Our Benefactor (Worm/Exalted)

[Jack of Olives]

I originally posted this on SV, in the Wormverse Ideas thread. I've been feeling inspired to write more of it recently, so I figured I'd post it here, too.

So, without further ado:

Our Benefactor. (Worm/Exalted)

Changes 1.1: Uber and Leet (Revised)

---

An odd duo walks down the streets of Brockton Bay.

One is built like a high-school jock and walks with a casual ease usually seen by martial arts masters. The other is shorter and lankier, looking like the kind of person a stereotypical jock would take lunch money from.

Unknown to the people of Brockton Bay these two ordinary-looking people are the notorious supervillains (and internet celebrities) Uber and Leet.

"All I'm saying is that we don't know for sure if she'll actually be able to help us." The larger explains as he checks the street signs. "Besides, you know these magic-capes; they come in ten different flavors of crazy."

"Yeah, but if those rumors are true, she can fix any power, even case fifty-threes!" His compatriot answers, a note of anticipation in his voice. "And, that's not even counting that she had a conversation with Scion. Scion! He doesn't talk to anyone."

"Dude, Kev; she calls herself The Fairy Godmother. Who knows what weird things go on in her head." The larger guy points out. "Besides, Scion hasn't been seen since."

His companion whirls on him, stopping in place as he does. "I've got to do something, Mark!" All his apparent excitement seemingly replaced by naked despair and desperation. "My last dozen inventions have been disasters. That last one almost killed you!"

The man who was also the supervillain Uber gently puts his hand on his friend's shoulder. "I understand, and I'm not saying we shouldn't do this. I just don't want you to get your hopes up. Because we have no idea if this is legit or not."

'Kev' closes his eyes and takes a deep breath to calm himself. "If it's not, we'll think of something else." He turns and starts walking again; turning slightly to look at Uber. "Thanks for looking out for me, Mark."

"No prob, bro."

---

They walk in silence until the two of them reach a building with two suits of full armor standing next to the entrance.

Said armor is seemingly made out of an unnaturally bright copper metal, and seemingly crafted so they wouldn't look out of place in some sort of fantasy setting.

The building itself seems to be made out of cobblestone, with some sort of flowering plant growing up and down the sides in an aesthetically-pleasing way.

Sitting over the entryway was a wooden-sign spelling-out 'Fairy Godmother', that's surrounded by multicolored, free-floating orbs of light.

"Well, she certainly has style." Mark mused to himself.

Kevin just nods. "Think she has some sort of tinker working for her?"

"Wouldn't surprise me." His friend nods as he opens the door.

Stepping into the building, the two take a moment to get a feel for the place.

Like on the outside, the walls seemed to be made stone, and there were more sets of armor lining the walls.

The decorations were rather spartan, consisting mostly of potted plants of various kinds. There were simple chairs arrayed about made out of a the same coppery-material as the armor.

At the far end of the room a desk made of the same material sat next to a door.

Somewhat ruining the effect was the black tween with elfin ears and a domino mask concealing her identity lounging behind said desk. She currently had her feet up on the desk-top and was making shadow puppets on the wall with her hands.

Shadow puppets that, upon further inspection, were moving in ways that didn't quite sync up with her hands.

"Yo. You guys here to see the boss?" She asks, not looking up from what she's doing.

It takes a second before Mark finally answers. "Uh, yeah."

"Cool. One sec." As she turned to pick up the receiver on her desk, both of them noticed that her shadow was still making puppets on the wall. "Hey Boss. Two capes wantin' ta see ya... Alright, I'll send 'em in." Looking up she motioned towards the door as her shadow seemed to open it. "She'll see ya."

"Thanks." He manages to get out, as they move towards the office; a bit unnerved by the girls antics.

The shadow waving as they pass doesn't really help.

The first thing they note after stepping inside is the number of glowing objects spread around the room.

First, the office itself was littered with odd objects, many of which had glowing parts. Next there were more glowing orbs in here, seemingly being used as lamps; with strange floating-rings that seemed to direct the light. Finally, flitting around the room were small, pixie-like figures who glowed softly with their own light; all of whom were performing various tasks.

In addition to the glowing, there were bookshelves filled with strange, hardcover books bound in materials they couldn't immediately identify.

Also of note, on top of one of the bookshelves was a black cat covered with strange red markings that seemed to be eyeing them as they walk in.

Sitting at the desk in the far end of the room was a woman in an ornate domino-mask. She was easily the most beautiful creature either of them had ever seen; A blonde goddess dressed in a red dress that wouldn't be out of place on a fantasy-enchantress, with large fairy-like wings coming out of her back in the most amazing colors they'd ever seen.

Perhaps just as importantly to the duo, she had her hands wrapped around a Super-Nintendo controller and her head facing a television screen as familiar music (which they both recognize as Final Fantasy VI's battle theme) plays from the speakers.

The two of them can only stare in awe for a few seconds, before the game's victory-fanfare finally snaps them out of their stupor.

As dynamic duo of video-game themed crime tries to recover their composure, the game's menu can be heard opening as the figure directed her attention towards them. She grins playfully. "So, the infamous Uber and Leet have come to see little old me." The two start at that, but she waved them off. "Oh, relax. It's just one of my abilities. I still follow the unwritten rules."

Having said that she leans forward on her desk, resting her head on her hands. "I take it that you're here for a power consultation?"

Kevin nods absently, still a bit awestruck by the vision in front of him. "Uh, yeah. We, um... we heard that you can fix powers, and, um..."

"What my friend here is trying to say." Mark interrupts, having regained his composure. "Is that we were hoping you could fix his powers so that his inventions stop exploding."

She nods. "I can certainly try. Were you informed of how I work?"

Mark shrugs, while doing his best to suppress his anxiety. "We've heard a lot of rumors, from you waving your wand and making everything better to Faustian bargains. We figured we'd find out."

She nods again. "That's fairly normal. Consultations are free, and we can discuss payment for other services after we see if I can help you." As she says this, she gets up from the desk to walk around to where Kevin was sitting.

"Do I have your permission to examine your powers?"

The man's eyes widened, but he manages a slightly-shakey nod.

The woman reaches over and placed her index finger on his forehead.

There's silence for a minute.

Finally she removes her finger, a frown on her face. "Hm..."

"N-no good?" The smaller man manages to ask, a note of disappointment clear in his voice.

"Well, that depends," She comments as she leans back on her desk, sitting herself on top of it. "I can change the way your power expresses itself, but that may not fix the root of the problem."

"Which is?"

"Do you want the long answer or the short one?"

"Um, let's go with the short one for now."

"Your power doesn't like you."

"... Say what?"

"Long story short: while not actually sapient, parahuman powers have their own personalities separate from their user. Yours is particularly outgoing and aggressive, which clashes with your own modus-operandus."

"So the fact that most of my inventions have been so volatile lately is..."

"Your power is trying to either to get you to take more risks, in it's own warped way, or kill you trying." She answers in a matter-of-fact tone. "It doesn't seem to care which."

Mark opened his mouth to call bull on her.

"Fuck!" Kevin's voice stops him "That makes so much sense."

"What!?"

"Remember the other day when I told you I kept catching myself installing volatile components in dangerous places, and I didn't know what I was doing wrong?"

The larger man freezes at that.

He does remember. Mark had secretly worried that his friend was developing suicidal tendencies. He'd ended up using his powers to subtly assess him to make sure that wasn't the case.

"...Oh."

"Like I said; I could change how your power expresses itself, but it would still want you to go out there and take risks to experience as many new things as possible."

"So I'm stuck then." Leet moans as he slumps back in his chair. "My power is going to get me killed, and there's nothing you can do."

"Now, now. I never said that. The way I see it, you have a couple of options:" She said as she started ticking them off with her hand. "Number one: I can go ahead and make the adjustments, and try to find a way to make you both happy. I won't lie, it still won't be great, but it'd be better than things are now."

He nods.

"Number two: I can, free of charge, remove your power completely. You won't have any powers, but you won't die from them."

Kevin looks oddly sick at that thought, but nods again.

"Number Three: Take away your powers, and set you up with a set of minor powers. They wouldn't be anything particularly powerful, likely a one or two on the PRT scale with the potential to become a three or four with time and practice."

Mark decids to speak up at this point. "Exactly what kind of powers are we talking about, here?"

She shrugged nonchalantly. "It depends on the individual's personality. Usually it's a minor shaker/thinker combo based around a concept; although other powers are known to appear. It also comes with a minor mover rating in the ability to jump higher than normal and a minor brute-rating. Basically, an action-hero level toughness. Minor physical changes aren't uncommon either, but more like Canary's feathers than a Case 53."

"So," Kevin interjects. "it'd basically be like that girl in the front room?"

The Fairy Godmother raises an amused eyebrow. "Show you that, did she?" It was obviously a rhetorical question. "Yes, she's a good example. As I said, these powers can also be trained-up over time; although the process isn't fast."

"What about people who want powers that aren't for play?" Mark finally asks. "What about people who want powers with some oomph?"

"Which brings us to Number Four." As she says this, another grin appeared on her face. The larger man couldn't help but notice that this one has a hint of a predatory cast to it. "Hypothetically-speaking, if I was working on making more combat-oriented powers; would you be interested? They'd still in be in their experimental phase; if this were real, of course. But you'd theoretically be helping me test them."

Each of the pair suppress urges to squirm at the sudden turn the conversation had taken.

Before either one could say anything, there is a yowl from the other side of the room. They turned to look at the cat on the bookshelf, who appeared to be giving the Fairy Godmother a pointed look.

The duo quietly wonder if cats should be able to convey meaning like that.

"Oh, relax Tay." She waved over to the cat. "I know what I'm doing."

The cat holds her gaze for a bit longer before putting it's head down, seemingly satisfied.

After briefly turning to look at each other, Kevin finally speaks up. "How safe would this be... theoretically?"

"And what would we have to pay for it?" Mark adds.

"One favor to be performed at a later date and an oath from both of you to not knowingly or willingly let anyone know about the whole deal." She answered looking at the larger man. "I'd normally charge more, but since you'd hypothetically be helping me work the bugs out of it."

Turning to his compatriot she adds. "And as safe as I could reasonably make it, of course. I won't say that such a scenario would be completely without risk, but at this point in the theoretical process I'd be able to fix practically anything that could go wrong."

She shrugs as she finishes. "If that doesn't suit you, there's always one of the other options."

Another pair conferring glances ensues between the two villains before they quickly come to a consensus.

"Option 4." Kevin speaks up. "If such-a-thing were available."

"Excellent!" She grins, before holding out her hands to shake theirs.

After a brief hesitation, they both accepted them.

Almost immediately, glowing magenta characters formed in the air around the three of them. And the duo instinctively knew that if they broke the deal something very bad would happen to them. "I'll hold you to that."

---

A/N: So, this didn't come out quite like i was expecting. For those of you familiar with Exalted, you've probably got some guesses on what's going on. Let's see if I can confirm that for you.

First of all, the Fairy Godmother is Infernal-Lisa who's gone the Devil Tiger route, and the cat is Lunar-Taylor. I'll hopefully get into how this came to be in the next installment (muse willing). The receptionist was Aisha (of course). The way Lisa is granting powers was by effectively making people into demon/deva-blooded. The creatures mentioned are demons/devas created by Lisa to look like fairies to help with her image.

Edit: Changed a few things to help with the flow.

Edit 2/21/21: Major revisions made.

 

[Jack of Olives]

Interlude 1a: Taylor (Revised)

---

Taylor sighs as she looked out over the city. Cats don't normally sigh like that, but she doesn't hear anyone around, so it should be fine.

She still found it weird, being back on Earth Bet.

Sure, she grew up here, but she'd been in Creation for almost ten times that length.

Honestly, if it hadn't been for Lisa, she might have thought Earth Bet was just something she imagined when she was younger.

Well... that and memory-enhancing charms.

Anyway, She has to see it again. Has to see the place where her career as an undercover superhero ended and her real adventures began. If for no other reason than to come to terms with what happened all those years ago.

Subjective years that is. Lisa had managed to get them back only a few days after they had dissappeared.

From what she'd explained; the only reason they hadn't been back sooner is that they wanted to leave some margin for error (since time may be fluid in between dimensions, but paradoxes can be extremely troublesome when you're in the dimension experiencing one).

Honestly, at this point Lisa probably knew more about interdimensional physics than anyone on Earth Bet. Thinker, Tinker, or otherwise.

She leaps onto the roof of a taxie heading in the direction she wanted to go with inhuman dexterity.

She supposed that she could just fly there in one of her bird forms, but something about transforming into something non-mammalian or insectile just didn't sit right with her.

Call it personal preference.

Admittedly, she has a few bats in her arsenal of forms, but Brockton isn't really known for them.

Besides, she isn't in a hurry.

But yeah, back then she had blamed many people; especially Saint and Trickster. Seriously, what kind of idiots would steal a famous tinker's device to open holes into other realities and teleport it around like that. They were lucky that it was only a few people were sucked into it before it closed.

Heck, she and Lisa were lucky that they weren't ripped apart by the stupid vortex, like some of the others were.

The car turns, and she quickly hops off. She's close enough to walk from here.

Unfortunately, she hadn't had Saint or Trickster nearby when they arrived. The only person around to take her anger out on was the very friend who was trapped with her. Her friend who, like herself had been rendered powerless.

It didn't happen right away, they were too busy trying to find civilization from the wilderness they were dropped in.

However, four days after arriving there, everything seemed to break down.

There was some mutual screaming and accusations, as well as name calling and other unpleasantness. It all ended with Lisa walking one way and herself another.

She herself exalted the next day while she tried to escape a pack of beetle-wolves.

Lisa later told her that she was offered her Exaltation shortly after parting ways.

Thankfully, they'd eventually found each other again.

Her thoughts trail off as she reaches the park.

When they'd first gotten back, the area had been taped off and under constant surveillance. Smart of them really. With an accident like that with an unstable dimensional vortice involved, there's no telling if there'd be aftershocks.

Still, the place looks... ordinary, now.

She had a hard time believing that this is the place where it had happened all those subjective years ago (one hundred and twenty nine in Creation-time; which translates to one hundred forty nine in Earth Bet time), which was actually only a couple of weeks, now. It looks like an ordinary park.

Wait, the camera over there was new; focused on the point where the portal was, too.

A bit paranoid, she supposes, but it was a strange world without factoring in possible others.

She sighs again. They had really lucked out after they hit Creation. From what they could tell from their exaltations' memories, their previous incarnations (a Lunar/Infernal pair) had been killed together by a group of Deathknights, and chose them as hosts.

It was a bit disconcerting to think about, really. They went from having powers, to having them stripped away from them, to having two of the most powerful super-weapons in existence attached to their souls.

Yeah, souls exist. And she really should ask Lisa about how some of these parahuman powers interacted with souls, because some of them couldn't be healthy.

Oni Lee's for example.

Then again, they weren't exactly designed with human well-being in mind.

Friggin super-Behemoths.

And boy, was that a bit of a story. From what they could tell, Scion's species was some sort of experiment created by the Primordials before the Primordial War; something about finding out about how different species innovated with different powers or something.

Thankfully, Lisa was able to nip that potential problem in the bud. Now he just sleeps unless Lisa decides to wakes him for something.

I suppose it has to pay sometime to be a nascent primordial with the clear 'favor' of the others.

Wyld knows, it's gotten us into enough trouble over the years.

Having looked around enough to satisfy herself. Taylor turns to begin her journey back to their 'headquarters'.

Seriously though, we spend over a century protecting a chunk of Creation and all the people in it from all comers and what happens? Once Creation is relatively stable and the gods finally got their act together (by actually admitting there was a problem), what was their response to us? 'We appreciate what you did, but you scare us, and your presence is messing up all our stuff, so please leave or we'll have you killed.'

Urgh. Sometimes she wished she was more vindictive.

Yes, they'd been trying to find a way to get back here for decades using what free time they had, but it was the principle of the matter, dangit! They could have at least talked to them and found out what their plans were or something other than 'Good job, now get lost.'

Honestly, if she'd known that being a hero would be such a thankless job she...

Probably wouldn't have changed a thing.

Stupid hero complex.

Her ear twitches. Speaking of being a hero... yup, that was a call for help. Sounds like someone was getting attacked a block or so over.

Well, that was enough reminiscing for one night. Time to get to work.

---

A/N: So, bit of an info-dump, but hopefully done somewhat tastefully.

Edit: Cleaned up a few things.

Edit: 2/21/21: Larger revision

 

[Jack of Olives]

Our Benefactor (Worm/Exalted)

Changes 1.2: Grue

---

Brian Laborn (Grue in costume) stood before the headquarters of one of the fastest-growing names in Brockton Bay. She'd only appeared a couple weeks ago, and had already become one of the most widely known names in Brockton Bay.

The Fairy Godmother was said to be a powerful Shaker/Trump capable of altering reality and even granting others powers. There were enough rumors circulating about her to make him extremely nervous about meeting with her.

Still, he'd gotten a message from her claiming she had information about his two missing teammates. He'd only known Taylor a short time, and Lisa could be kind of grating, but they were on his team, and therefore his responsibility.

Steeling himself, he walked past the suits of armor and opened the door.

The inside looked fairly normal. Some of the decor is a bit strange, but no more than someone with exotic tastes in design might have. The Girl sitting at the Desk however, he recognized immediately, even with the domino mask and elf-ears.

"Oh! Hey bro." Aisha said cheerfully, as if he wasn't in his full supervillain costume. "Didn't realize you'd be coming by, or I probaly woud have planned a prank or something."

It took more effort to suppress a groan than he'd like to admit. "...Aisha, what are you doing here?" He asked as he took off his helmet, almost dreading the answer.

"This is my new part-time job." She answered, her tone teasing, but laced with pride.

"Part-time- You have a part-time working for the Fairy Godmother." It wasn't a question. "Shouldn't you be in school?"

"Nope, the boss lady got an exemption for me. I'm being 'home schooled'," She said with air quites at the appropriate time. "while I'm here. I'm even making some spending money doing it!" She exclaimed with a grin.

Brian just groaned. "Dare I ask how much?"

"Minimum wage." She admitted. "But she also got me these awesome new powers to protect myself with." Her shadow was waving at him. Now it was making faces.

"You can control your shadow." His tone was dry. "I hope you've got something else out of this deal, or I may have to have a word with your boss."

"Well..." She paused in thought, before disapearing underneath her desk.

"I can do this." She answered from right behind him. Spinning around, he saw her wave at him before vanishing into his shadow. "It's pretty cool." He heard from back over at the desk.

Turning around once again. He stared at her for a minute before finally giving into impulse. Reaching over the desk he enveloping her in a hug. She seemed startled at first, but relaxed after a moment and returned the hug. "Not that I'm complaining, but what's this for?"

"Just glad you're okay." Was his response as he let her go. "We're still going to talk about this later, but I'm here to see your... boss about my two missing teamates. So if you could let her know I'm here." He explained as he put his helmet back on.

"No prob." She answered before pressing the button on the intercom. "Hey boss lady. My-er Grue's here to see you."

A smooth female voice answered. "Thanks Aisha. Go ahead and send him in."

"Sure thing." She answered before motioning her brother to the door.

Walking into the room his eyes briefly glanced over the glowing magicky knicknacks (and the fairies were a bit surreal) before settling on the figure at the desk. There, leaning up against the chair with her feet on the desk, was his missing teamate, costume and all not looking to have changed at all. "Heya Brian. How's life?"

One of the chairs in front of the desk spinned around and there was Taylor in her skitter outfit, sans mask. "Hey, Brian." She waved.

Brian just stood there speachless for a second. Both of them looked the same, but there were differences in their posture. Taylor seemed a lot more confidant and self assured than she did before she'd vanished, and Lisa seemed to be a lot more... laid back, was the only term that sprang to mind. It took him a second before he realized that he was standing their staring at them. "Wha- Lisa, Taylor. You're okay. What happened? When did you get back?"

"In order: Yup; it's us. We're okay. It's a very long story. And three days after we dissapeared." Lisa answered, ticking off a finger for each question. Brian couldn't help but note that her amusement seemed to be off somehow. Before she disappeared, it was obvious that she got great amusement out of knowing more than anyone else. Now, it almost seemed like she was exasperated by it.

He blinked as his brain finished processing what she said. "You've been back for over a week and you didn't let me know?" Annoyance creeping into his voice. He'd been worried about them, dang-it.

"Sorry about that." And she actually did sound sorry; before Lisa would always say it with a tone that said the exact opposite. "We needed to deal with Coil first, or he might have gotten nasty." Brian just shot her a confused look. Coil hadn't been heard from for a while. Not that you ever heard much about him; the man was a ghost. "He was our backer as Undersiders. A real piece of work too; didn't care a thing for the unwritten rules, tortured for information, things like that. I'd been trying to get out from under this thumb since he'd recruited me at gunpoint."

"Since you're talking to me now, I take it he's no longer a problem."

"Yup! We beat the evil villain, saved the girl, and now I'm going to make sure we all live happily ever after."

"So, what happened? Did you trigger again or something?"

"Well, the first thing we noticed after we woke up was that our powers didn't make the trip with us..."

---

"By that point, I'd managed to tweak the spell formula to be able to cross into other dimensions and we got back here through good old-fashioned trial-and-error."

Brian could only goggle as she finished her tale. "Wow; that's quite a story. I'm glad everything worked out so well, though."

"Honestly, if it weren't for that wood aspect with the therapy charms, it may have turned out a lot worse." Lisa answered honestly. "I saw more than one exalt cause their own downfall because they couldn't (or wouldn't) deal with their own issues.

"So you were there for decades?"

Lisa only grinned. "Now Brian, you know better than to ask a woman her age."

"So you got artificial parahuman-powers that you jail-broke and spent... an undisclosed amount of time saving another dimension from something out of a Lovecraft novel?"

"That's the gist of it, yeah."

"And your shape-shifting powers are why you look like you did, then?" He asked with a frown on his face. At their nod he continued. "So what do you look like now, then?"

Taylor and Lisa looked at each-other briefly before shrugging and letting whatever they were using for their disguises drop. Lisa into what looks to be her Fairy Godmother guise, and Taylor into an older, and much more... developed form (she was also covered with the red tattoos that they'd mentioned). If Lisa now looked like a fairy queen, then Taylor looked like a warrior queen; muscular yet curvaceous, with a slight predatory look to her features. He had to stop himself from staring.

"I take it you like?" Lisa purred as she shot him a playful look.

Taylor reached over and poked her in the shoulder. "Be nice. This is a lot for him to process. It's not his fault we're goddesses, now." She chastised with an amused look.

"I'm sure if Alec were here he'd be making a bunch of MILF and cougar jokes right about now." Brian managed to say, his train of thought trying to regain it's equilibrium. The two of them looked confused for a second before (almost in unison) understanding dawned in their eyes and they started snickering. "Anyway, now what?"

"Well, we wanted to officially tender our resignation to the Undersiders." Taylor answered with a shrug. "We're probably going to become rogues; try to fix this world as much as we can from the background. We're basically ageless, and we'll only get more powerful with time."

Lisa grinned as she rested her head in her hands. "Care to join us?"

---

Edit: Made some minor changes and fixes.

 

[Jack of Olives]

Our Benefactor

Changes 1.3: Danny

---

"So, let me see if I've got this straight: You're the super villain Skitter,"

"Was, but yes; that's correct." The beautiful young woman sitting at his kitchen table answered. If it wasn't for the uncanny combination of Annette's features combined with some of his own family features, he would have kicked her out of his house for daring to suggest that she was his missing daughter.

Well, that and knowing about that Thanksgiving incident when she was seven where Annette was sick; the two of them had sworn themselves to secrecy about it.

"In that cape battle down by the docks, the one that got the entire area cordoned off, you and your teammate Tattletale-"

"Just call her Lisa; we decided a while ago to get out of being supervillains."

"Got sucked into a portal and ended up in a different dimension. Where you lost your powers, got new ones, spent years there and are now back." He paused as he took in his formerly 15 year old daughter, who he'd say looked to be in her early twenties if it wasn't for a look in her eyes that somehow made him think it was much longer. "Which explains why you look a lot older than you did."

"Correct on all counts." She nodded as she sipped at the iced tea in front of her. Her face was serious, and she looked as lost and tired as he did.

He paused for a minute before finally voicing the only coherent thought in his head. "Why?"

She sighed as she put the glass down. "'Why become a supervillain?' you mean." She asked rhetorically. "Wyld, but that seems like such a long time ago." He idly noted the odd expression. Exactly what kind of world had his daughter been living in?

"The short answer is that I wasn't, originally. But I was in a bad place at the time, and it seemed like a good idea." She paused while she took another sip of her drink. "I've since realized how incredibly stupid that decision was."

There was also the accent. It was faint, but it was definitely there. Like those people who visit other countries for extended periods and come back having not spoken English in years.

He couldn't place the accent, though; and he'd heard a lot of accents working for the union.

"How long were you there?" He finally gathers his wits enough to ask.

"A long time. Thankfully, time isn't constant across the amount of dimensions we traveled through, or I would have been gone much longer."

He nodded at that. "I honestly don't know what to say."

"I know. I've spent years wondering if I'd ever see you again, and... so much has changed." She finished with another sigh. "I'm sorry I made you worry, though. That I didn't tell you what was wrong."

He couldn't help but chuckle. "I understand; teenagers aren't known for their wisdom or perspective."

He received a sympathetic eye-roll in response. "Tell me about it. Some of the things that..." She trailed off as she seemed lost in thought.

Danny was once again struck with the realization that his baby girl; this woman in front of him, had grown up with out him. Forcing a smile, he speaks up again. "So, any grandchildren for me to spoil?"

This was apparently the wrong thing to say, as a stricken look passed over his daughter's face before she sighed and looked away. "Just one. He didn't come back with us." The way she said it gave him the impression that she didn't want to talk about it anymore.

Getting up from his seat, he walked around the table and pulled her into a hug. She stiffened slightly before relaxing into his grip. They stayed like that for a while before finally letting go.

"So, now what?" He finally asks, as they look at each other.

She shrugs. "For us? I'm planning on winging it, and see what happens."

"Fair enough."

"Aside from that, Lisa told me to mention that she has a set of free superpowers for you, and wants to talk business later."

"Business?"

"She mentioned something about immigration."

***

AN: Just a short little something I threw together.