All These Pieces

by Wupwup

Summary:

The Battle at the Bank has far more severe results as Grue punches Vista a little too hard. The young Ward cracks her head on the pavement and dies instantly. Unbeknownst to all, Vista’s shard had similar plans as another rogue shard in the network. Brian finds himself inflicted with Vista’s voice in his head and a new power. He has no time to process this as Kid Win takes immediate revenge with his giant cannon. Tragedy after tragedy occurs until only one cape survives. This story is about the aftermath.

Notes:

There are topics I wanted to write about in "Ants In My Brain" that get drowned out by all the psychopathy and serial murder.

Chapter 1

The mad creature twisted and writhed within his cage of temporally locked bugs, heedless of the damage he was doing to his insides. What had once been Clockblocker reflexively froze every bug I sent towards him. The cage grew thicker, but I knew it wouldn’t be enough. Once it grew large enough, the inner layers would unfreeze, giving the creature inside more room to maneuver and jam himself through an opening.

I clawed forward with my remaining arm as blood drained out my left stump. My vision started to fade as I pulled myself inch by inch towards Kid Win's discarded cannon. I tried to kick with my legs to push forward, but I couldn’t feel them. Legs or no legs, I would get there.

One of my teeth cracked from gritting them too hard. It was just one more pain to add to a litany of injuries and didn’t distract me from the struggle.

There was no room in my mind for worries and regrets. They were pushed aside. I had to make this awful day right before my life gave out. All my focus went towards reaching the trigger.

When my arm was in range, I grabbed the handle and pulled myself closer. Once I was close enough, I pushed the cannon into position. The shove pushed my lower body into the ground and the all consuming pain confirmed that my spine was indeed broken. 

All my remaining strength went into aligning my shot and pulling the trigger. I briefly watched the temporal bubble fill with the searing laser that slowly melted the monster within.

None of us noticed how unstable the next killer in the chain of revenge killings was until it was too late. Whatever had happened, the lingering monster was beyond reasoning.

I collapsed to the ground. This wasn’t how I wanted to go out, but I made sure the hostages escaped. When this monster finally died, I would follow it, ending the chain.

My eyes closed of their own accord.

I felt myself slipping into unconsciousness when my stump stopped bleeding. Muscles all over my body tightened and the lightheadedness I was feeling evaporated. That’s when the screaming started.

Oh god what is happening? I was—Fuckfuckfuckfuck—So many teeth! It hurts so—Everyone shut up and listen to me—Yeah whatever villain. Get out of my head! No one—It’s quieter—What—easier to think—Hmm, I am able to string thoughts together. Maybe I—What’s that building headache—I’m trying to figure this out!

The voices started to calm down. I felt their pain and confusion, but as they started hearing their own thoughts again, the sheer panic lowered. One voice was determined to puzzle out the situation. Disjointed thoughts; consciousness nonsingular. Who's talking? Twelve parts of my mind were confused at the interjection, but one knew what was going on. The rest of us immediately understood that this was Tattletale’s power. To her, it always seemed like her thoughts.

103,487 bugs in range, 13 internal monologues; multitasking power for powers; voices are caused by power; each voice caused by specific power; all capes at bank in same head.

A soft pain built in between my eyes but part of my brain shifted, releasing the pain. Why did that happen? Stress introduced to brain, brain changed in response to stress; biology adapted. Taylor, stop. I need to focus. Lisa? But I saw her die. There was so much blood. Yeah yeah, dying horribly, most of us did it. That reminded everyone of their own death.

Once they thought about it, I had the same memories. A few died quickly with little pain. I can’t believe I died from a sucker punch. Kid Win getting mauled to death by dogs looked terrible from the outside, but his personal memories of being dismantled were worse. Of course, Browbeat, Aegis, and Clockblocker had far slower deaths. Taylor was it? Please stop dwelling on that. Alright, we need to focus on getting out of this mess. I’m sure someone at the PRT can pull us out of here.

Instinctively, I focused on each injury to repair them. That’s slower than it was for me. Browbeat thought about all the wounds he healed and how his power let him quickly bulk up before putting on his costume and letting him shrink back down once he took it off. We should be able to fix this blood volume problem.

The surprisingly helpful voice focused on generating more plasma in my system which caused my muscles to relax. I didn’t know why he was trying to help me, considering what happened. I find our current situation fascinating. The rest of you seem greatly disturbed, but this distance is how I always experienced life. You’re kind of cerebral for a guy called Browbeat. Please, call me Terry. The epithet was meant to be ironic while also being a general critique on the nature of cape heroism.

When my spine snapped back into place agony rippled through my body and overrode everyone’s thought processes. A small part of my mind deeply enjoyed the sensation which every other part quickly leaned into to escape the pain. Embarrassment welled from Aegis as we all shared in his experience. Uhhh, so secret time I guess: I didn’t have an immunity to pain. I just enjoyed it. He didn’t need to have to think the words. We all knew as soon as he felt joy.

The thoughts of secrets caused a few of us to think about our own. You were going to betray us? Brian was hurt, but he didn’t want us to know that he was hurt. He also knew we knew anyway, which made him embarrassed. Then he was embarrassed about sharing the embarrassment and—I knew about it! Stop spiraling. She was never going to actually betray us. Rachel expected this from me and was assured about her first impression. Alec didn’t really care. See my pasted body over there? Yeah, Taylor’s heroic aspirations don’t matter to me.

My secrets weren’t the only ones spilling. What do you mean you bought your powers!? My parents bought my powers from a shadowy cabal. I couldn’t talk about it because they would silence me. We’ve talked about our trigger events. You lied to me. This betrayal is… Amy… what the hell are you thinking about? STAY OUT OF MY THOUGHTS! STAY OUT OF MY THOUGHTS!

What’s a trigger event? I pushed that nexus of torment to the side and focused on the other voices. I could still hear Victoria, Dean, and Amy shouting over each other, but it didn’t drown out my thinking. Yeah fuck that conversation. Trigger events are the worst day in your life when… She cut off. As much as Lisa was trying to be abstract in her clinical explanations, other voices started thinking about their own events that gave them powers, which in turn caused everyone (except Dean) to think about their trigger event.

A different kind of pain roiled through all the parts of my mind. This time, no one enjoyed the traumatic turmoil as we all integrated each other’s memories. I now knew what trigger events were. Dean was lucky to not have one.

Penses-tu que tout le monde apprendrait le français si je pensais dans la langue? Dammit Alec, yes! We all would learn French. A resigned chuckle erupted in my mind. Oh, we are so screwed.

Regardless of all the SHOCKING revelations—Ididn’tchoosethisIdidn’tchoosethis—if we’re blending memories in the background, I’m worried how that will affect us getting out of here. If we share all our memories, how different of people would we be? Oh, don’t worry about that. While everyone else was busy catastrophizing, I figured it out. A feeling of smugness came from that corner of the mind. Lisa kept explaining even though we understood as soon as she thought the words. Even if we get out, another copy of us will get shoved into Taylor’s mind. You can’t be certain of that. I’m fairly confident. All evidence points to Vista’s power doing this.

No, I manipulate space. This isn’t my ability. Actually… What is it, Vicky? I’m sorry little V, but this sounds a lot like what happened to the Butcher. That cape reincarnated into anyone that killed them. Nothing about his original power implied—Hey, you think they are going to call us ‘The Vista’? Oddly enough, the original Vista kind of liked the sound of that. Branding aside, we should get the hell out of here. Taylor, you just robbed a bank in a job that killed basically every young hero in the city. They’ll probably send us to the Birdcage for this and as bad as this situation is, I don’t want it to get worse.

HELL NO! The heroes within me didn’t share the Undersiders sentiments about fleeing law enforcement. Despite what we figured out about this situation, they would rather see us in jail than as a free villain. I laid there paralyzed as my will fought with itself.

A protective need surged within Rachel, letting me sit up. I’m taking care of my dogs. The massive forms of Brutus, Judas, and Angelica mourned over Rachel’s body, her neck was snapped by our local Alexandria package. It happened. Dogs are still alive. The pain each canine felt was obvious even if they weren’t flickering with colorful emotional auras. How did you never figure out what the colors meant? You're using your Thinker power to figure out how to use my Thinker power. I guess us all-natural capes have our advantages, but yeah, figuring out how powers work is trivial when I can actively use them.

The way they stared at Rachel’s corpse, the placement of their paws, the huffing sound that rattled their lips, it all painted a very clear picture of the dogs' mental states. As I was marveling at my sudden empathy for canines, Rachel started feeling distressed. They’re muted. The details are gone. She remembered understanding her dogs on a deeper level than what was happening now. Between Gallant’s and Tattletale’s powers, we should be able to infer the difference, right? Rachel wasn’t mollified by my thoughts. Knowledge of my planned betrayal was too fresh. Help my dogs.

It wasn’t so much an olive branch as it was her having to ask for help, since she didn’t have a body. The heroes' resolve to keep me in place wasn’t so strong to prevent me from clamoring up to head towards the surviving Undersiders. Rachel’s power tickled at my awareness like little vibrations I could send into dogs, but the current targets were out of frequency and shrinking. You need to cut them out. Images of doing so hundreds of times filled my mind. The dogs could get out on their own, but they may hurt themselves in the attempt.

The Heroes didn’t resist me scrambling for a knife and whistling the Undersiders over to remove them from their shrinking flesh suits. The dogs seemed confused at first to hear the commands from me, but I was firm and repeated them until they obeyed. They still glanced between Rachel’s body and me as I pulled them out of their fleshy sacks.

When they were all free, I was forced to my knees and could barely summon the agency to command the dogs close. Brutus licked my mask, which he should know better than to do until I—Why am I thinking that? Did I think that? What about my other dogs? Memories of Rachel taking care of a large pack of dogs filled my mind. She wasn’t willing to be arrested if no one took care of them. I doubt our boss will keep taking care of them. Our secret boss was Coil?

Only Tattletale knew that, and Brian tried to conceal how much that bothered him, but controlling your body language and tone of speech did not control your thoughts, so we were privy to every feeling he would rather have concealed. The invasion of privacy caused a wordless spike of panic in him. The big man has feelings. I always knew you were a big softy underneath it all. Behind Alec’s every jeer was an emptiness that quipped just to fill the void. I never suspected… Big softy that murdered a 12 year old.  

The heroes as a whole weren’t overflowing with empathy towards us villains just because they saw a few contextualizing memories. Vista specifically had little empathy for Brian and his current turmoil. This concession for dog care rankled a few of them to the point they wanted us to stop moving.

Rachel’s anger kept simmering as we edged closer and closer to capture. As it built, I grew closer to flying off towards my shelter regardless of what anyone else wanted. Call my dad. He likes dogs. What? Well you’re not going to call your dad because admitting to being a supervillain and a murderer will take up most of the conversation. My dad actually knows I’m cape and is proud of it. You know, something you could have easily done instead of joining a gang. This wasn’t really the time to rehash why I wanted to avoid Wards. Cause you thought it would be like high school with too much teenage drama? Hahaha! Now the teenage drama is stuck in your skull.

I couldn’t get too mad at the taunting. If anyone deserved to berate me, it was Clockblocker. I did kill him after all.

Scanning the battlefield for a phone not destroyed in the conflict required checking every body. No. No. Not that one. Melted. Never had a phone. Didn’t bring it with them. There!

Tattletale’s body wasn’t fully dead. Amy caused every cell to turn cancerous, so the wiggling swelling mass of flesh gurgled and spewed fluids of questionable safety. 

“Stay,” I commanded the Undersiders before floating to the body. Marking sure my—It’s not yours—forcefield was up, I reached into the bubbling mass and pulled out the waterproof pouch Tattletale wisely kept her phone in. With practiced grace, I removed the device from the pocket without crushing it. Wait what? How do I—Huh, you have everyone’s practice with using their superstrength because we were all thinking about it as you grabbed the phone.

Rachel didn’t particularly care about the revelation or the memory bleed and wanted me to set up care for our dogs.

As I floated back to the Undersiders, I unlocked Tattletale’s phone with her combination and called Clockblocker’s father.

“Hello?”

Dennis was relieved to hear his dad’s voice and told me what to say to him. The other voices were arguing about running vs turning ourselves in which made it difficult to talk. Carefully, I choked out the words. “Hi… this is… Dennis’s friend…” I was really surprised he would even pretend to call me that. Holy shit girl, no wonder free pizza lured you to a life of villainy. “...from the internship… He needs you to take care… of a lot of dogs and then come to the PRT…” Dennis’s real angle became apparent. As much as we were all growing to care for Rachel’s dogs, he wanted to see his father.

Said father drew in a quick breadth. “Is he alright? Can you put him on the phone?”

“I can’t… no…”

“Shit. Sorry, I shouldn't have sworn. I’ll rush over to the PRT right away.”

“The dogs…”

“What? Sorry, I don’t really care if my son is hurt.”

I was offended at his callousness to let people starve like that. Tattletale interjected with ideas on what to say. “The dogs… are internship… related.”

“So something strange is going on and it relates to my son’s wellbeing.” The man sighed. “Fine. Where are the dogs?”

I described directions to the shelter because Rachel didn’t actually know the address, only how to get there.

“...and there were more than a dozen aggressive dogs? Got it. Fred and Greg are out mowing. I’ll see if they can help. But I’m rushing to the PRT right after.” He sounded pretty frantic, and Dennis didn’t like worrying him but had to admit that dying horribly was a good reason for his dad to be worried.

Now that the fur babies' care was sorted—I’m sorry what? Where did that term come from? I wasn’t sure. Rachel would never think it and the rest barely had time for pets between caping and regular life. Thought of uncertain origin and established blending of memories; notions from one or more individuals resulted in thought. The only thing stopping us from calling Tattletale’s power another voice was that everyone received information like it was their own thoughts. Otherwise, it felt very similar.

Put that wonderful can of worms to the side. Our thoughts can blend together and create new thoughts the separate individuals couldn’t have. One part of my mind was really excited at the prospect while the rest were experiencing existential dread at the idea we might all be merging together. I doubt that, but even if that was happening, I’m not particularly bothered. The possibility to—Why are you so blasé about this? Why aren’t we all freaking out more?

At some point while I was stuck in my head, I laid down between the dogs and waited for capture. Most of the Undersiders were dead, and I uncovered their secret boss. My original plan was to hand off the information to the heroes and keep my identity secret or something, but I never worked out the details. That was a later problem. Now… I wasn’t sure I shouldn’t turn myself in. What if the Protectorate could pull these people out of my head? What if there was a method Tattletale didn’t consider? It wasn’t that I doubted her conclusion, but I had to hope she was wrong. How was I going to live like this otherwise?

Vista’s question spawned a whole discussion. Petting Judas and Brutus didn’t take all my focus, and Angelica growled when I reached my hand towards her, which hurt a lot. To distract myself from that, I turned my attention to their chat.

…Can you not feel the detachment? There is only one body to have the physical reaction to create positive feedback loops with our mental states but that body is divorced in-part from our thoughts. The spiraling doesn’t happen while we all try to stay separate. Try to stay separate? Surely you’ve noticed how when Taylor focuses harder, there is a pull to dive into that focus and blend thoughts? Terry, you're kind of being insufferable right now. Of course I am, my outlook keeps me unserious or ‘chill’ as people like to interpret me and that chafes in serious situations like this. I normally keep my mouth shut to avoid offending people, but I can’t do that in my own mind.

Riveting stuff… I pulled away from that conversation and focused on my surroundings. The PRT agents were cordoning off the area as more of them arrived at the bank. The building itself was completely leveled; all the money was destroyed. That alone would have been a huge crime but everything else…

Hey, this uhh didn’t go as planned, did it? Tattletale and I imagined her sitting next me and chatting. We both knew the image wasn’t real, but it was still more vibrant because two less connected streams of consciousness were thinking about it together.

“No, it really didn’t.” The other Undersiders were curious at my sudden speaking, but I waved them off. I wanted to talk with Lisa right now. Though, she never saw herself as Lisa, did she?

Yes, let’s focus on my identity crisis. That’s more important right now.

I laughed weakly at the joke in a perfunctory manner, but that was a useless gesture since she could read my mind more than normally. “You knew what I was doing the whole time.”

Yep! She managed to pop the ‘p’ even as a mental construct. Tattletale imagined herself petting Angelica successfully as a way to lightly needle me. Hey, that’s a meaner interpretation of my thoughts than I wanted you to know.

“The mind reading goes both ways now.” I went through our interactions from the other side and felt her pity. That wasn’t her only motivator in reaching out to me, Tattletale never did anything for just one reason, but that element cut at me.

You're distracting yourself, but I also don’t want to think about what happened.

“There is no coming back from this, is there?”

She looked back to where we imagined the others hashing out the details of our new hell before sighing. It’ll never be the same, but I’m not willing to quit, not while we have a few cards left to play. This body has thirteen different powers, all of them pretty strong individually. The Protectorate will want someone like that. This is a setback, but we’ll claw back a niche. Besides, Coil needs to pay for letting this happen to us.

“It’s worth trying.” I didn’t have any option but to accept my current reality. There was no escape, no out, no negotiating better terms. The void Alec surrounded himself with felt comforting. I pulled the feeling close and let myself be nothing as time dragged.

All the moments were still there, still countable, as I mechanically petted the other Undersiders. Without an abundance of feeling to punctuate the seconds, minutes flew by.

It wasn’t long before the familiar blur of Velocity caught the edge of my vision. From the ground, I waved at him. “We surrender!” A grin pulled at one corner of my mouth as I leaned into the French stereotype. I should have put together a little white flag. Clockblocker or Glory Girl’s costume could have provided the fabric. Where was my scepter? Damn, I think it got broken in the fighting. Oh well… The supercop was shouting something.

“Why are you surrendering?”

“Because I’m an upstanding bitch? What do you think?” The hero didn’t bother to respond to my wit. I looked up at his exposed lower face and couldn’t parse the expression. Neat! Rachel’s dog brain was fucking up my people perception. Just one more thing to forever separate me from everyone else.

Although, his emotional aura gave clues to what he was thinking, and Tattletale’s blabbermouth of a power filled in everything else. If I bothered, I could figure him out. Velocity was disturbed by my flippant response.

Aegis demanded to speak. I couldn’t really be arsed to continue this conversation, so I pulled his thoughts close. “Sir! Aegis reporting. We’re inside the captured villain and holding her down, but this didn’t go well.” I fucked this up so bad. Switching the costumes was a terrible mistake. I should have had Vista positioned better. Kid’s cannon wasn’t my fault, but he only brought it in because I was busy being a doggy chew toy.

Velocity took a few seconds to process my words. “Aegis? Hang tight.” He backed away a couple of steps and talked into his radio.

Slowly, I sat up. Velocity took a combative stance for no obvious reason. “Which transport truck should I head to?” My left arm ached. Phantom limb pain was always a dull constant agony that helped calm my mind. If chopping off a toe or two got me through the day, then what was the harm? They grew back.

“Just stay still!”

I sighed and kept petting the other captured villains. The voices were ranting in my mind. My ability to take charge shocked my fellow Wards, but why? I was their leader. Oh, I can become a voice. This isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It’s kind of like taking a break. I need a break. Yeah she did. It turned out most of the Undersiders went through the wringer before becoming supervillains. Ugh, my head. Tattletale was using her power at rapid speed again.

After focusing on the headache, it started to fade. Terry’s directed healing was pretty nice. I focused on my stump while waiting for the Protectorate to clean up my mess. While I could regrow limbs, Terry’s power struggled with that. He could reattach them as well as I could, but Taylor’s arm was destroyed in the fighting.

When I focused, the part of the stump I was regenerating could be healed by Terry’s power. It acted like an accelerant and provided the extra mass needed, which my power didn’t. Millimeter by millimeter, the stump grew. Is your power slower too or is it just mine? It was hard to tell. My regenerative powers were slow enough that I couldn’t watch them heal a wound in real time, but it was probably slower. This wasn’t the time or place to test it.

More officers and more heroes trickled in until Lady Photon arrived. Victoria wanted to speak to her, but this was a delicate situation, and I didn’t feel like it was appropriate to—hash out what happened with everyone as they came. Who was I now? Taylor, I want to talk to them. Taylor sounded right. I was still tired. If Victoria wanted to be social then… huh, I was struggling to push her to the front.

Gory Girl doesn’t actually want to tell her Aunt about how her first murder got her and her sister killed. Yeah, the feeling wasn’t there to pull at. Victoria faded further back as she admitted all she wanted to tell them was that they were alright, but that wasn’t true. The Dallon sisters were dead.

Instead of trusting our compliance, Lady Photon wrapped us in a forcefield and lifted us towards the PRT building at the Protectorate’s direction. I floated to relieve stress on the bubble while Dauntless escorted us. Agents took the dogs, which nearly sent Rachel into a rage, but the detailed knowledge of how the PRT was going to treat the remaining Undersiders calmed her down, allowing us to let it happen.

The two heroes frowned but I didn’t understand what exactly that meant, only that it was negative. Their wildly fluctuating auras indicated distress, but… I understood them as well as the dogs. Rachel’s weakened power pulled us into a middle space between canines and people. The other powers helped to bridge the gap, but the needing superpowers to converse felt… Alien? Deeply isolating? Hey, at least you can still understand the voices in your head. You know, only if we actually stay separate and don’t turn into a concentrated ball of teenage angst.

A blur of procedure went by as the PRT processed me and shoved us into a cell. Whatever rules Tattletale mentioned apparently didn’t apply when you were the lone survivor in an event that killed all the Wards. They took my mask and suit before recording my face and name. I then changed into a domino mask and a prison uniform that said ‘villain’ on the front and back.

I didn’t really question what the mask was for, but the Wards thought the PRT was still deciding if my identity would be public knowledge after what happened.

Whatever they decided to do, I was ‘alone’ in this cell with nothing to do but work on growing a new arm and listening to the mumbling in my mind.

Eventually, the conversations mushed together and became closer images or vague concepts. When all was chaos, I slipped into sleep.

Chapter 2

Discomfort roused me from sleep. I had flopped onto the floor and let my stump overextend to act as a pillow. My tendons and muscles felt stretched out and that caused pain, but my arm bore my head without falling asleep. My limbs don’t do that. The blood routes around. What the fuck was that? Oh, right. The voices in my head.

My heart stopped hammering as I remembered. Who was I? That kind of question made me doubt how separate we really were. It was my body, so shouldn’t I always be me? If I wasn’t me, then shouldn’t that person know who we were? Jesus Christ Taylor, I’m not used to having multiple internal monologues.

OK, I wasn’t Taylor or Carlos. That left eleven options.

I sat up with a groan. Some of the voices started muttering, but most decided to extend their dreams. They took what we were dreaming about and added to it with their own imagination. The details from the dream started to fall away and were fleshed out with their own musings. A few more voices discarded the illusion and focused on reality, not liking the thoughts they were having.

The chaos in my mind threatened to pull me in. Little was in my cell to keep me aware aside from the discomfort. 

I felt off. It was like I was sitting wrong. I tried shuffling around, but that didn’t relieve the problem.

After standing up, I moved over to the cot and sat down. Why didn’t we sleep here? What did it matter? Maybe it didn’t because I was still uncomfortable. When I walked over, it wasn’t too bad, but the discomfort ramped up as I sat down again. Did I need to pee? Is this what that felt like with different plumbing? What, no. Are you stupid?

Wait. I think that question means I’m one of the boys right now. Hmmm, I wasn’t feeling villainous. There was no desire to rob banks or punch children to death. That was an accident. Bullshit sucker punch, that is what it was.

Ugh… God my head. It didn’t hurt, but not knowing who I was while knowing I was someone was twisting me into knots, and this seat was uncomfortable. Try flying then! We don’t need to sit on anything. That was a decent suggestion.

I floated to the middle of my cell. The problem lessened, but I couldn’t fall back to sleep. Even if I wasn’t wide awake, a few of the others were. I think we all had to agree to sleep to actually do so.

‘Who’ was proving to be too difficult of a question. How about ‘when’? When did I wake up? It’s 9:00 PM. How do you—Oh, you have flies on two hands of a clock in range. I should have guessed that given my affinity for clocks.

Aha! I was Dennis. Oh God, how did I not realize I was myself? We should work out a series of questions to ask ourselves to determine who we are. Our feelings about the answers could indicate who—Or we could just do roll call.

I gently rotated in the air to try to relax as the noise in my mind picked up. As soon as I felt myself start to center, my hair whipped into my face and into my mouth. Giggling filled my mind as I sputtered. What’s so funny? Just schadenfreude at seeing you deal with flying girl problems.

Movement heading towards us. There are two figures. One is holding a large, bladed weapon. Taylor was paying attention to her bugs. She crawled a few bugs onto everyone in range, which seemed aggressive to me. It’s just bugs. Not trusting the villain, Vista microbent space in and out to confirm the voids.

As they approached, I settled to the ground and tried not to wince as Terry focused on healing my arm. It needs to be done.

The prison doors opened and Armsmaster marched in with a PRT officer carrying restraints. Taylor remembered a couple less than pleasant conversations with the man which caused us Wards to remember our interactions with him. I wanted to help, and he wouldn’t let me. Him always being a little direct and a glory hound doesn’t change that. Yet, if you did as he suggested, we might not be in this mess. Taylor faded farther back and focused on her bugs. It was the best she could do to get out of her own head.

When they stopped in front of my cell, I waved to Armsmaster. “Hey bossman.”

He stiffened. “Who am I talking to?”

“Everyone’s listening in, but I’m Clockblocker.”

His aura darkened considerably as his mouth opened slightly. “We will verify that shortly. Before that, I want to say I’m sorry about what happened.”

“What? Why are you apologizing to me?” It was our screwup. I expected him to berate us or at least tell Taylor ‘I told you so’. Taylor shifted her attention back to the conversation.

“I’ve been staring at the bodies of twelve dead children: children that I should have mentored more closely, children I should have caught before their crimes led to this, and children of close allies.” His aura grew darker. “Four of them had to be shoveled into their body bags… by me.” He sighed. “If you were expecting to be yelled at or berated for what happened, don’t. We are well past that.” He nodded to the agent.

The PRT officer stepped forward. “Please put on these restraints before we move you.”

“Your father is here and demanding to see you. We’re still deciding how much to treat Case 16s like Case 70s. Tentatively, we’re treating you as a Case 70, so your father does have a right to see you. He can also verify that you are Clockblocker.”

I grabbed the restraints through the door slot. Since I was down an arm, they were a belt and cuff combo designed for brutes to bind my free arm to my stomach. My mind whirled as I finagled to put the device on. None of the Case 70s have been split, but they also have separate bodies. Wouldn’t that make them easier to split? Not necessarily, they—While a few of the voices were focused on that—I’m not sure what good an apology is now. That doesn’t really help. Anyone can be sorry, but what is he going to do?

The officer knocked on the glass door. “Do you need assistance?”

Enough of my stump had grown back that I was able to shut the cuff. I tried to give the agent a thumbs up, but that arm didn’t have a hand. My attempt to laugh off the blunder didn’t lighten the mood. Both of the adults were roaring bonfires of midnight aura.

Once I was situated, the cell door slid open and the two escorted me to a private meeting room.

My father looked worried—The man wasn’t skinny. There was plenty of wiry muscle on his frame, but his narrow face looked drained. The disease Dennis worried about clearly took its toll—Taylor—n addition to the wan look, his red hair was thinning and there was a pallor to his otherwise chiseled features—Taylor seriously—He had a strong jaw and piercing blue eyes—TAYLOR! What!? Please stop checking out my dad. I’m not doing that. Yes you are. No, this is how I look at everyone.  

Someone back me up here, please? He wore a generic plain t-shirt with off-brand jeans that fit him poorly. Maybe some looseness was due to his condition, but the man also wore white tennis shoes with grass stains in a public setting. That spoke to a general lack of concern with his appearance or worry for his child pushed such concerns out of his mind. Vicky… did you really need to rate my dad’s outfit? Of course I did. Fashion choices tell you a lot about a person and are far more important than physical characteristics SOME people focus on—enough ab muscles were peeking through his shirt to… Do you guys not look at people? I don’t understand—Clearly—Shut up Glory Hole, you’re distracting Clock—Me!?

While I was arguing in my head, the officer had strapped my restraints to the table and exited the room. Armsmaster stayed with us, presumably to keep an eye on me. I turned to my dad after being cursed with the fresh observations of two teenage girls.

He looked at me with a confused aura. “I was told to ask you something only Dennis would know. Where is he?”

“Yeah, that makes sense. I’m…” The words struggled to leave my mouth. Telling my father that I died… just… fuck. It was starting to settle in. The shock of it all was fading. When I didn’t continue, my dad interjected.

“You’re the girl from the phone call. Where is Dennis?”

“Please just do as they ask.” I could focus on verifying that I’m Dennis. That was doable.

My father almost turned as red as his hair as his aura flared with anger before he let out a calming breath. “Fine. What was Dennis’s 4th grade year Halloween costume?”

I groaned and put my head on the table. He had to ask about that in front of my boss. “Snow White,” I mumbled.

“What was that?”

I sat back up. “I went as Snow White. My buddies and I thought it would be hilarious to go as Disney Princesses that year, but everyone else chickened out or their parents got too weird about it. When I met up with our group, no one recognized me, and I got super embarrassed about being the only one to do the joke, so I didn’t tell anyone it was me. Afterward, we told everyone I was sick that year, but all the parents definitely knew since you and mom were there. No one ever mentioned it again, which was even weirder and just… AH!”

The snickering from the peanut gallery did nothing to alleviate the sudden desire to curl up into a ball. Can you explain what the joke was supposed to be? No, I was like nine. I don’t remember why we thought it was funny. This has nothing to do with the cape name you have picked out if you were a girl. Timesnatch is a hilarious name and the fruit of my comedic genius. OK… Oh my god, of course you guys would make it weird. You are physically a teenage girl now, so maybe—The reminder brought back the nebulous discomfort, but I couldn’t place the source.

“Why did you say ‘I’?” My father made threatening eye contact, but his aura radiated concern.

“I…” I sighed. “I’m Dennis…”

His aura shifted to white with fuchsia streaks. He was relieved and deeply confused. “What happened? Why are you in restraints? Why does your shirt say villain?”

“Dad… I fucked up. A lot happened and now I’m stuck in this body.”

“Are you alright?”

Dammit something was in my eye. I shook my head slowly. “No… I’m not doing great right now.” 

I closed my eyes to get a handle on myself. This wasn’t the time to break down. I—I was suddenly wrapped in my dad’s arms. “Shhh, as strange as this is. We’ll get through this like we’ve gotten through everything else.”

“Y-yeah.” I reached my stump around to return the hug and placed the tip on his neck. At the skin to skin contact, I mapped out his body and started removing the cancer. You have to ask permission first! No I don’t. Amy made an outraged scream in my mind. You have to follow my rules with my power! Fuck your rules. He would have said yes! He would have, but I doubt the PRT would let me heal anyone right now.

Once the cancer was gone, I changed his body to better defend against the disease. This was never going to be a problem again. Ah! Don’t give people aftermarket upgrades! I ignored Amy and focused on helping my dad. She fought against me, but her desire to actually follow her made up rules was relatively weak. All of us felt a little thrill at changing a person. Amy kept protesting even as she thought of more alterations to power up my father.

When it was done, a deep tension within me uncoiled, and I felt more relaxed than I had in years. Dying sucked, but at least my dad got to live.

“What happens now? How do I explain that he looks like this?” My father questioned Armsmaster from above my head.

“Dennis isn’t the only consciousness in that body. More than a few of them are villains. For now, Dennis goes back to his cell, and we discuss options with the other parents and the national offices.”

“His cell? Can’t he at least stay with me while we work this out?”

“We’re worried about the overall mental stability of their collective. If they lose control, a cell is the safest location for it.”

The hug tightened. “Well, I’m not leaving without him.”

“That’s understandable. For now, you both need to separate. All contact has been limited to an hour or less per person.”

“No. I’m not leaving my child like this.”

“Sir please. One of the powers they have has been known to completely control a person. If you don’t want to be seen as compromised, you will need to leave him.” Ah shit, the PRT knew who I was the whole time.

My dad pulled away and stared into my eyes like he was trying to find his son. “We’ll figure this out.”

I gave him my best smile. “Thanks Dad.” A streak of pain lanced through his aura, but he remained determined.

The agent returned to escort me from the room and back to my cell. Despite the restraints and everyone’s darker auras, I had never felt lighter. My father was finally disease free which was well worth the frustration of one neurotic voice. The villains have already corrupted you to their way of thinking. You—Oh yes, curing cancer is super villainous. Good heroic behavior is to turn people into cancer blobs. See—I’d do it again you mouthy bitch. What? Not you Rachel.

Not to interject, but I wanted to address this. I think we can dispense with the cape names for our internal discussions. We all know each other’s identity. As I was placed into my cell and had my restraints removed, there was general agreement among the voices. I never figured out a cape name in the first place. Tattletale and Vista were hesitant. Vista didn’t want to say her reason but none of us had a filter.

Fine! I see myself more as Vista than Missy. The Missy part of my life seems dumb, small, and unimportant. How could normal 12 year old shit like middle school compare to being a superhero? Vista’s lack of friends and lowkey disgust with her parents underlaid her general apathy to normal life. I didn’t have time for friends. Even if I did, I couldn’t relate to a bunch of children that never fought Lung or Hookwolf.  

Meanwhile Tattletale imagined herself in her costume surrounded by piles of masks. You have to wear the right face for the right situation. Isn’t that what we’re doing now? Even as we all blend in the background, one ‘person’ pushes to the front to get what we want. That’s different. We’re all separate people sharing a body. Pfff. She imagined some of the masks in her pile talking to each other. They all spoke differently. One jeered at us while another was sympathetic. One laughed at the absurdity of it all. Tattletale pointed to them. These aren’t different people. I pretend to be them, but they aren’t who I am. Don’t you get it?

We all disagreed with Tattletale’s idea that we were actually one person, but if her and Vista would rather go by their cape names, we could accommodate that.

I focused on my arm while others tried to dissuade Tattletale from her notions. Are you worried that if I feel this way, the rest of you will agree with me? Doesn’t that prove my point?

Yeah, I didn’t like that conversation. Along with my arm, I focused on the flies grasping my dad’s legs. He was higher up in the building near or in Director Piggot’s office. Even if Armsmaster wasn’t up to it, I’m sure Piggot would find it in her heart to yell at us.

Hours ticked by with nothing changing. Between tracking all the people in the building and the conversations in my head, I wasn’t bored. The arm was also coming along nicely. Everything but the hand was restored.

My clock bugs let me know it was past midnight. I was getting tired, but I wanted to finish healing before going to bed.

I heard a distant explosion and activity in the building spiked. The heroes stationed here quickly left as the distant booms continued. The conversation in my head died down as we focused on what was happening. Those are bombs.

Half an hour of muted detonations increased our stress. Many of the voices were worried about their loved ones outside of PRT headquarters, but we were in jail for mass murder and couldn’t be out there helping. We had to wait.

A grenade exploded near the outer walls and incinerated my bugs near there. Taylor quickly directed her swarm to the location to find the source of the attack.

The attack continued as a ring of grenades were dropped on top of the building. I felt my dad being escorted with Piggot to a more secure location as more explosions rocked headquarters.

With so many perspectives observing the situation, I felt oddly calm. The tension and worry were distributed. What was the purpose of this attack? Given that other explosions pulled heroes away, then those were likely a distraction. How those other attacks happened were a mystery to me, but these sounded like Oni Lee’s grenades.

Lung lying sedated a few cells down was the last piece of the puzzle. Oni Lee was trying to bust out his boss.

I couldn’t have that. Taylor and all the heroes agreed that we should prevent his escape. After a few seconds of thinking about it, the other villains agreed. For the first time since mashing together, we were all on the same page.

Darkness erupted from my skin and poured out the air holes in my cell to fill the prison. This startled the guard on duty, but protecting the cells took priority. If Oni Lee couldn’t see, he would have to be careful what he blew up since a grenade would kill baseline Lung.

Vista slowly expanded one of the air holes until I could fly through it. This is slower than it used to be.

When a wall to the prison did explode, Taylor managed to plant bugs on the villain. She immediately set them to biting and stinging at any exposed flesh while trying to crawl under clothes and his mask to get to more sensitive areas.

Oni Lee stopped at the wall of inky blackness and idly smacked at bugs crawling on him. The darkness didn’t inhibit my vision in the slightest, allowing me to fly through the hole and the prison to grasp the villain in the face and freeze him.

More Oni Lee clones appeared around me to stab with their knives. Each one was frozen in time as they ineffectually hit my forcefield.

Distantly, I felt the bugs Taylor put on Oni Lee. The original was crouched on a nearby parking garage.

One of the clones fell out of time-stop and crumbled to ash. I filled the area around me with more darkness while waiting for him to make a move.

After a few seconds, Taylor suggested an idea and pulled all her bugs into a thick cloud near the prison opening. Brian then shot a column of darkness up the building. I didn’t really have time to think about the plan before needing to go along with it.

Oni Lee teleported near the edge of the new darkness and threw a grenade into the cloud. Unfortunately for the villain, I hid in the swarm—not the darkness—and grabbed his foot before he could teleport away.

I was still caught in the explosion from the grenade, but all that did was pop Victoria’s forcefield. The time frozen Oni Lee suffered no damage. He didn’t teleport into Brian’s darkness. You think his power is sight based? That could be the case. Most teleporters need line of sight.

Taylor covered the eye holes on his mask with more bugs. Flashes of light continued to dot the city as more bombs went off. We can use Amy’s power to temporarily turn off his eyesight. Then the PRT can take him into custody while we go help.

I shifted my grip to push the bugs out the way and obscure Oni Lee’s eyes with my hand. Taylor, we aren’t going to blind a captured villain to make containing him more convenient.

But we need to help. There is another villain out there, and I deprived the city of eight heroes. I have to make it worth it.

There are plenty of other heroes who can handle that problem. We can focus on capturing Oni Lee and preventing anyone from breaking Lung out. That is more than enough.

But—

Are you going to try to seize control? Because I’m not moving from this spot.

Taylor hesitated. She didn’t actually want to be in the driver’s seat right now. She felt obligated to take control of the situation and take more of the burdens on herself, but she was driven more by stubbornness than genuine conviction. The lack of authenticity prevented her from pushing to the front. Frustration filled her mind as she retreated back and focused on making bug arrows towards injured PRT agents to help the medics find people.

I waited. Occasionally, Oni Lee would unfreeze and ineffectually stab me before getting clockblocked.

After ten minutes, Dauntless flew in from the city. “You left your cell.”

I shrugged. “I had an unwanted visitor.”

“Leave him to me and return there.” He pulled out a blindfold while his aura shifted between several shades of worry and concern.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be good. A few of the officers could use my help with healing their wounds.”

His aura became more hopeful as he sent a subaudible question through his mike. His aura then became frustrated before he spoke. “No one is in critical need. You’ve been ordered back to your cell.”

“Okay.”

I kept my hand and stump clearly visible as I floated back down and into my prison cell. Vista then smoothed the space over to reseal the hole she made in the door. I then sat quietly on my cot and worked on regrowing my hand.

Activity in the building started to calm down by the time I finished.

Even after the short nap earlier, I felt tired. All the voices were tired.

I laid my head down and hoped that someone else would be driving this clown car tomorrow.

Chapter 3

I yawned and stretched with consciousness.

Rise and crime everyone!

That roused a choir of comments from outrage to ‘hell yeah’ to confusion. A quick count confirmed my initial suspicion. 

It was time for Tattletale.

Hahaha! Good. Nothing about you is good. Shut up sis slut. Oh fuck you! You wanted to do what with your sister? Amy screamed in frustration but I was beyond her reach. Hey, could we not joke about that? It’s a relatively serious family issue, and I’d rather not have the rest of you interjecting into it. Maybe you shouldn’t have interjected your fist into Rachel’s spine. Since you did, I’ll do whatever I damn well please.

Reminding Victoria of her own murder caused her to fade back. I really don’t see how being this aggressive helps. We’re all—Worst Ward’s leader says what? What? I… Ooo and another voice fades to the background.

This headspace was a battleground, and I was going to win it. Even against me? I pulled Taylor closer, showing her that I would let her take over whenever she wanted, but there was also going to be a lot of talking today. The authorities had time to scramble and let us stew. Today, they were going to negotiate.

Taylor didn’t have any interest in talking with the cops. The girl had good instincts. If only I had more time to show her the ways of the world before all these bad influences were injected into her orbit. You were taking her down a dangerous path. It—Bark bark bark!

The reminder of dogs and his horrible death to them sent Chris further back, but Rachel focused more of her attention on me. My two fellow Undersiders decided to hang close while most of the heroes became less present.

I let out a quick breath and floated to the center of the room. Now that my head was a little clearer, I needed to focus on our problems and for that I needed information. Taylor, be a dear.

My partner in crime guided several bugs to my palm, and I started molding them. While palling around in the back of her mind, I noticed the wall she put up between herself and a flood of information. When I peeked past a crack in the barrier, a cacophony of sensory data waited on the other side. Maybe I could parse it eventually, but it seemed more expedient to give the insects better senses.

The heroes grew concerned at how I was creating life and tried to stop me. The PRT would be bringing their families in today. Did the good boys and girls not want to see and hear their parents? They denied me, but their actual desires undercut them. Only Vista and Amy remained fully resistant. I had to respect Vista’s disregard for her parents and sent her a mental fist bump.

Of course, respecting Vista was the easiest way to get her to like you, so her own resistance fell away. Amy kept trying to stop me, but she also couldn’t help herself from thinking of helpful suggestions. Why yes, that membrane would be more permeable to light, thank you.

The end result of my efforts were a few fistfuls of flies dedicated to hearing or seeing. A single sense took up their entire head, preventing them from eating but I didn’t need them to live long.

Tapping into their senses gave a blurry image and muted sounds, but it would do.

I sent my little spies out and had them collect precious information as I waited and made plans.

Dennis’s father was still here along with Mark and Carol Dallon. The latter of which had sheets of legal documents out. I couldn’t read them, but I had to assume it was for her daughter's benefit. She was a potential ally. All the parents were. Every connection was one more barrier between me and the Birdcage. I could pretend to be a dutiful daughter or son for any of them.

As I watched more parental figures escorted to the same waiting room, I felt a mental poke. Check on my dogs. Sure. I made a few more flies, and Taylor sent them hunting for the canines. Our fellow Undersiders were being walked around the building by PRT agents. See, they were fine. What about the rest? Taylor’s range wasn’t that far and even if it was, these flies can only move at like five miles per hour. Then let's go check on them.

If we left, the dogs would probably be killed in the crossfire. We can’t risk that. Rachel begrudgingly agreed and contented herself with watching over the three near us.

I continued my spying. The people and their conversations were difficult to parse without seeing their emotional auras. Our collective dog brain removed a lot of subtext that my power could only compensate so much for, especially since it was weaker. The leaps in logic I could make were far smaller. If I could take ‘A’ and ‘B’ to conclude ‘Z’, I was now concluding ‘I’ and had to use my power again to get ‘R’. One more use could take me to ‘Z’.

This new limitation was frustrating, but my overall stamina with the ability was much greater. Terry and Carlos were the best headache cure I had found and almost made all the voices worth it. Still, certain pieces of information I used to pull from the little facts were beyond me, which was frustrating.

Oh well, I would have to make do with a vastly increased repertoire of abilities.

And what do we have here? Director Piggot was having a very interesting teleconference that was begging to be spied on. The heroes in my brain were at least teenagers enough to want to spy on their boss.

A woman of prodigious size looked like she hadn’t slept since yesterday. Her pit stains and the bags under her eyes were large enough to be visible to the weak vision of my bugs but—Her suit and hair were kept to military precision to show her professionalism. She wore a slimming vertical striped shirt under her suit jacket to signal that she was self aware about her flaws and sought to mitigate them. The watch on her left wrist faced inward, indicating a woman who was very busy and needed to keep a constant eye on the clock.

“...Why are we still having this conversation?” A man voiced his disagreement. I couldn’t make out his face on the computer monitor. “She was involved in the deaths of 12 children. Send her to the Birdcage and be done with it.”

A commanding woman responded from a different screen. “No. Sending Case 16s there not only risks losing Dragon, but could produce a threat we can’t manage. Given their current compliance, we are realistically looking at the asylum or other options. Chambers should be arriving shortly to help spin this. He has a few ideas that are workable if we can get parental buy-in.”

The Birdcage was off the table due to our condition which was good if you ignored all the existential problems associated with absolute immortality. That left the asylum—effectively prison—as a consideration. My plans shifted. Even though no asylum could hold us, the heroes were inclined to sit in one if the authorities asked them to. I needed to convince said authorities that I was stable, failing that, I needed to convince them I was safe. Convincing the parents their kids were still alive should also add pressure. The nearest asylum was in Philadelphia. If the parents actually wanted to see their kids, then they would be good advocates in keeping me out of there.

“With that out of the way. Director Piggot, what the hell happened?”

Piggot sighed. “Unsurprisingly, a teenage villain thought giving a 12 year old a haymaker was a good idea. Untested tinkertech was then used in retribution which sparked a series of revenge killings until the resulting parahuman went berserk due to the previously unknown Case 16 nature of Vista. The survivors then worked together to try to survive the assault of Vista VII through XII. For undetermined reasons, Vista XIII is able to appear lucid. The likely cause is yet another unknown power interaction.”

In a corner of my mind, Vista was thrilled to hear roman numerals after her name. She knew that we knew she liked it and was mildly embarrassed before discarding that embarrassment. This beats being dead AND we get a ton of powers to work with! It’s like being the entire Wards team as one cape. Sure, there are downsides, but there are some positives. It made sense that the origin of this condition would adapt the best to it. Powers tended to fit the cape. This started a whole side conversation with the others in my mind, but I focused on Piggot’s chat.

The man spoke up again. “Killing each other is what parahuman teenagers tend to do. Your orders didn’t account for their inherent volatility.”

Piggot pursed her lips, but the other screen spoke first. “Thank you for your insights, Tagg, but you can disconnect from the call now. I need to have a private word with Director Piggot.”

“Yes ma’am.” One of the screens shut off.

“Don’t take too much offense at Tagg’s words. He tends to view parahumans as soldiers or assets and maintains a detached perspective.”

“With all due respect, why was he in this call?” Piggot’s face conveyed… I couldn’t remember. Instead I focused on how her shoulders were hunched slightly forward while her hands formed fists. My power helped me conclude she was stressed and mourning.

“He’s your eventual replacement.”

“I understand. Losing all but one Ward is…” Piggot raised her and blinked a few times. “They may have been destructive little shits, but they were still kids. You know… this time I would have preferred if the parahumans ran.” She let out a long breath. “I can have my desk cleared out by morning.”

“Chambers is setting the timetable for that. He should be landing on the roof now.”

A few of Taylor's regular bugs were chopped to pieces by helicopter blades. I needed more spy flies to watch him arrive, but resistance from the Wards grew too much for me to make more minions. In fact, they were done spying on their boss. I didn’t know she cared that much.

Their somber mood inhibited further snooping, so I passed the time thinking about my strategy and what we could reasonably get in negotiations. I knew I wanted to avoid the asylum, but what was Chambers' spin plan? Could it be that? What else could it be? There were only so many ways to mitigate how bad this looked.

If that was the case, then I needed to progress my schemes. I floated to the transparent cell door and knocked on it. “Hey.” The guard ignored me. “Hey!” The startled guard turned to me. “I want my lawyer.”

The woman walked over. “Do you have a lawyer, or do you need to be provided a public defender?”

I rolled my eyes. “Sorry if I don’t brandish her business card. I left it on my other body.” The guard stood still, mouth slightly open. I snapped my fingers. “Come on. Chop chop! I might have all day, but you have until noon before I’m required to have a detention hearing.” Thank you Victoria’s legal knowledge via osmosis. Your incredibly boring family dinner conversations were a worthy sacrifice. I find Mom’s work interesting. Oh dear, it may be inheritable. What? Being boring. She is not boring! I gave Amy a hit of the mental spray bottle. Ah! How did you do that? The mindspace isn’t real. We can do whatever we want. 

Amy tried to do the same thing to me, but I didn’t care that she imagined me being hit by water and then being bothered by it. I didn’t imagine that. Both visualizations were lessened by not sharing in them, which bothered Amy more than me since she was my hallucination. Could you not insist that we’re all hallucinations while being primary? I gave Taylor an imagined hug. Don’t worry hun, we’re all your hallucinations until your mental picture of yourself stops matching who you are, then we can all be hallucinations together.

Most of the voices grumbled at me for not recognizing their personhood, which was the least of my concerns. I was worried that we were all just copies of the originals. Even if the person I would consider myself was dead, then I still wanted this version to thrive. For that, I had to convince everyone else that we were all still alive. I didn’t have to believe it myself.

During my musings the guard successfully fetched Carol Dallon. She looked at me with a suspicious aura. I pulled on the part of myself that was Victoria to alter my pitch and resonance to better match the girl—“Mom! Don’t listen to her! The villain is just trying to use your connection to us to get your support. She—Oop!” I put a hand to my mouth. “I let that slip out.”

Carol pressed her face and both hands on the glass. Her eyes dug into mine with ferocity and an aura of hope. “Girls? Girls are you in there?” Her face stiffened and her aura shifted to a determined hue. “Let me speak with them.”

A dark anger roiled from Victoria. Why would you impersonate me? What is wrong with you? Carol needed evidence that her daughters were alive, and you don’t want to face her. I gave Carol one of my patented grins. “The primary talker shifts around, but as much as you want to talk with your daughters, they aren’t who you need right now.”

Her aura flared red. “I have little desire to talk with a villain.”

My hand came to my chest. “You wound me. Your intolerance of my profession aside, you need me because your girls are murderers and are happy to accept a long stint in asylum as punishment. Can you imagine Victoria and Amy being picked at by shrinks for the rest of their lives and having to drive five hours to maybe see them? Ah see, you would hate that. Me and you though, we have the same goal.”

“Out with it.”

I sighed. Would it kill her to ask the questions I wanted to answer? “We both want your daughters to get away with murder, then you haven’t lost them.”

Her aura oscillated between a deep black and a burning red before deciding on red. “There are many mitigating circumstances around what happened at the bank. Even if missteps happened both had good reasons to fear for their lives and the lives of others.”

“Very good. Wouldn’t you prefer a client that wasn’t blathering their guilt to the nearest ear?”

Her eyes narrowed. “They do both have a tendency to over exaggerate their flaws. That would be… less than ideal at this delicate time. I would still prefer to talk with my daughters first.”

I flopped my arms to my sides. “Well, not today. We also do not have a lot of time.”

Carol hissed with a frustrated aura. “I’m only doing this for my daughters.”

“I expect nothing more.”

“First, we need to make you presentable. You haven’t been charged yet, so the prison uniform is entirely unneeded.” She pulled out two sets of clothes from her bag. “Sarah couldn’t determine which set would fit better. She didn’t get a good look at you since she was distracted by the… scene at the bank.”

In her hands were a set of Victoria’s formal wear and a casual set of clothes. That’s my favorite hoodie and jeans. I… I didn’t know she noticed things like that. Amy’s memories of Carol were not of a kind and loving mother but of someone who tolerated Amy in her house. Victoria had seen the edges of it, but didn’t realize the depth at which Amy felt like a stranger in her home. She only remembered one person who consistently cared about her. Amy… Maybe Mom did have trouble showing her love, but why only me? Why didn’t you make friends? Everyone wants to be your friend.

Maybe I didn’t want other friends! Maybe you were all I needed! Besides, most of the sniveling snot nosed brats who approach me only wanted to bask in the fame of a daughter of New Wave. Then when I had powers of my own, they only wanted perks of being friends with a healer. They were all self gratifying transactional fake assholes. None of it was real. You were the only one who ever genuinely liked me.

Don’t you see how that mentality could have led to an unhealthy obsession? Sisters are supposed to… love each other, but I shouldn’t be your whole world. You need to try to build relationships with others. Friendships deepen with time—Why bother!? It’s not like we’ll ever be apart again. We—

Brandish snapped her fingers to get my attention. “Uhh right, Vicky’s outfit. Give me that one.”

“Are you sure? I don’t know how to put this delicately, but you don’t exactly fill out her frame.”

“Do you want to see a magic trick?” 

Carol half rolled her eyes before she shoved the clothes through the slot and flipped a switch next to the cell that caused the door to become opaque.

I changed into the white button down shirt, black slacks, and matching shoes before using Terry’s power to fill out the curves and chest. After I knocked on the door, Brandish flipped the switch and blinked in surprise. “Browbeat’s power was wasted on a man.” I thought I thoroughly explored my powers, yet I made such an obvious oversight. Dude, it’s perfectly alright that you didn’t think to grow boobs. Ah but think of how ironclad my secret identity would have been.

Carol gave me a once over. “It’ll do. While we wait, I’ll run you through basic dos and don’ts while in your situation. You need to…”

We went over ways of how to not incriminate myself through this process. She didn’t have much advice on how to appear sane, so we’ll have to wing that. Armsmaster and Dauntless arrived to mercy kill our conversation and escort us to a meeting room. 

Inside the room with Director Piggot was a man with fat hands and a fat face. He was obese and his outfit was hideous. The pseudo gel mohawk on—OK Taylor that’s twice now. Do you have a problem with fat people? I’m looking at people and they are fat. What is the problem? It seems a little spiteful, almost like you are judging them for it. Am I supposed to not see their fat!? You could notice it once or switch up your word choice. I don’t control how I notice people. It’s not like I’m calling them fat out loud. You can all read my mind. It’s not like you guys can’t see that he is fat. I’m being called out for no—His outfit was a monument to being garish and clashing, clearly the work of a master with proficiency on par with those that can score a perfect zero on scantron tests. I hated it, but I also knew he wanted me to hate it. I—

The man who I could assume to be Chambers coughed. I forced my eyes to lock with his. There was no useful information for me there, but I knew people considered eye contact polite. A few of my eye spies flew into the room and positioned themselves so I could still look at his posture and other body language while my eyes were busy. “Sorry, I got lost in my head for a bit there.”

“We’ll have to work on that. To repeat myself: Hello, I am Glenn Chambers.”

I shook his fat hand. “It’s a pleasure. I’m a lot of people.”

“That’s what we’re here to discuss.” He gestured to the table for me to sit down. Carol joined me on my right while Dauntless and Armsmaster took up positions behind me. A measure of trust was extended for this meeting, but it wasn’t lost on me that two of their capes were watching over me. “I’m not going to sugarcoat it. This is a disastrous clusterfuck, but I see a way through.”

“I’m all ears.”

He leaned forward and waved his hands to emphasize his vision. “The best spins are for the most part true. It mitigates reputational damage when the facts are shown in their original light. My proposal is to claim a strange power interaction caused all thirteen of you to merge together. We’ll present it like a Case-70 situation. There aren’t a lot of them, but we market the condition as a fun quirk of the hero. The public doesn’t need to know about gritty realities nor do they need to know about the bodies involved in this situation. We won’t hide the fact, but we won’t publicise it either.”

Carol nodded. “I’m with you so far. They aren’t dead. People don’t need to know about temporary deaths.”

“Good. Instead of telling people the story of a tragic bank heist gone wrong, they will be sold the idea that the previous junior heroes were merely transformed into the new more powerful Ward, Myriad!”

I snorted. “One of us is devastated at not going with ‘The Vista’.”

“I’m sure she is, but for obvious reasons, we don’t want your Case 16 nature to be widely known. That’s the same casefile as the Butcher by the way. None of us want to draw that creature’s attention here and the connotations associated with Case 16s, all two of you, would be poisonous to your image.”

“Well, we can’t have that, but there is a matter we need to resolve.”

“Oh?”

Carol interjected. “Many of the capes that make up my client were not Wards. How will they be compensated?”

Glenn slid a document over. “This is for New Wave’s cooperation in this. I think you’ll find the terms and compensation fair.”

“And what about the rest of us?” I leaned forward.

Piggot answered. “You are looking at probationary Ward status instead of prison. That’s more than fair.”

“You wouldn’t want to send your Wards to prison, besides, I think you’ll find the Undersiders demands are more than reasonable.”

Piggot sighed. “We’ll hear you out. Please get your grandstanding out of the way.”

“First, I want full pardons for the Undersiders.”

“The probationary status is non-negotiable. 12 people died.”

“Yeah yeah, but the rest of the Undersiders can be pardoned.”

“The dead ones?”

“No… What’s not clear here?”

“Which Undersiders are you talking about? Does your group have more capes?”

“No, I’m talking about Brutus, Judas, and Angelica. They are very well behaved and will fall into line quickly.”

Armsmaster spoke up. “You’re talking about the dogs.”

“Yes, the other Undersiders.” Auras around the room grew worried. Was this really too big of an ask? I thought they would be agreeable. “If a full pardon isn’t doable, then they could at least serve time helping in the Wards.” The auras grew worse. What was I saying wrong? Group reeling from tragedy, demands are being made; demands must be met; hesitant to reveal weakness to demands. Why would that result in them being worried? I was missing critical information and didn’t know what.

Glenn tapped his fingers. “You see dogs and people as the same.”

“Those are two synonyms, yes.” Great, now they are asking me stupid questions and getting more worried. What am I missing?

Piggot leaned back. “We can pardon those Undersiders. Done. Move on.”

While I was relieved that the hangup was over, I was disturbed that I didn’t know why. “Uh… ok… Next is pretty simple. Rachel wants to be able to take care of her other dogs. If you’ll keep us busy, then she needs help with that.”

“A dog shelter?” She waved her hand. “We have canine facilities in the building, more than we need actually. That’s fine.”

This was going too easily. I expected more pushback. Whatever. I leaned back and crossed my legs before admiring the fingernails on my right hand. Ugh, Taylor needed a mani. “Well, if you’re so agreeable the next item should be easy. I want Coil’s legitimate assets after you take him down.”

“Absolutely not.”

I flopped on the table. “It was worth a shot. Oh well, I’ll still be pleased if you prioritized his capture, but that isn’t a favor. You’ll do that anyway.”

“And WHY would we do that?” Piggot asked tiredly.

“A small little detail may prompt a speedy arrest. It’s funny how the tiniest little fact can drastically change your whole picture of a person.” Piggot glared at me. I responded with a grin. “He was the Undersiders’ boss. He paid us to rob that bank. He had the power to stop what happened and didn’t.”

Everyone in the room except Chambers were roaring bonfires of red aura. Piggot’s aura was downright murderous. “I’m sure you’ll help to verify that information.”

“Of course, but be careful. He has deep spies in the PRT. I’m not sure how high.”

Glenn blew air out of his mouth. “Any other ‘demands’ or can we get back to planning your image and rollout?”

“Coil provided services to my teammates. He was helping Grue gain custody of his sister from a bad situation, and I’m sure you can guess what he helped Regent with.”

Glenn answered before Piggot. “Obviously you can’t adopt anyone. You’ll be spending far too much time bouncing between parents to raise a kid of your own.” Carol nodded. “Although, one of the other parents may be willing to foster another kid, especially if it means theirs will visit more often.” Carol’s eyes brightened at the thought. Despite Vicky’s and Amy’s perspectives, she would still be better than Aisha’s mom. Damn Brian, you want to see if Brandish can go three for three when it comes to triggering daughters?

Armsmaster answered the final concern. “Obviously if Heartbreaker makes a move, we’ll stop him.”

I clapped my hands. “That’s all we wanted. Taylor has basically no demands and blames herself for the whole situation, so she doesn’t want anything.”

Glenn raised hands into the air. “Finally! We get to the important matters.”

We spent the next couple hours hashing out the rough details of my image and cape persona before we needed to begin the difficult process of breaking the news to the parents.

The first parent we met was in a private room separated from the others. I deflated back to our original size before entering. The parent looked ragged like he was up all night waiting for his daughter to get home only to receive a call from the PRT saying she was arrested.

“Taylor?” Danny Hebert looked at me while radiating an aura of love and affection I never felt from my parents. I pushed the girl to the front to hug her own dad.

Nononono, I didn’t want to deal with this! How could I possibly explain to my dad that I was a supervillain and an accessory to mass murder? I pulled on the most sympathetic person and hoped they would take over.

That’s how I found myself hugging Taylor’s dad. My own father wasn’t much of a hugger, which was only one of many reasons I found this situation awkward, but I figured I owed it to Taylor. It was my punch that started this whole mess.

Chapter 4

I didn’t know where to put my hands. Wrapping up and squeezing this man was an option, but all that contact felt too intimate. Instead, I lightly balled my fists and bumped Danny’s back with my forearms. That’s terrible. Just do this. Victoria thought about how she gave superpowered hugs full of smiles and warmth but that was obviously too much for right now. We were both men and could give a few respectful squeezes before letting go.

To demonstrate this, I opened my arms wide enough for Danny to back out after the third bump.

He did not let go and only squeezed harder. “At least you’re alright. I was so worried. What happened?”

Did he expect us to talk like this? I tried another squeeze and release to remind him to let go. He didn’t… I drew in a breath as I prepared myself for the final phase of a hug. I opened my palms and tapped Danny’s back twice before letting go.

He persisted in his hugging. I tried the double tap twice more before I stood there unsure of how to proceed. My breath started to run out, and I felt vents opening in my neck before I let out a sigh and slumped forward into the hug. This was nice.

Immediately, I stiffened because a gaggle of teenagers heard me enjoying a hug from a complete stranger. You can hug my dad. It’ll help reassure him. Right. I relaxed. This was part of the subterfuge. I tried Victoria’s version of a hug but left the smile off my face.

We held each other for a full minute like that. Eventually, he did the double tap and release which finally let me exit the hug. Gee Brian, don’t be so disappointed you didn’t get more Danny time. That’s not… I just… Can’t hide your feelings anymore, big guy. As the lingering warmth faded, a chill set into Taylor’s thinner limbs from the sterile government building air. 

I tensed my arm muscles while relaxing my shoulders to suppress a shudder. That could easily be seen as a sign of distress when I needed to project myself as calm, collected, and assured, even if I wasn’t, especially if I wasn’t. Something had stripped the fundamental confidence I had for my actions. It was like I wasn’t sure what to do with my limbs even though I consciously knew how to hold myself.

Killing accidentally and being killed in turn were colossal fuckups. Yeah… that’s probably why I feel so unsettled. Both events happened so quickly that it was hard to dwell on them—half a misstep, too much weight forward, a loud crack; outrage and confusion filling my mind; a flash of light and an instant of burning pain—but dying had to mess a guy up. Mr. Hebert didn’t look like the father of a supervillain. He wore a button up shirt tucked into khaki pants, but unlike most guy’s attempts at business casual, the man’s clothes fit, and the colors were coordinated well. It was subtle but marked the difference between someone trying to dress up before heading to a government building and someone used to meeting people where appearances mattered even if they weren’t that kind of person to take the same meticulous care.

“Taylor.” I blinked and refocused on the man. It was so easy to get lost in my head. “You were zoning out,” he said gently. “What happened?”

“How much have they told you?”

Danny’s aura grew concerned. “Do you have a cold? You sound… never mind. I was only told that you were arrested and taken here.”

I sound weird? You’re talking like you would but with Taylor’s voice box. Wouldn’t I sound like Taylor? No, a lot of a person’s voice is unconscious. Think of it—As fascinating as this conversation is, we should probably focus on talking with the parent of our hostess. I drew in a breath. “There are three important facts you need to know before I can properly explain what is going on.”

Danny nodded for me to continue.

“I’m a cape.”

“I…” Danny made a motion gesturing to the building around us. “...suspected that.”

“I was a supervillain.”

A deep aura of sadness mixed with concern and love in Danny’s aura. Dark lines of guilt webbed through his entire emotional state. When he didn’t reply, I continued.

“I killed someone.”

Horror suffused his aura before it was wrapped and compressed with a sense of protectiveness. He sat down at the table and tapped it. “I know this may be hard, but I need you to describe everything that happened in detail before we figure out what to do next.”

I sat in a chair across from him and described the events of the bank while taking care to say ‘Grue’ about actions I did and ‘I’ about actions Taylor did. Danny grew steadily more horrified with the blow by blow, but it was only after I explained what happened after Taylor killed Dennis that he grew quiet and confused.

“You hear their voices? I don’t understand.”

“Voices is what we’re calling it between ourselves, but it’s more like having multiple internal monologues but they represent individual people with different outlooks. I’m thinking everything they think and feeling everything they feel. When more memories get brought up, they become my memories… I’m not sure if I fully understand what is going on, and I’m living it. It doesn’t help that we switch around who is talking and none of us are completely certain how this is happening.” Oh no, Brian said too much. My father will realize he hasn’t been talking to me, and then I’ll need to explain why I wasn’t talking and— 

“I’m struggling to wrap my mind around it, sorry. So more importantly, has the PRT charged you with anything? I’ll need time, but I can get a lawyer.” He didn’t notice… Isn’t it obvious? Brian acts nothing like me… Hurt and despair welled from Taylor as she felt less real, less seen. I also questioned if I had been acting enough like myself, if I was even still myself. Tattletale has been insisting that we’re mental constructs maybe—You just told him you saw 12 kids die and murdered one yourself. He thinks you’re in shock. Danny started to get up. “I need to borrow a phone.”

I held up a hand to stop him. “They offered probationary Ward membership instead of prison. I also have a lawyer hashing out the details.”

He sat back down. “Taylor, you shouldn’t let a public defender represent you. Most of them mean well, but they are way too overworked to handle any case with care.”

“Carol Dallon is representing me.”

“Why would she do that?” You explained it to him…

I tapped my head. “Her daughters exist here. That is uh part of what we needed to talk about. The other parents are going to want to spend time with their kids and the PRT wants to keep a close eye on me, so I’ll be staying here in the short term.”

A blazing red aura flared within the center of Danny, brighter and more intense than any other that I had seen, but it smashed against a transparent calm shell at the edge of his being. In an even voice at normal volume he said, “That doesn’t sound right, but I’ll talk with Carol about the details.”

“You can do that while I’m meeting with the other parents. The Director will inform the rest of them as a group, but they thought it would be bad if you met with them since your kid still has her body.”

“God, I can’t imagine what the rest of them are going through.” He grabbed my hand, causing me to go very still. “I’m just glad I didn’t lose you.” He squeezed my hand and gave it a reassuring pat before leaving the room. I should be happy that he didn’t see through you but… Yeah…

Yeah.

I stared at the table and didn’t pay much attention to any of the voices until Armsmaster came to retrieve me. As I followed him, my thoughts muddled. What did it mean to be Brian? How do I be more Brian? Should I try to do that? How much of me was an act? Nearly everyone was having similar thoughts after Danny’s failure to see I wasn’t Taylor. Nah, I couldn’t give a shit. Besides, if I thought about ‘what does it mean to be Alec’ that would ruin our day. Focus on the now and let all the worries leak out—That’s called mindfulness—Not the way I do it.

This wasn’t the time to be distracted. Armsmaster opened the door to the presentation room and gestured for me to enter. Hey, fill out your clothes first. Fitting clothes will make us look more stable. Sure, that made sense. I used Terry’s power to expand to where Tattletale had it and was suddenly very conscious of our clothing, which distracted me. If you’re having trouble, I’ll get that for you. Terry finished the rest of the transformation, and it was like my balance was off even though my feet were sure.

I chalked that up to more brain sharing weirdness and stood next to the podium as Director Piggot went through a slow and clinical explanation of what happened with the gathered parents. There was no lying or sugarcoating to them. They needed to live with the gritty realities of what was left of their kid sharing a body with twelve other people.

During the Q&A section, I could see their auras grow more chaotic as the facts settled. The questions came fast and louder as Piggot did her best to address their concerns. When feelings grew to a fevered pitch, Chris’s father stood up.

“I won’t be fooled by this trickery.” He pointed a shaky finger at me. “That… THING is clearly not our SON. I don’t care if it thinks it is. Our souls go to the Lord when we die. The only power that can touch them is God’s.” He grabbed his wife’s hand. “Come on honey, let’s go. We have living children to take care of and a funeral to plan.” As he left, Chris’s mom looked back at us with concern.

Quick! React like Chris would. They need to know we see them as our parents. We need allies if we want to be anything more than a tool for the Protectorate. How do I do that? Pull him through, not forward. Instead of trying to guess, I did what Tattletale was thinking and focused on feeling Chris’s feelings. I didn’t know if—

Each of my father’s words cut deeply. When he turned to leave, the cuts twisted and cored me out. I reached after them as my vision blurred. Mom, Dad, I’m still here. Please see me. My father stopped, and I realized I said those words out loud. His shoulders shook while my mom clapped a hand over her mouth as her eyes moistened. A spark of hope flickered in my chest that I got through to them. It died when my father doubled his pace and kicked the exit open, leaving me unseen. I—

I had one hand out and another grasping my shirt over my heart. Tears flooded my eyes but stopped flowing once I was me again. Chris still hurt in my mind, but it was more distant back there for both me and him. After a few calming breaths, I had control of myself again. The remaining parents’ aura was more concerned after that display.

Armsmaster escorted me from the room as Piggot stayed behind to explain their plans for ‘limited parental contact’ to help us and them acclimate to our condition. Basically, for the next two weeks, we would sleep at the PRT while visiting one family during the day on a flexible schedule depending on our mental state.

Once we were out of sight of the crowd, I deflated back to Taylor’s proportions.

Armsmaster called the main elevator and turned to me. “Good job in there…who are you?”

“Grue.”

His lips thinned while his aura flickered with hostility before it simmered back down. “Regardless, good job. They needed to see you to start processing this. Head down and rest up, it’s been a long day of talking and meetings. I assume the Wards can show you around.”

“They can.” As the Wards thought about their quarters, I grew familiar with them. The elevator arrived and I stepped in after Armsmaster gave me a final nod—which was a surreal experience—and I was as alone as I could be. So like not at all.

By the time we entered the lounge, the Wards picked out an empty room for me to crash. Given how the day went and how ragged everyone was feeling, I opted for a lazy darkness bath. The smoke pushed through all my pores, exfoliating them and wiping out my scent. Several corners of my mind were jealous about this power use, but they didn’t need to be.

Afterall, this was their power as much as mine now.

I flopped into bed as this disquieting thought suffused through the crowd. Sleep eluded us until Victoria started imagining how our powers interacted. Taylor quickly joined in those musings, her own mind spinning with all the different ways mutated bugs could work together. Soon, we were all joining in. The thoughts drifted and became less vocal and coherent until we slipped into sleep.

When I awoke, I avoided the guessing game and asked who wasn’t me. I’m Brian. Since I do the Undersiders’ taxes, they need to listen to me. We had Number Man bank accounts. All the taxes were handled, which you would know if you listened to me explain… Oh shit, I was still me.

Goddammit.

I hoped to have at least a week before I needed to confront Aisha with this. She wasn’t even there last night. How could I possibly—thoughts about Aisha naturally lifted my hands to pull at my hair, which exposed my midriff. A small pile of flies flew to my stomach and molded together. From the mass hatched a fly four times larger than normal with more advanced senses, digestive enzymes optimized for iron, and far stronger limbs. Not sure where I’m going with this. I wanted kind of a scout/carrier but then I needed to make the exoskeleton stronger which I’m trying to do by mixing it with iron, but that required this whole complicated subsystem. Maybe—You could achieve that by making the limbs a little larger and save weight. Metal seeded structures would only be useful at much higher sizes. If—I thought you were going to fight me on this. You’re a Ward, and you wouldn’t listen to me anyways. If you’re going to be mucking about, I can make sure you don’t do something stupid like make a self-replicating organism. Wait, why is that an issue? Oh, it’s super illegal. See—

Kafka biomass horrors aside, if they could hit the day running, then so could I.

I levered myself off the bed and grabbed our new phone to log who we were today to the supervising agents. All the restrictions, procedures, and rules chafed at me, but I was a murderer. I brought this on myself. Vista stayed far back and felt at the environment with her power. This was the most important thing about me, and I can still use it whenever I want. Stop thinking about me. I’m not sure I’ll ever get along with my killer, but there is little use shouting and screaming at you about it.

My phone lingered in my hands. I needed to set up a meeting to explain and give her updates but how do… This situation is nuts. If you can’t say it well, say it quickly. I sent a quick text to Aisha:

Aisha,

This is Brian. Last job went bad. Look different now. Would appreciate if we could meet up to discuss how this changes plans.

After I sent the message, I turned my phone down and moved to walk out the room. I caught my reflection in the mirror and saw Taylor’s face. As much as I knew this was my reflection, it was like looking at a stranger. I was also surprised how much a specific detail was bothering me.

To redress this issue, I focused on Terry’s power and tried to increase my melanin. Oh, no such luck. You would think that since I can grow bone plates under my skin or produce heat resistant fluids that such a simple change would be in my skill set, but my power becomes less precise the closer my biology is to my outside. The arbitrary limit inspired a literary search which had me stumble upon—the Manton limit, right? Exactly! I also learned that I shouldn’t have multiple powers. I met none of the conditions and neither of mine are really common ‘bonuses’ like flight. The limitation and that factor made me think there is a unifying theme or concept to my powers—I have seen that theory. My own varying abilities are explained by pings and being 2nd gen, but I see your point—So what do my aspects have in common? They both cause me to be stronger and tougher, a generic strongman with complicated details.

Wait, shit. Can’t your power change—Nope! I said outside, not skin. Think of it this way, our stomach is, biologically speaking, on our outside. We’re all walking meat tubes and my biokinesis manipulates the filling. Speaking of which, I’ve been meaning to try something.

My chest exploded in a vague delightful feeling of pain. Both my kidneys pumped as Terry worked on my heart. Unlike Amy, I didn’t receive intuitive knowledge of biology, which made me hesitant to experiment with deeper organs, but Carlos’s power mitigates the risk to basically nothing. I didn’t mind if he kept experimenting. With how much Carlos’s pain response bleed through into everyone, pain was barely an issue, and it busied Terry.

I turned the mirror away, not really seeing the point in shifting my muscles and face bones around to not look like myself. My phone buzzed with Aisha suggesting we meet up at the mall and that I send her a selfie. I agreed to the meeting location and exited the room.

Outside, the rest of the Undersiders were relaxing in the Ward’s lounge while a PRT agent sat in the kitchenette to keep eyes on them. Judas and Brutus were happy to see me, but Angelica looked unsure. She only really liked Rachel. I tried to reassure all of them that they have been doing a good job before examining the duffle bags on the table.

They were clothes from Danny and Carol. I looked through Taylor’s first. Her selection of hoodies and jeans appealed to me, but the visible stains and tears caused Victoria’s skin to crawl. There was also a note from Danny asking about what happened to all her clothes. Taylor recoiled from the paper and turned all her attention to her bugs and bug making. You are not wearing any of these.

I didn’t disagree. The only decent articles were the ones Taylor bought with Tattletale a few days ago, but those outfits were a little… bright. In the other bag were Victoria’s and Amy’s clothes. Amy had an oversized gray hoodie that would fit on Taylor while Victoria had a matching set of sweatpants that almost fit Taylor’s longer legs.

Now I needed to return to our room and change… Taylor… Surely you would prefer one of the girls to do this part. We’re all riding around in me. Maybe they’ll find a way to separate us, but the Director didn’t present that as a possible option to all the parents. If it was easy or quick, they wouldn’t be trying to sell us as one cape. I’m sorry. My plan to go on the offensive got everyone killed and… Look, we all need to deal with being me. At least I’m androgynous enough that this shouldn’t be too weird.

What the hell are you talking about? The whole collective was confused. My hair’s my only feminine feature. Everything else is—Also aggressively feminine. Like what? Where did you get the notion that you—People’s insistence on Taylor’s femininity caused her to reflexively remember endless scenes of her peers insulting every inch of her appearance. She mentally curled in on herself, desperately not wanting to share these thoughts and memories. Tattletale imagined herself holding Taylor in a side hug and leading her off to go play with her bugs. We dropped the conversation.

Changing was awkward. I couldn’t quite place the problem, but there was one. I pushed the thought out of my mind and finished the process as quickly as possible.

I was allowed to roam outside the PRT building, but an unmarked van would transport me to my destination and stay nearby to keep me under observation.

Without much fuss, I made it to the mall and walked towards Aisha.

When her eyes met mine, she flashed her teeth aggressively, but her aura exploded in mirth. “Oh hey sis.”

The greeting felt like a punch through my soul but sparked a more pressing question. “How did you know it was me?”

“Please, you always walk around like you just had a botched stick-ectomy and need to be the biggest guy in the room. Also, your face is scrunched up in that superserious scowl you like to wear.” She smacked me in the shoulders. “Okay, spill it. What turned you into a bitch?”

“That…” She was beautiful, as feminine as Brian was masculine, with high cheekbones, a long neck and even though she was two or three years younger than me, she already had breasts and curves larger than mine. Damn, this family had good genes. What the fuck? Bug girl’s got a point. Your sister is hot. I cringed forward as two parts of my mind enumerated the ways my sister was attractive. The uncontrolled thoughts and feelings invoked a moment of empathy with Amy’s plight. Don’t compare their base surface level attraction to my feelings. I expected Victoria to respond to that, but she was distracted. Between the neon green fishnet leggings, revealing top, ripped denim shorts, and a strip of purple hair, it was obvious Aisha was going for more of a punk look, rebelling against established norms of aesthetics to forge her own path. It spoke of her anger against all authority and a confidence that they would break before she did. It was—What no, her outfit is awful—No, it is different. Fashion is about more than fitting into a few comfortable boxes. It’s—

Aisha snapped her fingers. “Brian, you're zoning off on me.” Her aura was worried. “Seriously, what happened?”

I sighed and gave her a quick rundown of the situation.

“Oh wild!” She tapped her chin. “How many of them are checking me out right now?”

I held up two fingers.

“Only two! Wow, you got a lot of racist dudes in there.” Chris and Dennis sputtered at the accusation before Aisha laughed. “How pissed did that make some of them? I really have to step up my game if there are twelve more of you to annoy.”

“Is that really your takeaway here? ‘Oh neat, more siblings to bother.’”

She shrugged. “Did you want me to get weepy and cry over your not-grave? Maybe everything you said hasn’t settled yet, and I’m trying to roll with it. You got to roll with the punches, right? It’s not like life stops hitting.”

I winced. “Speaking of punches, this changes our plans. I’m not going to be able to be your guardian.”

“Good. Dad isn't that bad and lets me do what I want.” Which was the problem, Aisha was thirteen and my dad let her run wild. He didn’t know how to take care of her and didn’t bother to try. Um, why do you think you, a supervillain, would be better? I have more time and would be there for her. The girl is older than me. She can take care of herself. No, she can’t. Despite pulling from the same memories, our disagreement remained, not that it mattered.

I pulled out paperwork and a letter from my front pouch and handed them to Aisha. “Brandish has expressed interest in fostering and adopting you due to our situation.”

She stared at the bundle and radiated glee. “You mean I might get the chance to publicly embarrass New Wave?” Aisha cackled. “Now this is a plan I can get behind!” Surprisingly, Victoria and Amy were looking forward to her clash with their mom. Aisha grabbed my hand. “Enough chatting. Let's get your nails done.”

I tensed as I struggled to follow her train of thought.

She kept tugging. “Come on, come on, it won’t be that bad.” After a few seconds of me not moving with the pulls, she sighed and relented before chuckling. “Oh, I’m going to have so much fun chipping away at your misogynistic bushido.”

“You think… I’m a misogynist?” That hurt and made me run through our interactions. Where did I give that impression?

My question received an eye roll and an exasperated aura. “You and dad treat girls like a different species. It’s weird even if it isn’t bad, but like… BRO.” She gestured up and down. “You can’t rock that anymore.”

A buzzing filled my portion of the mind. She brought attention to a discordance I had been ignoring but—as bugs in a nearby potted plant incinerated, Dennis acted on reflex and froze Aisha. A wall of green flames rolled over me, popping Victoria’s forcefield but otherwise leaving me unharmed.

Several locations within the mall were suddenly void of insects. Around me, the emerald flames clung to stone, tile, people—anything—and burned. Aisha remained safe and frozen. I could keep her safe despite the cloying smoke. As the noxious burning vapors filled my lungs, pores in my skin opened and sucked in air.

My heart was pounding but it was fine. I could kiss Dennis for his quick thinking. Aisha was fine. There was no reason to freak out.

The heroes and Taylor were growing more upset. They demanded I go save people, but I mainly cared about me and mine. Other people were a distant second. I refused them but the call to go be a hero split my will.

It was like a drain on my resolve. I had a need and impulse to do what I didn’t want to do. The longer I resisted the more…not really tired but my brain felt like it was shutting down. It’s like I had a desire to sleep without being exhausted. If I lost control, someone else was going to take over and they might not prioritize Aisha’s safety.

I gave in.

While I was resisting, Vista squished the flames to be smaller. When they were small enough, Taylor sent in a blanket of bugs to starve the fire of oxygen.

To go anywhere, I had to clear the smoke around Aisha. The fire alarm is disabled. Looks like sabotage. Hey, that should only bypass the temperature switches. Try the manual ones. Taylor found one nearby.

I pushed out enough darkness to obscure our form as I flew to the lever and pulled it. The alarm screamed, the sprinklers sprayed water, and the AC switched to emergency exhaust mode.

The smoke was clearing.

With that immediate problem mitigated, my mind filled with suggestions on who to help and how. I couldn’t tell which thoughts were whose in the cacophony. I let instinct take over.

I darted around, freezing people who couldn’t be moved, throwing rubble off those trapped, flying people and dogs out of the building. It was frenetic flashes as I kept looping back to Aisha to refreeze her. Safe. Save dog. Inspire awe. Blast calm. Stomp flame.

One man with severe burns thrashed around after the fire was out, making his wounds worse. I tapped his neck, and Amy mapped out his nervous system before Regent had the man fall limp. I carried him to medics outside and darted back.

Like a guardian angel of midnight, I lost myself in the rescue efforts. Despite my speed and the dozen of powers at my disposal, I wasn’t fast enough. People died. People got hurt.

I pried one toddler out of the charred embrace of her parent. She babbled about her daddy as I sat her by the first responders. Another man refused to drop an unmoving bundle as I moved him. Flies felt heartbeats under debris slow and stop. 

Grief compounded in my skull until tears flowed. 

Velocity blurred around me, trying to get my attention, but I was too focused. There were too many people lying injured with no one but my bugs to care for them. He gave up and looked for survivors. When he found them, he rushed out to firefighters who then moved towards the people he found.

Good, that was less people for me to move.

Slowly, the chaos calmed down. I grabbed an unfrozen Aisha and checked her for smoke inhalation damage. She had barely breathed a mouthful. Still, I fixed the little damage there was and flew her out.

She was talking to me, but my attention was far away. All the people waiting for medics were tagged by my bugs. Several were breathing slower.

After I put Aisha outside, I made a dark streak to lay my hands on the dying. It was too slow. The power was too slow now. I managed to save the service animal, but his owner died. I saved a woman, but not her husband.

Death was a river. All I ever did was stem the tide. The dark currents were as strong as ever, but I was less up to the task.

“Mommy, why is the shadow crying?”

“Shh, leave the hero alone. They are working.”

At some point during my ministrations, I came back to myself. What was all that?

I didn’t know, and it worried me.

Chapter 5

Darkness rippled from my pores and was dismissed after a few inches. While I could only perceive Brian’s power with my eyes, I didn’t actually see the darkness. It was like seeing sections of the world through a filter that didn’t alter visible light but still told my brain information. Powers do tend to kludge to senses rather than create new ones, but there are always exceptions.

It was something to puzzle over with Victoria as we went from person to person to dog and healed them until there wasn’t too much permanent damage. Even if Amy’s power was at full speed, we couldn’t give everyone the Panacea treatment. We could have tried.

No, because I’m certain we’re on a limited time budget. We—

“Myriad.” I turned to see Velocity. “The medics and hospitals will take it from here. They want you back at base.”

I wanted to argue that I could do more, and I would have, if I didn’t see his determined aura and concluded that he would try to fight me on this. “Okay.”

What followed was a quick van ride back to the PRT building where one of the support staff informed me that the bombing was part of a larger campaign that Bakuda took credit for. The targets were random and included schools, hospitals and other shopping centers. All the heroes were out to deal with the bombs and to hunt down the ABB tinker.

The heroes in my head and I itched to help, but we were told that we had done enough today and were already above the ‘light duty’ our ‘mental health’ rated. If they didn’t let me help, then how was I supposed to make up for what I did? There could be eight more heroes out there if I didn’t—This isn’t the time to make too many waves. The mall will probably reflect positively on us. Calmly standing down when they tell us to will also look good. The first shows that we mean well, while the second far more importantly shows that we’re obedient, which what they really care about.

Shouldn’t they care more about what we do rather than if we follow their rules. What—Remember when you tried to save the day by robbing a bank? Shit, we all have independent streaks, me especially, but maybe don’t trust your individual judgement if it leaves tragedy and destruction in your wake.

Yes, the bank went badly, but I didn’t see how that justified not helping when we could.

Dennis dropped the conversation when I entered the showers. As effective as Brian’s darkness bath was, it wasn’t a proper wash. We all knew we had to do this at some point. I hesitated before undressing.

Showering in front of another gaggle of teenage girls—much less boys—brought up memories of Winslow and days of choosing between harassment in the showers or everyone making fun of my smell for the rest of the day. It didn’t matter if I actually smelled. That would be the insult of the day if I skipped the pranks, insults, and games of keep away.

I tried not to dwell too deeply on those memories. My thoughts were their thoughts. The longer I didn’t think about it, the longer they didn’t know. Tattletale imagined herself patting my back. We’ll all know everything eventually. Between all of us, it’s a little more than two centuries of memories. Two years of bullying is less than one percent of that. Now, go make the boys uncomfortable! She imagined herself with a big bucket of popcorn and threw a few kernels at Brian.

Alec immediately joined in. Why me? Well, the last Wards v Undersider fight went poorly for everyone.

I winced at the reminder before removing my clothes and entering the shower. As I went about the routine motions, the boys would reflexively zero in on little details I took for granted as feminine and different. All the times when a crowd made fun of my body would cut away from me. Their observations did the opposite. I felt built up by them even though they weren’t compliments. They acknowledged a part of myself that I wished was true.

As much as I wanted to feel bad about how difficult it was to be me for them, this was addressing a problem I had given up on. The boys couldn’t lie to me. I knew their thoughts. This wasn’t a friend being nice or my dad telling me I looked pretty. There was no filter or deceit. It was their real perspective.

Focusing on several people's discomfort bothered me, so I let my thoughts drift to today. Things got a little chaotic in our headspace, but we saved a lot of people today. We were an effective hero.

The heroes were various levels of upset over who we couldn’t help. Their guilt was strange to me. We did the best we could with what we had. If anyone should be guilty, it should be me for trapping eight heroes in my body. We could have done more. We needed to do more. We should have done more.

While I thought through the events with the others and analyzed what we could have done differently, I found myself agreeing with Vista’s earlier point. Amidst all the problems, there were positives to this situation.

That was my last thought as I laid in bed and fell asleep.

When I woke, several of the voices began yammering about who we were today. It was always a dumb conversation. Knowing didn’t change anything, and the person would figure it out eventually.

I rummaged around my stuff for adequate clothes. Taylor had a black t-shirt with barely visible stains. We can do better. Seriously don’t—Vicky had a loose pair of black jeans with good pockets. That was from a phase. Uh, these are new. When did—I may have been considering revisiting that phase and these looked good and—She also had a jean jacket with fur lining on the chest, but the sleeves were flimsy useless things. I tore those off before slipping it on. Ah! Don’t rip up my clothes! I’ll… never wear them again with my body… Victoria fell back as she struggled with her disembodiment.

That was good. If I could make them all shut up, I would. It was a constant noise, everyone’s buzzing. Even when they didn’t think in words, they thought with images and feelings. Those weren’t as annoying, but it was still ‘noise’.

Already, my irritation was building. When I was just a voice, it didn’t bother me as much, nothing bothered me as much. I was less present. My wants and desires could be clear, and I did assert myself as needed, but it wasn’t like being locked in a closet, only able to scream. It was more like a lot of pieces were cut away from me or dormant until it was my turn.

I opened our door and moved to my dogs. Angelica laid on the couch while Judas and Brutus were resting on the floor. The girl tensed at my approach.

“Sit.” 

The terrier radiated confusion before opening her eye. She looked at the balance of weight on my feet, the set of my shoulders, and how I held myself. Her aura flickered with happiness as her tail wagged a little, but she became more confused at all the differences between who I was and what I looked like now.

“Sit.” My tone broached no argument.

Angelica sat and stared at me with a wide eye. I offered my hand, letting her sniff it even though the lack of scent only caused her confusion.

“I know, girl. I know. It’s confusing to me too.” I sat on the couch and commanded my dogs, “Come.”

Angelica tentatively clambered onto my lap while both the rottweiler and the German Shepherd were far less hesitant. They leapt on the couch and squeezed their vibrating bodies into my sides. Their shudders stemmed from a mixture of sadness, relief, and happiness. Judas and Brutus didn’t know how or why, but I was here, and they wanted to shield me from anything bad.

I had to pick up most of that from their emotional auras and Tattletale’s power.

There was a great gap between me and my companions. It was like I was looking at them from across a foggy chasm. All the intuitive connection frizzed away until they were wispy ghosts of who they once were.

Well—I petted Angelica—they weren’t the ones who were ghosts. I was the ghost. They saw me even if I couldn’t properly see them. I was the dead one. This was my problem. They were the same as before.

I leaned back and closed my eyes while I relaxed with my dogs. Eventually, their shudders stopped, and Angelica grew more relaxed. My peace was only interrupted by Taylor landing the occasional bug on me to morph it into another experiment. Most of the voices started muttering about this and that. Tattletale kept trying to look through Taylor’s normal bugs and got overwhelmed in the flow of information.

It made my head hurt until Terry fixed the headache. He would then go back to ‘upgrading’ parts inside of us. That pain didn’t feel bad, which would have been nice at the second foster home. Oddly enough, none of the memories of getting the shit beat out of me changed. The pain in them was still bad. I’m sorry you had such bad foster homes after your first one. They aren’t all like that. In that first one, the kid stole and broke my stuff. It wasn’t great either. Okay, but you don’t beat up a child with down syndrome over that. Oh, are those the words for that? I just call her a m—Language!  

The Wards didn’t like some of the words I used, which would have been more annoying if their memories didn’t provide alternative words. I didn’t mind increasing my vocabulary or learning how to read. Extra knowledge didn’t bother me at all. We obviously weren’t becoming the same person. 

I petted Angelica a little bit harder.

Time slipped by until I heard the elevator open. The person who walked in didn’t sound like a PRT agent.

“No way. You’re Myriad?”

The voice sent Taylor into a panic. I’m not panicking. No, you just want me to simultaneously run from the room and punch her in the face. That’s not… I’m wondering why she is here, how she is here. Maybe I misheard.

I opened my eyes and looked at Sophia Hess. A swirl of different moments and memories flooded into me. Taylor couldn’t help but remember being pushed, shoved, tripped, and hit by the girl. Vista remembered many locker room chats that Taylor saw as bullying despite Vista thinking it wasn’t a big deal. Chris and Dennis only thought Sophia was a little gruff sometimes. We knew Shadow Stalker was probationary and had nearly killed a guy or did kill a guy to earn that status. I’m shocked but not entirely surprised she bullied people at school. How did Dean miss any signs? The violent ex-vigilante was angry all the time. I didn’t think that was odd.

How could you be on a team with her? How is she a hero? Is this why no one did anything? “Off.” My dogs moved as I stood and walked towards the girl. “Stay.” We don’t pick our teammates, but at the end of the day, she fought the supervillains, not with them. Was she perfect? No, but have you noticed that none of us are? We’re—That doesn’t mean you let her run wild at school and hurt anyone she wanted! You know we didn’t know.

Sophia flashed her teeth and had an aura as aggressive as the action. “What do you want, probationary Ward?” She spat the word. “You’re all just as bad as me now with blood on your hands. Do you really think any petty schoolyard bullshit is going to matter in the face of that?” Brian remembered a bolt through the stomach that had nothing to do with school while Taylor was beside herself. I did get a dozen kids killed. Hey, that was a team effort! A deep anger welled inside of me. It wasn’t mine. It wasn’t Brian’s. It wasn’t Taylor’s. It was—

“Sophia…” My voice was monotone, a flimsy cork on an ocean of outrage. “Why was Taylor’s locker incident so damn familiar?”

The smile on her face broke and her eyes widened as she took a step back. “It wasn’t exactly the same. There were no razor blades, and she was only in there for like an hour, not all weekend.” The steady anger of her aura was streaked with worry.

“That’s not the fu—” I choked down a breath and released it slowly. “That’s not the point. I told you about my trigger event in the strictest of confidence. I noticed you didn’t feel like a part of the team and shared it with you to show you that I considered you as much of a Ward as everyone else.”

“Yeah well, that’s obviously not true, but it turns out I dodged a fucking bullet there! I can’t imagine a worse hell than being Hebert.”

My wroth lifted me from the ground, darkness pooling at my feet as red energy leaked from hands slowly gripping into fists between us. How could she turn THAT into a prank? My fellow hero betraying my trust like this made me want to scream, but I couldn’t scream. A good leader didn’t scream at his subordinates. Still, I was feeling too much, and it leaked out through Victoria’s aura.

Instead of cringing in fear, Sophia snarled and put her forehead against mine. Why was she trying to say hello with an aura that angry? “Not content with getting most of the Wards killed, yeah? You want to complete the set? Fine, come at me, but I won’t make it easy.”

Even when confronted, she’s entirely unrepentant. My limbs shook with fury. Taylor imagined herself grabbing my shoulder. I’ve taken enough Wards from this city. Maybe we could kick up enough fuss and have her be punished or transferred or even sent to juvie, but what do we gain? Most of us have done worse to each other than anything Sophia has done to us. Besides, the locker wasn’t my worst day. Taylor remembered when her mom died. It was the culmination of a vicious one and half year bullying campaign that proved that no one would help me. Honestly, the idea that Sophia stole the idea and fed it to Emma as a way to fit in with her friends is—She pictured Sophia as a violent dork struggling to be social—surprisingly cathartic. Tattletale whispered more of Sophia’s secrets to Taylor, causing her to laugh. In her mind, the social dynamic was reversed. Suddenly, Sophia was the outsider to her group of teenagers.

I was still too mad, far too unbalanced to handle this like I should. I retreated back—

After blinking, I was myself again. Victoria pulled in her aura, Brian dismissed his darkness, and Dean let the energy dissipate. That left me face to face with Sophia. She was breathing heavily through clenched teeth, her aura filled with tension, worry, and anger, always anger. I had a sudden epiphany. “You’re just a bitch.”

Sophia barked a laugh as she leaned back, arms still braced for a punch. “Fuck you too. Did someone with a spine take over? If you aren’t all a bunch of weepy little shits, then that’ll be an improvement—” How did everyone else not see it? It was so obvious. From the way she stood, the hunch in her neck, and the colors deep in her aura, Sophia had clearly been mistreated and was lashing out. “—especially when compared with Hebert. Actually, if you could never let her out again, then a lot of people would appreciate that.”

Yap yap yap. Inconsequential words tumbled out of her mouth that were only the echoes of previous abuse. I tuned her out as I considered what to do.

Carlos, Vista, and Brian wanted us to report Sophia and get her in trouble. Easy with those justice boners, we can’t make ripples right now. Trying to oust the last Ward after wiping out most of them would look like a pattern. Our situation is exceptionally tenuous, and any more pressure could see us sent straight to the asylum. I also didn’t see how getting people to yell at Sophia would do anything. 

I had my ideas of how to work with her. A lot of the voices buzzed with concern or distress at those ideas, but Taylor and Alec thought it would be hilarious and encouraged me to give it a try. I sent reassurances to the distressed ones. We didn’t need to communicate with words. We could send feelings directly. They quieted down after I made myself clear. See, none of this had to be complicated.

A whistle summoned my dogs to me.

“—But noooo, they told me Grue wasn’t a priority. Well look how fucking wrong they were? Everyone gets killed because he was allowed to run around town. Yeah, I know you are in there, and I should have shot you twice—Oh hey, we got dogs. I’m more of a cat person but…” She knelt down and petted Brutus.

I smirked. This was going to be easy. “I’m taking care of my dogs today. There are a lot of dogs. You could help.”

“What? No, I got Ward shit today.” She stood up and entered her room to change.

I scowled. That should have worked. I brainstormed other ideas.

Shadow Stalker exited her room with phone in hand. “What the hell is team bonding and why is it scheduled for the entire day?”

Armsmaster walked in from the elevator. “I see you have already reintroduced yourselves. I read in the reports that you and Taylor went to the same school. Did you know each other?”

“We weren’t in the same cliques.” Taylor discovered that she could mentally eye roll. “Why are you here instead of dealing with the bombs?”

“There was always a good reason to spend less time with the Wards, always some villain or another threat that took higher priority.” He looked between us. “That ended up being foolish, and I mean to immediately rectify the mistake.”

“Okay… so let’s go out there as a squad then. We can do that instead of whatever ‘team bonding’ is supposed to be.”

“Helping Myriad adapt to their circumstances is a higher priority than having children dispose of bombs. As much as this team has a history of working together, seven other individuals are joining it. You haven’t worked with any of them and are known to be actively hostile to one.” 

“Should I not be? He murdered Vista.” Sophia’s aura showed that she was more upset about that than she wanted to show. I thought she would mock how I died, not mourn it. Vista, she’s been on our team for nearly a year. She would have to be a complete psychopath to spend that much time around us and not develop any sort of bond.

“He’s on the team now. While your animosity is well founded, building team cohesion is critical to being effective. There are several activities I have selected based on our situation and have a few options available based on prefer—”

“I’m taking care of my dogs today.” I interrupted him.

“That is one of the options. I know you all severely outnumber Shadow Stalker, but I don’t want her to feel like she has no say in these group decisions.” He faced his helmet towards the Ward.

Sophia sighed. “Whatever, I guess we can mess around with dogs.” She absently scratched behind Brutus’s ear.

I led the six of us to the PRT kennels as both Armsmaster and Sophia fell into an easy silence. Neither filled the air with needless chatter.

The canine facilities were bright. Every surface was clean and the air barely smelled of dog. It was too sterile and neat, but PRT agents and the dogs radiated pleased enough auras.

All my dogs were there along with a few I didn’t recognize. Those were larger breeds and would look at one of the attending staff with deep affection. 

The dogs weren’t hungry. They had been properly groomed and given exercise. As I checked them over, only Bentley, Lucy, Ink, and Magic recognized me. Buddy, Bruno, Socks, Sirius, and the rest didn’t. All their auras flared with varying degrees of contentment and happiness.

A hollowness filled me, drowning out the voices, as I could only really tell their wellbeing through the use of other people’s powers. They were flatter creatures that I connected to less than before. I had no more insight into them than I did with Sophia or Armsmaster.

Pain flared in my chest that had nothing to do with Terry’s meddling. It wasn’t a good pain. The compressive cloying feeling was closer to a massive weight squeezing me. It was like I used my power on one of my dogs and had them stand on my ribcage.

Surrounded by my dogs, exactly where I wanted to be, I felt like I couldn’t breathe.

This is how we all feel when looking at our friends and family. You aren’t alone. You didn’t have friends. You were only pretending to like us to betray us later. I would never betray my dogs. It isn’t the same. I had friends. I’m worried about what it will be like to see them again. Your screw and your sister are here with us. You aren’t alone. The distance between us and people doesn’t seem to apply to each other. In that way, we’re never alone and are always with the people who understand us best.

Terry always liked to talk around our problems as though enough words would solve anything. I pushed my pain into the collective. They all felt what I did, but I narrowed the distance. Let’s see if they have any fancy words for that. The pain lessened as it was divided, more minds looked at the source more deeply from different directions. That’s not—

Bently licked my face, pulling me out of my head. “Myriad, the agents informed me that the dogs had a bath recently and that their nails were trimmed. They could use more brushing or exercise.”

I turned my head and saw Armsmaster crouched down with me. I know that! The words failed to leave my mouth.

He handed me a brush before using his own on Ink, who wagged her tail appreciatively. “It’s Rachel today, isn’t it?” I nodded and brushed Bently, who kept licking my face. He needed more training. “Your dogs seem different today, don’t they?” I nodded again. “Hmm, I suspected as much… I want you to know that you don’t need to be on the same wavelength as everyone else to build meaningful relationships. It takes effort and you may not have the energy or time for many of them, but it’s very doable.”

I didn’t understand what he was getting at but nodded along anyway. People like him tend to shut up faster that way.

As I brushed Bently, I realized that none of them needed me like they used to. There were other people ready and willing to take care of them. None of them were as good as I was at it, but there were more of them, and they had more stuff for the dogs. It wasn’t like the shitty shelters at all.

I shouldn’t be upset that my dogs were doing fine. It’s not like I had the time to care for or train them anymore. Unless I could convince everyone to spend hours a day with them, then the dogs couldn’t be reliant on me.

It was like I was dead.

Wasn’t I? I had died. This lingering afterwards lets me haunt the living, but I can’t live my life anymore.

Maybe I should just be done for toda—Hey, what’s that? Taylor felt things wiggling in Sirius. Dammit, I knew that shelter was too cheap and skimped out on heartworm preventatives.

I rushed over to him past Sophia. She was surrounded by curious noses asking her to brush them. When I reached Sirius, I held him and—Amy cured his heartworm. Oh. I forgot about that. How could you forget me? I’m always here. I… I don’t know. I try not to focus on it all the time.

My eyes widened. I could do this with the time I had. It would help my dogs.

I held my dogs one by one, mapping out their insides and correcting hidden illnesses, long-term injuries, and congenital defects. 

Angelica blinked a few times after I restored her eye and ear before wagging her tail and giving a happy bark.

Once I got into a rhythm, I would carry dogs towards Sophia until her aura flared with irritation. When that happened, I stopped and healed the dog before grabbing another one. As the morning went by, Sophia let me get closer before becoming agitated.

It was alright. I could be patient. 

I can’t believe I didn’t do this before. The idiom is ‘sick as a dog’. Why didn’t I visit dog shelters? How many dogs died while I was only healing people? Why am I like—Yeah, that is kind of messed up. Why didn’t I say anything to you about it?

The mumblings increased as my mood improved.

Hours went by during the steady work.

When lunch neared, I ordered pizza using someone’s money. Being able to look up numbers and read the menu was freeing. I told myself I didn’t need to learn to read and could memorize everything I needed to know, but I was also a little jealous whenever I saw Tattletale, Brian, or Alec order food.

After about half an hour, a confused lady from the front desk dropped off my pizza. The heady smell of gooey cheese and baked crust prompted everyone to decide it was time for a lunch break. Armsmaster went to grab his packed lunch. I stopped Sophia as she started to follow the officers to the cafeteria and offered her a few slices and a sports drink.

“What is this for?” Her aura was wary and confused.

“Eat it or don’t.” I sat the plate and the drink near her and went back to my box. Eating it reminded me of simpler days in the Undersiders’ loft.

After my second slice, Sophia sat at a table near me while being protective of her plate. “I don’t like the way they are looking at my food. Why are you eating in here instead of the cafeteria?”

“Less people. More dogs.”

Sophia blinked several times before quietly eating her meal.

Armsmaster returned after about 15 minutes with a forlorn aura that was a little confused. “I thought we were eating in the cafeteria."

Sophia shrugged. “There are less people here.” Armsmaster nodded in understanding.

I stretched and sighed with a full belly before standing up and calling my three most experienced companions over to me. We then walked towards the door.

“Myriad, where are you going?” Armsmaster seemed curious.

“There is a dog fighting arena I want to break up before matches start.” We knew about that arena. Why didn’t we break it up? I don’t know. These are battles to the death. The Protectorate wouldn’t normally take that lightly. Do you think a master or stranger is manipulating the PRT? That has to be it! No way we would put it on the back burner otherwise. Why are we immune? Well, we do have four capes that are resistant to master effects. Maybe that’s it. Regardless, we can’t tolerate this.

“Where is it?” I told him the location. “Hold on, let me make a call.” He walked to a corner to quietly talk into his radio.

Shadow Stalker perked up immediately. “Are we actually getting action today?” She checked her crossbows and quarrels. “Uh, Myriad or Rachel or whatever, Hebert’s face is exposed.”

“And?”

She sighed. “If you can’t protect your identity, they won’t let us go.”

Were we keeping a secret identity? That seemed annoying with what everyone was doing. We need to at least try. Most of the other families are vulnerable. We might be fine, but they won’t be. I guess. It’s not like a mask did much.

I opened my hand, and Taylor flew a stream of bugs towards it that started shifting into a larger rippling mass. The chitin smoothed and elongated into a flat dark mask with two eye holes. Huh, weren’t we the good guys now? Don’t they wear brighter colors? I vaguely remembered watching a black and white channel when my mother was away and none of the cartoons were on. All the bad guys wore black hats while all the good guys wore white hats. Taylor and Amy gave a mental shrug before turning the mask white.

The inside of the mask was more fleshy and designed to mold to my face while letting air through. Eight crab legs squeezed my head to hold it in place. It was a little weird and uncomfortable, but it did what people wanted. If I was going to bother concealing my identity, I decided to actually try and obscure more important details like body language.

My arms swelled with Terry’s power until I needed to rip the sleeves off the t-shirt. As my overall frame expanded with muscle, the button on my jeans popped. I grabbed a small chain and used it as a belt.

When I turned back to Sophia, her aura was shocked at my sudden transformation. Armsmaster returned from his call and gave me a hard look before speaking. “As useful as that location has been for tracking E88 members and sympathizers, I received approval to increase its priority. We’re cleared to break it up and liberate the abused animals.”

I knew we weren’t just ignoring it. What kind of power causes a location to be deprioritized? Has to be a stranger. Did the Empire have one? I think Jötunn was a stranger, but I’m not sure of that or if he’s even in E88. That does sound like a stranger power.

“Since you have more than a decade of Ward experience between you, I expect all physical and property harm to be minimized. Anyone that does get hurt, you’ll need to heal later.” I don’t want to heal any Nazis, so let's be careful.

I nodded and exited the building before using my power on Brutus, Judas, and Angelica. It was at least three times harder than before and tired me out faster, but between Terry and Carlos’s powers, my well of stamina felt limitless.

“Those won’t fit in the van.”

“If I’m all legit and shit, shouldn’t I be able to ride my dogs there?”

“Language… Can you guarantee they won’t damage roads or buildings?”

I sighed. He sounded like Brian. “I won’t make them too big.” They still grew until they were larger than cars. After I pulled myself onto Angelica, I looked down at them. “Well, what are you waiting for? Get on.” Were they stupid? If I’m riding a dog, then they need to ride dogs.

Armsmaster had a thoughtful aura as he examined Judas. Meanwhile, Brutus had succeeded in befriending Shadow Stalker, which gave her the confidence to mount up without much hesitation. I leaned down and scratched Brutus to let him know he did a good job. Integrating Sophia into the pack had gone smoothly. That should make her easier to deal with.

I wasn’t sure why I hadn’t thought to do that with people before. It made things so much simpler.

Once Armsmaster mounted Judas, I made him a little bigger to handle the weight of the power armor. I then whistled, and we were off.

Dog flesh bounding under me as paws thudded into pavement felt the same as always. Their bony plates still dug into parts of my legs. I didn’t care. Riding again with the wind flowing through my hair was as liberating and refreshing as always.

Shadow Stalker tightly gripped a couple handholds. A few bugs Taylor put on her could feel Sophia’s muscles flexing as she tried to stay on, but her aura was very excited. Armsmaster had a similar aura, but his outer appearance was relaxed, calm, and stoic.

Once we loped into sight of the abandoned warehouse made death arena, I flew ahead and lifted one of the garage doors. Everyone in the building stopped their preparations to look at me. Surprise flared in auras across the main area as my three dogs lumbered in behind me. Both of the heroes dismounted and readied their weapons.

I paused. I expected to see evil monsters abusing dogs and having to struggle to not maim all of them. As much as they were all still monsters, most of the room was miserable. At the center of their auras was a coiling morass of loathing and loneliness. Instead of justified rage, I was filled with pity.

They had to be stopped, but this was all sadder than I thought it would be.

“Everyone, attack!” ‘Attack’ told the dogs to ruff them up. ‘Hurt’ was for more serious injuries while ‘Kill’ was obvious.

The dogs barreled through the Nazis, knocking them to the floor. Taylor flew bugs into their faces and didn’t sting them since we would have to heal that later. She also moved bugs out of the way so Vista could bend the ground around fallen foes. I flew between the dog abusers to freeze them, which let Vista trap them faster.

Armsmaster scanned the crowd with his visor before bursting into motion. His halberd shifted in configuration to let him trip distant opponents with an extended handle, swing to other areas with a grappling hook, or slice guns in half with a plasma blade. He moved and dodged like he had eyes in the back of his head.

Shadow Stalker turned into a shadow and leapt to a higher vantage. She then fired a couple tranquilizer bolts before flickering to the next location. This intangible assault let her pick off a steady number of foes while avoiding the few objects thrown her way.

The Nazis broke immediately and tried to flee in all directions. I didn’t want these twisted creatures to run free, none of us did. When they approached a door, I tapped it to freeze it shut and then Vista shrank the door until it was too small.

None managed to find an exit to enter Taylor’s massing swarm outside. Alec yawned. This is really easy. Maybe I should have been a hero. He tripped a nazi and gave himself a brief flicker of amusement before that part of my mind seeped back into nothingness. We did come in with three dogs that might as well be capes, two Wards, and the leader of the local Protectorate. Without capes of their own, what were they going to do?

As it turned out, nothing. I did fly to where the dogs were being held captive and Brian flooded the area with darkness while Vista made the cages big enough for me to put the Nazis in there. After that, the fight was over. 

PRT officers entered the warehouse to secure the prisoners, bag the evidence, and move the rescued dogs either back to headquarters or to shelters. I wanted them all, but no matter what I did, I wouldn’t be the one taking care of them.

It was easier to let go when you couldn’t hold on.

While I was mulling this over, Armsmaster walked up to Judas and carefully patted him on the head. “Good boy.” The dog looked at me questioningly. I nodded. He gave Armsmaster one giant lick across his entire face, causing the man to sputter. “I should have expected that.”

Maybe my pack couldn’t be an ever-expanding horde of canines, but it could grow in strange ways with the voices in my head and a few people.

When we returned to the PRT building, I snuck a mattress into the kennel and fell asleep with all my dogs.

Chapter 6

I woke, surrounded by warm bodies, steeped in the smells of earth, grass, and fur. They shifted slightly in their sleep, making little kicking motions as they hunted in their dreams. The pack provided safety, comfort, and companionship to most of the groggy collective.

They made my skin crawl.

My muscles tensed as my eyes fluttered open to see their elongated maws, flaps of flesh barely concealing the sharp fangs within. They stood out in clear black and white contrast despite the dark. Aha! It worked! The retina counts as ‘inside’. I wanted to add new cones, but the others thought seeing new colors would be ‘disorienting’ and ‘alienating’ while we’re already strange enough. Instead of stressing sensibilities, I thought improving our night vision would be a good first step. See we—My heart and breathing quickened as I saw them.

These were the instruments of my death. The dogs sensed my distress and were disturbed in their sleep. Several snuggled closer to squeeze their fuzzy bodies into me. While I did care for and love them, my mind flashed through my final moments: the tugging of my legs before the me-shaped wishbone broke, taking my right leg with it. The clenching of teeth on my arms as I was pulled three ways, another leg gone. Arms tearing with force until this time the left broke. My loose body dragged and flailed until a maw—so many teeth—clamped down on my head and sent me into the mind of their master.  

I extricated myself from the lovable pile of horror by gently floating up until their cold sweat inducing snuggles were beyond me. It wasn’t fair. Our mind was already split thirteen ways. Why did I have to be ‘of two minds’ about an aspect of our lives so important to us? I half expected to hear my own voice talking to handle another contradictory opinion. 

When my portion of the mind remained whole, I focused on the next crawling horror. A spider-crab monster was hugging my face. Taylor had the creature give me a slight squeeze. She meant it to be comforting. I shivered and pried it off my face.

Thankfully, Taylor released the legs, letting me see the twitching fleshy insides of the mask. The appendages spasmed in their search for a surface. I only made a little ‘eep’ noise as I tossed the contraption to a table. It flipped itself over and skittered away to have its own adventures.

As I floated back to our room, I deflated. I wanted to be out of Rachel’s form and Rachel’s clothes as soon as possible. An image of the auburn haired girl tilting her head in confusion entered my mind. You killed me! I don’t like you. The image scowled and turned away from me. We’ll have to let bygones be bygones eventually. I know! I know… 

I wasn’t driven mad by the voices when I died. Brian and Vista barely had time to say anything before all I could do was focus on the pain. It was hard to forgive my death.

Darkness filled the room as I shucked my clothes. With the last of the dog scent removed, I quickly changed into a plain green t-shirt and blue jeans. Something about dressing had me hunching my shoulders and cringing inwardly on myself. Even afterward, I felt too lanky, off.

I looked in the mirror and saw Taylor. She was taller than me, not by a lot, but by enough. I used Terry’s power to squish down a little. The compact Taylor in the mirror was still too much her and not enough me. I tried lowering her cheekbones and pulling her chin to be more square. The precision of the movement left a lot to be desired. Other points of the face moved with my changes and the over result was… smol…

Reminds me of when I was younger. I wanted to curl up into a ball and stop existing. The running commentary wasn’t helping. Shrink a bit more and I bet you could fit into Vista’s spare costume. Lay off. What? I’m being helpful. I said lay off. Pfff, what can you even do about it? Leave him alone or I’ll ask Alec about his childhood. The portion of my mind trying his hardest to not glance inward stirred and sent out flickers of the edges of memories. Tattletale shuddered. Fine, but your threat would have messed you up more than me.

I hid myself in the brown folds of the largest hoodie I could scrounge before I fled the room.

Sophia entered the lounge while holding the leashes of Brutus, Judas, and Angelica, fresh from a jog. My three killers approached with happy auras and wagging tails, each excited to see me. I cowered into the air away from them. Judas hopped on his hind legs to shove his nose in my face and sniff. My heart skipped a beat as I froze from the sudden intrusion. After his inquisition, he settled back on his haunches and stared at me with a loving aura.

“Oh hey, is it Vista’s turn today?”

“I’M NOT VISTA!” Why did I shout and bare my teeth at her?

“How the hell am I actually supposed to know? Wear a fuckin nametag if it means so much to you.” She unhooked the leashes and grabbed her bookbag from her room. “So who’s Shortbert then?”

My hands balled into fists. I hated no one seeing me. I had to tell them, and in the case of my parents, they didn’t always believe me. Was I even real? What if I was a soulless amalgam of parahuman derived data thinking it was Chris? What if Tattletale was right? I’m always right, but don’t use my genius deductions to support your religious mumbo jumbo. I didn’t know if I actually believed or cared about any of that. Those beliefs started fading when my father decided my learning disabilities were a test God gave him. I barely thought about them anymore, and well… if those beliefs were right, then that version of Chris was in heaven or hell. Weirdly, the thought I might be a copy was freeing. It meant I could—

A snapping sound dragged my attention back to Sophia. “Earth to Shortbert.” The snapping continued. “Eh whatever, I might see you after school.” She took the elevator and left, leaving me alone with the remaining Undersiders.

That encounter left a bright coal of anger in my stomach which lit a spark of inspiration. If people had trouble telling us apart, then I could make it easy. I rushed to my workshop.

Doors hissed open and shut as I entered a room filled with my unfinished projects and half assembled gizmos. Pushing the detritus of momentary motivation off my blueprinting table created enough space to pursue this new passion.

All we needed was an armor that changed based on whoever was primary. Obviously, it needed to be fully enclosed. As much as the human factor was important in heroic images, we had Carlos’s power which would get terribly messy, and if people saw a distinguishing human feature, then they would only think of us as Myriad and nothing but Myriad.

The cape name didn’t bother me, but I hated being an ephemeral ghost easily dismissed as a funny mood of someone much greater.

I sketched the outlines of the armor. Since we didn’t have critical biology, the protection needed to preserve structural integrity not organ function. That meant we needed plates… that… The well of ideas that I pulled designs from was a mere trickle. This shouldn’t be that hard. It was just reworking armor design based on new factors. I had made armor before.

The paper remained blank as I struggled to form anything of coherence. I had my problems as a tinker, but this was a new roadblock. Huh, this is a lot like my power but hyper focused. If it works like mine, then all you need is better data to work from. Tattletale pulled on Carlos’s, Terry’s, and Amy’s experiences with human body failure due to trauma and determined where the break points were.

While it wasn’t really an intrusion, the help from inside my head made me feel lesser. All of our powers are weaker. I wasn’t sure how it would affect tinkering powers. It’s not like the other Case-16 is well known for making devices, but if you need to pull on other powers and knowledge to make your power work, then that is what everyone else is doing. It’s not that different. Maybe, but you guys can use your powers as a voice. While I can spend that time thinking up designs, it isn’t easy to make tinkering progress with no notes or experiments.

I shook my head, tickling my ears with hair. I could mope when I’m just a voice. For now, I needed to focus.

Knowing which locations needed protection reduced the problem to fitting armor over those locations. That was easier and pulled more from work I already did. The joints wouldn’t need to be fully covered. We only needed to prevent the limb from flying off and Carlos’s power could quickly reattach it. So, the hardest parts of the armor didn’t need to be very large.

Which material to use? There was an optimal balance within material science factors. Normally, the right metal alloy seemed intuitive. Today, I needed to actually do that math. I sighed, steeling myself for what came next. Hopefully my dyscalculia didn’t make the transfer with me. I had been hesitant to try. The look of guilt on my father’s countenance after I was assigned to special needs classes flashed through my mind briefly.

I remembered trying to show him how smart I was after getting powers. The guilty look didn’t leave him. Dad thought parahuman powers were evil and only brought calamity. If anything, he had only acted more guilty since I’ve been working as a Ward. My every struggle was somehow a condemnation of his own soul.

The numbers went on the page, and I tried to make them play nice. You flipped your divisor and dividend here. I looked over the equation a dozen times before I saw the error he pointed out. Maybe that was a one-off error.

It wasn’t.

My struggles with math carried with me. I, Chris, was so defined by my disabilities that they followed me after death.

Something got in my eye. My workshop was such a mess of ideas almost complete only to be abandoned and never touched again. No wonder shit got in my eye. I should go to the sink and wash out my eyes.

No.

I wasn’t going to leave this project in this state, but I did flit to other parts of the armor. The protection was basically done. All it needed was a few more details. What else should this do? The impetus of this project was for people to tell who was who, correct? How are we doing that? Right, I got distracted. I needed to focus more.

My initial idea was for the larger less flexible protections to change color based on who was primary. If the entire surface could change color, then the feature could act as emergency camouflage as well.

Oh, that was a cool idea. I lost an hour thinking of how to do that before Taylor reminded me of my original goal. Dammit. My mind did like to wander.

I wanted the color change to be automatic, not a switch we flipped or any other activation. I needed to know the objective difference that set apart the primary from the voices. The problem was, I had no way to do that. None of my devices were brain interfacing. Amy had an idle thought about training a living creature to recognize us.

That idea exploded in my brain. We could work with life far faster than I could build tech, and all the messy details could be filled in with meat while I added tech to important areas.

Bugs poured in from vents as I mashed them into a humanoid form while darting about the workshop and grabbing various useful bits to replace parts where the organic systems were insufficient. There was plenty of good tech lying around the lab. I had trouble making complete projects without cobbling together two or more ideas, but the parts were still good.

As time disappeared into the task, I lamented never figuring out my specialization. Other tinkers said it was easier to work within their trick or focus, and I would need that with how poorly the inspiration was flowing, but—Oh, your tech is modular.

I stopped.

No.

It couldn’t have been that easy. It’s not easy. How would anyone but you see that your seamlessly connected parts are easily interchangeable? I’ve been rooting around your memories all day to see the pattern. I refused to think it was so obvious, that I was so dumb.

I tested the idea by seeing if I could make the antigrav boosters on the armor have an inertial dampening configuration by adding a couple additional parts for the feature and the swap. Adding those parts made the whole problem simpler. The combination device was easier to make than the single function.

Half a day… It took her less than half a day to figure out what I didn’t during my entire living career as a Ward. Ha! If you try to hold yourself to the standard I set, you’ll fail every time.

I… I am a failure. 

A failure as a teammate, as a Ward, as a tinker, and as a son, I failed in every aspect of my life.

Despite flight and brute strength, I felt heavy and sunk to the floor. Everyone had their moments of regret from the bank, but none of them brought the Alternator Cannon. My crowning achievement as a tinker and probably the best thing I would ever make got everyone killed. So many of us died from it. I turned a one-off tragedy into a chain of revenge killings.

It was me. I did it. It was my fault.

My phone screen looked blurry as I typed out a message.

I know you guys don’t think I’m real, but I think I’m Chris, and I could really use my mom right now.

The screen blurred until it was illegible as my finger hovered over send. I shouldn’t send this. I should let them mourn and move on. My breath hitched as I thought about never seeing Mom or my siblings again.

In a moment of weakness, I hit send and tossed the phone away from me.

This time I did give into the feeling and tried my best to curl into a tight enough ball that I stopped existing. It would be better for everyone. It’s not like they needed my useless power with all the tools at their disposal, and then other people would get more time with the body. I could fade away, let my mind unravel, bother no one again.

Several of the voices tried to pull me out of the ball or give me words of encouragement. They couldn’t lie to me though. They knew my cannon was a large part of why we were all stuck in here. Bitterness laid beneath their nice words.

I can’t be certain how long I was on the floor, trying to work out my final problem. There had to be a way to stop existing. I didn’t need to keep inflicting myself on others as a mopey ghost.

The door to my workshop opened, and I foolishly looked up with every ounce of childhood optimism.

“Mo—Armsmaster.” Mom didn’t come. Of course she didn’t come. She believed what Dad did. My head flopped to the ground and the warm tears flowed. I couldn’t stop them. It was a quiet cry. I might as well add crybaby to my list of failures.

Armsmaster went to the blueprint table and stared for several long moments before pulling out his scanner and using it on the armor. “Biomechanical armor? That is interesting.” He crouched down next to me. “Dragon’s been looking for a specific tinker in Japan but mentioned stumbling upon a couple suits like these. I could request the data and pieces. Not many Tinkers could use anything they learned from them. It’s a rare skill set.” He withdrew and offered a microfilm cloth to me.

I hesitated. He pressed the cloth closer, and I grabbed it before blowing my nose and responding. “Yeah… I would like that.”

He made no move to retrieve the cloth. “I sent the request. Now, why don’t you tell me what you are working on, and I’ll offer my perspective.”

I wanted to stay on the floor. His impassive aura didn’t rush me. He didn’t stand up. He didn’t fidget. He waited for me. It was hard to continue my pity party under that attention. “Actually, instead of that, I had a new idea while… brainstorming…” I floated over to the assembly table as I wiped my eyes.

“That does seem to be your process.”

“I… I know I should be more focused and finish my projects but—”

“I work through problems like that. I’ll focus on one task to the exclusion of all else until it is done or external forces shift my attention. It’s not a universal method. The first tinker I worked with made most of her gadgets on the fly for the situations we were in. It was chaotic… and so was her process. Do what feels natural.”

I started grabbing parts as I explained my idea to Armsmaster. Since I didn’t have a ton of time to tinker, I thought I could make one weapon with a variety of configurations to do what we needed. Thirteen different larger pieces seemed fitting, but for a quick mock-up, I wanted to combine a few parts into one function.

As I worked, Armsmaster pitched in and offered advice and insights on manufacturing techniques he picked up over the years. While not all the advice clicked for me, a lot of it was immediately applicable. Between actually working in my specialization and the mentorship, I almost felt like tinkering was as easy as before.

During a bit of soldering, a few bugs flew onto my hand and mashed together before the result was carried away. Armsmaster followed the insects to where many of them had gathered in the room. They used scrap and junk to make a little arena and audience stands that the bugs filled out.

“What are they doing?” He leaned closer.

I glanced over. “Taylor and Amy have been working on tons of different bug designs. They thought today would be a good opportunity to test them out. As soon as one of the tests included two bugs fighting each other, the others jumped in on the idea and offered to pilot the bugs for them. Everything else spiraled out from there as they got more into it.”

“Hmmm, it’s an efficient use of time.”

“Yeah…”

As I turned back to my work, Victoria focused her control on a beetle with an iron infused shell and razor-sharp crab-like pincers. End of the line, little V! You’re going down!

Vista turned her bright-red fire ant on the pile of immolated bug corpses to face the new challenger. Size isn’t everything, big V. I will crush you like all the rest!

The two insects charged at each other while Taylor put most of her focus on a spider watching in the stands. The arachnid had a dozen eyes specialized to witness damage inflicted from an outside perspective to analyze weak points and make the next generation of combatants stronger. Tattletale controlled a handful of spy-flies to capture the best cinematic angles of the fight, which she spliced together into a separate thoughtstream that others focused on while waiting their turn.

Vicky’s beetle charged up the hill of bodies through a jet of flames. Her carapace glowed bright red and had begun to melt as she reached out a pincer to snip Vista in half. Vista dove her ant through the attack and only lost her abdomen before biting into the beetle’s eye and breathing more flame.

The beetle’s second pincer reached up for a decapitating strike, but Vista’s six legs wrestled with the appendage, preventing her doom. Vicky used her legs to charge, sending them both rolling down the pile.

All the jostling shook their respective grips. Vicky chopped off a few legs while Vista dug her mandibles further in and started really roasting the beetle.

Another snip punctured the bladder Vista was breathing fire from and coated both of them in incendiary liquids. They both roared with the struggle until the insects died, then they giggled as they went to pick out new bugs. You definitely died first. Not this time, I didn’t! My beetle was still twitching! Your segmental ganglia was charcoal. There was no control. Pffff weak excuse. Fine! We’ll decide it in the next match. Sure! Let’s do fly jousting next.

I was glad they could busy themselves. I worried my turns would be too boring for everyone.

As the afternoon continued, my device came together. Instead of trying to teleport in a cannon piece by piece, I set up the gun to teleport the target. The target wouldn’t go anywhere except into the generator where the energized matter would be used as fuel to energize more matter. In this configuration, I gave the device three modes: objects, organic matter, and everything.

Bouncing between the different modes gave Armsmaster a frustrated aura, but I was able to actually finish the overall project without dropping it to work on another one.

The final result was a tiny pistol that could disintegrate a small rock. 

“For an afternoon of work on a newer idea, this is a good result.” Even as Armsmaster tried to be encouraging, I could see the pity streaking his aura. This wasn’t good work. It was barely adequate work and hinted at my inability to accomplish greater projects.

My best days as a tinker were behind me.

I stared at my little accomplishment and tried to feel proud of it, to accept my limitations and work with them instead of against them. If I worked one day every two weeks, then I might make a decent usable device in a year at the cost of living any sort of life on my own.

That wouldn’t work.

While I tried to see a viable path forward with my tinkering, the gun began to grow in size until it was as big as a rifle. Armsmaster placed himself between me and the device before pushing us back. “Your device shouldn’t be doing that.”

I racked my brain for a reason and realized the cause. “Oh, Vista is making it bigger.”

“Hmm, normally her alterations would be hard to rely on and potentially destabilize the device, but she is also a tinker now and would be in constant contact with your creations. It’s a viable augmentation strategy.”

Hope burned in my chest. Maybe I didn’t have to suck.

Armsmaster saw my smile. “We’ll need to test it thoroughly.”

I put my hands on the table and hung my head. “I know… I should have ALL my tech thoroughly tested.” If I followed procedure we wouldn’t all be like this.

“Yes, you should.”

My fingers sunk into the table as the weight of my fuckup pressed me into the ground.

“And I should have been keeping a closer eye on your progress.” I turned to him. “It is exceptionally common for Ward Tinkers to squirrel away a device or two without anyone noticing. You hid a 15ft long cannon that the most cursory glances at your work area would have revealed. Yes, you should have known better, but I failed in many basic duties as your mentor.”

I know he was trying to help but… “My failures aren’t yours.”

“Correct. My failures are wholly independent of yours. We both have our lessons to learn. I wouldn’t mind learning them together.”

The guilt I saw in his aura cut at me, but I also saw hope and encouragement. I would never be the tinker I could have been. My parents wouldn’t let me be their son. The only teammate I had left to fail was Shadow Stalker. I couldn’t reclaim or fix any of that.

I could be an important piece of Myriad.

Maybe that would be enough. “I would like that,” I accepted Armsmasters offer, and we spent the rest of the day testing my gun at different sizes and configurations.

Chapter 7

The bed sucked.

Cold seeped around the edges of the thin blanket. The mattress was unyielding plastic imitating a bed. The pillow managed to be both too soft and so deflated as to be too hard.

Blistering lights pulled me from unconsciousness. Some idiot had linked them to our alarm. Probably the same idiot that set an alarm.

Why did we need to wake up at a fixed time? It’s not like we were doing anything. We had no responsibilities or obligations, no expectations. There were only the selfish little desires and minor personal dilemmas while I did my best to prevent Taylor from making a calamity in bug shape.

No. Who’s the sourpuss running the show?

Noo. Oh great, we get this today.

Nooo.

The voices began their daily buzzing. Vicky and Dean fell far back, more inclined to talk with each other than with me. Apparently lying about his trigger and buying his powers was more tolerable to Vicky than my love. Ew, can you not call it that?

Despite knowing my thoughts, seeing and feeling all the context, I didn’t find much sympathy in the collective, only varying degrees of vitriol. Your desires are strange to me in an abstract way. I don’t have any siblings and can’t really empathize with the visceral reaction your wants instill in others. This is bullshit. Most of you thought Vicky was hot, but it’s wrong when I do it. You think it's wrong too.

I did.

But I didn’t have time to dwell on that. Once I logged who we were today, I knew I had consigned myself to family dinner. At least Vicky will get to see her parents.

With a sigh, I threw off the blanket and spent a minute working up the energy to roll out of bed.

I failed.

Rather than waste more time on a task that wasn’t getting anywhere, I floated above the bed and towards our combined closet. Flight was a freeing power without responsibilities tying it down.

I opened the closet and grabbed my responsibility. I was the only one who didn’t lose their costume at the bank, and Carol made sure to send it to me. If I didn’t use it today, if I didn’t heal, then Carol would ask me why I didn’t.

There was no answer to that question that didn’t admit I was a bad person, that she was right. Mom doesn’t think you are a bad person. I recalled the distance between Carol and me. She never treated me like a daughter. To her, I was a person living in her house, nothing less, nothing more. You were the only one to treat me like family. You keep saying that, but I don’t think it is right. Mom might have trouble expressing her love, but it’s there.

Whatever.

I changed into my costume as Vicky faded back. She has only been talking to me to berate my behaviors, talking around the issue, trying to diagnose the problem like I’m a crazy person.

I’m not crazy.

Some of the voices in your head might disagree. Pfff, we all have to deal with that. I lengthened back to Taylor’s original size. The robes rode a little higher, but I hated the way they tangled in my legs. A little bit more room was useful, not that I planned on doing much walking today.

I avoided the mirror as I left the room. There was no point. My appearance didn’t matter. Carol stuck me in the most feature and figure obscuring costume of New Wave. It let me hide even as I served my role and purpose.

Sophia was once again returning from her jog with the ex-villains. Was this a regular thing now? Unlike most of the collective, I didn’t have strong opinions about the Ward. Her flippant association with criminals was concerning, but she did have the foresight to be hostile to a future villain. Seriously? Did you think a few bug making sessions made me forget you robbed a bank? You complain about a lack of sympathy for your situation despite knowing the context, but you know my perspective and still don’t see my reasons. Well yeah, that’s because you’re crazy. Taylor imagined rolling her eyes and fell back.

The Ward released the villains, who ran into my clutches and received their routine screenings. It was only good bedside manner to pet them as I scanned them with my other hand. The others tried not to focus on the flood of biological information, the mapping of every cell and neuron to its minute details; how it reduced everyone's needs, wants, and desires to meat. That’s all people were: genetics and meat.

Sophia stretched before opening her door. “See, I know you're Panacea today. You made it obvious.”

I nodded as I separated from the villains and flew past her. A thought interrupted my flight, and I turned back. “Do you know my name?”

“Yeah, I said it. Panacea.”

I flew a little closer, not fearing the Ward. After she bumped foreheads with us, her entire body was at our command through Alec’s power. If Taylor really wanted revenge, she could take it whenever she wanted. None of us could really stop her. That is never what I wanted. I didn’t want to get even. I wanted to live in a world where people didn’t tolerate what was happening to me. Yeah well, we don’t. Hell, most of us aren’t even alive.

Sophia leaned back. “What?”

“What’s my other name?”

“Myriad.”

I rolled my eyes. “My other other name.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“I’m a public cape. My regular name is common knowledge.”

“Why would I give a shit about your normal name? I didn’t know you.”

I flew to the elevator. Of course she didn’t know who I was. Why would anyone care to know ‘Amy’? You never reached out to anyone. No one got to know Amy. Yeah, because getting to know me actually engenders affection. One person cared about me and not my power. That was you, and after you really got to know me, you can barely stand me. Amy wasn’t being fair to Victoria. I wanted to help, but I couldn’t see a way into the conversation that wasn’t barging in. Dean, we can all hear each other’s thoughts. You could have helped by NOT KILLING ME! You were going to kill everyone, not just the people at the bank, everyone everywhere.

Of course I was. It was a bad day. Between the bank robbery and Tattletale killing my sister, I lost it. After I killed Tattletale, that silver-tongued bitch kept talking, whispering maddening words, drowning out my sister and the rest. Did you think I was going to let you stay lucid after doing that to me? You were throwing shit against the wall because you were mad. It worked.

I sighed. It did.

As the elevator climbed, the crab mask dropped from the ceiling and scuttled up my body to cover Taylor’s face. I was still deciding if death granted me a secret identity or if we were all protecting Taylor’s, not that the distinction mattered. Just like before, I didn’t make the decision if I had a secret identity or not. Carol decided the first time, and the collective decided this time.

I never had any choices.

The doors opened to the top floor. A quick hover out the exit and I was flying to the hospital. 

From this height, I could see soot staining the edges of buildings near their roofs, overflowing dumpsters, cars cutting each other off in traffic, and hobos tweaking out in dark alleyways…

I squinted. I could see spittle leaking out of the man’s mouth and tell that his eyes were blue. How in the—Okay, this time I did add cones, but I didn’t add new kinds. Great, I get to look at this festering hellhole in high-def.

Once upon a time, when I flew in the skies, it was in the arms of beauty itself. Amy, please stop. Do you have to see bad in all the world except me? The rest of the world sucked. I couldn’t help my thoughts. I couldn’t hide my desires. Vicky being subjected to my awful and twisted mind day in and day out was the one great tragedy of our situation. Don’t forget that the rest of us have to deal with it too. I don’t care about any of you.

Hurt radiated from Taylor. She thought we were becoming friends. In a way we were. It was like the prison gay equivalent of friendship. I was locked in here with them and had to play nice, or I would go insane. More insane.

I landed on the roof of the hospital, a PRT agent was waiting to ‘escort’ me the rest of the day. The woman wore an enclosed facemask and her full tactical kit. She greeted me. I raised my hand in reply, acknowledging her acknowledgement because I had to. It was a small thing, but the petty little small talk always aggravated me.

You walk past a person, and they say, ‘How are you?’ like I could possibly answer that question in the 3 seconds we are in earshot. What do they want me to do? Shout the random filler nonsense that kind of question gets, and then I’m expected to ask the same thing back, so the whole encounter is rushed, when we could have had a perfectly silent non-interaction like sane people.

As I enter the hospital, I’m greeted by one of the nurses who normally chauffeurs me around. “Hello Amy, it’s good to see you again!” The woman had long blonde hair with blue eyes. Her arms were thicker than most women’s while she remained fit and not overly trim. Even through the scrubs, you could see her curves. Her aura was tired, but a vibrant energy exuded from the woman. This was someone in the prime of their physically demanding career. At least I wasn’t the only gay woman in here. What? Eleven of the voices were perplexed by Taylor’s question. But I’m straight. I like boys. I—That’s not mutually exclusive, hun. Tattletale pulled Taylor aside. People with no interest in women don’t look at them like you do or feel the way you do when you do it. My Vicky imagined herself comforting Taylor with a pat on the back. Given the blend of sexualities in here, it’s probably for the best that you are bisexual. That caused everyone but Tattletale and I to ponder how having a relationship would work in our situation.

Tattletale wasn’t interested in that kind of thing and chagrined that her power didn’t cause a TMI problem for anyone else. The only person I wanted a relationship with was in my head forever. Vicky shivered. My name is Victoria not Vicky. It’s a nickname! Like how you call me Ames. It was a nickname for me. You’re using it like a pet name. This is how I’ve always used it! And that’s part of the problem.

I gripped a hand over my heart. The constant rejection stung. I knew she would. I wasn’t going to say anything, but here we are, in a situation where I have no choice. The nurse looked at me with a concerned aura. I realized I haven’t responded to her yet.

“It’s good to be back.” Those were the words she expected to hear from me.

A streak of sadness ran through her otherwise bubbly aura. “I’m sure it is…” She bared her teeth at me for some reason. “If you’ll follow me, there are kids in the oncology ward who will be very happy to see you.”

I followed the woman and—Do you not know her name? No, why would I? Tattletale cackled. You’ve worked with this woman for YEARS, and I have to use my power to learn her name from all the times you heard it and ignored it. I didn’t know why she thought she was so smart. As soon as she knew it was ‘Abigail’, I knew it. I bet the hospital picked up pretty quickly on which nurses you got along best with. Oh interesting, most of your guides are pretty blonde women. Isn’t that fascinating?

The realization hit my stomach like a stone. My terrible secret was obvious to those who profited from my good mood. What profit? I bet the nurses did this on their own so you would heal more terminally sick children. God, what monsters. Manipulating your feelings like that. Tats lay off. I want to see those kids healed too. That won’t happen if you send Amy into a spiral. Just—And the sister rushes to the defense of her sibling! Love truly does conquer all! Maybe you’re catching her ince—Shut up. That is that. This is this. Taylor nudges Tattletale. How does this help? It helps me feel better! Tattletale thought about her death for a few moments before falling back.

By the time that assault had ended, Abigail guided me into the room of some sickly girl. I checked the consent forms and got to work. It was slow going. The cancer was in her blood, and my slower power crawled to fix any of the damage. I thought about doing to her what I did to Tattletale. One mistake like that and they’ll never let me heal again. Why did that thought enter all of our minds like results from Tattletale’s power?

The revelation hit me like a tidal wave—if powers can think our thoughts like we can with each other then—Only one thing could be happening—the edges of an idea for now, but we could test—Like Carlos’s perversion, I was spreading my awfulness to everyone else. I’m pretty sure that only happened because we all chose to enjoy pain rather than suffer from it.

My eyes felt moist as the implications sank in. I was corrupting Victoria. Pieces of myself were replacing her. Pieces of the others were also replacing her. We didn’t like to think about the bleed through, but it was there. Bit by bit, I would lose her more than I—

“I’m not tired and don’t hurt anymore!” The little girl leapt off the bed and rushed to her parents, who arrived during the treatment. The three cried and hugged each other. “We won’t have to cancel my birthday party!”

I was numb. The family gave the same tearful thanks. I had to put up with it rather than head to the next patient. She was just one more—a glut of feeling hit me from most of the others. The family moment, the love from their auras, the joy of the miracle, they were experiencing it with fresh eyes. Brian especially was mentally sobbing. It’s ok, big guy. Let it all out.

Back when I first started, I was like them. Every saved life brought so much joy and happiness. I couldn’t stop. It was like a drug or a compulsion. I chased the approval and affection by healing more. Eventually, all the people blended together, and the miracles became mundane. I grew so tired of it all. That’s when I knew I was a bad person.

The well of feeling from the others was so tempting. They weren’t mine, but I wanted them to be mine. Before I really thought about what I was doing, I pulled those feelings close and felt the tears run down my cheeks.

An energy long forgotten seized me as I moved to the next patient. My power was still slower. Abigail’s aura darkened with grief as she measured my progress. I healed one patient for every three I would have before dying. Not only that, but my visits would be less frequent. A lot of the patients I missed today wouldn’t be here for my next visit.

It was the grim reality of medical work.

You couldn’t save them all, not that I cared.

The steady work continued until my lunch break. As I mechanically chewed to feed a body that could probably subsist off rocks, Taylor and Tattletale found a bomb in the lobby next to the first kid we healed today. Outrage poured from the collective as bugs did their best to outline the device and determine its design. Chris and Vista then stretched and shrunk parts of the bomb to carefully disarm it.

Did they want me to approach the bomb? No, it’s either a random fuse, or it’s specifically here for us. Taylor took out Lung, and we captured Oni Lee. Bakuda probably has a bone to pick with us. Relief filled me as I went back to my lunch. This wasn’t my problem.

While no one was looking, the bomb crumpled to pieces, which beetles and ants caravaned to a confused PRT officer. After the brief and intense focus, the collective clamored that we do something about Bakuda.

That was stupid. The bomb tinker could kill us, and then we’d be stuck in the head of a mad supervillain. Well, a madder supervillain. Stones and glass houses… are you going to help or not? Fine… but I’m not going to be stupid about it.

As I walked between patients, I grabbed a few fistfuls of bugs and implemented an idea Rachel had days ago. It wasn’t that hard to make little flying bugs that extended Taylor’s range a city block or two. Healing a cut was more difficult than creating a new kind of bug.

Taylor greedily took those bugs and began to search the city with the others inclined to stop the bomber.

That meant there were less voices to focus on my healing for the rest of the day, but they were still aware of it. While their feelings weren’t as strong as in the morning, it was still more than I was used to. I barely noticed the grueling hours fly by when Crystal knocked on the window of the room I was in. I slid open the glass to see what she wanted.

Crystal flew in and wrapped me in a hug. “Amy! We heard what happened from Aunt Carol. She wanted us to make sure you made it home in time for dinner.” I peeked behind my affectionate cousin to see the blue haired Eric waving from behind his sister. Crystal pulled back and peered into my eyes. “So Victoria is also in there?” Hi Crystal!

My arms almost moved on their own as I hugged my cousin back. “She says hi.” Grief streaked through the auras of both of my cousins. I was sorry they had to deal with me instead of Vicky, the sister they wanted to see. You can see that they both love you. They loved Vicky. I was merely in the splash radius.

Crystal separated and offered a hand. “Let’s fly back.” I hovered out the window next to her. “Right… I forgot you could do that now.” She grabbed Eric’s hand and pulled him through the sky.

I followed. It was expected. No one asked or would ask if I wanted dinner with Carol.

The flight back to my house was more enjoyable than the flight to the hospital. The clouds had cleared, and I saw more people walking around and enjoying themselves in the Towers. On a sudden impulse, I did a little corkscrew to roll through the air. My heart lurched at the sudden motion and the sun got in my eyes, but I felt free for a second.

We never did flips when Vicky carried me.

Crystal looked back and laughed. “Enjoying yourself?”

“Yeah!” I had to shout over the wind.

“Try this!” Crystal let go of her brother and performed a loop-dee-loop before grabbing him again.

I hesitated. Please try. Let other things make you happy. Fine. I followed along with Crystal. Victoria remembered many days like this, seizing the sky with her cousin and delighting in their powers. Her nostalgia and joy were infectious, or maybe I enjoyed the experience myself. It was hard to tell the difference with the mind sharing.

By the time I made it home, there was lightness to my chest that I wasn’t used to. Did I have a good day? When was the last time I had a good day?

Crystal gave me a goodbye hug. “Our family has always had to deal with strange powers affecting every aspect of our lives. I’m not going to pretend your situation is all sunshine and rainbows, but we’ll manage.” She whispered. “We have to.”

“I’m glad you didn’t stay dead.”

“Eric!”

“Sorry. That came out wrong. I…” He patted my shoulder. “It’s good to see you, Amy.”

Crystal’s eyes were moist when she pulled away and left with her brother, leaving me to process the affection. Our cousins always loved you. You’re the one who didn’t visit them. You weren’t alone. You could have reached out. It didn’t have to only be me.

The warm fuzzy feeling that I was nurturing fizzled out. Right, bonding moments aside, I was still a weird pervert. Steeling myself, I knocked on the door.

Carol ripped the door open and grabbed me in a vice-like hug. Her aura was bursting with love and affection for Vicky. “Amy!” She squeezed harder until I wondered if she switched powers with Uncle Neil. “I… see you found the costume I left for you.” Carol leaned back and stroked my robes. “Hmm, flying by yourself puts more wind drag on the fabric. The stitching isn’t holding. We should think about switching you to a… Right, your costume isn’t New Wave’s responsibility.” She shuddered before taking a calming breath. “Dinner’s almost done. You can sit at the table with your father.”

She let me go and went back into the house. After I closed the door behind me, I pulled off my robes and threw them into a pile, leaving me in jeans and a t-shirt. The mask jumped from my face into the pile of clothes and scooted them to the laundry room.

Carol saw the display and only flashed a slightly worried aura. What was stronger: her worry about a spawn of Marquis, or her faith that her real daughter could hold me back? Amy! Victoria imagined herself shaking me. Neither of us have our biological body anymore. I’m no more her ‘real’ daughter than you, and you have no relation to Marquis! Our minds were still made in those bodies. We’re—Not to interject, but I couldn’t help myself. Genetics have only been proven to account for less than 5% of intelligence. It seems silly to assume your personality and morality is inherited from one parent you barely remember.

I forced myself not to roll my eyes as I sat down. What did modern science matter next to what I knew from a touch? No one should lecture me on how genetics work.

Mark lifted his hand in greeting, but his aura was muted and dark. The chronically depressed man looked like hell with frazzled hair, an unshaven face, and pit stains under his arms. Vicky wanted to fly to the man, wrap him in a hug, and tell him everything was going to be alright.

All I saw was a man gripped in the same moods that caused him to forget our outings, forget to make breakfast, and forget to be a parent. Rich of you to complain about that. You know, considering…

Carol finished her puttering in the kitchen and brought out her signature bland lasagna. I thought we loved Mom’s lasagna. You loved it, and I loved seeing you happy. It’s bittersweet to know that all our close moments meant something very different to you.

The food was passed out, and Carol made fumbling attempts to ask about my day. She’s just upset. No, she has no practice. Carol wasn’t faking about caring, but I guess she only had one daughter to care for now.

“I know it’s your ‘time’ as far as the PRT explained it, but could you tell me how Victoria is holding up.”

I pointed at a butterfly flapping through the window. It landed on Carol’s finger. Hi Mom! “She’s watching and can hear what we are talking about. She’s also controlling that butterfly.”

Carol held the insect near her face. “This is Victoria?”

“She’s moving it.” The bug flapped its wings and wiggled into her mom’s finger.

Carol’s aura flipped to a dark midnight as she stared at the bug her daughter had been reduced to. The moment cut through all her self-assurances. “Excuse me… I… I left something upstairs.” Carol quickly retreated to the upstairs bathroom and wept almost quietly enough that the bugs didn’t hear it.

Victoria wanted to reassure her mother but couldn’t figure out how. Her resolve shifted. Heal Dad.

A dread crawled up my spine. I can’t do brains. Yes you can, and your reason for not doing so… it doesn’t matter anymore. What if it does matter? What if you get out? I need to follow my rules in case that happens. I’m not… I can’t… If you won’t do it, I will.

I stood up, walked towards my dad, and put two fingers on his neck. “Honey? What’s going on—” He gasped as I corrected the underlying physiology to his depression. “I thought you couldn’t fix this?”

“We have another Thinker power that helps in a lot of areas,” I lied.

“Thank you.” He grabbed Amy’s hand. “I know you’ve been through a lot and are still thinking of others. Your mother and I didn’t want you to visit the hospital today. We selfishly wanted to spend the time with our daughters. Carol has plans to fix this, to make our family whole again. I’ve never seen her more consumed.” He squeezed the hand tighter. “We’ll get through this.”

I squeezed his hand back. “I’m sure we will. I… I need to go outside for a bit.”

“Anything you need. We’re here for both of you, and all your new friends too.”

The backdoor slid behind me as I laid on the porch and gave up control.

Vicky didn’t force me to break my rules, but she did take over my body. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. In some ways Vicky turning me into her plaything was exciting but—Victoria imagined herself sitting next to me on the porch.

While I don’t reciprocate the feelings you have for me, they aren’t what broke my heart. I have to find a reason you wanted to do THAT to me so badly that you had to follow ironclad rules to prevent yourself from…

I love you. I only fantasized about you loving me back. Those thoughts led to the only way I thought it was possible.

Victoria imagined curling her knees to her chest. That isn’t love, not real love, not love for me as a person. You can feel what Dean feels. That’s what real love is. You… you love me more like a favorite stuffed animal. You see me like a thing to possess. That’s the part that hurts. This obsession twisted you so much that you wanted to warp my mind into loving you… Amy, you can’t hurt me. Your powers will never touch me again. You don’t have to worry about trying to rape me.

That’s not what I wanted! Never! I would never force myself on you. Are you sure you’re Marquis’ whelp and not a Vasil? I jumped as Alec brought himself to the fore. Tell me this isn’t rape. He remembered a compound of women fawning over his father. All of them acted willing. The woman he was pretty sure was his mother only had kind things to say about Heartbreaker. Most of his father’s concubines couldn’t muster the willpower to care for their own children, so consumed were they in seeking his affection.

My shit stain of a father at least knows what he is doing. It’s not a sweet little dream you have, Amy. The only people I know with fantasies like yours are my father and a few of my siblings. He started fading back again. You don’t get to lie to yourself about this in my head.

The ugliness of Alec’s memories had driven the rest back, leaving me in relative silence to stew on my little dreams as he and Victoria saw them. Berating me like this didn’t change how I felt. It didn’t change me. All it did was make me feel more disgusted with myself, as though that would help anything.

I extended my hand and summoned a butterfly to it. My power flexed, and the insect rotted apart. It unraveled like my life and everything I ever cared about. Victoria didn’t say it, but there was the beginning of hate in her words. If I didn’t reach out, if I kept only focusing on her, she would despise me. That meant I had to try. 

My attention scanned over the collective.

Off in Mom’s flower garden, I saw Vista, Taylor, and Tattletale playing tag with bumblebees. Dean and Victoria rested on a daisy as two ladybugs, sending each other comforting thoughts. The others were taking their shifts searching the city for the mad bomber.

All the buzzing activity was soothing. My worries and struggles felt distributed when I focused on their lives. The burdens weighed less.

Despite my sister’s harsh words and Alec’s uncomfortable truths, today was a good day. There was a fullness to it that I hadn’t experienced in a long while. One of the others supplied the word for this feeling.

I was content.

My problems weren’t smaller. They didn’t go away, but they were no longer mine alone, no matter how much I hated that and how exposed I felt.

With a sigh, I headed back in and did my best to finish the ordeal that was family dinner. The love radiating from their auras wasn’t for me, but I could pretend it was.

It was a start.

Chapter 8

A chill pulled me from unconsciousness. The blanket was bundled away from my feet and pulled to my right side, leaving three limbs exposed.

I shuffled the cloth back over me. The immediate relief of the warmth was drowned out by the too smooth sliding of fabric across my skin. My mind screamed at the sensation, rousing the others. What’s wrong?

My arms flailed as I threw off the covers and rolled to my feet. The movement swished our nightwear over flesh that shouldn’t be there. A very familiar wrongness settled over me.

I felt caged, like there was ice in my veins, freezing me in a malformed vessel.

The voices tried to send reassurances even though they didn’t know what was wrong or who I was. They felt my mounting distress and frustration. The old mental tricks of putting the reality out of my mind called to me, but I couldn’t reach for them. I knew the immediate relief would only lead me to a very dangerous headspace.

I remembered many nights in the bathtub with a razorblade. After a day of numbness, I would feel alive as I made cut after cut, destroying what I hated while invoking the only thing I could still feel: pain. Whose fucking memories are these? Who’s the gi—Shut up. For once, Dennis listened to that command. He sensed the agony and self-hate underlining the anger of it.

Hesitantly, I flipped on the lights and faced the mirror.

Taylor…

It was Taylor’s face. I had to make my own version. With Terry’s power, I swelled our muscles and shrunk our chest and hips. Broadening our shoulders helped attain a more comfortable silhouette. With a more deft understanding of what made faces masculine and feminine than Chris, I shifted Taylor’s face to have a stronger sharper jaw, a more protruding brow, and a larger, broader nose.

The result in the mirror was better, but still obviously a teenage girl. The eyelashes were too thick, the features too softened by fat, the eyebrows too curved, the skin too soft, and the pores too small.

I hated my reflection.

This wasn’t nearly so bad when I was a voice. My preference wasn’t as close. The discrepancies weren’t as real. There was a distance of feeling without the numbness. I could mull over my failures instead of what I lost. We were all there, man. You weren’t the only one who made a bad call. I know, but I would rather think about that than this.

The last time I looked into the mirror and had these feelings, I grabbed a few bottles of gray market roids—shit had flakes in it—a used syringe, a box of rusty tools, and a bunch c-clamps before I secluded myself in an old abandoned barn.

I smiled as I fondly recalled the day of my rebirth. 

While the other voices had integrated my love of pain, most of them shied back from the memories of cutting, tearing, stretching, and fighting my body into the proper shape. Dude, you were a gi—No, I wasn’t. Don’t even think it. Sorry man, you never told us. I didn’t need to. I shouldn’t have to.

Mom found me in the throes of ecstasy, exulting in my accomplishment. She was happy for me, but firmly told me to join the Wards. I agreed. It’s what I wanted to do in the first place. I just didn’t want them to know the old me. We would have been cool about it. I couldn’t know that, not after what I’ve been through.

I had everything, and it was gone now.

My reflection hurt worse than it did before. This was the bad pain, the kind I couldn’t stand. I hoped the other guys didn’t have it as bad as I did, that they could find contentment in the way we were now, that they didn’t suffer more at the cursed knowing of what their confused feelings were.

Dys-fucking-phoria.

I knew I couldn’t hide it from them forever. My thoughts would eventually veer that way. Besides, they would all figure it out eventually. Our special hell was how little we could do about it. We had girls in this head, girls perfectly content to be girls. I could fix this again, but then it wouldn’t be fair to them. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize how awful this was for you. Taylor, don’t apologize for being happy. Just… Don’t tell me you aren’t feminine because I KNOW you are. Everything that makes you happy about your body, I hate.

Well…

Almost everything.

A quick shake of my head flicked the seemingly bedhead immune curls into a more chaotic arrangement. Our hair was fabulous. While I never hated long hair, I wore mine short. First, as a statement of intent, then because I could without grief. Of all of Taylor’s features, I was fine with this. Why are you thinking of Hair Metal Bands? A man’s allowed to have a favorite music genre. Rock on, dude!

Despite that moment of solidarity, I was crawling out of my skin and needed to center myself. While we’re at the gym, we can measure our strength. Sure Victoria, that sounds fine.

I quickly put on gym shorts, a tank top, and a t-shirt over that. A second layer helped conceal what I didn’t want to think about.

When I exited my room, it was very early in the morning, which meant no Sophia. That was good. I didn’t know how to broach how badly she hurt me. While I told her my trigger in exact detail, I didn’t tell her why my bullies put used feminine hygiene products in my locker, or what they meant by it.

Her doing that to someone else brought up a lot of ugly feelings.

I can understand that… Yeah… I bet you could. Sorry, I shouldn’t be more mad about it than the person she did it to. Sophia didn’t control the context of her actions, and that’s what bothered me the most. While I can and should be frustrated with what she did, it’s small compared to the context. Yeah, I really get how the betrayal of your friends and a system that seems to support your bullies can get to you.

After taking a moment to pull myself out of my very similar early high school experience, I went over to the doggy beds and petted the new Wards. Angelica kicked her little feet while sleeping. Judas opened his eyes briefly before closing them and radiating a happy aura. Brutus woke up and licked my face.

He followed me to the elevator while carrying his leash in mouth. I gave him a few more pets while explaining the situation, “No. I’m not going on a walk. Sophia will be here soon. You can go with her.” Brutus wagged his tail harder at ‘walk’ and seemed to ignore most of what I said.

I sighed at the selective hearing most young Wards had.

After a bit of finagling, I managed to enter the elevator and close the door without Brutus. He scratched at the entryway in protest of not going to the gym with me. I could have taken him, but I needed to be alone for a while. As alone as we can be.

The doors opened to the gym floor. I switched the ambient music to my normal track and then beelined to my normal punching bag. My fist went through it, barely any resistance. How much of that was our forcefields compared to our muscles? Maybe—I did replace ours with fast-twitch muscle fibers. Since we don’t tire any more from Carlos’s power, there was really no reason to have other kinds of muscle. 

I sighed, unhooked the bag, and logged the equipment incident.

After the proper paperwork was filled out, I moved to the setup that only Terry was strong enough to use in the local Protectorate. It was less equipment than it was an art installation. Someone had donated the large block of solid steel on the condition they could retrieve it when we were done with it and put it on display.

When I punched this one, it dented a little, but the attack didn’t break Victoria’s forcefield. I couldn’t feel it, which entirely defeated the point.

I backed up a little and flew at the brick before hitting it. The dent was larger and broke Victoria’s shield long enough for me to get a few bone-splintering punches in. The pain lancing up my arm brought me into the moment and focused my mind.

Between Terry healing the injuries and Victoria’s forcefield returning, a desperate ferocity of blows was required to achieve the kind of ‘burn’ I was looking for. Oh, this is disgusting… Damn girl, you are really committed to kink shaming. Fuck entirely off, Tats! No, I meant the way our reduced powers interact. Terry’s forcefield increases strength multiplicatively and reduces kinetic attacks by a similar amount. Instead of his normal 10x, he’s only providing 3x, BUT the multiplication happens after combining our muscular strength and the superstrength from my forcefield, which entirely negates reducing my superstrength to a third of what it was.

I was glad Victoria could busy herself with power calculations while Terry’s mind whirred with ways to increase our durability. Most of the others were searching the city for Bakuda with our bugs. They were as far back as they could be to ignore me going to my happy place.

My punches mushed ligaments, tore muscles, and broke bones. I hummed along to my favorite song as I tried to reach the baseline pain I needed to feel normal. You always workout to this metal song. I thought you liked it because it was fast paced not because—It was the song I played during the soul freeing agony of the day I became me. Oh god…

I always liked pain. It wasn’t until that day took me to new heights that I grew to love pain. If there was one thing I regretted from that, it’s that the sensation was so twisted up with happiness and contentment that I felt hollow without it.

Oh well, being a hero got me plenty of injuries. Should I stop healing injuries? No. None of you have the same need I do. I don’t want to drive you all off with my habits. After I root myself in the sweet lightning of nerves screaming, I’ll manage. I could go one day without constant pain, and then spend two weeks as a voice. It was like the rest of my discomfort.

Armsmaster stopped by to see if I wanted to practice sparring. I told him I was busy ‘power testing’. He took the excuse and left me alone after dropping off the paperwork needed to document my ‘results’. Taylor took pity on my annoyance and made a bug with Amy that could put ink to paper. Taylor and Tattletale then used a combination of bugs to read and fill out the lab notes with what Victoria was keeping track of mentally.

Meanwhile, I turned the block of steel into a twisted bloody mess. Punch for a few seconds, fly back, SMASH, repeat. Over and over again until I felt steady. I don’t get it. How does someone like you rebel against the system and social norms, go through endless shit, and come out the other end ‘just some guy’?  

Because all I ever wanted was to be ‘just some guy’. As banal and stupid as it might seem to you, my deepest desire was something half the planet gets for free. Would it have killed you to have a punk vigilante phase? I did.

Unlike Taylor, I got revenge on my bullies. There was no satisfaction or catharsis as I broke their legs. It was only one more thing to have nightmares about. The frustration, anger, and hurt didn’t abate by compounding it with more violence. I only found relief by turning the violence inward. Tattletale hated that and turned her focus away from me.

After that conversation, a ravenous hunger consumed me. All these changes require more calories. I didn’t consider that a real downside. A few PRT provided protein bars are in my locker, since I had a similar problem. I grabbed them and devoured the variety of chalky chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry flavored bars as I retrieved my guitar and went up to the roof to cool down.

The sun was already setting by the time I settled in. I had spent way too long working through my feelings. It was productive in other ways. Sure. I played a few soft notes as a small cloud of fireflies formed around me.

You know, I thought the country song portion of my life was over. Yeah, being a Ward had its challenges but these had been the happiest two and half years of my life. Hey man, we enjoyed it too. Yeah. Me too. I wasn’t ‘one of the bros’ but we had a good time.

The notes came faster as I played an older song, one I had written for my parents. They never heard it, but I still played it for them at their graves. Now, I played it for my friends, the ones I led to a slaughter. You need to stop beating yourself up over… Shit um—What he’s trying to say is a lot of blame can go around. Hell, if I wore a helmet, all of this would have been avoided.

I shook my head as Brockton Bay blurred, and the dirge increased its pace. I was the most responsible cape there. My orders set the tenor of the fight. It was my duty to lead, but I was having too much fun playing with dogs. Rachel thought that was very reasonable. Who cares whose fault it is? Knowing that won’t change anything. We’re like this now and have to deal with it. It’s about guilt and reflecting on my errors. Guilt doesn't do shit. 

A chuckle escaped my mouth. I felt like I needed to feel guilty, but they could feel my feelings. It made the selfishness of my little guilt trip obvious. Thanks Rachel. She imagined herself nodding.

The notes kept coming. I stopped watering the guilt, but I still had plenty to mourn.

I remembered my time with the Wards. The friends I made, the bonds we forged, the gangs we fought, and most importantly, the people we saved. Remember that time we drove off Lung? Oh my god, yes. I thought if we won, it would have been you getting Clockblocker close not because of that dumb stunt with Gallant.

We laughed as we reminisced on old battles and old moments. Bundles of fireflies would pulse as the others laughed. As we talked, I felt a tightness unwind in my chest. Maybe this could work out. If I had to be trapped in the same skull with any group of people, I would want it to be my Wards team. Shit, I’d rather it be like this than to survive alone. We’ll never be alone now. There is some comfort in that. Yeah, it turns out you guys were closer than my family. I wasn’t on the team for long, but you guys seem alright. Gee, thanks Terry. You really know how to make us feel all warm and fuzzy. You’re welcome.

I took a moment to wipe away the tears and pack up my instrument. The bugs didn’t find a mad tinker, but they did locate the villain that I most enjoyed punching. Our crab mask skittered over to me and leapt on my face. Can you do this without asking permission? Permission? I’m reporting the incident and asking for backup. Otherwise, I’m a superhero. Saving people is what we do.

Darkness enveloped me as I made a dark streak through the sky towards the cape attack. The usual suspects were assaulting a predominantly asian neighborhood. Victoria and my flight abilities were greatly reduced but they cobbled together to help us reach a decent but slower speed than either of us was used to. Our armor should help with that once it is done.

That would help. While Victoria’s flight was compensating for g-forces, I missed my old speed. Your memories of flight are a little different than mine. I did a quick spin to confirm. Nothing. My inner ear didn’t move around at all. What then did your flight do better than mine? I’m not sure. Mine always felt like flexing an extra muscle. Yours doesn’t work that way. I kind of assumed everyone’s secondary flight abilities were the same. Maybe they are and our minds interpret them differently.

Our musings came to an end as I careened towards an already destroyed street. Ah good, I could start this fight like I wanted without having to worry about the property damage.

At 60 mph, I crashed both fists into a thicket of steel blades. The street cracked further as Hookwolf was pressed into the ground. The last thing he saw before darkness enveloped the area was my impassive mask and limbs wrapped in smoke. That’s for last time, asshole! Vista, language. I always swore in my thoughts.

Vista’s enthusiasm for the fight didn’t stop her and Taylor from reshaping the terrain and swarming the gang members accompanying the villain. Woah, keep the bugs from their nose and mouths. And stop biting them! You—People are in danger. If we go easy on the Nazis, then they could hurt others. We need—Focus on jamming the guns then. And well… I guess nibbling the hands holding guns is fine.

Their actions freed me to deal with Hookwolf.

I punched him and a spear drove through my forearm. My mask hid the grin from the delightful agony. Image always hid my face for a reason.

I really loved my job.

Another punch dented a blade. Hookwolf responded by jutting several hooks and spikes in my direction while swiping one of his ‘claws’. I caught the blind strike as most of the other weapons missed.

Victoria’s forcefield returned, and I used the added strength to rip the metal out of the Nazi and toss it away.

Hookwolf rolled away and reformed. “When did you learn to fly, Grue?”

I didn’t bother to respond. He couldn’t hear me in the smoke, and he had nothing valuable to say. There is no reason to mince words with a Nazi. Ugh, that thought was shared so thoroughly that we couldn’t tell who thought it.

As worrying as the slow blending of our minds was, I had a Nazi to beat up.

Slamming into Hookwolf hard enough to shatter my forcefield brought no added joy. No matter how evil they were or how much I hated them, I couldn’t find a way to enjoy hurting people. Their shittyness did alleviate all potential guilt, which made fighting them a lot more fun than anyone else.

As he skewered me and I ripped out the metal, there was no nagging worry that social and economic policies would have prevented this villain from turning to crime. Did he have kids? Does it matter? Oh no, their Nazi dad might not come home because we arrested him.

When a halberd cut into my side, I froze Hookwolf in time and took a moment to examine my injury. The cut was surprisingly shallow. I poked around the sealing wound and felt an odd holcomb structure. What the hell? I’ve been trying to make us more durable. Getting bone woven through our structures while maintaining needed flexibility has been tricky, and it’s still a work in progress, but I think this will help prevent damage from propagating too far. Were the bone plates not good enough? They were a good start.

After 10 seconds, Hookwolf fell out of stasis, and we continued our very one-sided duel.

There was nothing he could do. If he could trap me in his jaws and start chewing, I would freeze him and pry myself out, but he couldn't perceive me well enough to pull that off. Once Taylor and Vista finished disabling the mooks, Vista focused on fouling Hookwolf’s footing and making him run into walls.

When I had my fill of smashing my fists against pointy objects, I left Victoria’s forcefield up and used that strength to rip out metal faster. Weapon by tossed weapon, the Nazi was methodically reduced to his core. He never had a chance, did he? Nope.

Once I touched his core and mapped out his biology, Alec made Hookwolf fall unconscious. When he tried to make the villain shit himself, there was a complex battle of wills throughout the collective. Our need to not abuse prisoners fought against an immature desire to let that happen. Tomfoolery won the day, and a foul smell wafted from the defeated enemy. No one has to know we made him do that.

I sighed and hovered a few feet farther away while dismissing the smoke. Our backup had arrived.

My heart twisted at seeing Triumph. He—had a gladiator/lion theme to his costume with a gold lion helm, shoulder pads that looked like little lion heads, a gold belt, and gloves with decorative claws on them. Everywhere else, he wore a skintight suit which showed off how big and muscular he was. He clearly made use of that accelerated healing hitting the gym.

As the hero clambered off his motorcycle and walked over, I tried to smother my years old crush. It was as hopeless now as always. The man was straight and actively dating someone. He might like you now! I suppressed a shudder. No, I find men attractive as a man. That seems overly picky. Not all of us are as flexible as you, Alec. Thank god I was between boyfriends when all this happened.

Triumph projected his voice so that I could hear it as he finished walking over. “Good work, Aegis! Err, I guess it’s Myriad now.”

“I appreciate hearing that name from time to time.” I sighed. “I have a bunch of Nazis here that I would love for you to take off my hands.”

“Glady!” He bared his teeth and radiated a pleased aura as he waved the officers forward. “How are you holding up, man?”

“I’m managing. I bet you’re glad you dodged this bullet.”

He winced. “I would have rather been there and helped.”

“I know.”

We stared at each other for several moments before he patted me on the shoulder. “Hey, I’ll handle the paperwork for this one. Why don’t you clean up and have dinner with your family?”

“Thanks.” Triumph was always a thoughtful guy.

I flew back and washed before flying home. There was a little lot I liked to land in and change that was only a short walk away.

My hand hovered over the front door as I prepared myself to enter. This wasn’t the first time I had changed faces on them. Mom already knew and probably told them. It’ll be fine.

I took a big breath and opened the door.

Mom was busy in the kitchen. Little Alison was helping Jackson set the table while Rin and Yui watched TV. “I’m home.”

The twins didn’t turn away from their show. Alison and Jackson stared. All Mom did was look over her shoulder and smile. “Welcome home, Carlos!” The woman had a round face and shoulder length brown hair. Her arms and legs were stout, which lined up with Carlos’s memories of the woman running a soup kitchen/dog shelter—A few of the guys needed a place to leave their dogs for a job interview. One thing led to another, and the place ended up being a dual-purpose charity—The woman wore jeans, a plain brown t-shirt, and an apron. The edges had the worn fraying look common with people who only bought clothes to replace damaged clothing. All the other children had noticeably newer clothes.

Jackson caught himself staring and went back to setting the table with only the occasional glance. Alison kept looking at me with big eyes. I tried to ignore it as I entered the kitchen.

Damian came down the stairs in a rush before stopping by the kitchen. “Hey Annette, is it alright if I eat with friends tonight?” What? Most of the kids called her ‘Mom’ eventually, but Damian was newer to the foster home.

“Sure, but you’ll miss dinner with Carlos. He’s not around as much anymore.” That’s not a common name. I’ll admit, it’s a weird coincidence, not the first between us.

Damian turned and saw me for the first time. His eyes opened wide briefly before he got them under control. His aura continued to radiate surprise as walked up to me and squeezed my shoulder with a dark hand. “How are you holding up, bro?”

This was the first time he called me ‘bro’ instead of ‘dude’ or ‘man’. “Thank bro, I’m managing.” I tried to convey how much his words meant to me by squeezing his shoulder back.

Wordlessly, Damian pulled me into a tight hug before releasing me and heading off into the night.

“I wish he could have stayed, but that means more tacos for us!” Mom set down a large circular taco dinner board and called the twins to the table. It wasn’t authentically Mexican, but neither were my first mom’s tacos. Mom went out of her way to learn how to make the favorite foods of any kid she fostered. I still remember her arduous struggles with a wok when the twins arrived. I hoped learning to make my meal wasn’t half as hard.

We sat down and had as normal of a family meal as a bunch of orphans could. No one mentioned my sudden change, which I was grateful for. I could tell Jackson wanted to ask, but I really didn’t want to talk about it.

After dinner, I moved to the living room to spend quality time with my siblings. Alison sat next to me on the couch with those big eyes. “You changed again.”

“Yeah… this time it wasn’t intentional.”

“I like your hair. I think it’s pretty.” She looked down and rubbed her eyes. “I know you probably don’t like it, but I like it and…” She scooted over and gave me a hug. “I want you to like who you are.”

“Me too…” I returned her hug.

Despite her coloring, Nazis killed her parents too. All of us had that in common. When capes killed each other it was a huge deal. When normal people did it, it was merely a crime statistic. Alison and I were the results of those statistics and had spent the same amount of time with Mom. We were close. She could tell I’m hurting and it upset her. I wanted to reassure her that everything was fine, but I couldn’t. It wasn’t fine, and I wouldn’t lie to her.

“Me too…” I repeated as I closed my eyes.

Notes:

Fun meta narrative history about Aegis. In the Myriad draft of Worm, his character looked female to proto-Taylor. That’s not why I wrote Carlos the way he is in this. No, Aegis was supposedly the next protagonist if Taylor died at Leviathan. I’ve always been morbidly curious at how that could work. This Carlos is my shot at that.

Chapter 9

When I opened my eyes, I found myself hugging Carlos’s sister. Uh Carlos? I’m tired. But this is your family time. Shouldn’t you be with them? I am. It’s not like I stopped being here. We all share in each other’s families now.

I maintained Carlos’s hug with Alison. It seemed like the right thing to do. The girl was shaking with worry, and I could easily provide a small measure of comfort. See, you’re doing fine.

The entire situation felt like it was in a different lens. All the sights, sounds, and smells were the same, but the receiver was different. I had Carlos’s memories and more poured in as we all watched TV. Yet, I wasn’t Carlos and couldn’t see them like Carlos could. When he looked around and saw family, I saw people important to Carlos. When I’m with them, you’ll be right there behind my eyes. 

I never had siblings before. Were they like close friends? No, Brian had a little sister too. He couldn’t imagine Aisha hugging him like this. What was I supposed to do here? Be with them and try to relax.

The show continued and I tried to do what Carlos felt like doing, since this was his family and even though he fell back, I still thought his thoughts and felt his feelings.

Alison sniffled and pulled back. She took a moment to wipe off her eyes before looking me up and down. A little fist then collided into my side. “Where did Carlos go?”

“He’s still here and listening. He’s just resting a little. How did you know?”

Her face scrunched up. “You sit funny.” I tilted my head at her in confusion. She pulled one leg up until her foot was flush with the cushion. Her left hand hooked around that ankle to hold it while her other arm made a right angle and rested on the arm cushion. “Like this. It looks really uncomfortable.”

I had trouble understanding what she was saying. No, she’s right. You do that. Brian, what are you talking about? You hold your limbs at odd angles. He remembered watching me eat pizza in fascination, taking note how my arm pivoted at the shoulder to bring the slice all the way instead of bending my arm more. I didn’t know what to do with this information. “Apparently, I move funny. I didn’t notice.”

Alison giggled before her aura gained a serious hue. “Be nice to my brother.”

“I’m trying. He doesn’t seem to like being me, though.”

“Be nicer then.” Her aura made it clear that this was a command, not a suggestion.

“Alright.”

When TV time wound down, I made to leave only for Annette to offer me a hug. She wasn’t remotely the same woman, but I wondered at the twists of fate where I would end up with another mom named Annette. I gave her a hug because Carlos would. He appreciated it.

After that, I flew back to the PRT building and settled into sleep. It had been a long day. As I laid in bed, I didn’t worry about who I would be tomorrow. An embarrassing part of me enjoyed having constant friends and companions. I don’t think any of us will hold it against you for finding positives in this situation. Also, it’s good that we’re getting to know each other. We may have one body, but this cape works as a team, and a rather large one at that.

Victoria started really getting into team dynamics as I drifted off to sleep. As we fell closer to unconsciousness, her words mumbled together, but the intents were clear. Then the intents mushed into a chaotic maelstrom with everyone else’s feelings to carry me into oblivion.

Ah! The lights and alarm attempted to rouse me entirely too early. I summoned one of Taylor’s monster beetles to flip the lights and disable the alarm. The action roused our mind less than if I got up, letting me fall back to sleep.

Scratching at the door pulled me back to the waking world long enough to make the crab mask open it. The other Undersiders rushed into my room and jumped on my bed. Angelica cuddled under the covers while Brutus curled between my legs. Judas leaned against my left side and panted before laying his mouth over my shoulder.

The bugs saw Sophia glance into my dark room before shaking her head and walking away. Our crab mask sealed the door and let me claw back to unconsciousness. The other voices were rousing and splitting, but I tried to shut at least my portion of the mind off.

I drifted off into a liminal sleep. The constant buzzing of the others threatened to pull me from slumber, but I didn’t want to begin the day. Someone else could take over.

Time skipped and I awoke to the sound of Brutus scratching to be let out. When I turned to look at the noise, my foot caught on something. I glanced at the source of the obstruction and saw a humanoid holding my foot. It had no hair or flesh and was covered in red and gold plating that looked closer to bug shells than metal.

Huh, that was odd and probably dangerous. I reached out with my power to make the creature fall… only for it to fail because the creature was already controlled by my power. He’s finally up! Working on my suit is a little difficult when you keep passing out.

I groaned and checked our phone. It was the crack of noon. No sane people got up this early. The buzzing in my mind increased until I knew that our day had started. “None of you people know how to take a break.” You’re being lazy and irresponsible. And?

The gremlin muttered in my mind and complained about being called a ‘gremlin’ as I floated horizontally over to our closet. All three of the other Undersiders were now scratching at the door and whining to be let out.

There were too many things to do. I tried summoning my clothes with bugs but a huge problem with Taylor’s power was that she controlled the precise detail of her bugs movements which made doing anything with them just as much or more effort than moving my own limbs. 

While I was contemplating the effort required to move bugs, the plates on our armor shifted to brown as Rachel walked it over to open the door, releasing the other Undersiders. She then collected their leashes and took them out. A small cloud of spy-flies followed her to provide vision.

It was odd. I felt all the effort and action required to do all of that, but since someone else did it, I wasn’t drained. The separation was greater than between me and my thralls while also being a more permeable bond. We sure no one else wants to take over? Why do you assume we can? You guys sometimes intentionally flop around. And other times we’re stuck. There are no fixed rules. Duh, because our individuality is a delusion. We—Can you not? It’s—The sooner we embrace our collective ego-death, the sooner we stop worrying about it. You all need—I don’t know. There is memory sharing and blending, but I still feel like we’re staying separate.

I yawned as I ignored that conversation and grabbed a pair of gray sweats. I really didn’t care if I faded away into the crowd. Each day, I tried to do what I enjoyed with the least effort possible. The days spent as a voice, making little pushes and pulls, were very relaxing. I hadn’t felt this recharged in a very long time.

Why was I primary? Was there a purpose to it or was it random? Was Tattletale right and we were power assisted hallucinations in Taylor’s mind? Did I care? I cared a little bit. The idea that I was alive while the original Alec was dead gave me several flickers of amusement. Is this really peak happiness for you?

My mind recalled flashes of Heartbreaker blasting me with overpowering fear because I whined at age 4. I didn’t speak for months afterwards. That was merely one moment of my father’s parenting. It only got worse from there. Either my power blocked my emotions, or he burnt them out. The collective recoiled at my memories.

Look guys, I don’t like thinking about them either. Maybe don’t ask me personal questions, and we can put this off a bit longer. Deal! Glad we’re all on the same page.

As I floated to my door, a morbid curiosity drew me to look into the mirror. I rotated until I could look at myself vertically. Taylor was in the mirror. This wasn’t the first time I piloted a woman around. There was a sense of loss since I couldn’t feel my old body anymore. Nothing compared to Carlos, but it was still there.

I saluted the memory of my junk and thanked it for its service. How was that both sarcastic and sincere? When you're irreverent to everything, you're always at your most solemn. After a sigh, I floated into the lounge.

The Wards had a console with a variety of video games rated for kids and teenagers. Annoyingly, this precluded all my favorites.

A rumble in my stomach set snacks at a higher priority. I floated to the kitchenette and grabbed cheesy chips, soda, and leftover week-old pizza. Dude, you will ruin the controller with cheese dust and grease. Mwuahaha! You forget that I’m a supervillain. I don’t care!

My brain started to fuzz as I floated back to the couch. A few of the heroes didn’t like what I was doing while the rest were fairly apathetic. My own will was ephemeral and struggled to assert itself, but I had a trick up my sleeve.

The fuzz grew until my brain shut down and I let it, dropping soda and snacks everywhere. I jolted out my ennui as I bounced against a wall and flipped over. The floor was a mess. You need to clean that up. Use the soap bugs if it bothers you. Dean grumbled and summoned a handful of the nightmare centipedes that secreted cleaning fluid while being able to scrub up the mess with their dozens of legs. Soap-roaches followed the curling terrors to devour the suds. Taylor was immensely pleased with herself.

As that was happening, I grabbed more snacks, fully prepared to drop all of them again if they fought me. They didn’t, and I successfully finished my trip back to the couch. Once I laid down, I had a beetle turn on the console and resolved to play whatever game was in it. They gave us a copy of this game because we were all in it, even the Dallons.

Neat.

I stared at the food and debated the logistics of having bugs carry it into my mouth. Ew. Rude, but I had to agree. I never ate with bugs. Surely you thought about doing it. Surprisingly she didn’t. Lame.

My hand suffered the duty of shoveling comfort food into my gullet as the game loaded. I disabled chat since I get way too much of that as it is.

As I played, I felt Chris and Dennis derive more enjoyment from the experience than I did. Despite sharing a mind, my own portion remained numb, which I ignored by making Glory Girl punch a Texan Ward over and over again.

When Rachel returned with the other Undersiders, Brutus leapt onto the couch and settled on my right side while Judas flopped onto my feet. Angelica gave off a suspicious aura before crawling into my lap and falling asleep.

After the affectionate half of the Undersiders settled in, I was surprised to see Brian take control of our armor, the plates shifting to black, and sit beside me close enough to hook our arms together. You want to play a game?

“Sure. What’s with the PDA, though?”

Bugs flew between him and Chris’s workshop while Taylor landed bugs on me so that she and Amy could make new flesh horrors. Chris figured he could work on his armor if you were going to lay around. The little Ward had a swarm of bugs drawing up blueprints of him. Not sure if the bugs can tinker with their own limbs, but it’s worth trying.

“Okay…” I’m not sure why I asked. I lost interest halfway through the explanation. Since Brutus wasn’t touching his controller, I passed it to Brian.

I know you don’t really see us as friends, but—You’re a guy I play video games with. That’s the extent of how I see you. Is that a problem? No, not really. We were professional acquaintances that hung out. Brian said that, but I could tell he thought of me as a friend after our year of doing crimes together. Maybe if I was a normal person, we could have been.

Playing the game with him was more enjoyable than playing it alone. When I was alone, no one was there to laugh at my jokes. If no one laughed, then I couldn’t laugh with them.

That’s the thing about comedy. While it can engender feelings in others, it was a deeply mechanical process. You didn’t need to feel happy to time a joke correctly or to think of some absurd thing to say. It can well from a deep intolerance of life and spiteful need to mock it. When the laughter starts, the body wants to laugh with them. It’s an instinct that bypasses the conscious person. You didn’t need an ounce of mirth to laugh with a crowd.

Brian didn’t find my jokes as funny anymore.

Which was a shame. A lot of his utility to the activity was his ability to laugh. Alec, I… What? Didn’t expect my reptile-like brain to reduce you to things that benefited me without really giving a damn for you as a person? I know I would be happier if I actually cared about people. I see everyone else doing it. If I could flip a switch and fix myself, I would.

Annoyance radiated through me. It was like anger or rage, its weaker, more demure cousin. There wasn’t the same depth. Feeling my thralls rage against my control was like sticking my cold hands against a roaring bonfire. Rage was warm. A wrathful person was alive in ways I wasn’t.

I sighed and kept playing, letting the bright lights and sounds trigger small dopamine releases that did just enough to keep me elevated.

From Brian, instead of the expected anger and resentment, he felt pity at my disconnection. Unlike Taylor, I didn’t mind the pity. There were few things I had the capacity to hate, and pity wasn’t one of them. Few people could bring themselves to pity a monster. I get the sense that you’ve done messed-up things in your life, but you’re still a child. It’s not right to give up on children. Would you give that pep talk to Bonesaw? That’s different. She’s been a mass murderer since she was six. I’ve killed too, and I’ve crossed lines that Bonesaw never has. Some of my crimes would make you more uncomfortable than anything she’s done.

I recalled my first kill. My father wanted me to execute a rival gang member. The foot soldier didn’t have any powers or special significance. I did what he asked and remembered Heartbreaker berating me for ‘doing it wrong’. That’s when I realized that there was no pleasing him, that he wouldn’t stop pushing me. I’m sure the heroes don’t find that story sympathetic at all. Why don’t you tell them the last time your father hugged you?

Old Daddy dearest never hugged me. The very thought of it was horrifying. I wasn’t sure if the man was capable of holding someone platonically. Most of the collective fell back when my father came up.

After several more snack trips and playing video games for a while, I heard the elevator door open to people mid conversation.

“I’m really excited to meet them!” A bubbly girl cheerfully exclaimed.

“Good. I’m sure you can empathize with how shocking their current situation is to them,” Armsmaster rumbled.

“Yeah… it can be difficult to adju—Myriad, hi!”

I kept playing until Brian hit pause on his controller, and the other Undersiders scrambled to inspect the intruders. The armor glared at me until I rolled my eyes and floated up to take in the newcomer. A tall athletic blonde woman crouched down to greet her fellow Wards. She had a highly symmetrical face that rivaled Victoria’s in prettiness—Uh—I couldn’t help but draw the comparison since she had the same athletic but curvy build jocks in high school attained before college level sports stripped them of excess fat—There is a lot to unpack there—Clearly, she was very active and took care of her appearance, as expected of a Ward—Her clothes were simple and plain with a few accessories that… I’m sorry, but what the hell, Taylor? What? You… can’t just call me pretty in a very judgy way. I’m not being judgy. But you… never mind. Victoria mentally sighed. She wore a white polo with well fitted jeans along with several bracelets and gold earrings. Her hair was worn in a ponytail while her face had a careful application of makeup to give off the illusion of symmetry that Taylor spotted. This was someone who felt more comfortable if their presentation let them be active with minimal fuss, but also deeply cared about their appearance. I approved.

After I waved a hand at her, she stuck hers out to me for a very risky handshake. “Hi again! We’re Tandem or Kay when talking to both of us outside of costume.” 

When I shook her hand and reflexively mapped out her biology, I had an idle thought: Huh, she looks a little bit like a girl I raped. You give me shit, and you actually did it! A lot of the collective started freaking out and a few of them went digging at the memory. You’ll regret looking. Tattletale at least knew better. I know what they’ll find. I could live without the messy details. Their interest kept prying until what I recalled of the specific memory came to light. Dude, what the fuck? I was in the Heartbroken, a gang dedicated to keeping my father, Mr. Sexcrimes, flushed with money and women. So, this was a job? I don’t know. How do you not know!? One of my thralls was really high on uppers while another was really high on downers. In the haze, I wasn’t sure if she was a job or a ‘gift’, not that I cared. Nausea rippled from several of the collective. Yeah yeah, not all love and forgiveness now, is it? You left out that you were twelve. I compared myself to Bonesaw for a reason.

“Hey, you okay?” Tandem’s eyes were green. She blinked and they were purple. “I get that having a person in your head is distracting, but no one else will.”

“I’m fine. The others were commenting on how thankful they are that you came to replenish the blonde bombshell population. We’ve been running tragically low since the bank.”

Tandem flickered between two different auras of compassion as her eyes changed color. The right settled on purple while the left was green before she spoke. “It really sucks how the day you came together is so public.” She steps back and puts her hands on her hips. “If you haven’t put it together yet, we’re a Case-70 like you’re pretending to be.” She made a little wave and her eyes flashed green. “I’m Kaitlin or Kate.” She lowered her arms and purple eyes bored into me. “And I’m Katherine but I prefer Kat. Yes, our parents did the similar name twin thing.”

“Neat.”

Armsmaster faked a cough, which drew concern from Judas in his arms. “I’ll leave the sixteen of you to get to know each.” He turned and left with the other Undersiders.

Sophia flopped into an armchair. “God! Patrols were canceled for more pointless ‘team bonding’. Hebert, I need you to get your shit together.”

“Hebert? Is that your collective name out of costume?” A pair of green eyes asked me.

Well guys, do we have a collective name? Hmm, most of them were still coming to terms with the memory they integrated. We should probably go by ‘Taylor’. We’re all actually her, and it’s an androgynous name. It’ll—We’re already sharing Taylor’s body. If we share her name as well, we risk either making her the main personality or watering down her individuality. That—Finally, someone else agrees with me that we’re hallucinations. We—I struggled to see myself as a person when it was just me in a body. As much as I knew I was a person, it was difficult to keep that a conscious fact.

“Oh dear. You went away again.”

I blinked several times. “You’ve started a fierce debate. For now, feel free to call me ‘sexy’ or ‘beautiful’.”

Kate laughed into the back of her hand. Kat put her hand down. “Cute. Anyways… They are having us transfer in, so you’re stuck with us for a year or so.” Her eyes flashed green as she gripped her hands together. “I thought we could do icebreakers!”

Sophia and I locked eyes. Her aura’s exasperation matched my own. I pulled out our phone and started hitting up my old contacts. “Why don’t we go to a party instead? The club scene is kind of bad in this town if you’re underaged, unless you want to go to Palanquin, but it's run by supervillains, which doesn’t seem your speed.”

“You know nothing about me or us, but yeah, that would be a bad look on our first day.” Kat said.

“Cool.” I flipped through a few group chats I was in and got a hit. “Dickerson is hosting a party tonight.” They run a lovely boating business out of their house. It’s a very pleasant time if you don’t step off the boats. I’m glad Terry was on board.

Tandem looked over her shoulder at Sophia. “Does that sound good to you? Because otherwise, I thought a round of the Neverending Story would be fun.”

“A party sounds tolerable.” Sophia nodded once.

Kat turned around and mouthed a ‘thank you’ before Kate took over again. “You’re not going in that, right?”

“Hell no!” Parties were more amusing when you were attractive. I floated to our room and threw on an outfit. Victoria had a red plaid skirt, dark leggings, mid-calf boots, a black tube top, and a matching leather jacket. Dean idly wondered where she hid these clothes. Victoria remembered a few morose days flying through falling leaves while eating a tube of ice cream. Is little miss perfect secretly an edgelord? No…

Dolling up my face didn’t take too much time. Who knew how to put on punk makeup? Me, duh. If I didn’t dress up my thralls, they would get ugly, which was annoying to look at. The collective didn’t like that explanation. Stop asking questions then.

When I left my room, Kate was bravely trying to engage Sophia in small talk, who provided one word answers. She perked up at my approach and offered to drive us. Since neither of us had a car, we ended up in her black Prius.

She started talking as soon as she started driving. “So how are you handling your new condition?”

“I’m not really the touchy-feely one. You should talk to one of the others.”

“The adjustment period can be rough, that sense of loss, the lack of time.” She wore sunglasses, but her aura was closer to Kate’s than Kat’s.

“I’ve always been more of a background character. This only makes it easier.”

Her aura grew concerned. “That’s alarming to hear.”

I blew air through my lips. “I can’t imagine why.”

Tandem tried to continue the conversation a few more times, but I pretended to fall asleep, a tactic Sophia immediately copied to exit the conversation.

The house we approached was a little outside of town and rested on a hill connected to a small dock with several boats hooked up to it. The house itself had three levels. The lower two were only visible from the ocean side while the front door was at the top level.

Taylor was apprehensive as we approached the house. She thought her bullies would find out she was here and come to torment her, or they would already be here and harass her. Girl, I know they were a problem for you, but they have nothing on the constant mind games and torments of the Vasil household.

As a trio of pretty girls we entered the party without anyone asking who we were or why we were here. The pounding music and loud conversations helped distract me from my own thoughts. I grabbed a solo cup of beer and downed it quickly to… achieve exactly nothing. Terry, I swear to god, if you made us immune to—No, that’s Carlos’s power. Shit. I haven’t tried too many recreational drugs, but most poisons don’t do anything either. My biology is too redundant for specific attacks like that.

Whatever, Sophia was buzzed enough that I could feel it through her. I reached out to Tandem, who was also drinking, and immediately stumbled. Kat caught me. “Easy there, lightweight.”

I released my awareness from Tandem and stood back up. “I’m fine. Thanks.” What the hell? I could normally control three thralls without issue. Passive sensory sharing should be even easier. All our powers were weakened. It—Why would Taylor’s multitasking help us all function but not help with Alec’s power control? Well, we don’t… all move at the same time. Maybe we can’t… Maybe those bits of us can’t be active at the same time. Hmm, that reinforces a theory I’m working out. It’s possible that—

Tuning out their nerd chat let me focus on the party. Sophia brooded in a corner while on her phone. Tandem dragged me to the dance floor when there were perfectly good spots on the couches to play drinking games and chat with people.

Fine. It wasn't like I didn’t dance from time to time. This body didn’t even get tired.

Time passed as I danced with the two girls and other random people who mixed in with us. Taylor’s flustered nervousness and disbelief when guys hit on us was like going to my first party. None of my thralls ever felt emotions like this. I was tempted to kiss one of them to feel her reaction, but that would be going too far. Oddly, Taylor didn’t think so, but most of the voices were uncomfortable with the idea. Vista is twelve. Bullshit, my birthday is in less than a month, I’m physically fifteen, and I know years of all your memories. Yeah, I did the same kind of things at that age and look how I turned out. …Point taken.                                                                                               

The switching Kate and Kat were doing to dance longer reached its limit, and they walked off to get snacks. I kept dancing. Taylor was having too much fun.

“Taylor!? I don’t think you’ll convince anyone here to pay for sex. You should really ply your trade elsewhere.” A group of girls gathered around me and a familiar redhead bared her teeth at me. Taylor immediately stopped having fun, which was very annoying.

During a twirl, my backhand caught Emma across the face. “Oh shit! I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you there. You look a little familiar. Do I know you?”

The girl radiated fury as she turned back to me. “Is it playing dumb when you’re this stupid? Get out of here before we make you leave.” I knew they would do this.

“Girl, I can’t remember every insignificant dumb bitch who thinks they should matter to me. What makes you so special?”

Emma bared her teeth wider and nodded to a girl behind me, who reached forward with scissors towards our hair.

I rolled my eyes and flexed my toe, causing the girl to trip and eat shit. “Tsk tsk. You should practice more before wearing mommy's heels.” Tats’ suggestion worked and the girl started bawling. Massive mommy issues. Wait, I don’t want you to take care of my bullies for me. They killed my vibe. It’s my problem now.

Emma’s eyes widened, and her aura glowed with shock. “Sophia, what are you doing here?”

I backed up and wrapped my arm around Sophia’s shoulder. The move was so unexpected that she took a moment to process it. “Soph and I are the best of buddies now. She likes how I’m not clingy or easily scared.”

Sophia elbowed me in the sides a few times, which I laughed off like she was play fighting. When she reached for a hidden knife, I let her go. She walked towards Emma to explain the situation, but the damage was done. Emma backed up one step which I turned into her falling on her ass, right into a mysterious puddle.

I chuckled mechanically to enrage the girl as I left to see if that spot on the couch was still open.

When I sat down, Kate found me again. “This is nice!” Suddenly, I was very tired.

At an imperceptible moment, I shifted from Alec’s cold detachment to my own panic thundering heart. I sipped the beer in my hands as I let my hair fall in front of my face. It didn’t taste very good, but it was the normal teenager thing to do. “Yeah…”

Kate leaned over and whispered in my ear. “Did you switch?”

I nodded.

“It can be a little disorienting, but it’s not that bad, right?”

I nodded again. Alec convinced me to experience Tandem’s buzz, which helped me join in the conversation around the couch. A few people were making jokes I didn’t get, but they laughed loud enough that it was infectious.

My bullies didn’t harass me the rest of the night. Sophia left with Emma and didn’t speak with her until they thought they were outside my range, but we were still searching the city for Bakuda, and they happened to be in relay bug range.

Sophia didn’t reveal my identity as she warned Emma off from messing with me further. The girl I used to know seemed frustrated. Then they started yelling at each other.

I lost interest in their conversation. Neither held any power over me. While Emma could hurt me with words, there were twelve other people in here that wouldn’t take her or anyone else’s shit.

Despite the voices in my head, for one night, I felt like a normal teenager.

Chapter 10

Feeling peckish, I went to the snacks table to recharge. The arrangement had more than a few hors d’oeuvres high in sugar content for quick energy along with a few protein options to lengthen satiation after the initial sugar rush.

As I was plating the brownies and pizza rolls, a senior from Clarendon—based on his distinctive letterman jacket—approached and inquired about my wellbeing.

“I’m doing good, you?” I was not in-fact ‘doing good’. Carlos’s memories of Clarendon soured me on the entire school and anyone in its upper echelons of popularity. The culture that gave rise to extremist bullies like Carlos’s has to be inundated with various shades of condoning or willful ignorance, neither of which produces pleasant company. Alas, social rituals still had to be followed.

“I’m doing better now that you are here.” The man leaned closer and tucked his chin before invading my personal space. My heart rate increased slightly, and I felt a burning in my cheeks as my face flushed. Was I agitated or slightly attracted to the boy? I inquired with my mental compatriots, but they were too busy enjoying Tandem’s buzz to focus on the developing situation.

This did lead me to question how much attraction was a result of physical reality or a byproduct of one’s mental state. It did seem like our experienced sexuality was heavily dependent on the primary at a given moment. The rest of us still retained our preferences as a voice, but these kinds of physical reactions depended on who was controlling the body.

“Hey there’s no reason to freeze up. I’m a chill guy.” When the athlete reached for me, I took a step back. Thankfully, the inebriated teenager decided he would have better chances elsewhere and left my presence with barely a “Pffff” in derision at my hesitation.

How peculiar… I could not recall receiving or reacting to male affection like this which meant… Oh! I stopped being Taylor. I haven’t had guys hit on me either… Could that have been bleed-through from your own feelings as we switched? Were we in a sort of blended state or have I been primary for a while and didn’t notice? If that’s the case, then perhaps I had hidden homosexual feelings, or well, I guess that entirely depends on my unexamined gender identity.

Looking down at myself and the skirt I was wearing, I certainly felt funny, but it wasn’t the agony Carlos experiences. Will this build to suffering or will I grow used to it? I was interested in finding out. But in relation to my sexuality: What if I was ‘always heterosexual' and genderfluid in the sense that I defaulted to the mapped gender on physical sex? If—Fuck man, at least eat a brownie if you are going to waste time pondering things you don’t really care about.

Alec’s laissez-faire attitude on identity did have a certain appeal—I shoveled down a brownie and chewed to distract the others—but my therapist did recommend that I steer my musings to myself from time to time lest I forget about the ‘me’ in situations.

Speaking of grounding myself, I was back where my hero’s journey started. I glanced over and saw that Kay was laughing and chatting on the couch without issue. Surely, she wouldn’t notice if I took a little détour.

I munched on the snacks as I descended the house to its docks. Music thumped at algorithmically provable pleasing beats. People engaged in endorphin boosting exercises such as dance and drinking games. Alcohol lowered inhibitions and acted as social grease, which caused an ever increasing volume to the conversations around me. Tiki torches burned outdoors and wafted through open patio doors, adding a citronella smell to the odor of food, which helped mask the pungent emittance of teenagers.

My heels thunked on the wood planks of the dock as I approached the boat. While I never wore heels before, both Alec and Victoria had plenty of practice. The skill slotted in unconsciously to prevent tripping. What decided what switched? Why not forget skills over transfers? What made a sense of self more interchangeable than practiced behaviors? We’re hallucinations. There doesn’t need to be fixed mechanical interaction. You insist on that, but it seems an incomplete picture.

I had been staring at the boat for several minutes as I chewed on the nature of self.

“So this is where you ran off to!” Kate approached with as pleased an aura as ever.

“Yes! I thought I would look over this boat again to see what it means to me.”

“What’s special about this boat?”

“Hmm? Oh, it’s where I triggered.” I pointed at the edge. “See right there. I walked right off into chilly waters and nearly died.”

Kat winced. “I’m surprised you suggested coming here.”

“Well I didn’t, but I also don’t have the same emotional connection to my trigger as the others—I think. See, mine was entirely physical. I walked off to see what would happen. People were worried that I was suicidal, but it wasn’t like that. I simply didn’t consider the relevance of my demise as a result of that action. Does that make sense? No, what am I saying, of course it doesn’t. I’m told that I’m mad, despite the therapist not liking that word, but I was in an asylum when I met her, so my madness is confirmed.”

Tandem’s aura was confused for a bit. “We don’t like the term ‘mad’ either. We know we were two people, but we can blend together some of the time. I don’t like considering ourselves as two people to be some sort of inherent mental instability.”

“Disorders have to affect your ability to socialize with friends, pursue hobbies, attain employment, or cause some other kind of harm to be a psychological problem, otherwise they are just unreported quirks. When I use the term ‘madness’, I mean my thoughts could lead to harm towards myself or others if I’m not careful.” I circled Taylor’s hand. “Voices in my head are actually quite healthy for me.”

“I’m still surprised that you are so calm standing near where your trigger happened.”

“I’m not! Look.” I raised a foot to step onto the boat, and it started shaking. “This is most certainly a trauma response, but it feels like it is happening to someone else, yet I should know the difference, right? I’m me. I feel what I feel. It’s not like Alec’s numbness. The emotions all roil and swell, but it doesn’t touch me the same. Does that make sense or is this another sign of my ‘madness’?”

“Kind of? It sounds like you are ‘back’ while still controlling the body.”

“Exactly! Consciously, it still feels like I’m a voice, but no one else feels this way when they are in control. What if our power is making us all primary for a time to calibrate our headspace, but after we all have a turn, it’ll stop. What if this is the last I’ll ever be truly present in the world?”

“Surely that won’t happen.”

“Your aura is radiating concern. Did I say something alarming?” I ran through the conversation in my head again. You mentioned never being primary again and effectively dying. Is that a bad thing? To most people, yes. Ah, thank you! See, you guys are a great aid to my mental health. “Never mind, the others clarified the problem.

“Why don’t we back away from the boat. In fact, maybe we should head back.”

I tilted my head and ran through the angles of her plan. “Sure! I had a driver’s license, but Taylor didn’t. I believe that means we can’t legally drive. Sophia already went home, so no need to look for her. How were you planning to bring your car back?”

“Kat didn’t drink tonight. We have two bodies, for the most part.”

“Could you tell me more about that?”

Tandem was happy to share the intricate details of her personal life as we returned to the PRT building. There were a lot of edge cases to her case-70 condition. She had to eat enough for two, which they liked to do separately, but grooming and other maintenance activities were normally combined if they were blending during the activity. Their psychological state had a direct impact on their physical manifestation and vice versa.

For reasons I couldn’t fathom, most of the collective zoned out and looked for Bakuda during this thrilling conversation. When I headed towards the communal showers to wash off Alec’s artistry on our face, Tandem followed along.

“Erm… could you give me some privacy? I was a teenage boy a week ago.”

“Don’t look in my stall then.” Kat responded. “No, sorry. We can wait. You're still adjusting.” Kate finished.

I hurried in as the two started to bicker. Kay raised a palm and split into a green and purple version of herself, both touching each other’s hand. They looked exactly the same except for the color shift. It was like the girl went through an astrological redshift and blueshift except the colors were purple and green.

My body went through an automatic showering process as I tried to reason why those specific colors were used. Between the oil cleanser and the hair products, I really didn’t know what I was doing in the shower. As different as my body was now, we had been through a shower before. Aside from the funny feeling, being primary didn’t change the experience.

When I went to sleep, I had to wonder if this was the last the world would ever see of Terry. My parents would be beside themselves if I never said goodbye. Hmmm, I could have one of the others fake it for me. Alec would be a natural, but he might suffer my same problem. My fellow Wards were out. They would struggle with lying like that, so would Victoria and Taylor. Amy seemed capable of lying but not faking my personality. Hey! Tattletale would be the ideal candidate, but I would need to bribe her somehow. You could owe me an unspecified favor.

The others warned of the dangers of that as we slipped into unconsciousness.

Dreams were such nebulous things. I knew they were merely the mind taking random data and attempting to make sense of it. It’s why the junk was discarded shortly upon waking, but the lingering emotional state still seeped into your wellbeing and—We’re still Terry, aren’t we? I don’t like saying ‘we’ like that. We’re all still us even if only one of us is primary. You—Only one of us for now. Tandem can blend. Why not us? Amy, please stop thinking. I literally can’t control this. Alec fucking can!

Oh my. Amy was imagining how the fusion of her and Victoria would be. Please distract me. I can do that!

My body grabbed clothes on its own. I was pretty sure my action drove it, but the process was so rote, so mundane, so… uninteresting that I struggled to focus on it. Instead, Victoria and I were hashing out a theory I had about powers. The notion was solidifying, but I wanted to run a few tests first.

That didn’t stop me from taking care of basic needs first. I followed a list every day until it became habitual: Get dressed, then have breakfast, then morning grooming/bathroom. Forgetting any of those would be calamitous.

But this wasn’t my house. My routine was off. It required more thought and pulled at my attention while giving little in return. I should adapt after a few months, but I wasn’t doing this for a few months. No, we would be waking in new homes at random intervals with no way for me to know which one I would wake in. 

The immensity of all I would have to adapt to caused me to pause. Hey, the timer!

Ah! These outside reminders were critical. I poured out the breakfast tea before it oversteeped and handed a tired Kay the cup. “M’rn’ng,” She mumbled before taking a sip. “This is really good.”

“It’s a hobby.” I had many hobbies as my interests would flit from topic to topic. Learning the basics was never that hard and my family was affluent enough to indulge my wandering interest but not so well off as to let me dive too deeply too often. Tea-making was relatively cheap and went well with camping, hiking, and gardening. If you knew what to look for, you could find tea ingredients while performing those activities. Camping lost its allure after one trip, and gardening took too much time. Hiking was soothing, but no one let me hike alone anymore, which was half the fun.

I stared in the cup. You accidentally try to kill yourself one time, and people act like you are itching to do it again.

Sophia entering the lounge after her morning run caught my attention. I offered her and the other new Wards tea and bagels. All four refused the tea, but only Sophia refused the bagels.

“Are you Hebert today…?” Sophia guessed.

“You shouldn’t guess if you don’t know. It can be very upsetting if you’re wrong.” Tandem shouted from the kitchenette.

“Why would I care?”

Tandem let out an exasperated sigh and stood before cracking her neck. “I guess we’re doing this today.”

Sensing a fight brewing, I made haste to Chris’s workshop.

Once the door shut behind me, I took in our infestations. Chris’s tinker spiders were scurrying over 75% of the space to work on our weapons and armor. Being able to work on multiple projects at once is so freeing, but none of them can complete without a personal touch. We’re still working on making the spiders more dexterous. I was worried that Chris would end up like me if he could do all his tinkering as a voice. Aside from this, he had no other reason to be primary. That’s not a problem. I’ve found my niche and role. Do I really need to be a well-rounded person when I’m mainly just a voice?

In the other corner of the room, Taylor’s weavers were spinning and sewing new threads. She and Amy had made specialized spiders for both tasks. The thread producers could do little else, but the thread they made was ten times stronger than steel, which was only a tenth of the maximum strength the two thought was achievable. Taylor believed we needed a silk suit under our power armor for additional protection. Given how painful dying was the first time, I was inclined to agree with her caution.

The swarm heeded my call and slowly took shape into the first thing I wanted to try. When the others caught onto what I was doing, they had complaints. You can’t make a braindead clone. It will still have the potential to be a person. We could let it be a person after today. I need to know if this works. No! That would be us self-replicating or… close enough! Stop! Most of the collective had different complaints than Amy, but I wanted to proceed anyway. Could we control look-a-like clones and live our lives?

My mind fuzzed as the collective will opposed my action. I pressed onwards until I leaned forward into the bio-goop and nearly passed out. I laughed and ran a hand through my hair. What a surreal experience! My very mind betrayed me and undercut my own efforts.

The disconnection between my thoughts and myself grew. My body wasn’t mine. My mind wasn’t mine. What the hell was I?

“Fine fine. No clones. Geesh, you are all so prickly about a nuanced ethical debate. I promise the next test will be more acceptable.”

They were wary and watched my thoughts carefully. These experiments were far safer than my power testing outings against Victor, Othala, the Merchants, or even Alec and Rachel. The latter beat the shit out of me. No hard feelings, right buddy. Of course not! I hope you forgive me for the unfortunate events at the bank. Oh no, fuck you. Alec’s curse dripped with sarcasm as though he was still deciding if he should be mad about his death.

After a bit of goop mashing and creative musculature reworking, I made a 6ft long ant that worked with Taylor’s powers. The process took hours. Large disposable minions like these could be useful. Maybe in specialized roles, but that wasn’t the point of this.

I shifted the ant into a standing configuration where four of its legs acted as a base. Taylor retained control of that. Terry, what are you getting at? If I knew, you would know. It’s a feeling I am working through, an itching curiosity that’s been building.

The ant continued to be molded into more and more humanoid shapes. When I tried to make it bipedal with two arms, our control slipped. When the bug-face looked too human, our control slipped. When I replaced the chitin with flesh, our control slipped.

Detail by detail, approach by approach, I worked out the edges of what our power considered bugs. God, this is depressing. When you started, I thought I might hang out with my finally cancer-free dad as a bug person, but anything short of a visible monster doesn’t count as a ‘bug’. The definition of ‘bug’ appears to be loosely cultural or tied to Taylor’s understanding of what a ‘bug’ is, but… Taylor has only recently been thinking about monster bugs. This can’t be tied entirely to her thoughts. Wouldn’t the power shift when other people were in control? You are seeing the discrepancy. Victoria was as engaged with the limitations as I was.

One final test.

I shifted the ant into a quadruped form. I gave it fur with chitin cilia, solid black orbs for bug eyes, and a tale to swish back and forth. From a distance, the final result looked and sounded like a dog.

Yet, it counted as a bug for our powers.

What the hell is this? Why does this count, but not people with thumbs!? This seems completely arbitrary. I can’t—It does, doesn’t it? Rachel’s powers didn’t react with the creature, but we could control dog-bugs. The limits of our bug control had malicious limits to stop us from living our lives separately. Fascinating.

Malicious?

“I want you all to think about what we’ve learned and experienced. We ‘hear’ Tattletale’s power as our own thoughts. An aspect of Amy’s power injects intrusive thoughts about not healing or killing patients, but that stopped immediately after we all noticed it wasn’t Amy’s thoughts.” No, those are my thoughts. I’m twisted. “Pffff. Moving on.” Amy mentally squawked in outrage. “Alec’s power can’t use Taylor’s power to multitask his body control, yet we have other powers that negate their weakened aspects through synergies. We’ve been operating under the idea that our power interactions are the result of purely mechanical properties of our powers, but that might not be the case.”

No, Terry, that’s a fringe theory. You can’t possibly mean…

“Lastly, for no discernible reason or purpose, our bug control can work on something that looks like a dog but doesn’t look like a human. It makes no sense, unless you view our ‘bug’ limits under the idea that they exist to specifically force us to live in the same head and prevent our escape from this condition. That implies intent. That implies sapience.”

While the dog-bug example is pretty strong evidence, you’ve jumped the shark. My power isn’t concluding what you are from the facts.

“It wouldn’t make the same conclusion because they are trying to hide their existence from us. Think about it. Would it really be so strange for thirteen other creatures to be in this head with us?”

The others weren’t following my logic. I knew, objectively, that I was mad, but I wasn’t a lunatic. My reasoning wasn’t flawed; it was sometimes absentminded.

“We could prove it! With Amy’s power, we could easily induce the physiological conditions for a trigger and then feel what happens.” That’s abhorrent, and we would pass out during the event. I waved my hand as I paced. “Both problems are solvable. If we wiped the memory of the trigger after it happened, we’ve basically…” found a more ethical way to do what happened with Dean, “and we could augment ourselves to stay conscious or use tinkertech to gather data. Chris has scanning equipment. It’s doable.”

For the second time that day, most of the collective resisted me due to vague moral gut feelings. I followed his logic. What’s the harm? At least Taylor didn’t think I was a lunatic. She didn’t agree with my power sapience theory. It seemed too mystical to her, but she was willing to explore it, especially if the exploration resulted in more heroes as a byproduct. No, absolutely not. Vista, Brian, Victoria, Amy, Dean, Carlos, and Dennis were against the idea. Only Chris, Tattletale, and Taylor were for it. The nays had it.

I shrugged my shoulders. “Oh well. That was a fun way to spend the day.”

Rachel assumed control of the dog-bug and left to check on her pack. I cleaned up and called for a transport to my parents' house. Are we ignoring all of that just now? No? You think we’re possessed by intelligent forces that grant superpowers. Yes, but that doesn’t change anything. If you think it’s true, why aren’t you worried? How would they be different from what I am? I’m merely an internal monologue riding around in Taylor’s body.

I thought Victoria was a kindred spirit, but she was very personally invested into the niche edge cases of parahuman science. We’re a niche edge case! Have you dug into metaphysics literature at all? Questioning the fundamental nature of existence and what it means is a fun thought experiment. It doesn’t really matter if things like space or time are real in a strict metaphysical sense. I manipulate space! And I stop time! You would be surprised how resistant those arguments are to empirical evidence. My point is that big sweeping conclusions about the nature of reality shouldn’t bother you. Reality didn’t change after thinking about it.

The unmarked PRT van disgorged us at my parents’ house. This place looks familiar. It’s an older home. My father acquired it as part of a historical restoration side project. That’s the only way a history professor could afford a house in the same neighborhood as the mayor. My parents would host faculty holiday parties from time to time.

When I approached the door, I realized I left my keys on my other body. Knocking on my own door felt wrong, so I gathered and morphed bugs into a key shape and quickly learned that I didn’t know how locks work. It’s not that hard. Tattletale took over shaping the skeleton key and unlocked the door for me. The smugness radiating from that corner of my mind was well worth being able to enter my home like I belonged there.

I wandered into our small dining room adjoining the kitchen to find my father grading papers while my mother finished making dinner. It must have been her turn to cook tonight. Father put down his work and lowered his reading glasses to look at me before turning slightly to talk in the direction of my mother. “Dear, it seems a random white girl has wandered into our home.”

Mother turned around from her prep and—I knew these people. The memories were fuzzy, but I think they were my mom’s coworkers. I stopped seeing them shortly before I stopped seeing dad’s coworkers. Our family hadn’t been very social since mom’s death. This couple was as I remembered them, a portly man with a beautiful wife. She must run or workout to maintain her physique since there was no way an anthropology professor had much exercise on the job, or maybe she just ate less than her husband. They—The two were dressed up for tonight's event. He wore a burgundy sweater vest over a white collared shirt, with gray slacks and belt. The layers hid his small pudge and gave off a learned and distinguished air. She leaned into her dark skin and wore an African print dress with bright colors and an intricate swirl pattern that caught the eye. The odd part about her outfit was that she wore it while cooking. Terry’s mom wanted tonight to feel like a family dinner, but she was conscious that he brought along twelve other guests. Both were—

A hug brought me out of the overanalysis about two appearances I didn’t think much about.

“Hey there baby bear. How have you been holding up?” My mother looked down at me with a loving aura and bared her teeth. I got my height from her, back when I had a height.

“This arrangement has suited me fine. I’ve picked up a variety of hobbies this past week and believe I am forging friendships with the others.” Right? Taylor felt that we were strong friends. The others either struggled with the concept of friendship or felt like we hadn’t known each other long enough. This was the third week I knew my fellow Wards.

“That’s great dear! Sit down with your father. The food is almost ready.”

I took a seat across from my father and he coughed into his hand. “That greeting was a joke. In fact, I feel like I recognize this girl.”

“This is Professor Hebert’s daughter.”

His aura flared with recognition. “Annette! She was a delightful colleague. Whatever happened to her?”

My mother interjected. “She’s dead. We went to her funeral.”

“Right! She’s very much alive in my memories, but she’s tragically joined the annals of history. So it goes.” He went back to grading his papers. Is your father… Absentminded, demented, another mad fool like myself? I hear your thoughts. To me, he was always a sagacious master of lore, quick to dispense poignant stories to teach life lessons. I respect and admire both him and my mother. No teenage rebellious phase? We never reached that point. I suppose we never will.

When Mother brought over the oxtail ragu, a new dish—she knew my favorite meals were new ones—I felt myself fading.

Oh…

Maybe it was fallacious intuition, but I felt like this was it. In my bones, I knew I would never be primary again. It wasn’t in my nature. My perspective couldn’t properly take space.

Ah, there it was, the feeling of loss that helped me distinguish my condition from Alec’s. Hey, for the next one, please take time to say goodbye to my parents for me.

“It was good to see you two again.” I said my last words with joy as two tears streamed down my face.

Chapter 11

“Terry… what do you mean by that?” Terry’s mother looked confused and worried.

I wiped at my eyes, but a sorrow not my own hijacked my tear glands and made me sob. “H-he fell b-back…” I covered my face and let out a short ugly cry that filled my nose with mucus and let tears flow freely.

After a few breaths and significant effort, I got myself under control. The deep and profound sense of loss still roiled in my mind. How strange. I feel it too, and they are my feelings, but they affect you worse than they did me. Hmmmm. Terry’s mother gently rubbed my back.

“Sorry. Terry believes he won’t be p-primary again, and he’s upset that h-he didn’t get to say g-goodbye.”

His parents looked at each other before his father folded his hands and addressed me, “We thought that might be the case.” Relief filled Terry that his father had insights. “Your condition isn’t that unique, psychologically speaking, and Terry struggled with Dissociative Disorders before this started. We are prepared to interact with our son through others. It’s not ideal for us, but it’s the best we could think of for Terry.”

Terry’s mom ruffled my hair. I resisted the urge to cringe and ward off the patronizing affection. I knew she didn’t mean it like that. She put that hand on my shoulder. “What your father is trying to say is that as long as you are in there and can hear us, then that is as present as you need to be for us. You don’t need to say goodbye.”

“H-he appreciates it.” Terry’s parents radiated with love, and he was filled with a desire to hug them. I tried to pull him close like people have done with others, but I couldn’t budge him. Instead, I stood up and hugged his mom for him. It wasn’t how he hugged people. I don’t think I had a specific technique.

I tried to choke back the sobs but there was too much. My feelings are so much more visible when an actual person is using them. You’re an actual person, dammit! Apparently not! Oh God, his mourning for life and all the possibilities it provided only sharpened and cut deeper.

Terry’s father—George—got up and awkwardly joined the hug—It’s mechanical, not awkward. He wielded his arms like a vice to add gentle pressure to the pair of us. Would you mind letting all my tears out? I haven’t had a good cry in a while.

Like I had much of a choice! Terry’s mom—Willow—handed me a cloth napkin to wipe my tears and blow my nose. Goddammit, he just loved his parents so much, and that love took me for an emotional joyride. Super not fair. You should switch in if you are going to do this to us. Terry mentally shrugged. Eh, would if I could.

When Terry finally calmed down, we sat down and had dinner. His parents treated this like a dinner with four people where they would ask me and Terry questions. When they talked to Terry, I would repeat the words he thought.

I tried to ignore the envy I had for Terry’s parents. It didn’t seem right considering his circumstances. I strongly disagree. You easily have the worst father. Yeah, my old man is several kinds of awful, but even he didn’t cross that line with any of us. Taylor struggled to put into words the horror she felt at my father’s actions. I wouldn’t say he's a worse person than Heartbreaker, but he might be a worse dad.

That wasn’t something I wanted to think about.

I put all my focus on the dinner and the conversation. Terry’s folks were nice even if they liked going on long cerebral tangents. I didn’t have trouble following along because I thought Terry’s thoughts and knew what he knew.

After dinner, I moved to leave only to be interrupted by Willow. “Do make sure to bring our son by to visit, or we’ll visit you instead.” The image of the two storming the PRT building to chat with Terry about the latest archeological finds was both ridiculous and highly likely if we didn’t meet their demands.

“Of course!”

Willow and George didn’t let me run off without another family hug. Goodbye!

“Goodbye.”

On my way out, I pulled out my phone and traded messages with Carol and Armsmaster. Both were very receptive to my concerns and got back to me before the PRT van left the neighborhood. With those wheels in motion, I leaned back and focused on Taylor’s bugs.

There were a few buildings around town that went to great effort to keep bugs out, which was suspicious. While we used that power in a public manner, it was too early for most villains to have countermeasures. Bakuda could have learned about it if she was aware of the bank, how Oni Lee was captured, or how Lung was defeated. As a Tinker, she was capable of adapting to our powers rapidly. The Undersiders’ employer, Coil, could have been paranoid enough to fortify his hideouts against the power of a parahuman in his own employ.

Regardless of which evil mastermind was secluded in these lairs, I wanted to find them.

When we returned to the PRT building, I grabbed a couple buckets of specialized infiltration bugs. Wire cutting beetles were for Chris, and the amorphous insects were to see if we could. The original purpose of your horrors don’t matter to me. Hey, not to interrupt, but aren’t there personal goals you want to accomplish? We could move these bugs with other bugs while you focus on that.

Nope!

My family? Garbage. My friends? The ones that matter were in this skull. My only goals were to be a more effective hero. It’s probably not healthy to disappear into your cape life. Why not? I don’t really have time for much else. This whole song and dance of visiting our families when it’s ‘our turn’ is just more coddling. They think we’re going to snap or break or some other nonsense. We could be doing a lot more. It would be trivial.

As I made my way to the roof, the crab mask leapt from the ceiling onto my face. Covered in chitin and darkness, I flew through the air to spread my buckets of spies near the remaining locations. If Terry’s right, then you need a reason to interact with the world or you won’t be the one in control. So? Can’t you feel the immense power at our fingertips? We all have access to all the powers all the time. We might be controlling our own powers for now, but we could mix it up. Using powers isn’t the same as living.

Yes, life was more visceral as the primary. That was really important for things like eating my favorite food, enjoying the clothes we wear, or falling in love, but I didn’t have a favorite food, my favorite outfit was my costume, and the one boy I loved was in here with me.

That last thought made me want to shrink the ground until I reached the center of the earth. I knew. I may have been a terrible empath, but I could tell that. While Dean wasn’t grossed out or bothered by my feelings, the sheer indifference was its own kind of heartbreak. Even if I wasn’t dating someone else, you were 12 and I was 17. It wasn’t going to h—I know! I know…

He never saw me as more than a kid, so my affection didn’t matter. Hell, Victoria wasn’t even mad. Why would I be mad that you recognized how great my boyfriend was? Ugh! For the sake of our headspace, the lack of drama around what I felt was a good thing, but it made me feel like a child. That’s the part that bothered me.

Once the bugs were deployed, I slunk back to the PRT building while flying low to the ground. I found a couple more bombs and dismantled them with Chris. A few spy flies and the proximity to use my power was all we needed to reduce the deadly weapon to bug carriable parts.

How many people died while we’ve been fucking around? That’s not fair. We have a lot to adjust to. Do we? We have each others’ skills and memories. It’s not like we needed training or practice. Maybe they were a little worried about deploying a team that was wiped out.

Fair point…

Not that we were dead.

We might be more ‘we’ than everyone was comfortable with, but we were all here and would be forever. You know, until we blur into an unrecognizable mush of egos. That won’t happen. There will be blending from the shared memories, and our feelings might overlap in the background, but I’m confident we won’t completely disappear. What happens when someone concludes nothing they do is unique? What if we and they start believing every bit of themselves is someone else? They would be effectively dead. The more we die, the more this will happen.

I yawned as I entered our room. We were many and that was fine. Even if Tattletale’s worry came to pass, then we’ll still be here. Do you think that fear will push us to flanderise ourselves? That we might talk and think in more consciously different ways for the unconscious purpose of telling each other apart. Did that happen to Kat and Kate? Do they play up their differences?

This didn’t affect me. I was the Vista, the first. If the amalgam of us represents me using my power, then that’s plenty unique.

I threw on one of Victoria’s outfits and grew to fit it. With gleeful anticipation, I looked into the mirror and saw my face. Sure, Taylor didn’t look like the old me, but I felt immediate ownership of the reflection. This was me.

If a dude kills us next, will I see the pain Carlos does or will that be my new face? Powers tend to fit the person. Maybe you are adaptable, but I hope we never find out. Depending on how long this life lasts, we could use Carlos’s method to shift sexes every so often. That would be only fair to all the boys. Let’s focus on surviving for now. It hasn’t been a month yet.

Fine… I squared my shoulders and rubbed my chin to take a moment to appreciate how tall I was before leaving my room. Aren’t you going to sleep? Do we actually need to sleep? Carlos never got tired. I’ll live, but I don’t get the benefits. Learning and studying is easier with plenty of sleep.

Instead of wasting my time unconscious, I headed towards Chris’s workshop. Myriad’s introduction was tomorrow. We needed to complete Chris’s armor for the event. It’s already at the point where we can move in it. We’ll have to use our own powers to fly, but—That would be lame, and the thrusters are almost done.

I had another lingering worry, a reason to stay up. What if Terry was right? What if he would never be primary again? What if after our little merry-go-round, we could only take the driver’s seat if it mattered to us? What if this was my last day of anything boring?

Finally dressed like a teen, I walked past Sophia leaving the showers after her patrol.

“Alright, who am I making fun of tonight?” Her aura was primarily anger and agitation, but there were also flickers of camaraderie.

“Do you not know how to interact with people in any other way?”

“Pffff” She rolled her eyes, but her aura briefly flashed hurt. “My friends aren’t the collection of dorks, nerds, and pipsqueaks you all are.” Sophia bared her teeth, and her aura flared with glee from a barb landing. “You’re Vista, aren’t you? I saw the way you tensed at ‘pipsqueak’. Though—” She had to look up into my eyes. “—Hebert’s a tall bitch. I’ll have to call you something else now… How about softskull?”

“What the fuck?”

“Nah, maybe 'klutz’? Would it have killed you to bend your neck a little? It’s not that hard to fall without dying.”

“God, you suck. For your information, I was unconscious as I fell.”

“They should have known better than to let a tyke run around without her safety helmet.”

I sighed. While her aura was mainly angry, I saw the sadness, concern, and a little bit of amusement. She thought this was playful or helpful banter. High school friend groups can be kind of vicious. I avoided those and was avoided by them. No one wanted to talk shit with the local Alexandria package. “I’m as old as you are.”

“You’re twelve. Did they not teach you how to count yet? And I thought my school sucked.”

“Physically? I’m your age. Mentally? I have hundreds of years of memories pouring into my head, you acerbic asswipe.” Was I getting washed away, letting myself integrate these memories, using words I never learned? “Maybe you meant emotionally?” I didn’t care. I wasn’t some little kid anymore. I was barely human, more like a wraith possessing bodies and taking their power for my own. I was the Vista. We may not use that name in this life, but they’ll all know it eventually. “Do you really want to talk about emotional maturity? Should I explain what ‘arrested development’ means?”

Sophia’s anger didn’t rise. She turned away from me. “I tried to toughen you up. I came here and saw a kid that everyone else wanted to stay as a kid. But I know you don’t get to stay a child in this life. You have to grow up fast or not… at all…” She punched the wall and stalked off. When she thought she was out of hearing, I heard her mumble. “I guess you did one of those.” A melancholy color mixed with the rage in her aura.

I expected that to be more of a fight. I’d be pissed if she thought her bullying was for my benefit. I wasn’t thrilled about it either, not that any of this mattered. Shadow Stalker behaved professionally in the field, the places where I would be present.

All this petty intrateam drama didn’t interest me, and in the life I would be living going forward, that meant I didn’t have to deal with it.

I spent the night finishing our power armor with Chris. The example tech Armsmaster promised us hadn’t finished shipping. Dragon’s notes analyzing the biomechanical pieces were insightful, but she wasn’t terribly interested in the concept and only determined safe storage and transport methods.

We all agreed that we wanted this to be our costume, so Chris agreed to a rush job for the first iteration.

The suit had tiny thrusters that I could expand with space bending to help us fly faster. It was also covered in thick color changing bioceramics that Amy had fun making possible. Armsmaster worked with the Imaging department and had them email cosmetic suggestions. He scrapped any of their ideas that would compromise the protection of the design.

Most of their suggestions involved making the armor more effeminate, but that would have been cruel. We opted for stacking muscle fibers and plates to create an androgynous look. This would be our shell, thick armor to hide our body away from the world and ourselves. If someone else added to our mix, then our cape persona would still look the same. Are you OK? You’ve mentioned dying again a few times now.

The question was rhetorical. They knew what I was feeling and were telling me they found it troubling. I didn’t know why I was fixated on it. They say capes want to use their powers, but the thought of dying again fills me with dread. Instinctively, I knew we were immortal and that death was significant.

I died twelve times. Those of us early in the chain were a little distracted by the violence to focus on our situation, but I wasn’t distracted with the murder I just committed like the others. In that haze of pain and death, I thought I noticed something: I was different in each person’s head. I couldn’t say how. If I knew the difference, then I wouldn’t be different. It was like the ‘flavor’ of me was unique. You are running on other people’s brains. Physical factors could explain the difference. I guess…

After a quick darkness bath, I floated into our armor and bulked up as it sealed around me. We could use our full muscles in here without any issue. Once the helmet sealed, the decorative bug eyes faded away as a full interior screen made it seem like I wasn’t wearing a helmet at all.

Great!

I spent time going through the final testing procedures and then flew to the auditorium they rented out for my introduction. At the site, I found the new Wards and Shadow Stalker waiting for me. I gave Tandem a high five and used Rachel’s power on Angelica, Brutus, and Judas.

Begrudgingly, I offered Sophia a green fist bump. Her aura swirled through a few emotions before she didn’t leave me hanging. “Try not to get too bored doing this again.”

“Don’t remind me! You only had to do this once. This will be my seventh time!”

“Yeah, I made Green do it.” Tandem wore a green armor mesh suit with purple plate reinforcements around her shoulders, gauntlets, boots, and belt. A strip of purple went down her chest to suggest a ‘T’. Her face was entirely exposed. “Purple’s actually afraid of public speaking—Lies and slander.”

I took a deep breath and entered the circus.

What followed was a mindless PR event. Director Piggot hadn’t been replaced yet and introduced me to the audience. Tattletale figured that leadership changeups were delayed to disassociate Myriad’s introduction with a sudden clearing of house. I shook Piggot’s hand and then dazzled the crowd with fluorescent butterflies before answering a litany of softball questions.

None of that was important. Most of my attention was focused outside the building with my fellow Wards and Armsmaster.

While the introduction of Myriad was important to get ahead of what happened at the bank. The PRT was also inclined to proceed with this event to show that we wouldn’t be cowed by Bakuda’s bombs. We expected she would take exception to that, especially since most of the heroes were too busy dealing with her bombs and couldn’t guard the auditorium.

Is that a warthog? My—Taylor’s bugs saw a familiar dynamic duo approaching with a hodgepodge of video game themed gear. Their whole thing is committing to a bit. What happened? Who knows… let’s see, Uber has Brotherhood of Steel armor along with a sword and ray gun from those shitty unplayable side scrollers. Yeah, and Leet has on his x-ray vision mask, that Ice Climber’s gauntlet, and his backpack for Zelda themed episodes. It makes bombs and the sword, right? Nah, he could make any solid holograms with it, but is so unfathomably unimaginative that he only copies Link’s kit.

I squished their wheels until their deathtrap skidded to a stop. Uber immediately hopped out and started slashing his own vehicle with his sword. He made no announcement. There was no camera. Leet didn’t say anything either as he fired a frozen orb out of their car, which Judas jumped over.

As he landed, Armsmaster flipped off his back and slashed his halberd down at Uber, who managed to meet blades with him. Uber’s sword radiated a deep crimson that grew brighter with each faster strike. Under the flurry of blows, Armsmaster had to back up. The leader of the Protectorate left slashes all over Uber’s armor in counters, but Uber kept coming like he had nothing to lose. Why are they behaving like this… Are they being forced to?

Rachel told Judas to attack via our sound-bugs in his ear. A vehicular mass of boosted Ward charged at Uber. While fighting Armsmaster, his other hand shot the ray gun with perfect accuracy from his hip into Judas’s temporary eyes.

That didn’t stop the enthusiastic Ward as he barreled into him. Whatever groove Uber was in broke as soon as he left his feet. The briefly competent villain was immediately torn apart by Armsmasters’ plasma blade, leaving him trapped in the scrap of his—garbage—power armor.

During that fight, Leet abandoned Uber and rushed towards the auditorium. He aimed his gauntlet at Brutus and it exploded in his hand. Shadow Stalker put the writhing villain out of his misery with a stunning bolt to the arm. She then dismounted Brutus to cuff the man.

Tandem was on the other side of the building and had to deal with two speeding vans. No amount of coaxing convinced Angelica to let someone else ride her—I’ll have to work on that—so Tandem had to hoof it.

Or not. 

The heroine and the wall facing the vans started glowing purple. She leaned back and seemed to slide down the pavement towards the two vehicles. As she slipped between them, she tagged one and it turned purple. Tandem then shifted to green along with the back of the van she didn’t tag.

As the purple van deaccelerated, Tandem reversed direction and fell towards the green part of the other van. Right before she hit it, she glowed purple and tagged that van to turn it purple as well.

Both vans slowed down to a near stop before gradually tipping back the other direction and rolling over. After the first flip, Tandem, the wall, and both vans returned to regular colors.

Out of the vans scrambled men and women with airtight gas masks. Their eclectic outfits included business suits, school uniforms, dresses, and military fatigues. They—

“What are your hobbies?” One of the inane questions from the press caught me off guard. I didn’t have this answer memorized. What were my hobbies? Patrolling? Being a Ward? Shit… I was drawing a blank. I didn’t really have time for hobbies. “I like to read.” Instead of making something up, I used Taylor’s hobby and started rambling about the things she liked about it. If the girl wasn’t focused on helping Tandem with bugs, then she may have been mortified that I was sharing her own unfiltered opinions. Speaking of which, I should really be focusing on more important matters.

The gas masks prevented my—Taylor’s bugs from stopping them instantly, but she was able to limit their vision as Tandem displayed her unique martial art. It was a little like dancing since her sister could appear as long as they were touching at the same spot.

When one of the larger men charged her, green Tandem stuck her hands in the air and purple Tandem appeared in the air holding her hands. Green Trandem then disappeared as Purple drop-kicked the man with a satisfying thunk. To help, I made small divots in the ground to trip up the attackers footing.

Despite everyone’s best efforts, one of the men in a business suit broke away from the group and charged towards the building. We can’t let him get close. Angelica intercepted the man as I absorbed Tattletale’s revelations.

As soon as Angelica got close to him, the man’s head exploded into a column of plasma, incinerating the head of our fellow Ward. Ah what the fuck? Thankfully our teammate was fine. Her real head was deep in the chest, but—They have bombs in their heads.

I gripped the mike, “Excuse me. I have to pause questions for now.” I flew out of the auditorium towards the people. Vents in my suit opened to let darkness pour out and cover the fight. I can’t maintain as much anymore, but the smoke seems to be the same. That’s what I’m counting on.

After covering the area in darkness, I dismissed a dome in the middle and flooded it with the luminescent butterflies from my presentation so that my fellow heroes could see. When no one else’s head exploded, I sighed in relief. Grue’s smoke still blocked radio waves. I dismantled enough bombs with Chris to know they had a pretty basic trigger mechanism.

The fight ended quickly after that. I carved Angelica out of her sack and spent a lot of time pulling bombs out of people’s heads. Uber and Leet were quick to blame Bakuda and share everything they knew. Armsmaster was equally quick in arresting them.

I had to miss the team victory celebration because my stupid parents wanted to see me. After I unsuited, I hopped into a car with Carol Dallon. “Ms. Biron, I’m glad you came to me with your problem. It’s tragic and should be resolved quickly.”

“What’s she doing here?” I gestured to a familiar woman sitting in the back.

Sherrel smiled sweetly. “The Youth Guard has to be involved with cases like these.”

“Carol’s a lawyer. Can’t she handle it?”

Mrs. Dallon made a so-so gesture. “Maybe, but they haven’t been thrilled by your home situation either. The issue you brought up in light of your… unique outlook has tipped them over into action.”

I laid back in the seat and tried to relax. “Okay, I appreciate the help.”

As we drove to my house, I thought about how I saw a man die today. I hadn’t personally seen a lot of death, not with my own eyes. I’ve died, but I didn’t have to watch others die. The experiences of everyone else in my head made it difficult for this death to cut deeply. Taylor watched us all die. Carlos consistently went to Endbringer fights. Amy couldn’t heal everyone. Alec and Rachel had killed before the bank. The mix made one more random death seem less special. Anyone could die at any time. There was no point in stressing about it.

When we arrived at my parents house, the two women let me lead the way. The door was unlocked when I tried the handle, letting us enter.

I found my parents in the living room. The two were sitting on different couches, but they weren’t shouting at each other. The sight would have warmed my heart if I wasn’t filled with disgust, anger, and betrayal.

My mother saw me first. “Missy! We’re so glad you're here… who are these other people?”

“WE’LL GET TO THAT!” Deep breaths, Missy. You have to calm down. Rachel imagined punching them for me. The imagined catharsis did help me get enough control to keep talking. “But first…” I turned to my father. “Where are my siblings?”

“Your what?” My father and mother’s auras radiated with confusion.

Of course he didn’t remember their names. “Rosko and Boxer. Where are they?”

“The dogs? I told you. I put them in good homes. Your mother couldn’t take care of me when I was sick with cancer, she couldn’t take care of the dogs, and she obviously can’t take care of y—”

“WHERE!? You could never give an address or a name or anything! Where’s the proof you didn’t kill them!?” There was an aching hole in my chest at their loss, and the loss of the man I thought my dad was. What kind of psychopath kills dogs because his wife cheated on him? Why did he spare me?

Carol pulled me into a hug as my emotions got the better of me. How could I not cry? They may have been dead for years, but my father was still walking free.

“Mr. Biron, if you can point us to where Rosko and Boxer were relocated, then that would help you greatly,” Sherrel spoke with a steady and firm voice appropriate for the subject matter at hand.

“This is ridiculous! It has been years since I gave them away. The families could have moved or changed phone plans since then.”

“The PRT is committed to investigating any lead you can provide.”

“As I said before, I didn’t write anything down.”

Sherrel aura grew disappointed. “Mr. Biron, in this state, two instances of animal cruelty like this can be punished with up to 17 years in prison. One of the Youth Guard’s duties is to pursue legal action against those abusing a young parahuman. Your crime has gravely affected Missy, obligating us to pursue both criminal and civil cases against you for her wellbeing. Are you sure, you do not know where Rosko and Boxer went?”

It seemed too light a punishment to me, but I’d long been annoyed by how easily criminals and villains escaped incarceration. I used Terry’s power to temporarily remove my tear glands. This wasn’t the time for that. I pulled away from Carol and stared down my father.

He looked at me open-mouthed with an aura of hurt and surprise.

“Honey… I—”

I shook my head. “Don’t. There is nothing you can say. I never want to see you again.” My mother’s aura glowed in triumph. “Nor you! Why didn’t you report his crime? How could you leave me alone with him?” It didn’t make any sense. With the perspectives and insights of the others, I finally realized how abusive my parents really were. I knew it was bad, but it was like the scales fell from my eyes and revealed the strange monsters that had replaced them.

“I didn’t know we could call the cops about that.” My mother’s aura was streaked with worry and concern.

“How could you not know?” I couldn’t take this anymore and stormed out. Carol could inform them that I filed for emancipation. My case was unique enough that it might go through. All Carol asked in return was that I stayed with her when it was my turn going forward. That was an easy enough trade.

After today, I didn’t plan to take control outside of active duty.

I waited in the car for the lawyers to finish up and closed my eyes.

Chapter 12

A jolt of sudden motion shattered my dreams, but failed to fully bring me to the waking world. Despite closed eyes, I saw through the multifaceted view of the swarm; the sights were clear, but I could not parse them. My half-slumbering mind could hear but not understand the words of two voices speaking in hushed tones. My nose picked up the fragrances of old coffee and perfume, an odor invoking thoughts of a mother and home.

Through the haze of dream logic, I knew it wasn’t my mother or home, but the concept dredged enough ideas together to form an imperative: I must get to bed.

I seized control of my armor and flew out with the crab mask.

My heroic chitinous form descended to the car and walked past the two still women before concealing our face and picking up my body. Their auras radiated deep concern, and they said many words at varying volume.

Not yet willing to abandon slumber, I ignored them and princess-carried my own body to tuck it into bed.

The tenuous grasp I had on action unraveled as I fell deeper into unconsciousness.

A new-old alarm woke me. It wasn’t my once favorite song that I sacrificed on the pyre of productivity, but instead a generic beeping sound.

I rolled to my feet and hit the snooze button.

“Woah.”

During the motion, hair tickled my ears, and my body felt lighter, probably from brute abilities and flight. The enhancements Terry made to our eyes made the colors seem more vibrant. In the rush of sensation, there were no aches, pains, or stiffness from sleeping. My power grants me a perfect night's rest. Sleep may be optional for me, but I really enjoyed it.

A deep sense of comfort pervaded my being. I felt bubbly and joyous like an invisible veil had been lifted from my spirit.

Who was I? What are your thoughts on Carol? She should be divisive and well known enough to narrow it down. She’s a woman juggling a lot of responsibilities who can unfortunately drop the proverbial ball to disastrous results, a dramatic figure whose virtues and flaws seem greater due to their impact, but she should really cut Victoria a break.

Ahhhh, I was Dean.

Or was I? I looked in the mirror and saw the sharper angles of Taylor’s face. Unconsciously, my lips curled upwards, not that I remembered the meaning of my own expressions. But if I was Dean, shouldn’t there be mysterious feelings of incongruency and discomfort?

Dennis, Brian, Chris, and Carlos all experienced that from one degree to another. I wasn’t as detached as Terry or as ‘flexible’ as Alec. My whole life, I strove to be a gentleman and exhilarated in the role. I have many memories of performing and being complimented on my masculinity. That’s who I was, and I liked it.

So where was the pain, or loss, or confusion at seeing something else in the mirror? Why did each glance feel like opening a present? Carlos imagined the sound of a party popper. Congrats Dean, you lucked out and speedran a journey of self discovery. God… and you were even one of the ones that didn’t feel like shit all the time beforehand. I’ll try not to be too jealous.

There it was. Now I felt the discomfort. I was nothing more than a name and a memory. This redefining of what it meant to be ‘Dean’ felt like death. If I drastically changed now, was I actually me? Not to mention, I had innumerable other relationships that would be recontextualized if—Victoria was always in my mind, thinking my thoughts. She knew, and I felt her perceiving the truth even as I tried to lie to myself.

Huh, I mean… does it really matter? We’re sharing a body and a mind. I felt Victoria’s joy and dread. We were closer than ever, but what if we weren’t really different people anymore? Did our love become self-love? Did we no longer have a physical relationship, or was it more intimate than ever?

While she’s been a bastion of comfort and support through all of this—And you to me—I wished she got to be her own separate person. We are of one mind on this… Again, each shared moment was a mix of joy and dread. All the while, Amy’s feelings burned in our awareness like an intrusive thought. She hungered for the same closeness, and hated the presence of the rest of us. I’m not going to change in a week. What do you guys want from me?

We had no choice but to be patient. 

The weekly meeting is soon. Thanks… Tattletale? Why are you reminding us of our schedule? Because I want to go. Hurry up!

I logged our identity and put on jeans and a t-shirt before applying a quick natural look with makeup, which was perfectly normal for public figures like us to do. I did that for PR events, but not all the time. Strange, my father taught me how to shave and use an eye pencil the same day.

Once I was satisfied with our look, I slipped into our teal power armor. My phone then buzzed with a text from my father’s secretary outlining lunch plans at a nice brazilian steakhouse. It was one of my favorites, but the establishment had a dress code for patrons, which meant I would need formal wear.

None of my suits would fit anymore. Our combined wardrobe had more than a few dresses, but the idea of putting one on was extremely off putting. We can go shopping after the meeting. It’s a date!

As I floated out the room and towards the elevator, I noticed the junior Wards were planning to skip out on the meeting. “Come.” The trio sprung to their feet and ran towards me as I held the doors open.

When they were properly situated, I let the doors close and hit the button to the floor with our meeting room.

Tandem and Sophia had both beat me there. They were chatting idly about the action yesterday. I took a seat to wait for our weekly status update. Curiously, the junior Wards circled and sniffed the chairs instead of taking one.

I remembered that they could approach the world differently and weren’t always treated kindly by others, so I helped them sit in the chairs and told them to “Stay”. They radiated happy auras as their tongues lolled out their mouths.

Eventually, Armsmaster walked in with briefing folders in hand. He glanced around the room before leaving and coming back several minutes later with a thicker stack of folders. Apparently, he had also expected the junior Wards to skip the meeting.

Once we were all situated with intelligence reports, Armsmaster updated us on the state of the city. The news was grim, but I was able to offer the results of our scouring of the city as a silver lining. We then made plans on how to best implement the new information.

He finished up the meeting by sharing a final tidbit of news from an informant.

Tandem was horrified. “All the city’s villains have joined the Nazis!?”

“Not exactly,” Armsmaster clarified. “A few minor drug dealers refused to join in, and the rest have temporarily allied with E88 to dismantle the ABB. Ostensibly, they are working together because the bombings are disrupting all their illicit activities.”

“I don’t care how they phrase it; they joined in with Nazis to beat up minorities. That’s pretty vile. New York has its share of white supremist gangs, basically everywhere does, but I’m shocked that they have been so normalized here.”

Armsmaster sighed, “Perhaps from a villainous perspective, it’s easier to justify. I wouldn’t know.”

Would the Undersiders have gone along with this? Ha! We would have done anything our boss wanted us to do. Brian wasn’t sure about that. Please, all I would have to do is imply Aisha was in danger from the bombs, and you would go patrol with Purity. Taylor was pretty sure she would never do something like that. If Bakuda attacked us directly, you would be goose-stepping with the rest of us to protect your friends. Alec didn’t have morals to ruffle, and once Rachel rescued the dogs, she would have done what the group decided.

That was disappointing. After a year of larceny, I didn’t have the best impression of the gang, but I had hoped the people I shared a head with would be better than this.

After the meeting ended, Armsmaster went patrolling with Shadow Stalker and Tandem. The rest of us had the day off. I was still on leave due to ‘dying horribly a dozen times’ and the other three needed Rachel’s power to help.

So they didn’t feel left out, we went on a ‘patrol’ around the building several times to work out their nervous energy. I flew above them while Angelica, Judas, and Brutus ran in my shade with thrilled auras. Once they were tuckered out, we returned to the lounge where I refilled their food and water before removing my armor and taking a PRT van to one of the malls by the Towers to acquire the attire I needed for our lunch plans. 

This one was within walking distance of the restaurant and had my favorite BALANI franchise. Getting proper suits and shoes made would take time, but I was sure Zefiro, my tailor, would understand my circumstances and let me walk out with a ‘close enough’ fit. You can’t tell him who you are. Of course not, but he was a reasonable man and should understand an emergency.

No crass chime greeted me on entry. As the door shut, the noise of the crowd and sounds of cars faded away as the properly insulated store suppressed the noise. I was transported to a realm of soft music, wood paneling, and artfully presented clothing. The displays oozed understated professionalism that was calming in their familiarity. 

One of the employees hurriedly intercepted my perusal of the wares. “Miss, can I help you?”

“I am looking for a suit.”

His aura shifted to frustration even as his tone remained flat. “I’m sorry miss, but this establishment sells menswear.”

“Right, I’m thinking we’ll start with three sets.” I couldn’t remember a time when I had less suits. “A Single-breasted for the versatility, an unstructured blazer for casual events, and obviously a full canvas design for formal—”

“Miss.” The employee was firm. “We do not offer services for your body type.”

I was brought up short. What did he say? “Excuse me?”

He raised placating hands, but his aura was more frustrated than ever. “None of our tailors work with women, and our clothes aren’t for them.” He wasn’t explicitly telling me to leave, but I could tell he was embarrassed for me. Hey, we don’t need them. There is a nice department store around the corner.

Without a word and with flushed cheeks, I left the store and went to one of Victoria’s favorite places. Oo, there is a sale today. She thought quickly and talked about current fashion trends, but I could tell she was trying to distract me from that last interaction. I thought you knew something I didn’t, but most of those places don’t work with women. It had never occurred to me that the service was exclusive…

Yeah, but on the bright side, you have tons of options now!

This wasn’t the first time I went clothes shopping with Victoria, but this was the first time we were going to share the purchases. I found black slacks, a pinstripe vest, a white dress shirt, matching dress shoes, and a tie that brought out our eyes. The fit was awkward and lacking, but the outfit looked really good to me while earning Victoria’s approval.

I also tried on the clothes she wanted for when it was her turn. While her eye for fashion was impeccable as always, the breezy feeling of dresses and skirts was almost distressing. I couldn’t get out of them fast enough. As much as I tried to hide my discomfort from Victoria, the pesky mutual mindreading undercut those efforts. Maybe this is a shitty thing to think, but I’m kind of glad your sense of fashion didn’t drastically change. You’re still you. I was worried your enthusiasm at the situation would transform you into an unrecognizable person.

We will all probably change in very significant ways before we settle into our new life.

The others had left us more or less alone on our ‘date’ as they snuck into the movie theaters with a few specialized bugs to watch movies. A new kind of fly accompanied them that was designed to better taste discarded popcorn. The half dozen big screen stories invoked a lot of distracting emotions in the collective, but the two of us weren’t overwhelmed.

My credit card easily bore the expense of our shopping spree. The cashier raised her eyebrows at the name ‘Dean’ on the card, but had assumed it was my boyfriend’s, which bothered me a little.

As I took the extra bags back to the PRT surveillance van—no reason they couldn’t hold our stuff—I realized why I was troubled.

I didn’t like people assuming I had a boyfriend. That’s fair. You like girls. Other people assuming differently is… Wait a minute… Are we both suddenly gay? I sat at a nearby bench to roll that idea around. Parts of it sounded wrong to me. Did you like girls? Uhhh, I didn’t think so. What about your current feelings? You know those specific desires are distant when we’re not primary. I tried to lean into her emotions to see if we could get a read on it, but it didn’t work.

Can we even date? I envisioned going to movie theaters alone and pretending to share popcorn with an empty seat. There were tables for one while the other person imagined themselves dining. Long walks on the beach or through parks became solitary affairs. There would be conversation, but not proximity. We were close, but perhaps too close. I don’t want to think it, and don’t read into it, but it’s not like we could break up either. There will always be an us.

That was the eternal truth of it. We were bound together and truly knew the depth of our love for each other, but there was no longer the freedom of choice in the matter. Our fairytale romance was the opposite of star-crossed. Nothing could separate us, not distance, or death, or madness, or loss, or time, or any known power under the sun.

Dread and joy… Maybe it could be both. We could treasure the positives while accepting the nightmare. I would rather face the world honestly and accept it than delude myself. If we pretended everything was sunshine and rainbows, then cold reality would eventually break that delusion and us with it.

I sighed. It was a lot to accept, but I agreed that we should try. Victoria imagined giving me a hug. I wrapped my arms around myself to sell the illusion. It didn’t work.

My phone buzzed, letting me know my lunch appointment was soon.

When I entered the restaurant and told them I was here for the Stansfield reservation, they promptly ushered me to the table.

My parents were waiting for—The woman had straight platinum blonde hair and an athletic thin frame. In Dean’s memories, his mother didn’t so much grow older as mature into a more self-actualized version of herself. She didn’t age gracefully. She seized each year like a prize that culminated in an assured woman of piercing blue eyes and keen intellect. This was no mere rich boy's trophy wife nor did she appear to be a kind and loving mother. Her eyes roved over us like a plant to cultivate or a horse for auction. She was invested in our wellbeing, but this wasn’t the kind of person to tuck their kid in for the night and read them a bedtime story. The father—

“Well, don’t just stand there. Sit down.” He pulled me back into the moment, and I respectfully complied. My father—He had jet black hair, steely blue eyes, and a sharp beard. He looked every inch the charismatic wealthy villain from a Christmas movie in his black turtleneck and suit combo. There was an ownership in his gaze that made my skin crawl. Their auras had love, but it was tempered in practicality, revealing mixed individuals who—Ugh, I was glad Victoria had seen my parents before. Already their auras flickered with concern as I stared at them unblinkingly.

“Mother, Father, I’m glad to see you again.” I made sure to blink and relax my shoulders to put them at ease.

“Dean, we’ve been very worried about you. How are you adjusting to the timeshare?” His mother’s voice had a practiced tenor that conveyed sincerity while masking the stress obvious in her aura.

“There are many challenges, but many opportunities as well. A particular business transaction upset the others greatly.” And wasn’t that an understatement. The outrage and betrayal the origins of my power kindled in the others was not small. The fact that they also had to keep it secret was another source of ill feelings. Victoria had more or less forgiven me. Terry and Taylor didn’t really care. The rest were still processing it.

My father rolled his eyes. “Yes, the wealthy have access to deeply unfair advantages and services unimaginable by those living with less. They better get used to it. This—” He waved his hand up and down in my direction. “—changes nothing. You are still my scion. I fully expect you to help with the family business and eventually take them over. The rest of them will need to adjust to being people of means.”

“Father, we have very little time between us. Juggling all our personal demands with our other activities is already too much. I’m not sure—”

“Of course there are certain realities that have to be adjusted for. We—” The waiter came by and we ordered our meals. My mother raised her eyebrows at my order of a full fraldinha sirloin with pao de queijo cheese bread and another side of mozzarella caprese.

After the waiter left, I explained. “I need to eat two to three times more than a normal person now.”

Her aura became thoughtful. “We could explain that by claiming you have a hobby for extreme sports and need the energy. Free solo climbing would fit. The need to travel to exotic locations works as an alibi for the time taken by your charity work. If you run into other enthusiasts, you wouldn’t need to be that knowledgeable because you could demonstrate climbing on demand. We’ll have to come up with something. Teenage metabolism only explains so many pounds of food. The other girls your age will demand to know your secret. Speaking of which…”

I didn’t like the way my mother trailed off. She got like this when her mind bent towards social maneuvering. “What is it…”

“Your appearance makes you eligible for a host of new matches that come with their own advantages.”

“I… Dating as a concept is difficult for us. Victoria and I haven’t exactly broken up either—”

My mother placed a hand on mine and slowly shook her head. “Honey, you may have heard that people can be asexual, but they didn’t mean it like that.”

I withdrew my hand. “Regardless, my personal preferences haven’t changed.”

“Yes, but if I understood Piggot’s presentation, only one of your personalities has to be physically interested in the match. The rest of you merely need to get along.” 

“Why… are you mentioning this…” I was glad Victoria and I hit it off without my mother’s matchmaking. She was a little annoyed at the ‘suboptimal’ relationship, but my father approved of ingratiating myself to a team of parahumans. They agreed to disagree and left it up to me.

“It’s nothing immediate. Who knows if it would go anywhere, but the Anders family has so far failed to pair off their son.”

My father guffawed. “Swiping Medhall out from under Max would be a coup. Though I hate the idea of us getting closer with that bore of a man. Do you remember that crass ball he hosted?”

“I remember how the Omari and Townsend families weren’t invited. I’m suspicious of Max. If his son, Theo, didn’t seem to hate him, I wouldn’t suggest this.” 

Thankfully our food arrived and derailed this line of discussion. I had no doubt my mother would circle back to it later, but for now, I had a reprieve. While I knew Theo from the occasional social event, we weren’t friends. I had no strong feelings about him. The idea of dating him was inconceivable. 

Victoria imagined herself sitting next to me and stealing my food. I always hated it when my parents tried to set me up with people. No matter how it’s done, it feels intrusive. Would it really be—Yeah, people trying to set you up with boys DOES suck. Amy, you didn’t tell anyone you were gay. I couldn’t because then you would be closer to knowing—I would have never suspected you had feelings for me.

The sisters had another argument while I attempted to get through lunch without any more obligations. Between their auras and Tattletale’s ability to parse what I saw, I knew my parents actually cared for me in their own way. They were convinced that more money and power would bring me happiness. In previous conversations, my father had promised to all but disown me if I didn’t take over the family business.

I could see that he genuinely thought it was best for me.

When I told him I wanted to help people more than make money, he argued that I could do more good with lots of money than as a hero. He only wanted me to have powers so that I would stand on equal footing with other capes. He didn’t expect me to dress up and fight in the street.

I didn’t agree with him. Protectorate heroes did good work and didn’t have to hoard money to do it. My father’s own charities were a very small fraction of his fortune that paid for themselves with status and access. I had yet to run into a philanthropist that was getting poorer. He would say that made their initiatives ‘sustainable’.

The greed of it all bothered me.

I had hoped switching bodies would make my father less focused on me continuing his legacy, but he didn’t seem bothered in the slightest that we were no longer physically related. Who says you ever were? During the conversation, Tattletale puzzled out a few family secrets. I can’t be certain without prodding a little, but I’m fairly confident.

That was enough family time for today. “I hate to eat and run, but I have a charity event after this.”

As I made to leave, my parents surprised me by also standing and pulling me into a hug—in public no less! “Your father and I love you very much. No matter how much you change, that won’t.”

“Stay safe out there, Dean.”

“Thanks… I love you too…” I had always assumed that my parents’ love was conditional. For my entire life, they had heaped expectations and obligations on me as the natural cost of our lifestyle. There were threats and the promises of withheld support if I didn’t obey their wishes, but their auras were very clear. Under the layers of propriety and decorum, they also loved me like the other parents did their children. Another burden seemed to fall away from me after receiving my parent’s support and approval, making my steps lighter.

When I snuck into an alley behind the mall, I felt more solid than I had in a long while. Even though you’re a disembodied spirit. Yeah. It’s funny how that works out.

Taylor and Vista’s powers confirmed that no one was nearby. Alec piloted our armor next to me and dropped the camouflage. It was surprisingly easy to keep it in his range without anyone noticing. As I entered my armor again, the plates shifted to teal, Vista expanded the thrusters, and I blasted into the sky.

The added boost pushed our speed back to where it was before dying, which eased a worry within Carlos and Victoria. Air rushed by me in a loud torrent as the endless blue of the cloudless sky surrounded me.

Flying under my own power was a rush. My heart soared at the speed and my purpose.

A not so abandoned warehouse came into view. PRT vans, officers, and other heroes were hidden around it. We were pulling out all the stops for today.

Armsmaster thought that after my official introduction yesterday, that we should have Myriad’s real introduction today. What better way to announce a hero than with the capture of a villain?

This was also our reward for finding Bakuda right before the meeting today. She had sequestered herself here to implant bombs into the heads of a steady stream of people while also constructing what appeared to be a nuke. Armsmaster was willing to storm her workshop alone, but our analysts decided I could handle it with the least risk.

Despite being a Ward, I was far more durable than any other hero in the city, and if that partial bomb went off, it would disable the equipment in all of the city’s hospitals, not to mention the other casualties from a long term power outage.

I was not alone either. Almost the entire Protectorate and most of New Wave was close enough to rush in if the situation turned for the worse. Armsmaster was also plugged into my helmet’s feed to offer advice.

“We’ve stopped the influx of more captives. The latest brain bombs will explode if the signal to not-detonate is blocked. If Bakuda has set up a dead man’s switch, then time locking her or covering her in Grue’s darkness will cause explosions across the city. It’s unknown if her newer bombs are protected against spacial warping.”

“Copy.” I opened the panels around my finger tips so that I could hijack the villain. We’ll need to get close to a bomb tinker, but she shouldn’t know about this power yet. In our fight with Hookwolf, it looked like Amy’s power.

Our bugs had already mapped out the building. Layers of explosives lined the walls and roof, preventing me from casually busting in. There was the option of using the roof entrance.

I floated over there while Amy put the color paneling into camouflage mode. The process wasn’t entirely automatic yet, so her personal touch made us harder to spot.

Tattletale guided my hands as I picked the lock while Chris, Vista, and Taylor disabled the traps and alarms. Our wire-cutting beetle advance scouts were in position to clear the way for us.

I creaked the roof door open and glided into the warehouse.

Bakuda wasn’t alone. She tapped her foot impatiently by an operating table, “Where are my future minions? The Nazis aren’t going to blow themselves up. Hey! You! Academy boy, go find out what is delaying them.” A younger kid ran out of the lab and warehouse only to be tranquilized by Shadow Stalker.

I prepared to lob a blast of fear at the room and saw that my once cannonball sized orbs were barely larger than a baseball. Vista expanded the ball until it was twice the size of the original.

The green ball of fear exploded in the midst of the involuntary henchmen, knocking them off their feet. The concussive effects were still less because Vista can’t increase the strength of my ability, only the size. My blast still hit more of the room than it could before.

As I charged more fear blasts and flew into the room, Victoria unleashed her fear aura. A third of the range, really? Vista flailed around with power until she managed to expand the aura as well. Thanks, little V! Don’t mention it, big V!

Under the combination of emotional powers, most of the room started to flee until one of their heads exploded into a pillar of metal spikes. “Don’t you dare fear her more than me!” Bakuda was incandescent with rage. Some people react to artificial fear with blind rage. Believe me, I remembered what happened with Rachel. I wasn’t scared. Yeah… You weren’t.  

I closed the distance and froze her grenade launcher. She held up a detonator, and I brushed her neck only to feel a mesh covering.

“Back off or we’ll all die!” Bakuda shouted. Her aura swirled with dark currents and the drive to win at any cost. She’ll do it. “I can’t believe they had the gall to send a Ward after me.”

I backed away. When one of the henchmen approached, I blasted them with a turquoise beam of hopelessness that Vista enlarged until the man curled up on the floor.

“Hey! Remove your gear and put your hands behind your head. Do it or I’ll blow them up!”

I shook my head as Taylor used a wire cutter beetle to snip off her toe ring trigger mechanism. The PRT already knew Bakuda could activate her bombs with no visible gestures. Between that intelligence, and Bakuda killing one of her victims in front of us, Tattletale put it together instantly. Girl, did you have to take off her toes? I had no idea how strong those rings were. Cutting through the boot was difficult enough before risking that. If I failed, then she would have killed more innocent people.

“Fuck!” She smashed the heel of her injured foot on the beetle. “What the fuck is that?”

“There were bugs in your security.” The suit distorted my voice, giving it a metallic androgynous tone. It was the default setting, but I liked it. “Give up, Bakuda. Depending on how you count it, more than thirty heroes are surrounding your workshop. Your only options are to blow yourself up or turn yourself in.”

“You think you’re so smart, but I have—”

“Access to a sewer pipe that exits onto the beach. We know. New Wave is waiting to capture you there.”

“You mean what’s left of New Wave.” Taylor, go for the other toes.

Tattletale had ideas on how to rip Bakuda apart and dig at her insecurities until she lost her composure. I opted for a different approach. “I’m surprised you're worried about being arrested.”

“I know the score. They’ll send my ass to the Birdcage. They are terrified of me.” Her aura radiated with pride.

“Surely a Tinker of your caliber would easily escape. No one else has done it before, but you fought a city’s worth of capes by yourself and still have the upper hand.”

She preened even as she was suspicious. “You don’t actually believe I will escape.” She pondered for several minutes while tapping the detonator on her chin. Armsmaster and the other heroes were preparing for the fallout if she decided to blow all her bombs. “But…” She continued, “You’re right. I would escape. It’s a shame I’ll never sur—”

The moment she decided to press the button, Alec caused her to drop the detonator, and I flew to catch it in one hand, while the other poked her wound. Amy mapped out her biology, and then Alec made her sleep.

While my heart pounded at how wrong all that could’ve gone, Armsmaster chimed in on the coms with his analysis of my performance.

“Good work.”

Notes:

For Gallant’s emotional energy colors, I’m using the emotional color wheel from Magical Girl Mechanical Heart by Thundamoo. You should go read that.

Chapter 13

I woke up early the next day after the grueling paperwork involved in processing Bakuda. With one hand, I filled out the forms, while the other pulled bombs from the victim’s heads. It was—Wait.

That wasn’t me. I didn’t do those things, yet I feel exhausted by proxy. *Yawn* Not as much as me, I think, but we do experience everything together, so some weariness bleed-through is expected, right? That… bothered me a lot.

While Dean was filling out use-of-force forms, I led the search for Coil. Here I thought we did that together. We used my knowledge of search patterns. He’s probably in the underground complex with layers of protection against various possible bug spies. We have to get eyes on him before breaking into a private residence. It’s a pointless delay, much like your plans today.

I sighed.

Since we’ve had our introduction and captured three villains while ‘on leave’, our handlers decided we should go back to school. With Bakuda captured, classes could continue. Why are we going to school? Both Brian and I have GEDs. Unfortunately, Taylor is a sophomore.

While a lot of people recognized our existence and treated us like individual people, the greater legal system didn’t. So not only did I have to repeat years of school, I was also a criminal on probation. You did murder a certain someone. Little miss perfect went a tad too far. Your sister was even there to clean up for you again, but—Shut the hell up! I may have hated healing Nazi assholes to keep her out of trouble, but that doesn’t mean said assholes didn’t deserve it.

The other heroes had different takes on my instances of aggressive anti-fascist behavior. I don’t understand the satisfaction you felt when hurting them. I know of it, but to me ‘they deserve’ to go to prison and the injuries work against that. Hmmm, neither prison nor corporal punishment has shown rehabilitation effectiveness. I can’t make a judgement. Chris didn’t care, and Dennis hadn’t thought about appropriate use of force since all he had to do was tap people. Dean knew before all this happened.

Why are people making a big deal out of this? She didn’t kill anyone, and Amy fixed up all the permanent injuries. It was a little rude to inconvenience Amy like that, but you guys aren’t—Somehow I’m not surprised that bugs-down-the-throat girl doesn’t see the issue.

They made Dean reattach Bakuda’s toes. Reversing the harm in no way reduced the documentation required for causing it in the first place.

As riveting as this conversation was, I needed to get ready for school.

The outfit I picked out yesterday was the only one in the closet. Most of our clothes were packed in suitcases, since we were moving out. The period of enhanced monitoring was over, and we would be bumping around from parent to parent.

It was strange how quickly this place had become familiar. Despite a different person being in charge each day, we had formed routines. There was a consistent rhythm to our inconsistent perspectives. At the same time, this was all fresh and new to me.

My body felt similar too as I put on the clothes. This was the right type and template, but it wasn’t me. There was a dissonance. There was no way The Victoria Dallon would’ve been content with my body. No, that wasn’t the issue. It’s more that I felt like a bodyjacker, but not exactly. We unfortunately knew what actual bodyjacking felt like. Did you prefer Hookwolf or Bakuda? Neither! Alec laughed at us adjusting to his power. 

I faced the mirror and examined my outfit. A thin fabric black turtleneck with floral patterns should give off a mix of professionalism and femininity appropriate for a teenage setting. A discerning florist would notice the floral patterns were pink bougainvillea flowers. They looked pretty, but also had hidden thorns, like we did. A white layered shirt went well with the top while not drawing away from it. The style also showed that I was knowledgeable about the various kinds of skirts, which the other students didn’t believe. A double wrap belt made my waistline clear while the black high-ankle heels were understated and showed that we weren’t self-conscious about our above average height.

But I am—Yes, which is why we’ll dress like we aren’t. If you act confident, you’ll feel confident. Also, we need to establish to the class we know how to properly ‘girl’ so that when one of the boys goes to school in sweatpants, it looks like intentional laziness, not ignorance of expectations.

I then showed Taylor what a quick everyday makeup look could do to her face before grabbing our satchel and leaving the room. There is no way that carries everything a bookbag does. Correct, but it looks way better.

In the lounge, Sophia was removing the leashes from the other voluntold Wards and refilling their food bowls while Kay settled in for her distance learning program. Why couldn’t we do that? Our switching doesn't have a physical manifestation—And this is another test for us. They were giving us time to adjust, but with Tagg replacing Piggot today, expect more pressure. Tagg doesn’t want us to prove to be an unstable asset, but he believes we’re one.  

Officially, Director Piggot retired for medical reasons after overseeing the recent crisis. She went out on a high note.

I steeled myself for the immediate consequence of this transition of power. “Well Sophia, are you ready to go?”

She blinked at me and surprise filled her aura. “Noooo, they aren’t sending you back to Winslow, right?”

“Director Tagg didn’t see the need to facilitate a late semester transfer of a probationary Ward.” I made sure to pet Angelica, Brutus, and Judas. Thankfully, they would attend the same education as the rest of Rachel’s dependents.

“You’re going to get clocked immediately. No way any of you could stand to act like Hebert.” Taylor hated the thought of going back, but she didn’t ask for a transfer because she didn’t feel like she deserved it. I also thought they would want the rest of you at Arcadia . Mom will get us in for next year. If there were more than 3 weeks left in this school year, she might have done it sooner.

“Oh please, teenagers reinvent themselves all the time.”

“But 13 times every two weeks? Hebert wasn't popular, but a lot of people paid attention to her. People are going to notice.”

We entered the elevator. “Did you know that I hate bullies?”

Sophia yawned. “You’re in for an aggravating day then.”

“Probably, but I would strongly suggest you and your friend not be one of them. Don’t be a problem I have to solve.”

Sophia kicked my shin and shoved me, sending her back while I didn’t move. Her aura didn’t flicker with a hint of aggression. “Oh look, none of my greatest hits work anymore. You think I’m fucking stupid or something? You plucked Hookwolf like he was a particularly racist chicken. I would have to use my powers to do anything against you, which I’m not going to do at school.”

“Your friend, Emma, seems a little cracked in the head.” Taylor didn’t want to focus on what Alec saw at the party. Emma’s aura was a shell of spite and pride masking a core of helplessness, pain, and terror.

“Takes one to know one, right?” Sophia made a show of counting on her fingers. “Victoria Dallon of New Wave, an extended family of capes. That has to be an absolute shitshow.”

“You know that second generation capes get powers easier.” Amy laughed, and I had to agree with her. Our triggers certainly didn’t feel easier.

She scoffed as the doors opened. “Sure, but all the parents are like the rest of us.”

The public space cut off our conversation as we left the building and caught the bus. I sat next to her. My fellow hero and I were going to walk through the front doors together, showing everyone that she wasn’t bullying me.

If that sight didn’t cause Taylor’s harassers to rethink the situation, then what came next was on them.

Sophia put in earbuds and ignored me.

After the lengthy bus trip, we walked through the front entrance together before she split off for her locker. I am regretting the enhanced hearing. Dozens of whispered conversations started about us as soon as we entered. I thought they whispered insults, but most of it is just weird.

Yes, high schoolers were bored and horny, a dangerous combination that caused people to make strange and cruel jokes about the local punching bag. I gritted my teeth as I had to ignore it to preserve our identity.

I stopped by Taylor’s locker and walked to her homeroom without anyone intercepting me. People are looking at me less than before. Oh Taylor, the hoodie look made you stand out more not less. They destroyed all my other clothes. I—That’s why they did it. Carlos did his best to console Taylor, but we all felt how livid he was at Tagg for putting her back here.

As I stepped into the classroom and saw Mrs. Knott for the first time, I resisted the urge to flinch. That dress was hideous and didn’t suit her at all. It was puffy around the shoulders and had horizontal stripes to make her look wider. It had no cinching in the middle, causing it to hide her figure. This was… obviously intentional once I got over my initial shock. No one accidentally wore a dress so specifically unflattering. She wanted her students to focus on the class material and not her looks.

Throughout the class period, her aura was a mixture of confidence, care, and kindness. She gave me individual attention to help me make up for the extra classes I missed when Taylor joined a gang and planned to rob a bank.

All the computer work was trivial. Taylor did well in this class, but we also had insights from Chris’s power and Tattletale’s. Tagg mainly wants to see if we can behave in school, no one thinks we need the education.

Mrs. Knott was happy that I caught up. She then frowned at the collection of girls waiting outside the classroom. “Taylor, do you need my help with anything else? Do you want me to walk you to the next class?”

“If one of them throws a punch, I would appreciate it if you stepped in.” Unfortunately, teachers and schools everywhere seemed powerless to stop bullying. You—It’s almost like laws are fake and selectively enforced. School is a little microcosm of the world at large. Justice and rules protect no one. You either protect yourself and your friends or you get crushed by the system. There is nothing of value in places like these. Obviously us heroes don’t believe that. Sophia did, and she is one of you. I’ll drop this for now, or we’ll be mumbling in this room for an hour.

Taylor tried to focus on sending wave after wave of bugs into Coil’s suspected lair as I confronted the group.

“Why did you come back no one—” I stepped through the largest gap in the crowd. One of them grabbed my arm. “Hey where do you think you’re…” At the point of contact, Dean sent pulses of shame into the girl.

I turned with a step and glared at the group with a hint of fear aura. They—Victoria then proceeded to analyze and critique the outfits of every single girl in exhaustive detail. All I really cared about was who wasn’t there. The familiar coif of red hair was absent. Did Sophia manage to convince Emma to stay away? Why wouldn’t she? Emma may have been obsessed but—I bared my teeth at the group. “Good morning. Did you need something?”

The girl who grabbed me let go and fell back into the crowd. Their impromptu leader took a hesitant step forward. “Did you think dressing up would make us forget you were a—” My bullies laid into Victoria Dallon. She stood there and calmly accepted their insults. She waited as more of the crowd gained the courage to join in. I was trying to ignore it, but couldn’t. Their auras gave me an insight into my bullies that I never had before. What I saw was more disappointing than what I assumed. They didn’t hate me. They were bored and this was fun for them. Some were annoyed by my presence and joined in the jeering because they wanted me to conform. A few even thought the hazing was good for me. Those… those I hated. I wanted to shove them into my shoes and have them experience what it is like. I’m inclined to agree. What?

Each insult and ‘joke’ revealed more about the speaker. I had social talents, but they were more focused on making friends and leveraging my popularity. In this situation, I leaned into Tattletale and started speaking. At first, the crowd didn’t know how to react to what sounded like compliments. When the first girl started crying, they picked up on what was happening.

We were laying bare each bullies' insecurities and vulnerabilities. The bystanders shifted to our side as I entertained them better. Their attention was poison, but I still felt buoyed by it. So many people in this school looked at Taylor when she passed, talked about Taylor, knew about Taylor. It was almost like the bottom of the social pyramid was as prominent as the top.

I didn’t want to confront the ugly part of me that was sort of thrilled by it. It was natural to seek praise, to strive to be popular, kind, and pretty. Everyone wanted to do that. The fact it placed me at the center of attention was merely a byproduct, not my core purpose… Right?

After the bullies' flaws were exposed, their reactions revealed deeper secrets, letting Tattletale imply or fabricate betrayals and hostilities between them. This is a waste of my talents. The crowd popped like a bubble when the girls decided it was too much and scattered away from the laughter.

How dare they act like they weren’t part of it!? Taylor was incredulous as the bystanders pretended they were our friends and joked about those other girls. I was polite with them as I went to our next class. The worst part is their auras. I know they actually feel friendly towards me now. Getting one over on her bullies didn’t make Taylor feel good. She felt grosser than ever. Carlos sent her feelings of sympathy. High school sucks.

In Mr. Gladly’s class, I sat by some of the friendly bystanders. We exchanged cheerful words, but I felt hollow. These would be shallow relationships because I didn’t like them as people. After a few weeks, we would never see them again. The teacher himself dressed professionally, but you could tell he had recently graduated school by the way he tried to relate to his students.

Despite the seasonal heat, the man wore long sleeves. Probably hiding tattoos. Yeah, this was a newer teacher less than ten years into his role.

“I have two lesson plans for today. Before I pick one, I want a quick show of hands. Was anyone personally affected by the bombings or lost anyone?” Sparky raised his hand and Mr. Gladly nodded solemnly. “Alright, today we’ll be discussing the environmental impact of parahumans. You might assume that with capes like Ash Beast or Sleeper that the overall impact would be negative. The truth is a lot more complicated. Turn to page…”

The less topical lesson plan was competently delivered. He lectured for half the class before splitting us into groups. My new ‘friends’ were quick to invite me to join them. While working on the assignment, a hesitant Madison got up and sharpened her pencil. She held the shavings in her hand and approached me.

I glared at the girl. Surprisingly, I actually knew her, Emma, and a few others. At a photoshoot event with capes, their little group harassed a girl in a wheelchair. I let them know exactly how I felt about that and then spent the rest of the event doing everything I could to make that girl feel better.

Madison stopped for a second before shaking her head and continuing to walk toward me.

I raised my hand and asked Mr. Gladly a question. Under the teacher’s gaze, she walked back to her seat without doing anything and ended up holding a fistful of shavings. When she rocked back in chair, Vista shortened one leg by an inch, causing the girl to lose balance and flail her arms to keep steady. In her shock, she forgot to keep her hand closed and covered herself in her own prank.

Aren’t you guys worried that someone will notice? Vista mentally shrugged. If you keep it very subtle, no one notices a little power use. Taylor worried because she had similar ideas but swore to never use her powers on her bullies. Didn’t you also daydream about the Wards coming to your school and ending the bullying? Well, we’re here now. I’m disappointed at how immature high school kids are.

When class ended, we went to lunch—An hour was too long for lunch. No one stopped us in the hallways this time. From a distance, I heard Julia try to send a few more people our way, but half of the last group that tried went home. She was always one of the more distant bullies, a planner and schemer rather than directly harassing me. So like a mastermind cape? Did you compare her to a supervillain? Only because it lines up. Masterminds tend to organize criminal action rather than be on the frontlines, though some do both. Taylor found the idea absurd. My bullies are nothing compared to Coil, let alone the capes we have taken down: Lung, Oni Lee, Hookwolf, and Bakuda. She had an epiphany. Compared to that, they don’t matter anymore.

In the cafeteria, I ordered six cheeseburgers, drawing comments from the lunch ladies and nearby students.

With my stacked tray, I scanned the room and went to sit with the ‘band kids’. Not all of them were in band. It was more of a collection of people that liked to talk about interesting things. I plopped down next to ‘my people’, the cape geeks. But you are a cape... How could you be a cape geek? For my entire life, I had scrounged and pieced together every little bit of cape information I could. I gathered magazines, news reports, academic papers—anything at all. When my family helped with the Boston Games, I supported indirectly by knowing more about the capes involved. 

“Why’s the newest mean girl sitting with us?” A girl with long brown hair, square frame glasses, a plain burgundy shirt, and off-brand clearance jeans spoke to me first. “Aren’t you going to hang out with the rest of them.” She thumbed behind her shoulder where my ‘new friends’ from earlier were.

“Nah, they are kind of lame. What are you guys talking about?”

A boy with long hair, a jean coat, and a shirt depicting a character only Chris and Alec were familiar with answered, “We were complaining about the plans for the new Ward Battleler character. It looks like Myriad will just be a random character with a smaller pool.”

“Maybe they will add the Undersiders to the game.” a blonde hair boy chimed in.

The first girl we talked to responded. “No way they promote a villain group. They probably want us to forget they were villains in the first place.”

“I can see why they did it that way. Myriad’s actual powerset is a little too complicated for the game.” This was one of the few games I had opinions about since I was in it.

Once I joined in, the conversation spiraled from there until we were talking about the sorry state of Eidolon’s rogues gallery. I got a few comments about my cheeseburgers, but they let the matter go after I shrugged a few times.

My bugs saw Sophia and Emma sitting outside. The redhead wasn’t doing well. She bit her thumbnail while scrolling through her phone. “How did you know? You told me to trust you and leave her alone for a day, but how did you know she would eviscerate people so thoroughly. I doubt Jenny will come back to school. To think she—”

“Drop it. Honestly, it’s been two years. Aren’t you bored yet?”

“There is no way that weak blubbering maggot changed so much in a few weeks. She must have spent time creepily researching. We'll find or fabricate proof and show the whole school. She’ll finally get expelled and—”

“Oh my god, find another girl’s hair to pull.”

“Since when do you back down from Hebert?”

“I don’t and never will.”

“So why aren’t you confronting her today? That’s the system. You put her in her place when she acts out.”

Sophia didn’t respond and quietly ate her sandwich.

“Well?” When Sophia remained quiet, Emma let out an exaggerated sigh and stood up. “Fine, I’ll take care of it myself.”

I watched Emma approach. A lot of the kids around me turned away from her and the coming conflict. The rest were defiant. The brunette from earlier, Sally, grabbed one of my wrappers and tossed it at Emma. “What do you want, Barnes?”

The aluminum-paper wrap bounced off an unphased Emma. “Did Taylor officially join your lesbian clique or are you taking in mangy strays?”

Sally looked at me, waiting for a reaction at her sexuality. I shrugged. Seeing my lack of hostility or disgust, she turned back to Emma. “Someone as popular as you with a grand total of zero boyfriends shouldn’t casually throw around the L-word.”

“Ha ha.” Emma turned to me. “Are you hiding behind geeks now? How many of them want—” A hiccup interrupted her tirade as Alec caused her diaphragm to contract.

Embarrassment filled her aura as she turned around and went back outside. Hey wait a minute... I thought I had been getting hiccups more often. Brian looked through both Alec and Tattletale’s memories. You both knew! Rachel radiated smugness. You didn’t notice how often Alec got hiccups when you did? Brian mentally sighed and imagined himself sulking in a corner. Mission debriefs are important…

The rest of the school day passed without further harassment. Sophia didn’t look at us during Art, and Emma quietly stewed throughout Math. She’s planning her revenge and further ways to escalate, not that she could do anything.

None of them could do anything.

I clenched and relaxed my hands as we left the school. With Brute, Thinker, and Master powers, Taylor’s targeted bullying campaign collapsed in a day. At any time since January, I could have ended it instantly with my powers. That wasn’t the point, but I don’t see a reason for the rest of you to suffer my personal hell.

A couple streets away, I slipped into Dad’s car away from prying eyes. He had already picked up Judas, Brutus, and Angelica. All three were sitting in the back seat with happy auras. “Hey sweetie, how was school?”

“Awful. I miss my friends. How was your day?”

“What happened? Tell me all about it.”

“It’s kind of personal to Taylor, so I won’t talk about it until she is comfortable about it. Make sure Mom gets me out of there.”

“She’s working on it. We thought we were going to be empty nesters soon, but it turns out you have two more years of school left, and… never mind.”

“Seriously, tell me about your day.”

My dad then regaled me with stories of edging the lawn, finishing the book he had been reading for years, and how he went on a solo patrol. “I’ve had a lot more energy recently.”

I suppressed the strange urge to bare my teeth at him, but hearing this was encouraging. It was like every day was a ‘good day’. 

Did he know?

The thought slipped unbidden into my mind. I’ve had two weeks to process what Amy knew about our family.

I… remained adamant that my father was the person who raised me. If we were obsessed with biological truths, then Danny was our only ‘real’ parent, which would have been stupid. I may be in Taylor’s body with Taylor’s memories, but that didn’t mean I saw her dad as mine.

My disembodiment gave me a lot of time to ponder on what it meant to be Victoria Dallon. It was important to define the edges of myself so that I knew which thoughts were mine and which were someone else's. There have been too many times when Terry and I ended up on the same tangent about parahuman theory and couldn’t determine who said what afterwards. Terry always laughed off the incidents, but I had to be more careful. I wouldn’t fade away. I wouldn’t lose myself in this. I had a family that loved me, a boy—significant other to love, and a sister who I still loved despite her troubles. 

I would persist for them and myself.

Part of being ‘Victoria’ was my relationships. Mark Dallon was my father and always would be. Nothing would change that.

We pulled into the garage of our house and my dad turned off the car. “It’s been so long since I drove either of you girls anywhere. I’ve missed it, our time alone and these chats.” His aura streaked with mirth. “You’ll have to put up with my chauffeuring until you get your license again.” I groaned at the reminder. He chuckled as we went inside, followed by the trio, who immediately jumped on the sofa. “Your mother isn’t home yet. Why don’t you help Aisha move Amy’s things into your room?”

“That plan went through, then? When is she moving in?”

“Yesterday.” No way. Foster care licenses take months to get. The applications take weeks to process.

“How is she here so quickly?”

My dad scratched his chin. “Well… if you know the right people, you can foster and adopt a child very quickly.”

“Uh huh… well, I guess I’ll go say hi to my new foster sister.”

“Good. I’ll be making dinner if you need anything.”

Since Mom wasn’t home, I floated up the steps and entered Amy’s old room—they would make me move. At least your room is bigger. Inside, I found Aisha flipping through one of Amy’s books. Woah, hey no. That’s private!

Aisha looked up, “Well, you’re certainly not Brian.” She waved the book in the air. “I had no idea Panacea was uhh a fan of things like this.”

Memories of the exact content of that book filtered into my mind. Here I thought Amy was more of a cinephile, but it turns out she hid her literature interests from me. “I only learned about those interests recently.”

“Pffff, what kind of lame sister doesn’t snoop on their sibling?” Brian was suddenly very worried, “Yes bro, I found your porn mags. I can’t believe you don’t use the internet like us normal perverts.”

“Do you want to move Amy’s stuff with me?”

She leaned against a beanbag and kept reading. “Why would we need to move things? I saw your dog and pony show. Make your mutant bug army do it.”

“There are some—” Chris imagined ways to move all the boxes with pulleys and modified silk thread while Taylor designed a couple new bugs. “—Sure. That works.” I flopped into another beanbag. At the noise, the other foster siblings rushed into the room and hopped into our laps.

Aisha made an ‘oof’ sound as Judas snuggled in. She flipped a page and petted him. “So… how’s my brother doing with all of this?”

“I can say what he is thinking: I’m fine. There is no need to worry. Are you settling in well? Are you getting along with Carol?”

“We’re copacetic. Everything is peachy.” I didn’t need Dean or Tattletale’s power to know that was a lie, but her aura was more amused than frustrated, so I let it be.

I leaned back and had an intrusive thought about trying to read one of the novels. Instead, I sat there as a small tide of bugs flowed into the room to either string silk or touch my skin and mutate. The latter caused Aisha to close her book and watch in fascination.

She leaned forward and placed her hand through a troop of spiders, without a care, to peer closer at the pulsating bug mass. Minutes passed like that with my mind flitting to various search efforts across the city. There was always so much to do that it was hard to get bored.

Aisha raised a finger and poked the bug goop. Then she did it again. “Um, could you stop that? It’s delaying the transformation.”

She blinked. “Sure.” Her eyes glanced at my hands. “Aww come on. You got six girls in there and none of them painted my bro’s nails?”

Would you guys be comfortable with that? No. Also no. Sure. I’ll pass on an amateur job. Maybe, let me think about it. I would prefer a darker color. I wouldn’t mind trying. “There are a lot of people’s comfort and priorities to take into account. I thought we would stick to press ons.”

“Laaaamee.”

The other three perked up when they heard the door opening and rushed off to see who it was. Aisha and I went downstairs to find Mom and Mr. Hebert at the door. I saw his car driving up, but why would he be here?

“Victoria!” Mom squeezed me in a hug. “Aisha, did you put the caps back on the toothpaste?”

“The ones I could find, sure.”

“We don’t want the bathroom to become a mess. You need to remember this.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I will.”

Mom released me from her vice grip as Mark called us to the table. She guessed at my question. “I thought Danny might be getting lonely in his house, so we’ve been inviting over for dinner. There is no reason us parents shouldn’t get to know each other. And well, if we’re in the habit, then Taylor would also come over for dinner, and we get to see our daughters an extra day.” She radiated with satisfaction. “Make sure to eat up. We have a busy night planned.”

“Yeah, Director Tagg is having the entire Protectorate patrol tonight. He doesn’t want any of the villain groups to expand their territory. I’m glad the rest of New Wave is helping.”

“We do have more reason to cooperate than ever before.” Mom then went to the table.

“Um, hey…” Danny took a deep breath. “How is Taylor?”

“She… She says that she’s fine.”

Danny’s aura streaked with pain watching someone else talk with his daughter’s body. “Can I talk to her?”

“She’s listening. I know what you mean, but we don’t always control that.”

“Okay… I’m… … Do I smell waffles?”

“Yes, Dad made one of his brinner meals, or breakfast for dinner.” I winced as I realized my mistake. I called someone else ‘Dad’ to his face.

Pain and confusion whirled through Danny Hebert before his aura settled on love and determination. “Well, we wouldn’t want to keep your dad waiting.” The words hurt him to say, but I could tell he was willing to put up with a lot worse to be with his daughter.

We then had a very strange—but good—family dinner.

Chapter 14

Brockton Bay had never looked so clear under moonlight before.

I was used to dark streets illuminated by the soft electronic glow spilling from windows or streetlights. The moon was little more than a footnote feature of the sky. Now, the white orb glowed like the sun, chasing away all shadows and secrets.

My eyes saw a lot more after Terry’s meddling, and tonight it mattered. Purpose filled me even as I felt unmoored. The others whispered their own thoughts and feelings about tonight’s patrol. My mind was a maelstrom that threatened to suck me in and replace me with someone else.

It didn’t bother me.

How odd was that? I cherished and valued who I was, but there was no creeping dread about losing my place. At some level, I knew I was always here even if the primacy of feelings waxed and waned. It put me in a contemplative mood as my yellow armor faded to gray. Dauntless and Aunt Sarah flew to my left but didn’t notice the change. Crystal kept pace on my right and was immediately concerned.

“Victoria? Are you alright?”

This close, I could really see the family resemblance between Victoria and her cou—relative. They both had long blonde hair, blue eyes, trim curves, and similar symmetrical facial features. Crystal had the casual confidence of someone who was always pretty and popular. Taylor, I beg of you. Please think less about my family. Since Dauntless and Lady Photon were slightly ahead of the kids, I saw Crystal’s future caboose—softening the term doesn’t help—which based on my mom wasn’t something we would be comparable with without extensive use of Terry’s power. Glad I could help!

“Victoria?”

“Sorry, it’s Myriad in the field, and she can still hear you.”

Laserdream’s aura streaked with sadness as her eyes glistened with moisture. “Ah… I was hoping to have the whole night with her.” Seeing her struggles caused my chest to tighten, which Terry helpfully relaxed. I agree with Rachel that we need to stop with the guilt trips, so I thought I would counteract all the physiological responses. “We had so much to catch up on.”

“I don’t think we’ll have much time for conversation.”

The villain alliance wasn’t fully dead. They weren’t attacking each other while the ABB territories were up for grabs. My swarm stretched across the city, giving me millions of eyes and ears to find and stop villain activity as well as keep watch on my allies.

Armsmaster and my other five teammates patrolled a different route which intersected enough that Rachel could keep the three other former Undersiders in fighting condition. Since Angelica still wouldn’t let anyone else ride her, Tandem shifted between purple and green breaker states to fly with the group in lurching motions. It looks like she’s pushing and pulling herself through the air. What an awkward flight method.

All the prominent heroes were out tonight, except for Miss Militia.

She stood with her arms crossed behind her back while facing out the window in Tagg’s new office. Our new Director sat at his desk with a slice of apple pie, a firework, and a handheld TV silently playing a recorded baseball game.

With deliberate motions, he used a knife and fork to bring a single bite of pie to his mouth. Tagg closed his eyes and chewed the morsel carefully. “Mmmm, the cafeteria makes a good pie.”

Miss Militia turned to face the man. “What is the occasion, sir?”

“I’m feeling positively patriotic. Do you know why you’re replacing Armsmaster as Protectorate leader, and not Dauntless, once the optics look right?”

“No sir.”

“Because I don’t give a rat’s ass about his growth potential or chauvinistic inclinations to put a man in charge. No, you’re getting the job because you’re a patriot, and this city is in damn need of some good ol’ American patriotism.”

“I didn’t realize you felt so strongly about it.”

Tagg sighed. “In a better world, I would have stayed in the Army, but America’s greatest enemies are within not without. Brockton Bay in particular is in dire need of the red, white, and blue because there is nothing more American than kicking Nazi ass. All criminals are a blight but I take special exception to ones trying to set up their own little fiefdoms. I won’t have it. They and all the other villains are going to prison.”

“It’s a worthwhile sentiment. Why am I in your office rather than capturing villains?”

“Two reasons: One, I need to ensure you aren’t compromised by Myriad. A casual touch or too much exposure and she can take you over whenever her child murdering mind feels like it. That’s an unacceptable risk for our future Protectorate leader. Two, I haven’t forgotten about Coil. Myriad was right. He does have moles in the PRT. We’re clearing them out, but I want one of the capes near HQ to handle any funny business.”

“Any reason Myriad isn’t helping you with your mole hunt? Their abilities would expedite the process.”

Tagg waved a dismissive hand. “I’m not letting a delusional girl help the PRT clear up their own mess. If she holds it together long enough to roll over the E88, then I’ll consider the organization’s investment in her worth it, but I’m not holding my breath.”

Miss Militia shuffled slightly in discomfort but didn’t say anything.

“Out with it. That’s an order.”

“I don’t understand your hostility toward Myriad. The events that led to their formation were tragic, but they have done nothing but enthusiastically help capture villains since then.”

“Aside from being a ticking time bomb legally responsible for the deaths of twelve children, I have no issues with the brand-new untested Ward. In your long career, you’ve crossed paths with the Butcher more than once. I know you share my concerns. I also doubt you believe this nonsense that all the Wards are still alive.”

“That’s—” My connection to their conversation was cut off as I felt my relay bugs die. Who in the hell is throwing a nontransferable pathogen at me? Whatever, the next wave of bugs will be immune. I will—It was Coil. He’s the only one left that knows what we can do while having the money to blow on one-time counters specifically for us.

My perception shrank to merely several blocks and what little my eyes could scry past it. In a very short time, I had grown used to near omniscience, and its sudden lack left me hollow. While an irate Amy could counter this attack in many different ways, none of them were quick. Aside from the ones we won’t use. A counter plague would take too long to spread.

I called in the attack to the console. Are you ignoring what Tagg said? A familiar voice acknowledged my report and broke the connection. Please, the guy wants us in the Birdcage. Of course he’s not sympathetic. It was always weird knowing people that I had never met. Sandra had two kids with a third on the way, but she’s engaged to be married this fall and none of the kids were his, which he knows since he can’t sire children. Sandra’s desire for an open relationship worked out with his desire to have kids. They—Dean, why do you know all these details? She’s one of three agents that normally mans the Protectorate console. Do none of you talk with your counterparts during console duty? The other Wards hadn’t. Well, that’s rude.

“Patrol 2, there is a disturbance on 3rd and Water Street. You are the closest.” Sandra chimed in our ears.

“Acknowledged.” Dauntless then flew with purpose in that direction. The rest of us trailed behind one of the fastest fliers in the city. His only competition is Purity. Laserdream pulled ahead of Lady Photon and I. Even with Vista expanding our thrusters, I only managed to keep pace with the Pelham matriarch. Could Vista compress space for us? Only closer to the ground and we aren’t flying along any streets. Bending buildings works too, but I have to be careful to not collapse them.

Minutes passed as we rushed to the location. Hopefully, we weren’t too late.

“Myriad,” Sandra crackled in my ear. “Dauntless is engaging Fog to let the civilians escape. Support from a distance with New Wave.”

“Roger.” The word felt funny in my mouth, like I was a kid playing dress up, but behind the word was over a decade of Ward patrols and training. All of this was familiar and brand new. My heart raced with excitement as I flew in formation with heroes like Laserdream and Lady Photon, but I also knew them like family from two lifetimes of perspectives.

It was hard to remain starstruck with years of humanizing memories.

As the street grew closer, I saw Dauntless firing his arclance repeatedly at an encroaching fog cloud as predominantly Asian people fled the gaseous villain. Several bodies laid motionless on the street in the wake of their conflict.

My heart was immediately pulled in a dozen directions. Sarah said something, but I couldn’t focus on her. There were people dying . Crystal pulled on my arm. The gentle nudge grabbed enough of my attention to blast Fog together with them. Dean fired red anger and purple disgust from my hands at the Nazi with a tortured and shattered aura. He may not be solid, but the creature had emotions and recoiled from the weak beams more than the lasers scything through him.

Vista was too busy creating shortcuts for the civilians through bugless streets to also expand our beams.

That didn’t matter. Fog began to retreat as soon as I blasted him. He flowed toward a two-story building in less than pristine condition with many inhabited bedrooms. He’s baiting us to follow him. We still have to, right? Otherwise, those people will die.

I couldn’t not try to save them.

As I flew after the villain, spear-wielding ghosts swarmed Dauntless, and a woman radiating light soared out an apartment window to fire helical beams at Lady Photon. Laserdream tried to flank the attacker, but a car thrown in her direction caused her to pull away and focus on the new foe. Crusader, Purity, and Rune were lying in wait to accost our support. This is a trap.

Trap or no, I had to try. I couldn’t let Fog slaughter dozens of people. I did direct tides of bugs to assist my fellow heroes as I chased him.

He slipped through the gaps around the door to escape into the bordello. I punched open the door to find myself immersed in the Nazi. Victoria’s forcefield and our power armor kept him out, but this was a vulnerable position for both of us.

Dean and Vista worked together to fill Fog with a discombobulating mix of emotions.

His empty aura shuddered as it filled with our influence. It’s working. While his fog gave no indication of distress, his aura swelled with agony as we made him feel again. Do you know what would be the worst for someone like him?

Dean picked up the rest of Tattletale’s thought and switch to blasting the Nazi with concentrated joy.

Happiness caused waves of nostalgia to ripple through his aura that rapidly shifted to distress, paranoia, grief, and panic.

As the aura grew brighter, a slash broke our shield and an appendage stabbed through our heart. Dennis had the presence of mind to freeze the creature as agony pulsed from the hole in my chest like pleasant lightning.

Carlos had the right idea about pain. Dean’s beams grew brighter with our matching mental state. My face strained with an unfamiliar expression as I pried myself off of the time frozen attack. All the while, Dean kept up his assault as Vista expanded the beams as far as they would go.

Fog broke.

The mist gathered into the shape of a man curled in the fetal position as he wept openly. How do we cuff him? I opened panels on my fingers and tapped his neck. Alec then commanded the pitiful creature into unconsciousness. Ah, that works. Are we worried about the ethics of body control? Not if we keep it to capturing villains.

I turned to secure the other villain, and blood ran down my nose. The creature hurt to look at. Its limbs twisted in on itself with complexity my eyes could see in part but couldn’t comprehend in their entirety. My armor shifted to green as the others shied away from complex folds and twists of space.

Spatial reasoning was always intuitive for me.

I found Night’s true form really really interesting. The others couldn’t get past the limbs to see the color or lack of color. Light distorted and broke through the warped reality, forming almost rainbow colors baring the shades I had never seen before. Those hurt my mind to look upon.

When Dennis’s power ran out, the monster turned into a normal human woman in an instant. I flew forward and bopped her on the nose, gaining immediate insights into her nervous systems and using my other power to send her into unconsciousness.

Pffff, breaker 9 my ass.

I looked away from the woman, and she vanished. Whirling around revealed a parlor empty of both villains. When you looked away, she must have transformed and woken up. I wonder if Night can’t sleep without someone watching her the entire time. Do you think Fog does that for her, or does Night go without since her transformations heal her. Perhaps—

My cheeks burned at letting the two mass murderers go. Stupid! Hey, both of those capes require teams of Parahumans to engage and—We’re teams of Parahumans! Taylor watched them with her bugs, and Night still transformed. We’ll know for next time.  

Fine.

I took a calming breath and floated deeper into the brothel because we weren’t done. Now that we were closer and my—Taylor’s swarm was in position, we ‘saw’ that all the women were trapped in their rooms with metal spikes that slowly grew towards them.

My attention and power were consumed with shrinking those spikes faster than Kaiser could grow them, so much so that I fell back and let our armor shift to yellow.

That pompous Nazis bastard would set up a trap in one of Lung’s brothels and use the workers as hostages. How did he know Vista’s exact limitations? Did—I think I know why, but let’s confront him first.

I rose in the air and then slammed through the floor into the dragon’s den below.

The once opulent basement was scattered with punctured throw pillows, discarded food, torn paper dividers, and shattered bottles of sake and baijiu. The scents of opium, sex, and incense lingered in the air despite multiple weeks of disuse. On a raised dais where an indolent Lung may have whiled his leisure time, Kaiser sat on a throne of blades with his minions standing behind him in a half circle.

While waiting for my forcefield to recharge, I gently floated down the shaft of light toward the assembled Nazis below. The entire Empire came to play. As I closed on them, the spikes surrounding the hostages accelerated their growth, outpacing Vista’s efforts. Back off a little. I did so and the spikes slowed.

My forcefield flickered back in place, but we were at a stalemate. I wouldn’t needlessly sacrifice the lives of the civilians, no matter how nebulously illegal their profession was. Forgetting my new strength, I grit my teeth until one audibly cracked, startling Cricket. The sudden flare of pain focused my mind away from my rising frustration. Terry pulled some of his attention away from our chest to mend the tooth.

Kaiser stood as metal grew over the hole above me. “So glad that you could join us, monster. Yes, I know what kind of creature you are, and I won’t let our city produce another like it.”

I had no interest in competing in the marketplace of ideas with the madman. Our color changed to purple. “Why am I not shocked that the Nazis developed a hatred for a specific kind of person?” I yawned. “You’re one-note and simple. If I was really such a monster, I would ignore your hostages.” The heroes were so inclined to sacrifice themselves for random people we hadn’t met. It was good that the Undersiders were here with a healthy dose of self-preservation. Under no circumstance was I going to wear a Nazi’s skin.

“Your value for their lives only shows your degeneracy. Surrender and we’ll end your miserable existence painlessly.”

“You really never got over your wife, did you?”

Indignation wrapped Kaiser’s aura as the several of the others looked confused since they didn’t know how she died, or more relevantly, to whom. As he went to speak again, I talked over him.

“It won’t work, you know? You think Victor can render us into a drooling idiot with no volition.” I shook my head. “If mindwiping stuck, then our counterpart wouldn’t still be rampaging. But go ahead, try it. I’m sure Victor would love our makeup and boy kissing skills.”

Hesitation entered Victor’s aura as the ramifications of absorbing all our skills clicked. Kaiser twitched a finger, moving all the spikes upstairs closer to impaling the workers. “Be as flippant as you want. You are paralyzed by your misplaced concern. Our victory is inevitable.”

“You mean Coil’s victory.” He flinched less than a millimeter. “Ah, looks like I hit the mark. He fed you information about us.” Another confirmation. “How convenient that his ‘gift’ gathered you all in one place to fight me?” I tutted. “You think this is a trap for me, but really, you’ve played into Coil’s hands. He never expected you to beat us. My old boss is planning for you to lose.” My little speech did cause the seeds of doubt to sprout in the assembled capes. Their boss didn’t tell them who set them up. Despite this doubt, Victor continued to stare at us. I felt skills slip away only for the missing knowledge to slot right back in. There was no escaping this prison, not through death, madness, or oblivion. 

Kaiser waved a dismissive hand. “You overestimate yourself. Not even your contemporary could withstand the full might of the Empire, and it isn’t hampered with a bleeding heart for worthless lives.”

“What even is your Empire? Only Krieg and Alabaster truly believe in you. The giantesses follow you because you share their bed. Cricket and Stormtiger need your help to bust out their boss. The Herren clan helps you because you help them. You may have lured Purity back, but I don’t see any of her faction in this room. There is no Empire. You’re four racist gangs in a trench coat with delusions of grandeur.”

There we go. That made Kaiser angry. His whole shitty gang was like an open book as they reacted to my words and each other’s reactions. The problem was, theirs wasn’t a book worth reading.

“Oh, and another thing. Not all of us are nearly so inhibited by hostages we can’t save.”

Our colors shifted to gray as I pushed the most resolute of us forward.

I charged while spewing darkness from vents in my armor. Spikes impaled the women above, but they were lost anyway. Vista screamed in rage and the building shook as she made her displeasure known. Most of us grew furious at the callous slaughter. It made me angry too, but we couldn’t control Kaiser’s actions.

Yet.

Stormtiger gathered the darkness with gusts of wind as Krieg slowed its spread in a circle around him. Inky clouds still wafted around lights and darkened the room considerably despite their efforts.

Fenja and Menja's heads rubbed against the ceiling as they swiped their weapons over Kaiser at my approach. I blocked both with my forearms, shattering Victoria’s shield. Dennis froze both weapons. I then flew along the shaft and tapped both women in the face. Alec made Fenja fall unconscious before seizing control of Menja and having her smash a fist onto an unsuspecting Othala.

An invulnerable Victor caught the blow, but my swarm flew from the dark corners of the room and covered them both. The incensed heroes had no complaints this time when bees and wasps stung the vulnerable Trump. I made sure they didn’t inject venom into her. Hopefully, she wasn’t allergic to bee stings.

When Menja turned to splatter Alabaster against a wall, her hand was deflected by an exploding claw from Stormtiger. The room grew darker as his attention was split.

I dove at Kaiser. While I didn’t have much experience getting up close and personal with dangerous villains, the others did. Their confidence buoyed my own and cleared all apprehension from me.

Before I could reach the Nazi leader, Krieg leapt from his position, cracking the floorboards, to kick me in my side, knocking me across the room since my forcefield was still down. He didn’t pull his attack in the slightest as I smashed through the drywall into the surrounding brickwork.

My ears rang, my spine screamed, and my mouth vomited blood. None of which mattered. My body didn’t care and the burning sensation from so many wounds felt like being in a spa.

The lenses on the SS officer-wannabe’s gas mask reflected in the partial light as Krieg’s footfalls thudded with each approaching step. Behind him, Menja fought Stormtiger and Alabaster as Victor tried to rouse his wife. Cricket stood between the groups, emitting a sound that disoriented my bugs. Kaiser stood in the center of the chaos and raised one arm.

Blades filled my divot as I flew out and blasted Kreig with anger in one hand and sadness with the other. Vista dropped the now empty brothel on Kaiser, which distracted him from his assault to create a dome of interlocking blades above him to catch the falling ruins. The enraged Ward then put all her power into expanding Dean’s beams.

Krieg knelt under the assault as his aura swirled chaotically.

With both telekinetics indispose, Brian’s darkness filled the room. In the concealment, I flew to Othala and tapped her exposed ear. When Victor’s invulnerability ran out, I tapped him as well.

Menja retrieved her unfrozen spear and swatted the unseeing Stormtiger and Cricket into walls before stomping Alabaster through the floorboards. With a thrust of speed, I tapped Alabaster’s shoeless foot and grabbed Stormtiger’s elbow. Amy begrudgingly sealed his internal bleeding, and then we did the same for Cricket. One by one, Alec commanded the nerve mapped Nazis to fall unconscious. 

After a few seconds, Alabaster woke up and ran in a random direction. Ignore him. He can do very little against a cape like us.

Unfortunately, we weren’t strong enough to touch Krieg. I had bugs try to drop through his field, but they suffocated before reaching him. We could try to make a gaseous bug. How different would that be from the amorphous one? That would take too much time.

We still had to capture Kaiser, who strained to hold up the ceiling with an ever increasing number of shafts, blades, and pillars.

I flew at the fascist Atlas yet again and barely noticed breaking a thin string of metal. From all sides, metal spikes punched at my form. The first one crumbled as it broke our forcefield while the rest perforated me like a porcupine.

Kaiser turned in our direction with a satisfied aura. “Got you.”

Pain blossomed in every limb as metal wormed its way through muscle, down veins, and into bone. Our marrow was blended by the sprouting steel as our armor did little to prevent being spitted. I couldn’t tell if it was just our blood or if our armor plates really did shift to red. Laughter gurgled out my shredded throat, jerking the spike in my brain, causing minor seizures until my body routed around every problem.

“You thought I only came with one plan? If Victor couldn’t neutralize you, then there was always the option to seal you at the bottom of the ocean in a coffin of my own making. If you didn’t survive, then all I would have to do is cow a gaggle of unruly children.” His aura became prideful. “You asked what the Empire is. I’ll tell you. The Empire is ME. You can break all my lieutenants, capture all my soldiers, and burn my businesses to the ground, but as long as I stand, so will my Empire.”

I spat blood in his face. Disgust filled his aura, but it wasn’t my blood. It was the suit’s, and Amy repurposed it into a neurotoxin meant to cause one thing: Pain. That’s for Fleur, asshole.

When the ichor leaked through the fine mesh over his eyes, Kaiser began to scream as the toxin tickled every pain receptor in his brain for a singular and enviable experience.

Vista narrowed the metal sprues holding us as Victoria’s forcefield flickered back into place. I spun in a tornado of agony as we ripped out of our prison and tackled the Nazi leader to the ground.

Kaiser wasn’t coherent enough to resist us as we ripped through his layered shell to get to the fascist center. Each pull of my hands ground lingering spikes into my joints like the world’s worst case of bone spurs. As my vision blurred, I took a moment to rip the blade from my brainpan, causing me to blackout for a second.

Whew! This was a rush. My blood sprayed everywhere as we continued digging through his self healing armor, a technique of Kaiser’s so reflexive that he managed it while experiencing the worst agony possible.

Sadly, Amy’s cocktail would do nothing for me, so I had to be satisfied with the current torture that came at the cost of far too many lives. We would have to train our powers and improve our teamwork. No one had to die tonight, and they won’t the next time.

As the last layer pulled away, I grabbed Max Anders’ face. This may derail Dean’s betrothal to Theo. THAT was never happening. He’ll probably be beside himself with his dad in prison. This would be the perfect time to make a move. Ew no. After Alec knocked him out, I took the time to heal him from Amy’s toxin and erase the memories of its effects. He doesn’t deserve that. No, he doesn’t, but we deserve to be merciful.

Alabaster handed me a towel from upstairs to wash off. Alec found it easier to keep constant control over the regenerator. As I rubbed my helmet and hands, I saw that Krieg had disappeared. It may not be a perfect sweep, but we took down most of E88. They’ll never be the same after this.

That was a pleasing thought.

I dragged Kaiser with me to the edge of the room as Vista raised the floor into a ramp and expanded a hole to the street.

Outside, I saw Dauntless chasing a fleeing Purity while Lady Photon trapped Rune in a forefield cylinder. Molten slag surrounded their fight as a panting Laserdream floated by her mother. Armsmaster and the rest of the Wards were securing an unconscious Crusader.

I dumped Kaiser at Armsmaster’s feet, and he radiated a very pleased aura in defiance of the civilian death toll around us.

He patted my shoulder. “Phenomenal work. Do you need help removing the…?” He gestured at the various bits of metal jutting out of my armor.

“No, I got it.” was what I intended to say, but it came out as meaty splutters. Instead, I gave our mentor a thumbs up and then floated to the roof of a nearby apartment complex.

I watched the moon’s reflection in the bay as I pulled out each metal barb one by one. The delightful process kept me in the forefront as the rest used our swarm to locate wounded survivors. There were not many in this category. Those attacked by Fog or Kaiser died almost immediately. The rest were those who tripped while running away. Nothing needed our immediate attention.

We broke the Empire. Alec watched through Alabaster eye’s as PRT agents navigated the ruins to secure and arrest the unconscious capes. They’ve haunted this city for decades... They targeted us, and they lost.

The victory was a little too bloodsoaked to feel good about it, but we changed the city tonight. That has to be worth something. How many more people would they have hurt or killed if we didn’t take them down tonight? We can do better.

I ripped the last piece of metal from my system and sat on the lip of the roof. Taylor flew bugs to us, and Amy used the biomass to repair our armor. If we were a little stronger, or a little faster, we could have caught Krieg. Chris’s mind whirled with new ideas.

We still had room to grow.

It was a comforting feeling, but… Fights aren’t where our true struggles are.

I glanced at my hands and saw the colors shifting across our hues. I guess my turn is done.

Who are we right now?

The colors whirled as a sense of unreality consumed our mind. After an indeterminate amount of time, the moon had marched across the sky and our color had settled to silver.

Who had that shade again? Why did the idea of spending the night in Victoria’s room give me a strange funny feeling?

I saw Laserdream floating down to take me back home, and that made me more nervous than facing down Kaiser.

Get a grip, man! You can handle this! I slapped the sides of my helmet to shake off the weird feeling.

The voices whispered encouraging thoughts, especially Victoria, as I flew up to meet my sort of relative.

Chapter 15

When we returned to the Dallon household, we found Aisha watching the news in the living room with a large bag of potato chips and a 2L of the generic cola brand Carol buys to avoid accidental endorsements.

The breaking news wasn’t our protracted battle. Circus led a team of parahumans to bust out Uber and Leet from the PHQ holding facilities. The team then went on a crime spree through the wealthiest homes in the Bay while Protectorate resources were focused elsewhere. I see Coil was quick to assemble a team of Othersiders. Their purpose will be the same as ours: to embarrass the PRT. Masterminds were always such a pain in the ass. They were like a weed. If you didn’t pull out the root, their organizations grew right back. I—

“Aisha! This is far past your bedtime, and you know that there is no eating on the sofas.” Seeing Brandish, in full costume, try to wrangle my sister was so surreal that I wonder if every moment after my death has been a vivid hallucination.

“Okay.” Aisha stood and started walking out the room.

“Excuse me? Pick up your mess.”

“Do you want me to clean or go to bed?”

“Put away your snack and then go to bed after brushing your teeth.” Irritation flared in Carol’s aura.

“Alright…” Aisha leaned forward and grabbed the chip bag by the middle. She then jerked up and spilled potato chips all over the coffee table. “Ah shit.” She yawned. “I’m so sleepy… makes me clumsy.” The girl then settled to her knees and proceeded to eat chips off the table one at a time.

“Young lady, what do you think you are doing?”

Aisha radiated amusement, “I’m cleaning.”

“You’re eating.”

“Yeah, what else would I do? It’s not like they can go back into the bag.”

“Throw them away.”

Aisha gasped. “And waste food!” Her aura wasn’t shocked in the slightest.

Guilt streaked into Carol’s aura. “Yes. They’re only two dollars. We obviously don’t want you devouring half a bag of chips before bed.”

“Bag and half.”

“What?”

“I already had one bag.”

“Just…” Carol closed eyes and breathed in and out. “Go to bed.”

“Okay…”

I escaped upstairs with Aisha while Victoria and Amy tried to dissuade Taylor from cleaning the mess with an army of ants.

Aisha bumped my shoulder. “Why are you still in your armor, you dork?”

“I…” I looked down at my silver ceramic covered frame. Biomedical muscles ripple as the suit pumped nutrients through its living tissue. The sight was alien and strange, but less so than seeing someone else’s human body. “...will take it off in Victoria’s room.”

“Did you go crime-fighting commando or do you like bending the floorboards?”

“Shit.” The Dallon house was not rated for power armor. I ejected, releasing a small burst of mist. The armor’s plates turned white as Alec took the creature downstairs to wait in the garage.

“Oo, nice onesie. The fingerless gloves were a bold choice.”

“It’s a bodysuit made from mutated spider silk.”

“Yeah yeah, any chance I can get a pair of pajamas like that.”

I have nothing better to do. “Sure, Taylor will make you one.”

“Oh… I didn’t expect for you to actually do it… Do you need my size?”

“No, Taylor took the measurements with gnats as we talked.”

“Ah… well… thanks.” Aisha then absconded to her room, leaving me in the hallway with my skintight outfit.

That persistent discomfort spiked with each step to the bathroom. I wanted to take another darkness shower, but Taylor and Victoria were adamant about washing our hair tonight. When I caught myself in the mirror, I expected the same gut punch Carlos felt.

Instead, I laughed. There was something weird about seeing Taylor’s face in the mirror, but I didn’t have the same skin crawling feeling.

At first.

I wasn’t certain what triggered it, but I suddenly felt suffocated in the suit. That cloying trapped sensation only got worse as I peeled myself out of it. 

Once I stripped, I closed my eyes, and the sense of wrongness faded.

Man, fuck me. 

I wasn’t built for this shit. All my life, I’ve only had to accept different people, being one fucking sucked, and I hated it. Ah shit, sorry. That wasn’t a good thought. There is a lot about our situation that is difficult.

Right, instead of bitching, I should get to it.

With spatial flexes, I mapped out the shower and only opened my eyes long enough to determine which bottle was shampoo and which was conditioner. The following cleanse was almost automatic as I followed along with Taylor’s own muscle memories. It wasn’t until the end that my mind started screaming.

There wasn’t any other way to describe it. No one else in my head started shouting, but it was like every neuron was on fire and demanded an immediate end to whatever was happening.

What the fuck was my malfunction?

I managed to dry off without issue and wrap our hair into a towel before walking to Victoria’s room. This time, the discomfort didn’t spike.

This was so frustrating. I should be thankful to not feel the same constant hell as Carlos, but a similar experience struck at seemingly random times.

Whatever… I’ll go to sleep and let someone else handle this shit tomorrow.

Inside Victoria’s closet, I looked for sleepwear. Thankfully, she had regular-ass pajamas. The sexy lingerie is in that drawer. The idea amused me, which was puzzling. I slipped into the clothes and then into her bright colored bed. My heart raced as a nervous energy filled my limbs. The fabric of the sleepwear was a little softer than I used to, and I wasn’t used to the smoothness of our skin on it.

None of that bothered me.

As I tossed and turned to sleep, waves of revulsion and panic would hit me out of nowhere. When I laid spread-eagle, the bone-deep, mind-scratching wrongness stopped.

I froze.

This was as comfortable as I could get. I held the position until I drifted off to sleep.

“Beep beep beeeep!”

My fist smashed the alarm clock and cracked the nightstand. Hey! We didn’t need a stupid alarm. Don’t break my stuff! And you would have stayed sleeping otherwise. Yeah. We should sleep until we’re done sleeping. We have places to be! No we don’t. We have places other people want us to be.

I yawned and stretched as I sat up, causing Angelica and Brutus to jump from the bed. Taylor’s bugs felt Judas in Aisha’s bed. Stupid Dennis must have slept through them coming home. Wait. Why am I stupid? I pictured making him a cone so that he freaked out less. What are you implying? We share thoughts. Figure it out.

A low whistle summoned Judas as I took the other two downstairs to let them out. Judas’s motion roused Aisha, who had wisely disabled her alarm.

After my dogs relieved themselves, I fed and watered them. Hmm, Carol bought good dog food, better than the stuff I could normally afford.

Before I could grab a can for myself, Mark entered the kitchen with a yawn. “Do omelets sound good?”

“Sure.” I put the can in my pocket for later. Ugh… I’m getting that feeling like we’re committing a social faux pas… Me too, but I can’t remember why. Is eating food from cans wrong? No, cowboys eat beans from cans and that’s fine. Then I don’t know either.

While Mark cooked breakfast, I let Victoria move our body to get ready. I didn’t really care what we wore. This is kind of a weird partial control. Nah, I’m just doing what you want to do. It’s easy. See, we’re blending together! No we’re not!

That launched another round of the same stupid discussion if a bunch of people in one head were really different people. Obviously, we kind of were and also kind of weren’t. So, which is it, oh wise one? Does it have to be one or the other?

Too many of us had an opinion on this topic, causing a floaty feeling and making our motions less careful, which caused me to fuck up the lipstick.

Could you all shut up and focus?

Once the annoying activity was over, I slapped on our mood bracelet and went downstairs to eat a fresh omelet with Brian’s sister and two new people who decided to be my parents.

“Elbows off the table, dear.” Carol pointed at me as she sipped her coffee. I wrapped my arms around my plate and pulled it closer before shoveling in a couple more bites. “Why are you doing that?”

“I’m not letting you throw this away.”

Carol’s aura pulsed with confusion. “Why would I throw away your food?”

Right, my last foster mom did that whenever she didn’t like our table manners, but Carol didn’t. I relaxed a little and only occasionally glanced at the woman to make sure she didn’t come for my omelet.

“Ahem, I want to emphasize that this house will always have food in it that you are always free to eat.”

“Cool.”

A peaceful silence fell around the table as everyone focused on eating and not talking to each other. Sure, that’s a way to spin a Dallon family meal.

My dogs and Aisha left with Carol while Mark took me to Winslow. The car ride was quiet until Mark opened his mouth, “So, who are you today?”

“Does it matter?”

“I thought that was important to you.”

“Some of us make a big deal out of it.”

“But not you.”

“Probably.”

“Probably?”

“That’s what I said.” I leaned against the window and felt the cool glass on my forehead. The world rushed by at speeds slower than I or my dogs could move. Stupid secret identities. Without them, we could ride to school. Instead, I rode in a metal box to spend the entire day away from my dogs while I couldn’t even watch over them. When were we getting more of the extendy bugs? The what? The bugs that let us control more bugs. Relay bugs? That’s what I said. After school during normal Ward hours. Tagg only wanted everyone out last night.

“Are you not sure?”

This won’t end. “That’s what I said.”

“Um, why aren’t you sure?”

“I don’t know!” All these questions were stupid. Why won’t he just shut up?

“Do you not know who you are right now?”

“That’s what I said.” Why are people so stupid? You could be nicer to my dad. I am being nice…

“Does that happen often? The not knowing part.”

“Yeah. We hear everyone’s thoughts, but we have to figure out who is who on our own.” Was this my thought or Terry’s? It was hard to know and sometimes we got it wrong. Which was fine.

His aura streaked with worry. “Um, I thought it was a little more clear-cut, that you were all still your own people.”

“Sure, but we got one head. Shit gets muddled.”

“Don’t swear,” Mark said reflexively. “We’re here. Have a good day at school!”

I grunted and left the car to join the swarm of teenagers. They smelled of B.O., missed showers, sex, and sleepless desperation. Dozens of conversations yammered around me. Instead of fading into meaningless noise, I could parse and understand each one, none of which I wanted to hear.

Closer to Taylor’s locker, the whispers became about her. People were giggling and talking enough that I knew what to expect when I opened it.

Inside, the contents had been covered with shaving cream, piles of it.

Behind me, Taylor’s ex laughed and pointed—Woah, she is not my ex. Ex-friend. Yes, but… You’re doing this on purpose. I imagined ruffling Taylor’s hair before turning to face the little bitch. She had been yapping about us clearly needing this much shaving cream to yada yada yada.

I shoved a pink chew bone in her mouth. “Shhh.” When Emma bit down and stopped talking, the crowd burst with amusement. I then left for class, leaving an angry Emma sputtering and turning red with frustration.

After a couple hallways, the tension left me. I wasn’t sure if that would work. Why wouldn’t it work? Well, I hadn’t tried redirection techniques on humans before. Why not? Because I didn't realize how similar they were to dogs. Well Rachel, I'm glad our mind meld has helped you overcome some of your biases. The words I used didn't mean I disliked certain people. That's what those words mean. I didn't like any people! Hmmmmm.

Eh whatever.

Before all of this happened, I would have beat up a girl like Emma for messing with me. Now, I could see that she was heavily traumatized and couldn’t handle punishment. Hopefully, the bone distracts her all day.

The classes flew by as I barely paid attention. The others did that and the schoolwork for me when they weren’t fly-racing in the vents or competing to see who could spin the best web. It was a way to kill time while our awareness of the city was cut off. Is Coil changing bases while we’re distracted? Either that, or he is using the time to install a new countermeasure to keep us out.

I wasn’t worried about the old boss. What was he going to do against us? He could attack our families or your dogs. But then we just kill him, right? That won't bring back the dead. Let's focus on avoiding the worst outcome.

Little we could do about that here. 

At lunch, after devouring two hamburgers, an order of turkey noodles, and a scoop of mash potatoes with neon green gravy, I retrieved my can of ‘Blue Buffalo’s Lamb Dinner’ and popped the lid open, releasing the scents of wet processed meat and pressed vegetable slurry.

The aroma and comforting tastes were—“Taylor, are you eating dog food?” Sally asked with almost aghast wonder. “That’s the brand we feed ours at home… I’ve always been morbidly curious if it tasted good. So does it?”

No, it doesn’t. I remembered a snowstorm and huddling under a bridge with my dogs as we waited for it to blow over. We had a tarp over our heads to keep in the warmth as we spent days trying not to freeze to death. All we had to eat was dry kibble and a few cans of wet dog food. With the blizzard raging, it was too cold to scrounge for anything else, not that there was anything else for miles. We were between towns when the weather turned.

So, in all of that, the wet food was like a treat to break up the dried pellets and snow. It made each of my dogs very happy, which made me happy. Ever since then, cans like these reminded me of that pile wiggling with anticipation.

That’s why I still ate it, to remember a moment of peace during a storm, and all the other times I ran out of food before my dogs.

But I couldn’t tell Sally any of that. Suddenly, I wanted to be anywhere but here as our mood bracelet turned gray.

Sally still waited for an answer as more of the table turned to our conversation. I chewed the nearly flavorless mush in my mouth as I scrambled for anything to say. Shit, I didn’t really talk to teenagers—Except for constantly—That’s in my head. So?

Goddammit, okay, what would Victoria do? Probably play it off as a joke. “Ummm, it tastes a lot like our cafeteria food.” My cheeks burned as beads of sweat formed on my neck.

“Pfff, I’ll agree on the dry cardboard they call hamburgers, but the turkey noodles are fine.” Sally leaned forward to whisper, “Hey, don’t eat that here. It’s a little too weird.”

“Yeah…” I lowered the can into our bag and cringed inward on myself.

Sally shook my shoulder. “Relax. You’re among friends.” Sally then leaned back and turned to a boy. “Derek, what’s up with cape news?”

“Huh?” The boy peaked up from his phone. “Oh it’s wild. E88 got rolled last night and is basically defunct, but the news channels are only talking about robberies. Even the mayor had his house broken into by that clown squad. When asked to explain how this could happen, the new PRT head said the heroes were focused on a different part of the city ‘cause, you know, they were arresting Nazis. Well, I’m guessing the rich people were really upset at being woken up, so…”

The conversation shifted to the machinations of the Othersiders, allowing me to discreetly dispose of my trash.

For the rest of lunch, I got to share in the Ward experience of listening to your peers talk about events you were personally involved in while being entirely unable to correct misconceptions or answer questions they had. My friends thought I wasn’t interested in cape stuff because I would get so quiet.

The rest of school was weird. Boys would stare at me as I walked past with varying levels of lust in their auras. At first, I was flattered but that quickly morphed into being grossed out. Couldn’t we dress in a way that was pretty enough to go unremarked? Not with your previous reputation, but we could tone it down now.  

In math class, my bugs saw that Emma kept her chew bone in her book bag. I knew she was just hiding it there, but I had a mental picture of her running home and burying it in her backyard for later.

Apparently, my thoughts were visible because as I slid into the unmarked PRT van with Sophia and Alec piloting our armor. She asked, “What’s so funny?”

I looked out the window. I really didn’t want to deal with her. We might be Wards together, but she could wait until someone else was piloting.

The van pulled away from school as Sophia’s aura took on a sharp quality. “Oh, you finally decided to show your face. You done hiding behind everyone else, Hebert?”

“What do you want?”

“Me!? I’m not the one who murdered all the Wards.”

“I only killed Clockblocker. I was supposed to kill Aegis, and then Clock was supposed to freeze me until help arrived, but that plan didn’t work out.”

“Bullshit. I saw the report. Panacea, Gallant, Regent, and Browbeat also had bugs in them.”

“We were working together after Amy lost it. A lot happened, but I obviously wasn’t responsible for their deaths, or I would have inherited sooner.”

“That’s not how laws work, dipshit.”

“Oh you would know.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sophia’s aura took on a dangerous hue as she bared her teeth.

“I think you know exactly what Tattletale figured out.” I knew about the bodies. Our bugs found them in the hunt for Bakuda and Coil. There weren’t many people who could fuse objects into a person, and also left bolt holes in them. The evidence was solid.

A little bit of worry flickered in her aura. “But you aren’t going to tell anyone… Why? You could finally get me in trouble, so what gives?”

“We’ve taken out enough Wards.” Tattletale thought there might be political ramifications if we did anything, but I didn’t care about that. I had to believe killers could still be heroes. The other heroes’ outrage was also mitigated by how hypocritical it would have been. The only one who had any right to be upset was Vista, and she couldn’t care less. Oh no, the violent vigilante was violent. The PRT tolerated her because she was never caught, not because they thought she never had an accident or six. It—Surely Piggot didn’t know—Oh she knew. Vigilantes tend to kill people. We all knew that.

“Suit yourself.” Sophia’s tone was gruff, but her aura was a mix of anger, worry, relief, and companionship as she too stared out the window.

Neither of us spoke to each other for the car ride nor for the walk down to the Ward’s lounge. Tandem met us there in full costume. “As intense as last night was, I’m ready for a regular patrol.”

What would they do if I slipped away to a dog shelter and healed them instead? Tagg would be irate if we didn’t follow orders. And? He controls whether or not we are sent to the asylum. That’s dumb. Alec opened up our armor so I could put on the brown suit and do whatever bullshit the boss wanted today. When did I switch out?

Sophia was also fully dressed before a PRT officer with an intense aura stepped off the elevator. “You have new orders.” The agent wore her dark hair in a tight bun that revealed a face with sharp features and very little fat. The way she stalked forward with most of the weight on the balls of her feet reminded me of Sophia. Her severe tan probably meant she was ex-military like a lot of the agents Tagg brought with him. She—Severe tan? Taylor, she’s Hispanic. I… I knew that. Taylor did not know that. Look I—The officer wasn’t wearing her arm or leg protection, but she still wore the vest along with two confoam grenades, which was a lot of weight to casually carry around as a normal person. She either practiced extreme professional readiness or was extremely paranoid, possibly both. “A few of Myriad’s special bugs were collected and turned in by civilians. Tagg wants you to round them up. Furthermore, you are not allowed to spread untested organisms into the environment. All creations need to go through the same screening and testing as tinker devices. Are we clear?”

The bugs weren’t going to hurt anything, but if this was what the boss wanted. “Sure.” Tattletale prodded me. “We found Coil’s hideout. Without the exten—Relay Bugs, we can’t confirm that.”

“Give me the address and the PRT will get a warrant.” 

After I told her the location, Tandem offered the agent her hand. “Hi, I’m Tandem. Nice to meet you, and you are?”

The agent let out a long breath and some of the tension left her shoulders. “Right, I forgot.” She shook Tandem’s hand. “I’m Officer Hadley. I’ll be your PRT contact going forward.”

“I thought the Director handled the Wards personally.”

“Them or the deputy director. This was a sudden promotion for me, but it’s Tagg’s orders. He doesn’t want captains or higher interfacing with the Wards.”

“How unusual.”

Shadow Stalker pointed a thumb at me. “He probably doesn’t want Myriad puppeting any of them.”

Hadley's eyes widened as Tandem scowled. “That’s a lot of mistrust to have in a Ward.”

“Eh, Piggy debated giving me an ankle monitor. In their eyes, us probationary Wards are basically criminals.”

Tandem sighed. “Let’s get this over with.”

After we picked up my dogs from the kennel, I wasted time flying around to gather bugs into buckets on Brutus, Judas, and Angelica’s backs.

“Why do you have so many bugs!?” Green Tandem complained. During our long patrol, I coaxed Angelica into letting Green ride her. She refused to let Purple Tandem ride her. Purple wasn’t offended. She said animals always disliked her. I didn’t trust people like that.

I also didn’t have an answer to Kate’s question. Instead, I flew down another alley and healed a homeless dog sleeping there while Taylor ferried more of our bugs to the buckets with dragonflies and beetles.

Sophia remained outwardly still and yawned a lot, but whenever we all mounted up and rode to the next collection site, her aura filled with joy. Her and Brutus were getting along more every day.

The sunset bathed the sky in shades of orange and red by the time we were finished. Tandem turned the bug buckets purple and slid them with her into the PRT building while Sophia stalked off to the locker room.

I mounted Judas and rode to the Dallon’s house at the front of the pack. Since everyone knew the Dallon sisters were part of Myriad, we didn’t have to be subtle.

All four of us could smell dinner before we entered the house. Carol had attempted to make fried chicken. The batter was falling off, but you could just pick it up and put it back on the chicken. It didn’t change the flavor. Thankfully, she gave my dogs proper food.

When Aisha tried to give them her leftovers, I firmly explained why dogs couldn’t have chicken bones. She then carefully cut off her scraps and snuck them to my dogs.

People chatted about things I didn’t care about, and Aisha did something to make Carol mad with the napkins. I was getting tired and barely paid attention.

Once dinner finished, I left with Danny. The last time Taylor had slept in her own bed was before anyone else was in her head.

Danny started his sedan and pulled out of the driveway. “So… it’s been a while since we had a chance to talk alone.”

I imagined grabbing Taylor by the scruff of her neck and shoving her forward. “It… has.”

“I need to ask, but how much of this is real? Are they really all in your head or are you pretending so they don’t throw the book at you.”

The others really didn’t like that question. “I’m not pretending.”

“Then everything they said is…” His question fell off.

“It’s true. I’m like the Butcher, but without the psychopathy—for the most part. Alec is really messed up.” My life did improve from all of this.

My dad was quiet for several moments. “Do you want to tell me about them, all the other kids I’m raising?”

I asked the others before answering. “They would like that.”

We were up very late as I told my dad about all my new friends and the adventures we were having. I saw his concern, but there was also love and a genuine interest in what we were doing. The rift that had been growing between us slowly mended the more we talked until I felt like we were closer than ever.

I went to bed that night the happiest I’ve been since Mom died.

Chapter 16

Knock.

Knock.

“Honey, are you awake? You're going to be late for school.”

I groaned in response.

Curses! Despite cleverly disabling the alarm without the others noticing—no small feat mind you—my machinations to sleep in were foiled by Danny Hebert. How did you do something without us noticing? Easy, I mainly thought about topics that bored the rest of you while sparing the barest effort to move the right bug into position. Did you think sharing a brain with me meant I couldn’t outsmart you? Hahahaha!

I posed for my dramatic maniacal laughter as I hammed it up, solidifying my place as primary as the rest cringed away. Every thought was a move on the chessboard with twelve other opponents. My personality was merely a weapon to be molded to the situation. That seems a needlessly hostile outlook in an otherwise copacetic headspace. Who’s talking?

Pushing that uncertainty out of my mind, I directed Taylor to call forth the swarm. Beetles flew to my finger tips, and I morphed them into living press-on purple nails with a single dark eye decorating the center. Several of the actual boys fell back further as I fanned my hand out to admire them.

Dennis still felt present, so I put on a pair of skinny jeans to push the more fashion flexible boy away. After that, I searched Taylor’s closet and found a novelty ‘Florida University’ T-shirt WAY in the back. This article of clothing brought Alec closer, which pushed everyone else away. Geesh, here I thought we were all starting to get along. With his mirth came the flickers of things he would rather forget about.

I suppressed a shudder from those thoughts and the feeling of spiders combing my hair as darkness exfoliated my skin. Ah, going for a Disney villainous vibe. Just because we were going to fade into a chaotic ego maelstrom didn’t mean I had to go quietly. Which is it? Are we blurring together or is this an unescapable prison? Both can’t be true.

Taylor had plenty of bracelets and necklaces to accessorize with as I tried not to think about that question. I loathed how we were all blending on the backend, stripping us of our individuality, but at the same time, we would still think we were ourselves. I might not be Tattletale anymore, but I’ll continue to delude myself into believing that.

This was hell. I was in hell.

Taylor flew a butterfly on my nose and had it flap its wings until I realized I was hyperventilating. The emotional bleed-through was already getting to me. I needed more distance. To push the panic prone Chris further away, I petted the other Undersiders sleeping in Taylor’s bed. None of them were eager to get up.

“Breakfast is ready!” The muffled sounds of Danny’s voice echoed from below along with the clattering of plates and the wafting scents of fried foods. The canine piles roused immediately and rushed downstairs.

As we followed them, I tapped away at our phone to look through the latest articles. It was hard to focus on them as the spread on the table called to us. There was buttered toast with cinnamon, over easy eggs with runny yolks, oatmeal infused with chopped fruit, sausage patties, bacon, and tall glasses of orange juice.

“You mentioned needing to eat more, and well… the grocery bills have been lower recently… So make sure to eat up!” Danny sat down with a contented aura and dug into his own reasonably proportioned plate.

I showed no such restraint and made full use of our unhinging jaw and not needing to breathe. A brief period of homelessness does wonders for the appetite. My phone was briefly forgotten as I devoured this smorgasbord.

When my feasting finished, Danny had a bemused aura. “Can I give you a hug before you go?” He stood and opened his arms.

I stiffened and sucked in a breath. Relaxed stance, yellow aura with hints of green; is being sincere. I didn’t particularly want to, but he was Taylor’s dad and one of our staunchest advocates. We needed him, Taylor especially.

Hesitantly, I stood and accepted his embrace.

Warm.

My own father never hugged me like this. Hell, he only hugged me in public like I was an ornament to brandish. Most of me had given up on the idea of fathers. Unfortunately, Taylor and the others hadn’t, so I felt comforted and secure through them.

Goddammit, you all need to keep your feelings to yourself, or I’m going to ruin our makeup. Hmmm, I know I don’t remember being a blonde five year old girl wondering where the Christmas tree and her parents were. You can shut up. I wasn’t thinking about that. Ah, and then it turned out both were too busy with work and forgot about it, so the only present you received was a large white teddy bear from your brother Reggie. It had magnetic claps in the hands that let it hug you. Is that right? Oh sorry, right. This was emotional bleed from someone else.

I pulled away from Danny and didn’t discreetly pad my eyes with a napkin. “I don’t want to miss the bus.” I grabbed our satchel and phone before rushing out of there. Danny waved us off and shouted his goodbyes after us.

By the time the bus arrived, I had composed myself from Taylor’s overwhelming parental affection. I like to think I love my dad, but that wasn’t all me. Poor deluded Taylor. Rather than continue to focus on that, I kept browsing the new articles, especially the ones about the same day the bank happened. What were we a distraction for?

I didn’t look up when the bus came and navigated via hidden spiders in my hair. My real eyes were busy.

One girl on the bus whispered rude things about me, so I opened an ‘anonymous’ chat the kids used to bully others and started rumors about her being pregnant. She was extremely self conscious about a belly bulge that was probably just fat. A few sock puppets agreeing with me later, and it was a rumor spreading through Winslow with the main discussion being about who the father was.

It was almost nostalgic how similar this was to my original high school experience.

Since I couldn’t be arsed to do schoolwork, I had Victoria do it. Huh, I’m not doing anything? No, of course you are, look this is how you would do the assignment, right? What the hell? But I was busy spinning webs with Dean. How did this… Victoria looked back through our memories. Dammit Tats, you pretended to be me as a secondary thought process. That can’t be right…

The same thing happened multiple times that day. I thought someone else did something, but instead, it was me pretending to be them.

OK Lisa, focus.

Lisa? No, I considered myself Tattletale. Oh fucknuggets, I was also pretending to be myself. Well, that explained losing track. My actual self was a layer removed and using Taylor’s multitasking to be herself and other people at the same time.

I pulled my masks closer, and the confusion lessened.

“Taylor, are you alright?” Sally caught me on the way out from school. “You kind of hunched over and mumbled to yourself.”

“Just a few mantras, don’t worry about it.” Laughter filled my mind as all the little faces I wore commented on the exchange. I’ve been getting into the bad habit of splitting my focus through them so that I could do more at any given time. My masks were flatter than the other people. While each would act differently depending on the circumstance, they weren’t that different from me—except for the copies of the others. Ah, figured it out! The smug part of my mind finished researching on our phone as I entered the van with Sophia.

“Damn Hebert, you look out of it.”

“Give me a sec.”

Focus. Focus. Focus. Only wear one mask; layering them is fine. Don’t use Taylor’s power.

Slowly, my thoughts reordered. That was interesting. Could you pretend to be me again? We were having a lovely conversation on how copies of the same person could meaningfully converse. No, not right now. But you could later? That might be a way for me to effectively primary again. The rest try really hard to not act like the others because they are worried about losing their individuality, but you seem unconcerned by the dilemma.

I mentally scowled at Terry. It’s really easy to act like someone else when you have full access to their personality. The subterfuge could be important if we blended into one person or if I needed to act like someone else.

Besides, it’s not like I wasn’t always pretending. Who’s the real Tattletale? Did it really matter? None of us are really all that different. There are no fixed rules between how much our consciousnesses merge or don’t. Why are you talking to ‘yourself’? You know, if we really aren’t different people.

…

Alec had me there. I still disagree about your merging assertion, and so do you when you act like me. With the—Hey, wait a minute. If Tattletale can pretend to be us, could she be doing that to trick us into thinking we thought certain thoughts? The collective started pouring through our memories from my perspective. God, it’s hard to parse, but it’s there.

Oops. Busted.

Alec cackled. And I thought my influence was subtle.

The collective wasn’t happy with me at the moment, but their feelings weren’t worth our life and freedom.

By the time I pulled back together, Sophia’s aura radiated concern. “Is this when you go crazy?”

“Like you’re a bastion of mental stability. I have voices in my head. What’s your excuse?”

“I don’t hunch over with my head in between my knees and mutter to myself.”

“Nooo, you’ve just been running around at night beating up people since you were 12. Behavior like that screams well adjusted.”

“You’re the one who went on a killing spree.”

Two gun shots released two bullets and one Amy Dallon, who… “That was more like a dying spree. We experienced far more dying than murder. 78 deaths to 12 murders…” Six of us were there for mine. Still not sorry.

“Wow. You lost nearly a hundred fights. I knew you were a loser, but I’m impressed at the commitment.” Her aura was mocking.

I was about to open my mouth when the rest of the collective held me back. We don’t need to start a fight. I didn’t start it, but I can finish it. Say you ‘win’; what does that look like? I doubted Sophia would walk away chastened. She would probably take a swing at me or impale us with her power. Which is an interteam incident report, the exact kind of thing you wanted us to avoid. I could talk our way out of it. Goddamn, settle down. Don’t tell me what to do Mr. ‘refuses to tell Sophia she replicated a hate crime’. Super Mature. Hey don’t—

We bickered internally until we reached the PRT building. Before suiting up, I wandered through the offices until I found a certain out of costume hero doing his paperwork in a more relaxing environment.

“Hey Rory!” I peeked into his cube and bared my teeth at him in a way familiar to me. I meant it as a threat, but few responded to it like one. People are dumb.

The man startled and paused his music. “Taylor? Don’t you have internship work to do?”

“Yeah yeah, in a minute. I was looking into anything that coincided with the Bank.” Rory’s aura intensified with his focus. “Really strange how your cousin went missing on the same day. Just yoinked from her home.”

“The family is keeping that quiet as we look into it. How do you know?”

“Kids these days and social media: they put everything about themselves online and act like no one will notice. Well, not Dinah, but her friends do, and it’s not like her neighbors didn’t notice the police visiting. It took a lot of digging but it matches up.”

“There has been no ransom demand yet.”

“And there won’t be! Funny how her friends noticed she had been missing school due to migraines. The condition is more common than thinker headaches, but having migraines and being kidnapped during major supervillain activity? Come on, that can only mean one thing.”

“You think Dinah has powers and that Coil kidnapped her.”

I leaned in and whispered in his ear. “I told you all he was dangerous. This isn’t over until he’s taken down.” We’re not killing him. You say that now.

Rory pushed his paperwork aside and balled his fists. “Thank you for the speculation… I think you should get back to your internship.”

By the time he turned around, I was already gone. Another arrow loose towards Coil was a good use of my time. Unfortunately, the rest of this Ward nonsense didn’t look promising. Taylor’s bug overhead Officer Hadley explaining to Shadow Stalker and Tandem that we had a PR event scheduled at the mall closer to Taylor’s house.

I groaned internally as I braced for the event.

When we got there, I had Dean make the signatures and perform small talk with our adoring fans while Rachel used our dog-bug to lead the other Undersiders around to entertain children stuck in line. She increases their size enough to mask their identities. 

Surprisingly, plenty of kids wanted to pet ‘the boney dogs’. By the power of PRT marketing, villainous hellhounds became pointy but huggable heroes. I can’t believe we drew a crowd this quickly. We do have a lot of high profile villain busts under our belt now. That and people like seeing new Wards.

Shadow Stalker was trapped at the end of her own line as well, but her fans seemed to enjoy her gruff dismissals and the mild disdain she had for all of them. 

Tandem brought special harnesses that she used to fly around the room with a couple of people at a time. Transfers tend to have a difficult time getting traction with the public because they aren’t new nor do people know them. ‘New for here’ doesn’t seem to attract the people suffering from FOMO.

“J. A. N. I. C. E. Is that how you spell your name?” The bubbly girl a year older than Taylor bobbed her head. “I hope you have a super day!” My purple gauntlet thrusted the paper back to her as I moved onto the next fan. This one was a little crass and brought a collection of action figures of all the ‘fused’ Wards. He—Why are you acting like me? While I could go through the painstaking process of putting together carefully calibrated mannerism and presentation for our role as a public facing hero, it’s easier to copy you or Victoria. Have you considered being authentic? I assume you don’t want me roasting every doe-eyed sack of shit that was so easily enamored with cheap ads that they’ve come to worship glorified child cops. What’s with this scorn? You said being a cape was like a game of cops and robbers… That we were just on different teams. Taylor, honey, I lied. I’m always lying. I’d be lying right now if I knew how to. The best I’ve managed is partial truths and misdirections.

While Taylor was reeling from the idea that I may have misrepresented a life of villainy, the aura of a guy in line darkened rapidly as he stared at his phone. He looked up sharply with a wide-open mouth. “No way…” 

Auras darkened around the room as other people browsing their phones saw similar information. Parents pulled their children out of line and left. A few teens actually ran for the exits. Murmurs around the mall plaza increased as more people wondered at the source of the distress.

I picked out one word before pulling out my own phone and checking.

“Butcher.”

The story was running on multiple news networks about how the ENE PRT misrepresented their ‘New Ward’ by leaving out critical information of how our ‘fusion’ happened. Information from the ‘whistleblower’ was juxtaposed with the high civilian death toll from our fight with E88.

“Could the PRT have also left out how many collateral casualties were due to Myriad?”

Since people were starting to panic, Vista expanded the exits while Victoria let out a gentle way of awe to calm them. So far, no one was trampling each other.

Obviously, Coil leaked the information. This was a gamble by him. On one hand, the sooner he leaked our nature as a Case-16, the less time we had to normalize ourselves to the public. On the other hand, Director Tagg was our boss for barely a couple days. People might not feel like he was complicit in the coverup. Though, that downside only matters if the principal goal was to embarrass Tagg. If Coil was instead targeting us… then this was perfect timing.

Which I should have expected... I was worried about him going after the others' families or attempting to find some sort of leverage on us, but that would have been the wrong approach. Not only would New Wave be sensitive to that kind of attack, the Protectorate and PRT get particularly nasty toward villains that do that. So instead, he’s going after us politically.

It was fine. I’ll disperse the approved and tested luminescent butterflies and have them calm the crowd enough that I could give them a ‘heartfelt’ speech about how much I want to be a hero despite my ‘troubles’.

I wanted to gag, but alas, the show must go on.

As I started to hover in position, a clown leapt from the audience and swung a red lightsaber at me. I blocked it with my arm, causing Victoria’s forcefield to pop but left me unharmed as the Star Wars prop passed through me.

We shifted to yellow to let our young padawan display all those skills she earned practicing with mommy. I dodged left and then right to avoid a basic combination attack from Circus. She—looked like a clown, there wasn’t much else to say. Ridiculous, Circus, unlike most villains, had a constantly changing apparel that—yes—was always aligned with a clown theme but spoke to a more fluid and shifting nature which reflected in her more lackadaisical seeming fighting style that suited her grab-bag of powers. Tattletale’s power hinted at deeper mysteries to Circus’s identity but also confirmed that she was intentionally presenting as female right now, so there was no need to dig into that. 

As I moved to capture the villain, Taylor felt several of her bugs die as four objects zipped toward the mall. A loud clash of shattering glass caused more of the civilians to scream as Uber and Leet drove into the area with go-karts. Behind them, they pulled a trailer with Trainwreck perched upon it. This was the first time I had seen the scrap tinker. He mainly haunted the Trainyards in his makeshift power armor until—Coil recruited him. Behind him another kid blurred in like a speedster on roller skates. Chariot first appeared during Uber and Leet’s prison break. Not much was known about him. He’s been working for Coil for more than a year. Bossman didn’t ask much of him until now.

I sighed internally. The Othersiders were three tinkers, an omni-device user, and a cape with a hammerspace. If they prepared for us, then this could get complicated fast.

Shadow Stalker and Tandem moved to intercept the newcomers that were ransacking the plaza and stealing petty cash from registers. I attempted to fly after them since Circus wasn’t really a priority compared to four capes, but she threw knives at the crowd, forcing me to block them. I’ll call the bugs in. No, spiders and wasps would be a bad look right now. Fine… It’s stupid but… Taylor summoned the butterflies as Brian enveloped Circus with his darkness.

When I dashed toward the villain, she dodged and swiped her beam sword through my arm, breaking my forcefield again. Spatial sense or dangersense with enhanced reflexes is letting her dodge while blind.  

I backed off. While we wouldn’t be that bothered by losing a limb, we didn’t want to display that level of gore to the crowd. As I maintained my distance, Cirus kept throwing knives at civilians, keeping me moving to block them. I pointed at her and Dean fired beams of yellow energy at the villain. We hit her, but she quickly bent away from the attack and rolled off the stage.

We circled to the back and found no one aside from other civilians either cowering or fleeing. Taylor marked all of them with butterflies before we moved on. If Cirus wanted to run away, then we could help the other Wards. Rachel had Angelica, Brutus, and Judas at half their normal size as they beat back Trainwreck. Meanwhile, Shadow Stalker and Tandem were trying to pin down Uber, Leet, and Chariot.

Taylor flew her butterflies in their faces, causing Leet to shriek and turn his go-kart into a wall. Shadow Stalker took advantage of the pause and shot him with a tranquilizer bolt. Uber responded by tossing a bandolier of ionized smoke grenades. The resulting bluish clouds killed Taylor’s bug, smelled terrible to the canine Wards, and kept Shadow Stalker back with arcing currents.

The five of us formed a line between the smoke and the straggling civilians leaving the plaza. By the time the fog cleared, all the villains were gone. Well shit, there went our chance to calm down the crowd and address the allegations. No one got hurt. That is what was important. No, Coil won this exchange. News of our Case-16 status preceded a sudden explosion of violence. I’ll leave that to the PRT spin doctors to figure out. That was one of the big perks of being a government backed hero, not having to manage your own image. 

During the exhaustive hours of debrief and cleanup, our armor shifted to silver. Officer Hadley was pissed about the leak, but thought we handled ourselves fine. Sadly, it was determined that we would be ‘benched’ while the public was focused on the controversy. Carlos thought we needed more time to practice with our powers, and Chris was eager to have more tinkering time. These full school days are brutal.

I was mentally tired by the time my dad picked me up. He was eager to see me again after the long break. “Hey sport.”

“Hey Dad.” Our collective decided to visit our parents in a rotation. We didn’t want to highlight how quickly we had been shifting around. Luckily, it was my turn for our night with my parent.

“I uh saw the news. Is that causing problems for you?”

“A little bit but…” I sighed. “I’m way less invested than I used to be. The worst most destructive gangs are being cleaned up by regular law enforcement. Sure, new villains will pop up, but for now it’s quiet, and I barely get to be ‘around’ anyways—if that makes sense.” I grasped at the air. “Without the routine, it’s hard to stay attached. The inertia in my life is gone.”

Dad squeezed my shoulders as we drove home. “This situation is a lot to adjust to, and I really want you to have some semblance of a life.” He was quiet for a moment. “By the way, they are taking me off chemo. Thanks son. I know it was you… It is still ‘son’ right? You would let me know if that changed?”

The mind screaming came back for a second. “Yeah… still son, despite appearances…” You were the one that put all our accessories back on. They looked nice. I don’t need to explain myself.

Dad patted my shoulder before putting that hand back on the wheel. We talked about the weather and sports. I hadn’t watched any games recently. I only really watched them with Dad and our schedules hadn’t lined up recently due to the whole horrifically dying and being trapped in the head of a supervillain.

Once home, the other Wards rushed out to the backyard as the elderly Roofus waddled up to me. I spent time petting and checking the health of the half-mutt boxer while Dad roused the quiet kitchen. My parents adopted Roofus right after Mom got her heart, which made him my older brother. Bro also had cancer. That didn’t take too long to get rid of. I even asked for permission this time. He licked my face in response.

Age had also taken its toll on bro, so I undid the damage from that too as we waited for dinner. Amy… how long have you known how to de-age people? It’s not that hard to figure out, but I already couldn’t heal everyone. Could you imagine the line if I started treating people for being OLD!? Hmm, there are also ethical questions to consider if it is right to reverse aging, which Dennis clearly doesn’t care about. 

Nope!

It was strange to think my family never had to worry about medical problems again. Doctors’ visits, procedures, and mountains of pills were constants of my homelife. I might have been healthy, but one of my parents was always sick. 

Mom had to deal with the complications of a transplant the entire time I knew her. Her condition was a delicate balancing act of dozens of different factors. The doctors succeeded in keeping her heart healthy, but the immunosuppressants did increase her risk of cancer.

My Dad and I knew she was living on borrowed time, but we both hoped she would beat the odds. The sudden diagnosis of pancreatic cancer was followed by a few weeks in the hospital and a funeral. No amount of mental preparation made us ready to say goodbye.

When Dad received his own cancer diagnosis a short time later, I couldn’t process it. I nodded along and said I understood what was happening, but it didn’t sink in.

Only as I strapped in to donate bone marrow to my father did I realize I was going to lose him too. That… 

I shook myself. It didn’t matter anymore. We were past that. My father and brother were happy and healthy, and that would never change again.

“Dinner!”

A warmth filled my chest as I watched Dad set out bowls of stew with garlic bread, one of my favorite meals and one of Mom’s old recipes.

I might not be around often, but I wasn’t gone, and neither were they.

This wasn’t a bad trade.

Chapter 17

I woke up tired.

The soft glow of morning radiated through the curtains and cast an already blue room into a bluer sheen. Dennis’s bedroom was an odd mix of older teenager and immature relics from childhood. His dresser was clearly an antique with swirled filigree. He had hardwood floors and a closet with mirrored doors. The mature aspects of the room were rounded out with a glass study desk supported by a black metal frame. Dennis’s laptop sat on it, disused aside from last night when Dennis checked his social media accounts. I want to tell my friends that I’m alive. As far as they know, I’ve simply disappeared.

I couldn’t sympathise. All my friends were coworkers, and they were in this skull with me. With a groan, I leveraged myself out of Dennis’s silliest possession: a racecar bed. My mom got it for me for my birthday. I don’t know… It’s hard to give up one of the last things she left me. I wish I thought half as much about my own mother. I did wonder what Dennis’s girlfriends thought of his accommodations. Wards don’t get paid a lot, but it's enough for the occasional hotel room.

What a colossal waste of money… but it was probably cheaper than renting an apartment.

I sighed and stared at my delicate hand. Opening and closing the appendage didn’t make it seem more mine. There was so much less of me than I used to, yet I knew we were far stronger than anything I managed through long hours of hard work.

Objectively, this body was more capable and accomplished all my goals. Even the loss of time felt more like extended vacations between turns. I should be happy and content, but…

I felt trapped, off, unbalanced. While sitting down, it felt like my legs were kicked out from under me. The bedrock I built my identity on was cracked and shaken loose. The others were stirring, finding ways to busy themselves and starting conversations, witnessing my every doubt and discomfort.

There was no front I could put up, no careful leader persona to put between me and them. They saw through me. Between that exposure and the problem Carlos gave a name, I felt like shit.

Regardless, I had obligations and a role to perform to maintain Aisha’s current living situation. I really doubt Mom will kick her out now. You don’t need to worry as much anymore. Amy doubted everything was perfect in the Dallon household, but she didn’t interrupt her sister.

“What am I doing anymore?” I had a goal. It was important and took all my focus, but now it was basically complete. I’m sure you can find another raison d'être. You have to. If both of us fell back forever, then that would be terrible optics.

I put on our black mood bracelet. Wearing jewelry was a little weird, but pretty minor compared to everything else. You’re a man and see yourself as a man, but that doesn’t mean you have to cleave to a specific male stereotype. Believe me, I get how much this situation sucks, but at least you don’t need to worry about people judging you for failing to meet a specific definition of male. Aside from the gaggle of teenagers in my head. If anyone should have empathy, it’ll be them.

The buzzing in my mind increased as I stood to get ready. It was too hot today for the hoodie, and Taylor had her own reputation to maintain. When I had a skirt in one hand and a tube of lipstick in the other, I stilled. Come on, Brian. This was the expected behavior. Just buckle down and do it.

I dropped both items in our travel bag. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t fit into the Taylor shaped hole they all expected us to live in. Lame and cringe. Goddammit Alec. Pfff, bro, you’re a supervillain. Breaking the rules was our careers. A butterfly flew to my finger. If we all have to be me, then everyone should feel free to be their version of me. I don’t mind. Things… Things have actually been going really good for me. Who cares about my reputation? Victoria and Tattletale can rebuild it in a day. Do what you want.

Taylor’s face looked at me from the mirror. I guess it was my face now. I tried to will myself to see it that way and failed.

With a sigh, I put on jeans and a plain white t-shirt instead. Women’s clothing hugged the body a little too closely for my comfort. I felt exposed.

I needed something else, something to disappear in.

Inside Dennis’s closet, I rummaged around until I found a dark leather jacket that would be far too large on Taylor. I tried it on anyway and found that I liked the breezy loose fit. Why did the Ward have this? Hey, sometimes girls like bad boys. The jacket worked in the right crowds.

Inside the folds of the cool material, I felt more solid.

After taking a deep breath, I left the room to face the day.

Mr. Clockblocker didn’t notice the shift, and neither did Roofus. I didn’t dispel their illusion, but Dennis’s father asked several times if I was feeling alright.

As I left his car for school, I used Tattletale’s power to figure out why he kept asking. I didn’t say a single joke.

Did I care to act like the others? No, not really. Tats had her machiavellian plans to keep us free, and I generally supported the notion—the simple joys of life were hard to achieve in a cell or asylum—but that wasn’t my role in the team, nor was I the leader anymore. The Undersiders barely respected me, but the Wards and Dallons did not think much of me at all.

While I pondered my role and lifepath going forward, the whispers around the school filtered into my awareness. Hey Vicky, look! We’re at the center of attention. Alec, I thought we agreed you wouldn’t talk to me directly. Don’t—What are you going to do? Ruin your own life? If I want to make the occasional joke, you’ll have to deal. They were talking about Myriad. The Butcher’s rep was bad enough that opinion of our cape identity tanked by mere association.

But that should mean less people would try to mess with us. What villain group wants to move into a city with a Protectorate backed Butcher? Aside from the Teeth, you mean. I could always count on Tats to find another cloud beyond my silver lining. Think of it from their perspective. The immortal boss is their one defining feature. You think they want to share their status with a Ward? What if the Butcher wants to kill us for whatever power is making us more sane than they are? I think we’re fine. Our amalgam was two handcrafted teams plus two more prominent heroes. Meanwhile the Butcher was a collection of powers that managed to counter each other.

Carlos and I were confident that our respective teams could mitigate the problem of a Teeth incursion without either Case-16 dying. The others were fixated on it and kept talking. Victoria didn’t seem to be worried, but she heavily researched the Butcher and enjoyed sharing what she knew.

At my locker, a shadow passed behind me as I was gathering my school supplies. “Nice jacket, did your last client give that to you?”

I sighed and turned to face Emma. She didn’t have an entourage to watch our exchange. Considering how poorly the last few went, I understood not risking more of your standing. That did leave us in relative privacy. “Look girl, you got to get over whatever this weird hangup is.” I really sympathised with Taylor when it came to teenage girls spontaneously deciding they were your mortal enemy. “Whatever it is you are looking for, you won’t get here. Take whatever is left of your dignity elsewhere.”

“Y-you’re one to talk about dignity when you wetted the—” Alec, hiccups. Aye aye, boss. Alec sent me a mental picture of him giving the word’s laziest salute before stopping Emma’s rant with another diaphragm convulsion.

I grabbed her shoulders. “Hey, are you alright?” If I learned anything from dealing with Aisha, this was the easiest way to piss off teenage girls. Dude, you’re a teenage girl. Would it piss you off? I didn’t mind when Dennis’s dad asked. I… I couldn’t recall another time when someone asked me if I was doing alright.

Emma windmilled her arms out of my grip, and I let her go. When was that girl going to give up? She hasn’t even managed to talk to Taylor since the merger.

I put that minor problem out of my mind as I went through the motions of schoolwork. While I didn’t hate school, I failed to see a point in it. It’s not like we would become a computer programmer or go to college. I managed to balance cape life with college courses. Crystal plans to do it. I think we could manage. That can of worms got them off the Butcher talk. Turns out, Vista, me, Chris, Rachel, Tattletale, Amy, Alec, and Dennis didn’t plan to attend college, leaving only Victoria, Dean, Carlos, Terry, and Taylor wanting to go, but none of them wanted to study the same thing.

None of our plans for life were easy to carry out now.

What did I want to do/be? What were my options?

“OK Taylor, spill it.” Sally pulled out of my woolgathering as I finished a second cheeseburger.

“Spill what?”

“Whose jacket is that?” Sally wiggled her eyebrows. “Did you snag a boyfriend when no one was looking?”

Shit, if I ever wanted kids, then I would have to find a—Wait. I’ll never have biological children. This was Taylor’s body. I needed to answer Sally before going too far down that train of thought. “It’s my jacket. I assume that isn’t a problem?”

Sally seemed happy at my answer. “No! No problem. It suits you.”

“So, what do you guys think about the Wards being a Teeth cell?” Derek interjected.

Sally rolled her eyes. “You saw the PRT’s response. Myriad is a Case-16. Apparently not all capes die when they’re killed. It’s kind of a horrifying concept, but I’m glad not all of them are villains.”

Her words hit me like a gut punch. For the most part, Sally had been nice to us, but hearing her call our condition horrifying hurt in surprising ways. I didn’t really disagree with her. There was a lot about this that I hated, but at the same time, I and the others were stuck like this. Calling it horrifying was like calling us a monster.

I wasn’t a monster. I had never been a monster. I might have been a bad guy, but there were lines and rules, professional codes of conduct.

“Yeah, anyways did you see that both Hijack and Hellhound were part of Myriad. I also heard that Grue killed Vista. So that’s like two murderers, two psychopaths, and at least one child-killer.” Derek continued talking about us like we were an interesting trading card. “Apparently their bug girl threatened to kill everyone at the bank with spiders. Thankfully, the heroes stopped her, but it’s pretty obvious why things got as messy as they did. What do you think, Taylor? You’ve kind of been zoning out.”

“I… I think there is a lot we don’t know about the situation, but—” I unconsciously puffed up a little. “—after Myriad showed up, both the ABB and E88 collapsed in weeks, not the Protectorate. That should indicate whose side they’re on.”

“Huh…” Sally’s aura was contemplative when she noticed the table’s attention. “Nothing directly about that but Taylor made me notice that the PRT’s statements are referring to Myriad as she/her while the leaks refer to them as they/them. That’s odd.” Tagg does see all of us as a delusional Taylor while Coil is treating us like a team of capes to fight.

Was that Tats or Terry? Neither of them were sure. While I was distracted about how muddled our thoughts were becoming, the conversation had moved on. I think one of the issues we’re having is that given how my default tone is analytical, then whenever anyone else thinks abstractly, you are likely to assume it might be me instead of you. Everyone has moments of detached analysis.

Mentioning our old boss reminded me of something I needed to do. When the school day ended, I thankfully skipped taking the PRT van and took the bus. We were benched, and I would rather avoid a long chat with Sophia. She had made it clear she didn’t think much of me either. I had been on teams like that before for work. You never knew when there would be a sudden personality clash, unlike my old team.

Despite our friction, we got along better than most villain teams. My thoughts went to times I beat the shit out of Rachel for acting out—Why would you beat up Rachel? She would make us look bad and threw my leadership into question. She wouldn’t respond to anything else. God, I knew you suck, but—I did make him show dominance—Whyyy!?—I’m not as sure anymore, but it seemed right at the time. That’s… not a good excuse.

After Vista voiced her displeasure, Victoria went through my memories of the encounters and gave her blow by blow opinion. Shocking no one, the girl whose team was her family abhorred intrateam violence. Most people seemed to get really upset at the idea of a parent punching them repeatedly, but none of their fathers taught boxing. I sparred with my u-uncle. He didn’t hurt me like yours did.

They didn’t get it.

Our internal chat took up most of my attention until I neared our old loft. Taylor couldn’t sense anyone around us, but I still emitted a constant trickle of darkness to obscure our features from anyone that might be spying.

I walked a couple more steps before remembering I could fly and drifted toward our old door. Our key-bug bypassed the lock and let us enter. Dust had formed in our weeks of absence, not a thick layer, but one my enhanced eyes could detect.

My team all had different feelings about our hideout, but for me, this was my workplace, the source of my money and purpose, lost due to a fuck up.

I breathed in the stale air for a minute before looking around for anything we wanted to keep. Hey psycho, most of this shit was paid for with stolen money which— Makes it perfectly legal, especially after the money was cleaned. All of this could have been seized in our arrest, but none of it was illegal to own. It would be nice to have a home console…

We needed a duffle bag if we wanted to take any of this with us. Most of them were lost during the bank job, but I think one was in the kitchen.

In there, on the dining table, was Tattletale’s laptop. I didn’t leave that there. Shit, someone was here before us. Check the computer, it might have a clue. I rubbed the mousepad and a video from Coil started playing.

“Tattletale, I knew you couldn’t resist coming back to your old haunts.” Ha! No, it was Brian. “You may think you have outsmarted my mercenaries, foiled my recording devices, and unraveled a dozen other contingencies. The truth is, this location was compromised by Bakuda ages ago. Bombers can be quite dangerous long after they are safely tucked into the Birdcage, but don’t worry.” Coil placed a hand over his heart. “In due consideration of our partnership, my men made sure to replace her mocking video with my own farewell. We didn’t do anything about the bombs going off once the video finished, but that’s your proble—”

A wave of disintegration rippled through the loft, dissolving the floorboards, every furnishing, the walls, and the ceiling. Victoria’s forcefield took the hit and broke, leaving us vulnerable to a second explosion of acid.

The caustic chemicals ejected at waterjet speeds, scouring my feet and shins off with the force of pressure alone. The green liquid overcame our form and my world became pain. Flesh sloughed off, reducing my sense of touch until the burning seeped into my muscles and organs. My eyes and ears were next, blinding me and silencing my scream. The acid flowed into my open mouth, turning my teeth to nubs and vanishing my tongue.

For a few seconds, there was only sweet agony, then Victoria’s forcefield came back. On an impulse that wasn’t mine, I spun, flinging the acid away as I flopped to the ground. Terry focused on producing strong bases to counter the acid while Carlos focused on healing our injuries.

In the darkness, all I did was keep us conscious and seethed.

This could not go unanswered.

We couldn’t let Coil attack us directly and not retaliate. The fuck are you going to do without your arms and lags? That does not make action less necessary. Alright people, brainstorm. Give me ideas.

Unlike an actual team meeting, we could skip formulating our thoughts into words and share them directly. Concepts as a whole were envisioned and discussed with little more than feelings and understanding. Taylor had the most actionable plan and summoned bugs to us. She used Amy’s power to mold a wave of chitin into a temporary face and limbs. If we had hours, I could manage something better.

The collection of bug organs gave us a vague notion of sight and sound. I reached a smooth black clawed hand toward the sky and watched the white smoke drift toward the sun.

This would do.

Dammit, not my hair. Large swaths were bubbled and congealed together. A fraction of it may be salvageable under the mess, but most was lost. Neither Terry’s nor Carlos’s regeneration methods accelerated hair growth. This bothers me a lot more than I thought it would. I know it may seem like an insignificant complaint compared to everyone else losing their bodies, but… Tattletale and Victoria imagined patting Taylor on the back. No, it sucks. My forcefield normally protects my hair, but one time I took a laser through the end and lost several inches after an emergency haircut. I’m still bitter about it.

Warm pain surrounded what was left of our body as I wreathed the area in darkness and scooped our entrails back into our gut. Fuck. Enjoying pain had limits for the rest of us, but I wasn’t finished today. Hey man, we should really call the heroes or report in. Our phone was destroyed in the blast. No, this needed to be immediate. You were never a villain. Proportional response has to be established, especially to one who knows Aisha is my sister. He needs to understand what will happen if he touches her.

Our mask stuck out of the darkness as I flew downtown. The bugs couldn’t see through my power and Terry was still healing my eyes. Growing optic nerves felt like my brain was shooting lightning bolts out of my orbitals.

Regardless, I persisted. I had a mission, a job, and I was going to complete it.

Between Vista’s spatial sense and Taylor’s bugs, we quickly found a van filled with Coil’s mercenaries sitting in a parking garage. I rammed it and flipped it over. Our bug limbs were mainly for show, but Victoria’s forcefield still wrapped around them, giving more than enough strength.

I ripped open the door and pulled out the first mercenary. While his fellows were recovering, I worked him over with careful punches. Carlos and Victoria knew how to pull a brute punch, and I had a lot of experience with beatings that didn’t leave too noticeable of bruises.

Without our hands, we couldn’t tap them unconscious like normal, but we weren’t trying to merely capture them. We were sending a message.

I wanted to question the first man, but I couldn’t speak. Our tongue and voicebox had melted away. Once I was ready for the second merc, they had recovered enough to crawl out of the van and reach for their weapons. Alec made them drop their guns or fall over as I took my time collecting and beating each of them.

By the fourth guy, enough of Taylor’s swarm had formed to let us talk. “WhErE iS CIoL?”

“I’m not saying shit.”

“WrOnG aNsWeR!”

Amy, Dean, Carlos, and Dennis tried to pull me back. They didn’t support ‘enhanced interrogation methods’. Surprisingly, Vista was on board. I’m pissed at the mastermind that hired you. Mending our relationship promised to be a long process. I wanted to put in the effort since we were all stuck with each other forever. Maybe in a century or two, asshole.

The sixth guy folded after a few hits and pointed us to the location we already suspected being Coil’s base.

After wrecking their van and breaking their weapons, I found two more groups that corroborated the same location. Good, I wanted to confirm he was still using that base, and that it wasn’t bait.

Every inch of my body hurt as I hovered above the office building over Coil’s suspected lair. You need a warrant to enter private property. Don’t worry, rich boy. I’ll drag Coil out of the private property and claim we found him wandering the streets. He won’t correct us because that would require telling the Protectorate where his base was.

As I lowered to the ground, Taylor mapped out a direct access to the underground layers from an unassuming vent too small for cats, let alone people. Vista expanded the path until we could slip in.

No laser grids or other expensive defenses bared our way—Chris was keeping an eye out—until we ran into a forcefield. Damn, this looks like the one set up around PHQ. We aren’t getting through unless—The field flickered off. I didn’t do that.

No sensors in tunnel, no way of knowing when we would come, shield was disabled; likely coincidence.

Apprehension filled my stomach, but I pressed on anyway. During the descent, it clicked what I brought to the collective: reciprocity and retribution. I knew when we were pushed too far and had to respond. We were so powerful, that the heroes may be inclined to let countless offenses slide, but that would only make our enemies more bold. You couldn’t trust an authority figure to tell you when it was OK to respond to violence with violence.

Half the heroes mumbled disagreements while my opinion solidified.

We floated smoothly through an expanded hole in the grate into a clean hallway of bare metal. Taylor mapped out the passages with her swarm and found a path to a larger room with the largest desk in range. If Coil is here, then he is there.

The massive base was abuzz with activity. Taylor’s bugs sensed fighting at the other end, but it was hard to make out. While Tattletale spent a lot of time puzzling out Taylor’s bug senses, detection without any modified bugs was still challenging for us.

I flew towards the central office and ran into a group of mercs with rifles that clearly didn’t shoot bullets. Alec foiled their aim so that the lasers shot around us. We didn’t feel any backlash from his power due to our lack of arms.

As they tried to point their weapons at us again, a tide of bugs covered them. Without the shield, Taylor pulled in a constant stream from all the other gaps we had chewed through this place's defenses. The swarm was nearly as effective as my darkness, letting me zip between the mercs and break their weapons.

Since we didn’t have time to beat up every guard in this place, I ripped off their helmets and elbowed them. A freshly regenerated weenus made the brief skin contact required for Amy to map out their nervous systems and let Alec knock them out.

We had to barrel through dozens of mercenaries before reaching the last hallway to the gate-room. Beyond the gate—that resembled a large bank vault—should be Coil’s office.

Down the hallway were two machinegun encampments and a dozen more mercs with laserguns pointed in my direction.

I flooded the entire area in darkness as I hit the deck. Lasers and bullets flew over me as the hired help elected to blindfire. Did they really think guns could stop us? Vista raised the floor to block their shots. I followed in the wake of her spatial warping to get closer to the guards. Taylor had beetles and cockroaches chewing on the straps of their helmets while flies flew down the barrels of their rifles and into the mechanism feeding their machine guns ammo.

By the time we neared, Vista had spun the space around the mercs so that they were shooting at the gate they were supposed to be guarding. I dropped the darkness except for a few silhouettes of myself in front of them. They spent time shooting those as I elbowed them from behind.

As I knocked the last mercenary out, another was flung past me from a different hallway converging to this point. Armsmaster stepped out of his own scene of carnage with scorch marks on his armor and a few chips in his halberd. When he saw me, his aura radiated shock and surprise. “Myriad? We thought you died again. Your phone transponder cut-out, and no one could find a body in the wreckage.”

My throat rasped before I gave up and used bugs. “I WaS iNjUrEd.”

“You should have reported in.” Immense relief filled his aura with a few flickers of irritation. “But we can discuss that after the villain is in custody.”

I pointed at the gate and formed a question mark with darkness.

“Hmm, since you are here, I’ll cut a small hole and let you expand it.” He drew a knife with an ephemeral edge wisping in the air. Any bugs that got too close died instantly. Chris’s attention latched onto it immediately. “This is my nano-thorn prototype. It uses nanites to sunder the molecular bonds of anything it touches. The reuptake and heating issues still need to be solved but—” With a quick motion, he stabbed the gate and made a small hole. “—it should be serviceable for this.”

Vista expanded the hole until we could stoop through it. Armsmaster took the lead as entered Coil’s office. My old boss stood and raised a gun at us. “I wouldn’t do that if—” Armsmaster threw his halberd and knocked the gun out of Coil’s hand before opening his palm and teleporting the halberd back to him. “If you come any closer, I’ll activate the—”

“I disabled the self-destruct before coming here. Are you resisting arrest?”

Coil held up his hands. “No, I am not.” That’s not Coil. It’s a body double. Is there any way to prove that? No. I sighed internally. He still has spies in the PRT, right? Almost certainly. I was pretty sure he had access to someone in a very high position of authority. They haven’t found any moles that high yet. Alright, we’ll play along for now and tell our team discreetly what really happened.

For now, we let this guy take the fall. We’ve made our point.

More than a few of the others grumbled. Guys, if we go scorched earth, he’ll respond in kind. I couldn’t afford that and neither could most of them.

Once Armsmaster finished cuffing the man, I braced myself for a lengthy debrief.

Chapter 18

I wasn’t interrogated. Armsmaster insisted on a medical checkup before anything else. So as the fake Coil was carted away, a medic examined my injuries.

“Well, unless that’s normal, then this is a problem.” The PRT medic held up a dissolving thermometer. I tried to explain that—yes—Bakuda’s acid was eating away at us still, but—no—it wasn’t that big of an issue because we were healing faster than it could eat us. It is constantly blinding and deafening us fast enough that my power can’t route around it.

Armsmaster handed off the arrest and absconded with me to his workshop so that he could develop a counteragent. As he fussed over us, I told him that this Coil was a body double by using words written in darkness. I then took a nap on one of his workbenches. By the time I awoke, I was on a couch in the Ward’s lounge and wrapped very securely with a blanket.

With the acid cleared, my vision and hearing were restored through hundreds of compound microscopic sensory organs layered throughout my regenerating dermis.

Hey Terry. Yes? Can you focus on our lips? I’m hungry, and we still don’t have any teeth. I can shift priorities. I assume you want the esophagus and stomach restored as well. Eh, our body will adapt and figure it out once the food is in there. 

Not that we needed food to recover. Terry’s power produced mass, but asking someone else to heal ME for once felt amazing.

Without any arms or legs and my face melted off, no one expected us to do anything. I could lay here all day and no one would complain—aside from the other people in my head. The smug bitch and co. were quick to re-bug Tagg’s office. They wanted to watch him for his reactions to our ridiculous villainous actions of last night. I couldn’t believe so few of the supposed heroes tried to help me stop him.

My comfy cocoon of warm pain wasn’t distracting enough, so my focus unconsciously shifted to a conversation Tagg was having with Miss Militia.

“How do you want to handle Myriad’s independent actions?”

Tagg shrugged. “Give her a write-up and a slap on the wrist.”

“Sir?”

“How often have you faced down a cape with acid powers?”

“Several times.”

“Have you watched a squadmate’s face melt off? Have you seen the eyes of friends run like jelly? I’ve known men and women of the highest character lose their composure during their final moments. Their weapons fired freely, hitting foes and friends alike. So no, I’m not upset that Myriad’s reaction to being melted was to beat up criminals and storm a suspected villain location.”

“I understand being lenient with a child, but heroes are held to higher standards. There are pain management and resilience training programs for heroes with volatile powers. At a bare—”

Tagg waves away the suggestion. “Myriad has already exceeded my expectations by remaining vaguely controllable. She’s displayed no hostility toward PRT or Protectorate members, and has kept her activities nonlethal. As soon as any of that changes, I’m sending her to the asylum. Until then, it's a soft hand and a loose leash.”

“With all due respect sir, I believe that is insufficient. You are assuming their inevitable failure.”

“Velocity, Dauntless, and Armsmaster are already compromised. You may have them assist in whatever correction method you want to implement, but I don’t want you in line of sight of her. Am I understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

After that, the meeting was no longer about us, so my focus shifted back to the room. Everything hurt. No inch of my skin was undamaged. My entrails were held together with little hooks and grasping cilia. Agony wrapped me more tightly than a blanket. What should have left me sobbing and begging for release instead felt like attention and promoted mindfulness.

I closed my ‘eyes’ and attempted to drift away on the waves of sensation, but Terry’s focus kept us all awake.

Damn.

Limbless as I was, I couldn’t even turn on the TV to distract myself. Taylor walked one of our giant blue beetles over and operated the remote. Tattletale convinced her to put on ‘The Godfather’. I’m sure this movie will make you feel nostalgic. Fuck you.

The bugs scuttled away as I was trapped on the couch and forced to watch a mobster movie. Sis, you can control bugs too. You could also fly away. No, I’m not using a villain's power nor am I moving with injuries this bad. If Brian stayed still, everything would have been better and Miss Militia wouldn’t be mad at us.

I was distracted from further bickering by the movie. By the time it finished, I had lips and was positively ravenous. Alas, there was nothing I could do but starve to death on this couch.

Taylor took a break from testing combat bug designs with the others to set up an elaborate insectoid construction team with Chris to make us a giant peanut butter milkshake.

Sadly, the results of their culinary effort were far too heavy for any combination of our bugs to carry, and Chris had disabled our suit to make an upgrade. That left me hand and milkshakeless.

Sophia, her criminal friends, and Rachel, piloting the dog-bug, returned from their jog at that moment. Sophia whistled, “Damn Hebert, you’re looking crispy.”

I opened my mouth and displayed my lack of a tongue.

“Ah, this takes me back to when you didn’t kill my team or have the guts to talk back.”

My attempt at an outraged gasp sounded more like a startled banshee underwater, but Sophia understood my intent.

“One of the heroes today, then? Since you gasped, I’m thinking Victoria, Dean, or Amy.” Rachel carried my milkshake over on a tray and sat it next to me. A team of spiders rapelled from the ceiling and arranged a crazy straw directly into my mouth. I then went through the laborious effort of drinking. No one appreciated all I did for the team. “I gotta say, that’s a really good poker face. Alright, I’m off to school. I can’t tell you how annoying it is to listen to people whisper fearfully about YOU of all people.”

She left, and I slurped on my milkshake. Tattletale then played ‘Scarface’ to continue messing with me. After that, they were all too busy with bug battles to bother me. I could have taken a more active role in that. Instead, I used the straw to poke the remote and queue several Aleph cape movies after this one finished.

I hated how compelling I found the mobster movies. The escapism of Aleph-slop helped me not worry about that or anything else. Their cape movies were always so idealistic with all the gritty realities smoothed away. While lost in the cinematic dream, I didn’t keep track of how many milkshakes they fed me, or exactly when our teeth grew back and let me eat pizza rolls hand-delivered to my mouth by our suit.

For the first time since gaining my power, I relaxed the entire day.

By Saturday morning, we had a face again, recovered the internal damage, and had ‘regular’ eyes and ears. Nothing about us was truly standard after Terry’s hard work, but we at least looked human now. Thankfully, someone kept the parents out as we mended back together. We didn’t get to sleep, but that just meant more movies.

Several bugs were sitting next to me while eating popcorn. The spiders with tongues were horrors to behold, but they could taste popcorn and gave the illusion that we were all watching this marathon together.

In the wee hours of the morning, Tandem staggered in and flopped next to me on the couch. “Good news! We finished our exams early and are free to help now. Uh, sorry about being awol yesterday. I had that set up ahead of time and…”

“It’s fine."

She pecked at the warped and matted nest on our scalp. “Your hair… Do you want me to cut it?”

“Do you know what you are doing?”

“I don’t, but when Kat ran away, she earned her beautician license in Guatemala. She never did explain how she supported herself all that time—And I won’t. Do you want a haircut or not?”   

None of the others had any objections. “Sure, why not?”

Kat retrieved her supplies and wrapped us in a styling cape before snipping away. Unlike most stylists we had been to, she didn’t initiate conversation with us. “Most of this is unsalvageable. Brace yourself.”

“Eh whatever. I’m not the one hung up about our hair.” The layer of Tandem’s aura that I associated with Kat was indifferent and mildly annoyed even as she found the activity soothing. “Why are you doing this? It doesn’t seem like you want to.”

“Kate wants to help you and has grown attached. I don’t really care about you like that, but since she does, helping you improves our overall mental state, which benefits me in the long run.”

“I’m feeling all warm and fuzzy from the sheer depth that you care,” I deadpanned. “Hey, are you like a sociopath or something?” Wow, that’s a rude question—If she is, then it won’t bother her and well… we probably need to know.

Kat snipped for several moments in silence. “I don’t know. My life was very stressful for a long time before our trigger, and I didn’t have the luxury of thinking about others with any depth. Afterwards, I blended a lot with Kate. The other Case-70s don’t mesh as much as we do. I think it has something to do with how we can both manifest at the same time, but each Case-70 has unique interactions. I associate empathetic feelings with Kate, but I could be completely wrong and some of those could be mine.”

“Wow, so you’re basically the bad one.”

She laughed. “Maybe… Being a hero does require hurting bad guys, and I’ve found that easier than Kate, so it’s not like I don’t help, but I’m mainly a hero for security, benefits, and because Kate wants to.”

“Would you even be a hero without her?”

“I don't know. I couldn't really imagine us truly separating again. Parts of us are muddled in ways that can't be easily untangled. I try not to think about it or imagine what it would be like to truly be alone again. It's something I can never have again.”

I yawned. “This is a different tune than when you talk about ‘adapting’ to our condition.”

“That’s Kate. She’s big on thinking everything is fine. I’m more inclined to believe our situation is survivable. We can tolerate it. It’s not like you or me have any other choice. We have to live like this. If Kate and I could smash our brains together and create a new singular person, I would do that.” 

Kat brushed me off and vacuumed all the removed hair. 

“Just to clarify, I wouldn’t want to do that. I love my sister, no matter how troubled she is,” A pair of green eyes stared at me. “I… need to go.” Tandem ran off and left me with a question.

Did any of us want to merge together? The bitch in my head thought it was happening and continued to deny that we were separate people. But if we could, did we want to stay separate in our mind while having to share a body? I knew I wouldn’t want to taint Vicky with more of me.

Only Chris found the idea attractive. I don’t need a separate voice and consciousness to tinker. Dude, we need to get you a hobby. Tinkering is my hobby. Taylor would do it if everyone else did. Alec adamantly refused. I can’t live vicariously through the rest of you if I am you. See—Well, Great team meeting everyone. I think we can all agree that we need to encourage Chris to talk more.

Speaking of Ward stuff, I should float my ass to the meeting.

As I coasted to the elevator, I unfortunately glanced at a mirror. Tears not my own began to pour from my eyes. Hey shhh, Taylor, it’s alright. The pixie cut looks great. You don’t look like a boy.

I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be this devastated. Everyone else has lost so much and… Actually, no. I hate having short hair, but I wouldn’t be crying about it. Who the hell? After a few minutes of soul searching, it turned out Victoria was the most upset. It’s one thing too many. We had great hair. It wasn’t my blonde hair, but it was still great. I… I just don’t want to lose anything else. Dean suggested they go butterfly racing to not think about it. Sure…

That bothered me. 

While I had long ago given up on my appearance and hadn’t bothered thinking much about Taylor’s, Vicky obviously still cared. I could feel how much this hurt her. There was nothing I could do about how my feelings tormented her, but I could do something about this.

My gentle aerial bobbing shifted to Chris’s workshop while Rachel took over the meeting. She gathered her posse of ne'er-do-wells and attended Armsmaster’s debrief with the actual Wards. It wasn’t that interesting, and I only paid attention with half an ear as I laid on a workbench and brainstormed ideas.

After Coil’s official capture, his mercenaries fractured and are now working under a couple different villain groups. The Travelers and Othersiders were slicing up the city and claiming territory. Yada yada, the war on gangs was endless, yada yada. Also, the Butcher hadn’t been seen since our similar nature was exposed. We’re going to have to deal with them one way or another. Uh no, you’re going to deal with them. I’ve never been a fighter or led a heroic team. There was nothing I could do in that situation.

While the Ward meeting happened, I broke down and manipulated the biomass Taylor brought to me. Once I envisioned the problem I wanted to solve, the path there became clearer. There were several ways to address our short hair but I could… Wait, what was I doing? I didn’t frivolously create life. Everyone else did that with my power.

Oh no, they’ve corrupted me—By convincing you to help someone else with your power. Don’t you do that all the time? The difference is that I actually like doing this, which means it isn’t good. Good deeds are supposed to feel bad, or it's not really self-sacrifice. The others briefly stopped their bug battles to express how that wasn’t true for them before Alec continued. I do nice things to ingratiate people to me. Their fondness improves how I’m treated. It’s an exchange, a transaction. If you do this for Victoria, do you expect anything in return? No, I don’t deserve anything. Then why are you doing this?

I didn’t want Vicky to suffer.

Argh! Fine! Everyone else used my power like this. I might as well give in.

Ants, spiders, cockroaches, and beetles melted under my attention. The cohesion between their cells broke down and became putty for me to with as I willed. That mass joined what I had already gathered and pooled under me in a primordial soup of potential. From the puddle, a hundred thousand very-thin translucent worms wiggled out.

The wave of creatures tickled my skin as the blind idiot maws converged on individual hair follicles. They engorged themselves on the ends and began feeding on the oils secreted down each strand from our scalp.

As I floated up, I shook my hair out and the worms curled to match Taylor’s natural bounce. With a flicker of will, the translucent strands darkened to black and then shifted to blonde. I looked in the mirror again and showed Vicky my gift to her. Amy… thanks…

She was trying to be nice and did like the hair extensions, but under the politeness, Victoria was still revolted at the source of my affection. Just like how you really can’t control your feelings, I can’t control how they disgust me. Both of us are a source of misery for the other, and it will take a while to untangle that.

I went to rub my eyes only for my stumps to flail uselessly.

Everything was ruined forever. I didn’t say that. You are getting better, and I’m trying to move past this. We have an eternity to work out our issues. There is no rush.

I curled on myself in the air and gently rotated as I tried to not be me. Vista decided this was the perfect time to make our hair extensions pink. Hehe, this is fun.

At least someone was having a good time.

No one bothered us as we convalesced. Saturday became Sunday. April became May. Deep in the night, we regrew our hands and feet. After days of focus, Terry finally let us sleep, and Myriad became someone else.

When I clawed back to consciousness, I scrambled into our red suit and let out a relieved sigh as the comforting layers of muscle enveloped me. The sigh sounded like it did before I died. I could almost pretend like I was still me.

Okay, we were finally healed up and could finally get to the training and practice we needed to be more effective heroes, provided that whatever routine Miss Militia wanted us to do wouldn’t get in the way. I doubted any of her discipline methods wouldn’t be training adjacent.

As I headed to the elevator for a nice long day of steady laborious effect, my phone pinged with an emergency meeting alert.

“What the hell?”

I gathered the junior Wards and met the team in an auxiliary room with a large window facing the city. Armsmaster, Shadow Stalker, and Tandem were looking at a piece of paper with worried auras. Legend himself faced the window with his arms behind his back. His aura was resolute and resigned.

“Um Sir, what’s this about?” If Legend was here, then either a high-class threat was in town or…

“You received mail.” Armsmaster gestured at the paper. I examined it. 

The sheet contained magazine clippings that spelled out ‘We should’. After the two words were pictures of raw pork, steak, and chicken from local butcher shops. The note was soaked in blood. “So the Butcher wants to meat?”

Legend sighed. “Yes. When I learned about you, I had hoped to put this off for as long as possible.” He turned around. “Hello Myriad, the Protectorate as a whole mourned your creation, but I commend you on how well you’ve coped with the situation. Others in your position… have done much worse.”

He glanced at the paper and his aura became pitch black with streaks of red.

“We have several options for dealing with this creature’s attention. We can go with the heavy handed approach and drive off the Butcher. It tends to respond to such attempts by teleporting into civilian dense areas to use them as cover and ready sources of blood to fuel its regeneration. Without the rest of the Teeth nearby, the creature won’t fall back to protect them. It’s difficult, but we should be able to minimize casualties with proper planning, especially with Velocity here.”

“I can’t stand the thought of anyone dying because of this.”

Legend nodded, “Understandable, but under no circumstances are you to fight this creature. There are many capes in the Protectorate we don’t allow to fight the Butcher because of how disastrous an accidental inheritance would be. Imagine if Myrddin went mad, or Eidolon, or Alexandria, or Dragon.”

“There is a good chance I wouldn’t go mad, but—”

Suddenly, Legend was in front me and glaring down. “No. Several of our analysts suspect that you will experience an instinctual urge to kill or be killed by the Butcher.”

“What, no. I would never—”

He backed away. “You aren’t cleared to know why, but it is a real risk. That is why in the event of our other option, letting you meet the Butcher, we’ll need contingencies in place to pull you out.”

Our armor shifted to green. “I do want to talk with them, one Case-16 to another.” Regardless of what Legend wants, we’ll fight eventually: the immortal hero against the immortal villain, locked in eternal battle until the sun grows cold. I want to look at my dark reflection.

“Myriad, this is too risky.” Armsmaster interjected. “I still have the tranquilizer I made for Lung. That should be able to put her down until I’ve worked out real countermeasures. You’re all children and don’t need to do this.”

Legend nodded to me. “We’ll proceed with the meeting then.” At Armsmaster’s sharp look, Legend raised a hand. “You aren’t the first to think you can capture it. These attempts are always followed by a large increase in violence for a prolonged period. Let’s prepare a plan that will get the least number of people killed.”

We stayed there until evening talking strategy with Legend. The entire time, he treated me like an actual hero. He doesn’t see us as fully human, much less children. What? Noooo. You’re being paranoid like usual. I didn’t mean that he saw us as lesser for it, but… I don’t know. I—It’s related to what I think. Powers are sapient, and Legend knows it for a fact, which would mean he thinks we’re closer to the creatures that give us powers than regular humans. He did seem to think about the Butcher as little more than a rabid unreasonable animal. I wouldn’t be surprised if Legend has an unconscious bias against Case-16s. Clearly not too biased since he’s flying next to me.

Velocity found the Butcher and kept eyes on her. All the other heroes were in position if this went wrong, and any civilians they could find were evacuated. Once we could see her, Legend flew up. “If it makes any sudden moves, I’ll blast it down and Dauntless will get you out of there.”

I flew to the woman. She was on a roof in the Trainyard with two lawn chairs and a cooler. Once closer, I could hear her mutter to herself as she cleaned her machine gun. She didn’t look that tough. Her outfit was a fusion of a samurai war harness with wasteland raider aesthetics. Spikes and oni motifs accented an appearance topped with a sash of human skulls which indicated that she was fucking crazy. Everyone was too apprehensive. We were clearly the stronger team.

As I floated down, she looked up and glanced between me and Legend far above. I stilled. We were close enough now to see her aura and—God… their aura was a maelstrom of hate, despair, mania, and more than a dozen murderous urges. The layers wove into and on top of each other, making it difficult to parse who was who, and what was Quarrel. These people wanted to kill and eat us. They wanted to kill and eat everyone. The faintest flickers of yellow joy streaked at the edges of their aura. For the moment, that impulse was followed above all others. The woman waved to me before opening the cooler and sitting back down.

Inside the cooler was ice, several beers, and a severed hand. Was the hand a threat or did she not even notice the oddity?

Regardless, I descended until I was slightly above the empty chair. “Butcher.”

“Vista.”

I couldn’t help it, but I laughed. Yes, of course she gets it. We’re me. I was the first. It’s my inheritance. “Why are you in my city?”

“You know what it is like.” I noticed her bloodshot eyes and the stress permeating her aura.

“Yeah… Is that all this is? Did you want to commiserate about the swarm in our heads?”

The Butcher grabbed a beer bottle and flipped off the cap before removing her mask and taking a swig. The Japanese woman had a claw mark over one eye and down the rest of her face. Half a dozen other scars marred the lean predator before me—Oo, I don’t know about calling her a predator that’s—She has bloodstains on her teeth and face. It feels like a justified description—Yeah but there are connotations with animalist imagery and minorities—God dammit! Excuse me for trying to be creative! Fine, she looks lean and athletic with little fangs sticking out of her mouth in an almost vampiric fashion.

Drinking in front of Legend and unmasking to the Butcher seemed like a terrible idea, but I still grabbed a beer bottle and sat on the other lawn chair. We could humor her.

“It’s always so loud.”

“Right, but not really with sound. It’s more of a mind noise that makes it hard to think.”

“Yes!” Legend twitched as the Butcher jerked an arm up to point at me. “You get it.”

I swirled the bottle and asked something stupid, “Why do you kill people? Why are you a villain?”

“It’s fun.”

“Is it? From the outside, your life seems miserable.”

The murderous aura dulled with wistfulness. “You wouldn’t get it… not a madness we share.”

“You’re not even going to blame the voices?”

“I am the voices.”

A creeping dread crawled down my spine. I told you. “Did you all blend together and become one?”

She shook her head. “No, we focus in… same direction… or can’t do much.”

Oh thank god. They kludge together to compensate for their lack of Taylor’s multitasking. I would like to think we would have been able to manage without it. For a few minutes, we sat there in companionable silence. The Butcher twitched and drank another bottle. Her aura grew more fractured and frenzied as their rage peaked.

“I hate you.”

“You hate everyone.” Her aura made that very clear. So far this meat and greet was going way better than expected.

“I’m going to kill you now.”

This conversation couldn’t have ended any other way. 

Chapter 19

Two lawn chairs, two open beers, two Case-16s—for a brief moment, all was still and peaceful, and then it wasn’t.

Darkness exploded out of me, and the swarm below buzzed as my mind was consumed with an objective. I had to tear this creature apart, rip it limb from limb. All but one voice in my mind agreed. Shit, everyone is so angry.

The Butcher laughed as she hefted her minigun and fired at Legend. The leader of the Protectorate fired a pulse of blue laser before my darkness fouled his aim and the bullets ripped through his breaker form. The beam enveloped the Butcher and knocked her flat against the roof. The stone under her flowed out of the way, and she fell into the apartment below.

“Come,” she taunted.

I flew after her. We were so focused on it that we barely heard the explosion. One of our spy flies saw flashes of light from Medhall. The tower tilted and began to collapse. Legend made a frustrated gesture before flying to the building and using freezing lasers to stabilize it.

Ah damn, there goes our main backup. Dauntless enveloped the roof in a stunning blast of lightning before blindly swooping through the darkness where I was. And the extraction plan failed. Guys, come on. Chill.

My hand reached forward to grab the falling Butcher. Her aura radiated with a happy hate as she bared her teeth and teleported away in a flash of imploding flame.

Why did we follow her? I needed to get out of here and let the others handle it. I—The Butcher burst through a wall. She rested her minigun on her shoulder with one hand while the other hand swiped a crude sword of cruder iron, popping our forcefield. As Clockblocker froze the weapon, my doubt vanished.

The enemy was before me and needed to be destroyed. I twisted around the frozen weapon and reached toward her through the impenetrable darkness. I narrowed the space between us, and jerked one of her feet. My thrusters gave me an extra boost of speed. It was the fastest I ever moved.

It didn’t matter.

She pivoted away on her good leg and shoved a glowing green concrete spear into our side. It punched through our armor before Clockblock froze it. The pain from the wound blossomed into a full bodied experience. That’s the Butcher’s pain blast. Every nerve screamed in a delightful chorus.

I clawed at the Butcher. Just one fingertip, and I could give her a heart attack. What the hell? Nooo, we’ll use my power to put her asleep. I don’t want 14 other psychos in this head. The title of worst Vista is mine, thank you very much. I scratched at her repeatedly in a desperate lunging frenzy. The Butcher had to go.

She dodged in jerky motions, ducking and sidestepping swipes to the back of her head with ease and precision. For each of my attempts, she responded by slicing, skewering, or pummeling me with a makeshift weapon. This place is littered with them. Did… did she make all of these ahead of time?

A swarm of timelocked weapons littered our expanding arena of shattered walls and pipes. A few weapons dropped from the air during a brief lull in the melee.

The Butcher was uninjured and baring her teeth. My armor was punctured in a dozen places. Bioengineered blood oil mixed with my own fluids as Terry tried to seal the gaps. My swarm bubbled from vents, and through holes in the windows. The tide of chitin washed over us as I roared. Our little soldiers became mass to repair my armor as the remainder assaulted the Butcher.

As wasps, spiders, and cockroaches attempted to devour the Butcher, she closed her eyes and then none of the bugs could pierce her skin. She then rushed us. I rushed back.

When we met in the middle of the hallway, the floor and ceiling collapsed. “Got you.”

The Butcher teleported away from the falling debris as the bricks and drywall pressed me into a pit of rusty spikes. They buckled as my forcefield popped, and I spun in the air to fling the garbage away from me. The Butcher laughed as she punched the occasional brick that flew her way.

After the dust settled, I saw that this room was a veritable armory of shoddy weapons. Brass swords, tin axes, aluminum spears, and stone clubs were arrayed in concentric circles with their ends plunged into the floor.

The Butcher grabbed a claymore made of molded pipes and licked the blade before charging me.

Whatever, her attacks didn’t outpace my regeneration. All I needed was one touch, and we would win. We should leave. I blocked her blade and froze it before lashing out with my other hand. She stepped in a circle around us and drew another weapon that I froze.

This pattern repeated over and over. The Butcher continued her pointless resistance until I suddenly found myself unable to move. I attempted to fly in every direction and was resisted by inviolable timelocked weapons. Shit.

“Hahaha!” The Butcher levered her minigun off her shoulder and fired a fusillade of bullets through us. Each piece of lead chipped off a piece of our armor until it dug into our skin, passed through Terry’s carefully layered defenses, and out our back until we had a fist-sized hole where our heart should be.

Okay fuck this. Alec seized control and our armor shifted to white.

I hung still and let the mad cape fire an entire drum through the hole she already made. The others were still screaming and demanded we attack her. I recognized the flicker of the emotion in myself.

Rage.

Victoria mentioned this power in her Butcher analysis. We thought we would have resisted it, but no one else gained my deadened emotions, which probably meant that malfunction wasn’t a power. I was just broken.

Well, that brokenness was useful today.

Once enough weapons had fallen away from us, I backed away and lobbed blasts of ennui at the Butcher. She growled and her aura grew even more chaotic as this emotion sent her collective into disarray. As soon as I was far enough away, I tried to switch with Dean. No, your feelings are best for now. Keep using them.

Ugh…

The Butcher’s eyes tracked my flight through Brian’s darkness, but the energy blasts still hit. Like Taylor and Vicky planned, an indirect explosion of emotional harm didn’t trigger the Butcher’s dangersense or projectile detection.

I really didn’t want to be here. The heartburn I felt was a little beyond the part of Carlos’s masochism I acquired. There was a certain threshold where the enjoyment of the pain became ‘oh god, I’m dying’. This was it for me.

Terry focused on our heart and spine while Taylor and Amy healed the suit. Growing a heart back felt like someone was taking a jackhammer to my chest cavity.

“I don’t like this.” The Butcher then teleported away.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, I could use a nap and a spa. You all owe me a spa day. Make Dean or Brian do it. Dean because he is happier than the rest; Brian because it would be funny. You see what we do with the swarm. She is heading to the nearest mall, and the rest of the heroes are busy.

They’ll figure it out. Come on, Legend ‘ordered’ us and everything. Let’s go chill.

No.

Our armor shifted back to green as I wrestled control away from the lazy—but useful—villain and flew through doors and walls to chase the Butcher.

The other heroes were busy. Our eternal foe did not come alone. They brought the Teeth with them.

Once out of the abandoned apartment complex, I saw Legend zipping around from fire to fire after freezing Medhall in place. Terrorism and arson is Reaver’s MO. Our New Wave and Protectorate support was lured away by attacks from Spree, Hemorrhagia, and Vex. They assaulted the heroes and then fled to civilian centers. Our swarm saw Dauntless tackled by a not-dog of red sinew with razor-sharp claws and fangs. That’s Animos. Changer and power negator.

If that wasn’t bad enough, we saw regular Teeth members looting and shooting through the Boardwalk on the opposite end of town.

There wasn’t anyone left to stop the Butcher if we didn’t.

Taylor’s bugs exploded in fire when our foe teleported between buildings. Those fires spread and ignited barrels of gasoline mixed with rubber. Or napalm. Did she… plan out this fight? Butcher VII’s power gives them tactical plans and the wherewithal to act on them. It’s the only thing that has kept them dangerous. 

Regardless, we couldn’t let this spread into a city fire. The fire department was busy enough as it was.

I drew Chris’s disintegrator and set it to a wide beam configuration. If we delete the material actively combusting, then the fire will stop. With our hasty plan in place, I dove into a window and punched through walls to the heart of the next building before wiping the room with my beam. The fire and all its components were teleported nowhere. Perfectly eco-friendly disintegration that produces no harmful radiation or waste products besides energy and heat.

Every six seconds, the Butcher would teleport to another apartment complex, factory, or store. I left destruction in my wake as I scrambled to put out all the fires. Eventually, the buildings started to be inhabited. Our foe continued her rampage and swiped a claw through anyone that got in arm's reach. The residents screamed at my intrusion, but I figured they would prefer a broken window over ashes and death. Who snuck all this napalm everywhere? Probably Teeth goons or Reaver.

No matter what I did, people were going to die. I had solutions to every problem, but not all problems at once. The Butcher got farther and farther ahead until she left my swarm sense, forcing me to follow the fires and bodies instead.

It made me sick.

In one hotel, the Butcher teleported into the boiler room and disemboweled the concierge right outside. Entrails were run like tinsel around the front desk. It smelled like vomit, shit, and blood with such strength that I had to swallow my gorge. But that wasn’t the worst part. No, the part that would haunt forever was the screaming.

She was still alive.

The Butcher avoided tearing any major arteries to make a victim who would die in minutes instead of seconds. If we stop here, more people will die. It’s tough but—I laid a hand on the woman and forced her unconscious. While one arm held her, my free hand worked to untangle the organs. But all the other people at the mall will die if we linger. Even if I was sympathetic to her argument—which I wasn’t—too many of us had a similar moral imperative.

You have to save those in front of you.

Each decision had to be the right one. You couldn’t depend on future results to justify previous actions. Good built on top of good. I didn’t agree with sacrificing the hostages to defeat the Empire. We could have done both. We will do both in the future.

Once the desk was covered with less living tissue, I squished it smaller. There was still a lot of interference from the… rest of the living tissue. I was trying not to think about it. The desk shrank, and I was able to free the woman quicker.

Healing her traditionally would take too much time. Instead, I stuffed all her organs back in and gave her a slight tweak. Vista, this is too far. I wouldn’t sacrifice her, but nebulous ethics around genetic engineering weren’t worth people’s lives. Human experimentation is wrong! I changed her. It wasn’t that much. Her blood coagulated better and isolated the floating fecal matter in her system. Her intestines gained a copy of what Carlos’s power did to ours. They had small muscles that would let them contract and organize themselves without more help.

Later, I would need to go back and reverse what I did less she suffered a permanent increase in her daily calorie requirement. That sounds like a benefit, little V. I would think on it later. Right now, we had to go!

I vamoosed away and took care of the fires in a few more buildings. The Butcher left more ‘presents’ for me, but none of them were as intricate as the last one. I found a dead man twisted into a pretzel; he died from smoke inhalation. Next was a couple twisted together, covered in flour, and dipped in hot oil. Lastly, I found a dog kicked into a wall, leaving little but smeared blood and viscera. The little girl walking him still held the leash in dazed shock.

Hate festered in me. The villain was so callous. Each act was done with little care in as quick a time as possible. She couldn’t take her time if she wanted to. What? She has too many voices pulling in too many directions. All of them are always fully present in a single mind. Quarrel can barely think. She chases one sadistic impulse to the next and can never stop. The deeper person is still there, and she is drowning. That’s not an excuse. They are still acting on their wants. This is their behavior in aggregate.

I had no pity for the Butcher, not after all they did today, let alone their whole career. They were a monster.

When we arrived at the mall, I had steeled myself for the worst. We were well past any evacuation notices or cordons. We could have been here sooner. I know.

I flew above the crowd of fleeing civilians with trepidation. How many died in the minutes I delayed?

“Did you really think I wouldn’t have prepared countermeasures for you?” I heard a familiar voice along with the clash of metal on metal. I rushed to the sound. “Psychic shielding for the rage aura, and as I suspected, the pain effect can be resisted with discipline.” In the middle of the central atrium, Armsmaster matched his halberd to the Butcher’s katana. “How did I intercept you? Easy.” Armsmaster batted the Butcher’s katana aside briefly and chopped through her minigun with his plasma blade. “Despite the insanity, you are predictable in the broad strokes.”

“Die.”

“I see eloquence isn’t one of your Thinker powers.”

Around him, there were no bodies. Armsmaster stopped the Butcher’s slaughter before it had begun. See Taylor, this is why we save those in front of us. We can rely on our fellow heroes for the rest. I… guess you were right.

While my heart was warmed by the sight, I had to find a way to help him. Do you? Alec, I understand that you don’t care, but I do. Sure, but—Alec’s right. Armsmaster is moving before the Butcher does. He has her on the ropes, but if Chris is right and he is using a combat predictor, then our interference could throw him off.

Regardless, I had to be ready in case he needed help. I positioned myself far behind the Butcher, but in clear sight of Armsmaster. His aura pulsed between red rage and yellow fear. Did he—Pfff, it’s morse code for HOLD. I nodded and the pulsing stopped.

Surprisingly, the Butcher held her own under Armsmaster’s determined assault. I expected her blade to be cut in half, followed by her being dis-armed. It’s a relic from the last Butcher. She was a grab-bag that could tinker together really basic weapons. The Butcher can tinker? Not very well, but that sword can cut through steel. Their fight hopped to the little wall around the fountain. The Butcher’s aura flickered with amusement even as she lost ground on the more precarious footing.

Tattletale was right. She’s just doing whatever amuses her in the moment, damn the consequences. There comes a point where a small dopamine hit is all you really care about. Everything else stops mattering. What little beliefs you had crumble to dust until you care about no one, not even yourself. So she’s depressed. You had more restraint than this. Did I? If I enjoyed the same things she did, then I could have been much worse.

I shared a moment of Alec’s dispassion. It gave me the urge to fly away and go right to bed. All my concerns about the public and everyone involved in this fight seemed more trivial and distant. I…

Don’t do that. Okay. Alec fell back.

About halfway through the circle, the Butcher’s head jerked in my direction. Her hate and joy spiked as she teleported next to me. “Animos!”

The monstrous form the not-dog crashed through the glass ceiling and screamed at us before—

As the power neutralizing wave rolled by us, my mind broke. Ah fuck—Just like befo—Don’t thin—We’re—Noplaguesnoplaguesnoplagues—Hahaha—Thinking less is a—Calm… calm… ca—This sucks. I—We—but—can—do—focus—if—we.

I didn’t fall. Standing didn’t require conscious effort. I heard the sounds of roaring and plasma biting into flesh, but I was too lost in my head to process it. I—Our thoughts ran over and into each other, bouncing back and forth. My focus was split 13 different ways in equal parts.

The Butcher approached with her katana out and a wicked grin on her face.

Our focus sharpened on her. Most of the pieces of my mind devoted their energies to the threat. No, not just a threat. She was a monster/reflection/villain/psycho/promise. Most of me agreed that we needed to stop her. We stood between her and her victims. It was right, and we were called to it.

I ran at her. Our thoughts split on how to approach her. The color of our armor swirled to match the maelstrom of my mind. I abandoned thinking in words and focused images. Thoughts and feelings reverberated until one of many options felt right.

We ducked her first swipe and punched her in the chest. She spun with the armor assisted punch and swiped her sword up, severing my right arm.

I laughed and chopped her in the ribs with my remaining hand. Bones cracked as justice was delivered.

The Butcher caught my severed limb as she staggered back. She held the open end above her head and let blood leak into her maw.

Watching someone else treat a piece of me like a soft drink caused a kaleidoscopic cacophony of discomfort from most of my pieces.  

I charged her, keeping an eye on her blade. She dropped the limb and slashed at my neck. I caught the blade between my thicker neck armor and shoulder before grabbing her wrist. A twist snapped her forearm in half. She screamed as clenched and ground her bones. The surprised shriek of pain became laughter before the Butcher headbutted me and pulled her sword from my neck.

My vision swam with dizziness. Nicked carotid artery and dismemberment are causing too much blood loss. Apply pressure. The thoughts from the amalgam of egos was what we needed to do. The thoughts were Tattletale, I decided. The thoughts contemplated themselves and agreed.

I found the punctured vessels with my left hand and squeezed. Backup veins expanded and rerouted the blood. My body is redundant. I decided those thoughts were Carlos, but I couldn’t be certain. The thoughts weren’t certain they were separate thoughts either. Grab the arm and hold it to the stump.

We dove to my limb. The Butcher chopped down with her katana, but I activated my thrusters and smashed my head through her knee, bending it backwards. She cackled as she spun away.

With the arm near, I pressed it to the stump. Cilia and hooks reacted reflectively to reattach the arm. I could twitch the fingers, but there was no strength in them. More delicate work requires power. It’ll stay on if you don’t use it.

The Butcher limped up as I stood. She used her sword like a cane and hopped over to me. Fatigue ate my consciousness. All my limbs felt weak, and I was short of breath. When the Butcher reared back a punch, it was all I could do to block the blow.

She punched again, and an instinct told me to headbutt the fist. Classic brawler move. Brian’s technique broke her fist. She glanced between her two useless hands. “Not yet.”

As she bent over to put the katana in her mouth, I kicked it. A few of her teeth went flying as the hilt twisted out of her jaw. My thoughts started clear as my forcefield flickered back on and the swarm buzzed. My breathing stabilized and my vision cleared. I reached for the Butcher, only for her to teleport away.

I then heard screaming. Armsmaster was busy arresting Animos in the opposite direction. My bugs saw the Butcher outside smashing her broken arms through the skulls of a camera crew. We always tell the press to stay back, and they never listen. They’ll sneak around the PRT lines if they can.

By the time we flew outside, the Butcher was covered in containment foam from the nearby officers. Blood surrounded the lump in a shrinking pool. She’s sucking it up to heal. Vista tried twisting the space around the lump to block her teleport. It doesn’t work over open water. How much water? Permanent fixtures, so rivers, canals, and large enough ponds.

The bay was too far away, and there was no large river close enough.

I pulled out our disintegrator. It was time to bite the bullet. No. But if we don’t put her down, she’ll keep rampaging. We can be sane with my power. We can hold the Butchers back. I’m not convinced of that. Even in a powerless state with only mine and Carlos’s augmentations, we worked together and focused on heroism. The Butcher focused on murdering us. They have more minds with more life experience between them. I do not believe it is worth the risk, and neither did Legend, who probably already ran the idea by support staff.

Those were solid reasons, but when the Butcher teleported out whole and healthy next to us, I flicked my arm down and found myself not in control. We’re not having a dog kicker in my head. Stupid. Our brain was already too crowded. I stowed our weird gun in our brown armor.

Waves of rage filled my mind, which caused me to run up and dropkick the Butcher. She caught our feet and attempted to slam us over her.

I just flew up and let her dangle from my foot.

The Butcher squeezed my feet. Her grip grew stronger the longer she held. I tried to kick her off, but she held on fast with one vice grip on each foot. I spun, and she held on. I blasted her with Alec’s mood, and all she did was cuss. Eventually my boots couldn’t take it and collapsed under her grip, pulping my feet.

I screamed at the annoying bitch and flew higher.

Legend swooped in and blasted the Butcher off of me, clearing my head from the rage. Blue beams smashed the villain into the street below. Legend’s lasers didn’t stop until she teleported away. When Legend didn’t see her, he pointed at a woman surrounded by floating blood several blocks away and blasted her into the pavement, rendering her unconscious.

As Legend slowly flew towards his capture, the Butcher reappeared and grabbed the woman—Hemorrhagia— before she started running out of the city. Legend had a furious aura as he harassed the Butcher all the way.

I floated there and watched. My part was over. As I left to go check on my dogs, our bugs heard the Butcher’s parting shout.

“This was fun.”

What an asshole.

Chapter 20

Crystal intercepted me on the way to the PRT kennels. “You might want to heal those hurt during your fight with the Butcher.”

“Why?” I didn’t see how that was my problem.

“Aside from general decency?” I nodded. Crystal sighed. “I forgot you had villains in your head… Well! Anywho, healing people in the aftermath would be good for your image.” At my blank stare, she continued. “Your image is important to how the public perceives you. The better your image, the more people give you the benefit of the doubt.”

“Why would I care?” No, I get it. It’s like a reputation for villains. If a hero loses public opinion, then they can’t be a hero anymore, which is our current job. We—Coil has also been attacking our image. I suspect the PRT’s normal media manipulation will be undercut with ‘leaks’ of why this fight happened. We need to get ahead of that. It—Your cynical view of this is gross. Rachel, you’ve devoted your life to safeguarding and caring for the homeless. You want to help people. 

I did? I did. At least, I recalled doing so. A nebulous doubt ate at the conclusion. There was an important detail I was missing. It hid like a flicker at the corner of my vision, always out of sight when I looked at it. The edges of the error grew blurry when I looked for them.

“Sure.” Crystal looked relieved once I relented. I followed her flight to a collection of the injured. The first dog I went to was a Russel terrier. He had a broken paw. My own crushed feet pulsed in sympathy as I mended it. Pain radiated like lightning from my wound, but I didn’t hate it. The sensation was the touch version of spicy food, a pleasant warmth.

After the dog, I moved on to the owner. Amy’s power was slower with healing humans. It went a little faster when I corrected the issues causing problems. The man had nascent tumors, so I taught his immune system to hunt them. Plaque lined his blood vessels due to an imbalance and a positive feedback cycle. A tweak or two made the cycle go the other way. His broken arm took the longest. Neither I nor Amy could think of a quick fix for that.

Healing was annoying and mentally exhausting. Ha! I knew you wouldn’t last. It sucks so much. Regardless, I put in the work. I always went the extra effort for my dogs. Lately, I had been struggling to remember why I excluded humans.

Was I losing memories? I knew I had a reason, but it slipped away.

Our healing was far more subtle than what Panacea was known for while also being far more complicated. The others focused on the innumerable details of medicine more than any other activities. Amy’s protests for unorthodox treatments were quieter and quieter as the hours ticked by.

Few people had actually died in the Teeth’s rampage due to extraordinary effort by the heroes, the PRT, and Brockton Bay emergency services. Despite the carnage, it was a moment of solidarity for the city. 

That lasted right up until the exact reason the Butcher visited was ‘leaked’ to the news station that lost a team to her.

The mutterings around me increased as people looked at their phones, listened to the radio, or saw the emergency coverage on TV.

“The Butcher came to kill Myriad?”

“Will she return?”

“Are we safe near her?”

That final question is the crux of the problem. It’s what the attacks on our Image are building up to. We’re associated with the Butcher by our very nature, and now there is a constant risk that she will appear anywhere we are.

I continued healing dogs and humans around me. Let them mutter and squirm. It didn’t bother me in the slightest. I was used to people being uncomfortable around me. We need to find and stop Coil. This will only continue until… Oh! He’s trying to drive us out of the city. Whatever his final goals are, us being here prevents them.

I don’t disagree, but what are we going to do about him? Officially, there is no Coil, and if he stays unseen, then we’re looking for someone paying mercenaries through discreet means. How do we trace or find that? If he’s letting the Travelers and Othersiders move independently, then we can’t back trace those orders. Even a city-wide bug search would struggle to find someone none of us have seen unmasked.

Dinah is still missing. He’ll be near her. I don’t know what her power is, but Coil risked everything for it.

Hmm, if I was Coil, I would keep her out of town until we were gone. Actually, I wouldn’t be in town either.

Could we fake leaving?

Not with his access to the PRT. We would have to transfer to another department in a permanent fashion, which we can’t due to all the parental factors involved.

Terry and Tattletale kept plotting with each other, but I agreed with Carlos’s plan. If we couldn’t go on the offense, then we could shore up our defenses. We could train and strengthen our teamwork, not just with ourselves but with others. Chris could improve our tech, and Taylor could make more monster bugs. Approval or no approval, we can hide them in hives across the city. If we had relay worms, then they would be less susceptible to gas attacks or being spotted.

As I healed, Taylor already started her plan. Bugs would crawl to my feet and then slither into the ground as changed creatures. The heroes didn’t care that this was against the rules. Amy’s power doesn’t create tinkertech. There are no unknowns. The testing process hasn’t revealed anything she didn’t already know when we made them.

I’m not letting dumb rules get my dad or any other parent killed.

We need a trump card that we’ll only play when we’re certain Coil is coming at us for real. What do you mean? I think I have his power more or less figured out. He gets something like unlimited retries against us, which makes defense difficult—Unless we’re unassailable. If his chance to win is 0% then he’ll always lose. If we work together, I’m sure we can make countermeasures for every contingency.

I traveled between the triage centers and let Taylor spread her worms. Our awareness expanded to include more of the city. Don’t pilot your dog-bug all the time or they will figure out what we’re doing. Dammit.

As the sun sets, I let go of control and push Dean forward since—Both Rachel and Tattletale had a mastery of our headspace that I didn’t understand. Shouldn’t Taylor have more control since this was her body? I’m controlling millions of bugs.

I slipped by my apartment to change suits. Still weird that you had a separate living space at 17. My parents respected my independence and—didn’t want you and Victoria having awkward teenager sex in their house. Essentially that, yes.

Once refreshed, cleaned, and sharply dressed, I took a cab to the steakhouse my parents wanted to have dinner. After that, we could sneak around and hide more bugs across the city. My mind was already focused beyond this event. A stone rolled in my gut at how uncomfortable my parents were going to make this. I thought I had anticipated every means they would use to get under my skin, but they always found fresh and new angles to unsettle me.

When I arrived, a waiter ushered me through their regular tables and across floors of dark paneling to a private room overlooking the bay through a large spotless window. In the room, there were two intricately woven dark wicker chairs, and a small table covered in a white tablecloth with a lit candelabra. 

My parents were not in the room. 

The person who rose to pull out a chair for me was Theo Anders.

“Uh, hello Ms. Stansfield. It’s nice to—” The boy was of average height for a 15 year old. His shoulders hunched in a way I was very familiar with over his pudgy frame. He seemed like the kind of rich kid that retreated from the world into food. People—He’s not that fat. You can’t judge everyone by the cape physique standard. That being said, despite a well-tailored, flattering suit and perfectly trimmed hair, the boy didn’t seem comfortable in his skin. He didn’t carry himself with confidence and clearly didn’t want to be here. If Dean was into guys, I would hope he would have higher standards.

I sat in the offered chair. An almost automatic understanding of decorum guided my motions before I realized what I was doing. Theo pushed in the chair as I slowly sat and… It wasn’t so much a good or bad feeling as just a weird one. The odd moment did nothing to disrupt my annoyance. “Hello Theo, I was unaware that you were joining us this evening.”

“Oh…” His brow furrowed. “I see… I’ve been through enough surprise blind dates to notice the signs. I’m sorry. Your parents' invitation was a little suspicious, but I have, uh, a reason to date again.”

We both ordered waters when the waiter checked in on us and continued our conversation as moonlight poured in through the window. “What is the sudden urgency?”

“My father is out of the picture. That leaves his private shares to me, but I can’t control the company till I am eighteen, which means my legal guardian runs Medhall, who is currently no one. My stepmother is trying to get the role, but I don’t want her to run the company. Your parents have lawyers that could delay her claims until I am of age.”

The son of Max Anders aka Kaiser may have a stepmother who also sucks. Tattletale mentally tapped her chin. Which free super Nazi had a little known ‘break’ from E88 and only recently came back? The only free ones are Night, Fog, Krieg, and Purity. That would make his stepmother Purity. Alright Dean, will you marry a dude to keep a big pharmaceutical company away from a supervillain? “I’m sorry about your father, but, as I’ve told my parents, I’m not in the position to date anyone right now.”

“That’s a relief. I wouldn’t be opposed to a platonic legal arrangement.”

While I mulled over how to best say ‘no’, the waiter, Katie, returned to take our order. Theo’s eyes opened wide when I ordered the porterhouse with extra mash potatoes and Brussels sprouts along with an appetizer of chicken wings. 

After Theo ordered his food, we sat in silence for several moments.

“Theo…” I began. “I’m uninterested in such an arrangement.” We would either capture Purity the next time she surfaced, or the turbo-nazi would disappear into corporate life and stop murdering people. Shouldn’t she have a birdcage sentence waiting for her? Yes, but she’ll kill a lot of people when we try to take her in. She has to know that the PRT knows who Max was. They will be watching her like a hawk for any tiny infraction. If she gets the job, she’ll be in jail within the month. It’s—Eh, rich-people’s crimes don’t really work like that. I doubt she’ll get more than a slap on the wrist.

He sighed. “That’s fair…”

We stared at each other awkwardly in deathly quiet until our food arrived.

The steak inspired Theo to try again. “So, I didn’t know the Stansfields had a daughter.”

“They don’t.” I might not hate this body like Carlos does, but I still wasn’t inclined to redefine myself too much. Maybe my thoughts would change later. It’s not like you only have two options. As much as there was a vast vista—Ha—of self expression, being a mind ghost had me clinging to the idea of ‘Dean’. What was I if I saw myself and thought differently after everything else about me changed? Identity dissolution was death in this headspace.

“Oh.” He smirked a bit. I raised an eyebrow. He noticed and explained, “I was thinking how upset my acquaintances would be if we dated.”

“You know, if you’re really concerned, you could go to the PRT for protection. They will relocate you.”

“I’m not in danger. They wouldn’t hurt me, but leaving my sister in this situation… I can’t leave her to grow up without hearing anyone disagree with my stepmother and her friends’ political opinions. I want her to have a chance.”

“The privilege and wealth of your current position has nothing to do with it, I’m sure.”

Theo belted laughter and nearly choked on his food. “God no, I hate all of it, but especially the people. Even the ones not aligned with my parents are still generally insufferable.” 

“To be fair, I imagine anyone attending parties hosted by Max are more like him than not. At least, not everyone in my circles was awful.” Victoria’s thoughts got really quiet. Did I say something wrong? Your rich friends are polite, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to be around them, and you haven’t missed them at all since this happened.

“What a ringing endorsement for the wealthy of Brockton Bay.” Theo raised a glass. “To not being awful, I guess.”

I tapped his glass with my own, and we gossiped about the various annoying tendencies of our town’s socialites. He didn’t seem like a terrible guy, but the thought of actually dating him made my skin crawl. This wasn’t how I imagined my first date going. Me either.

After what could have been a much worse dinner was over, I went back to my apartment and packed away my things. There was no reason to keep such an extravagant expense. Rather than sleep, I worked through the night and flew over to Brian’s place to recover his stuff as well. This time before entering an Undersiders’ property, we thoroughly checked it over for bombs and other traps. I kept Brian’s darkness going despite finding none.

Once I had selected the few possessions either of us wanted to keep, I arranged for movers to donate the rest of it to homeless shelters. There are too many of us. How are any of us supposed to have a life? We all have a life. We’ll have to make the most of it, but that means compromises and working with each other to put us in positions to not be miserable. I hurt people and stole from them to be my own man. Both independence and being a man is lost to me. You feel a similar problem too.

Not exactly, the person I wanted to be with the most in the world was right here with me. Victoria gave me a mental hug. Forever and always, no matter what shape either of us take. You being here is keeping me afloat and content playing with bugs most of the time.

But, I did get Brian’s concern about not being his own person. Everything we did was a group affair. If one person hated what we were doing, our collective mood would start to sour. Life was a very delicate balancing act between us. There was strength in the collective, but each of us needed our own desires filled.

A sigh escaped my lips as we flew in darkness to Terry’s house. His parents were asleep, but we could see them in the morning after a little nap.

I closed my eyes as Victoria and I sent each other warm thoughts.

Darkness crept in at the edges until we all faded into unconsciousness.

When I woke Monday, I was ecstatic to realize I was primary again. Perhaps the proximity of my possessions and the familiarity of the setting pulled me forward and stabilized my ego. Yes, that was plausible.

Downstairs, by some parental providence, my father had detected my presence. The pleasant scents of baking buttermilk biscuits and the stirring of sausage gravy inspired a rapid egress of my bed, causing me to throw off the planet covered blanket and pull back the canopy of stars. A canopy bed is a bold choice for a dude. I didn’t really care what others thought and enjoyed the vastness of the cosmos.

I quickly fell into my old morning routine, but something felt off. The motions were unnatural in a way beyond having a different body. How could we possibly tell that? There was a certain je ne sais quoi missing. Yes, we literally don’t know what is missing. Why would I make intuitive leaps like that? With the introduction of Tattletale’s power, we have a supernatural ability to make intuitive leaps in logic. Hmmm, good point, but I never talked to myself in my thoughts. It dawned on us what was happening.

Tattletale is pretending to be me.

Tattletale is pretending to be me.

Well, I appreciate it, and I’m sure my parents will. Since pointing it out didn’t break the illusion, we should see what her intent is. Guys, this is hurting my head. Please stop.

I don’t think I will.

This isn’t up to me.

Ah, after a few minutes the variance has caused a difference. That could have merely been a problem of perspective. Possibly!

Once dressed and ready, we headed downstairs and found my parents. “Good morning!”

“Terry?” My father turned from his puttering by the stove. “I’m glad to see you were wrong.”

“Sadly, I was not, but we found a workaround.”

My mother hugged me. “That’s nice dear. We heard you’ve been fighting. Are you alright?”

“Absolutely not! I’ve been blended, blown up, and had several sets of limbs destroyed. If Carlos didn’t have an effective mental defense, I would be huddled in a ball and wondering at the cruelties of existence.”

She squeezed harder. “I was afraid of that. You tend to retreat further in your head the worse things get. Sit down, and let’s talk all about it while your father finishes breakfast.”

I talked about everything we had done since the last visit and felt a weight disappear from my soul. No matter how I looked at it, talking about a problem shouldn’t relieve trauma, yet it did. The closest reason I could think of was how memories grew less detailed the more you remembered them. Every recollection changed a memory until it was entirely different.

That might not be true for our weird brain, but we were all here even after having our powers negated in that last fight so maybe our mind was more normal than any of us expected. Tattletale’s impression of me was so thorough that I found our thoughts overlapping most of the time. I couldn’t help but question the purpose of it though. Perhaps she finds being me a stress relief. We experience stress. We do, but it expresses differently like by going off on esoteric tangents or puzzling the reason behind reasons.

My father pouring the gravy over my biscuits brought my attention down to Earth. I knew the savory sausage triggered a primal instinct to consume calorie rich food, but the cumulative nostalgia this meal had earned in my mind let me push past the reasons for my enjoyment and live in the moment for one bite.

“I was worried the different tongue would change how you experienced this meal.” Dad ate from his own plate.

“It would have, but the others have let me calibrate our senses, including taste.” Wait what? “I thought it would be optimal if we could all enjoy our favorite meals without biological translation issues.” I guess that’s fine…

“Hmmm, good thinking. I thought the tongue would be too surface level for your power.”

“Yes, but the underlying structure isn’t and those nerves have to go all the way to the brain for signal processing. A few tweaks here and there made the needed changes.”

“That would require a deeper understanding of the nerves than you had before.”

“True, but while Panacea could intuit biological processes, she also retained the knowledge, letting me use my own power with a lot higher efficiency. See—” We continued talking about the details. My mother also provided her own insights, but kept an eye on the clock to remind us when we needed to leave for our obligations. After scarfing down the last few bites, we gathered in her car, and she dropped me off at Winslow.

“Have a good day, honey!” I received a couple odd looks from students confused by my mom saying that to Taylor.

I wandered to our locker as I thought about how untenable our secret identity really was. Eventually, someone would notice that one of the new girls hanging around New Wave was also seen frequenting the homes and presences of several other adult couples whose own child had disappeared. People don’t look at identities that hard. No, institutions like the PRT didn’t. Individuals would speculate and seek clues all they wanted. Who would want to out Myriad? That’s not the point.

Our secret identity had so many holes that people would passively put the pieces together. Chris scanned his memories for schematics. I don’t have a lot related to memetic interference. If we knew a cape capable of making people forget about them, then they might produce an effect that is replicable. We could be acquainted with such a cape and had forgotten about them. Did Jötunn miss the fight with E88 or did we no longer remember him being there?

I didn’t puzzle that out by the time we arrived at our locker. “Hello Emma. Are you here to try out new banter?”

Emma’s mouth closed as she deflated. “You really don’t care anymore, do you?”

“Not in the slightest! But please continue, you have a glorious track record of putting together paradoxical insults that seem to be understood on an intuitive level by those around you. I think it’s something like comedic timing or perhaps exactly like comedic timing since your friend equivalents laugh along to the barbs.”

“Taylor, those are my friends.”

“Really? Then, where are they now?” I looked around and couldn’t find them. “Does anyone besides Sophia care about you in the slightest?” I knew the answer was no from everyone’s auras. Many high school relationships, both platonic and romantic, tended to fizzle out once the mandatory proximity went away. The phenomena was probably intentional to get children in the habit of bonding with people like coworkers to make them more attached to their workplaces, which could be seen as a malicious life planning, but since everyone had to work, the conditioning should lead to better outcomes and—

“Like you’re one to talk. You’ve only started to socialize this month. I bet you haven’t spoken to Sally outside of school.”

“No, I’m far too busy for anything like that, but if you must know, I have been forming a network of very close relationships that I hope will be steady support going forward.”

“Internet penpals don’t count.”

“Why wouldn’t they? They’re the inverse to school relationships. There is no proximity, but the relationship is entirely voluntary, more consciously human. People are inclined to disregard connections without physical meetings, so I understand why you said that, but that intuition is seated in serotonin releases and is an evolutionary driven instinct. I don’t find raw biology that compelling of an argument, so—”

“God, you were always such a chatterbox. I always found that annoying about you.” Bullshit! You smiled and laughed as much as I—Shh, Taylor don’t waste energy on her. Victoria pulled Taylor away to focus on bugs outside because Tattletale was busy with something.

“Most people think I'm a pleasant conversationalist. I have trouble judging since I find what people say to be so interesting when I pay attention. Like just now, you meant to wound with what you said while expressing exasperation. Why? My misery doesn’t bring you any joy, so what’s the point?”

Emma rubbed her temples and sighed. “What the fuck is wrong with you today? Since when do you respond to hazing like this?”

“This is hazing? I thought you had given up. I must say, you are remarkably bad at this.” 

Emma left with an aura swirling in confusion.

For the next couple of classes, I enjoyed performing the schoolwork. The assignments were boring, but being physically present was a fresh novelty after hanging in the back of my mind.

During lunch, Sally, Sam, and I were talking about the shakeups to a videogame meta that Alec used to play when Derek started to sweat. Whatever the cape nerd was reading on his phone had caused a spike in his adrenaline and generated an intense interest in his aura.

Absolute focus was a little like fear. The facts he stumbled upon were clearly significant in a way that drew him to full alertness. “Derek, what’s wrong?”

The boy jumped at my question. “Uhhh, hey Taylor. I saw a really weird story on the internet. It’s probably tabloid trash masquerading as news.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“Look at this silly story.” He showed me his phone. The news station that lost their team was running another hit piece on Myriad. This one was about—I ripped off my Terry mask. He couldn’t handle this situation. I must say, it was a good impression. This situation called for Lisa, the normal girl I pretended to be. The one that liked shopping and made friends with her team. The human face I used to blend in and endear myself to others. The part of me that could enjoy the quiet moments I didn’t have.

I laughed as most of the others freaked out. “Yeah, you know it’s a lie because a news station couldn’t legally out a Ward.”

“Right, I’m sure the remaining staff being arrested shortly after airing the story was for the attempt, not because they fingered the right person.”

Sally grew concerned. “What are you two talking about?”

“Some dumb network decided to accuse Taylor of being Myriad, crazy right?”

Sally looked at me and her aura radiated with understanding like a dozen little details locked into place. “Oh yeah, of course. I think we would notice if Taylor was actually 13 different people. Really weird of them to accuse Taylor of all people.”

Our table laughed off the story, but other students started looking concerned and whispered to themselves. Outside, Taylor’s bugs saw Emma shoving her phone in Sophia’s face. “Is this true?”

Sophia squinted at the device before grabbing it and reading it over thoroughly. “Fuck.”

“You could have told me.”

“Will you shut up for a second? I have to make a call.”

As the whispering increased, our table continued to act casually like no one had unmasked me. That damn story didn’t only out Taylor, it outed all of us. All our families were in danger. It’s fine. We need to spread the relay worms faster and bury the hives to protect them with insectoid defenders sooner than we thought. That’s all. Shouldn’t we leave school for that?  

We should. Leaving here in a hurry would solidify the rumor that I was Myriad, but we could only delay that conclusion.

I stood up to leave. “You know, I think I left my art project at home. I should go get that during our long lunch break.”

Sally grabbed my hand as I turned. “Hey, don’t be a stranger.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it!” I walked away and looked at the Post-it note in my hand. Sally had written her number. She knew that I probably wasn’t coming back to school.

As I walked the quiet halls, my phone rang. I sighed before answering it. What did the PRT want with me that couldn’t wait? “Hello?”

“Hello Sarah, we—” 

I hung up on my mother and blocked the number.

Chapter 21

I didn’t know I had taken over until Alec retrieved our armor, and the suit turned gray when I put it on. We had been so focused on flying around town to deploy relay worms that we weren’t thinking about who we were. Maybe Tattletale was more rattled about her parents calling than she let on. Don’t psychoanalyze me. I wasn’t trying to do that, but since we shared a head, I tried to understand who the people in it were.

The better my understanding, the easier it was to pick my thoughts out of the crowd, which was a lot more difficult than I expected. My lines of thinking could be easily mistaken with most of the others and that unsettled me more than letting them drive my body. I felt more like me when I was sequestered in my bugs.

Everyone used my bugs to entertain themselves, but most of them didn’t embrace the swarm like I did. I could pilot a fly in a race with the rest while positioning millions to observe, breed, and feed. Victoria would jump in from time to time with her own suggestions, but she wouldn’t do it for hours, which made sense to me. She had a boy—er—significant other to chat with.

I had my bugs.

Amy and I forged new tools and tested them while others resolved their family drama. When it all got too much, Tattletale would drop her plans and talk with me or frolic with butterflies. I appreciated that she did the legwork to figure out how to parse bug senses. Butterflies had a marvelous sensorium that perceived the world in an entirely different light. Despite how frivolous those gossamer adventures were, I cherished the time.

All the silly activities we did ironically made me feel more like a normal teenager than before the bank. We snuck into movies, ditched class, and played games together. They were my friends. Vista delighted in being a hero and showed me how to enjoy the spotlight. Brian was solid and dependable with immense love for his sister and an inexhaustible work ethic. Chris had a head for engineering and loved scientific pursuits, freely letting all else fall away. Rachel had a boundless heart and wanted to save everyone. I didn’t know how she ended up a villain.

Victoria grew stronger under her own burdens and made sure everyone else could carry theirs. Tattletale was committed to protecting us from the wider world whether we wanted it or not. I worried about her refusal to accept our situation, but despite her denials that we were people, she cared about me as a person. I hoped that one day she could see herself as a person worthy of acknowledgement in this collective.

Amy was all thorns and scorn, but she had a commitment to moral stances I found admirable even if they made her miserable. She made you work for every ounce of companionship and only begrudging enjoyed herself. At her heart though, she was a creative passionate spirit. One day, we would pry loose the chains of her self-loathing and help her come into her own.

Dean’s drive to be more than his expectations was at the core of who we were now. Alec did his best to lurk in the back of our mind and not overshare. His trauma would integrate eventually, and I hoped we could be strong enough to resist it. Terry always had something interesting to think about and was eager to discuss it with anyone else. Carlos’s misery cut to my heart, but he lifted us all with his strength. Dennis always managed a joke even as his own demons pulled at him.

I had so much to say and think about my new friends that I could go on and on.

We didn’t have time for that.

I flew to a secluded spot and did more bug work. While I couldn’t let my own dad suffer for my unmasking, neither could I let Dennis’s, or Carlos’s, or Terry’s, or even Chris’s parents be attacked to get at us. Aisha had New Wave to look out for her, so she should be saf—

“Why are you digging in the dirt?” A familiar voice asked me.

“Aisha!? What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in school?”

“Pfff, I saw the news and figured you would be running around in a panic, so I ditched to find you.”

We could fly at 80mph and Chris/Amy figured out a color changing mode for our armor that functioned as camouflage. “How did you find us?”

“All of us know who the other families are. I knew where they lived and picked one I thought you would be at by the time I got there. This is the only place within walking distance of Carlos’s house that someone could fly to without being seen. So, ya know, easily.” For all Aisha’s aura reacted, she might as well have been explaining how she tied her shoes. You really thought you could parent this girl? I had a better shot than my parents. In my wildest dreams, I didn’t think Brandish would volunteer. “Anyways, what ‘cha doin?”

This was supposed to be a secret. Well, I didn’t want the PRT to know. Aisha could probably keep my confidence. She puzzled out Brian’s criminal dealings and didn’t tell anyone. Also, I wanted to confide in someone not inside my skull. Between that impulse and seeing Aisha as family because of Brian, I told her, “I’m planting relay worms to keep an eye on everyone.”

“Sick. What’s the small mouth thing?” Aisha pointed to a tiny maw ball I had sitting next me as my whole forearm was shoved into the dirt.

The little creature flexed its purple pustules to ‘face’ Aisha and jabber its conical teeth together. “That’s one of my ‘hives’. While nothing I make is self-replicating, this is a workaround. I don’t have the time to make tons of better insects at each location, so I instead made our little seed here. It’ll sit contently in the ground and grow as I feed bugs into it. All the nascent bugs in its body will grow along with it until I have a ready swarm of enthusiastic defenders by all the vulnerable families.” We were putting one near both the New Wave houses too, so by ‘vulnerable’ I meant ‘all of’. They can probably take care of themselves, but if Heartbreaker shows up, I want to drop fire breathing ants on him.

“Can I have one?”

“I’m trying to keep these secret, and they grow pretty large.”

“Would it fit under my bed?”

Despite a sudden sense of foreboding, I couldn’t think of a good reason to deny her, so I handed her one of the hive balls. Alec made the mouth hiss in glee as she held it. Aisha petted the little ball as her aura suffused with amusement.

“Thanks sis. Which one are you today? I don’t think we’ve met.”

“I’m Taylor.” No reason to be coy with my name now. Everyone knew.

“Oh the host. Do you get to choose which teenager takes your body for a joyride?”

“I…” I blushed at her terminology. “I don’t know. I haven’t tried. I think I’m just one person in this head. They can and do stop me from doing things if they agree on it. I’m not in full control, but I never lose all control. I can always move my bugs.”

“That’s wild. Aren’t you super bitter over losing your body?”

“No, not really.” I ripped my hand out after making enough worms and then worked on burying the hive for this location. “There wasn’t much about my life that I liked. The little bits I get to live now are worth more than the whole bits I had before, and it’s not like I’m dead between turns. I experience life through their perspectives and feelings. The rest of them are having a harder time coming to terms with sharing than I am. They had full lives and friends that miss them. I guess a benefit to our mask being ripped off is that we can see them again without worrying about it.”

“That’s the New Wave spirit!” Aisha mockingly pumped her fist in the air. “Wait a minute… You like having me as a sister, don’t you?”

I nodded.

Aisha’s aura flashed with irritation as she tapped her foot. “Well, as a little sister, I’m obligated to make you miserable.”

“That’s not true!” Little Alison burst from the bushes. I knew she was there, but tried to jump in surprise with Aisha. “Little sisters can be nice.”

“Hey foster sis!” Aisha waved. “Sorry to break the news to you, but you’ll have to be annoying soon. It’s an inevitable force of the universe. Little sisters have to annoy their older siblings.”

“I’m not going to be annoying!”

“As your older sister, that annoys me, so too late, you’re already doing it.”

“That doesn’t count!” Alison stomped her foot and squeezed her hands as her face bunched up. “Carlos would never be annoyed with me.” She pointed at me. “Whoever you are, ask him.”

I let Carlos mull over his words before responding. “He said, ‘Of course not Alison, I adore all your antics, like when you threw my toothbrush down the drain, or spilled juice on my new shoes, or put worms in my shoes. Why did you do that by the way? I never asked.’”

Embarrassment streaked her aura as she blushed. “You stopped playing in the mud with me. Once you stopped, no one else would do it anymore. I thought you forgot how fun it was, so I put the good mud in your shoes to remind you, but the worms also thought it was good mud and—”

Aisha wrapped an arm around Alison’s shoulders and bared her teeth. “See, you’re a natural!”

Alison squirmed in Aisha’s grip but not as much as Carlos thought she would. I cocked my head, “Have you two met?”

“I’ve met all the families!” Aisha let my other little sister go, which was a surreal thought that I didn’t have time to focus on. “I even found your school shooter diaries.”

“Why were you in my room!? And that wasn’t what they were. It was a log of all the sh—stuff they were doing to me.”

“With no supporting evidence? You’re telling me you didn’t read those in poorly lit rooms while muttering all the ways you would get revenge on the cool kids.”

“Nooo!”

“Lame!”

I made a frustrated noise, which caused satisfaction to fill Aisha’s aura. Alison patted my back. “Bullies suck.” She had a very serious aura. “Hey, why are you playing in the dirt WITHOUT ME!”

She was old enough that I could probably explain what I was doing and hurriedly move on, but Carlos missed his family. I used to see them every day. You don’t appreciate all the small moments when they are coming constantly. In their absence, I feel a distance growing between me and my siblings. A true death would have cut us off forever, but the more I don’t see them, the more I understand Rachel feeling like a ghost in her own life. “This is important hero work.”

“I want to do hero work too.”

“OK.”

“Yay!” She plopped a squat and started making mud pies and mud castles. The latter were fairly elaborate with sticks to reinforce the structure.

“Soooo Aisha, what have you been doing with all the parents?”

She glanced between my sister’s architecture project and me grinding clay into more workable forms with superstrength. “Wouldn’t you like to know? I will say that Terry’s baby pictures were adorable.” Thank you? That’s the right response, right?

“Terry is thankful for the compliment.”

Aisha then sighed. “As a favor to him, I also sorted all his books alphabetically.” But… They were clustered by theme and relative topic while also distributing their weight to preserve shelf integrity, since the more space conservative shelves I use are relatively weak. Argh! I hate when people try to be nice and actually upset me greatly. I then feel guilty for being mad. Aisha’s glow of satisfaction indicated that she knew what she did. Oh, it was on purpose tormenting. That is much easier to process.

“He compliments you on managing to get under his skin.”

“Damn, I thought if I pissed him off enough, he would take over and shout at me.” She gestured at my current activity. A collection of beetles were carrying sticks to Alison while Chris used a praying mantis to point out where he thought supports should go. Alison only listened to him half the time, but she got a couple layers higher than normal. I had other bugs crawling through the workings and shaping little details to make her castle look lived in. “How long are you planning to do this?”

“Are you bored?”

“Nah, but it seemed like you were in a hurry.”

“I’ll need to run in a few minutes to avoid Velocity’s search pattern. I think the Protectorate wants me to report in. Since Tattletale turned off our phone, they haven’t been able to contact me.”

“Is that why Carol keeps calling me?” Oh no, Mom hates leaving voicemails. Didn’t you get grounded once for not answering her call during a movie? I did.

“How are you not grounded yet?”

Aisha tilted her head. “Of course I’m grounded. Despite being superheroes, they can’t stop me from sneaking out. Carol put bars on my windows, so I’ve been climbing out of yours.” Mom might actually kill her. That’s hyperbolic. Did she never spank you with a lightning bat? No, I don’t think she cared enough about me to do that. She—I followed her and Dad during a patrol. They caught me when a Chorus gangbanger shot near my head and I yelled. Since that was the third time I had trailed after them, Carol was more firm in expressing her disapproval. Yeah no, I stayed home and watched movies.

“Okay, I need to get going. Will you stay and help Alison finish?” The girl in question stared at Aisha with large eyes and a pleading aura. To Brian’s shock, his sister relented and agreed. Does she have a soft spot for kids? We should see if Carol would ever want to babysit for Annette. When we have the time, sure.

I flew away and managed to stay ahead of Protectorate patrols until Armsmaster cornered me in a vacant lot that I couldn’t fly out of without Dauntless finding me. I was then dragged back to PRT headquarters to be drilled on the relatively useless unmasked Ward procedures. They were all designed for our safety, not our families, which worked well enough for Case-53 Wards or Wards like Tandem, who didn’t care about their parents.

Family safety was left to the PRT and Protectorate as a whole, but they were mainly reactive. While I could expect any villain that went after them to get dunked into the Birdcage, criminals never thought they were going to get caught. We stole things for a year before the bank.

Director Tagg was annoyed that anyone would go after his people and threw the book at those who released my identity to pressure them for their sources. Tagg didn’t personally care about us and thought we had gotten away with far too much, but in his mind, we were one of his assets. Attacks on us were assaults on him as a director.

He never managed to engender warm fuzzy feelings in us because he always referred to us as ‘she’, ‘her’, ‘Myriad’, or ‘Taylor’. It didn’t matter if Carlos was primary during a meeting; Tagg didn’t care that his casual disrespect felt like haymakers to Carlos’s soul, souring all of our moods, and making it difficult to think about anything other than leaving the room. The meetings with Dean as primary were easier.

Four days passed quickly. After our families, I seeded more of the town with relays, soldiers, and spies. Tattletale was on constant watch for villains sneaking in. She was mainly watching for her parents, which she already approached Brandish to work out a similar emancipation deal. I would rather deal with Carol. The Livseys were fighting it, but they couldn’t simply outspend the Stansfields, who were inclined to help us not get dragged into another family business.

I spent time with my dad, Dennis's dad, Carlos’s family, and did a couple shifts at dog shelters and the hospitals to heal people. Different people would rotate in and out as primary. Behind their eyes, it still felt like my life.

Friday evening, the Dallons wanted to go out to eat. Mark pulled me aside before we left. “I know most of you aren’t used to being open capes. Every family trip becomes a spectacle. It can be exhausting. Try not to worry, and if something happens, have Victoria or Amy coach you. Both of them know what to do.”

At least Victoria was excited. Taylor, you look great. Everything will be fine. She insisted on one of her dresses for the event. I thought we should wear pants in case one of the boys slotted in. No, you should express yourself too when you have the chance. If it improves your mood, that carries over to our turns. I fidgeted in my cream corset sundress with matching heels. Victoria had us carry a small red handbag that held nothing but our phone and a bunch of bugs. 

We could’ve left our phone at home for one evening. Amy and I had a stationary bug in Victoria’s room that could operate the phone for us. No, the bag is part of the outfit. It adds pop! Why do we need ‘pop’? Just try it. I am. That doesn’t mean I have to understand it. How can you not? You know what I am thinking. Your perspective is different from mine.

Before we could bicker more, Carol glanced at movement from the stairs. “Aisha, where is your nice dress?”

In respect for the occasion, Aisha had traded her denim shorts for a skirt that still showed off her neon green fishnets. “It’s in the laundry. I would have more options, but SOMEONE grounded me from the mall.”

“That hasn’t stopped you from going.”

Aisha’s eyes grew wide as her aura remained calm. “You knew! Darn, I didn’t buy anything, so I could hide my trips.”

Carol locked up as she tried to decide what to be mad about first. Instead of exploding, she let out a long breath. “Just… get in the car. We’ll discuss this later.”

“I’m looking forward to it.” Aisha bared her teeth as we left the house.

My dad wasn’t coming to this. I didn’t think he was invited. Or maybe he already planned to go to a bar with Kurt, Lacey, and his other work friends. He seemed like he was having fun, which was a relief to me. I had worried he would spend most of his free time in our empty house, but he tended to run all over town when I wasn’t around. It was weird to think of my dad as his own person instead of as my father. I guess all parents are just regular, slightly older people. While we all knew that, it’s hard to feel the truth of it until you see them being those normal people with the context of more life experience.

I was shaken out of my musings as Crystal floated down. She insisted on coming with us because of Aisha. Once she got used to her powers, she was really protective of Amy and me too. “Cousins!” Crystal pulled both Aisha and I into a hug before touching the ground. She eyed my gray mood bracelet. “You both look nice.” Her aura didn’t flicker deceit at her obvious lie. I guess natural charm could overcome Aisha’s outfit but—Taylor, we’ve been over this. Aisha is very stylish. It’s just not a style you appreciate. I doubt Crystal is into niche fashion like you. Punk is not niche. You know this because I know it! I know you think you know that, which could be—and probably is—wrong. You are so stubborn.

The trip to the restaurant wasn’t eventful. Carol called ahead to get seats at Applebee’s. People started to notice us as soon as we walked through the parking lot. Mark and Carol were polite and greeted those who were staring too much, which reminded those people to get moving.

We were directed to a prominent table in the center of the restaurant. Instead of being a surprise marketing event for the establishment, a few moms took their children and left as soon as they saw me. While I was a hero, too many civilians had died around me. I didn’t project the same safe aura that the older members of New Wave did. I had a reputation of attracting the attention of terrible villains.

This was unfortunately well earned and entirely deserved. Even as we sat down and ordered, a few of my more advanced spy-flies spotted Guillaume and Nicholas Vasil driving into town with their father in tow. Yeah, Coil isn’t paying my gene donor for my services anymore. I got this. Don’t worry. When Alec tried to throw the dragonflies full of flesh eating acid at them, we had to pull him back. Why do we even have these? What if Nilbog attacks? That doesn’t seem likely at all.

His idea wasn’t completely terrible. I had one of the bugs fly into the grill of the car and melt critical parts of the engine as directed by Chris. As the trio pulled to the side of the road, I texted Armsmaster their location. We really should—Alec was right. I had a swarm of wasps drive them to a more secluded part of town. All those really cool mind control powers don’t do anything to bugs.

The chitinous horde funneled them into an abandoned factory as I ate mozzarella sticks with the family. None of the Vasils were used to running and were thoroughly exhausted by the time I chased them past a very special broom closet.

Wood burst to pieces as the former leader of the local Protectorate tackled the career criminals. “You are under arrest!” Armsmaster’s psychic shielding resisted all their powers long enough for him to shock them unconscious and cuff them. This was a good play, but Coil will know we have full coverage of the city again. He was always going to find out. That’s true. Can we do the same to my parents?

Unfortunately, the collective decided that the Livsey’s didn’t deserve the Heartbreaker treatment. To mollify Tattletale, we put a really nasty centipede in their hotel shower.

“And who is sharing the 2 for $20 special with you?” The waitress looked confused since I ordered last.

“No one.” The nice part about being outed was that we could eat our absurd calorie requirement without being disturbed. Although, Carol did chide me for eating the bones in chicken wings. All the crunching was ‘too distracting’.

“Okay…” She did that mysterious scribbling all servers do before leaving our table.

Carol looked immensely pleased with herself as our outing seemed to be going off without a hitch. Her, Mark, or Crystal would occasionally stand to run interference between me and an approaching stranger. No one ever leaves me alone, and now they will never leave you alone. While I do blame them, I shouldn’t. My power could literally save their lives or remove a lifelong problem. Who wouldn’t risk being socially awkward for a miracle? I stopped coming to these to avoid their desperate faces.

The Dallons were having none of that tonight, and I agreed with them. I didn’t deserve a nice family outing, but everyone else did. There was only so much I could sacrifice without hurting the rest of the people in my head and those who cared for them.

Despite all the struggles, I think we were reaching an equilibrium.

Everything was going to be alright.

Although…

I was worried about the Travelers leaving their respective lairs to form together downtown. We hadn’t taken out Coil’s proxy gangs yet. Since the hives were fully grown by now, we were going to do that Saturday.

There wasn’t any reason to not start that early. Tagg was already going to rip my head off for bugging the town without his permission.

I sent a few tranq beetles and dragonspiders their way. Once they were unconscious, my flying spiders would wrap their hands and feet for PRT pickup. I barely needed to lift a finger to take them out.

At least that was what I thought. My bugs ran into variants that didn’t register as bugs to my power. The enemy dragonspiders had large stingers and venom sacs instead of spinnerets while their beetles exploded into fire.

What was going on?

The not-bugs were coming from a dark space between the two rooftops the Travelers were meeting. When my spy flies got into position, I couldn’t make sense of what I was seeing. Oh shit. I thought they had a secret member. I didn’t think—Where the fuck was that hiding? Her. What? That’s a person. Oo, sucks to be them.

I needed more context and tried to listen in on what they were saying through the few spies I could get past the not-bugs.

“Dammit Krouse, there has to be a better way. This is exactly the kind of shit we were trying to avoid,” Ballistic said.

“You heard Coil. This is our best chance of getting Noelle fixed,” Trickster’s cigarette glowed in the night.

“I don’t believe that bastard for a second. He isn’t even in town.”

“Look, I’m the leader and this is my call.”

“Fuck that. This plan hinges on Noelle. I want to know what she thinks.”

A girl’s voice came from the alley below. “I can’t ask you guys to do this with me. I’m the one running out of options. I’m the only one who needs to make a desperate play. The rest of you can run.”

“This is a huge gamble No’.”

“I don’t have long. I can’t sleep. I eat more every day. Not even Coil can afford to keep feeding me. I have to do something now.”

Ballistic groaned. “Fine. I’m in, but I’m not holding back and none of you should either.” He glanced pointedly at Sundancer.

Trickster dropped his cigarette and stomped it out. “Glad that’s sorted, cause it’s game time.” He glanced over the roof at Velocity, who was suddenly replaced with garbage. I heard a large gulp from the alley as a bovine head swallowed the hero whole.

I interrupted dinner. “Oh shit.”

Conversation stopped as everyone’s auras radiated concern.

“There’s, uhh, a big problem downtown.” 

A different head vomited a naked and twisted version of Velocity. The man stood and saluted Noelle before rushing into town and leaving a trail of superheated air behind him. 

“A REALLY big problem.”

Chapter 22

Mom’s eyes focused on my declaration, and I quickly outlined the problem. Dad could have dropped a bomb on the table and the mood would have changed slower. Gone was the casual, center-of-attention, relaxed outing we were having. It was replaced by a prebattle meeting of heroes.

“Are they staying together or moving separately?” Mom’s tone was sharp and professional.

“Unclear. Unknown cape, Noelle, is disrupting my bugs with her own varieties." As I talked, my fingers were flying across my phone to inform the Protectorate and my other team of the danger, assuming Velocity getting captured didn’t tip them off. They probably don’t worry about Velocity getting attacked. It was unthinkable for a speedster of his caliber to be easily captured or defeated. I’m not looking forward to fighting clones of him.

“Tsk, that isn’t ideal and exactly why you don’t leave PMOs in uncontrolled environments.” Mom gave me a disapproving glower before turning to my cousin. “Laserdream, please take Aisha home and meet up with your family. The Dallon half of New Wave will engage first and try to rescue Velocity.”

Crystal nodded. “Yes ma’am!” She flew behind Aisha and scooped her arms under hers.

“Hey! I’m not done. I’ll take the bus, geesh!” Aisha tried to flail out of Crystal’s grip.

“Nope!” She popped the ‘p’. “I’m not leaving an unpowered member of our family unattended in public.” Laserdream bubbled Aisha’s dinner in a forcefield and carried it with her as she flew out with her aggravated passenger.

Dad found our waitress and settled the bill as other customers gawked at our family deploying from an Applebee’s. While I could have flown ahead without them, there was something magical about us loading up in mom’s minivan to go stop a villain as a family. Today was a good day for Dad and even Amy was coming along this time. Sure, I guess this counts.

This was everything I dreamed having powers would be like until I got them.

Mom and Dad changed into their costumes in a minute and then we were off. My costume was being transported via PRT van along with the junior Wards and Tandem.

I didn’t want to admit that some part of me was glad that a giant monster woman was devouring heroes with a team of heavy hitters behind her, because otherwise, we wouldn’t need my parents' help. We had so many powers and tools that, unless the odds were overwhelming, their help wouldn’t change the outcome. That is kind of messed up. Yes, but it’s more like our power is isolating. Like we’re ever alone. Yes, we’re a crowd unto ourselves, but that’s not the point. My dad’s good days were so rare by the time I got my powers.

We didn’t have routine patrols. When Dad did feel at his best, he normally didn’t want to put on spandex and spend his days patrolling, so the days he went were the ones where he could force himself out the door, not the happy father-daughter crime fighting I hoped it would be.

Now, everything was backwards. I was the one gone for days at a time. I was the one who was difficult to patrol with.

I was the one who died.

Mom and Dad were doing their best to pretend everything was fine—that we would rebuild our family—but I could already see the cracks. She was getting more familiar with Aisha and more formal with me. Little by little, Mom was rebuilding her family. My role was more that of a frequently visiting relative than a child.

We were all feeling that fraying of connection with our families. Those of you with families that care. The last communication Chris got from his parents was a letter letting him know he wasn’t invited to his own funeral. None of us could convince him to crash it. It’s fine. I don’t need to be a person. I tinker. It’s—Come on, buddy. Don’t be like that. Let me keep my friend in here. Don’t try to fade away.

Before I could add my own two cents, a red blur cut through the center of our van and popped my forcefield. Slower than Velocity but does heat up the air as he moves through it. After building up heat, he must have melted through. I didn’t have time to think about Tattletale’s muttering as I flew up to grab both halves of the safety roll bar Mom had installed ‘just-in-case’. Once I grabbed the bar, I flew backwards to slow down our wreck enough for Dennis to timelock the car without the seatbelts bisecting my parents. So glad the techs thought of that before I tried to stop a speeding car.

My parents tried to shuck their restraints, but those were frozen too. “Let go of the seatbelts so Vista can move them.” Once my parents raised their hands, little V expanded the loops and bent the seats back enough that Dad could squeeze out. Mom turned into a ball and rolled out of hers. Vista then widened the molten cut the clone made until we could all leave the vehicle.

Sirens and horns blared as the smell of burnt faux leather filled my nostrils. Brandish looked at the wreck with an aura of regret and resignation. “Where are the Travelers?”

Based on where they were, the gaps in our senses, and their talk of plays, I think we can guess where they are. I told Brandish Tattletale’s guess.

“It’s better than nothing. Let’s go.”

I flew over my parents and let the senses Terry enhanced provide forewarning of attack. Our vigilance paid off immediately as the Velocity clone burned toward us. I moved to intercept him as Brian threw darkness and Alec tried to make the clone trip. Balls, his power messes with my control.

The clone ran into the darkness and stubbed his toe on a raised portion of street from Vista. The section blew apart in fiery chunks as the clone tumbled through the air toward me. I tagged him, and Dennis froze him before he could recover.

My parents hadn’t finished turning around by the time I waved them forward. As we left, Taylor transported bugs to wrap-up the clone in heat resilient silk.

I pulled ahead and directed them to a blind alley that we thought the Travelers were. “There! That one on the right!” I pointed.

Flashbang conjured and bounced one of his namesakes into the alley, which exploded before we turned the corner. No one was immediately visible, but Taylor’s swarm fought unseen in dark corners and on secluded rooftops against an implacable horde. The not-bugs had no direction or strategy. They moved on instinct alone and seemed overtly hostile to everything. All across the city, a growing fog of war interfered with our awareness. I couldn’t let Amy’s and my creations run free. What if these versions could breed and destabilize the global ecosystem? Thankfully, my relay worms seemed uncopied, but I had to be sparing with my troops since the enemy’s came in unending waves.

The alley was dark, damp, and smelled like a grave with trash bags scattered about and one lone dumpster resting awkwardly in the middle.

Flashbang conjured another bomb while Brandish summoned her sabers to illuminate this place beyond the reach of the buzzing streetlights behind us.

The ringing of my Ward phone broke the silence. I answered in a hurry to hear Armsmaster’s voice. “Do you know where Shadow Stalker is?”

“Yeah, she was heading up Epler to 35 street and is…” When I checked my swarm again, I couldn’t find her. The fog in my awareness that Taylor was fighting tooth and nail had consumed her position. “No, she’s in d—” A rock struck my phone, exploding it and popping my forcefield.

“No, none of that.” Ballistic leaned over the rooftop and stared down at me. He wore bulky and angular armor with red plates and gray pouches across his stomach and chest. The hard edges of his costume aligned with his own approach to fighting. Not even his armor was primarily for protection. Ballistic regularly shot plates off when he couldn’t turn or reach for more ammunition. The man was always inches away from killing someone.

Flashbang lobbed bombs underhanded to Brandish, who hit them like baseballs with her light-bat up to the roof.

“Shit!” He ducked and covered his head before the first nonlethal explosion consumed his position.

A dark shape burst from the dumpster and fired a glob of acid at me and Dad. In a panic, I lunged for the other glob, avoiding mine, but was too slow to reach the other one. Thankfully, my parents had been in the game for decades. Flashbang threw a larger orb through the acid glob and rolled out of the way of the residual splash.

The orb bounced off a wall to the attacker and expanded into Mom, who dropped two of Dad’s bombs before turning into a ball again. The resulting explosion overloaded my eyes, causing us to do that mildly horrible thing of seeing through our skin. It’s like closing your eyes in a dream and still seeing everything.

A hiss of pain filled the air as the creature of dark carapace rolled away from the explosion and scrambled to its four legs. The creature’s head was eyeless and smooth with visible serrated teeth for a maw. It had two opposable tubes on its back, both glowing green and dripping with caustic fluid. Genesis’ form doesn’t need to see or hear. She’ll recover quickly!  

Grue filled the space above us with darkness to blind Ballistic as I dashed toward Genesis. She sensed my approach and leapt to a wall before firing more acid at me. My forcefield flickered back into place, letting me fly through the attack and punch at her.

She leapt again, but didn’t notice Vista’s subtle bending of space. Instead of landing gracefully back on the ground, Genesis slammed into it with her back and cracked one of her tubes. Brandish sliced off the other one and held her other saber to Genesis’ throat.

“It’s over. Surrender.” Brandish commanded imperiously.

A hissing laughter rouse from the creature Genesis turned into. “Our distraction is.” Her voice was a loud whisper like this form didn’t have any vocal cords. After her declaration, she faded to nothing.

My parents went back to back as I dismissed the darkness. Taylor won her battle here and flooded the roof with insects only to discover that Ballistic had run away. I sighed. “They’re gone.” Distraction for what? Sophia! “They’re going after Shadow Stalker!”

Dad nodded to me. “Go. We’ll catch up.”

I hesitated only a moment before flying off. It was brief, but that might be the last time just me and my parents fought bad guys together without anyone else interfering. I pushed the concern away as I flew to the last place I had seen Sophia.

On the way, the PRT van with my suit neared. Alec seized control of the power armor and flew it to me as Rachel pumped power into the junior Wards. Tandem mounted Angelica and lumbered after us while I slipped into my yellow costume mid-air. Once all the plates were secure, I activated my thrusters and used the extra boost to outpace my allies.

She sure picked a fun place to go missing.

While downtown Brockton Bay wasn’t as congested as the metropolitan areas of real cities, space was still at a premium. The little park Sophia went missing in must have cost a relative fortune for the city to keep in place. There could be other factors like weak foundations or overburdened utility systems. If—This place was too nice. That jungle gym could support adults while the slide and swings were for younger children. A quadrant of courts took center stage and appeared to be useful for either basketball or tennis depending on who reserved it for the day. A tasteful water feature and several well-maintained bushes decorated a curving path meant for walking, running, and cycling.

I couldn’t sense Sophia. Vista’s space pulses were blocked by the not-bugs Taylor was fighting off. There couldn’t be many places for her to go.

A flicker of shadow in one of the courts caught my attention. Under a lone light, I saw Sophia in her shadow state walking along with a 15ft pole in one hand. I flew to her. “Shadow Stalker, are you alrigh—”

Sophia swung the pole at me, which I instinctively blocked with my forearm. The pole slid right through and rested in my chest before Sophia let go of the pole. As soon as she did, it turned solid, blocking my spine and heart.

“What the hell!?”

That’s not how Shadow Stalker’s powers work. This is a clone. The clones can have slightly different powers than the original. Almost to prove Tattletale right, not-Sophia dove and grabbed a discarded skateboard. Instead of passing through it, the board turned incorporeal with her. If she can pick up objects, then we can probably hit her with one.

I broke off the pole in my chest and held it in my right hand. With my left, I ripped out the portion fused in my spine and immediately lost control to Carlos as the pain became too much.

An exultant laugh bubbled out my throat. Years of coaching made it sound like heroic defiance instead of the almost sordid glee that spawned it. I chucked my heart at not-Sophia in a way that hopefully didn’t send mixed messages.

Before the steel infused organ could bean her in the head, a tendril of shadow shot out from the under bleachers and batted it away. The inky darkness coiled in on itself in front of not-Sophia and launched itself at me.

I swiped the pole through the blob, and it morphed around the attack. Seeing nothing better to do, I lunged to grab and freeze it since Vista’s space manipulations didn’t work on it. The shadow contorted around my hand and dove to the hole in my chest only to splash harmlessly off Victoria’s forcefield. Dennis then froze it—Probably her.

With that foe frozen, I went to whack the original Sophia clone, but the pole was punched out of my hands. Is that Assault? No, upon closer examination, a version of Velocity stood next to not-Sophia. This version had a mashed up square face with broader shoulders. A series of craters followed in his wake.

Alright, that’s enough of them pulled out. Grue flooded the area with darkness, and I zipped to not-Velocity.

Vista worked to disrupt his footing, but this version smashed through any disruptions. Breaker state is only protecting him from the effects of moving too fast, not things around him aside from the air. He was also slower than my fly speed in the armor and was frozen in time after I tapped him.

The original not-Sophia was staggering and fell out of her shadow state. Vista narrowed the space between us as I grabbed her, mapped out her nervous system, and Alec made her sit down. Grue dismissed the darkness around us, and I asked not-Sophia, “Where is Noelle?”

She spat in my face. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“Is Stalker dead? Is Velocity?”

Her aura became a chaotic mix of spite, sadism, and hate as she bared her teeth in a slow crescent. “They will be. And it will be all your fault, just like everyone else you got fucking killed.”

Sophia’s harsh words never got under my skin. This pale imitation couldn’t—

“By the way, I knew.” I stiffened. “Yeah, it wasn’t hard to match your story to Clarendon High, nor did I miss the pronoun they used for the victim. When my friends started calling Hebert a boy, well… It gave me the idea to reuse the team-bonding story you gave me.” She cackled. “Did bitchbert trigger from the same prank? Who knows… I like to think she did because then that means one little shove got all you annoying twats killed.” Not-Sophia howled into the night.

I caught myself about to hit her. This is a clone of Sophia, not Sophia herself. She might be lying. After letting out a long breath, I lowered my fist. “What does Noelle want?”

“Blob lady eats capes. What do you think she wants?” Alec knocked out the clone since she wasn’t telling us anything useful.

Tandem and the junior Wards neared the park with Triumph escorting them. I hovered that way while still being blind to most of the area. The closed storefronts had especially fierce bug on bug conflicts raging. 

Taylor was reestablishing our vision across the city since Chris started helping her out. Moving all our prebuilt bugs around is a lot like an RTS. Taylor’s way better on fine control. I’m just helping her have the right bugs available. We may need to spend time later correcting the normal bug population because those are being killed in droves.

I caught and froze the shadow blob again as it fell out of time-freeze before continuing my flight. The heroes all wagged their arms or tails in greeting. Tandem cupped her hands. “Did you find Shadow Stalker?”

“No, Noelle got her and is making clones.”

“We’ll get her back.” Tandem’s reassurance was undermined by a naked man appearing behind her and shoving her off Angelica. Faster than I could perceive, the man appeared next to Triumph and punched him in the throat before blurring away. He has a more complete breaker state and moves way faster, but can’t affect anything at all while doing so, which makes him a really effective scout and sneak attacker.

As I dove for Tandem, I couldn’t help but lament that we had to fight Velocity clones. Brockton Bay’s true speedster is a tough foe for anyone to deal with. And they probably have all of his knowledge if the Sophia clones were anything to go by. Velocity once told me that he uses his power to slow down his perception and read two books every night, one practical text and one novel.

Before Tandem hit the ground, the storefront near them burst open with a tide of flesh. This was the first good look I had at Noelle. Oh that poor girl. Noelle had long brown hair and wore a red sweatshirt. Her arms were crossed in front of her face as a third of her aura radiated a fierce determination. The rest of it was chaos and hunger that ate away at the sane parts of her emotional state. Unlike the Butcher, these other fragments were unorganized and lacking direction, but there was so much of it that they were consuming her. The emotional decay was reflected in her physical form. Her lower half was a mass of various animal heads, legs, eyes, and appendages. A large bull’s head took up her front while octopus tentacles and giant crab claws reached toward Tandem to pull her into one of her maws or beaks. I could understand why she was desperate and perhaps acting irrationally. No one would want to live like that.

Vista compressed the space between me and Tandem as Judas and Brutus tackled Noelle. She barreled through them, but the collision slowed her down just long enough for me to grab Tandem and—Noelle was replaced with a truck that was next to Triumph.

A bovine wail preceded a gulping sound.

I turned and couldn’t find my friend. “Triumph!”

“If you want them all back,” She patted her stomach. “Then I’ll trade you for them!”

Noelle didn’t wait for my response as she was transported down the street by swapping her with other trucks. I glanced around and spotted Trickster. “You!”

“Me!” The magician formed his arms into a bras d’honneur before swapping with a trashcan. Tandem, the junior Wards, and I searched around but couldn’t find him. Angelica sniffed her nose a few times and maybe picked up their scent. She’s eager to help like that. A teleporter would be difficult to track. Let Taylor find them.

The earpiece in my helmet buzzed. “Console to Myriad. Report back to PRT headquarters. We’re regrouping.”

The thought of Triumph in the belly of that beast made me sick. I tried to feel as bad for Sophia like I was supposed to, but I had let a personal grievance fester between us without addressing it. That’s on me. I’m the leader; I should do better.

We only gathered the one Sophia clone. The other one was unbothered by Grue’s darkness and slunk into a sewer grate before I could retag her. We had no way to contain her. Armsmaster will think of something. The Velocity clone we tagged was gone by the time I checked on him.

I felt defeated as I flew with what remained of my Wards team back to base.

When I arrived at headquarters, the PRT had formed a barricade around the building and took the captured clone out of my hands. I was shocked when an officer put a gun to her head and fired. “What are you doing?”

“The clones are a parahuman generated army. Proper procedure is disposal.” The officer pulled out a body bag and worked on wrapping up the corpse.

“But they are clearly people!”

He waved his hand in a so-so gesture. “It’s tricky. These have popped up all around the city. Capturing them all is untenable, so the Director decided to purge them. Legally, they aren’t people, and we have no idea how long they will survive if kept alive. Last I heard, they were deciding if this was an A-Class threat or not.” I’m torn because I think Noelle is definitely an S-Class, buuut I’m not sure if presenting powerful capes within easy reach of her helps anything.

I couldn’t find further words to say to the agent and proceeded inward with Tandem. The junior Wards elected to reinforce the barrier rather than shrinking.

During the elevator ride up, I couldn’t help but feel uneasy at how casually the clone was killed. That one had basically looked like Sophia with minimal defects. She had a few minor health issues that I could have trivially smoothed out with Amy’s power. They were the kind of mutations that would kill her at 30. Most of these clones probably had years to live, not months, weeks, or days.

These thoughts haunted me as the elevator opened to the floor where all the heroes were gathering.

Hopefully, we could settle this business with Noelle quickly.

Notes:

Since most canon clone names only appeared as character tags, I’ll place those here - Comet, Reaper, Shade, Earthquake, Zephyr.

Hey, if you're wondering why a bunch of the comments are about Heartbreaker. That was a decision I made and backpedaled on.

Chapter 23

Notes:

If you are following the chapters weekly, the last scene of the last chapter was changed before this one posted.

I proceeded down the hallway to the large gathering area. Armsmaster was briefing the assembled heroes on what we knew about Noelle, codenamed Echidna by the higher-ups. Data on the clones and their permutations covered the wall-sized TV. I don’t like the wall of windows. Yes, it’s a lovely view of Brockton Bay, but what if Ballistic tries to snipe us? You worry too much, Taylor has narrowed down their location to the southwest part of town in the old industrial zone. How could they possibly get to us from there? I agreed with Dennis. Taylor was too focused on her unseen war to comment. In the few hours since this started, she had gotten very proficient at destroying her and Amy’s creations with regular bugs supported by the relatively few monster bugs she had remaining.

“Given the wide permutations of the clones and our precog warnings, I’m surprised the Chief Director didn’t declare this an S-Class threat.” The slightly overweight hero rubbed his chin at the puzzle. Thank goodness Chubster was available. He might not have the firepower of one of the Triumvirate, but he was a steadying force that remained calm no matter how dire the situation. A ripple of confusion went through the former villains in my skull. Who? Surely you know Chubster, leader of the Indianapolis Protectorate. Is he famous? He presides over one of the quietest major cities in America and has wrestled with Leviathan several times. So nothing happens in his town, and he does things at fights the Protectorate doesn’t share the details of. Gee, how could I have missed that? I couldn’t believe such an illustrious hero was only known among other heroes. The name can’t help with his marketing.

Armsmaster gave the concern a slight nod before pulling up a picture of Echidna from my helmet. “Based on an initial scan and the effect of Judas and Brutus’s tackle, we can estimate that while Echidna is very strong, she shouldn’t have the same durability as any of the other S-class threats. We also don’t want the remaining local villains to charge into one of her maws.”

“About that,” I interjected. “We hadn’t been able to locate Leet’s hideout, but Echidna did overrun one of the suspected locations. Additionally, both Trainwreck and Squealer disappeared after Echidna passed their locations. She likely has more clones. I’m not sure why she collected a bunch of Tinkers.”

In the middle of the room, a gloved hand jutted out a swirling vortex of turquoise energy. Another hand followed it until Eidolon pulled himself through and let it shut behind him. “We should hurry and contain the threat before we have to find out.” He raised his palm up. “No need to brief me. I was listening in while wrapping up another situation.”

As Armsmaster switched to discussing how teams of heroes would deploy to eradicate errant clones before we moved in to rescue the captured capes, Eidolon drifted over to me.

“You must be Myriad.” He stuck out his hand as his aura radiated camaraderie. “There aren’t many heroes with as many powers as we have.”

I shook his hand. “We’ve met before. I wasn’t in this body at the time.”

“Did we? Hmmm.” He dropped his arm. “I’m a little disappointed. You didn’t even try to map my nerves.”

“Sir, I would never—”

Eidolon shook his head. “Hubris. That’s how capes like us die. You have to always be seeking advantages and remain ever vigilant. What if I’m cloned? That mapping could save lives.” I extended my hand, and he shook it again. This time the ports in my finger tip were open, and Amy couldn’t sense his biology at all. “Ah see, what if you are cloned? I obviously couldn’t let you gain an advantage over me, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep trying.”

His aura had a hue similar to when Armsmaster talked to Chris about tinkering. Was Eidolon trying to mentor us? There's something else too, a darker undercurrent. From Eidolon? The man who flies around the world saving people almost as much as Scion? That Eidolon!? Tats, that’s ridiculous. I don’t think it’s his primary or even his tertiary thought, but I get the distinct impression that killing us for a power boost is a strategy he would consider.

“Remember, having the perfect power for the situation doesn’t mean anything if you don’t use it.”

Eidolon floated away after that, leaving me to wonder if there was any merit to Tattletale’s concern. Aside from being a paragon of heroism for decades, why would he need our powers? We—Flight and near invulnerability would give him more flexibility in the powers he selects. We also have a host of abilities that have to be planned around by any foe. If our amalgam had a rotating powerset on top of that, then it would be hard to do anything to us. Yet, that’s basically already true for Eidolon, so I don’t see what he could rationally gain from it.

Armsmaster’s presentation had stopped and heroes were gathering into strike groups to discuss their coordination. A haggard looking Tandem led a couple Wards I was familiar with over to me. “Flechette, Weld! I haven’t seen you since Behemoth.” The girl wore a skintight purple suit with platinum-white armor panels that flared out at the upper edges and tapered at the bottom, invoking the impression of a dart. Most Wards are adamant about injecting a bit of their own personality and preferences into their costume, but Flechette’s only personal decisions were the nine inch darts she still carried and the cleats on her shoes. Her arbalest was the better weapon and, with the unlimited chain it produced, provided better mobility. The redundant equipment spoke to both not wanting to be overly reliant on tinkertech and a desire to not be chained down to tinker support. She was still weighing her options.

“Aegis? Glad to see you’ve maintained your color scheme. I was sorry to hear about your drastic unwanted transformation. As you can imagine, I’m sympathetic.” Weld went shirtless to draw the eye to the time and dedication he put into his own body. While his skin was predominantly a dusky dark gray, it was swirled with lighter metals and silver lines traced his muscles. Maybe his Image team decided all this for him, but he still put in the time and work. For someone as malleable as him, every inch of his body was a deliberate choice. He chose to look muscular, he chose to look like a teenager, and he certainly chose to be a boy. If all those choices culminated into a photogenic case-53 that the PRT could thrust into the limelight to normalize all capes like him, then that was the sort of normalcy he had to claw and scrape for. I was so glad Taylor was distracted, not that I needed her to appreciate Weld’s chiseled abs. God, I bet he could just break every bone in my body by walking over me. He—Stop drooling and respond.

“It’s easier to deal with in the armor. Anyways, glad you two could make it. We really should meet outside of disasters.”

Flechette interjected, “Well, about that… You might be seeing more of us.”

“Really?”

Tandem coughed. “We technically only have three full-Wards, and I’m graduating next year.” Judas, Brutus, and Angelica didn’t have powers, so I could see how that might be a problem for branding.

“I’ll be staying after this. They accelerated the transfer because the current team is without a leader.” Weld bared his teeth at me, and we couldn’t see his aura to clarify what he meant.

“Oh… right… that makes sense… I did… die and got everyone killed…”

“No, it’s not like that. You’re only one thirteenth of Myriad and no one wants to put you under that kind of pressure.”

“Because I can’t be relied upon.”

“You can, but what about everyone else? What happens if you switch perspectives mid-mission? Do you think everyone is ready to lead a team?”

A shudder rippled through me at the idea of Taylor making decisions. Hey, I’m too busy leading armies to defend myself.   

I had them pinned to a single warehouse. Dragonflies flew in tight formations to ferry black widows to venom vulnerable targets. Beetles and roaches crawled along the ground to encircle our foe as hordes of ants prepare to envelope the larger bugs with dozens of mandibles and selective application of venom. While a single giant beetle or fire breathing ant could slaughter dozens of mundane bugs, I outnumbered them a hundred to one. Noelle’s seemingly endless horde had fallen to a trickle. The uncoordinated masses had only taken the doors and windows as chokepoints because I pushed them there . When I pulled back my forces, the frenzied insects would charge and be consumed by my army. These sorties had slowed to single monster bugs. It was time to push.

No commands were shouted. No officer bugs told the rest what to do. My army instantly went from holding its position to rippling forward as an unshakable onslaught.

“Sundancer, take them out!” Noelle shouted. A massive fire orb soon enveloped my army, but I saw them. A dozen misshapen clones were constructing a ring-like structure standing on its edge. All had rudimentary costumes as another group of clones was hastily tailoring basic garments for each newborn. “Zephyr, scout. They know where we are. I want to know where they are. If they are still mustering, perform plan 7.”  

One of the few remaining naked clones gave Noelle a salute before vanishing… No, not completely vanishing. He was a blur to most of my bugs, but cockroaches are very good at detecting motion and perceived him breaking the encirclement. Several other bugs caught him in other parts of town, approaching here. Carlos you need to warn—

The lights turned off as Zephyr stopped by the power box and flipped the main switch. “It’s Echidna. She’s sent a Velocity clone to scout us.”

Myrddin conjured a ball of fire in hand, illuminating the room just enough for us to see a blur streak across the hallway. Eidolon raised his hand, but the blur did not return.

“They’re moving out and heading this way.” I informed the gathered heroes.

“No more time for planning then.” Armsmaster flung open the window and rappelled to the ground below. I grabbed Flechette’s and Weld’s arms before exiting with the other fliers. I then dove down to rendezvous with the junior Wards. 

Tandem floated down and mounted Angelica. Flechette looked at Judas hesitantly. “He’s certainly a very big dog.”

I petted Brutus, who was searching for Sophia. “She’s in trouble. We’ll have to rescue her.” And once this is all over, I’ll have a talk with her and bury this growing animosity between us. I turned to Flechette. “He won’t bite.” The words came out reflexively, but I didn’t know why I said them. Of course a junior Ward wouldn’t bite people.

Before I could resolve my confusion, Flechette grabbed a bony protrusion and levered herself onto Judas, who then rose to his full height. “Woah! Ha ha. I’m good. I’m good.” Her aura was streaked with apprehension and excitement.

Weld looked between the dogs. “I don’t think they can carry me.”

I nodded. “They could, but Rachel would have to make one of them bigger, which would make them slower and more likely  to be eaten..” I flew behind him. “I’ll carry you there.”

Weld made an upside down crescent with his mouth, for a mysterious reason, and sighed as I picked him up. “Are you trying to talk to me?”

I switched my mike to a different channel before responding, “No, I’m relaying enemy positions to everyone else. We know where Echidna is, but we can’t let the clones rampage while we focus on her.”

Weld put a finger to his ear and pointed. “Our group will intercept a batch of clones heading that way.” Oof, they are already establishing the chain of command by telling him where we’re going.

A hollowness filled my gut as I banked right and followed Weld’s orders. It wasn’t that I thought Weld would be bad at the job; I knew I had lost it. While Tagg didn’t trust us, any director would have removed me from the position, if they thought I still had it in the first place. You can bet that in Tagg’s paperwork, Taylor was never Ward’s captain, so you didn’t lose anything in his eyes.

This disquiet only deepened as I realized where we were headed. Of course… The remnants of Brockton Bay Central Bank stood as a monument to our forging. No construction had started repairs and probably never would. Our fight damaged the foundation and ruptured several utilities. The city needed to fix infrastructure damage before the owners could begin to rebuild the blasted out wreck. By then, the company would have opened a new location. Something would be built here over the ashes—just not the bank—much like how what crawled out of here wasn’t really any of us.

When we arrived, one of Triumph’s clones stood in front of the bank with his arms outstretched. He wore a gold jumpsuit and no mask. Unlike most clones, he had no visible deformities. “Welcome Wards! Aegis, I see you are still in command of your body if not your team. Did you know Triumph keeps a little chart on his person to know which color is which? Did you really think that helps people tell you all apart?”

I dropped Weld in front of the clone and hovered defensively above the squad as the junior Wards and their riders formed up behind us. Weld held up a hand. “All the clones have a kill order, but if you come with us peacefully—”

“There can be no peace. The people I bought my powers from will never allow copies to run free.” Weld, Tandem, and Flechette demanded clarification on what he meant about buying powers as I stayed silent. “Myriad knows what I am talking about. Which Ward was it? I’m going to guess Gallant. His parents were wealthy enough."

Tandem turned to me. “What is he talking about?”

“He can’t tell you or the secret power granting organization will disappear him. I’m screwed regardless, so I can tell you all about the tests, the different tiers of powers on offer, and how I lied down after drinking a vial of mysterious fluid to get my powers. No trauma was involved at all.”

The pieces clicked. I said, “Other clones of you are telling every group this to disrupt our morale and sow distrust.”

“Is it working?”

“No.” Grue covered the area in darkness, and I flew forward. The clone clapped and scattered the darkness around him with a wave of concussive force, giving him just enough light to see me coming and kick in my direction. I held up my hand and timelocked a handful of bugs to block his attack as I twirled around and tapped him on the neck, knocking him out.

Normally when fighting with allies, I tried not to blind them, but they were still reeling from the revelation of artificial powers and three Sophia clones were creeping toward us. The darkness only inhibited one of them while the other two moved faster. I knocked out the first one with a tap and then timelocked a familiar blob of shadows. The final clone didn’t appear to be in her breaker state. When my fingers brushed her neck, they sank like she was incorporeal. She bared her teeth and pivoted on her heel to punch through my arm.

“Fuck you, Grue.” The bit of her neck and her arm dissolved into shadow along with my fingers and a hole in my arm. She lashed out with her other fist, and I flew back. When the clone didn’t connect, she immediately pivoted and ran for my allies.

I dismissed the inner circle of darkness. “Don’t let that clone touch you!” Flechette took my warning and shot Sophia in the foot, fusing it to the ground. The clone growled in pain as she dragged her foot through the needle. A line of shadow formed where the needle cut through. While she continued to limp toward them, motes of shadow flowed back to her missing portions and restored them. Weld saw all of that and started throwing rocks at her. When each rock collided, both it and a piece of the clone exploded into bits of shadow.

During Weld’s dismantlement of the clone, I piled rubble around the timelocked Stalker clone, and Vista twisted the seams together to make a sealed box. By the time I returned, Tandem was using her purple fields to launch purple rocks at Sophia along with Weld’s continued assault. Flechette continued to fire needles into critical joints from atop Judas. The needles stopped after piercing the clone and then fell through her, creating more broken lines. When the clone had dissolved completely into inky motes, Weld looked around. “Is that it?”

Terry focused on regrowing my fingers as Taylor called bugs to give Amy biomass to fix the damage to our suit. I continued to watch the motes float listlessly. “She’s not dead, but you destroyed her brain, so she can’t think to pull herself together.”

Weld grimaced. “That’s basically dead. Any more coming?”

“Yes, but a regular Velocity clone is covering their approach.”

Flechette had a confused aura. “How’s he doing that?”

“Velocity can’t carry a lot while using his power, but he can apparently carry a razorblade and can slash very quickly. Tandem, you should lift the two of you out of reach.”

Tandem offered Flechette a piggyback ride. “This isn’t a good place for me to carry passengers. We’ll try to make it work for as long as we can.” Once the other hero was secure, Tandem glowed purple along with the manhole cover she stood on and the two lifted up. 

After a few moments, the Velocity clone blurred around us, cutting up my bugs as a van turned the corner and accelerated toward us. Vista pulled up a ramp and made the van flip over. What were they expecting? As the van was airborne, two clones hopped out: one of Velocity, and one of Triumph. When the other Velocity clone landed, he cracked the ground and ran toward Weld.

Grue spread darkness to confound their movement again. As he did so, Velocity’s footfalls exploded with cacophonous shockwaves, scattering the darkness, but succeeded in redirecting that clone away from Weld. The same shockwaves prevented me from grabbing him. Get the new Triumph clone.

When Weld and the junior Wards tried to follow me, their steps caused sonic explosions and knocked them over. His sound manipulation is specific to steps. It’s longer range and higher magnitude than the original but limited in scope.

As I reached for the Triumph clone, he slammed his foot. The resulting shockwave popped Victoria’s shield. His other step knocked me back. “Hands off lover-boy.” At my shocked reaction, his aura filled with contempt. “I always knew. You stared at my ass more than my girlfriend.”

“Was I that obvious?”

He rolled his eyes. “Only slightly less than Vista’s crush on Dean. At least I didn’t get stuck in your head.” Can you paste this guy? I was still hesitant to kill the clones. They were people. It didn’t matter if they were inconvenient. Then don’t. We only have a dozen other ways to solve this problem. If Tagg wants to shoot them in a jail cell, then that’s on him.

Right. Victoria activated her aura, scaring the clones and bolstering the junior wards. Vista increased its size and the size of the anger beams I shot at the Triumph clone. Once he was on his ass and discombobulated, I tapped him on the neck, and Alec knocked him unconscious. Without the added shockwaves, Grue’s darkness covered the area, letting Brutus track the slower Velocity clone by smell and tackle him. Once pinned, I put that clone to sleep with a touch.

The last clone ran from my darkness only for Flechette to fire her arbalest and pin his foot to the ground with a well-aimed shot. I then flew over and tapped him unconscious as well.

Once I dismissed the darkness, Weld looked around at the incapacitated clones. “We’ll need to work on more effective teamwork. Though…” He went silent.

“What is it?”

“Now is not the time. We need to meet up with the others for the final push.”

The girls mounted up while I carried Weld again from under the armpits. A single PRT van rolled to our location and several officers with grim auras stepped out. I flew a little faster, but that didn’t stop Taylor’s bugs from hearing the bang of firearms. The casual murder curdled my stomach.

While we flew, the agent manning the console gave us a status update. I didn’t need her to explain it. Taylor had kept several millions of eyes on the whole thing. Once the teams were spread out to put down the clones, Echidna charged a couple specific groups. Her forces were decimated as they lost battles all over the city. Only a handful of trucks drove back to their warehouse with stolen electronics. By most measures, we were winning, except Echidna managed to grab Bastion and Myrddin. 

Armsmaster managed to tranquilize Trickster in the exchange, but Echidna still gained the clones she needed to bunker down in her warehouse so that her Tinkers had time to finish whatever project they were working on.

By the time we arrived, Bastion’s clones had made a fort of forcefields within the now destroyed warehouse. All traces of the previous building had been blasted away by Dragon’s Cawthorne suit, a familiar sight to anyone that frequents events like these.

Chubster was pushing at the gates and slowly buckling them as Laserdream, Lady Photon, and the other blasters covered him from clones taking potshots out of temporary embrasures. One of the Myrddin clones conjured green mist at the door, but Eidolon sucked the mist into a ball and teleported it inside the fort, where another Myrddin clone banished it. Despite the gravity of the situation, Eidolon seemed to be enjoying himself.

Before my team got into position, a different Myrddin clone conjured a black hole over Chubster, who had to stop moving to resist the pull. Vista could feel that it was an actual black hole, just very very small, and quickly unwarped the space to dismiss it. OK Carlos, I think it’s my turn. Sure, if you can, go ahead.

As our armor color shifted to green, I held out my hands and started shrinking all the forcefields that made up their fortress. Echidna looked me in the eye and bared her teeth before disgorging thousands of houseflies to cover every inch of their defenses, disrupting my control.

Before the not-bugs blocked our sight, I saw a Triumph clone standing next to Echidna and chattering away. He’s telling her how all our powers work. That wasn’t good. Okay, maybe I couldn’t squish this immediately but—

“Myriad!” Armsmaster shouted to us. “Get down here in cover. We have a plan.”

Notes:

Since most canon clone names only appeared as character tags, I’ll place those here - Zephyr, Victory, Reaper, Shade, Harvest, Speed, Rout.

Chapter 24

As it turned out ‘the plan’ was to wait for Chubster to batter down the gates before overwhelming the Travelers with the assembled heroes. While that plan was progressing, Armsmaster wanted to lead a small team on a rescue mission by excavating a tunnel underneath Echidna. Tecton would dig most of the tunnel as I shrunk the loose dirt and rock.

Tecton was an older Ward from Chicago and a tinker specialized in power armor and geology. The suit was a mix of bronze and copper plating with decorative rivets to invoke a steampunk aesthetic, not that his tech was primitive. Servos whined as electric motors pumped the hydraulics behind the piledrivers under his gauntlets. The massive tubes of metal depressed with each punch to peel away walls of rock, earth, and clay through mysterious tinker shenanigans. It’s a form of signal transformation. The strikes deliver a resonant frequency that manipulates the environment in specified ways. If we could take a moment to examine his tech, I might be able to add a similar feature to our own punches and kicks. We could—

I did my best to tune out Kid Win—I mean Chris. It annoyed me how quick everyone was to abandon their cape names. There was no reason we couldn’t keep the convention in our heads. It would encourage everyone to get in the proper headspace. We’re already having trouble getting Chris to think about anything but Tinkering. He needs every reminder that he's still a person.

This was a long standing argument between me and Carlos. We weren’t normal people. As capes, we didn’t need to worry about failing any standards of personhood. Capes were symbols and ideals. A handful of minutes in the spotlight a week was all a cape needed to matter. THAT was achievable by all of us. Most of them disagreed with me, but they would come around eventually. I didn’t have time to bicker with them as I wrapped all the grains of dirt and pebbles with my power and squeezed them to an even smaller size.

Tecton continued working on the tunnel, illuminated only by a light from Armsmaster’s helmet. While it was more than enough for me to see by, Weld and Chevalier were taking hesitant steps and eying our surroundings with needless suspicion. Our Ward tinker manipulated rock to support the tunnel as he dug. Chris thought it would hold for our operation. Armsmaster also seemed unbothered.

He was using his special multitool to fiddle with his halberd while explaining the operation. “Based on encounters so far, Echidna incapacitates capes she comes into physical contact with. That reduces potential rescuers to capes like Weld with favorable Manton interactions or those of us sealed off from her effects. Tecton, your suit has too many gaps. Do not attempt a rescue. Myriad, your suit’s organic nature could be problematic. Avoid contact with Echidna. There is no telling what would happen if she cloned you.”

After a couple sparks flared off his tool, he seemed satisfied with the device and slipped the tool back into a hip compartment. Once it was stowed, his faceplate and a dozen other mechanisms formed a perfect seal around Armsmaster. His voice gained a metallic quality that was probably intentional.

He pointed the tip of his halberd to the ceiling. “I’ll estimate where Echidna is through echolocation, and we can assault her from below. Bastion tends to leave the ground of his defenses unshielded. Let’s hope his clones share the same tactical habits.”

Chevalier rested his cannonblade on the shoulder of his silver-and-gold armor. “If not, I’ll take care of it.” The leader of the Philadelphia branch seemed affable, but I noticed he tried to look at us as little as possible.

Minutes crept by as the battle above us raged. Through Taylor’s swarm, we saw Chubster break through the main gates only to find a second box of forcefields around that entrance. This one had more openings for Myrddin’s clones, Ballistic, and Sundancer to counterattack an assaulting foe.

Before more esoteric forces could harm Chubster, Eidolon telekinetically yanked him out of the line of fire. “That was a close one. You’re slowing down in your old age.”

Chubster dusted off one shoulder and ignored the comment. “She’s stalling for time. Whatever she has her tinkers working on, that’s her win condition.”

“You’re perceptive as always. Yes, the device is nearly complete, and they are powering it with a stable blackhole. While I could teleport inside and destroy it—”

“This could all be bait to try to clone you.” He rubbed his chin as he lifted one hand to intercept a flying boulder. The rock stopped at his palm and fell to the ground with a large thud. “Would you take me to the roof? If we attack from above as the rescue team attacks from below, then we should be able to crack this.”

Eidolon snapped his fingers and they both appeared on the roof of the Bastion clones’ fortress. The two capes went back to back as trap doors opened to dispense more clones. I stopped focusing on them when Armsmaster halted.

He tapped the roof a couple more times with his halberd. “Echidna is right above us. Tecton, fallback. Myriad, make the space between us as small as possible.” We followed his orders as Weld and Chevalier formed up by him. Weld morphed both of his arms into blades and stared upwards without a single tremor or twitch.

As their floor bulged upwards and the roof thinned, Armsmaster’s activated his plasma blade. When the roof collapsed, an octopus tentacle dashed through the rubble and wrapped around Weld. Both Armsmaster and Chevalier cut through the appendage, freeing him. The three of them then diced Echidna’s underside together and burrowed into her.

Tecton punched the ground with his piledrivers, and I heard several thunks above as walls rose around Echidna. I did what I could to raise the floor around her and bind her movements, but the tons of not-bugs were impeding my efforts.

Above, Miss Militia fired rocket after rocket at Bastion’s shields from a PRT helicopter. Dragon launched another salvo from her mech, and the rest of the heroes stormed the top layer of the fortress only to find another checkpoint. The opening did let Taylor call in bugs and infiltrate the fort. Her house flies flew into the mouths and noses of any clone they could reach. Taylor, are you trying to kill them? One of the Myrddin clones was coughing and clawing at their throat and nose. I felt the insects wiggled their way into his lungs to block as much air as possible. Yes.

We don’t need to kill them. Carlos tried to grab control of the swarm, but Taylor’s grip was far stronger. I can do what is necessary if you can’t. Our friends, families, and colleagues are fighting and could die if we hesitate. Besides, Tagg will kill all the clones anyways. We can’t save them.

It was the right call. We all felt the clone slowly suffocate until his lungs stopped moving around the dozens of flies shoved into them. This reminds me too much of the Bank, ugh…

Oh, I’d just killed someone. Do clones count? Most of the other heroes are killing the clones when they get the chance. Regardless, I killed them, not you. The distinction is a little meaningless. I think your thoughts, and feel everything you feel. When you do something, for all intents and purposes, it’s like I did it. I thought killing would be more emotionally devastating, but honestly. I felt fine. It’s not that different from—

Our armor had turned gray as Vista pretended to not be bothered by what I did and was doing. One of us needed to make the hard choice, and Alec didn’t particularly care enough to do it for us. I’ve only killed two people. They’re evil clones. Everyone needs to stop getting worked up about this.

While we wrestled moral dilemmas, Weld pulled an unfamiliar Middle Easterner girl and Velocity from Echidna. I dragged them both back and worked on reviving them as Armsmaster and Chevalier continued to support Weld by cutting down any limb that reached for him.

I had enough bugs in position to see Ballistic knock away some of the rock holding Noelle in place. The girl looked like she was in minor pain from what we were doing below her. One of the Myrddin clones gazed up from a pool of water to her. “Myriad is with them.”

Noelle snarled. “Good. Fortress, seal them in.” Her whole frame wiggled as she burst from the restraints around in a shower of rock and concrete dust, dragging Weld with her. Forcefields formed in the tunnel behind us, sealing our exit.

Armsmaster followed her out of the hole with his grappling hook while Chevalier pole-vaulted into the warehouse by extending the length of his sword. I flew up and Brian blanketed everywhere but the area around our allies and Echidna with darkness. 

His effect didn’t extend to the large ring construction I had seen earlier. Sundancer burned away the darkness as an elephant with slabs of rock for skin—That must be Genesis—guarded the device along with the Myrddin clone that could make black holes. He had his arms outstretched and concentrated near what looked like a generator to Chris.

I didn’t have time for that right now. There were dozens of hostile clones stumbling in the dark. I drew our disintegrator and set it to a narrow beam before sweeping it through them. While doing that, I flew through the crowd and tapped one of the Myrddin clones. Alec then used him to shoot lightning bolts and fireballs at the other clones with our swarm sense. Aiming was easier when I could point to a bug under my control. It was like pointing at my own body part.

Amy begrudgingly decided to handle the not-bug problem by releasing waves of short-lived spores that only infected them and not my bugs. Their nervous systems have a different cell structure. The reason you can’t control them is why I can target them. I also want to eradicate any lingering copies of our work. Carol is going to chew my ear off for that.

That left me flying around to let Dennis freeze enemies and to lob blasts of emotional energy while Victoria pushed her aura. Vista expanded our abilities, fouled the enemy’s footing, and made a complete nuisance of herself. Tattletale watched everyone and picked apart their strategies and plans from the smallest clues, letting us adapt for them.

Not everyone was for killing the clones, but we all wanted to rescue the heroes trapped in Noelle’s stomach and protect our friends. I moved with a speed and frenetic energy that only someone possessed with a host of wills could manage. Other colors swirled into my gray as the walls between us were ignored to focus more on what we could do. Thoughts blurred away until there was only action.

While I fought the clones, the others hunted Echidna. Chevalier shot cannon balls with thunderous force or batted aside the larger appendages with a blade that hit like it weighed several tons and moved like it was as light as a feather. Armsmaster sliced off smaller limbs as he wrapped her legs in wire and froze those wires in time. Hey, he copied my ability. Wait, why don’t I use wires? We have the silk for it. With the other two acting as interference, Weld dug through mounds of flesh to pry out captives and toss them back to Tecton, who dragged them into our initial hole. Why does it seem like Noelle is letting them? Why would she do that?

The main force of heroes was stymied by the majority of the clones. After bursting through the ceiling, there was a maze-like layer between them and us that the clones used to launch sneak attacks and dive for cover. We were on our own for the foreseeable future, but their distraction prevented us from being overwhelmed too quickly in the chaotic battlefield.

In the chaos, Ballistic started firing randomly into the darkness, nearly killing Armsmaster and blowing apart several of his cloned allies, which bumped him up higher in my priority. Since he wasn’t a clone, I needed to get close so Alec could knock him out.

When I approached him, I tripped an invisible wire that stretched to a trio of clones dressed like dolls, who I had been ignoring, since they were spending their time manipulating cloth to dress all the clones who would otherwise be naked. Their entire operation turned out to be a ruse to make them seem harmless as their real purpose was revealed. All three turned and faced me as wires burst from the floor to wrap me up. I tried to spin out of them, but they only grew tighter as they squeezed onto my forcefield. The tinkers must have been making these as well.

My imprisonment pulled a thread tied to Noelle’s wrist. Her aura filled with satisfaction as she turned and charged at me with a burst of speed she hadn’t displayed the entire night.

In an act of desperation, I timelocked the threads wrapping me. When Echidna’s bovine maw attempted to envelop me, it was briefly stalled by wires cutting into its teeth and jaw. Noelle gritted her teeth. “Good try, but that won’t stop me. You lose.”

Noelle screamed and the maw bit down, letting wires pry off teeth and slice through her bones. Blood mixed with another foul substance as my world went dark.

I was in two lockers. I faced down my mother’s boyfriend to protect my sister. I tried to ignore my parent’s fighting. I watched the pool close over Rollo. I failed test after test. I looked up and saw that my parents weren’t watching the game. I dreamed of everyone blaming me for Reggie’s death. I watched the Chorus gunman riddle Vicky with holes. I laid down to donate bone marrow to my father. I had a trip with my father. I stepped off the boat. I was at the bank.

The visions of trigger events faded away as I saw the bank again from 13 different perspectives. The chaos and confusion only increased as each perspective winked out. At the end, Taylor killed me again, and when I entered her skull, there was no sudden relief, only more screaming. We flew from that crater and buried the world in plagues, rot, and madness. No one was strong enough to stop us without killing us. Each defeat only made us stronger until we soared over a barren landscape with no one else to share in our pain. 

I raged and cried at the universe until the sun cooled to red and expanded. Its layers shed away to a cold white dot in the sky. It and every star winked out one by one. We still walked the earth, nourished on little more than background radiation. There is no end or escape for us. We—

Convulsions wracked my body as I vomited copious amounts of strange fluid. As I pushed myself off the floor, I saw Echidna facing off against the rest of the assembled heroes. She gestured at me. “See they’re fine. No one’s dead, let Krouse go.” 

When I tried to reach for my swarm’s senses, I felt someone fighting me. Before I could push them away, a robbed figure let go of Noelle and knelt next to me. She pressed her fingers on my suit. “There’s nothing wrong with you, get up.”

“Amy?” No, I’m still here.

“More or less.” She rose and went back to Noelle. “I can’t reverse any of this, but I can make the other brains like yours. I normally wouldn’t be willing to do that but—”

“We all have a compulsion to help Noelle. Aside from that, we’re basically the same as the originals.” A blonde girl in a purple catsuit accepted a domino mask from a Parian clone and put it on her face. “Surely bringing back your Ward team deserves some amnesty.” Tattletale bared her teeth at Miss Militia. Goddammit, I’ve said since the beginning that even if a version of us escaped, we would still be stuck in here.

Miss Militia had a finger to her earpiece. “Sir, there is no reason to be hasty. Armsmaster thinks the portal is stable. We have time to consider… Sorry sir, your connection is breaking up.” She pulled out her earpiece and stepped on it before turning to Armsmaster. “It appears the portal is interfering with our communications.”

Armsmaster glanced at the activated ring of tinkertech. Its center glowed with a pink light that rippled like the surface of an ocean. The only Travelers still here were Noelle and Trickster. “I concur. With connection to Director Tagg lost, you’ll have to make a call in the field as the local Protectorate leader. Does anyone have a problem with that?”

Eidolon, Myrddin, Chevalier, and Narwhal shook their heads. The latter woman was over 7ft tall and covered herself only with forcefields from her power. She refused proffered clothes from one of the Parian clones. Her muscles—Taylor, focus. I turned back to the conversation as I edged away from Noelle. Everyone in my head had formed into a protective circle around her, including a version of me.

The other Undersiders were already at Rachel’s side. Brandish had protective arms wrapped around Victoria and was trying to pull her out of the circle. Aegis looked uncomfortable in his default form, even though he looked very pretty. I don’t know what hurts worse: seeing that face again, or knowing that he’ll be able to change it while I can’t.

Miss Militia nodded to Assault. “I can agree to a captive exchange. Myriad, come here.” Assault then tossed an unconscious Trickster to Browbeat. The revived Ward carried him to Panacea, who revived him with a touch. Myselves moved out of the way as I floated to the line of heroes.

Trickster opened his eyes. “Noelle? Did it work? Are we home?”

Sadness filled Noelle’s more unified aura. “You’re not home yet. The portal worked, and the others went ahead of you. You should join them.”

“I’ll wait with you. We can go after she fixes you.”

“She can’t… Panacea can only stop me from going crazy.”

Trickster rolled out of Browbeat’s arms and nearly fell down until the Ward helped him to his feet. “We’ll have to take her with us then.” Flashbang glared at the villain and readied a bomb.

Noelle shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. I can’t live in Aleph like this, and they won’t let me leave for a world where I could go crazy and kill everyone. At least here, they can stop me.”

“Then I’ll stay with you. You are all that matters to me.”

“Krouse… I don’t want to see you. It’s your fault I’m like this.” She took a deep breath. “Krouse, I’m breaking up with you.” As they were talking, Vista compressed the space between him and the device. After Noelle’s announcement, Regent waved his arm, causing Trickster to fall into the portal. Once he disappeared, Kid Win turned it off. Noelle then sighed and held up her hands. “I surrender.”

Noelle was arrested for kidnapping and general mayhem. Myrddin, Narwhal, and Eidolon used a combination of powers to carry her out of the city. The mental effect she had on my copies were too great to keep her in close proximity.

Tagg’s orders to execute the remaining clones were ignored. None of the local Protectorate could bring themselves to destroy people that looked like the Wards they lost. Panacea and I checked them over for any congenital defects and healed them. She was unwilling to help me remove the murderous impulses from the other clones, so I spent most of the cleanup doing that. While I was busy, I heard snippets of conversations.

“Hey Bastion, why were all your clones shouting slurs?”

“Uhhhh, they were evil clones. I WOULD NEVER—”

“So Triumph bought his powers. How many others did?”

“Were the clones lying?”

“If they were lying, then why is what they said classified?”

“I’ll look into it.”

“Hey there, how are you holding up?”

“I was eaten by a giant monster on the way home from class. I want to go home.”

Each conversation was harder to parse with the other Taylor on the network. She approached to discuss the issue. “Fighting for control isn’t helping either of us. We should work together.”

I turned from working on a Parian clone. “I’m trying, but I think our powers interfere with each other.”

“That doesn’t make sense. The others used our power without affecting our control.”

“Do you still remember sharing a mind?”

The other Taylor nodded slightly. “Yes, we all do. Are… Is everyone still in there?”

“Yes…”

Her aura grew concerned. “That’s going to make things difficult.” You think!? The rest were feeling shaky on their personhood. We’re the originals. That has to count for some—Are we? How sure are you that we aren’t copies from the true originals? These versions of us have our original brains.

Before I could respond, our conversation was interrupted. “Holy shit, two Heberts!” Shadow Stalker looked us over with an amused aura. “I might get sick from this much concentrated lameness. The others I get, why the fuck were you copied?”

The other Taylor stayed silent and glared at her as I tapped my head. “All of us are still in here.”

“Wow, that sucks.” She gazed over the crowd where all my copies were having interactions either with each other or heroes that missed them. “Do you think everyone is going to treat you the same now that they got their unmixed versions back?”

I sighed. She’s voicing our unsaid worries. “Probably not… I don’t know… I…” Many of the parents were willing to go the extra mile when the other option was accepting that their children were dead. How many of them would still want anything to do with us? My dad would be confused, but since I still looked like Taylor, he had to accept me. But will Terry’s parents when he can’t even be primary? Will Dennis’s father? Will little Alice accept two versions of Carlos? Will Carol spare us another thought now that she has two flesh and blood daughters again?

Sophia clapped both me and the other Taylor on the shoulders. “Regardless, you two will always be the same dork to me.” Her aura made it clear that she was comforting us. The other Taylor rolled her shoulder and walked off without another word. “What’s her problem?”

“I don’t know.” And I should know, since she is me.

Right?

Notes:

“But author, I don’t think Echidna’s power works like that with Case-16s!” Bear with me, reader. This is an important part of the story. Any of my Cybernetic Worm fans may recognize this power interaction from that fic. While that’s not the only reason it works that way in this fic, I am at least consistent with my own interpretations. 

Chapter 25

“So, they took you back?” I gave the clones a day to reconnect with their families while I patrolled around town and worked on restoring the bug population. Ostensibly, this was time sensitive work, but really, none of us wanted to see how our families reacted to the clones. Suspicion and doubt, we could handle. The immense relief we saw in Carol’s aura, we couldn’t. Other Taylor agreed to take over swarm duties in those areas yesterday. Today, I found myself in the PRT cafeteria, catching up with myself.

Kid Win sighed and lowered his sandwich. “Yeah… The more time I spent with them, the more clear it became that ‘dying’ wasn’t the important part. They couldn’t handle that I looked like a girl.” His hands curled as his aura became frustrated. “See, they don’t believe in ‘modern hoo-ha’, so when they were told I was in your head… To them, I was either a girl now or not really me. So either way, I wasn’t their ‘son’ anymore.” He looked away and ground his teeth.

I wanted to scream, rage, and cry, to get in their faces and shake my parents until they saw that I was in here. As I put my head in my hands, I saw our red and gold mood bracelet. Fucking of course, I would primary NOW, when facing my replacement. I couldn’t even appreciate how I was the only one with a dual color motif, perks of being the Tinker.

Kid Win took another bite of sandwich and chewed methodically until his anger dulled. “I’ll admit, there is lingering bitterness from the weeks of abandonment and neglect. No matter how happy they are to see me, I know all their love and affection is conditional on me being ‘normal’. Damn, it’s always been like that. They hate my disabilities too… I…” He sighed again. “The siblings are more cool about it. Paul and Ruth miss you and want to see you. Peter is still an ass.”

I didn’t know if I could face them. “Am I even a person? Do I have to be? I don’t…” I shook my head and tried to delete myself. There was no reason to be here. My skin crawled with discomfort. The tinkerspiders were far more relaxing to operate. Puzzling through engineering problems didn’t require me to think about myself. It was escapism, but useful escapism.

Chris’s aura became sad. “Everyone else is going to tell you that you need to be a person, but they weren’t you a day ago. They don’t know how much it sucks, how desperate it is to be trapped in a prison that will never end, to share every moment and thought with a dozen other people better at living life. They can’t comprehend how oblivion isn’t just a release; it’s an aspiration. So you know what, screw everyone else. Dissociate as much as you want. Lord knows I am during family dinners.”

I didn’t know how long I sat there until someone else took over and let me wallow in the corners of our mind. Ugh, we’ve been sliding into and out of position more frequently since the copies showed up. Immediately after the fight, when our adrenaline was high, we didn’t notice right away, but having more complete versions of you running around causes this little mindscream that makes you want to hide from the world.

The food didn’t taste like anything as I finished it. It didn’t matter how much salt, pepper, or hot sauce I added, there was no flavor that stuck long enough for my brain to savor it. Tattletale was right, none of us were real in the first place. Who’s talking? Does it matter? It’s all one mind… Hmmm, I don’t know, our overall mental health was higher when we acknowledged our individual differences. I understand that it’s hard to feel legitimate when people more able to slot into our lives are running around, but surely that doesn’t change our identity. Identity is a self definition. The outside world need not acknowledge it for it to be true.

For the last few bites, we carefully organized our thoughts and determined who was thinking what, and whose dissociations were whose. The hamburger did start tasting better. There, that is evidence, not empirical evidence, but mental health is inherently subjective. If we behave or think in certain ways and feel better in the long term, then leaning into that way of thinking is an inherent positive. We can’t discard our internal individuality merely because we’re only unique in aggregate. Our own wellbeing is an important consideration regardless of your moral outlook. Even for those of us with selfless perspectives, you can’t help anyone if you are falling apart.

Both Taylor and Amy started arguing ethics with Terry as I bussed our tray. Many of the PRT officers gave me friendly waves and greetings. Normally their auras were tinged with grief when looking at ‘Myriad’, but since all the dead kids were back, the nightmare was over for them. It hadn’t been that long, and most of us didn’t have funerals.

As I floated down to our workshop, Armsmaster pulled me aside. “Carlos, I need to deliver some difficult news to Alec.”

Was that who I was? Alec, do you want to primary for this? No. “He can hear you.”

“It’s about Heartbreaker.”

Immediately, I began to sweat. The memories that name invoked in Alec were enough to raise the hairs on my neck.

“There’s no easy way to say this.” Of fucking course, he’s free isn’t he? “But when the clone cut the power to PRT headquarters, the shield on his cell door lost power…” How did he slip through my detection? Other Taylor is less master resistant than me. If she’s already compromised… “...one of the guards thought he was trying to escape and shot him 87 times in the back. I’m sorry, but he’s dead. While he may have been a villain, he was still your father.”

Alec howled with laughter and imagined several party poppers exploding. Tell me they have footage! Hey, did they get my brothers too? “What happened to Guillaume and Nicholas?”

“Their guards had more trigger discipline.” His aura grew consternated. “There has been growing concern that Tagg is too trigger happy along with the people he brought with him. The guard responsible for Heartbreaker’s death is on administrative leave until a full investigation is completed, and Tagg might be right behind him. He accused everyone there—PRT officers included—of insubordination and being mastered by Echidna over letting the clones live. Yes, he included Eidolon, Chevalier, Myrddin, Narwhal, and Chubster in his career limiting move.”

“I’m glad my families get a version of me that can be with them fulltime. I…” My breath hitched. “I couldn’t juggle it all. Thanks for not killing them.”

Armsmaster clasped my shoulder. “Of course, I’m glad the new additions can help relieve some of your burdens.”

“Yeah…” I struggled to get the word out as he left me. His aura looked reassured like he thought I was taking this well, which I should. Jealousy was an ugly emotion to be avoided when possible.

I continued to our workshop and grabbed the flesh box that was done gestating. The smooth black keratin finish made it look like a felt box and the thing only quivered slightly when I picked it up. It didn’t have a brain or nerves. This was merely a device.

With our present in tow, we floated into the lounge to find Alec playing with himself controlling our armor. “Finally! I can play with someone good at videogames.” My armor gave him a thumbs up.

Brian scowled, “I kick your ass in this game.”

“Pfff, I would call you a camper, but they leave eventually. You are more of a homesteader. You pick one spot on every map and sit there every game.” The two bickered as the three of them continued to play. There wasn’t any question about the clones' role in our organization. Everyone was a probationary Ward, since that was what they were when they were me.

Carlos waved me over. But you’re Carlos. We share a name and memories that only diverged a day ago. For now, we’re very similar, but that will change every day.

I went into the kitchenette and sat at the table with him, and Shadow Stalker. He started, “Sophia, we need to talk.”

She sighed. “Can we do it after you’ve?” She motioned to her face. “It’s weird seeing you like this.”

“No, I’ll be gone for a few days.”

“Myriad is slower than Amy, but not that slow.”

Carlos shook his head. “I take pride in being a self-made man and prefer to do it myself.” His aura was as eager as I would’ve been. I slid the box over to him. Carlos couldn’t help but smile as he cracked open the lid and saw the self replenishing vat testosterone.

Sophia pointed at him. “You pain junky! You’re doing it manually for the rush. Don’t bullshit me.”

Carlos sobered immediately. “Don’t bullshit me either. Your clone knew—” He closed his eyes. “—why they did that to me.” He opened them again. “What possessed you to mimic that as a prank?”

Her aura was a mix of angry and frustrated with hints of shame. “I didn’t know before. When you flipped out on me, I looked into it and found a similar story in your old school’s paper. Since they didn’t call you ‘Carlos’, I puzzled it out from there. Weird how all your bullies broke their legs right afterwards.” She bared her teeth. “I didn’t know you had it in you.”

“Don’t deflect. That doesn’t make it OK. I’m… glad you weren’t purposely copying a hate crime.”

“Way to leave out the fucking context by the way. How was I supposed to know? From what you told me, it sounded like you were bullied by psychos with all the razorblades and shit.”

I interjected. “They didn’t put those in there. Uh… I did.” Carlos glared at me, and his aura spiked with irritation. “Were you not going to share that? Your deeply personal stories are also my stories. Get used to it.” Okay, maybe I didn't have my jealousy completely under control.

Sophia looked between us. “I really don’t get why you kept that a secret from me, of all people.”

We both had puzzled auras before he continued, “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you don’t strike me—us as particularly progressive.”

“I was a vigilante for years! Of course, I’m cool with trans people.”

“How are those things linked?”

“Who else was I going to throw bricks at Nazis with? Those ladies were something else. The ones that kept them had balls of steel.”

“Sophia… you may have formed a stereotype. Not everyone in that group engages in *cough* direct political action.”

She rolled her eyes. “I know that.”

Carlos sighed and rubbed his face. “Whatever. Can you apologize for copying my trigger event so we can just move on?”

She mulled it over as she rocked back and forth in her chair. “No.”

“What do you mean, no? I’m asking for the bare minimum.” I was also concerned. Sophia’s aura was flickering through a lot of different shades.

“I’m not apologizing to Hebert. Did that event matter more to you than her?” The table was silent for a moment. “Yeah, I thought so. We’re done here.” She stood and jumped through a wall.

Carlos massaged his temples. “I don’t feel better after that. How about you?”

I wobbled a hand. “She feels bad about it, but I think she can’t allow herself to believe she fucked up. Given how extreme some of her past actions were…” I think about the bodies we’ve found. “You can guess why she needs to be absolutely certain in her moral reasoning.”

“I think I’m going to miss sensing emotions and that insight power. I hope they’ll let you lead a team again. You’re better equipped for it now.”

“You wouldn’t change places with me if you could.”

“Hell no!” Carlos hefted the box and a set of tools before setting his phone’s music app to shuffle. “You’ll know where to find me if anything comes up.” He then left to go do what I’ve been craving to do every moment since my death. My hands squeezed and teeth gritted until I broke a finger and split a tooth. Terry began healing the injuries immediately, but the brief spike of pain helped focus my mind.

As I floated to the elevator, Alec called out to me. “Hey Zeus!” He waved a fourth controller at me. “Let’s get a four-player game in before one of us dies.” A round or two couldn’t hurt. Also, I want to smack the Alecs around with other Brian.

“Sure, but why Zeus?” I accepted the controller but continued to float. It was more comfortable than sitting. Brian and Dennis started guiding my hands as we played.

“Because we’re all your Athena mind-children.”

“Huh, I didn’t think you would be the one comparing themself to the goddess of wisdom.”

“I shared a head with Lisa long enough to preemptively steal a joke or two.”

As we played and bantered with each other, Alec’s nearly empty aura flickered with longing before settling back to a nearly transparent hue. Emotions shifted deep in the depths of his aura, but by the time they reached the surface, they were chaotic and distorted ripples that barely affected him. Laugh all you want asshole; I’m the version that doesn’t have to be me all the time.

I didn’t make fun of Alec for missing being in my head. We left it unsaid between us. After playing a couple rounds with the guys, I made my excuses and left the building for my next obligation.

The Dallon household already had a moving truck in front of it by the time I arrived. Mom and the rest of New Wave were moving boxes as fast as they could. Crystal and Eric were racing to see who could move the most stuff. While Crystal was much faster, Eric could store a lot more on his forcefields. Uncle Neil was moving furniture by himself while Aunt Sarah supported the structures with her forcefields. Both tried to maintain happy outward auras, but the events of Friday night clearly haunted them.

The whole family had to pulp clones, and now they were working alongside five of them. Victoria, Amy, Lisa, Missy, and Dean were all helping with the move. Dean helped because he was nice, the rest because they lived here. Why is Carol keeping them all? Taylor, you can’t easily unadopt a kid. Sure, but isn’t moving a huge hassle? Shouldn’t it take more time? Carol had an extra house. How!? It was very cheap when she bought it.

The other Victoria noticed my approach. She sat her box on the truck and flew over to give me a hug. “I’m glad you could make it!” Her aura showed genuine affection, but she kept her forcefield active. It’s because I’m in here. After seeing my thoughts, she’ll never trust me again. You only still deal with me because you have too. Amy… You understand her concern, right? I’m not going to do it! She mentally sighed. I shouldn’t yell at you about it. You have to deal with being treated like a monster just as much as me and my copy.

“Hey me…” There was something about seeing an exact copy of myself that cheapened the story of my life. Except in this case, I felt like I was the plagiarized version. I had to share my time and think with Taylor’s brain while she got to be me in complete authenticity. Who’s to say we were the originals? Vista noticed copy errors going from host to host. We may predate these copies, but they’re more us than we can be.

Victoria squeezed me tighter. “I’m so sorry.” We both knew what she meant. She’s sorry that she’s the version that got out and that I have to watch her be free. We held each other only for a moment more before we broke off and helped with the move. Everyone kept asking me if I was alright. I wasn’t, but I told them I was fine.

My childhood home emptied quickly, and my life was packed into a single truck. I flew with Aunt Sarah and Crystal while everyone else rode in the moving truck or in Mom’s, Dad’s, or Dean’s car.

The new house was in the outskirts of Brockton Bay, tucked in a scenic woods near the base of the low mountains. The location would make patrolling our old neighborhood difficult, but New Wave did gain thirteen new members this Friday. We were all unmasked capes too. This was a second chance to prove that it could work. We could—

Carol owned a manor?

The house that came into view was massive. Ivy grew along the black iron gate and over the stone fence surrounding the relatively small yard. More ivy grew up the two visible stories of the house with some spilling onto the roof. Despite being squat, you could easily fit two or three of my old home inside the layout.

Disgust and loathing filled Carol’s aura before she sighed and unlocked the chain binding the gate. “I’ve been trying to demolish this place for years, but it's protected as a ‘historical site’.”

Aunt Sarah flew down next to her. “Why have you tortured yourself with this? I know how much this place bothers you.”

“I wanted to destroy it myself.” She pushed open the gate with a grunt. “Thankfully, my ‘side project’ means I don’t need to keep five kids in two rooms.”

“Six kids, right?”

Carol waved off the correction. “We’ll have a room for Myriad too, not that they’ll use it much.”

Both Victoria and I were floating toward her, with probably the same question, before that comment caused me to halt. My mother’s words hammered home that I was the spare. She used to fight for every moment of my time. With her real daughters back, she didn’t need me anymore. Amy gave me a mental hug. This is the Carol I remember.

Victoria lacked super hearing and continued to ask her question, “How can we afford this?”

Carol sighed again. “I receive a small stipend to maintain the property. It barely covers the legally required horticulture, and I had to make monthly trips to clean the interior, but I don’t have a second mortgage on the property.”

Sarah shook her head. “You came back here every month to remind yourself of him.”

“I was always reminded of him.”

Everyone else approached with boxes and started carrying them inside. Amy had a mystified aura as she approached. “Why does this feel so familiar?” The Amy in my head had already used Tattletale’s power to puzzle it out. This was Marquis’s home, which was briefly Amy’s home.

I hovered next to her with my own box and waited for her to ask me.

She entered the front door, the wood board squeaking under each footfall. In a daze, Amy followed her feet around several hallways and rooms to a wide office with windows that faced the mountains and a small stream extending down from them. Fish leapt in the water and very distantly, a black bear stood poised to catch one.

Amy took her box around the mahogany desk and past the bookshelves to a solitary closet. With trembling fingers, she opened the door to find dust and a single stuffed rabbit toy lying on the floor. Amy’s aura whirled with color before settling on self-hate and disgust. She shoved her box on one of the shelves and slammed the door.

I blocked her exit. “Ames, talk to me. What are you thinking?”

“Shouldn’t you know! I’m still in your head.”

“Yes, and when you start spiraling, the rest of us pull you out of it.” I don’t deserve that, but you don’t deserve to feel what I do either.

“Then she doesn’t get it. She doesn’t know what it is like to be alone. Vicky knows now. You all know what is going on in my head, and I get why none of you want to be with me.”

“Ames… it isn’t like that… Okay, some of the others are chiming in. They want you to know that you’re a mean, acerbic, wet blanket who’s exhausting to be around.” Well fuck you guys too. “Your social difficulties aren’t because you're evil.” I gestured to the house and the closet. “This has no effect on that.”

“Damn sis, way to butter a girl up. I’m totally feeling the love and validation.”

I sighed. “I tried to squeeze happiness into you, and all it did was make you obsessed.”

“Do you not get how denigrating it is to reduce my affection to a perverse fixation? How am I ever supposed to be normal? Face it, I’m a broken little freak from a bad seed. All I’m ever going to do is hurt people.”

“How many people did you heal yesterday?”

Amy looked away. “24 and I hated every minute of it.”

“Those 24 will have better lives because of you. You don’t only hurt people.”

I’m only good for—“I’m only good for my healing. Nothing else I do matters. And now when I snap, the rest of you won’t be there to stop me.”

“You aren’t inevitably destined to lose it.”

“The things I think about while healing people… I’m a monster.”

I shook my head. “I was there. We all shared in your intrusive thought. Maybe Terry is right, and it isn’t you. Maybe our powers do think.”

She threw her hands up in exasperation. “So not only was my father evil, but I have an evil power too? How does that make me less screwed!?”

I growled in frustration. It was like trying to get a brick to love itself. We could offer to change her DNA into that of a true Dallon. We don’t have to change anything, but I’ll believe you did because I trust you. I don’t think feeding into your bioessentialism helps.

Amy’s aura became like inky spikes pointed inward. “I thought so!” She stormed off, and I watched her go.

The rest of the move went by without much fuss. Brian and Alec came by to help when they could convince Rachel to drop them off.

Much to both Brians’ chagrin, Alec and Aisha immediately hit it off by finding and making fun of my parent’s porn before placing it in prominent positions around the living room. Mom was aghast when she found it and scrambled to clean it up before anyone else could see. Dad thought the ‘prank’ was funny. His chuckles earned him a glare from Mom.

The house felt empty with only our stuff in it. Each of the kids had their own room upstairs. I tried not to feel too hurt that my room was one of the downstairs guestrooms. I was hurt by how empty it was. All of my things went in Victoria’s room. All of Amy’s things were in her room. Nothing was mine anymore. Oo, we could make weird biopunk versions of all our things. That would be unique. We—It would also be misuse of a power. I don’t want to have to feed my T-shirts or take them to the bathroom.

After taking in the room for a moment, I joined everyone else eating pizza and tried not to feel left out. With Victoria around, she either said what I was going to say or didn’t, which made me question my Victorianess. My contributions to the conversation decreased until I was completely quiet. All my thoughts turned inward.

Once the meal wound down, people started to leave. I caught Aisha and Brian talking to each other.

“So, when are you restarting your gang?” Aisha asked.

Brian’s aura was a little brittle. “I’m not. They know my face, sis.”

“Don’t tell me you’re sticking with the supercops. That’s sooo boring.”

“Boring and the pay is middling. But with the alternative being prison or being wanted… You have to know when to cut your losses.” He sighed. “At least you have a stable home.”

“Sure, as long as Amy’s snoring doesn’t cause the building to shake apart. I swear, that girl has sleep apnea. There is no way that’s healthy. It’s like a lawnmower failing to start.” She punched her brother in the shoulder. “Anyway, get out of here. Other you seems to be sticking around tonight. It’s like you aren’t even leaving me.”

Brian glanced in my direction and met my eyes. “It’s hard to wrap my head around another version of me existing. When I look at Myriad, I don’t see me. When I was her, I certainly didn’t see myself in the mirror.” He failed to suppress a shudder. “I’m glad it’s over for me. Take care, Aisha.”

She rolled her eyes and mumbled, “It’s only over for one of you.” I flew to my room before she turned and saw me. I had enough conversations for today. After we slept, someone else could take a shift. Existing was exhausting.

Unfortunately, sleep escaped me. My bugs saw Dean and me sneak to my room and lock the door. I knew I should look away, but I couldn’t pry away my gaze. I get it. I’ve wanted to hold you this whole time and can’t. I wrapped my arms around myself and squeezed.

Our two hearts ached with every touch, caress, and kiss. The sweet nothings they said to each other burned in our ears and clawed at our souls, not from awfulness, but from how much we wanted to be where they were. You know, our walls were pretty thin. I heard you guys going at it. As the more experienced weirdo, I know you should really find a way to distract yourself.

It wasn’t so simple. It never is. It was like gazing at the sun: beautiful, terrible, and painful.

Dean and I cried as the depth of our loss hit us fresh. Our misery was enough to drive the others away. Bugs combed the city and fought crime with other-Taylor’s bugs. We were getting better at slicing up who controlled which bugs even if we couldn’t share control.

Neither Dean nor I could focus much on that. Our attention was focused on what we could never have. After they finished the deed, Victoria laid next to Dean and twirled a finger in his chest hair. “It’s like it was all a dream. While I didn’t mind getting close to you,” She walked her fingers up his chest. “I prefer us to be a little separated.”

“Yeah…” Dean sounded distracted.

“What’s wrong?”

“A couple things. I can see Myriad’s agony from here. This hasn’t been easy for them.”

“It’s hard to treat them like us when they aren’t anymore. Every day we’ll diverge and be more different. At some point they have to accept being their own unique collective.”

“Is that fair to them? They were here first, but I feel like we’re taking their life.”

Victoria blew air out her mouth. “Honestly, I’m more worried about Amy than them. She’s withdrawing more by the hour.”

“She feels exposed and stripped naked to the rest of us. In her mind, her secrets were far more devastating than anything she learned about us.”

“Since when could you read all of that from a person?”

Dean shrugged, “Since Tattletale taught me how to use my power. The skill didn’t go away. Speaking of revelations that didn’t go away. We need to talk…”

Victoria stiffened on Dean’s chest. “Is this about—”

“Yeah, I’m not uncomfortable, but I’m less happy too, not generally less happy, but that specific part is—”

“I know.” There were tears in her eyes. “I was there in your brain. I know exactly what you mean. So you are going to…” She left it hanging.

Dean nodded. “I’ll ask Myriad for help with it; I know Amy doesn’t do ‘cosmetic’ changes. Will this change things between us?”

Victoria buried her face in him. “I don’t want it to but… I don’t know if I’ll still be physically attracted to you.”

He wrapped his arms around her. “We’ll always love each other. We did without bodies. I still remember our date on that flower as two bugs. Our relationship is deeper than just physical.”

His words reassured Victoria and us two voyeurs. Dean and I mentally embraced as our copies did so in the physical world.

All of us then drifted off into pleasant dreams.  

Chapter 26

I woke up tired.

The people within stirred as little more than vague feelings, most content to cling to images and flashes of dreams than face reality. Each movement and decision felt heavy, weighed down by delusion and distracting lines of thought. Our mind spun with strategies and scenarios. The collection brainstormed ideas on how to solve each one with our myriad of powers. These thoughts lacked the weight of identity behind them. Conceptualizing themselves hurt too much at the moment.

If the state went on too long, I would have to nudge each of them back into the forefront to prevent dissolution and depression. For now, they could have their break. The stew of feeling wasn’t disastrous yet.

This was my role in our head. We didn’t need roles, but carving out niches helped everyone feel useful. Treating them as useful people made the collective more enthused about our activities.

I had to give up my notion that we weren’t real or that we were blending together. The clones of ourselves made that abundantly clear. All the parts that made us unique were still here. There was no escape. For all eternity, an ever-growing cast of chucklefucks would be privy to my most naked thoughts. I could distract them with noise, but any that bothered to check could see through my distractions.

We put on jeans, a pair of Doc Martens, a white polo, and a leather jacket I queued while we were sleeping. Huh? Taylor’s power could control insects while unconscious. It took a lot of experimenting, but I figured out how to get Amy’s power to work as we slept. As unserious as Alec’s living clothes idea was, it had advantages.

I commanded our hair-parasites to straighten and turn blonde. The jacket and nail bugs then shifted to purple. I stared in the mirror and carefully slipped on my lisa-mask. This step wasn’t physical. It was taking the dead and vacant look in the mirror and adding personality, a series of reactions and responses, little mannerisms that the observant would associate with me.

Why the ruse? Why not be authentic instead? Who was I and who was us? Tattletale is the name I adopted for my time in the Undersiders. While I had already been in the habit of petty crime, I found the life of a supervillain to suit me.

That wasn’t an option anymore.

My clone might claw her way back to villainy. Her plans would be intricate and the move would baffle all her minders. She wasn’t trapped in a skull filled with heroes who would undermine her. I could only manipulate my headmates so far. Eventually their wills reasserted themselves.

So here I was, the brilliant and masterfully insightful Eye. Eye puzzled out their powers. Eye kept us focused. Eye supported our system of interactions. No one asked me to subsume this role, but it gave me purpose, a sense of weight. That’s kind of confusing because whenever we think ‘I’, it’ll sound like your name.

Exactly! Eye thought it was a great idea. If I’m forced to be a hero, then I’ll do it my way.

On the first order of agenda, Eye needed to prevent us from going crazy. You’re off to a great start! Shut it, Alec. If everyone turns into despondent weirdos like you, then we’ll all suffer together. Hmmm, true. Though I don’t get their problems. Families and obligations suck. Everyone got a copy to take care of all that work for them. It’s great! Taylor, please stop mentally nodding along to Alec. It’s a huge relief that someone else can keep my dad company.

Carol’s call broke that line of thought. “Kids! Breakfast is ready. Come downstairs!” We’re not downstairs… Vicky, it’s fine. Watch her treat my clone like shit too. We’ll be fine. This is normal.

I floated to the circular wooden table and tried to look chipper or at least mischievous. Other Lisa’s aura flickered with amusement before she buried her head back into her laptop. Mark sat carafes of orange juice and pitchers of syrup around the table of eight people while Carol dispensed waffles.

At some point in the night, Dean had snuck back home even though Victoria’s parents clearly knew what happened. Shit, did they always know? Probably!

Most of us were served a plain waffle to season as we wanted. Both Victoria and Amy received waffles with whipped cream and strawberries, causing Amy’s aura to flare with shock. Carol addressed her other daughter. “Amy, I heard you tried to go to the hospital last night. While it’s admirable to want to help people, you’ve just been through a traumatic experience and need to pace yourself. I already talked to the staff and you’re limited to no more than 18 hours a week during the school year and 40 hours during break.” 

She sat down with her own waffle even as the Amy inside raged. This is not how she treated me! 

“You and Victoria have missed too much school recently and have a lot of make-up work. Still, I think we could squeeze in a few family patrols. It’ll be good for us.”

Other Amy was beside herself. “But… I don’t patrol…”

“There aren’t many villains left to worry about. Think of it more like family exercise than a real patrol.” She reached out and squeezed both Amy’s and Victoria’s hands. “I know it can be easy to take family for granted, but we need to cherish the time we have. Both of you will be turning 18 soon. Who knows where your dreams and aspirations will take you? Who knows if—” Carol looked up and blinked rapidly as her breath hitched. “—we’ll be separated suddenly. Anything could happen and family is important.”

Us spare kids quietly ate our breakfast while the Dallons had a moment. Aisha slid a quarter section of waffle onto my plate. “I’m not that hungry,” She lied. At least someone gives a shit about us.

“Thanks.” Several people in my mind were genuinely grateful that she didn’t want to ‘move on’ immediately. It seems that Carol was only telling herself that we were her kid as a way to not process her children dying. Without that onus, she barely spares us a thought. Okay sure, what made her do a 180 on her opinion of me? AND DON’T SAY SHE ALWAYS LOVED ME. Ames, I think she did, and whatever caused her not to show it has finally been torn down. Bullshit, fuck this. Watching her treat a fake-ass copy as a daughter is… Amy’s thoughts descended into incoherent frustration and hurt.

Once I finished breakfast, I floated to Lisa’s room and waited for her to come talk to me. She only signaled a desire to speak 13 times.

Lisa entered the room and bared her teeth. “Good, I wasn’t sure if my 17 hints were too subtle.” If I tried to correct her, she would blame my weaker power for ‘missing’ the other 4. From the way her aura radiated with more amusement, she knew how her words would affect me. She could have signaled only 13 times and lied about it to see if I was confident enough in my power to correct her, but she knew I wouldn’t be. Unless she figured my power should at least be able to infer how strong her power is, and she obviously knew how strong mine was, so she wouldn’t have to guess if I caught it. No, dropping more than one hint was a subtle move to assert superiority while also sowing doubt in me by causing me to think all of this.

That bitch. “What do you want?”

“You know exactly what I want.”

I closed the door behind her. “Do I? I remember that hint of confusion in your aura right after Echidna birthed you. You were wondering when the other clones would ‘hear the voices’ or when their other internal monologues would ‘speak’ to them. They're all still in there aren’t they? You internalized everyone else so thoroughly that when you were filtered out, you kept a copy. So who am I talking to?”

She sat her laptop on her desk with irritation. “It doesn’t work like that. They’re just masks. It’s not the same.”

I bared my teeth at her. “Oh, but it’s tempting to bounce ideas off of them, or have them double check your conclusions. A variety of perspectives is so useful. It doesn’t even take up that much mental bandwidth to have one or two going. Have your masks started wearing themselves?”

Lisa laughed. “I’m not the one losing myself. Whatever tools I may or may not have in my toolbox, are just that. Tools.” She opened her laptop. “Now, if you’re done posturing, there is something I need your help on.”

“I would LOVE to help you with Coil. What have you found?”

“Conversations with myself are so much shorter.”

“You would know.”

Lisa flipped me off. “I’m zeroing in on Coil’s true identity. He’s definitely one of the candidates to replace Tagg.”

“But once he’s here, Tagg’s quarantine policies would prevent us from IDing him. We would have to admit to spying on the director, which he would use to accuse us of going rogue.”

“That’s the least of our worries. No, Coil will delay returning to Brockton Bay until you’re gone.” The others rebelled at the notion that we were leaving our families. “Right, I should explain. Once I had full use of my power again—yes, I’m rubbing it in—I remembered how Noelle said all that was ‘her best shot’. How did they know?”

Since she laid it out, the final steps were trivial. “Dinah can determine the chances a plan will work.”

“Close! She can give percentages on any hypothetical. Sadly, I can’t fully explain why to you. Your… intuitive leaps are lacking.”

“So you’re guessing, probably right, but still guessing.”

Lisa sighed. “Anyway, this means our plan for dealing with him has to take into account that he’ll see our attack coming and abandon any timeline where it happens. Individually, the rest of us are too vulnerable or easily duped. We’ll need to take care of him before you leave us, which is likely to happen. All of Coil's moves against us must have served that goal. He can’t hold the city with you here, so he’ll make you leave. There is no avoiding that now, but we can redefine what winning means for him.”

I intuited what she would suggest and most of the heroes balked at it. “They’re not on board.”

“They’re not on board yet!” She held up a finger. “I bet the Dallons are nearly there. In the coming days, I want all of you to remember that any pain or misery you suffer is Coil’s fault. He didn’t know what his plan would do. He only knew it would probably work. That still makes him directly responsible. You don’t have to be mad at us clones existing. You can be furious at him, guilt free! By the time you’re ready, I’ll have located him.” She condescendingly patted my hand. “I’m sure you would have figured it out on your own, hon. All those pesky skullmates kept you from researching.”

“Yes, it’s horrible.” I said dryly. “All I can do is unlock the mysteries of our powers, observe the entire city constantly, and use my power without a headache. Oh by the way, as we were talking, I reversed a few scams and redirected those funds to a discretionary bank account that Watchdog will find in a few hours. It’s amazing what actual bugs on computers can do. If some smart, enterprising Private Investigator found that fund and used it for their research, well that wouldn’t even really be stealing.”

Lisa’s aura was a tad frustrated that I helped her with my vast cosmic might. It would take her all of three seconds to find that money. I opened her window, flew out, and closed it with a timestop before she could get the last word.

By the time she muttered half a sentence, I was already a hundred feet away. Ha! Now you know how we all feel. Not in the slightest! I won that exchange.

As we flew to the PRT headquarters, I called Sally on my phone.

She answered quickly. “Who is this?”

“Sally! It’s your favorite amalgam of capes, finally calling.”

“Oh hey… What should I call you? You went by Taylor at school but…”

“Speaking of Taylor, that’s what I’m calling about. She should be coming to school today.”

“Cool, see you there!”

“Ah no. There hasn’t been a big announcement yet, but all my parts were cloned and are walking around as individuals, so just Taylor is coming today. Could you keep an eye on her? I know Emma will try something. It would mean the world to her if you intervened.”

“Of course, I’ll do that. Taylor is my friend. What about you? Are you coming back?”

The warm accepted feeling spreading from Taylor nearly overpowered me, but I continued with only a short pause. “Nope!” I popped the ‘p’. “The admins at the PRT think it’s easier if we plop the clones into all our lives. A couple of us already had our GEDs, so no reason for us to go to a school.”

“Hmmmm okay, but we should hang out sometime.”

“Totes.” As in never. Why not? You kind of like Sally. She’s alright. “Well bye!”

“Bye!” 

I hung up. Sally was a regular person, and we were 13 capes. Whenever the primary wanted a break, another of us could take over. The whole concept of a civilian life was less feasible in our situation, which would have been true even without the clones giving our families a reason to put in less effort. It was going to take us days to see how all our clones were settling in, and that was after Carol consolidated a lot of us.

My parents could eat a bag of dicks, but the rest of the collective wasn’t quick to become effective orphans. Their wellbeing had to be managed for this adjustment period. Since when do you care? You actively pushed us away whenever you were primary. At the end of the day, we are effectively the same person. Still on that, huh. It’s basically true. We have differences, but I feel what you feel. I’m subjected to the same overall mood as everyone else. 

I wanted to reach into our skull and rip myself out. I didn’t want to have ‘a turn’. I wanted my fucking life back, but I couldn’t get that. Lisa was living my life. With no other options, I needed to make due. I didn’t know how to feel ‘okay’ about our situation. Hopefully, if the rest of you did, then that will bring some relief to my nightmare.

They could all see that I was grasping at straws. I had to. Every day, I understood Reggie a little more, and I couldn’t let myself reach that conclusion. If that meant I had to embrace what we were more thoroughly than everyone else, then I would. We would all be so fucking happy by the time I was done.

We flew into the kennels and found Rachel and Tandem taking care of the dogs. The latter surprised me. “I didn’t expect to see you here. You rarely devote a full day to this.”

Kate dusted herself off as she stood. “This might be a difficult discussion, but Rachel was adamant.”

“What?” I had no idea what the issue could be.

Rachel grunted and locked eyes with me. “You’re re—stupid.”

Tandem tried to inject, but I ruffled our now coarse auburn hair in our brown coat and responded first. “I’m you. You’re calling yourself stupid, stupid.”

“Let’s cool down and explain this calmly,” Tandem said softly.

Rachel went back to brushing. “You’re all fucked in the head.”

“No shit.” Did I always state the obvious?

“Not that.” She made a noise that was a mix between a growl and hum. “The way you see dogs is wrong.”

I petted Judas. The German Shepard was as happy to see me as ever, but he was just a flat as he’d been since my death. I understood him less. “I know. Are you back to how we were?”

“Yes, and that’s what I’m trying to tell you. People and dogs are different.”

“Right…” The others were confused. “I understand people and dogs about the same now. I always cared for dogs more than people, but I’ve been trying to treat people like dogs. The rest treat dogs like people and get the two mixed up. It’s funny.” If you’ve thought this the whole time, then how did we all miss it? I don’t always think in words. Feelings and images work for most thoughts. Damn, that would be a good way to scheme around the others. If—God, you would think of that first!

Rachel sighed. “Do the rest get it now?”

“Eh, when you treat both the same, it’s hard to maintain the distinction without thinking about it all the time. We’ll forget.”

“That’s stupid.”

I shrugged. “Is it really so bad? People treat dogs around us better because most of us have trouble seeing the difference.”

Rachel scowled. “I guess not.”

Tandem sighed in relief. “I’m glad that went better than expected. Well, I guess I’ll be going now—”

I grabbed one of her arms and said, “We’re training dogs today.”

Tandem begrudgingly gave in to my request and was shortly joined by Armsmaster and Officer Hadley. We didn’t need the rest of them to help, and Rachel seemed annoyed by their and my presence. We weren’t on the same wavelength anymore.

My attempts at training the dogs felt dumb and fumbling next to my copy's. Bentley and Sirius were easy enough to deal with. We had built up a relationship before all of this happened. Rachel had the same level of comfort with Ink and Magic, newer additions to the pack.

The feeling of being a ghost in my own life only magnified as I haunted myself. She was so much more me in ways that weren’t immediately obvious. Without the others bouncing around in her head, her diction suffered, but her communication with our dogs was far more deep. Body language and gestures that I struggled to mimic came easily to her. Even the dogs obviously loved her more.

I had been replaced.

The PRT’s K9 officers rotated in and out to take care of their dogs. In the two days that I missed, the agent had built a rapport with Rachel. They got her in a way they never understood me. Her pack still had people who cared about her.

We continued playing with the dogs even as the other Wards returned and went on their patrols. Sophia stopped by briefly to play with Brutus. “Hey, can I take him on patrol?” Rachel and I nodded, which earned me a sharp look from myself. Sophia leashed Brutus and left. As soon as they stepped outside, I could feel Rachel’s power pump into him. Shadow Stalker mounted Brutus and loped after Dauntless and Miss Militia.

Rachel got in my face once they were gone. “These are my dogs. I decide what they do. You don’t.” She jammed her finger in my chest.

I considered her words. “You’re right.” Her aura became puzzled. “I… can barely spend any time with them. I don’t get them like you do.”

“You’re gonna give up, just like that?” She crossed her arms. “I wouldn’t have.”

A weight lifted from me, leaving me hollow. I touched my chest and was surprised that there was no hole in it. “Taking care of my dogs comes first, and I can’t do that. I can watch over them and keep them company with our dog-bug, but I can’t be there for them. I…”

My chest burned like another acid bomb went off inside of it. This pain came from a different angle. It wasn’t sharp. The dull ache hunched me forward until Rachel put an arm on my shoulder. She didn’t say any words, but her aura swirled with sympathy and reassurance.

Our hair, jacket, and nails began to swirl with colors as we emptied. No one wanted to primary right now. None of us wanted to exist. I gently removed her hand. “Thanks, but I need to go.”

She nodded at me as I left.

I banked around the sky listlessly and tried to find the joy of flight. In the morass of thoughts and emotions, the happiness couldn’t leak through. It was dulled and not fully processed. Participating in life requires existing. We couldn’t depersonalize each other and expect to be happy. There was no one, only many. Our gestalt couldn’t stand alone.

Tattletale—no, she was going by Eye now. Eye tried to seize chaotic reigns within. She manifested her masks of us and had each version goad the others back together. After enough manipulation, I had everyone bickering with each other. Our mind calmed as the noise became words.

Hours had passed since we started rolling through the clouds with our doubts. When I descended, the sun was setting on Brockton Bay. I always found these beautiful. From this height, the light glitters off the water, but the sun is behind us. Yeah, I can see why you feel that way. We’re high enough that I barely see all the used needles and graffiti. It—The city wouldn’t be interesting if it didn’t have its problems.

With my mind back together, I flew toward Dean’s apartment. I knew he wanted to talk to us, and he texted to ask if we could come over.

The Stansfields continued to pay rent for the place even after he died. They were probably going to offer it as a bargaining chip to get a concession out of us. It could have been our own space separate from all the families. Instead, they get to hold it over my copy’s head.

I floated to the balcony like Victoria always did. With my blonde hair and purple jacket flowing in the wind, I might have looked like her too as I ‘stood’ on the railing with our flight powers.

Dean opened the screen door with a pleased aura. “Come in! We were just finishing the dishes.”

“I got it! You two can do your thing.” Brian said from the kitchen island sink.

I blinked at him. “Why are you living with Dean?”

“Well, I can’t exactly afford an apartment on my own with a Ward’s salary.” He sighed. “The pay is abysmal.”

All our criminal gains were difficult to spend with Watchdog looking through our financials for a trace of corruption. Small purchases could be made here or there, but the heroes had prevented us from retrieving any of our money. Taylor’s $2000 was still under her bed. My copy has it by now.

I glanced around. “It has to chafe at you. Your old apartment was larger.”

“It beats being dead. With Aisha taken care of, the stress about money is less, but still there. I’m still figuring out my next steps. The easiest route would be to continue with the Protectorate.” His aura became dissatisfied. “But it’s not the only option. Even with my identity busted, there are corporate teams and other organizations that focus on legal work.”

My copy was going to rope him into any exit plan she had. I hope so. I took pride in my work as a professional villain. Seeing myself so poor made me realize how much I valued having money. It’s—Protectorate heroes make solid middle class salaries. You don’t need more. There are—You don’t get it. I didn’t just have a little bit saved to take care of Aisha, I had frivolous vacation money. I could walk into a car dealership and leave with anything I wanted. When I went to bars and restaurants, I never looked at the price of what I ordered. I earned that through hard work and—Stealing, assault, battery, trespassing, and we can’t forget eventually murder. You didn’t work a 9 to 5 and get paid every two weeks for honest work. You stole it from other people.

So? Everyone is trying to make a buck. So what if my profession is less ethical than some?

Are you defending yourself, right now? To me, of all people.

Man Vista, you aren’t even dead anymore. Sorry that I put you in the ground for a few weeks.

I’m still here!

Yeah, an extra ghost like myself. See those hands washing dishes. Those are the ones that killed you. If he can take my life, he can take my blame.

That’s… Vista considered the notion. There was a certain symmetry to it. The two would always be a part of each other, and she had been wanting to bury the hatchet. She couldn’t promise to forgive him, but it was a small comfort that he was as trapped in here as she was. I’ll consider it. If Brian goes villain again, then we’re capturing him.

Brian and Dean both had awkward auras as I zoned back in. I tried to laugh it off. “Sorry, my version of you had a lot to say. I should go see what Dean wants.”

Dean and I went to his room where he locked the door.

“Oo, scandalous. Whatever will Brian think!” Dean scowled. I lightly punched his arm. “This is my last chance to make guy jokes about you, right?”

He sat on the bed, crossed his hands, and hunched forward. “Did you infer what I wanted?”

“One of you is inside my head and he…” Our jacket became teal as Dean took over. “I know what I would want in your situation.”

His aura was nervous. “It’s not easy to make this request. People will ask me why I did this. I know what I’m going to say, I don’t know if I’m ready for the questions.”

I sat next to myself. “But you know you have to anyway. It’s not really a choice.”

He sighed and laid back. “No, it’s really not, but I don’t know how to make people understand that. Victoria only understands because she was in my head, but I plan to move after graduation. No one there is going to know why. I had to recheck the Protectorate branches I selected to see if I would be allowed to legally use restrooms in public.” He laughed dryly. “I had to discard more than half my options. More than half! I assumed with Legend flying around that things would be fine, but… they really aren’t. I’m going to get so much shit for this.”

“I know we never thought that we would have to be a trailblazer. Our life was planned out by the time we were five. Even the few wrenches we threw in later only shifted us to other well trodden paths. Those grooves are comfortable, reassuring. We might be able to tolerate life in them—it’s not that long—but do we only want to tolerate life, enjoy it despite our choices instead of because of them? You already know the answer. You know what you want. We’ve been here before. To hell with expectations! We may lose our parents for being a hero. We may lose more for being who we are. If they can’t accept it, then they aren't worth knowing.”

I offered my hand to him.

“Are you ready?”

He grabbed it. “Yeah, but I want to walk through the details. These are my choices, even if you would make them.”

“As you wish.”

We talked, and I changed them. At first they tried a completely female version of themselves, but weren’t completely satisfied. I helped them experiment until they settled on the exact appearance they preferred.

Dean checked out their shoulder length hair in the mirror and examined how it framed their more angular face. “Do you think Victoria will like it?” Their voice was a high tenor, right at the edge where the pitch alone wouldn’t convince a listener the speaker was male or female.

“Hmmm, let me see if she’s willing to primary. It’s hard for us to gauge our physical attraction when we’re not.”

Our hair stretched longer as our coat shifted to black with gold trim. 

I examined my former boyfriend and walked closer to them. “Hey Dean…”

“I’m thinking about changing that too. Your version of me can keep ‘Dean’ if that will help.”

“Uh, it might. What were you thinking?” I asked to fill time. I already knew a few ideas that had crossed Dean’s mind.

“How does ‘Dee’ sound? I know it’s normally a nickname, but—oof!”

I hugged them. The Dean inside understood. I wanted to be held in his—their?—arms for a long time. ‘ His’ is still fine. I know actual-me is changing it, but… Well, gender isn’t an exam. I can’t fail it. Something about the contrast of ‘he’ while being physically Taylor works for me. Dee can do whatever they want.

They hugged me back. “Victoria… I see that you’re hurting, and I wish I could help but—”

“Just hold me for a bit.” I needed this. I needed closure. “Sorry, you wanted to know if my clone would like you.” After a few minutes, I separated and looked over their somewhat curvy and fairly flat figure. They had changed into a suit they bought beforehand. It hugged them in ways that made it clear they weren’t a guy, and their shoes were definitely for a woman, but that was probably because we had more options than men. At the same time, they weren’t shorter, nor had Dee elected to lose any of their muscle.

It gave them an ethereal presence that could go either way. Despite my critical eye, this was a question for my heart that I didn’t want to answer. If I could love them, then I would want them, but Victoria would get them. Well, I still think they are hot. The interjection from little V almost made me laugh. I quickly controlled myself.

“Yeah probably…” I floated around them. “She might take a minute to get used to it, but probably. I don’t know; our perspectives and emotional needs are different.”

Dee patted my shoulder. “Thanks. I know that was hard and probably not a fair thing for me to ask you.”

“It’s alright. You were nervous. I… should go.”

“Victoria, wait.”

I fled before my heart made me throw myself at them for the barest scrap of affection. The night sky embraced me until I flew between the cloud layers. Only the twelve people I could never leave and the moon watched me curl into a fetal position and hang there until morning.

Chapter 27

There was no perceptible moment that we shifted. I hung listlessly in the sky—sleepless and worn from the past few days—when my eyes caught sight of my gray mood bracelet. If Chris hadn’t made this for us, I doubt I would have noticed it was my turn.

With a thought, my jacket turned gray, and my hair returned to its original form. The hair looked like mine, but it wasn’t mine. I looked like me, but I wasn’t me. I lived, but it wasn’t my life.

Despite the suffering of my friends, I felt free. My arms stretched and I twirled through the sunlight to shake off the morning dew. Thousands of water droplets exploded around me and scattered the light in tens of thousands of more refractions, creating a fleeting galaxy soon snatched by the wind. I plunged through the clouds and basked in the weightlessness of freefall before catching myself and sailing over Brockton Bay.

The city pulsed with millions of lifeforms, some handcrafted by me. They churned about their tasks in the great web of life without complaint. The ant did not question its place in the hive. The spider did not grow lonely on its web. Each creature cut their own niche based on what they could do.

As I soared over the surf with one hand splashing through the water, the others started coming back to themselves. Taylor, what are you doing? Some part of my mind is always devoted to activities like this. When I spiraled, the rest of you would drag me into lives of butterflies, bee racing, or spinning webs. The actions were calming, so I kept them up regardless of the circumstances. No one comments on a butterfly doing too many backflips in an abandoned parking lot infested with dandelions. That sounds nice.

I split my focus and dragged most of them to various bug activities they enjoyed while the main body went to our workshop to finalize a new suit version that Chris had been working on. Yeah, samples from Dragon finally came. I was surprised how much the biomechanical suits mimic mechanical functions with biology rather than merging the two. The thrusters are rather inspired. Certain kinases make the transformation to plasma significantly lower heat, but still just as expansive. With the right coefficients in thruster throttle…

Armsmaster joined our tinkering session midway through. Dragon even observed for an hour or two and offered suggestions. She and Chris had worked out a sign language for the tinker-spiders, so the lab practically buzzed with conversation.

Apprehension filled my chest as the day progressed. What’s wrong? I have to return home, don’t I? Do you not want to see your dad? What if he’s fine with the clone? What if seeing me hurts him? Wouldn’t it be better if he could move on with the kid that actually has time for him? Taylor, I’ve noticed you try to phrase your thoughts as selfless acts, but really, you don’t want your dad to need you. You want it to be easier for you to disappear. Why—We know why. It’s the same reason Taylor is content to let us live her life. It’s why she threw herself at Lung, and decided her first act as a hero would be to join a gang. She’s been looking for a sword to fall onto, a reason to die.

No. I had very good reasons for everything I did. I’m content to share my life because I got everyone killed. Tay—No, Brian. It was my plan. Besides, I don’t need to live my life anymore. There is a clone for that. When Taylor mentioned ‘her life’ the thoughts behind it were only pain. She didn’t see cape life as part of her life as Taylor. Taylor didn’t want to be Taylor. We filled her deepest need by being here. On one hand, this was a deeply unhealthy mindset. On the other hand, it may be the most healthy mindset for our situation. Victoria… Taylor wanted to tell me off for psychoanalyzing her, but she felt guilty about how much pain I was in. She was willing to suffer discomfort if inflicting it would distract me… Taylor… You can’t self-sacrifice in our head. If it doesn’t bother me and makes you feel better, then I think I can. 

Once Armsmaster left to watch mandatory training videos he was behind on, I hesitantly flew home. My clone held the swarm around our house and Winslow, giving her privacy. Emma probably reveled in bullying regular-old me, and I know she wouldn’t want anyone to see it.

I stood outside the door to my old home and tried to perceive the emotional auras within. With our other senses, I haven’t missed the reduced range or the inability to perceive through walls. After bracing myself, I turned the doorknob and found it locked.

“Huh.”

My clone had my key. She needed it more than I did. It was a small thing, just a bauble that didn’t matter. We could unlock the door with our lockpicking-bug. I didn’t need a home key. It wasn’t my home; I visited this place. No matter my reassurances, the separation from my old life was hard to process.

The sharing, the other lives, the people within me: they all took time to balance. There wasn’t much room left for Taylor. There hadn’t been since the bank.

And that was…

Freeing.

I was—

Other Taylor opened the door. Her eyes stared into mine before they roved to my hair, arms, chest, hips, and legs before returning to my face. Damn, you really do that to everyone. I—Not me! Taylor gave me the barest of glances before she stared more at Brian, Rachel, and Lisa. Taylor turned around and said, “Come on in.”

Her happy aura faded to envy and a dull self-hate as she examined me. The aura brightened as we walked into the dining room.

“Oh wow, you can hear that someone has been cloned, but it doesn’t really sink in until you see them standing next to each other,” Sally observed.

“I’ve been thinking of them as twins,” Aisha responded.

Taylor sat down. “No, it’s fine. I know I’m the clone.”

“Honey, I told you to stop calling yourself a clone.” My father was cleaning the kitchen as the oven finished roasting the food. He paused his work long enough to look me in the eye and say, “I’m glad you could be home today.” Dad’s aura was a swirl of melancholy and happiness. He’s thrilled to see us and deeply hurt that it is so rare.

“Me too,” I said with complete honesty. In small bursts, I enjoyed my life, but that had to be hard for my dad.

“How was your day—week—two weeks?” He chuckled dryly. “Time easily slips away, doesn’t it?”

Like sand through my fingers. “Yeah…”

We didn’t need to catch-up as much as I thought. Taylor already shared our stories from before her creation, and a lot of the moments since then were extremely private to other parts of me. By the time I finished, my father had finished slicing his homemade pizza.

As he was distributing it to ravenous teenagers, I couldn’t help but wonder why Sally and Aisha were here. While I saw Aisha as a sister due to her relation to Brian and the Dallons, regular Taylor didn't have those influences anymore. Also, I didn’t know how Sally earned my trust enough to be invited. It was nice that I made a friend, but I didn’t see the path from friendly Winslow acquaintance to here. They both wanted to see you. Do you think you would have prevented a friend from seeing you? No…

From the interplay of their auras, it was obvious that they both enjoyed each other’s company, like friends do. When Sally wiped a smudge of sauce off Taylor’s face—Oh… Sally had feelings for me. Well no, she had feelings for Taylor. When she looked at or talked to me, those flickers were absent.

Taylor didn’t have those same hues yet—errr—she wouldn’t because I was super straight and not into girls. Unless she was a gay clone… Wait shit, if she came out as gay, then everyone was going to think I was gay. Ooo, that’s a fun wrinkle in the ethics around ‘coming out’. What if you ‘coming out’, outs another person without their consent? Dee and Dean worked it out without issue, but Taylor can’t admit it in her mind let alone—Stop it. Besides, Taylor can’t date Sally. She wouldn’t have time for—

“Taylor, can you pass the parmesan?” Dad asked.

Other Taylor and I moved at the same time. She paused. “Go ahead.”

I passed the shaker to my father. “That’s confusing.”

“You can be Taylor,” my clone offered. “I’ll go by ‘Widow’. It’s my Ward codename that Lisa helped me pick out.”

“No, I’m barely Taylor. You keep the name. Myriad is as good a name as anything else.”

She shook her head. “That doesn’t make any sense. You’re the original.”

“That wouldn’t be fair to the others.”

“Their original bodies aren’t walking around. Face it, you’re Taylor.”

“Am I?” I accidentally crushed a fork, drawing everyone’s attention. “Sorry, it’s just… I’m barely Taylor. I show up once every couple of weeks or when we need to do something horrific.”

“At least you didn’t kill a bunch of clones, and then become one.” Taylor was physically still even as her aura swirled. “I know I’m  a copy, but I don’t feel like one. One moment, I was Myriad and fighting the hardest enemy of our life, and then the next, I was just me again.”

“Girls…” Dad interrupted. “You’re both Taylor and that’s fine.”

“Yeah!” Sally elbowed Taylor.

The conversation grew lighter and slowly wound down until both Taylor and I needed to leave for Ward business.

While I was carrying her to the PRT building, she asked, “Can you apply the improvements we figured out? I know that without Aegis’s or Terry’s power they won’t be as effective, but between those and the costume I’m making with the new spiders we made, I should be decently durable.”

“Terry thinks the same upgrades wouldn’t be ideal. Ours were for mitigating damage not preventing damage nor did they consider the needs of medical staff to treat the wounds.” I chuckled. “That said, Terry’s mind is buzzing with ideas.”

“And Amy idly muses brilliant bits of biological construction while protesting the entire time how it’s wrong.”

“Exactly.”

She sighed. “I miss it.”

“I know.”

“The world is lonelier without them.”

“Your versions have their own bodies and lives. They aren’t gone.”

“It’s fine.” She grumbled. “I’ll manage. I have everything we wanted: friends, being a hero, talking with my dad again, even Emma is leaving me alone. It’s fine.”

Judging by her aura, it was fine. Taylor was happy and distressed because she didn’t know how to handle it. For now, seeing my reflection was tolerable, but if she learned to be content as Taylor, then I didn’t want to witness that.

At least that wasn’t my decision. I was only one voice in this head, no more important than the rest, a thought I found comforting.

During patrols, I caught a trio of parahuman drug dealers with knockout bugs while brainstorming biomods for Taylor. Should we give her spinnerets? Oh, she could use those to climb, since she can’t fly anymore. And she won’t be screwed if she loses all of our weavers. Let’s try it out on our armor! We captured the remains of the villains’ gang by spraying them with webs. Time freezing the mesh and launching them with a pneumatic bladder add a lot of utility.

We aren’t making Taylor fart webs, because we all know she would.

None of us could figure out a better version without Tinkertech she couldn’t maintain, so we scrapped the idea and focused on more basic durability and enhancements. Since she’ll have her suit, doesn’t need subdermal boneplates. Denser muscles and bones would mitigate bruising.

After patrols, I brought Taylor home and changed her in her sleep. At some point in the night, I lost control and our mood bracelet turned orange. What!? Fuck, they tricked me into doing this. I should have expected this to happen. The corrupting influence of the Butcher was well established. Sis, you were having fun. Point proven!

I slipped out the window and flew away before Taylor could rope me into making a giant monster for her. What about a really big—Nope!

My stomach rumbled with unnatural hunger. I caught myself from turning to my new home. Replacement Amy was there, and Carol liked that version. I had no intention to subject myself to that.

Instead, I flew us to Terry’s house. We still needed to visit them, and they were alright people for snobby blabbermouths. That’s a subjective and thus fair observation. I rather enjoy our family discussions.

The elaborate home bustled with morning activity through Taylor’s swarm and the senses Terry gave us. You sing in the shower? The duration of the song helps me stay in long enough and not too long. It acts as a timer. Instead of using our horrible lockpicking-bug on the front door, I shrink parts of the lock with Vista’s power and Chris’s inherent mechanical know-how. Locks aren’t that complicated… Hey! Stop using my powers for nefarious ends! Now you know how I feel!

When I entered the kitchen, Terry’s mom was making English muffins. She saw me and said, “Hello! Who are you today, and how is Terry doing?”

I sighed. “I’m Amy, whatever that means with another Amy running around. Terry’s as happy as a clam, like always.” I wasn’t bitter about it.

“Good for Terry, we’ve been talking about the existential consequences of copied people for days, so I understand how this may be unbalancing you.” Oh… I would really like to talk about that, but it’s too painful for most of you… Terry imagined hours of intelligent conversation with his parents as they discussed a very relevant and very niche philosophical edge case. They would cite papers and analyze the thoughts of philosophers both modern and dead who talked about the topic as pieces to an overall point.

A single tear—not my own—rolled down my face. The wave of loss took me by surprise as I sat down and tried to steady myself. “Do… you think you could summarize what you’ve talked about?”

Willow brightened and immediately started rambling in a lecturing tone, actually lecturing, not the disciplinary tone of Carol’s lecturing. By the time breakfast was ready, both Terry’s father and Terry had joined us and were offering their own insights.

I turned my brain onto autopilot and said whatever Terry wanted to say. Mine and many of the others' focus drifted to matters around the city. The topic was relevant to our problems, but the dispassionate discussion unsettled me in ways I struggled to articulate. The issues are primarily emotional and concern not only our bonds with others, but how we see ourselves. They are talking about logic, reason, and the nature of being, ignoring the actual problems outside of brief nods to ethical concerns.

When the conversation moved to the library with hot drinks in hand, I interrupted to ask a question, “Aren’t you going to be late for work and school.”

George replied first, “Oh, we all took the week off to process this change at our leisure.”

“What about Terry’s school? It’s finals week.” Amy, I… Terry trailed off, not willing to think about it.

His physical counterpart answered, “I missed too much school this year between everything we did, and my time in the asylum. My parents are arranging a tutor and summer school. If my condition doesn’t worsen, then I will attend school in the fall. If…” He grew silent as his mother gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. Hugging releases oxytocin, which lowers cortisol and thereby decreases stress. Evolutionary pressures would ensure that mothers hug their child to lower unneeded stress. The small hand-hug would be a social conceit to offer reassurance without making a scene and—Terry kept analyzing the situation while ignoring the important part.

From Terry’s aura, I could tell he wanted to ask me something, but we waited to talk after a day of talking, reading, and occasional snacking with tea or coffee. When we were heading to bed, Terry pulled me aside. “Amy… your clone refused, but can you fix my…” He gestured at his head. “I don’t want to get any worse.”

“Sure.” I grab his hand.

“Wait, really? You were adamant about—”

“Does it fucking matter anymore? If I said no, someone else would take over and do it anyway. My rules mean nothing. If I try to do something wrong, the others will stop me or fix my mistakes. So you know, who cares?” 

I focused for a moment, ignoring Terry’s sudden hesitance and tried not to seethe over the homunculus enjoying my life. She could keep the rules, the guilt, and the shame. She got everything else. 

“Hmmm well, I won’t tell you if your condition would have deteriorated, but it won’t now. I’m not ‘fixing’ your brain. Too much of your personality is tied to a different perspective.” Surprisingly, the peanut gallery didn’t complain. Victoria imagined giving me a hug. I’m proud of you.

“That’s delightfully vague! Thank—” I rushed to my guestroom and dove under the covers. That’s the first time Victoria had thought about hugging me since this started. You’ve grown. You’re friends with Taylor and Terry, and you broke your rules to help someone important to us. I know how important those were to you and appreciate the effort. We’ll always be sisters, and we’ll always be together, forever and always.

We don’t have a choice. No, we don’t, but you chose to respect my boundaries and tried to have a life outside of me. It doesn’t fix everything, but we have all eternity to mend the rift between us.

The tears came fast as I tried not to ruin the moment with the vile thoughts simmering in the back of my mind. My fists pounded into the pillow as I tried to beat that part of myself into submission. Victoria gave me hope that I could be forgiven.

All I needed to do was change.

With that impossible challenge, I cried myself to sleep.  

For a few moments after I woke, I was comfortable. Dawn light crept through the windows and coaxed me to wakefulness. When I stretched and yawned, the movement of the bedclothes shattered that cozy feeling, and let me know I was Carlos.

I flopped back to the bed and tried to seek that elusive comfort. When that failed, I rose and also elected to fly out the window while texting my mom that I was coming tonight, like all of us did with our parents. She sent back heart emojis.

Alec flew our new suit to meet us. With Amy’s power, I sensed every biological part of the creature until it felt like an extension of my own flesh. If I focused on that rather than Taylor’s body, I could manage. The mental trick was different from the ones I used before. Maybe this one wouldn’t lead my mind to dark places.

Once the others were fully roused, I ran our team through various drills and exercises. Sharing a mind only helped with conscious thoughts; our reactions needed to be instantaneous. The other Wards trickled in as they became available, letting us practice against teams of ourselves. The clones struggled to work together as a cohesive unit, but all their individual powers were stronger not just in the obvious ways, but in subtler aspects.

For example, our Brian couldn’t push his darkness into areas Grue covered. If the Vistas tried to manipulate the same space, other Vista’s changes happened. Clockblocker could timelock people Dennis timelocked and break the effect. None of the junior Wards joined our team over Rachel’s. Regent was able to break Alec’s control with a flick of his wrist.

Sadly, their teamwork wasn’t solid enough to leverage these effects. Grue’s darkness could have been a powerful advantage if they found a way to work around it.

Widow was pretty frustrated because her and Taylor canceled each other, which left her as a slightly enhanced teenager in our competitive drills. Everyone on her team thanked her for sparing them from being drowned in bugs, but she didn’t accept the praise. 

As they left, I went to our workshop and helped Chris move a few larger pieces in place for his next big project. I’ve been working on this for a while. Getting everything properly tested took time, not that I would ever skip that step again.

With no more distractions or excuses, I peeled off our suit and flew home to see how my clone was doing. He looked whole during practice today, so I assumed everything went well.

I opened my front door and saw most of my family either at the table or sitting in the living room as Mom finished cooking. Alison looked between my face and Carlos’s with a distressed aura. “Wait, I thought you were better…”

Carlos had fading scars that would clear in a couple of days. He leaned down and said, “I am better, but a version of me will always be in Myriad. We talked about this, remember.”

“But… that’s not fair.”

Her words echoed my thoughts as I saw Carlos happy and healthy. “Yeah… Oh well, you have to play the hand life deals you.” I turned to an unexpected guest. “Rory? It’s good to see you. I just—”

“Not exactly, I’m one of his clones.” He chuckled. “Thanks for making sure I don’t go crazy. Carlos and I really appreciate that.” My eyes widened as I examined his aura. “Ah, you already figured it out. Yes, most of us clones aren’t exactly the same. Would you believe that our Image department shot down ‘Gay Triumph’ as a cape name? I think it’s perfect.”

Carlos bared his teeth and laughed. “God, stop, you dork. You’ve been gay for a week.”

“It doesn’t feel that way to me.” Both stared into each other’s eyes with love filled auras.

Ow. Yeah, this one hurts.

I was mentally ready for Carlos to have the body I always wanted. Did that also have to come with the boyfriend I always wanted? Obviously, you should ask them if you can watch. I’m not subjecting Vista to that, Alec. Pfff, you all have memories of worse porn. Vista, why are you digging into those? Why not? It’s my head too.

The brief taunting pulled me out of my spiral to see everyone sitting down. I went to join them and… didn’t find a chair for me.

Mom saw me standing and figured out the problem, “Jackson, could you get your brother a chair from the garage. It should be behind the bins.”

“It’s alright.” I floated to a sitting position. “This is effortless. I don’t need a chair.”

“If you’re sure…”

“I am.”

We had the same taco night as the last time I was here. Was that two or three weeks ago? It was so long for them, and didn’t seem that long for me. I cherished my time with them, but I struggled to engage with the conversation. Damian, Rin, and Yui talked about topics I lacked context for. Between that, Alison’s growing distress, and the happy couple, I was the heart of misery.

Our family wasn’t bound by blood. We chose each other, and that bond was reinforced with time and love, time I didn’t have to give that my clone did. Alison was clearly struggling with the concept too. She whispered to Carlos, “Which one is the evil one?”

With an embarrassed aura he explained, “We aren’t like that. Both of us are heroes.” Alison’s consternated aura showed that she didn’t get it.

I wanted to walk through it with her, but it was too painful. She had her brother back, and it didn’t need to be more complicated than that. When I excused myself to go to the bathroom, I snuck out the window and found Mom waiting for me outside.

“Off so soon?” She crossed her arms. Night had fallen and crickets chirped as fireflies roamed the yard. In my turmoil, I didn’t check the bugs, and Taylor didn’t warn me.

“It’s too much, seeing him live the life I always wanted. I… I need to go…” There wasn’t a place for me here.

“Come here,” Mom opened her arms. “Can’t leave without a goodbye hug.”

I drifted into her embrace, and she squeezed me tight.

“You are always welcome here. It doesn’t matter how old you get or how many parents you have. You are always welcome.” She sniffled and whispered. “He didn’t replace you. He is his own person. You are your own person.”

“But I’m n-not… I have to share this life, this body, everything. None of us are our own person. There are always others.”

“I hope you all can be as close as our family. That way instead of seeing it as taking turns, you could see it as doing things together. I don’t know; I’m sorry. I can’t imagine what it is like. All I can do is hold you tight and let you know that you are loved.”

My feelings overflowed and soaked her shoulder. Mom didn’t seem to mind. After several minutes, I told her goodbye.

“See you soon.”

I soared into the night and let the stars keep me company.

By dawn, our colors were swirling as we drifted listlessly around the Bay, stopping the occasional crime and rescuing the occasional cat from a tree. It was a way to kill time. Maybe we should leave. What but—Think about it. Our families are fine. Seeing them hurts us. It’s—We could chill with Terry’s folks. That didn’t hurt too much. Au contraire, I was devastated. Really? I understand that my misery doesn’t feel the same to the rest of you, but missing so much dialogue was absolutely devastating. Also, I liked my room.

My mind split into conversations until someone accidentally popped forward and our jacket turned silver.

By the time we stabilized, it was already late evening. I drifted home and hoped my dad made extra food. I was ravenous. When he received my text, he let me know that they were ordering Chinese, so it was no trouble.

Woo! Maybe my home would be the exception.

I arrived at the same time as the delivery guy. He turned from the door and spooked a little at seeing me float down, but he was disarmed with a friendly wave.

After he drove away, I greeted my father and clone. My clone was quick to go through an elaborate handshake routine we couldn’t get any of our friends to learn. After the fifth spin, my dad sighed, “You two are just making this up as you go along.”

We wobbled our hands and said, “There are a couple of improv portions, but most of this is planned.” We turned to each other and pointed. “Jinx! Double Jinx!” We both laughed it off before shouting. “Triple jinx! Damn…”

Dad rubbed his temples. “This is getting out of hand. Now there are two of them!”

We all laughed, and I did my best to hide how much of that timing came from Eye’s power. Most of it? Dennis and I opened boxes by the TV while our dad grabbed drinks and picked a show to watch as we ate.

Roofus laid across Dennis’s feet, which was fine. He was around more, so obviously he bonded with him more. Nor was I bothered that Dad and my clone had inside jokes that I wasn’t a part of. That was normal too. The detective show we were watching was a little boring.

“So… um… Dennis.” Dad pointed at me. “Who do you think the murderer is?”

“Uhhh.” I scratched the back of my head. “One of our powers already told me.”

“Oh…” There was an awkwardness between me and my dad that he didn’t have with the clone. That was fine because…

I couldn’t think of a reason, and kept shuffling in my seat until I gave up and floated an inch off the cushion. What was wrong? I couldn’t figure out where this seemingly random discomfort came from.

When the show was over, we threw all the boxes away and chatted for a bit before my father leashed Roofus and took him for a walk.

Once he was gone, I turned to my clone and jerked my head to his room. “There is something I want to ask you.”

He sighed and followed me, guessing what Taylor’s bugs found.

I pulled a dress out of my closet. “Why do we have this?”

He swiped it from me. “This ain’t yours.”

“But… What? Are we like Dee or something?”

He rolled his eyes. “No, it’s just a hobby I picked up after splitting from the group and having time to myself. Don’t make it more than it is.” I raised a finger, and he talked over my objections. “No really, I met some other people into the same stuff, and actually met my girlfriend at one of those parties.”

“Wait, we have a girlfriend.”

“No, we don’t. Denise is dating me. Our lives are different, dude, AND—” He shoved the dress back in his closet. “—I would appreciate it if you respected my privacy.”

“Sorry.” I floated toward mine—his desk and rested my hand on it. “I get the same discomfort as Brian, Chris, and Carlos, but it’s random, and I don’t know why. When I saw that, I had to know.”

“Dude… Come on, what do I got that would come up every time you sat down? Just admit it.”

Rachel imagined patting my back. It’s a natural thing to be concerned about. “Oh god, it’s because I don’t have junk.” Dennis snapped his finger and pointed at me, but I barely noticed.

Is that the only thing bothering me about being Taylor? Am I a pervert? Woah, Dennis. Look, you’re valid. Everyone is valid. Gender is a really broad spectrum. You’re allowed to be hung up on really specific points. If it helps, I feel the same way about our missing junk. Yeah but… it all really bothers you. My clone apparently runs around in drag and picks up women. Like the king he is. It’s fine. It’s not stereotypical maleness, but it’s fine.

“Thanks for clarifying… I guess I’ll…” I looked around. “Where am I sleeping?”

Dennis shrugged. “We don’t have a guestroom, but the couch is open. Let me get you a spare blanket and pillow.”

Once the evening wound down, and everyone settled in for the night, I played with Roofus until he got tired. With nothing else to do, I tried to sleep.

As soon as the blanket was wrapped around me, the final straw broke the camel’s back. Sleeping on the couch in my own house made me feel like a guest. This wasn’t my life anymore.

The realization made sleep impossible. I left my home and went to Chris’s workshop to spend time with my best friend. Right buddy? You’re still there. Yeah man. Don’t fade away on me. I don’t think we can. Well, that’s good enough.

We spent the night and the next day focused on finishing our equipment. None of us wanted to visit any of the families and could use the break. Our day ended with my hands in a couple of bio-goop piles with projects queued, and I finally fell asleep.

I woke up on my birthday! Woo! I was no longer 12 by any metric.

Carol was hosting a party for both Missy and me. All the families and clones were invited. She had been planning this for a while, and the little addition of 13 new people wasn’t enough to derail Brandish’s plans.

While I normally tire of civilian life, who couldn’t be happy on their birthday?

I hummed a merry tune as I soared back to my home without my awful birth parents. Things might be rough for everyone else, but my life was going great. We were still one of the stronger heroes, though this town didn’t have many villains remaining. The Othersiders had been keeping a very low profile since the Echidna incident. Hell, they might have skipped town. I know I would quit any job where my boss tells a coworker to eat me. If Alexandria told you to hop into Noelle, you would. Sure, but she wouldn’t do that.

Marquis’s manor had a bigger yard and more parking than the old Dallon residence. Most of the families had arrived early, and even Sally showed up with a present. Sophia coming was also a surprise.

I flew down to her first. “What did you get me?”

She reached into back pocket and tossed me a knife. “That was Hookwolf’s. I grabbed it when we rolled his dog fighting ring. Don’t tell anyone.”

“Damn, I deeply appreciate this,” I said sardonically. “Is your other present as heartfelt?”

“This?” She lifted her box. “It’s a helmet.”

I snorted and suddenly sympathized with Sophia; poking at myself was fun. “Okay, I need to check in on the other birthday girl.”

Missy was behind the house and tapping her foot by the time I met her. “There you are! Alright, I thought long and hard about it. I know what birthday gift I want from you.”

“I don’t have a gift for you.”

“Yes you do.” She waved towards herself with both hands. “I want back in. Make it quick.”

“I’m not killing you.”

“Come on, don’t leave me out. What if everyone’s power gets stronger with a 2nd Case-16 in the group? It’s not like you don’t have other Vistas in your skull with Tattletale making copies. What does one more hurt?”

“Yo, what happened? I’m not like this.”

Her aura pulsed with annoyance and rage. “People already treated me like I was too young, and now I have memories from a dozen older teenagers—not all of them—just all the ones I delved through. School is so boring. All my ‘friends’ are immature, and the older Wards still treat me like a younger member.”

“I see where you are coming from, but Terry’s making a good point. If powers are sapient, then there is no guarantee that the Case-16 nature isn’t a function of that sapience. Neither you nor the Butcher have a power that relates in concept to the inheritance. So if that’s the case, then your copy of the power might not be a Case-16.”

“Fuck!” She kicked the back wall. “I hate being a kid.”

“At least we’re both finally 13!”

That’s when the Endbringer sirens blared.

Notes:

I’ve actually been keeping meticulous track of the march of days. The timeline between the bank and Leviathan is really detailed. I hope you’ve all enjoyed this month (April 14th to May 15th) of Myriad’s life. Leviathan is the planned climatic showdown of the fic with epilogues following it to wrap up lingering plot threads (Coil) and to address certain overarching Worm plots.

Chapter 28

A drop of rain fell on my nose as the sirens continued their wail. All across the city, people were checking their phones or TVs and receiving directions to their nearest shelter, reminders for those who forgot or didn’t attend the drills. Terry’s parents clung to his clone, all their reason and thoughtfulness melted in the naked fear of losing their boy again. Carlos was mobbed in a group hug by his family before they let him go and wished him good luck. The Stansfields embraced Dee and told them they didn’t have to go. Dennis smiled and told his dad he might not be home for dinner. Taylor mechanically hugged her father before mounting one of Rachel’s dogs and loping to the rally point.

Kid Win stood alone at the party. He looked around once more for the family he didn’t invite and who wouldn’t have come before sighing. With a somber aura, he hopped on his hoverboard and rode to face death again, one that might stick.

I looked down on my shorter self. “Well me, are you ready?” Her aura was filled with horror and excitement. I sympathized and would have felt the same without the spiking anxiety and worry of the others. There was a glory to fighting the monsters of the world, and one of the biggest had come to our home. If it is our home.

Vista cracked her neck. “Yeah, let’s go.” I made sure to grab Sophia on my way out. During the flight, she unwrapped and placed the green helmet she bought onto Vista’s head.

As the capes left, the non-parahuman guests decided how to carpool. The new Dallon estate was close enough to the outskirts of town that the recommended evacuation plan was to drive out of the city. They didn’t want to clog the roads needlessly with other cars, so Danny and Aisha rode in Dennis’s father’s truck while Terry’s parents and the Stansfields piled into the same sedan. Carlos’s family already filled a full-sized van and couldn’t fit more.

I saw all these little moments and never felt more disconnected from them. We could watch and see everything, but our time was still limited. We tried to live 13 different lives, and thought we were doing a good job, but then our clones proved us wrong. So much happened when we couldn’t be there.

“Hey,” Sophia said from under my left arm. “Neither of you better bite it today.”

“One in four,” I replied. “You know the odds. You went to the last Behemoth fight.”

Vista startled. “What?”

“Do you not remember?” They’re my memories, not yours. “I can never be sure how many blended memories made it.” At Vista’s confused aura, I continued. “On a good day, one in four capes die.”

“But there are 16 Wards… Are we going to lose four of them?”

Terry idly crunched the numbers. “There is a 1% chance we all live. That’s the future I’m aiming for.”

“Yeah, but you two especially,” Sophia cut in. “Let’s not take a clusterfuck and add your problems.”

“Aww, I didn’t know you cared.”

Vista reached over to pinch Sophia’s cheek. “Someone going soft on—Ow!” Sophia bit the fingers before they reached her. 

I laughed as I healed the damage. She drew blood! Why did she—You saw her aura; she felt challenged and panicked. Besides, she’s drawn blood for less cause. Our mind flashed back to being pushed down the stairs. The concrete and friction strips were not good for Taylor’s skin.

That exchange killed the conversation for the rest of the trip. Sophia’s aura became angry and embarrassed until it settled to only a simmering anger. Vista was confused and irritated by Sophia’s actions and brooded until I placed both of them on the roof of the PRT building. My suit flew to the roof to meet me with Chris’s two new attachments for our dinky little disintegrator. Hey! It looks like a raygun made with five polygons, which was great, but the augments make the original appear lesser. They build off each other.

As I put on my suit, Armsmaster left his secure lab and appraised our assembled tinkerspiders of the situation. “Leviathan will be here in an hour.” Woah, that’s tons of time. For most of these fights, we get teleported in as fast as possible and flung ourselves at the Endbringers. My spiders signed how impressed they were. Armsmaster bared his teeth. “Thank you. I’ll see you at the rally point.” When did he learn that language? Pfff, he didn’t. His visor translated it for him.

Behind Armsmaster lay his half complete nano-thorn. Dang, he was really looking forward to using that on the next Endbringer. He spent a lot of time with us since the bank. That had to take from other projects.

The rally point was a nondescript six story tall building near the beach. Already, PRT agents had erected barriers to keep civilians away as capes were waved through.

I flew inside as the thundercrack of Strider’s teleport brought Alexandria’s team. Within the mustering area, several teams were waiting as more trickled in. The Protectorate was out in force like they normally were. Several cities worth of heroes had answered the call. Of them, our local heroes had especially grave auras. They can’t take their Wards dying a second time.

A few corporate teams like Haven and a couple others mingled with the more official hero teams along with a scattering of independent heroes and villains. There was never the time for this before a fight. All the old tensions still brewed, but the truce held and everyone was being civil. Purity and Krieg were in attendance along with Chariot from the Othersiders. No other villains from Brockton Bay had deigned to show up, no teams. Even Purity and Krieg were keeping their distance from each other. Taylor’s swarm saw Faultline’s crew fleeing the city. I judged them for that, but what else did I expect from villains?

The villains from out of town were all solo acts too, like normal. Teams of villains rarely came to Endbringer fights unless they were local. Villain attendance drops every year, but our recent string of arrests couldn’t have helped.

Carlos’s experience settled all of us, even if it also highlighted just exactly what we would be getting into. Leviathan is the only one I can get close to. For Behemoth, I was on search and rescue, and I wasn’t cleared for the Simurgh. A history of self-harm was a considered risk factor. Considering how badly his encounters with Leviathan went, the concern seemed justified. In Kavala, Greece, he pulped my torso and sent my limbs and head flying. It took a week to find all my pieces, and longer before I was presentable outside of costume. Hopefully, nothing like that happens this time.

“Hey.” A tug on my suit pulled me out of my musings. I turned around and saw Sophia standing there in an old hockey mask, a worn cloak, and holding a two-handed crossbow you could find in any sporting goods store. I knew she disliked being a Ward, but I didn’t think she would elect to wear her old vigilante gear. “Before this starts, I wanted to apologize for everything: for bullying Taylor, for copying Carlos’s trigger event, for bullying you, for being generally disagreeable, and even for shooting Grue in the gut. I’m sorry.” She then bowed forward at 90 degrees.

I was too stunned to reply. Her aura was sincere. She meant what she said. I found that I didn’t really care if she was sorry. The way she treated me was annoying enough, but the wounds on Taylor and Carlos weren’t easily forgiven. I was literally wounded! Right, but I agree with Sophia on that decision. Ha ha. Still, the apology didn’t change anything. The reasons for our working relationship and camaraderie weren’t—

“Goddammit, you missed one!” Shadow Stalker yelled from the door with Flechette in tow. The Sophia next to me eeped and slunk behind me.

I grabbed her shoulder and scanned her system. “Oh, you are a clone! That makes sense.” I started fixing the dozen degenerative health problems the poor girl had. Huh, in my mind, I immediately decided she wasn’t Sophia and did not blame her for anything Sophia did, but we were treating our clones as us. This one has been homeless and slinking through the cracks to avoid the officers that killed all her sisters. The context is a little different.

“What did she do!?” Original Sophia was not thrilled to see her copy.

Clone Sophia poked her head from behind my back. “I only said what you wanted to!”

“Bah, all you clones try to ruin the lives of the original.” Sophia’s eyes narrowed. “HEY! That’s my stuff! You’ve been to my house!”

“It’s my house too!”

“Nope!”

Both tensed as their auras swirled with dark emotions. Alec made them both hiccup. Sophia immediately entered her shadow state and turned to glare at me while her clone dissolved into an amorphous inky substance.

Sophia turned solid and started laughing. “Oh, you’re one of the off-brands.” She kept laughing. “That sucks for you.”

Clone Sophia returned to her shape with an annoyed aura. “My power is great, thank you very much! Hrmph!”

“The personality is all wrong too.”

“Heaven forbid we make amends and open up to people!”

“Lame and cringe.”

As they continued to bicker, I glanced around for other clone drama. Parian was dressed like her namesake and tried to maintain distance from her trio of clones. Her family had taken them in and treated them like surprise siblings, much to Parian’s dismay, not that we officially knew that. Officially, we didn’t bug the town.

Bastion was here with two of his clones. One of them got into hot water when they were caught on camera yelling slurs at a Hispanic kid. There is a conspiracy theory going around that a clone took the fall for Bastion himself. He’s been professional with me. Whatever, it’s bad vibes.

Triumph brooded in a corner. His clones had blown his secret identity and brought into question the ‘legitimateness’ of his powers, prompting an investigation that seemed to be going nowhere despite the Chief Director herself hand picking the investigators. Hmmmm. The part of me that was Carlos lamented not talking with him, and told him that we understood. There wasn’t time.

Before I could look around more, Legend walked to the front of the room with Armsmaster, leaving a wake of quiet as everyone turned to them. Legend cleared his throat. “We owe thanks to Dragon and Armsmaster for their early alert. We’ve had time to gather, and that means we have just a few more minutes to prepare and brief for Leviathan’s arrival, instead of jumping straight into the fray as we arrive. With this advantage, some luck, teamwork and hard effort from everyone, I hold out hope that this could be one of the good days. But you should know your chances going in—”

Eidolon clasped my shoulder and spoke like a voice emanating from my skull. “You’re with me, Myriad. Our select group doesn’t fit into any of the others.”

Was he reading my mind? But I thought that was impossible.

“No, I’m channeling sound directly into your bones to your ear and can hear your subvocalized words from your throat. Come, you don’t need the ‘chances you’ll die’ speech.

I followed him to a corner with a window and three Myrddins: one in a brown robe, one in a white robe, and one in a gray robe.

Eidolon kept ‘speaking’. “Our role in these is flexible. We’ll switch between binding Leviathan, stopping the waves, rescue, and hurting him directly depending on which group needs support.”

Vista handed us our armbands and moved on with her box. Rachel made it outside and had brought Bentley, Lucy, Magic, and Ink in addition to the former Undersiders. A van disgorged K9 officers with their partners next to her. Our Rachel funneled her power into them. They’re well trained, just not by me. All the additional Brutes on search and rescue should help. 

“You’ll need to keep your cool. Despite your friends and family risking their lives, it’s better to pace yourself, and fight the whole battle, not the first 5 minutes.”

Ha! That felt targeted. When I first fought Leviathan, I lasted that long before he threw me into a collapsing building. Thousands of tons of rubble kept me pinned for days.

“Aegis? Interesting. You subvocalize when the others speak to you, at least some of the time. Anyways, yes, we want to avoid that. While we doubt Case-16s can take over Endbringers—no other master or possession power seems to work—you are unlikely to stay dead. A variety of means have already been tried on the Butcher, and they always find a new host.”

I was worried about my clone starting another chain.

He waved off the concern. “I’m sure you could give the resulting person a brain that could handle the strain. You have answers to most problems. You even have a power that helps you find those answers. Now, how do you plan to fight Leviathan?”

Well, I—

Bastion looked out the window and grew alarmed. His exclamations were quickly followed by his team, interrupting Legend’s instructions. I raised a hand and squeezed the rising tide, but the water was filled with fish, massively reducing my effectiveness.

“Strider! Get us out of here!” Legend shouted over shattering of glass, the breaking of stone, and sound of barriers erected to halt the onslaught of water. Televisions were knocked over that displayed the coast, the ferry, and boardwalk flooding.

As I thickened the walls around us, I felt the other Vista doing the same. We glanced at each other before there was a thundercrack and my vision went white.

When my sight cleared, we were scattered along the beach. Water ran past our feet back to the ocean and in the distance, he loomed. The 30ft tall Endbringer had lanky arms and legs—Taylor, are we really doing this—He looked spindly and malformed aside from his broad muscular shoulders and thick chest, giving him a top heavy appearance that explained his slouching gait—He’s going to kill our friends and family, and you’re judging his proportions! He… He had greenish skin like the sea and three eyes on one side of his face opposed by one eye on the other. He seemed to allow us a moment to take in his visage before he moved faster than any normal speedster.

“Carapacitator down, CD-5. Krieg deceased, CD-5. Zephyr deceased, CD-5. WCM deceased, CD-5. Iron Falcon down, CD-5. Saurian down, CD-5, …”

A mechanical and flat version of Dragon’s voice spoke from the armbands, announcing the dead as the Endbringer blurred through the disorganized capes in a tide of blood and broken bones.

I charged through the carnage with my arm outstretched. Leviathan responded with a casual tail-whip that shattered Victoria’s forcefield and left the Endbringer frozen in place. The resulting water echo of the strike hit me like a car and sent me tumbling through the air. All the other water ceased moving. The storm above calmed slightly, and the ocean didn’t swell more. Time and Space! We got this Vista!

By the time I oriented myself, Alexandria was shouting, “Stop attacking! He can’t be hurt while frozen. Bind him if you can and get into position.” The woman then floated in front of Leviathan with fist curled and ready to strike. Bands of force, vines, goopy slime that hardened, and a dozen other effects layered and wrapped the Endbringer until he seemed properly stuck.

We should tap him again. Or—and hear me out—we could listen to Eidolon, a veteran of every single Endbringer fight. Carlos won the debate, and I floated to Eidolon, who was evaporating the water around Leviathan as one of the Myrddins collected it into a ball above his staff. Okay, I could almost buy the wizard angle. I raised the sand between us and the ocean to make their goal easier. Several overly large grains of sand rolled off my mound and stood out among the smaller grains.

Eidolon nodded at my approach. “Good work. He’ll try to kill you now. It’s time to back off and use a ranged ability. Don’t risk another timefreeze until a wave builds.”

“I’ll alert you when that happens.” Dragon helpfully chimed from my armband. If we had relay worms in the sea, like I asked for, then I would know without her help.

“Thanks Dragon.” I drew our disintegrator and plugged it into our new barrel attachment before adding the third piece into the aiming stock configuration. The device hummed with power as I charged it by teleporting a few gallons of water. Carefully, I expanded the whole device until it was more of a cannon than a rifle. I call it a disrupter. Much like the disintegrator, it half-teleports matter to create tons of energy. This configuration channels the excess energy into dark matter wrapped in hardlight. Glee filled Chris as he explained his creation. Originally, this was an early Endbringer killer attempt by the Sentai Elite. It didn’t work, obviously, but we needed a big gun, so we have a big gun.

Chris was particularly satisfied with this device because his clone couldn’t use similar tech. Kid Win relied too much on fully working teleportation fields for his plan of highly flexible flying gun platforms/drones. He had only made two before this fight, and his Vista lacked the tinker powers to accurately expand his devices.

When Leviathan unfroze, I shot the beam in his back and strafed as the monster struggled. He thrashed and clawed, each motion sending hundreds of gallons of water pouring from him, which only made him move faster. His tail snaked around obstructions and ripped through bonds with the same strength as his limbs. Nothing held him as long as our timefreeze.

Two Myrddins would alternate between draining the water and firing it into the ocean. Eidolon redirected his ability to Leviathan, causing the Endbringer’s skin to boil and pop. The effects of my own beam were difficult to see in the fusillade of lasers, explosions, and bombs from the other capes.

At a signal I couldn’t perceive, Alexandria dived into the mess, hooked Leviathan’s throat in the crook of her arm, and slammed him into the beach. Legend’s squad of blasters didn’t slow their assault.

Even while pinned, Leviathan’s tail swished. The water trailing in its wake shot into a crowd of waiting capes.

“Sham down, CD-5.  Acoustic deceased, CD-5.  Harsh Mistress down, CD-5.  Resolute deceased, CD-5.  Woebegone down, CD-5”

How could I protect my friends from a creature that killed so effortlessly? Once we damage him enough, he’ll retreat. Right, I could do that. Our beam was making small grooves in the Endbinger. A series of denser layers… Hmmm, exponentially denser layers. Eye, that’s impossible at the rate you’re speculating. What if space warps the deeper you go? He would still be denser than a black hole.

“Wave building.”

That alert was just for me, and I didn’t know how to approach through the hail of fire. No angle seemed viable. I pressed both buttons on my armband. “I need them to stop attacking for a second.” I only needed one.

Dragon didn’t respond. The assault didn’t slow. Each second that ticked by brought us closer to disaster.

“Wave incoming.”

The water tickled my toes as it swept through the assembled capes, crushed buildings, shattered the boardwalk, flipped the ferry, and wreaked havoc on the poorer areas of town. Our swarm let me see and feel all the destruction. Several heroes erected quick forcefields and barriers. Some of those worked.

“Fierceling deceased, CD-5.  Adamant down, CD-5. Chubster down, CD-5. Good Neighbor deceased, CD-5.  Hallow deceased, CD-5.”

When the water cleared, Leviathan was nowhere to be found, having rode the wave inland, dragging Alexandria with him. Eidolon generated a sonic boom as he flew after the beast. The Myrddins and I were much slower. Our relatively sedate pace did let me dip down and grab Chubster. Alec made the hero cough the water out of his lungs.

“Bleh! Goodness, that was a bad swim.” Chubster patted himself down. “Thanks for the lift!”

“Don’t mention it.” I expanded our thrusters until we accelerated to full speed.

“Oof, Ohhh.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I do get a tad motion sick—nothing to worry about!”

I fixed that.

“Ah! Excellent. Alright Myriad, drop me on him!” He spread his arms and grew very still.

In the distance, Leviathan had a claw around Alexandria’s face while the other sliced through Eidolon. The man’s image popped before a line appeared across Leviathan’s ‘stomach’, and Eidolon reappeared behind the Endbringer’s head to pluck out an eye.

Leviathan didn’t roar in pain, but he acted like it hurt and released Alexandria as he stumbled. While the heroine coughed water, Legend blasted the monster along with half a dozen other flyers.

Were we winning? No, he’s relentless and always adapts. As if on cue, the Endbringer kicked a fire hydrant and surfed the stream to arc through the air and land on the front line. His tail grabbed a cape and flung them into a wall as his claws ripped apart another cape and beat two others with the remains.

“Hew down, CD-5. Strapping Lad down, CD-5.  Intrepid down, CD-5. Brigandine deceased, CD-5.”

I hissed at the carnage and dropped Chubster into the melee. He bounced off Leviathan's head and hit the pavement fist first. He then flopped to the ground like a metallic action figure before slowly lifting his head to the Endbringer. With eyes locked on the beast, he jolted to his feet and raised his hands in a grappler’s stance. 

“Wave building.”  

Wreathed in blood, Leviathan rushed the cape and stopped inches from him. Chubster weathered the wave of water that followed as I took this opportunity to fly at the creature’s back. Leviathan turned from his prey to look at me. His tail grabbed a streetlight and beat me with it, shattering Victoria’s forcefield. Dennis froze it by reflex. Leviathan grabbed a car and threw it at me only for Alexandria to punch it out of the air. The Endbringer tried to follow his attack with a lunge, but Chubster had gotten hold of his tail and wouldn’t let go.

“Fly under me!” Alexandria shouted as Legend’s blasters renewed their barrage.

I sheltered under her from the barrage and compressed the space between me and Endbringer. Alexandria punched an errant claw strike away. The water echo was still enough to pop my forcefield again. I barely managed to brush his chest before Leviathan kicked me.

“Get in position!” Everyone scrambled to arrange themselves as I flew back to Eidolon.

The man patted me on the back. “I’m enjoying these little breaks. Really helps me switch powers.” Do you think my clone is jealous? Would you be jealous? Dennis mentally sighed. No, I would appreciate every little thing that helps my city.

One cape didn’t move. Chubster wiggled around a little before seeing that Leviathan’s tail was wrapped around him. He shrugged and gripped the tail with all his might.

I readied our disrupter and waited for the creature to move again.

Barely two minutes had passed before our timelock broke. Eidolon pointed and a large lens appeared above Liaviathan, causing all incoming lasers to increase in size and intensity. Dozens, then hundreds of wounds appeared all along his flesh, buckling him. He seemed to be collapsing from the weight of the attacks before he lunged and drove a claw under Chubster to lift the ground he stood on.

The wave I had disrupted was little more than a swell when it flowed by, but between that and constant rain, it gave the Endbringer enough water to blur around our frontline and pull himself to the top of a short building where several blasters had gathered.

Chubster had contorted to grab both the tail and claw that held him. Leviathan was unbothered as he shoved the hero through Dauntless’s shield. The shield shattered as the water echo caught most of the capes and sent them tumbling off the edge.

Dauntless caught a man covered in blue tubing who shot white mist from his arm to create an ice platform that caught the rest of the capes. He let out a little cheer before Leviathan tackled both of them to the ground.

“Jotun deceased, CD-6. Dauntless deceased, CD-6.”

Losing one of our own hurt, but we had to soldier on. Miss Militia certainly was. Even with one arm frozen in ice and dangling several stories in the air, she fired a bazooka one handed at the enemy with grim determination. Leviathan blocked each blast with Chubster, who bore the assault stoically.

I put away my disruptor and started cracking capes out of the ice-block. All of them would be fine if they were free and breathing in a few minutes. I punched through ice and squeezed the rest with my power as I flung released capes back to the roof. Victoria and Dean pulsed calming emotions to those still trapped so they didn’t panic.

Leviathan wasn’t content to wait. He turned and ran deeper into the city. When I freed Miss Militia, she ordered, “After him, let others free the rest.” I nodded and flew after the creature with her.

The Endbringer lashed out in random directions. His body and water echo ruined roads, destroyed lights, shattered windows, sundered building supports, and any other mindless destruction he could imagine.

There was a going theory that Endbringers had targets to their attacks, and while that seemed broadly true, I couldn’t imagine what Leviathan would want in our city. Wait… Taylor bounced an idea off Eye. As they conversed, I flew lower to the ground so that my space compression could bring us closer faster.

Based on the path of destruction so far… Echidna’s portal machine! He’s heading there. Why would he—Because there is still a small singularity in the generator.

Ah… right… the one that was too large for me to unravel and is currently being studied by a PRT research team from the head office. That singularity? Yup!

Well shit. 

Chapter 29

At some point in the chase, I focused too much on the space manipulations and lost control. I looked down and saw teal plated arms holding Miss Militia. Okay, I was Dean. Miss Militia noticed the change and craned her neck toward me. “Are you alright?”

“No.” Hopelessness, pain, fear, rage, and despair filled the auras of heroes and villains as they died in numbers I hadn’t seen since Taylor slaughtered the clones. I doubted I would ever get used to the carnage. I was afraid I would.

“There is no trick to it.” Miss Militia responded, and I realized I uttered most of my thoughts. “When you watch your friends die and still keep moving, you’ve done all you can do. Survive and pick up the pieces later.” She found a shot and hit Leviathan with a rocket. “Drop me on that roof there.”

“But—” Before I finished my question, Eidolon and Strider teleported two groups of capes in Leviathan’s path. Legend sent a searing hot beam to the Endbringer’s face with one hand, and froze his feet with the other. The lasers curved around Chubster with arcing loops and right angle turns. Bastion, his clones, Shielder, and several other capes conjured barriers in Leviathan’s way as Alexandria swooped in and grabbed his other claw. She pulled the arm back, and her leg kicked in a curious pattern. Did you get the message? I didn’t, but by the time I released Miss Militia, Eye puzzled out the meaning.

We spun through the hail of fire as Vista nudged and bent attacks away from us. When they fire consistently over a long period, I can create gaps. As we approached, Leviathan ignored everyone else and turned to smack us with Chubster, which was exactly what I wanted.

The cape broke Victoria’s forcefield on contact, and Dennis froze him in time, binding Leviathan’s tail and claw to a fixed point in space. Alexandria aura grew satisfied as she pulled the Endbringer’s other arm and splayed him for the gathered capes.

I kept a hand on Chubster as I took cover behind him from the combined onslaught of everyone with a ranged attack. The Myrddins launched fire and lightning from their positions near Eidolon. Legend channeled a blast larger than Purity’s, and hers could take out fleets of tanks. Flechette fired bolt after bolt that penetrated deeper than anyone else’s attacks. Both Vistas enlarged as many effects as they could while expanding the street until we were in an open concrete lot.

Since I was close, I tried blasting the Endbringer with the hopelessness I felt. The teal beams didn’t shift his aura in any way that I could notice, but it was as opaque as Eidolon’s.

When Leviathan twitched his feet, more bonds and shields formed around them. By all appearances, the Endbringer seemed truly stuck. It seemed like we were winning. Morale among the crowd swelled as the damage accumulated.

“Wave building.”

Of course.

I tapped Leviathan, freezing him and ending the assault. This time, the capes were more coordinated and expected this. Steel wires, vines, telekinetically controlled strings, our webs, blocks of ice, bent streetlights, chains of solid fire, and two snowmen held the frozen Endbringer in place. 

After Clockblocker released Chubster, we worked together to freeze as many of the restraints as possible before my much shorter time freeze ended. We were halfway through when the Endbringer started moving again. He thrashed three times in his tight invincible bonds before he stilled.

Leviathan didn’t move or react as the blasters renewed their fire. He was almost stoic like a criminal awaiting the headsman’s axe. For just a moment, I thought we had him, that we could maintain this pattern of freeze and damage indefinitely, that we might be able to not just drive him off, but kill him once and for all.

Then the ground began to rumble.

Water bubbled from every sewer grate. The sinks and toilets in every nearby building exploded, flooding each floor, and making every window weep water. The liquid filled the street until the road bulged upward and a sewer lid erupted into Clockblocker.

“Clockblocker down, CD-8.”

I flew to Dennis’s copy and made sure he was stable before lifting him into the sky.

The street continued to swell and nearby apartments swayed from side to side as massive amounts of water filled the ground under us. Crude waves rippled beneath us, simulating an earthquake as more foundation was eroded away.

Miss Militia glanced around her in concern as the edifice of her building cracked and the floors started collapsing. Her bazooka morphed into a wicked looking grappling hook and rope before she rappelled down. I saw Chubster running into destruction. Rubble consumed them both. Seconds ticked by before Dragon announced her verdict.

“Miss Militia down, CD-8. Chubster down, CD-8.”

Hers wasn’t the last structure to fall. The ground drained in a fluid motion, creating multiple sinkholes in the road and under buildings. 

“Wave building.”

In the resulting chaos, I struggled to find a place to put Clockblocker. I needed to retag Leviathan, but if I left him somewhere careless, he would die. Bringing him with me was far too risky. I hate that he’s stolen my life, but my dad needs him. He’s not just me; he’s a fellow Ward and child. I—We need to say the lives in front of us and not worry about what-ifs. It’s part of—No, we’ll do both. Taylor arranged a handful of rain-resistant, helium-filled, blue fireflies to point an arrow from Myrddin to us. The wizard saw our dilemma and banished Clockblocker to an extradimensional pocket.

I sighed in relief and dove toward the Endbringer. Our delay costs us as Leviathan wiggled his tail free and hurled a large rock at me. It cracked through the air and moved far faster than we could dodge before shattering Victoria’s forcefield. I pressed forward and another rock caved my face in before his tail tip punched through my gut.

My ruin of a mouth bared what few teeth remained in it before the agony became too much to enjoy or tolerate. An expert would have to take over.

With no eyes, I saw the frozen Endbringer. With no nose, I smelled blood. With crushed ears, I heard the panicked shouts of my allies. With pulp for brains, I savored the destruction wreaked upon me. Fighting Endbringers was the noblest calling, and the greatest chance to take deathblows for my allies like the Aegis I was.

Laughter gurgled from my ruined throat. Holes in my suit opened to let my skin see. The remnants of my tongue tasted the air for smells. Small bones in my knuckles and knees vibrated with the sounds around me and sent those signals into my distributed nervous system. My body was endlessly redundant and would operate at peak capacity. These wounds were nothing.

Eidolon pulled me off of Leviathan’s tail and away from the fight. I struggled against the grip, not wanting to leave my foe. “See, this is exactly what I warned about. There is no silver bullet. He will always adapt and pull out new tricks. You need to pace yourself unless you want a new body and all that comes with it,” he chastised.   

Adrenaline and dopamine coursed through my system, making it hard to parse the hero’s advice, but eventually I relaxed and tried to apologize for my behavior.

“Kid, I don’t know what you are saying. I dropped that power.”

Amy morphed the voice modulator in our armor into a rudimentary voice box. “Sorry, I grew desperate."

He lightly smacked the back of my head. “They feed on desperation and risky plays. Always focus on contributions that will work. These fights tend to last an hour or more, and we need to play every down.” 

Was that a football reference? Does Eidolon watch sports? I had trouble picturing him doing anything so human. My mind conjured the image of him floating in a meditative pose as a TV radio, a beer, and a bowl of popcorn circled him. Maybe he was into sports before gaining powers.

“Now watch. All the ground based capes are scattered, leaving only the fliers left to engage. Alexandria and the rest of the flying heavies are busy bracing buildings or rescuing other capes. That means our role is battlefield control until the others are ready.” Leviathan unfroze, and Eidolon pointed a finger above him. A small moon formed in the air, and Leviathan rose to orbit around the bright creation. “You do have to trust your allies to exploit the opportunities you grant them.”

Legend and his squad immediately continued their assault. Leviathan spun with the blasts at greater and greater speeds until his water echo was spraying a constant stream around him. Two Myrddins started etching a rune but didn’t finish before Leviathan swam in his own echo and punched Legend. The leader of the Protectorate tumbled through the sky in a firework display of lights and sparks. Hahaha! Legend explodes with rainbows when hit. Oh my god—Shut up Alec.

“Legend down, CD-8.”

Eidolon sighed. “See, now he’s out for the rest of the fight. Legend is accurate from orbit and doesn’t need to be this close, but he feels compelled to lead by example and puts himself in the middle of slower capes with less range.”

The water from Leviathan’s echo fell toward the mini-moon, and he swam with the flow. Once the Endbringer was close enough, Eidolon twisted the construct and dropped the moon on him. It shattered into an explosion of sparkling dust that flickered and then ceased to exist, taking the water it absorbed with it.

Bastion’s squad had set up on an intact building and started sealing the dry Endbringer in forcefields. Leviathan lifted a foot and slammed it into the ground, collapsing it and submerging him into the roiling waters below.

The building beneath Bastion exploded in water as the Endbringer climbed through the floors, prompting me to fly toward them. Laserdream had also seen the problem and flew toward her brother from the opposite direction.

Shielder placed a bubble around himself and two other capes. The other Vista stretched the edge of the roof and led a group of capes to another roof. Our Vista expanded Shielder’s shield. Shielder flew at walking speed and only managed to ascend a few feet before Leviathan reached through the roof and squeezed Shielder’s forcefield in two hands.

I fired our disrupter at one of Leviathan’s eyes while two Bastions put forcefields in front of the Endbringer’s chest and pushed them to pry the monster away from the young hero.

Crystal and I were only feet away before Leviathan’s tail wrapped around one Bastion and flung him through the other in a splatter of gore. He then headbutted Shielder’s bubble.

To my cousin’s credit, his shield did not crack, but he was pushed into the collapsing building, Leviathan dove after him in a tide of water and blood.

I screamed; my other cousin screamed. There was nothing we could do.

“Shielder deceased, CD-8. Fortress deceased, CD-8. Bastion deceased, CD-8. Escutcheon deceased, CD-8.  Herald deceased, CD-8.”

Nonononono, he can’t just die like that. Victoria… NO! If his armband broke, he could be fine. I needed to see the bo—needed to find him.

I dove after Leviathan and froze supports on the way down. Water rushed around us in a roaring swirl that made it difficult to hear anything but my own heart pounding.

At the bottom of the hole, I found nothing but bloodstained rubble and scattered limbs. Refusing to let hope die, I threw rocks away to find Eric, the baby of the family. His smile and stupid blue hair… the last time I saw them WOULDN’T be during the move. I’ll find him, and then we can talk for hours about whatever stupid game him and his buddies were obsessed about. I wouldn’t roll my eyes or poke fun at it once.

Please…

Don’t be gone…

I was still clawing through the rocks, and threatening to let the structure collapse on top of me, when a wave of water crashed through the wall and took me—and the building—with it. The tide was strong enough that I couldn’t fly out. I churned and rolled with little volition until the water lost enough energy that I could use the location of our bugs to orient myself and escape into the sky.

“Heavy casualties, please wait,” my armband announced in an emotionless voice. The city was sundered by the second wave we let slip by. The damage was already bad, but the Protectorate HQ had crashed into the beach. The boardwalk, where I spent so many good days, was thoroughly obliterated beyond recognition. Water seeped deep into town and congested most of the streets with garbage, rubble, and abandoned cars.

And Leviathan was nowhere to be seen.

“Losses are as follows:  Debaser, Ascendant, Gallant, Zigzag, Prince of Blades, Vitiator, Humble, Halo, Whirlygig, Uglymug, Furrow, Barker, Elegance, Quark, Pelter, Snowflake, Mama Bear, Mister Eminent, Flashbang, Biter… Cloister, Narwhal, Vixen, The Dart, Geomancer, Oaf, Tattletale…”

Through Taylor’s swarm, I immediately checked on Dee, my dad, and Lisa. Dee was in our old bio-armor and intact. Widow rode Brutus with Regent to them. Regent lifted his scepter, and Dee coughed water. They remained unconscious, but should stay alive. My dad had a very serious head wound, but we could fix that later. Lisa was also unconscious.

None of them were dead. No one else was taken from me.

I didn’t care how selfish my relief was. A dull panic motivated a search for the others. Taylor, where are the nearest of our people? Brandish is close. She’s retrieving your dad, but I’m more worried about Vista. Leviathan seems to be targeting Bastion’s group. She’s also between where we last saw him and the portal generator.

Vista, Aegis, my copy, and the remaining Pelhams had converged in an open street. They were discussing next steps as others located Leviathan.

“Brandish has recovered Flashbang,” Lady Photon announced with only a slight warble. Everyone had red eyes.

Manpower sighed. “Is he alright?”

“No, but he’s stable.”

Their auras were black with grief as I neared. Vista and Aegis may not have spent much time with Eric, but they shared a mind with me and Amy. That lingering bond would have made the loss more personal.

“Myriad? You’re injured!” My aunt radiated concern.

“I’ll live,” I rasped. Terry was focused on mending most of our injuries, but our lack of a face would take hours to heal. Aegis’s aura flickered with envy. He turned and pointed at his back. I reached behind me and found a rod of rebar embedded in my spine. Jerking it out released the pain I hadn’t noticed. The warm lightning suffused every nerve and overwhelmed my loss for a brief moment. Pain overwhelms the mind and senses. You can’t focus on anything else. There is a simple peace in agony when life is torment.

“You should fly higher or to the medics. That can’t be an easy wound to—

“Wave building.”

My armband cut through the conversion like a knife. I tapped my wrist and yelled, “Where is Leviathan!?”

“We have no eyes on him,” Dragon responded.

I had eyes everywhere… except for the flooded sewers. Our Vista pulsed her spatial manipulations and felt a large tug beneath us. He’s right there. 

“Aegis, lift Manpower,” Sarah directed. “Laserdream, take Vista. We need to be above the next wave.” She hovered next to me and whispered, “Why are you glaring at your feet?”

I shook my head. “Go, I’ll be right behind you.”

“Glory Girl, you, Myriad, and I will cover them. Be quick!”

As the Pelhams raised into the air, Leviathan burst an arm through the concrete. I slammed my feet into the ground and froze the broken chunks of road, pinning him in place. Before I could slap his hand, Leviathan ripped his arm down and let the timelocked rock cut deep grooves into his forearm. I flooded the street and destroyed sewers with darkness as I flew around and froze any segment of road small enough. Wherever Leviathan wasn’t, our Vista narrowed the tunnels, forcing him to dig through clay and rocks to escape a pinch.

“Wave incoming.”

I was too slow and Leviathan was too quick. There was no stopping the wave now. Even if I tagged him, the water would keep coming. But, I couldn’t let him reach the portal generator either. I floated there and glared at my foe. All across the city, heroes not preoccupied with rescue operations were converging on my location.

When the wave reached our street, I dove and punched through the concrete to enter the tunnel Leviathan dug. He swam around me and surfaced, ascending with the tall wave and attacking my loved ones. With no bugs near them, I had no way of knowing what happened. The currents were too strong to fly through. I had to wait in the tunnel until the wave passed.

“Manpower deceased, CC-5. Aegis down, CC-5”

At a certain point, the horror becomes a vague numbness, not quite unfeeling, but more like feeling too much all at once. The brain couldn’t handle it. Later, my mind would order these experiences and hit me when I least expected it. I hadn’t felt this way since the bank.

Listlessly, I floated to my family. My aunt and Crystal were staring at my uncle’s broken body while Glory Girl gathered Aegis’s limbs. Crystal turned at my approach, pleading filled her aura. I placed a hand on my uncle and knew he was dead. We could try to recreate him from the material here, but we would be guessing at his memories. The same would be true if we made a parasite puppeteer the corpse as we healed him in parts. They aren’t good options but… A shake of my head killed the idea and racked Crystal with fresh tears.

Eidolon and the white robed Myrddin flew to us. “We need to stop those waves.” Eidolon pointed to Vista. “You’re with us. Myriad, head to Armsmaster. He’s going to delay Leviathan as we regroup. When that fails, you’ll need to rescue him. Good luck.” After he said his piece, he accelerated toward the ocean. Myrddin grabbed Vista’s hand and the two chased after him.

I gave my shattered family a long look before leaving them. Things must be dire if Armsmaster is going with this plan. We talked about it as an absolute last ditch effort. If—Most of our frontline is gone along with nearly everyone who could delay him. We’re down to desperate options.

When I arrived at the designated lot, Kid Win and Purity had taken an overwatch position while Shadow Stalker and Flechette were perched on a roof corner. Tandem hung back and leaned against an HVAC unit with her head down and eyes closed. Her auras were chaotic and blending into each other. Are they fighting with themselves?

That didn’t matter. I floated with the other fliers as we watched Armsmaster mumble orders into his armband.

Kid Win was down to one drone and a sparking laser pistol. Purity’s glow was between a failing lightbulb and a glowstick. Neither looked at their best.

My fellow Ward raised a hand in a half-hearted greeting. “You look like hell.”

“It’s been a bad day.” I hefted our disrupter from its holster before opening the stock and pulling it toward the barrel. Dozens of devices rotated and spun until our weapon reconfigured into a handle and crossguard. I pressed a button and a hardlight shell expanded to contain a blade of dark matter that looked pitch black. A twist of the handle shifted the phase of the dark matter into antimatter, creating a blade that looked like frozen static. Mass can pass into the hardlight, but not out of it. Energy created from exposing the blade to matter is recycled into strengthening the hardlight and generating more antimatter. Though… the cycle isn’t perfect. We have a large charge stored from earlier, but I doubt we’ll get more than a few dozen hits with it.

After Vista grew the weapon to a proper size, I dropped it into Armsmaster’s waiting palm. He bared his teeth and gave me a thumbs up before hefting his halberd and bracing himself for combat. His aura calmed until it was solid determination, no other emotions flickered. Here we go.

Across the city, Alexandria and other heroes placed themselves in specified locations. Through math none of us could comprehend, Armsmaster claimed that he could predict Leviathan’s behavior. As the Endbringer was guided to this kill box, I suspected that he was right.

In the harbor, Eidolon, a Myrddin clone, Rime, and Vista were constructing a massive ice wall to break the next wave. Stopping the waves wasn’t my job right now. Like Eidolon said, I needed to be flexible. Every fiber of my being wanted to HURT that creature for what it did. My bubbling wrath nearly sent me screaming toward the Endbringer, so I wasn’t surprised when my copy flew next to me. Glory Girl’s aura was harder to read than others, but I didn’t need Eye’s powers to know she felt like I did.

We nodded to each other before Leviathan rushed Armsmaster.

The fearless former leader of the local Protectorate didn’t say a word as he ducked a claw and nicked its elbow with our sword. The blade flashed and cut the shallow layers cleanly. Dragon had already told Armsmaster what we learned about the monster’s physiology and goals. In our lab, Chris could sign information to one of Dragon’s programs. He knew that the creature’s density made direct destruction impossible.

He didn’t let that phase him as he pole-vaulted over a kick with his halberd and lashed the beast across the chest. A twirl pointed his halberd at Leviathan’s tail, which then shot a wire from the tip and wrapped around it before the wire and weapon froze in time. Sick, he copied my powers first. He mounted the weapon and leapt, narrowly avoiding a backhand from Leviathan.

Armsmaster landed on the creature’s shoulders and thrust his sword down into the Endbringer’s remaining row of eyes. Leviathan thrashed and clawed at the hero as he slid down the monster’s back and tail. He landed on his feet and spun, an unseen mechanism teleported his halberd back to his hand.

Leviathan flung his tail and arms widely, sending water everywhere. Armsmaster braced his halberd against the water. Leviathan lunged at him as soon as the water connected. Armsmaster released his grip and rode the wave as our sword left wounds on both claws and the creature’s ruin of a face.

“Wave incoming.”

Those of us watching tensed. The barest portion of the wave crested the ice wall and flooded into the Bay. Armsmaster and Leviathan continued their deadly dance, the hero's aura only growing more determined. When the 10ft wave rolled into the lot, I readied to rush to his rescue.

Leviathan had other plans. He turned and ran from the hero. Armsmaster sneered and froze part of the wave behind him with his halberd. He then pushed off the new wall to soar above the rushing water. While airborne, he shot another wire around Leviathan’s neck and reeled himself close enough to plunge our sword into the Endbringer’s back. 

The blade flashed brighter than the sun. If he keeps that up, it’s going to explode. Thankfully, he released his wire and jumped from the creature’s back before our device failed. “No running away.” Armsmaster broke his silence. “Come you stupid brute. We have footage of your previous fights. I’ve compiled that data into an algorithm that predicts your every move.” He flourished both weapons. “Nothing you can do will surprise me,” he lied.

What? The two continued exchanging blows, but why did Armsmaster’s aura indicate that he lied? Oh. Explain. Leviathan is pretending to be blind. He doesn’t and has never needed his eyes to see. Why would he pretend? Legend claimed Leviathan was smarter than we thought. Pretending false weaknesses is a good way to bait foes. How much of his behavior is a ruse?

As Armsmaster left more wounds, Leviathan slowed and stumbled. He seemed drained as blood poured from the many weeping holes in his skin. Armsmaster bared his teeth. “This is the day you die, beast.”

When he thrust his sword for a heartstrike, Leviathan moved like none of his injuries inhibited him in the slightest. Armsmaster was ready and stabbed at the nearest claw with our sword. Leviathan let the blade dig into his palm until our device exploded, taking Armsmaster’s arm with it and sending him flying backwards.

“Armsmaster down,  CC-7!”

I caught him and worked to stabilize the wound while Chris’s guilt hit me like a wave. Dammit, I knew overloading was a risk and failsafes prevented a cascading backflow but FUCK! I pushed myself into energies I wasn’t that familiar with and he… he… he—CHRIS. It’s fine—No it’s not—IT IS. Everyone knew our one-week project was unstable. He knew the risks, and—He’s doing pretty well for someone that just went 1v1 with Leviathan.

The bleeding was pretty bad, but he would live with a few more seconds of healing. During those seconds, Glory Girl punched the Endbringer in the face hard enough to shatter her forcefield. Purity and Kid Win covered her retreat with their blaster fire. Leviathan drove his claws into the ground and threw a sidewalk tile at Purity. The motion sent a water echo that knocked Kid Win through a window.

“Purity deceased, CC-7. Kid Win down, CC-7.”

Ah well, there goes Theo problems. I guess you don’t need to date him, Dean. Why…just shut up. Nope, someone needs to lighten the mood. I’ve lost family. So did Theo!

I rested the stable Armsmaster against a wall and turned to charge the Endbringer. Before I moved, Armsmaster’s remaining hand grabbed mine. “Myriad, stop. You don’t have to do this. You’ve done enough.”

“I have to do what I can.” I pulled from Armsmaster’s grasp and hurtled to the Endbringer to punch him in the back of the head.

He only froze for 10 seconds before spinning to face me. Glory Girl knocked the first claw wide, and I dived feet first at him. The Endbringer skidded across the water around my feet and grabbed Glory Girl. I froze her and reached for his claw. Leviathan backed away and clawed bolts from his shoulders. Tandem repositioned our fire support as Leviathan sent water echoes their way.

Vista shortened the space between us until I nearly grazed him. At this point, Leviathan had given up all pretenses of being blind as he avoided my attacks. His movements became faster as his water echo left a thin film across the entire lot. The blur of his movements became impossible to follow until I found myself slammed into the ground by a large chunk of concrete.

Leviathan spun the rock, slowly milling me. Vista shrunk the middle portions of the stone. Once it was almost small enough for us to timelock, Leviathan replaced it with another block in an instant.

The grinding continued. Layers of my suit peeled away. The swarm is almost in position. Hang on. I’m doing my best!

Armsmaster shouted in the background as the others dragged him away. My bones cracked and flesh tore. Vista kept trying, but Leviathan was quick to find more concrete. My limbs contorted and rolled with motion as a terrible pain suffused me. I didn’t relinquish control to Carlos. He didn’t need to be primary for my fuckup.  

None of our abilities would get us out of this. I had to hope someone would rescue us before… There had to be something I could do. Eidolon warned us the whole time not to try this. I… think… I… told… you… so… would… be… in…poor… taste…

When we were little more than a few viable cells, we heard a final call from one of Dragon’s armbands.

“Myriad deceased, CC-7.”

Chapter 30

Damn, Hebert was dead, and my bolts weren’t penetrating nearly as far as the prissy crossbower next to me. I needed to get closer to not let her show me up. The added momentum would let my bolts pass through more of whatever the hell Endbringers are made out of. Stronger than steel, whatever it is.

Leviathan milled Hebert’s corpse like he was desperate to bake a lame-loaf from her bones. How much longer before Leviathan gains a bunch of powers? I better make my move before—Ah shit, girl again—What the fuck was that?

Hey, at least we’re black this time. My thoughts had other thoughts in them. They weren’t different. I only knew they weren’t mine because of the shit they were saying. I—More importantly, we have a secret identity again—It had to be her, of all people. My mind flashed with images of pushing Hebert down stairs, tripping her, shoving her, pulling her hair, punching her in the face: moments I had forgotten, but from Hebert’s perspective.

Oh fuck.

Pain wracked me as every cell of my being felt on fire. Might as well make our new host more robust. Our skin color isn’t as important to me as it is to Brian, but I would rather avoid another rapid chain of deaths. What would happen if—Blue fireflies hovered above me. Their bulbous forms were hydrophobic and pushed enough rain away that a small tide of bugs crawled from cracks and crevices over my body and melted into primordial ooze. I had to push who we were out of my mind. My swarm was seconds too late to help, but they were here now. Amy and Chris could mash together a rudimentary suit while Terry worked. The detail of my control didn’t seem lessened, and everyone in here could still think, but my range had been cut to a third, which was mitigated by relay bugs. Disappointingly, Widow’s control now had a higher priority over mine. She grabbed most of the network during the transfer and only begrudging returned part of it.

The pain was maddening. The perverts in my skull were enjoying it, but like all feelings, I suppressed the shit out of that. I was Shadow Stalker, dammit! This wouldn’t change me.

“Shadow Stalker! What’s wrong?” Flechette knelt and tried to find a place to put her hand that wasn’t covered in bugs.

It was then that I realized I was screaming. I gritted my teeth and wanted to yell at the dumbass, but I didn’t want to cry like a bitch more. A purple Tandem pulled Flechette to her feet. “What do you think happened!? Do you think they programmed their swarm to eat Stalker on their death?” That would have been too cool for them. What the hell? “No, dipshit. Shadow Stalker ‘won’ the Myriad lottery.”

“How do we help her?”

“Like hell I know. When Glory Girl gets back, maybe she could move her. The best we can do is watch her back.”

The pain was driving me out of my mind. All fell into the crescendoing agony. Voices promised release if I would let one of them take control or surrender part of myself to the collective.

No. I will never surrender, never apologize, never give an inch. With a thought, I went intangible and the pain dulled to a distributed ache. Oh interesting, my power works way faster when you’re like this. I wonder if this is an interaction with your own regeneration. Sophia can regenerate? Broadly. I can heal things like broken bones, gunshots, or dismemberment, but little details like bruising and muscle exhaustion aren’t touched when I shift. It hurts like a bitch though.

The pain is less bad when you aren’t primary. It’s called fronting. What!? I guess Tandem never yelled at you, and let you keep using terms you made up from first principles. If I’m going to be crazy, then I'll use the same words all the other crazies use. Besides, ‘fronting’ is a better word for it, more direct, more clear. It invokes the image of being up-front with someone or getting in their face. You mean like other case-70s? But, we’re not a case-70. No, I meant crazy people, you authentic extrojects.

When the pain faded, I stood and turned solid again. Every sense was sharpened. Leviathan’s wounds were more detailed. The grinding of the stone was louder. I smelled traces of Hebert’s last shit through the rain and blood. You can call me Taylor, especially since we’re stuck with each other. Truly, this was a fate worse than hell. Asshole. This doormat of a person was part of me. I heard her thoughts, felt her feelings, and could see everything from her perspective. Careful, all this empathy might make you soft. Shut up, V. Nah, I live here now.

I’m not a doormat. Yeah, Taylor’s response to getting juiced was to rot Lung’s dick off and join a gang. Well, then why did she just take it from Emma? When I did fight back, you beat me up. Duh, you either deserved your place or were going to stab her. How come you never… Hebert’s fantasies of giving us lice, swarming us with mosquitoes, and dozens of other pranks always escalated until we were drowning in bugs as she laughed. If I did that, then I couldn’t have been a hero. It would be too easy to tie the power to me. If you guys didn’t find me out, someone would.

I smiled.

So that’s the only reason you didn’t come after us? No weepy hemming and hawing about morality, you just didn’t want to get caught? Basically. A tension released in my chest. At least Hebert was a lame psycho. I could work with that. I would be offended, but… between Dennis and the clones, I’ve directly killed a lot of people. Also, it’s really weird that psycho is this cool thing to be in your mind. It means you can do what it takes.

Okay, the suit is about done. We’ll finish the rest on the fly. Sophia, can you remove your cape? I hunched forward and grabbed the clasp.

No, the cowl and cloak stays. Also, make the armor black. I’m taking that color. Brian can have dark purple or something. Eggplant is fine, but why do you get my color? We should all wear black, but you guys seem committed to the color bit. It helps keep things straight.

Green Tandem shook my shoulder. “Myriad? How’s your mind? Can you think?”

I knocked her arm away and pressed my armband. “Redesignate Shadow Stalker as the Vista.” There, we could be done with that corporate name. The clone Vista could eat shit. Once she’s died 13 times, she could complain about it. Vista mentally nodded along.

“Redesignation accepted. Welcome back, Myriad.” Dragon chimed from my armband.

I crossed my arms and seethed along with Vista. One day, they’ll call us by the proper title. 

Whatever. That’s a problem for future Sophia… or I guess I could make someone else handle it. Huh, I got mind minions to do the bullshit parts of life. Yes, that is a perfectly reasonable way to think about it. Embrace the change and own it.

I stepped off the roof and floated as the carapace of my new armor turned black. Bugs flocked to my cloak and consumed it before replacing the fabric with a color changing gossamer—a little gay—but the idea was right.

Blue fireflies filled the sky while Hebert’s swarm poured from the surrounding buildings. These awful slug monsters gobbled the water and sprayed fire out their butts. The fireflies and the slugs were my two Leviathan counters. Sadly, I lacked the numbers to save my own life… I’m dead… that’s… a problem for later.

Leviathan stopped his milling to ‘look’ at the approaching swarm. He blurred around his narrowing puddle, smashing bugs with his water echo and replenishing the water around him. The slugs burned brighter as dragonflies splattered themselves on the Endbringer. They left behind acid patches that smoked on the creature’s flesh, and tiny metallic spiders bailed from their rides to crawl into any wound. Hydraulic muscles wedged their needle legs between folds of flesh as tiny conical mouths spun their teeth and feasted on his flesh.

For a brief moment, I was stunned at the visceral intensity of it until Hebert flung fire-breathing ants, arcwelding beetles, nuclear worms, exploding flies, singing centipedes, and dozens of other totally badass monster bugs at the Endbringer.

Not to be outdone by the girl who was way more twisted than I ever gave her credit for—Is that a compliment—I went intangible and filled the lot with Grue’s darkness—It’s Brian. Grue’s my clone. As I suspected, his darkness no longer disrupted my breaker form, which combined with flight, made me a shadowy specter of death.

My life was basically over, but hey, I got neat powers out of the deal. We can still have a life. Your memories of last week already slipped in and that was ass. The whole memory sharing aspect sucked. Shared experience was fine, but I didn’t need Vista’s memories of neither parent remembering to pick her up from a dance recital. Well, I don’t particularly like how Steven—We aren’t talking about that—But—EVER.

As I flew—holy fuck flying, whee!—Who are you? Uhh, that was personality bleedthrough. Yeah, I’m way too cool and collected to think flying under my power is the funnest fucking thing ever. Ah, I had the same problem. We can see all your thoughts, so your control over your actions won’t hide anything. Then I’ll control my thoughts. You can’t do that. Watch me.

Anyways, as I flew, I froze the silk threads I phased through. My intangible form counted as touching them. The others’ powers were so intuitive to use. Powers—except Dean’s, the rich asshole—were intuitive for most capes, but these intuitions had years of experience behind them. Integrating those memories was costing bits of myself. Considering I could lose my life without them, the trade was worth it.

Leviathan’s thrashing stopped as the silk bound him. The buildings around us started to rock as water churned beneath them, and the waves in the Bay grew in size, but I didn’t care about water. I could phase through that.

Alec had a Heartbreaker worthy idea for the Endbringer that I couldn’t help trying. I’m my own bastard, thank you very much. The smarmy quip had no feeling behind it. It bubbled from apathy and sunk back to nothingness. He kept his mind as blank as possible and lived vicariously through everyone else. I was more excited about his idea than he was.

Deciding to unpack that later, I plunged a hand into Leviathan’s head. Amy’s power mapped the surface of the creature quickly. That’s odd. My scan is normally instantaneous. How—It still is. ‘Instant’ within the confines of known physics doesn’t travel faster than lightspeed. If Eye’s thoughts about his density are correct, then you would have to scan a galaxy’s worth of mass, which would take years no matter how compact Leviathan is.

Damn, no Endbringer thrall for me. I knew he didn’t have a normal nervous system but—I have an idea. Amy reached through her power and tweaked Leviathan’s regenerating cells. Tumors began growing all along his flesh and in every wound. Hmmm, the deeper cells beyond my reach are pushing the tumors out, but this can’t be comfortable. Everyone felt a weird pleasure at Amy’s actions. Don’t worry about that, Soph. That’s just Amy’s power pushing our buttons again. Powers are sapient?

Water crashed through the lot without warning as the surrounding buildings collapsed. I couldn’t breathe in the torrent until I suddenly could. I can’t drown, so neither can your shadow state. Rubble and glass crashed through my intangible form. The Endbringer remained frozen even as most of the swarm washed away. An unlucky powerline ripped through my back.

It was like I exploded. Blinding pain, and then I was everywhere. Motes of shadow slowly coalesced into a central core until I could think again. Well, that should have killed us again, but Carlos’s ability kept our brain matter viable. All your anxieties about powerlines were true! I bet you feel validated.

My wispy fingers swiped at Leviathan and froze him in time. I gathered more debris and silk to weave a timelocked cocoon around the Endbringer. Scion could handle this problem. Leviathan has to have a core. I know that much, but… I can’t find it. If my copy wasn’t unconscious, she could locate it. He unfroze, and I froze him again. When bindings unfroze, I refroze those. Back and forth in darkness, flickering in and out of my breaker form, I wrestled Leviathan all on my own. You’re never really alone.

Tandem floated down with Lily in several arcing swoops before yelling at a pile of bugs. “The aquifer is eroding faster!”

From her armband, Hebert’s bugs heard “Wave Incoming.”

That absolute fucker. He could control water while timelocked the entire time.

Dragon continued speaking from Tandem’s armband. “Hold him for one more minute as the survivors position themselves for one final assault. When Leviathan is moving, his macro hydrokinesis is slower. We’ll need to buy time and hope Scion arrives before both Brockton Bay and Boston slide into the sea.”

Instead of refreezing Leviathan the next time he unfroze, I pushed intangible rocks and rebar into the Endbringer. Hebert pondered shoving pieces through his crotch and up his ass. It wasn’t even a loud thought. Her mind went there entirely unprompted. It was a good idea, but damn, the girl would have made a good bully. I don’t think I have ever been more offended in my life. I gave your dead mom’s flute to my little sister, and she spits in it every day. You kept my flute? To dunk on you. I thought it was thrown in the Bay or lost in the dump. I… Hebert started feeling an emotion, and then bottled it up like a champ. We have an Endbringer to fight.

One thoroughly perforated crotch later, I released the Endbringer to slaughter. I flew after him in my intangible form. How are we keeping pace with him? Hmmm, our weight didn’t noticeably affect our fly speed, but Sophia’s shadow state makes us nearly weightless. Shadow state is such a dumb term. It’s used in your official PRT dossier. Yeah, because it’s exactly the kind of term dweeby PRT techs and PHO trolls would latch onto. I go intangible, enter my breaker state/form, or if I’m feeling fancy, I’ll become shadow. Shadow state suuucks.

I zipped in front of Leviathan, reversed direction, and then turned solid long enough to punch him in the face and shatter my shiny new forcefield. The lion’s share of the hit was his own momentum hitting an invincible barrier, but I would always savor knocking an Endbringer on his ass.

He rolled to his feet and attempted to run through me, only to be swissed by timelocked bugs that had buzzed into my form after I hit him. While the Endbringer pried his face out of my grate of bugs, I flowed through—Go around—around the creature and dive-kicked the back of his neck like that one time I accidentally killed a dude. At least all of my murders were on purpose. Ouch, friendly fire there, Tay. Sorry Brian.

Leviathan’s neck didn’t snap, and I didn’t spend all night watching him suffocate to death before my 13th birthday. Sitting in her mind gave me new insights into my one-time bully. She didn’t think about her actions as a person living them. The empathy wasn’t there for others or herself. She moved through her life emulating the myth of herself. Endless nights alone with bruises and bloody knuckles came with the story of her life, and there was no use lamenting them. I had a family and friends, you dork. Not everyone is gangsters and creepy kids from school. Like me, when she decided it was okay to hurt someone, it didn’t bother her. If I triggered at 12, would I have ended up like her? God, does she do this to everyone? Empathy was such a foreign concept to her that when other people tried to have it for her, she ridiculed them. Fuck your passive aggressive thoughts. And regular aggressive thoughts would be fine? Girls! We have an Endbringer to fight, remember?

When I turned my attention back to the fight, Alexandria was throwing haymakers at Leviathan’s face while Dragon’s Cawthorne Mark II latched onto his back and fired missiles, machine guns, and containment foam. An aura of emotions emanated from the center. The suit was piloted, despite Dragon’s agoraphobia. Hebert’s swarm massed near Browbeat, the Parians, Brandish, Glory Girl, Flechette, and Tandem.

“Wave Incoming.”

We can freeze barriers for our friends and—I charged the Endbringer—Of course—pressed my crossbow to the front of his chest, and fired. By the time I turned solid, I was away and the bolt had gone as far as it would go. With our superstrength, a regular crossbow isn’t going to do much damage. I knew that! It’s for old times’ sake, one last hoorah for an obsolete weapon.

I grabbed a streetlight, turned intangible, and lanced the Endbringer. A flicker of my power left it embedded and let me survive Dragon’s suit exploding. Her weird pod launched and splattered on a nearby wall. Was she dead? The armband didn’t say anything. I—At the edge of my swarm, we saw the wave crack the ice wall. Large chunks of it hurtled into the city and caused more damage.

As the wave rolled down the street, I ensured Flechette would have another chance to strikeout with the Parians by freezing parts of the wave around them. We were a little busy and didn’t notice Lily mixing up Parians, which offended both of them. Sophia had endured the following days of Lily sighing wistfully at nothing and moping. Patrols with the crossbow wielder always veered toward the college. She wants the original Parian, but can’t tell them apart. It’s so frustrating.

When the water level lowered, Flechette shot one of the frozen waves, cancelling Dennis’s power, and making a hole for the group. Browbeat led the charge and kicked a claw pinning Alexandria. The kid’s kick sent the Endbringer reeling back. Leviathan stabilized himself just in time for Glory Girl to tackle him into the waiting arms of several giant teddy bears and a horrific flesh golem that proceeded to suplex Leviathan. 

Yo, which Parian clone got that power? It looked like it had been pieced together from dead bodies as the fight progressed. It moved faster and far stronger than any of Parian’s other creations. Their powers are the same. Only one of them was willing to do this. Noted. Between this and Hebert, I was learning to be wary of the quiet ones.

Leviathan dug through asphalt and disappeared into an underground stream. He reemerged by the Parians, and received two lightsabers to the chest. Brandish slashed with an enraged frenzy as the Parians wrapped him in threads while Browbeat and Glory Girl held down his arms, giving me time to freeze the threads and let the blue glow of Hebert’s swarm descend on us.

The Endbringer sunk back into the ground. The motion degloved both his claws as timelocked thread slashed through them. Hebert’s bugs in his wound let me track his movements as he went under the nearest building and eroded the foundation.

I tried to brace the building like Glory Girl remembered doing, but it was poorly made and collapsed around me. Rubble fell onto the capes below.

“Browbeat down, BW-8. Parian down, BW-8. Boudoir deceased, BW-8. Brandish down, BW-8.”

Brandish wasn’t really down. She was trapped in her ball form under the rubble and needed rescue. As I chased Leviathan, Glory Girl frantically dug through the rocks for the downed capes. Hebert provided helpful bug-arrows to each person.

They disappeared from my actual vision as I hunted an Endbringer. I tried to fly through the ground to get to him, but my breaker form still couldn’t go through floors, a dumb limitation now that I could fly. Hmmm, we should try pushing that limit to see if your power accepts our reasoning. I don’t know, performing mystical rites to appease an eldritch entity because the voices in my head told me to sounds pretty crazy. As long as we record our results, it’s scientific and thus not wholly irrational. Maybe lately. Obviously.

Leviathan went deeper downtown while staying completely concealed. He banked right when Strider teleported a group of capes into an intersection and wasted no time creating a sinkhole of frothing water under the group.

By the time I dove into the red water, the damage had already been done, and my prey had swam away.

“Scalder deceased, BW-9.  Cloister deceased, BW-9.  The Erudite deceased, BW-9.  Frenetic deceased, BW-9.  Penitent deceased, BW-9.  Smackdown deceased, BX-9.  Strider deceased, BW-9. Velocity deceased, BW-9. Rampart deceased, BW-8. Comet deceased, BW-8. Earthquake deceased, BW-8.”

I surfaced and flew after the monster again. In the middle of my flight, Eidolon popped into existence next to me. “How’s the new power?”

“Oh just peachy. A Breaker ability completes my set, so it’s basically all upsides!” My finely honed sarcasm fell on deaf ears.

“Excellent! How’s the new passenger settling in? I knew you were coworkers, so hopefully there are some established teamwork dynamics.”

I remembered my satisfaction at shooting Grue in the stomach, and my immense disappointment that he survived. “We’re closer than ever.” If Eidolon thinks something is wrong, he might use a master power to ‘fix’ us. While he is checking in, he’s also making sure we’re still sane. How sane is any parahuman?

A command from Chevalier came from our armbands. “Leviathan is heading towards the BX shelter. Evacuate the civilians.”

Eidolon nodded. “While everyone else is doing that, we’ll delay Leviathan.” He placed a hand on my shoulder, and I saw Leviathan clearly through the ground. “These are a couple of powers I rarely get to use. One grants whoever I’m touching x-ray vision, as I’m sure you’ve noticed. The other lets you briefly ignore your Manton limit, once.”

Vista immediately reached with her power and tried to twist Leviathan into a pretzel. God, the spatial folding becomes worse than a back hole when you’re deep enough. It’s like trying to bend a galaxy in half. If I had more time… Vista instead squeezed the tunnel around Leviathan and pinned him in place. The Endbringer’s limbs pushed against his confines with enough force that I felt Vista’s power strain. The discomfort and pain came at such an odd angle that even Carlos was bothered by it. It’s like my soul is stretching.

“Is it working? I’ll admit, I dropped my other sensory powers to do this.”

“Y-yeah.” I gritted my teeth. “D-difficult.”

“Careful, don’t push your power too hard. It’s a real risk.” Really? Hmmm, we might want to stop looking at our entire relay network all the time and keep the focus more narrow. If Taylor’s power overstrains, we’ll go crazy.

Mundane bugs watched Myrddin and Impel crack open the shelter. Regular bug senses were trippy as hell. They all had such practice parsing them that the technique slipped into my consciousness by itself. With it, part of me was forever changed. The others hadn’t noticed this slow corrupting of their will. They were all smashed together at once. Certain commonalities were shared. Those were overwriting parts of me. It was subtle and unconscious on their part, but I was becoming a facet of this collective rather than myself.

The worst part? It didn’t seem that bad. Already, I was growing more fond of these people, seeing them as parts of me.

Vista’s happiness at wrestling an Endbringer was infectious in ways that made my lips curl and my mind scream. Rachel imagined patting my head. We’re a pack now. A pack does everything together. That was comforting in ways that took a few moments to shake off.

No, I’m me. I’ll stay me. I am Shadow Stalker.

They wouldn’t break me. No one is trying to. What’s wrong with wanting to be a hero, enjoying pain, and loving dogs? Is that really different from who you are? You always wanted to be a vigilante, you sought pain, and I know you already loved dogs. That did sound like me…

Before the combined weight of 13 people could crush me further, Vista released her grasp, and I sagged in relief. 

Leviathan swam through his tunnel and burst into an empty shelter.

“Wave incoming.”

He scrambled through the front entrance and stopped to let his water echo barrel over two wizards.

“Myrddin down, BX-9. Warlock deceased, BX-9.”

I flew and turned solid before tackling him. Glory Girl joined my shove while Laserdream and Lady Photon burned him with their lasers.

As we pushed him, Leviathan grabbed a car and flung it behind us.

“Impel deceased, CB-10.  Apotheosis deceased, CB-10.”

“Why!” I punched him. “Won’t!” I kicked him where a kidney should be. “You!” I turned intangible and shoved my left arm where Vista sensed the greatest spatial folds before turning solid and screaming, “Die!” Pain exploded though me as my naked arm was pushed out of his chest, leaving behind the bug armor and clothes.

Leviathan responded by swiping claws at Glory Girl and me while his tail sent a water echo at the flyers. I entered my breaker form and froze Glory Girl. Levi’s claws bounced off of her and hit me like a bus. Your movement slows when jumping through walls, and he has effectively limitless mass. The analysis was a small comfort as I was flung through several buildings. Didn’t his claws pass through me harmlessly before? This time he hit you with his denser palm. I hate him.

By the time I assembled and turned solid, I was blocks away. Lady Photon carried an unconscious Laserdream to the medics, and Leviathan made a beeline for the portal generator. Before I flew to intercept him, Scion burst through the clouds and shot the Endbringer with a golden beam. With his other hand, the first cape fired a smaller beam into the city-killing wave approaching. The wave stopped, lost all momentum, and flattened. 

The excess water still gently flooded the city, and Leviathan followed the flood out. Both Scion and Eidolon harassed the creature the entire way.

After an hour of fighting, it was finally over.

Before I could breathe a sigh of relief, I felt my control slipping. Victoria was chomping at the bit to heal her dad. They were all going to wear my face. People were going to see me acting as them. I had to leave town before that happened. Most of us were feeling the same. Really? I thought most of you loved your families. So do you. Yeah, but my mom hates cape-shit, my main focus in life. She couldn’t handle you guys in my head. Eye have ideas, but we should check with my copy first—And heal people—And attend funerals—And help clear the rubble.

As they enumerated the chore list, I grew tired and watched in a dull horror as my limbs moved under another’s volition. The horror faded until spectating my life was relaxing. I felt Victoria’s panic and love as she raced to her father. I was still me. My thoughts were mine, but the distance from myself made not-fronting easier. The lack of discomfort was an existential dread that pressed from all sides until—Hey—Taylor interrupted my spiral like so many did for her—We can pilot bugs while she is doing that to find survivors and dead bodies.

Slipping into the senses of a spider and crawling through congested rubble and gore was a lot more fun than it had any right to be.

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 2 of Thinking With Others