didn’t much matter if they had been, as no one knew the whole story behind her power, still. An interesting thought. Taking to the center of the room, she set nodes on them one by one, only keeping her eyes on theirs long enough to create it. ”Poof” In front of them stood Creep, and they would fully grasp that instantly. There once was Visage, and now there was another Creep. ”Oh I found this out recently.” NotCreep said, and then she was gone. No other form stood in her place. Soft soled and invisible, she carefully crept past Salem. Once behind him, she would wrap her arms around his stomach, pressing herself against his back Her power turned off for all present and she remained motionless. ”Similar to Creep’s but without the shattering. I can just control what I look like.”

Everyone else seemed so proud to show off. Sure, there were benefits to showing what he could do to those who’d benefit from it, but why bother when you could just tell them? Not to mention just showing it, not intentionally making a scene. Even Creep, he realised belatedly, she’d gone and showed off her ability to apparently turn into dust, as well as sneaking around the back of Mire. All perceptual, all based on twisting what they could see freely. It was self-indulgence. And to add to that, Pester showed off his own ability, a Master power that generated a creature from his emotions. Apparently, he only really felt emotion as a result of that? Or at least he couldn’t feel emotion after the fact. Interesting.

Then came Mire. Dear God, Mire. Not only could she... generate some black mist? Transform into it? He couldn’t tell, but it was supposedly hallucinogenic either way. Chad was suddenly very very happy he was wearing the smoke mask, whether or not it helped. In fact, he wasn’t sure her mist wasn’t getting in anyway; the thing, the monster that stepped out of the mist kind of made him wonder if he’d not suddenly snapped. Then again, it was speaking to them all, and the others, so he took a step back from it just in case. Juuust in case.

And shortly after, the mist collapsed, and Mire was back to normal. Yeah, no, that was fine. He never ever wanted to fight her, whether he would win such a fight or not. Though somehow, he wondered whether he could, even with his own ability. However, that just left Visage, who took to the center of the room, then took her time to look in everyone’s direction... why? Apparently, so she could transform into Creep. Right, Sheila had mentioned this already; a fake Creep, but as he glanced back and forth between her and the real Creep, he kept track of that one indicator, that thing which proved who was who, fake, real, fake, real, fa- wait. Where did Visage go?

The sensation of a body pressing up behind him, of arms wrapping around his stomach, had him freezing up abruptly. Was that. Yes, no, that was Visage. Why was she behind him. Why was she pressing herself against him. Okay, no, see, most guys would like that to happen, right? Why wouldn’t he like it too? Well, maybe, the consideration of what Sheila had told him kept him a bit wary anyway. She was a “proper villain”. That meant bad things, or at least he imagined it did. He didn’t know, maybe Sheila was exaggerating a touch.

‘Yeah, okay, cool,’ he uttered, his voice still muffled through his mask. Thankfully. ‘That is definitely a useful ability.’ And like that, he was the odd one out. Hell, maybe he should say what his power was? They’d figure it out soon enough, anyway... but still…

Creep turned her head, as she made in habit of doing as to not look inhuman as she focused around her. Salem… said they’d figure it out. … Hah, yeah, she had been wondering. Okay, while she had something to say, they moved on. Pester showed his power. Honestly, she found the reptile a little cute. Given his smile, she assumed this was joy? Or smugness, that worked too. While there was an inherent worry that it’d for some reason charge her, Creep stayed still until it was gone. Then, it was Mire.

Creep acknowledged and moved over without a word for her demonstration. First there was the smoke. A Breaker, it appeared. The effects of the mist were certainly worrying. Then… that form appeared. Seemed they had no shortage of monsters. It was an impressive power, indeed. It gave them some much needed physical presence, given two Strangers and a Master so far. Yeah, not a power she wanted to fight, certainly.

Then… Visage. It disturbed Creep somewhat that she could now replicate invisibility. She dearly hoped Salem could handle being hugged, because at least that was a friendly move. However, that explanation… Like her own, Visage was hiding something. Creep knew it. Later, in a more private spot, she’d tell both Jacob and Chad that Visage is hiding some part of her power. She has some form of Thinker sub-power, possibly more that she isn’t telling, which helps her keep others in order. Be on your guard. Still, from here, it did seem like Visage had the power-advantage, if something were to happen. … Let’s throw a wrench in that, shall we?

‘Thank you. Pester, nice, we’ll need to test out your power in live environments soon so we can know what to expect of it in action. Should be fun. Mire, that’s a cool power. It’ll stand out well when we move out. Visage, where did you find her? I’d like to look into the same alley to see if we can find any more.’ Creep gave the mildest of a chuckle, willing herself to be amused. Then… she turned her head to the one who hadn’t shown off his power.

‘Salem. I understand your choice. Indeed, showing off your power here would be rather unwise. Still, if an emergency would happen, say, in five minutes, then our allies need to know what to expect of you. We may need to skip the demonstration and use old-fashioned words to describe what you can do,’ she said, looking to her friend.

...and there, see, Sheila was basically confirming what he’d just been thinking. Fine, he needed to say roughly what he could do, but he didn’t need to explain it in full, right? He was pretty sure the others hadn’t explained their own abilities fully to everyone else, after all.

‘Well. Long story short, I can melt rock,’ he explained, shrugging out of Visage’s grip as best he could, ‘and turn it into lava. It’s got quite a good range, and whilst I can’t turn people’s bones into lava, I can turn the ground under their feet into lava. It’s pretty dangerous. I’m, uh, coming up with ways to make it a bit less completely lethal.’ Understating himself, there - but hopefully, that could work to his advantage if any of these guys turned on him. He hoped he actual personality didn’t come through too strongly.

‘… And it’s basically instant,’ Creep added the info she felt Salem left out that was needed. ‘It’s a bit hard to adapt, and basically destroys the city wherever it’s used, but with it he can have every cape in Denver shaking in their boots.’ … So, Creep didn’t feel he sold his power enough, and as such did it for him. It wasn’t exactly a power he could hide the factors about anyway. Initial impact was more important, she figured.

Mire didn’t know that Visage had the ability to turn invisible! That’s some proper sneaky shit! Mire was happy to see some more of what Visage could do, though she was less than happy when Visage appeared behind Salem and hugged him! What did that crybaby do to deserve that! She couldn’t let something like this get to her, or at least not let it show so Mire just stood there quietly and watched Salem as he decided to grace them with details about his power. Mire tilted her head at Salem looking him up and down, so this little dipper baby was actually very dangerous. Though while Mire knew for a fact that there were some capes out there who would eat this kid for lunch she didn’t want to point it out, risk hurting the kiddo’s feelings again.

Relinquishing her grip, she very slowly circled around the outside of the room, keeping notable distance between herself and Creep. A smile dawned at the compliment from Creep, though it was soon replaced by a frown when Salem stated his power. That was strong. Christ, that was very strong. Quickly, Visage hid the frown. She rounded the same end of the room as Mire, and reached out her fingers to draw their tips against the shorter girl’s lower back. She kept her eyes moving, trying to read everyone present. The social alertness Visage exemplified helped her notice Mire’s jealousy earlier, when she was touching Salem.

”Having Salem around is gonna be- It’s gonna imply escalation. For the same reason we don’t carry guns, having a nuclear bomb as part of the squad is gonna make the authorities very wary of us. How do you wanna go about implementing him in a way that won’t have the PRT calling in favors from other cities the second they see him use his power?”

While she said this, Visage notably didn’t look at Salem or Pester, instead keeping her eyes solely on Creep.

Creep’s vision being what it was, she did not miss that frown on Visage. It amused her a tad. Though, then she turned around and voiced a reasonable worry. Creep nodded before starting to answer.

‘He’ll play nice. As any other cape in the world with a lethal power, he has the advantage of not having had a choice. He didn’t pick his power, unlike how it’s a choice to carry a gun. As long as they know he sticks to the rules, we’ll have a powerful, frightening asset without necessarily facing the consequences. That goes for all of us, really. We stick to the rules to ensure we don’t become a priority target. We paint the Rockers as cool villains to make more grunts want to join us, and paint us as people who just want to have fun being bad to the Protectorate so they don’t think we’re worth the risk to take out as long as there are bigger fish to fry.

… As for how to use his powers, heh. Lots of weapons our enemies might be carrying will be susceptible. Vehicles, too. Walls could be melted to give us an entrance into places, assuming we have time to wait for the magma to cool. Notably Salem himself isn’t hurt by his own power. Sprinkling some magma over the battlefield is a good way of controlling it, as well, if we ensure some idiot can’t kill themselves somehow. Honestly, we could mount some cool rescue missions or robberies with this. If you can think of other uses of it, then we welcome it.’ So Creep said. She didn’t consider it as big a problem as Visage seemed to address it as.

Yeah, thank you, Sheila. He had said as much as he wanted to say, he didn’t need people to keep going for him, and he could come up with plenty of ways to hurt them if they- nonono don’t do that. Just. Think about how to respond to it, Chad.

Understandably, he was put off about the situation, but it looked and sounded like Visage was far more put off by his power than how it was explained beyond what he’d wanted. Which meant she was scared of him. Hah. Yes. She’d better be scared, scared was fine by him. If she weren’t, she’d start going for him, and then he’d have to push a knife under her skin and start peeling it away from her body... ah, no, he shouldn’t do that. Obviously, she hadn’t done anything yet, so it’s not like he had to have those thoughts about her...

...but just in case she did. She was an actual villain, after all. And it’d be good to keep scaring her, in that case.

‘As Creep has stated,’ Salem explained dispassionately, ‘My power seems to be very distinctly single-use in the first instance, but it has many applications beyond mere lethality. Even if I am forced to maim or injure others, hurling a pocket of dirt at somebody and turning it into a superheated cloud could be a very useful deterrent. Or landmines... no, there’s a better name for them than that,’ he realised, thinking for a moment. ‘I want to say punji traps, or some other similar Vietcong trap - your foot falls into an empty space, and either gets impaled on spikes or smashed to ruin. It’s the same concept, but with lava instead.’

Creep suppressed a shudder, feeling somewhat unsettled. Those were some horrific mental images. She kept quiet, though, head still turned towards Visage.

Mire was looking between Creep and Salem when she felt Visage’s fingers touch her back, she stayed professional holding back a shiver. As usual Visage had something useful and important to say regarding Lava lad’s power and how it could cause problems, though admittedly Mire didn’t share this concern. Creep’s answer was a pretty good one, though playing by the rules was lame as hell, not like Mire was going to do it anyway. But the bit about having fun or at least pretending to have fun while opposing the protectorate did seem like it could actually be interesting.

Then Salem started speaking of how he could apply his power in creative ways. Bringing up Vietcong traps but with lava, wait a second. Creep called it magma but Salem was calling it lava, which one was it!? Mire was frowning under her mask, she really wanted to ask which is was but she was pretty sure it was just these plebeians being idiots that didn’t know what they were talking about. ”So if we do find ourselves in a conflict, what happens if our opponents aren’t the rule following kind? Do we eliminate them?” Mire’s head would tilt ever so slightly and she’d look up at Creep.

It appears everyone was on different pages. Creep did not have her ducks quite in a row, much less these ducklings. First Creep claimed he’d use his power in a way that helped to reduce the chance he’d be a target. That was all well and good, but then Salem pointed out ways he could use his power that would certainly make himself a target. All the while Visage enjoyed Mire’s reaction, changing her expression to the slightest of sly smiles. At Mire’s question she grinned, moving closer to the young girl so that her hand was resting on the small of her back, she thought on how to answer.

”It honestly depends. If they’re breaking the rules and there are witnesses, we could certainly move to more extreme measures. Avoid that as best you can, but when it’s us or them, I don’t think Creep will fault you for choosing us. I certainly won’t. If there are no witnesses then it’ll be completely case by case. I trust you all to choose the option appropriate for the situation.” Visage said, pausing a beat before turning to Creep again. ”Do you object to my take on the matter?”

‘No objections,’ Creep said, before continuing. The matter of criminals that’d use lethal means… those were the kinds she wanted off the streets. ‘My official position on the matter is the following. If you encounter such foes, I prefer you escape alive over risking your life for a minor victory. If you do have to fight, I’d like you to keep in mind that if you somehow manage to take them out without resorting to their means, it would improve our reputation. However, don’t risk your life for stupid things like that. The moment they use such means against us, they abandoned their right to mercy. Butcher them.’ That was about that. Now for… another little thing.

‘Salem. That trap you mentioned…’ Creep suppressed another shudder. ‘Leaving our enemies with stumps for feet is also somewhat iffy to the rules. We’ll work on it.’ Okay. That’ll do. Time to address the rest.

‘Alright. I have intentions to introduce you all to the rest of the Rockers as soon as possible, as my lieutenants and fellow capes. Having you three join our number will give the Rockers a serious boost of reputation, and make our claim in Denver all that much more authentic. However, I ask you to not seem above the rest of the Rockers. Join their number, be nice, be a companion to them. If you could be upbeat and cool to our grunts, so that they do not view us capes as a lording entity above their common gang, that’d be a boon to us.’ She was aware some might have an easier time with that than others. Still.

‘We’ll organize what crimes we’ll commit to gain status at a later time. For now, we need to establish our presence, both in the Rockers and in Denver as a whole. As part of the truce collaborating to uproot the Community, we have an excellent opportunity to do just that. Just… don’t get caught. Patriarch turns those he touches to his allies, after all. We have a cooperation organized with the Broker, I’ll be reporting to him so we can collaborate with the other gangs of Denver to destroy the Community, while we attempt to grow as well as we can. That’s step one. Step two…’ Creep gave a little scoff. ‘The current goal is a monopoly on the delinquents of Denver and to be as big and rich as we can while rooting out the rest of the villains. Beyond that? Well. We’ll see how it goes. We’ll have a discussion on the different capes of Denver and discuss how we’ll try to counter each of them.’

‘Does anyone have any immediate thoughts they’d like to voice?’ Creep asked, looking at each of them with her power.

Appeared that nobody had anything more that they wished to add, so then it was time to get going. Creep nodded to them.

‘Alright. Time to introduce you all to the men, then.’ Despite herself, she looked over the number of capes in the room, and felt a touch of pride at the team they had gathered, that she was leading. It also felt like she was feeling just a tad excited? Frightened for what might happen, yet all the same, excited. How curious. She let that touch of amusement take her over enough to give a brief little chuckle, which thanks to her voice-changer sounded pretty dark.

‘This should be fun.’

Alessa stepped up to Lillian’s room, taking a breath before knocking on the door. Yesterday had been... mostly reasonable. Evelyn’s freakout was a bit of a matter, mind, but... it had been handled reasonably well, she felt. Maybe being able to have some dialogue with her on how she felt would be good for her. For them both, even. After all, Alessa couldn’t be a good leader if she couldn’t get in touch with her teammate’s feelings.

But of course, that meant keeping up with Lillian’s wants, too - and that meant meeting her today, as a significant other rather than a leader or even a contemporary.

Lillian opened the door slightly, rubbing at her eyes, with a pencil sticking out from behind her ear. ”Hai… Got distracted trying to catch up with homework and kinda forgot you were coming.” Carefully shutting the door behind her Lillian moved to stretch before stopping part way through and blinking at Alessa. She looked around, seeing no one else, before letting her hands fall to her sides. ”Hey, you'd tell me if something was… wrong, right? We can count on each other. Right?” Her voice was quiet as she asked her questions, staring intently at Alessa.

‘Hey, Lily,’ Alessa greeted, smiling brightly at the younger girl. ‘It’s not a problem at all, I promise, homework’s a big dealie for anybody.’ Frankly, she’d had to rush her own homework to make sure that was all done before she visited Lily’s room, so it wasn’t like they weren’t sympathetic to one another’s plights. Empathetic, even.

Her questioning Alessa about whether she’d tell her if anything was wrong did, to an extent, lessen that smile somewhat. ‘Well, yes, of course,’ was her immediate response, but she had a feeling Lillian wanted more than that out of her, by how intently she was looking at her. Glancing to the side for a moment to think, she supposed Evelyn was still on her mind, but she’d hope she’d been able to resolve that issue properly. But if it had been, why did she still feel... upset?

‘Well, since you mention it... I guess I want to make sure I’m providing for everybody on the team,’ she uttered, not sure exactly how to phrase herself. ‘I mean, I feel like there’s a lot of discontent in the Wards, if you get what I mean. A lot of people just seem unhappy with how things are turning out, and it’s...’ Alessa trailed off there. She didn’t want to seem like she wanted anything other than the best for her team, but it was tough to try and figure out what exactly she could do to sort out their respective issues, or how to phrase her feelings on the matter. Ira was asking to be transferred to a new section of the Wards, Alessa had still not been able to get any time in to speak with Elliot, and she worried about how the rest of the team was holding up, too, and... well, if that was because she was ineffective as a leader, then what?

Lillian nodded before letting out a sigh and opening her door again. The pencil was sent flying before she shut it and turned back around with a bemused expression on her face. With careful ease she slipped forward and wrapped her arms around Alessa. ”Okay. So, what would you like to do today?" ]

Watching the pencil in Lily’s ear fly off her ear, Alessa rapidly knelt to snatch it from the air just before it could hit the ground. Seemed like her martial arts training was paying off there. All the more reason for the other Wards to pursue it, then. She kept it in hand and responded in kind as Lily quietly hugged her, asking what she wanted to do today. ‘First and foremost, I’d like to spend time with you,’ she uttered cheekily, grinning a bit before having a longer think about the situation. ‘Though with that said, we could go out to a restaurant or something? Chat about stuff, you know? Or heck, maybe we just spend some time in your room again.’

Lillian turned a few shades of pink at that, shaking her head. ”It's, uh, it's a mess right now. I'd rather, y'know, go get dinner and ignore that for a little while longer.” She ran a hand through her ponytail. "Uhm, yeah. Anywhere you'd like to go?"

‘Sure, that works out fine,’ Alessa replied with a smile. ‘As for where... I heard there’s a Pizza Express fairly nearby, but if you want to just wander around and see what looks good, we can do that too.’

”Yeah, let's wander in that direction and see what happens?”

‘Cool. Let’s get going, then,’ Alessa agreed, taking Lillian’s arm as she began heading out of the HQ. It didn’t take long for them to get out of the building, and begin walking in the direction of the Pizza Express. As they walked and talked, Alessa kept glancing over at Lily’s features, her eyes, her hair, her lips. That... it felt like something she ought to be doing. She wasn’t exactly a dating expert, but keeping track of her partners features was probably the right thing to do there.

The smell of pizza was, ultimately, rejuvenating to Lillian as they walked in. She casually bumped her hip lightly into Alessa before walking to the counter and ordering in a cheerful voice. ”Hiii, can I get three slices of cheese and a bottle of water, please?"

She glanced back at Alessa as she paid, winking rather obviously, before practically skipping to a table outside.

Alessa gasped slightly as Lillian bumped her hip, smiling back in her girlfriend’s direction as Lillian paid for her food before stepping up to order her own meal: ‘Uh, three pepperoni slices, and... yeah, a bottle of water for me, too.’ Once she’d paid for her own order, she followed Lillian outside, taking her seat opposite her girlfriend.

‘So, Lily,’ Alessa began jovially, ‘how’s school been for you lately? You mentioned you had a bunch of homework to catch up on, was that anything difficult? Maybe something I could help with, even?’

”Nah, just geometry and algebra stuff. I've just not had any time to catch up what with the busy weekend and all. I've already read the book for English class, so that's boring me. It's actually kinda weird. I was always just average in school and now I'm actually slightly above that.” She shook her head in amusement. ”I actually kinda like it."

‘Well, I reckon you’re brilliant,’ Alessa nodded, smiling lightly. That was a good way to start a date, right, reasonable compliments? ‘If you’ve actively improved your grades since you were younger, then that means an uphill trend for the future, too. I mean, I think that’s how you’re moving with that sort of stuff, anyway.’

”I'm not as smart as you," Lillian said with a giggle, turning slightly pink. "What about your classes?"

‘Ehh... mine are going fine, I guess,’ Alessa nodded. ‘I mean, they’re going pretty well, I put in the effort to make sure I’m fine in that regard, obviously. But, well, I guess it feels... I don’t want to say it’s wasted effort,’ she elaborated hesitantly, ‘but I know I’m going to be working for the PRT for as long as possible. That’s probably going to mean I don’t use... as much theoretical knowledge as the education system would give me, if that makes sense.’

”Yeah, I guess so. That makes sense, anyways." Lillian bobbed her head slowly, her foot bumping Alessa's under the table. ”Oops, sorry."

‘Heh, no worries,’ Alessa smiled, moving her foot to gently bump Lillian’s back. Wasn’t there a term for this sort of teasing? She was sure there was. ‘And what about other stuff you’ve been doing recently? Have you read any good books lately?’

”I haven't really had any free time for individual reading. I actually don't mind, given what I'm doing instead, though.”

‘Oh?’ Now that was curious. What could it be that Lillian had been- well, she could just ask, couldn’t she. ‘You mind if I ask what you’ve been up to, then?’

”I mean, we do have the same occupation, Alessa," she replied with a giggle. "I feel like we're not doing enough."

‘Oh- OH! Ahaha, sorry,’ Alessa blurted out with a slight blush. ‘I thought it was a big personal thing you were setting up- aheh, ah, that’s embarrassing.’ She scratched the back of her head awkwardly, her grin matching her embarrassment. But wasn’t that how dating somebody often went? She... figured it was, right? Yeah, probably.

”Hehe, I don't do much personal stuff. I'm pretty boring, really!" Lillian ran her hand through her hair slowly. ”I mean, really, I've been putting most all of my time into that so..."

‘Yeaaah. Crime never sleeps, of course,’ Alessa agreed. ‘It’s just a shame that we have to, I think.’

”Yeah, we aren't lucky like those noctis capes, or whatever they're called. Can you imagine what it would be like to never have to sleep?”

‘Fifty percent more time to do whatever it is people do when most other people are asleep. Or fifty percent more dates!’ Alessa joked, giggling a little.

”That would certainly be a plus,” Lillian said with a small wink. ”I'm ready to head back, if you want?”

‘Well, we have finished our pizza,’ Alessa mused, considering the matter. ‘I kind of just want to keep chatting with you, honestly, but... well, we can do that back at the HQ, too.’ That decided, she stood up, offering her hand to Lillian, with a wink right back at her. ‘Let’s get going, lovely.‘

Lillian turned pink, accepting the hand up, before pulling Alessa's arm around her as they started walking. ”No you,” she giggled before sticking her tongue out briefly.

‘Lily, you are lovely,’ Alessa insisted, smiling widely as she pulled the younger girl closer to her. ‘You’re a lovely, little... you’re a cutie pie,’ she settled on. “Dino-girl” would probably be a bit on the nose in public. But even so... this was nice, actually. This was a really nice day, and she was enjoying herself much more than she’d enjoyed, well, most stuff recently.

Lillian snorted before humming slightly as they walked, content to walk in silence back to HQ. And they did, with little fanfare other than their back-and-forth about who was nicer, right back to Lillian’s room. And... was that going to be it? Because Alessa rather wanted to keep chatting with her.

‘Erm... okay, I know you said stuff about it being messy in there earlier,’ she uttered, wringing her hands as if unsure how to broach the topic, ‘but, well... I’d, uh... I’d like to help you out, here. With cleaning, or with whatever you think is best. And... cuddling, maybe.’ There, she’d said it. Not without blushing, but she’d done it.

A wry smile lifted Lillian's lips as she opened the door with a wiggle of her eyebrows and entered, leaving it open for Alessa.

Inside it was indeed a mess. Textbooks were scattered on and around a desk against the wall, her costume was laying on the little bed, and it looked like the clothes from the weekend were scattered across the floor.

”I, uhhh, had a busy weekend?” she said, amused. ”It's not…. That bad, really, I just haven't had a chance to actually do much other than go go go.”

Well, she hadn’t been joking. Alessa was well aware of how hard they’d been working lately. Especially with... well, now wasn’t the time to think about that.

‘It looks just fine to me,’ Alessa said, smiling a little as she hugged Lillian. ‘Anyways, I said cuddling, and I meant i- well, if there was anything else you had in mind, of course that works too,’ she backpedalled slightly, ‘but I feel like cuddling with you is a good start to things. Or a good addition to them, perhaps?’

”Alessa… Shut up and kiss me already.”

‘...heheheh. I guess it is just that simple, huh?’ she asked, leaning in to smooch her girlfriend on the lips.

Lillian smiled as she leaned forward to feel those warm, soft lips against hers.