4.5
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2015
- Messages
- 762
- Likes received
- 6,298
And finally chapter 4.5 is readied for release.
As always, credit to Ziplopz for betareading this chapter.
WARNING: RAGE BECAUSE COIL.
------
Chapter 4.5
------
Walking down the street of Brockton Bay's downtown, I looked out for any signs of trouble from the gangs and criminals as well as giving a heroic smile to civilians and tourists. While today marked the second day for my patrol in Brockton Bay, I certainly wasn't expecting anything as catastrophic as...my first day.
But…
A Ward patrol is usually a two-men team, right?
So...why am I paired together with not just Glory Girl, but also Vista?
While Glory Girl wasn't really part of Brockton Bay Ward, the schedule was arranged so that she will be paired with at least one Ward for safety reasons during patrol. So having a three-men team here was very unusual and only for special circumstances.
It didn't take much for me to figure out what the special circumstance was.
"Batter Seven?" I heard a young female voice and looked up. It's Glory Girl, floating a couple feet above the ground.
"Are you alright? You look like you were out of it for a second there." in a single step, she walked from the rooftop of the building behind us to right besides me.
"I'm fine. Just thinking about things." I waved their worries off.
"Hm? Like what~?" Glory Girl asked curiously.
"Like...how it felt like I'm the one being protected instead of the citizens of Brockton Bay by you two?" they both looked dejected from my words.
"Batter, we were worried about you. You do have to understand that what happened on your first day was not the usua-"
"Then why are you two looking after me like babysitters?" I crossed my arms and looked into their eyes, seeing them filled with concern.
"I just don't want that to-"
"To what, Glory Girl? You got nothing to apologize about for that incident. It's my fault and mine alone that I didn't run fast eno-"
"Dammit, Batter!" I was taken back when Vista yelled out loud, the little girl had a really big pair of lungs to talk with.
"I know I'm the youngest Ward in Brockton Bay, but that doesn't mean I don't feel responsible for your safety when you got hurt in the same Ward team I'm in!" she cried.
"Vista, I-"
"I may not be the leader, but I still have 2 fucking years of seniority over you. So, yeah. I felt pretty responsible for this incident." she sighed, "And in a way, I am kinda responsible because I asked Aegis to arrange the schedule so mountain peaks here didn't get to patrol with Gallant for at least a while."
Glory Girl looked at her with a face of admiration, "You abused your authority just to keep my boyfriend away from me? Cool! You really are more than a usual 12 years old!"
"Of course I am!" Vista puffed her chest proudly.
I'm pretty sure that's the first, last and only time that I heard someone commented 'Cool' to the person that's trying to steal their boyfriend.
"Well...thank you, Vista."
"No problem!" she said proudly.
"So, do we continue our patrol now or?" I asked.
"Actually...I have something to tell you." Glory Girl replied.
"Hm? About what?"
"I...how do I put this?" she sighed, "There's another reason why I'm helping you out."
What could she mean by that?
"You are not the only one who had a really bad day." she said.
I raised my eyebrows at that one.
"You mean the one time that you got hurt after getting your power and got your sister to trigger as well?" Vista added.
What the hell kind of incident would hurt Miss Invincible here so badly it caused Amy to trigger!? Sure, Amy is a second-generation cape, but if her power to manipulate biology has anything to do with this…
"That sounds pretty bad." I grimaced
"It...was." she crossed her arm and her downcast face had a look of melancholy.
"The New Wave attended a local fundraising event that day for cancer awareness, and since I triggered two weeks ago, mom figured that this would be a good experience for me. Oh how wrong she was about that..." she chuckled, but more at the ironic than the hilarity.
"I was quite excited for that day to be honest. Wearing my costume and flying above the street was a dream of mine for a long time. So I had high hopes for that day, so much that I forgot to wear safety shorts until mom realised it when I was above her. I pretty much flashed everyone that day…" she added, scratching her cheek in embarrassment.
I chuckled as well at that memory, I'm fairly sure most skirt-wearing superheroes had that problem before. But...this will only make the next part more painful, won't it?
"After a while, I asked mom if I could fly around the city on my own. I just wanted to spread my wings so much. But mom declined until Amy volunteered to call for help if I got into trouble."
"That decision from her saved my life."
"What happened? Did you....get into trouble?"
She sighed, "Yup…"
"I should have known it was suspicious that a woman standing so close to a dirty alley was waving at me, but...I was blind back then and even now I…"
I placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it, hoping that would comfort her.
"The first thing that happened to me was getting thrown into the alley and if not for my power, getting my eyes stabbed out. Immediately, I fought back, but no matter how I swung my fist, it won't connect. And I just kept getting angrier and angrier until I lost sight of where I was."
"I didn't know a shady alley could be this dark until the woman sunk her knife into my chest."
What!?
"Aren't you-"
"Invincible? Tough? That's what I thought." she grimaced, "I guess I was very wrong about that fact."
"So I was lying on the ground, bleeding to death because my heart got fucking stabbed. I was...crying, I don't remember what I said, but it was probably something embarrassing and depressing." I noticed tears began to swell at the edge of her blue eyes.
I had prepared napkins for situation like this ever since that one incident.
"Then I saw more of them bringing Amy in, putting a knife at her throat. All I could remember was that I told them I would do anything for them to let my sister go, begging for them to at least let Amy live."
"They...complied." her voice was shaking in fear, this is not good.
"Glory Girl, calm down. We have time here, say what you want slowly."
She took my advice and slowed down her breathing. Eventually, she continued, "You might think, what could possibly be worse than bleeding to death? Well, turns out that this group was a part of the Teeth and the Teeth worked with Slaughterhouse 9 before..."
"Needless to say, it was bad. So bad I can't actually remember any of it besides red everywhere." tears streamed down her cheek, "I was going to die, had a miracle not happened.."
This...was really bad.
"But…" she smiled, even with tears flowing down her eyes, "After I passed out, I felt...tears on my face, kinda like now I guess."
"It was Amy crying on top of me, and I saw my body pulling itself together after what they had...done. That's when I realised Amy has triggered because of me."
"Because of my failure as both a sister and a hero." she frowned.
Damn, I have to say something about this but...what else can I say?
...Maybe.
"Glory Girl."
"Hm?"
"Well, it is your fault, true. But you survived and learned to be better from this incident. And even if you felt like you didn't learnt anything at all because of my incident, continue to learn from those mistakes. It will pay off one day." I encouraged her.
"I...thanks, thank you, Batter." her smile widened, "I guess I just needed someone to hear about this and tell me what to do. I felt much better now. Thank you."
"Anyway, after that happened and all the crying and sad hugging between Amy and I, the rest of the New Wave came to get us. They had quite a surprise when they realised I was wearing nothing at all. You know, because I got torn apart brutally?"
On one hand, she basically said that she was almost murdered so brutally, it would require a closed casket burial. On the other hand, the mental image in my mind was absolutely hilarious.
"That's also when I realised my cousin is gay because Shielder was merely shocked while Laserdream was blushing like a cherry. But hey, I got off lucky if all I get from the incident was being joked about for a couple weeks. I meant, I saw my insides at one point!"
I really didn't want to laugh because it's so damn morbid, but, "Goddammit, Glory Girl!"
"No probl-Vista, what are you doing?"
"Giving you a hug, you big dummy." with her short arms, Vista hugged Glory Girl's waist as tightly as she could, "I still triggered a whole years ahead of you. So as your senior, I'm responsible for your safety too!"
That...was an adorable and brave statement from Vista, but the whole situation would have been better if she was tall enough to not sink her whole face into Glory Girl's chest instead...
Hmm…
"Erm thank you, Vista but could you let me-Batter what are you doing!?"
"Giving you a hug, you big dummy." and from behind her, I put my arms to the front and hugged her tightly. I also took care to not touch her hip with mine because that would be awkward.
"Come on, guys! Let go! This is embarrassing!" Glory Girl pleaded and wiggled in our tight hugs.
"Nuuuuu, you absolutely need this hug." Vista denied.
"Yesssss, embrace the hug." I agreed.
"Guys?" Glory Girl asked worriedly.
"Hugsssss." both Vista and I chanted the words as if we were both descended from some sort of cult that practised hugging to appease their unholy dark God, truly the best cult ever.
"How did you synchronise with Vista so well in less than a week!?"
"Strange minds think alike." I grinned and Vista's muffled giggle can be heard from her chest.
When it became clear that we won't let go, she revealed her trump card, "Okay, if you guys don't let go of me in 10 seconds, I am going to fly until you two can't see the ground."
I quickly let go but Vista held on until Glory Girl almost counted to 10.
She could only sigh at our combined antic, "Thanks for that anyway. I really need it…"
"We are heroes, right? If we can't help each other, then how are we supposed to help the civilians?" I smiled, and so did they.
"So, continue our patrol?" Vista asked.
"Sure...Wait, what's the time now?"
She looked down on her own Ward standard issue communication watch, "It's now...4:33 PM."
...Wait, shit, only a minute left!?
"Wait a second, I need to check something." I quickly turned with my back towards them and pulled out the card from my pocket. I felt as if something was gripping my heart as I stared at the 'C' symbol, and slowly flipped the card.
It was blank, as there's ten seconds before 4:34 PM.
Nine...Eight...Seven...Six...Five...Four...Three...Two...One!
Black letters materialized against the white background of the card and they said…
[Eat some ice-cream and chill.]
...
What.
"Hey look! Ice-cream truck!" Glory Girl said and I looked towards where she pointed. It was an honest-to-God ice-cream truck with a giant pink ice-cream decoration on top of the truck.
"Want to take a break, Batter, Glory Girl?" Vista asked, clearly hoping to get some ice-cream.
Before I could say anything, Glory Girl tackled me and all I saw was a adorable puppy-eyes look that might get really sad if I said no.
I really can't say no to that cute expression at all.
We then went down from the roof and bought some ice-cream from the ice-cream man who was very surprised at our presence. Glory Girl went for a lemon ice-cream (apparently she liked fruity dessert). Vista went for coffee for an 'adult' taste but her eye kept shifting towards strawberry. And I went for chocolate and vanilla mix with chocolate sprinkle because chocolate is great, always.
It wasn't long before tourists started gathering and took pictures of us eating ice-cream, and the ice-cream man was soon overwhelmed by the sheer amount of customers buying his stock.
"Is it really okay for us to sneak away from our duty like this?"
"Well, we are the Wards. But we are still a bunch of kids, so it's fine!" Vista shrugged.
I smiled at her before taking another lick of the ice-cream. Silently, I took out the card again and saw the order being changed.
[Stay calm and wait.]
Who the fuck wrote this damn thing!? Is this some kind of prank!? Was there something in the ice-cream!? Is it actually a lie!? Is the ice-cream man secretly a spy!? And wait for what exactly!?
Sigh…
I looked towards the direction of the voice and saw two tall figures wearing overcoats and fedoras. Definitely parahuman for the sheer out-of-place-ness of their costume.
"Who are you two?" I drew out my tinker bat.
"Our name don't matter for now, but don't you three think that wearing that dress for a fight would be too silly?" the slightly taller one answered.
"Hey! It's a not a dress! It's a combat skirt!" Glory Girl declared as she crossed her arms.
"Yeah!" with her power, Vista zipped from my side to Glory Girl's side before slapping her hand in agreement.
"Come on, Batter. Add something in!"
"Erm...I only wear skirt because that one incident and the alternative would be to wear those skin tight spandex…" I sheepishly said.
"Yeah, I understand that...I have to exercise everyday just to make sure my figure isn't out of order." Glory Girl shrugged understandably. "The fact that my costume has no protective layer does not help at all as it get even thinner."
"But your skirt is so short, you will flash anyone just by moving around anyway." Vista argued.
Apparently my face could get even more redder.
"Well then, it won't be silly for us to wear skirts too then!"
Wait what.
That's when they took their overcoat off and the girls started screaming.
…
WHY THE HELL ARE THEY BOTH COSPLAYING ME!?!?
------
Lily (Flechette)
When she woke up, her head felt dizzy and her body cold from the worsening fever. Her eyes could only see blobs of colours as they refocused back to normal, only to find herself being in a grey walled room with no windows and a single metal door. The only thing that accompanied her here was a metal table and the metal chair she was sitting.
Immediately she panicked, tried to pull her arms out of the metal cuffs but her power just won't work as if...there's some sort of power nullifier around! While she struggled in her bond, she felt an uncomfortable tightness around her neck. Of course it's a fucking power nullifying collar, fucking nightmare fuel fetishist.
She continued to struggle before she heard the metal door slide open and saw a man dressed in a black suit with an image of white snake coiled around his body, followed by two of his guards wearing full military equipment in black with their faces covered by balaclava.
"I see you woke up just in time." the man in costume said.
"Who are you!?" she acted tough, but her shaky voice broke that facade in an instant.
The man simply laughed at her reply, "For normal occasions, I won't tell my name to dead people, but I will make an exception to this."
She felt her hands pressed down by his weight as the man leaned forward to her face, "I'm Coil."
Coil? Who is thi-
She gulped down her saliva but all it did was make her fear worse.
One of his guard gave him a folder with unknown documents inside and he slowly took the content out, placing them neatly on the table. She was wondering what was written on those documents until he picked one up to read it.
"Lily Takeshi, 16 years old, 3.21 GPA, has two siblings, one little brother and an elder sister. Wait, had. Due to financial pressure, your parents divorced and sent you to foster care. You triggered sometime after that."
"Joined New York Ward in 2008, deployed to San Francisco, Maine, Baltimore, Detroit and Miami before finally Brockton Bay. Have the power to imbue an object with the effect of ignoring all outside force and matters."
He looked up from the file and towards her, "And has no friends besides that freak."
"No one will know where you are when you're hidden underneath their feet, little girl. So why don't you just do me a favour and say you will give yourself to me?"
"No."
"How adamant."
In his hand, she saw a thumb sized remote and the man pressed it.
"Now?"
Again, she slumped forward as her limbs started to feel numb from the electricity..
"I can do this all day."
Before she can even answer, the man already pressed the remote.
"I'm going to assume you will still say no even after an hour of this. So, I have another thing up my sleeve."
There's something even worse than this!?
"Considering you are my last subject before my departure to elsewhere, I want you to guess what my power is that let me hide so well underneath the radar?"
"...Stranger?"
"Wrong."
He pressed the remote as she screamed, thrashing in her bonds.
…
"Precog." she weakly answered.
"Close enough! You see...No, I see the world from multiple perspectives, and I can do different things in each world separately. In one world, I chose to do nothing but sitting in my office, working on paperwork and drink a cup of coffee from my most favourite mug. In the other worlds…"
"I do believe you are not the first one here either, who was it last week again? Is it that Middle-Easterner or that white supremacist mom? It was fun watching how far she would go for her baby."
"Please...no…"
He raised up his finger, "But wait! There's more! How's today's lunch, Lily?"
The...lunch?
"Finally some energy in that beautiful voice of yours! And yes, my men did put something in there. Well, technically she would like to think herself as a woman but the thing between her legs disagreed."
"Anyway, still remember Hookwolf, the one that ripped an arm and leg off your friend?"
"Well, on the day of your arrival, my men caught that dog in a cage and we gave him the same drug my men put in your drink. It's a tinkertech drug that caused anyone that consumes it to be extremely obedient to the first voice they heard."
"I said catch, Hookwolf catches. I said handshake, Hookwolf gives handshake. I said kill...Hookwolf almost got it right the first time. But the side effect of the drug is that the consumer will and could only do the order as they completely lost any free will to control themselves."
"Because I don't know? I'm trying to fuck your mind maybe? Seeing young girls like you to break down in from me make my blood rush. Or maybe I'm just trying to get you to second trigger. Ah wait, that is not happening now that you even think about getting a second trigger."
"But most importantly! Fuck that crossdresser for ruining everything I have planned for this city as soon as he arrived. I even have to go into hiding because the Protectorate somehow knew my true identity days ago and I doubt that's just a contrived coincidence!"
Heh, of course it would be him that somehow saved the da-
"You fucking-"
"Acting tough now huh? Let see if you like this." he snapped his fingers.
…
She panted in relief that while the worst wasn't over, she can at least relax for now. Quickly, she tried to remember every single thing she learned from her Ward training to figure out how to get out of here. She didn't planned to be a damsel in distress after all.
Though with that said, Drake is probably looking for her right now.
Maybe. Probably. Not really sure.
…
Guess she just needed to wait for a while, so she settled with glaring daggers at the guards instead.
"Why are you giving me the hard part!?" the guard on the right complained.
"Because I'm your 'commanding officer' last night." the 'officer' left quickly and the metal door closed.
And once again the silence came.
"Don't look at me like that, it's nothing personal. Just a job."
The metal door slid open.
------
Author Note: Yay roller coaster.
And there will be a loopy loop in the next few chapters!
This is going to be the BEST RIDE EVER.
As always, credit to Ziplopz for betareading this chapter.
WARNING: RAGE BECAUSE COIL.
------
Chapter 4.5
------
Walking down the street of Brockton Bay's downtown, I looked out for any signs of trouble from the gangs and criminals as well as giving a heroic smile to civilians and tourists. While today marked the second day for my patrol in Brockton Bay, I certainly wasn't expecting anything as catastrophic as...my first day.
But…
A Ward patrol is usually a two-men team, right?
So...why am I paired together with not just Glory Girl, but also Vista?
While Glory Girl wasn't really part of Brockton Bay Ward, the schedule was arranged so that she will be paired with at least one Ward for safety reasons during patrol. So having a three-men team here was very unusual and only for special circumstances.
It didn't take much for me to figure out what the special circumstance was.
"Batter Seven?" I heard a young female voice and looked up. It's Glory Girl, floating a couple feet above the ground.
"Are you alright? You look like you were out of it for a second there." in a single step, she walked from the rooftop of the building behind us to right besides me.
"I'm fine. Just thinking about things." I waved their worries off.
"Hm? Like what~?" Glory Girl asked curiously.
"Like...how it felt like I'm the one being protected instead of the citizens of Brockton Bay by you two?" they both looked dejected from my words.
"Batter, we were worried about you. You do have to understand that what happened on your first day was not the usua-"
"Then why are you two looking after me like babysitters?" I crossed my arms and looked into their eyes, seeing them filled with concern.
"I just don't want that to-"
"To what, Glory Girl? You got nothing to apologize about for that incident. It's my fault and mine alone that I didn't run fast eno-"
"Dammit, Batter!" I was taken back when Vista yelled out loud, the little girl had a really big pair of lungs to talk with.
"I know I'm the youngest Ward in Brockton Bay, but that doesn't mean I don't feel responsible for your safety when you got hurt in the same Ward team I'm in!" she cried.
"Vista, I-"
"I may not be the leader, but I still have 2 fucking years of seniority over you. So, yeah. I felt pretty responsible for this incident." she sighed, "And in a way, I am kinda responsible because I asked Aegis to arrange the schedule so mountain peaks here didn't get to patrol with Gallant for at least a while."
Glory Girl looked at her with a face of admiration, "You abused your authority just to keep my boyfriend away from me? Cool! You really are more than a usual 12 years old!"
"Of course I am!" Vista puffed her chest proudly.
I'm pretty sure that's the first, last and only time that I heard someone commented 'Cool' to the person that's trying to steal their boyfriend.
"Well...thank you, Vista."
"No problem!" she said proudly.
"So, do we continue our patrol now or?" I asked.
"Actually...I have something to tell you." Glory Girl replied.
"Hm? About what?"
"I...how do I put this?" she sighed, "There's another reason why I'm helping you out."
What could she mean by that?
"You are not the only one who had a really bad day." she said.
I raised my eyebrows at that one.
"You mean the one time that you got hurt after getting your power and got your sister to trigger as well?" Vista added.
What the hell kind of incident would hurt Miss Invincible here so badly it caused Amy to trigger!? Sure, Amy is a second-generation cape, but if her power to manipulate biology has anything to do with this…
"That sounds pretty bad." I grimaced
"It...was." she crossed her arm and her downcast face had a look of melancholy.
"The New Wave attended a local fundraising event that day for cancer awareness, and since I triggered two weeks ago, mom figured that this would be a good experience for me. Oh how wrong she was about that..." she chuckled, but more at the ironic than the hilarity.
"I was quite excited for that day to be honest. Wearing my costume and flying above the street was a dream of mine for a long time. So I had high hopes for that day, so much that I forgot to wear safety shorts until mom realised it when I was above her. I pretty much flashed everyone that day…" she added, scratching her cheek in embarrassment.
I chuckled as well at that memory, I'm fairly sure most skirt-wearing superheroes had that problem before. But...this will only make the next part more painful, won't it?
"After a while, I asked mom if I could fly around the city on my own. I just wanted to spread my wings so much. But mom declined until Amy volunteered to call for help if I got into trouble."
"That decision from her saved my life."
"What happened? Did you....get into trouble?"
She sighed, "Yup…"
"I should have known it was suspicious that a woman standing so close to a dirty alley was waving at me, but...I was blind back then and even now I…"
I placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it, hoping that would comfort her.
"The first thing that happened to me was getting thrown into the alley and if not for my power, getting my eyes stabbed out. Immediately, I fought back, but no matter how I swung my fist, it won't connect. And I just kept getting angrier and angrier until I lost sight of where I was."
"I didn't know a shady alley could be this dark until the woman sunk her knife into my chest."
What!?
"Aren't you-"
"Invincible? Tough? That's what I thought." she grimaced, "I guess I was very wrong about that fact."
"So I was lying on the ground, bleeding to death because my heart got fucking stabbed. I was...crying, I don't remember what I said, but it was probably something embarrassing and depressing." I noticed tears began to swell at the edge of her blue eyes.
I had prepared napkins for situation like this ever since that one incident.
"Then I saw more of them bringing Amy in, putting a knife at her throat. All I could remember was that I told them I would do anything for them to let my sister go, begging for them to at least let Amy live."
"They...complied." her voice was shaking in fear, this is not good.
"Glory Girl, calm down. We have time here, say what you want slowly."
She took my advice and slowed down her breathing. Eventually, she continued, "You might think, what could possibly be worse than bleeding to death? Well, turns out that this group was a part of the Teeth and the Teeth worked with Slaughterhouse 9 before..."
"Needless to say, it was bad. So bad I can't actually remember any of it besides red everywhere." tears streamed down her cheek, "I was going to die, had a miracle not happened.."
This...was really bad.
"But…" she smiled, even with tears flowing down her eyes, "After I passed out, I felt...tears on my face, kinda like now I guess."
"It was Amy crying on top of me, and I saw my body pulling itself together after what they had...done. That's when I realised Amy has triggered because of me."
"Because of my failure as both a sister and a hero." she frowned.
Damn, I have to say something about this but...what else can I say?
...Maybe.
"Glory Girl."
"Hm?"
"Well, it is your fault, true. But you survived and learned to be better from this incident. And even if you felt like you didn't learnt anything at all because of my incident, continue to learn from those mistakes. It will pay off one day." I encouraged her.
"I...thanks, thank you, Batter." her smile widened, "I guess I just needed someone to hear about this and tell me what to do. I felt much better now. Thank you."
"Anyway, after that happened and all the crying and sad hugging between Amy and I, the rest of the New Wave came to get us. They had quite a surprise when they realised I was wearing nothing at all. You know, because I got torn apart brutally?"
On one hand, she basically said that she was almost murdered so brutally, it would require a closed casket burial. On the other hand, the mental image in my mind was absolutely hilarious.
"That's also when I realised my cousin is gay because Shielder was merely shocked while Laserdream was blushing like a cherry. But hey, I got off lucky if all I get from the incident was being joked about for a couple weeks. I meant, I saw my insides at one point!"
I really didn't want to laugh because it's so damn morbid, but, "Goddammit, Glory Girl!"
[Priority: Gold]
"What? I have been through a traumatic incident, at least I can have my right to joke about it all I want!" she pouted, "But...while I still get images of those incident in my dream weeks after the incident, having Amy besides me make those memories less painful. It still happens sometimes, but not as often as before now."[Social Link?]
"What I want to say is I want to help you like how Amy did for me. I might not be as good as her at this, but I will try." she said.[Confirmed]
"I...really appreciate that. Thank you, Glory Girl.""No probl-Vista, what are you doing?"
"Giving you a hug, you big dummy." with her short arms, Vista hugged Glory Girl's waist as tightly as she could, "I still triggered a whole years ahead of you. So as your senior, I'm responsible for your safety too!"
That...was an adorable and brave statement from Vista, but the whole situation would have been better if she was tall enough to not sink her whole face into Glory Girl's chest instead...
Hmm…
"Erm thank you, Vista but could you let me-Batter what are you doing!?"
"Giving you a hug, you big dummy." and from behind her, I put my arms to the front and hugged her tightly. I also took care to not touch her hip with mine because that would be awkward.
"Come on, guys! Let go! This is embarrassing!" Glory Girl pleaded and wiggled in our tight hugs.
"Nuuuuu, you absolutely need this hug." Vista denied.
"Yesssss, embrace the hug." I agreed.
"Guys?" Glory Girl asked worriedly.
"Hugsssss." both Vista and I chanted the words as if we were both descended from some sort of cult that practised hugging to appease their unholy dark God, truly the best cult ever.
"How did you synchronise with Vista so well in less than a week!?"
"Strange minds think alike." I grinned and Vista's muffled giggle can be heard from her chest.
When it became clear that we won't let go, she revealed her trump card, "Okay, if you guys don't let go of me in 10 seconds, I am going to fly until you two can't see the ground."
I quickly let go but Vista held on until Glory Girl almost counted to 10.
She could only sigh at our combined antic, "Thanks for that anyway. I really need it…"
"We are heroes, right? If we can't help each other, then how are we supposed to help the civilians?" I smiled, and so did they.
"So, continue our patrol?" Vista asked.
"Sure...Wait, what's the time now?"
She looked down on her own Ward standard issue communication watch, "It's now...4:33 PM."
...Wait, shit, only a minute left!?
"Wait a second, I need to check something." I quickly turned with my back towards them and pulled out the card from my pocket. I felt as if something was gripping my heart as I stared at the 'C' symbol, and slowly flipped the card.
It was blank, as there's ten seconds before 4:34 PM.
Nine...Eight...Seven...Six...Five...Four...Three...Two...One!
Black letters materialized against the white background of the card and they said…
[Eat some ice-cream and chill.]
...
What.
"Hey look! Ice-cream truck!" Glory Girl said and I looked towards where she pointed. It was an honest-to-God ice-cream truck with a giant pink ice-cream decoration on top of the truck.
"Want to take a break, Batter, Glory Girl?" Vista asked, clearly hoping to get some ice-cream.
Before I could say anything, Glory Girl tackled me and all I saw was a adorable puppy-eyes look that might get really sad if I said no.
I really can't say no to that cute expression at all.
We then went down from the roof and bought some ice-cream from the ice-cream man who was very surprised at our presence. Glory Girl went for a lemon ice-cream (apparently she liked fruity dessert). Vista went for coffee for an 'adult' taste but her eye kept shifting towards strawberry. And I went for chocolate and vanilla mix with chocolate sprinkle because chocolate is great, always.
It wasn't long before tourists started gathering and took pictures of us eating ice-cream, and the ice-cream man was soon overwhelmed by the sheer amount of customers buying his stock.
"Is it really okay for us to sneak away from our duty like this?"
"Well, we are the Wards. But we are still a bunch of kids, so it's fine!" Vista shrugged.
I smiled at her before taking another lick of the ice-cream. Silently, I took out the card again and saw the order being changed.
[Stay calm and wait.]
Who the fuck wrote this damn thing!? Is this some kind of prank!? Was there something in the ice-cream!? Is it actually a lie!? Is the ice-cream man secretly a spy!? And wait for what exactly!?
Sigh…
[Infinite Degrading Potential detected][Omni-Skills Practitioner detected]
"Well well well, what do we have here?" a masculine voice armed with a hidden threat spoke through the crowd.I looked towards the direction of the voice and saw two tall figures wearing overcoats and fedoras. Definitely parahuman for the sheer out-of-place-ness of their costume.
"Who are you two?" I drew out my tinker bat.
"Our name don't matter for now, but don't you three think that wearing that dress for a fight would be too silly?" the slightly taller one answered.
"Hey! It's a not a dress! It's a combat skirt!" Glory Girl declared as she crossed her arms.
"Yeah!" with her power, Vista zipped from my side to Glory Girl's side before slapping her hand in agreement.
"Come on, Batter. Add something in!"
"Erm...I only wear skirt because that one incident and the alternative would be to wear those skin tight spandex…" I sheepishly said.
"Yeah, I understand that...I have to exercise everyday just to make sure my figure isn't out of order." Glory Girl shrugged understandably. "The fact that my costume has no protective layer does not help at all as it get even thinner."
"But your skirt is so short, you will flash anyone just by moving around anyway." Vista argued.
Apparently my face could get even more redder.
"Well then, it won't be silly for us to wear skirts too then!"
Wait what.
That's when they took their overcoat off and the girls started screaming.
…
WHY THE HELL ARE THEY BOTH COSPLAYING ME!?!?
------
Lily (Flechette)
When she woke up, her head felt dizzy and her body cold from the worsening fever. Her eyes could only see blobs of colours as they refocused back to normal, only to find herself being in a grey walled room with no windows and a single metal door. The only thing that accompanied her here was a metal table and the metal chair she was sitting.
,
She also found herself locked on the metal chair and stripped down to her underwear.Immediately she panicked, tried to pull her arms out of the metal cuffs but her power just won't work as if...there's some sort of power nullifier around! While she struggled in her bond, she felt an uncomfortable tightness around her neck. Of course it's a fucking power nullifying collar, fucking nightmare fuel fetishist.
She continued to struggle before she heard the metal door slide open and saw a man dressed in a black suit with an image of white snake coiled around his body, followed by two of his guards wearing full military equipment in black with their faces covered by balaclava.
"I see you woke up just in time." the man in costume said.
"Who are you!?" she acted tough, but her shaky voice broke that facade in an instant.
The man simply laughed at her reply, "For normal occasions, I won't tell my name to dead people, but I will make an exception to this."
She felt her hands pressed down by his weight as the man leaned forward to her face, "I'm Coil."
Coil? Who is thi-
,.
"Never heard of me? Exactly how I like it!" he stepped back and spread his arm upward, "No one will need to know about my existence until they have already been poisoned from within."She gulped down her saliva but all it did was make her fear worse.
One of his guard gave him a folder with unknown documents inside and he slowly took the content out, placing them neatly on the table. She was wondering what was written on those documents until he picked one up to read it.
"Lily Takeshi, 16 years old, 3.21 GPA, has two siblings, one little brother and an elder sister. Wait, had. Due to financial pressure, your parents divorced and sent you to foster care. You triggered sometime after that."
,
How did he kno-"Joined New York Ward in 2008, deployed to San Francisco, Maine, Baltimore, Detroit and Miami before finally Brockton Bay. Have the power to imbue an object with the effect of ignoring all outside force and matters."
He looked up from the file and towards her, "And has no friends besides that freak."
;,'
She clenched her teeth."No one will know where you are when you're hidden underneath their feet, little girl. So why don't you just do me a favour and say you will give yourself to me?"
"No."
"How adamant."
In his hand, she saw a thumb sized remote and the man pressed it.
,';;
She screamed as she felt electricity shocking her body painfully, her wrists and ankles bruised as her muscles spasmed violently around the cuffs. Her whole body slumped forward as it stopped and she felt warm liquid trickling down her legs."Now?"
.,;
She shook her head and felt another burst of electricity.Again, she slumped forward as her limbs started to feel numb from the electricity..
"I can do this all day."
Before she can even answer, the man already pressed the remote.
,.
As the electricity stopped, two lines of tears trickled down her cheek and dripped onto the floor. The man watched with glee as she cried in the sheer hopeless of the situation."I'm going to assume you will still say no even after an hour of this. So, I have another thing up my sleeve."
There's something even worse than this!?
"Considering you are my last subject before my departure to elsewhere, I want you to guess what my power is that let me hide so well underneath the radar?"
"...Stranger?"
"Wrong."
He pressed the remote as she screamed, thrashing in her bonds.
.,;
"Did I mention you will be electrocuted for wrong answer? I guess not." the man gleefully said, and she really couldn't tell whether he's faking his emotion or he's really happy that he can torture an adolescent however he wants because he knows he won't get any repercussion at...all...…
"Precog." she weakly answered.
"Close enough! You see...No, I see the world from multiple perspectives, and I can do different things in each world separately. In one world, I chose to do nothing but sitting in my office, working on paperwork and drink a cup of coffee from my most favourite mug. In the other worlds…"
;,';,'';.'
He stepped towards her and placed his hand on her thigh, "I can do…" his hand slowly crept up her thigh, "Whatever I want.".,;
Tears ran down her face again but she felt no more strength left in her to scream."I do believe you are not the first one here either, who was it last week again? Is it that Middle-Easterner or that white supremacist mom? It was fun watching how far she would go for her baby."
"Please...no…"
He raised up his finger, "But wait! There's more! How's today's lunch, Lily?"
The...lunch?
.''.
"You put something in there!?""Finally some energy in that beautiful voice of yours! And yes, my men did put something in there. Well, technically she would like to think herself as a woman but the thing between her legs disagreed."
"Anyway, still remember Hookwolf, the one that ripped an arm and leg off your friend?"
/.
She glared at him in silent."Well, on the day of your arrival, my men caught that dog in a cage and we gave him the same drug my men put in your drink. It's a tinkertech drug that caused anyone that consumes it to be extremely obedient to the first voice they heard."
,;';;,'./
She wanted to scream but nothing came out."I said catch, Hookwolf catches. I said handshake, Hookwolf gives handshake. I said kill...Hookwolf almost got it right the first time. But the side effect of the drug is that the consumer will and could only do the order as they completely lost any free will to control themselves."
',;',;'
He continued "The new Hookwolf is now less of a metal wolf and more a wolf-looking robot. But that damn dog managed to lose the com device so I can't even order it to not die from starving anymore. Shame that I can't use it on that talkative bitch either because it would make her too stupid to answer my question, but there's only so much you can ask for in one life."';,.,
"As for you. In…" he checked his watch, "In one hour, you will obey every single orders from me no matter how repulsive nor merciless. Up to and including executing every single one of your friends brutally, including him.",;',',;',/,,;'/
"Why!?" she weakly yelled."Because I don't know? I'm trying to fuck your mind maybe? Seeing young girls like you to break down in from me make my blood rush. Or maybe I'm just trying to get you to second trigger. Ah wait, that is not happening now that you even think about getting a second trigger."
;'.
Motherfucker, he's right! Second trigger was basically similar to first tigger except worse, and just by thinking about it made the chance of getting it next to zero,"But most importantly! Fuck that crossdresser for ruining everything I have planned for this city as soon as he arrived. I even have to go into hiding because the Protectorate somehow knew my true identity days ago and I doubt that's just a contrived coincidence!"
Heh, of course it would be him that somehow saved the da-
.,';,
Her vision suddenly blurred as something hit her face hard. When she recovered, she felt a warmth and numbness residing on her left cheek as Coil rubbed his right hand..,
He jabbed his finger at her chest, "And you, are going to end him. Either way, whether or not you succeed, this is going to be big for him."';,
Despite tasting iron on her tongue and physically restrained onto a chair, she felt power on her side and spat blood to his face instead."You fucking-"
,.'
She laughed, she didn't know how she still had energy left to laugh but she did, "Drake took on a fucking S-class threat on his own. Some third-rate supervillain like you that has to hide like a rat won't be a match for him.".,';,;,
Another punch, she felt numbness and pain on her right cheek. And another, and another, and another. Each one felt heavier than the last and she felt closer to unconsciousness with each punch.,;',;'/,./;
But even with all that, the man couldn't break her smile at all."Acting tough now huh? Let see if you like this." he snapped his fingers.
,;',;/,;'',;,',
Another guard of his rolled a surgical tool kit on the table, she struggled against the cuffs as Coil pulled out a thumb-sized cylindrical device.,.,/',;',,/,';,'
"Tell me." he stepped towards her, "Are you left handed or right?",/.';,';,';,/;,';,',';,',
"Fuck off!" she struggled as he tried to put it around her ring finger...,.';,,;',;',
A knock on the door stopped that.,',';,',;
"What now!?".,';
Another soldier walked in as the door slid open, the man whispered something to Coil. Something about what the soldier said made the man took a step back..;
"You two, make sure she doesn't go anywhere." he quickly left the room and the metal room sealed with a loud thump on its own.…
She panted in relief that while the worst wasn't over, she can at least relax for now. Quickly, she tried to remember every single thing she learned from her Ward training to figure out how to get out of here. She didn't planned to be a damsel in distress after all.
Though with that said, Drake is probably looking for her right now.
Maybe. Probably. Not really sure.
…
Guess she just needed to wait for a while, so she settled with glaring daggers at the guards instead.
;,'
"I'm going to the washroom. Look after her." the guard on the left said with a rather feminine voice."Why are you giving me the hard part!?" the guard on the right complained.
"Because I'm your 'commanding officer' last night." the 'officer' left quickly and the metal door closed.
And once again the silence came.
"Don't look at me like that, it's nothing personal. Just a job."
/.,';
'It's nothing personal.' she didn't like that phrase at all, it's like supervillains thought that they can get away with anything by saying that. And then when the Protectorate arrested them, they all cried about how government were all heartless fuckers and the bad guys all had their families to look after for. So the victims of the families you killed didn't matter then? Bunches of mass-murdering hypocrites, all supervillains should fucking go to hell.The metal door slid open.
.,/;
"Finally you ar-" the guard didn't have time to answer when he received a punch to the face, knocking him out to the floor in one strike. She slowly looked up from the fallen guard and saw a person wearing the same military uniform as the woman that went away. The woman took off her balaclava and she recognized her face.,/;,'';,
"They really roughed you up, eh?" she quickly took a key out of her pocket and opened the cuffs..,/;
"Nora…" tears once again swelled in her eyes./;,
"I'm here now, Lily." she hugged her tightly../;
She cried loudly again, this time it wasn't tears of despair..,
"And I'm going to get you out of here."------
Author Note: Yay roller coaster.
And there will be a loopy loop in the next few chapters!
This is going to be the BEST RIDE EVER.
Last edited:
