Shin's questions to Yeoman get a buzzing sound from inside his containment. The antiquated robot defies the computing power of the age in which he was created. He goes over to one of the banks of superpowerful computers and speed-reads through some data. "Negative. Ciandra's genetic profile is not stored within Alliance Headquarters. If there is any place that would have that data on file, it would be at the Freezer. That was where she had been held the last time she had been apprehended."
He hurries to refill Shin's cup, then tops off everyone's beverages. While he does so, everyone has a chance to consider the Freezer, one of the major supervillain prisons that actually keeps their inmates in a form of stasis due to their mental powers being too strong to risk consciousness.
Yeoman then swivels his head in a manner to imitate a negative gesture. "Prisoners Shard and Vespid are securely contained in temporary detention. The only access is through a very specific series of angles that you are not authorized to know. Indeed, this vessel once was a mothership of the Oblique Dimension. Many of its features still work -- specifically its continual warping of our dimension's spacial distances."
Horizon's assessment of what Yeoman would tell them gets no additional response from the ancient robot.
Ballista, however, chuckles at the question. "Of course Shard tried to recruit her. We tried to get her off her petty revenge kick and join us. Obviously, it didn't work.
"Word is, she's retired. And she is not someone you want to mess with or make angry. I don't want my brain twisted around 180 inside my skull, or all my blood vessels just opened up. And that's if she's being generous."
She finds a spot to sit down and puts both hands behind her head. "No, if I were Apotheosis, I'd hope you go stick your head in that lion's mouth and while you're still reeling for that, I'd make another play for Psyche."
"Well at least we can be sure she's not working with them already. Psyche should be safe as long as she stays out if the public eye. Which leaves the Freezer as our possible loose end. But..." He can see the writing on the wall with the others. "We should wait and see what they find at the middle school first. I've caused enough trouble..."
He goes to sit down next to Hoshiko, handing her a cup of green tea as well. "The secret to a long life, I've been told," He comments. "...You said that...that you had a foster family. What happened to your real parents?" The question terrified him, because had he ruined his relationship with his own children? Or perhaps gotten them killed by association? Dusk had enemies on both sides of the law after all.
She really didn't want to sit here and calm down.
But she knew mental searches weren't going to get anywhere. Even with her familiarity with Gothic's mind, they'd been able to sever that connection before she had any idea of where the lab was.
And even if they had a plan to find Ciandra, it might be too dangerous without being sure it was necessary. Psyche had a few ideas of how she could deal with Ciandra, but if she was wrong... it could get messy fast. Maybe if she'd been able to leave her team behind, focus only on keeping herself safe, but she knew they'd never knowingly agree to that showdown.
Nothing to do now but hope Isaiah had some luck with the scans. Or that Hoshiko's tip actually panned out for the Alliance.
Her head hurt too.
She'd found a private moment to gulp down a handful of aspirin, and she knew if she gave it time the caffeine from her drink would help, but really she just needed a distraction.
She wanted to talk with Shin, but he was connecting with Hoshiko. Which was fine. No matter how things turned out with Ballista, he'd be happier knowing he'd gotten to give it a real shot.
So she didn't want to distract him, but Mattie seemed like she could maybe use some distraction... "I hate this. I almost wish they'd nab me now. At least it would give you guys another clue, and that's if I didn't just find my own way out.
"Aggghhh!
"Sorry. I'm not used to having so many problems I don't know how to deal with. How are you holding up with all of this?"
Mattie looks up, and over at Kylie as she feels the psychic's touch on her mind. "Don't even think it! I know you struggle to follow instructions," she sends back, with a somewhat reproachful glance. "but we're a team now. You can't just go off by yourself and think that everything'll be OK." she pauses for a moment and then smiles teasingly. "No massages for you if you do, no matter what you promise in return!" The unplanned thought is quickly followed by a mental blush.
In response to her query, Mattie smiles a little sadly. "I'm doing fine. I mean, the mission went well, even if you didn't do what you were told." the thought is accompanied by a mental laugh, indicating that she's not holding a grudge. "I mean, we captured Shard. Shard! That's pretty epic! Not sure how well I went with those reporters though. The Shield will be having words to me about that, I'm sure. It's her fault though - she's never given us any training in how to deal with the press. She hates talking to them herself. She just avoids it as much as she can. I wasn't really expecting all those questions directed at me. Not with Praetoria and Mosaic around. And you too of course. I just hope I haven't upset Shin too much. I'm sorry, i couldn't help it he was just,... Well, you know."
Rory speaks up after everyone quieted down, he almost felt bad for Shin -almost - for catching hell from all sides. "The thing to remember is a lot of the files we have access to are training file, so the information might no be completely up to date, however I seem to remember a last known location for Ciandra in or around Bayside."
For the first time, Mattie feels the sudden prickly heat of Kylie's own embarrassment in her mind. "I am sorry about that. I mean, I did find him, but I shouldn't have flown off ahead like that. If I'd missed something, we could have been really out of position..." and you all could have been hurt.
"...Though no massages isn't much of a threat yet - right now those are only theoretically fantastic. But seriously, I promise I won't fly off like that again, even if that's not enough of a promise to get massages back."
"And don't worry, at least you didn't embarrass yourself with the press, even if you didn't have the same polish as Holly or Kayla. I feel like I should be better with that kind of situation; I don't have stage fright or anything, but most of the times I've been interviewed as Kylie it hasn't been so.. confrontational. I didn't think they'd ask me about the Church or using my powers on you guys... Thanks for how you dealt with that question, by the way. You could have answered it a few ways, and I really appreciate that you stuck up for me."
A cold breeze cycled through both their minds, carrying with it the scent of old fear, "Sometimes I think that that's what'll be what finally gets me. Bad answers to the press, lost trust with other heroes, everyone getting more and more afraid of me, until after one tough moment I'm either a hero who made a tough choice, or a newly born villain, and everyone already knows which one they think I am. That's why Shard's dig about me being the 'scary mind witch' worries me. Making that kind of name stick could be the beginning of the end..."
"Ugh, sorry. I don't mean to be so morbid."
Hoshiko gives Shin a look like, do you really want to go there? as she accepts the tea. She sighs and says, "Dad's doing life in the Icecube. Mom's on parole, last I heard she's somewhere around Lake City, Florida."
Silver Shield arrives in a rush, eyeing you all suspiciously as she lands. "Good. You haven't done something titanically stupid." She listens to Rory's theory about Ciandra's last known location and shakes her head. "No, that sighting was a false alarm. A woman with a fair resemblance to her went into a coffee shop the moment a 4.3 earthquake hits Bayside. Next thing you know, there's a panic, SWAT teams, superhuman intervention squads, and superheroes converging on the place. Poor woman. I've heard she's a bottle blond now and keeps her hair short."
She folds her arms authoritatively. "Ciandra is off limits. Whip sent me back here before you all got some bright idea you should go 'protect' her."
"I've been trying to say that that probably isn't the best plan. If we're going to chase after someone really powerful that we don't know the location of, we're better off pursuing Apotheosis directly. Any word yet on whether or not the Alliance's strike is in the right place? Or if they've hit heavy resistance? I'm still worried that this one may well be a trap of some sort. Rustside was, after all."
"Well sometimes we have to weed out the bad ideas first," Rory said relieved at the return of his mentor to end some of the silliness.
"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that," He said honestly. Having his own child spending life in prison, that meant only one thing. At least her mother had a second chance, even if she'd fled Halcyon to do so. He sipped his tea quietly, letting Hoshiko have her thoughts and being by her side as a comforting presence.
When Silver Shield came back, he spoke up to her. "Hoshiko's informed us Ciandra's not with them on the project. But I'm worried that they might only need her genetic profile or blood samples. I understand Ciandra's off limits, but I'd like to ask if we can check out the Freezer and destroy any samples or data they might need."
He looks over at Psyche. He thinks for a moment, tapping his chin. "Hoshiko also says that their next move will probably be to come after Psyche again. So...what if we give them that? If Isaiah can do a Psyche impersonation at a public event, maybe with Holly to make sure everyone knows she's there, they might take the bait and capture 'her'. Then Inquiry can take us directly to them and we can put an end to this," He suggests to everyone.
"They would be less likely to have something prepared for Isaiah, but I feel like that's a lot to ask of you. If they are in another reality, could we still use Inquiry to track you? None of us are as familiar with your ship's sensors."
"Hmmm... That could actually be a clever plan. Reality shifting might be tricky to detect on its own, but it wouldn't sever my main commlink connection so easily. It would be easy for Inquiry to home in on my position... even if it had to hyperdrive or D-shift to get there. And, as said, any preparations against Psyche would be practically useless against me; I don't need telepathy or telekinesis to get things done, their knockout gas would be pointless, and slipping out of restraints would be easy... and I've got more than a few tricks up my sleeves once I'm in there. The hard part would be convincing them they'd snagged the wrong person long enough for them to relax their guard a little... I'd need a blood sample. Not actually from Psyche, of course, but something close enough that they'd have to actually analyze it to tell the difference. Any metahuman would probably do. Preferably one that they don't already have, and that we don't care if they get."
Isaiah didn't mention that even if the transition somehow did sever the link, that would just result in him self-destructing in a rather impressive fashion, followed by replacing the infiltration frame. Expensive, but not unmanageable.
"That's Ok," Mattie responds, "What's with the 'Church' anyway? Not that you're not great and everything, but worship you? That's pretty weird, even for Halcyon. I don't think you need to be so scared of people thinking you've gone bad. she stands and walks over to sit next to Kylie. "We're doing well so far, and having a Praetorian as your friend, sticking up for you,... that's gotta help. Everyone with powers has to be a bit wary of what they do, of what people think of us. It kinda goes along with the whole deal.I mean, I know that people get freaked out about mind-reading stuff. Hell, it worries me sometimes too.. wondering whether you know what I'm thinking about, what I think of you, whether you know things I haven't told anyone, not even Rory." she puts her hand on Kylie's arm and lets a warmth infuse it. "But I trust you anyway. You're my friend. If anyone,.. the press, the chosen, Apotheosis, anyone wants to get to you, they'll have to go through me!" The look on her face is determined.
When the Silver Shield walks in, Mattie pulls her hand away from Kylie and listens to her short lecture. "But we can't do nothing! I mean, Ciandra hasn't been active for a while. Maybe something's happened to her? Could we find some way to warn her to be on guard?"
At the suggestion of using Isaiah as bait, Scorch frowns. "Not sure I love that idea." she says, "but i've gotta admit I can't think of anything else. So, the probable targets are Psyche or maybe Ciandra,... Are there any other possibilities?"
"Thank you, that's very sweet."The thing about being able to control people's minds though is your enemies can dismiss anything nice someone says about you. Someone who was screaming in public at me becoming your fiercest defender can be just as bad...
...Did I...
...No. I didn't get anywhere near far enough into her mind to have done something like that accidentally. No. She really does like me.
"And the Church... Well I didn't found it. And mostly they do charity works: "Uplift the Homeless" and that kind of thing. I don't know - there are lots of churches and temples out there that preach things I don't really believe in, but they still manage to do some good things alongside the bad. If they were tithing to me or something I'd stop it like that, but they don't really ask any thing of me, they just hold me up as an example. I'm not all that comfortable with it, but it seems to balance out to the good, no matter what a couple online-crazies might say."
More broadly she projects, "I don't know of any other telekinetics of sufficient caliber. Though I would be eager to be corrected. I am concerned that we haven't heard anything from Whippoorwill's team yet. "Yeoman. Any word from the rest of the Alliance?"
As her teammates argued, Ness found herself torn. Finally she realized what she wanted to say.
Finding Shin at a moment after much of the heat had past, she puts her hand on his arm and says (gently, and trying not to attract too much attention from others), "Shin, I like that you believe in Hoshiko's offer to redeem herself. There's so much potential in all of us, no matter what! And it sure has happened before--just think of how Darkblade turned herself around, and all the good she does nowadays!
"But you may not know the story of the Scarlet Blur. There were a few years where he seemed to truly be redeemed, after his life of crime...and then one day he must have snapped, or reverted, or something. He murdered his partner, his family, and most of an elementary school before Captain Stalwart got there.
"Anyway...what I'm really trying to say is that you have my 100% promise to treat her with respect, and to be open to her changing...but I hope you'll be a little bit cautious too. Does that make sense? I'll be open to her redemption...and you be cautious enough to acknowledge the possibility that she may not be all the way there, until she's really proven it beyond a doubt. Deal?"
"Gallowglass..." He looked truly appreciative of her efforts to console him, smiling at the redhead and nodding. "I know she's got a long way to go. I want to do everything in my power to redeem her. It'll be a long road. Until then, she needs help and guidance to keep her way. If everyone treats her based on her past instead of who she is now, how can she move on?" He asks, looking at her off in her corner. He truly wanted the best for her. There's a part of him that wants to visit her father in the Ice Cube as well. Perhaps one day when things calmed down.
"Anyways, if you have any to add to our discussion planning on dealing with Apotheosis, I'm sure the group would love to hear from you. You don't have to always hang quietly in the background. Back in my time actual powers were rare, and most people used artifacts or technology or just gumption and martial arts to fight crime. Heck, there was the Steel Slinger, whose slingshot could knock out five guys with one ball bearing. Not so many people liked him, though. Mostly I think because he was Jewish, which angers me more today than yesterday."
As others discussed plans, and he'd given Hoshiko some space for now, he sought out Psyche in one of the twisting angles of the Alliance Headquarters. A moment of privacy for the two of them to talk. He had a feeling that she wanted to talk to him.
"Kylie. Thank you again for speaking to Hoshiko. I just want her to have her best chance here," He tells her. "I know that...she's probably done bad things. Terrible crimes under both the Chosen and the Dusk Guard. Her parents, my son or son-in-law, in the Ice Cube probably for working with Dusk. Everyone's right telling me that she's probably has to earn their forgiveness. I don't ever want her to need to earn my own." He groans. "Family. You either love them or hate them unconditionally."
He shakes his head, sidling next to her and observing the prismatic patterns of the area. "So, anything you want to yell at me about? I think that Gallowglass and you are the only ones I haven't yet picked a fight with today. Well, Prae, but I don't know how to fix things with her yet."
Silver Shield listens to the Sentinels talk and plan. Finally, she interjects. "This is only a trap if Apotheosis anticipated Ballista switching sides. True, Rustside was a trap of sorts, but consider what they've lost: Shard, the Mongrels, and Bunyan. Thus, outside of Trapdoor and apparently Dr. Dread, Apotheosis is out of known associates. The Chosen are currently leaderless, and current psych profiles estimate that only Attraction has the wherewithal to reunite them under her leadership, but not quickly after essentially losing to a new team of upstarts -- no offense, but it's how they'll view you."
She glances over to Ballista, who shrugs and gives a bit of a nod in agreement.
She unlimbers her shield and plugs it into a socket in one of the computer banks. It starts showing a series of images, most of them featuring long-range shots of Captain Stalwart fighting a striking woman with long, chestnut hair. "Let's disabuse you of the notion of seeking out Ciandra, shall we?"
Taking on a lecturing tone, she points to a close-up still of the woman, looking unconscious with a series of electrodes around her temple. "Ciandra Lake. Low-level telekinetic who, after discovering her powers, went to Vegas to clean up. You know, roulette wheel, craps tables, that kind of thing where a little push is all you need. She made a good amount of money, but wasn't as subtle about winning as she should have been. A group of enforcers for the casinos she'd been ripping off found her and beat her into a coma.
"She awoke after nearly a year. Her power had increased to unprecedented levels during that time in the coma, and she went on a revenge-fueled rampage. Three entire casinos were... uprooted, then flung out into the desert. Another flattened like a giant had stepped on it. Only Captain Stalwart's flight, strength and invulnerability enabled him to actually fight her. He won, only because she exhausted herself by using big gestures to direct her telekinesis."
A new series of images opened up. "She escaped confinement and began pursuing her next series of targets: the enforcers who actually put her in a coma. She killed two and a host of lackeys they'd surrounded themselves with for protection before Captain Stalwart managed to intervene. She'd overcome her previous mental block, and was using even more sophisticated applications of her telekinesis -- including controlling the air molecules to a degree where she could sense everything in a 360-degree arc. Cap realized she wasn't checking the ground, so he went under, and came up close enough to get his hands on her."
She then hits a complex code and then actual video appears, this time over a large body of water. There is chaos, with massive tidal waves and huge naval vessels in a haphazard array. You suddenly realize that this is Silver Shield's own personal video, as she streaks around on the perimeter. The gold and blue form of Captain Stalwart getting hammered and buffeted by hurricane-force winds, using every ounce of his strength against an unseen force, and far in the distance, the figure of Ciandra floating in the air.
"Incident Omega. Ciandra escaped the Freezer, despite being in an induced coma. Supers from all over the coast arrived to stop her rampage, as well as the U.S. Navy." The video shows massive rockets and mortars and shells being launched at the woman, to zero effect. If she wasn't simply deflecting them away harmlessly, she was redirecting them to do damage to other vessels or supers. Then the image shows the impossible. A battleship easily 300 meters long, is hefted out of the water, its crew falling into the ocean, and hurled at Captain Stalwart.
The wide-angle of the camera becomes focused as Silver Shield becomes preoccupied with saving the hundreds of crew. But there was one moment where the camera spots a winged figure flying straight at Ciandra. It zooms in, showing Whippoorwill from behind, casting off her weapons and letting them all fall into the drink. It's enough to catch Ciandra's interest and abate her fury. While the heroes, including a very bruised-looking Captain Stalwart, focus on reorienting the battleship and rescuing its crew, Whippoorwill and Ciandra are in a conversation behind an impenetrable telekinetic shield.
"Whippoorwill talked to her. She flew at her completely unarmed, and though she's a great fighter, she's still flesh and blood. If Ciandra had decided to kill her, there was nothing she could have done to stop it. But, as you can see..." The image shows Ciandra flying off in one direction while Whippoorwill flew back the other way, toward the camera.
"Whip's never told anyone what she said to her. She said that was her burden to bear, but ultimately, Ciandra had decided to... retire. She's still wanted, she's still a criminal, but she's a nuclear bomb that's timer, in my opinion, has stopped ticking down. You don't want to be the one to jostle it and start it going again."
Silver Shield leaves the image of the battleship in midair on the screen as she grows quiet.
After a moment, she decides to say one more thing. "If you want to bait Apotheosis by using a Psyche decoy, I could agree with that. I can't agree going after Ciandra."
===============================
After a tense quarter hour longer wait, Cap's voice comes through loud and clear on the comms. "Mission partially accomplished. Gothic recovered. Everything else cleared out. We're heading back."
Ten minutes later, the Alliance members who left on the mission arrive, carrying one extra. Gothic looks a little woozy, but is otherwise her dour self.
Captain Stalwart seems fairly upbeat, though Whippoorwill and Foray appear troubled. Cap waves at the Sentinels. "Thanks for watching the place while we were away!"
Imagerie hops out of Ordnance and makes a detour over to where the Sentinels are. Her smile is real, but it doesn't entirely erase the concern in her eyes. "Ordnance and I've confirmed it's the real Gothic, but she's had some tissue and blood drawn. The major tech equipment we saw in Psyche's vision was all gone -- likely thanks to Trapdoor. No sign of Apotheosis or Dr. Dread. So, still a win, but not as clean as we'd all like it to be.
"I'm going to debrief. Ballista needs to come with us. Her information has gone a long way to showing that she's switched sides, but we're still going to go through the protocols. I promise, Horizon, that you'll be able to talk with her again soon. So, why don't you all head home, or back to your own base, and get some rest? You all did good."
Shin has to breathe a sigh of relief as he sees Gothic, and immediately goes over to the psychic. He doesn't quite understand her fashion choices - she seems like she's constantly in mourning to his sensibilities. "I'm sorry, I made a huge boner with you. I kept them from taking Psyche, but I didn't think they'd be able to go right after you. I thought you'd be safer with the Heralds. I am glad we found you though. It's thanks to Hoshiko they got to you so fast, so please treat her kindly."
Next he went to Whippoorwill, looking awkward in front of the tall woman. Damn, she was intimidating. "...I'm sorry for my behavior before. Silver Shield showed us the video of the fight you guys had with Ciandra, and...and I can't help but respect you a lot. You managed to do with words what violence couldn't and stopped someone from being a danger to the world. I truly admire that. I'm envious of that. I wish I could have had a mentor like you," He admitted to her. "I know I can't ask for special treatment for Hoshiko. But please, treat her kindly. She's lived her live under the shadow of my future self...and my criminal offspring." Pain etches on his face. "This could be her one chance, the turning point to bring her out of that darkness. Even if one day I fall, if I've at least saved her, then maybe that makes it a little better for everyone. So please...look after her and make sure that I haven't done this in vain."
After Whippoorwill, he says his parting words with Hoshiko, grasping onto her hand. "I'll talk with you again as soon as I can. If you need anything, let me know. But they have their protocol, and I need you to follow it, okay? They want what is best for you and everyone, just like me. So make me proud to have you as my family," He persuades her, lifting his visor so she can look at his eyes.
Isaiah takes a moment to try to talk to Imagerie.
"We were thinking of trying to pull off a decoy plan to infiltrate Apotheosis' operation. We don't really have all the details settled yet, but if we decide to do it, it would probably be a big help if we had someone around who could throw up a convincing illusion of us being panicked and surprised when we're actually moving out at high speed. Think you might be able to help?"
Psyche gave Gothic a sort of nonverbal nudge of greeting, glad that she was back, but never really comfortable with the other psychic around.
And since they both knew the other one knew that too...
She was ready to leave.
"Mm? Oh, no, no fights to pick. Earlier I just needed something to keep my mind occupied, but I didn't want to intrude between you and Hoshiko. You really are very sweet, you know. Not everyone feels that way about family, and... It suits you."
"So, anyone up for burgers and shakes before we are sent off to bed? I think I've only had energy drinks today and should probably get some food in me."
ms. Lester will have my hide if we go to a fast food place. But I'd be up for food
Psyche nodded agreement with a small smile, "Body's a temple and all that."
Gothic gives Horizon a dismissive glare. She is eerily quiet, her eye contact enough to clearly indicate that his apology was neither required nor desired.
Psyche's telepathic nudge is swallowed up in Gothic's psychic aura. The silent telepath was an enigma. The fact that she was able to utilize some of her powers in a bubble of reality where telepathy supposedly did not exist opened all sorts of questions. Where most telepaths were playing chess, Gothic was playing Grand Theft Auto.
She stands and allows herself to be escorted deeper into the Alliance HQ. She and Foray take a few steps, turn once, and are somehow as distant as if they'd been teleported somewhere else in the Refractalry.
Whippoorwill gives a fierce glance at Silver Shield, clearly conveying her opinion on having her actions being put on display during Incident Omega. She then turns back and listens as Shin expresses his admiration and hope for Hoshiko's redemption.
She looks uneasy at the compliments. "Look, you seem genuine, but there's a lot of assumptions you're making. I get what's at stake here, though. No one's going to treat Ballista as a criminal, but redemption's got to come from within. You can't impose it on someone. So, just... stick with your friends. You steer them right, and make sure they're steering you right, too."
Imagerie smiles broadly at Isaiah. "I'd love to help out! Let me know your plans to strike and I'll see if I can join in."
After leaving the Alliance Headquarters and passing by a nearby upscale burger joint that also features veggie burgers, buffalo patties, and other "healthy" choices, the team refuels in a much-needed manner -- with high-society junk food.
After a while where everyone eats their fill, they all return to Sentinel Base...
"Yeah well mine's an amusement park," Rory quipped back with a smile.
"I mean burgers don't have to be fast food, but I would like to go somewhere where there's a maximum of three pieces of silverware, I can use the same fork for my salad and steak. or Chinese, Sushi, littler surf n turf, whatever I'm just hungry."
Back at the team base, the team has been back for about an hour when the elevator sends out a ping to let the Sentinels know someone with authorization has accessed it.
As it opens up, you see a bedraggled Kayla slumped down on the floor of the elevator, her arm weakly sliding down the opening door and falling limply to the floor! Her body is bruised and scraped, her clothes are in tatters. She looks at anyone standing near the elevator briefly before trying to stand, her arms and legs shaking.
Oh my god, Kayla, are you okay? Holly asks, rushing over, hard light already rushing to form a shield over the girl... though, if something was strong enough to hurt Kayla, he shield would be lucky to absorb 1 hit.
"I don't too much care where we eat. It's more of a social thing for me anyway."
----
Isaiah looked up from his vigil near the elevator, waiting for Praetoria to arrive. "Whoa! What chewed you up? I hope it at least broke some teeth! Need a hand getting to medbay?"
Kayla slumps into first Holly’s lights shield, then onto Holly herself, then Isaiah. As they turn towards the medbay, she stammers ”D...Doctor Dread...”
Psyche's mind was in motion faster than the look of concern could form on Kylie's face. One branch scooped Praetoria up in a telekinetic stretcher that started to levitate her towards the medbay, one branch cautioned Kayla against refusing the help, "I see bruises. That means whatever hit you was strong enough that we aren't taking chances, okay?"
The last branch dove into Kayla's mind. What happened?
Kayla doesn’t even begin to try and refuse the help, but she stammers ”Just don’t tell anyone. No calling Judge or the Alliance or anyone...”
"Sweet? I don't know about that," Shin sighs, poking at a strange angle in the alien ship's architecture. "I'm just trying to fix what my future self screwed up. Even though I think I can understand his anger now, I'm aghast by the fact he's implicated his own family in his crusade. My family. You protect your family, no matter what, but everything seems to indicate that he's just abandoned his own for his cause. I can't do that to Hoshiko, even if it means I tick off the whole Alliance to support her."
Thoughts race through his head, images of him and an older woman in bed being fed rice gruel by her son, of Shin giving his little brother piggy back rides, of standing with a bloody lip chasing off boys harassing his sister, of his father lecturing him sternly but with kindness. Family was everything to him, a foundation for his moral center. Another stray thought, of Kylie in a house apron, bubbled up before he quenched it with his embarrassment.
"Anyways, just wanted to check in with you. Maybe ask a little advice on how to not anger everyone again."
Shin smiles awkwardly. "Yeah...but I could always use more guidance. Silver Shield helps, but she's got her hands full with Rory and Mattie. When I first got my powers, I thought I'd start off as someone's sidekick, but that never happened. So...maybe, if you ever have time, you might give me some pointers or training? I mean, if you're okay with that, I don't want to impose!"
Shin didn't know what it was that he'd gotten from this place. He'd expected some kind of short order diner when fast food was mentioned. He hadn't expected his food to look so inedible. Or smell so terrible. He poked and prodded the 'Extreme Buffalo Supreme' with a frown on his face, thinking that maybe he'd just make some rice for dinner, when the newly repaired (And how fast that happened!) elevator opened up.
He's one of the first to jump to his feet, staring at the invulnerable Kayla. Normally, anyways. Now she looked beaten half to death. "Someone bring her to the med lab!" He spoke, rushing into it and making sure the exam table was clear, grabbing fresh bandages and gauze and antiseptic, first aid medicine rattling in his head. When Kayla was brought in, he started checking her out, looking over her shockingly battered body. All he can do is check for more serious damage and signs of concussion before binding up her scrapes. He leaves the questioning to the others, focusing on what he knows best.
no. No telling anyone Holly agrees. Her shards close around a bottle of pain meds, and she puts 2 into her hand, offering them to Kayla. these will make you loopy, but they'll help with the pain.
When Kayla is placed on the table, despite being placed gently, she winces and writhes in pain, trying to find a comfortable position. She shakes her head at the offered pain meds. ”No...no-UUNNNNGGGHHH! Not yet...” though she does take them and holds them in her hand.
what's wrong... God, your so torn up, how the heck did they do this to YOU holly says, starting up the first scan process. Okay, sweetie, lie still, you can talk, but don't move anything else. We're gonna check for broken bones or hemorages
Kayla does her best to lie still, tears welling up in her eyes as she lies still, defiantly trying not to cry openly.
”Scan complete. Processing...signs of internal injuries include contusions of the liver, spleen, and right kidney. Superficial hemorrhaging consistent with bruising and minor lacerations. Note: Healing of said injuries in progress at rate higher than that of normal human physiology.”
"A projection would be the hard way. You just think it, and I'll link us. I can pull the important images."
"Kayla, why can't you take the pills yet? Can I at least take away your pain? It won't make you loopy."
"I understand what you're saying, but we both know that not everyone stays. Not everyone lives up to the ideal. I think it's... Nice, to see someone try so hard to make a member of his family a priority, even if she might not be safe."
It's been weeks since they vanished. Of course there isn't going to be any obvious signs of them still around. I'd need more of a lead than this to really get anywhere...
She eventually settled on finding a quiet alley to land in and ditch the Regalia. As the armor faded from sight, she looked around to see if anyone immediately recognized her. She tucked her hair into the ball cap and pulled the visor down low and began walking the streets of Bayside, deciding to hold off on the search for now and instead just clear her head.
What is going on with my life? I lose my parents, and now my great grandmother. My brother is a selfish brat. I...I’m kind of crushing on a teammate...but to be honest...I feel like I’m crushing on a few...but is that normal? It must be, right? After being in home-school prison for four years. I don’t really think I’m stringing him along, because I DO like him. Ugh! Why is this so confusing! And why is all this happening now, all at once? It’s insane!
She paused to find a place to sit and pretend to be doing something inconspicuous while she had a psychic conversation with Kylie.
She heard a noise of a glass bottle rattling against concrete and something heavy and metal being suddenly pushed around in an alley up ahead, and she looked around to see who or what was in the area. She didn't realize it, but she had managed to find herself walking alone in a less traveled part of Bayside. She kept up her even stride, and when she made it to the end of the alley the noise was coming from, she heard someone plead "Please...please don't hurt me. I got no money!"
"Shut it, old timer! We're gonna take whatever ya got, anyways! It's just a matter of if you get to live to see the mornin' at this point!"
Kayla turned and saw three men accosting an older, homeless looking guy wearing a Vietnam Veteran hat. One pushed him down while the other two kicked at the man's ribs! She gasped in horror at the inhumanity being displayed, and immediately took her own hat off and turned into the alley. As she walked forward, the Regalia quickly formed across her body. "Hey! Leave that man alone!" she called out as she power walked towards the thugs.
Suddenly, one of them pulled out a club and clobbered the man in the head! Praetoria gasped in the sudden escalation of the violence before recovering and lunging at the trio! She did her best to temper her blows, but before she knew it one of the men was crumpled next to one brick wall clutching his shoulder in agony from the impact, and another was unconscious beside a dumpster. The third, the ringleader, she held by the shirt against the opposite brick wall in one hand, while a baton of golden energy formed in her other.
"Why!?!? Why would you do that!?!? It...it doesn't matter...you're going to jail!" she said as she stomped on the club on the ground, shattering it into uselessness.
"Because that's what we were told to do," he says with a twisted smile.
Praetoria was confused, but studied the man's face as she held him against the wall, his hands held up in surrender. She noticed something flashing on his left wrist, and set him down and wrenched his arm over and back, yelling "What is this!? Who told you to hurt a homeless man?"
He chuckled, "You'll see soon enough...that there...OW OW easy! That there...is the signal..."
Praetoria was still totally lost. "The signal? Signal for wha-AAAAGGGHHHH!" she cried out in pain as an energy blast sent her rolling down the alley! She rose to her hands and knees as she turned her head to see who had attacked her, before her face went pale.
There, hovering a few feet from the ground, was a figure clad in futuristic silver and black armor. It was held aloft by some sort of energy being emitted from the boots and palms of the suit. The mask was a solid visor of empty blackness.
The style that matched perfectly with previous versions of Dr. Dread.
"It's about time you showed up. I was getting tired with paying these buffoons to keep killing people in the hopes of drawing you out," the voice said. It was clearly being altered by a voice changer to have a robotic variation, but the fact that it was a woman beneath the suit this time was reinforced by the feminine tone.
"So," Praetoria said as she slowly started to stand, "You must be the new Dr. Dread?"
"I suppose. But that won't matter to you for much longer," Dr. Dread said as they raised their left hand and pointed it at Praetoria. From the back of the forearm piece a panel slid away and the barrel of a ray weapon appeared, and as Praetoria charged, a red field of energy was emitted from the gun and washed over her! The sensation was strange, it wasn't really pain, but it was debilitating nonetheless. It dropped her to her knees just feet away from Dr. Dread!
Something...something's not right... she thought to herself as she struggled to get up. Her eyes then saw something odd...there was some sort of golden energy starting to form along her hands, and the Regalia was slowly beginning to fade from her! She leaned back onto her knees and watched with a look of panic as the magic armor she had recently just gained slowly began to dissipate without her willing it to do so. She tried to manifest a weapon, but nothing would appear!
"What...what's happening?" Kayla asked with fear.
"It's working. It's actually working!" Dr. Dread said as she landed and took a step towards Kayla. Kayla could feel the strange sensation begin to intensify, and it was beginning to feel like a strange sort of nausea was growing in her stomach.
This...something's...I need to get out of here... Kayla thought to herself and started to fly away...but didn't rise an inch! The glow on her skin continued to grow into an almost palpable golden aura within the strange red field of energy. She looked up at Dr. Dread with panic in her eyes moments before clenching her teeth and lunging at the villain! She grabbed the other woman’s wrists and shoved her backward into the wall with a metallic thud, but was surprised that she wasn’t able to force Dr. Dread’s wrist away from pointing at her! The red field continued to pulsate around her, and the golden glow along her body continued to grow brighter. All the while, Kayla felt as if she was slowly being overpowered by this new Dr. Dread. Through clenched teeth she said ”What have you done with Gothic!?”
”What does that matter to you? Oh...your still playing at being a hero. How cute...” Dr. Dread mockingly replies.
Suddenly, a jolt of electricity ripples across Dr. Dread’s armor! ”AAAAAGGGHHHH!” Kayla cried out as she fell back against the opposite wall of the alleyway. Kayla slowly recovered, and stepped over and began throwing kicks and strikes at Dr. Dread, who was able to avoid them without ever taking the ray beam off of Kayla. ”Silly girl!” she chided before delivering a knee to Praetoria’s gut, doubling the teenager over and to her knees in a coughing fit. Dr. Dread stalked over to Kayla, lifted a boot up and pushed the young teenager over with just a push of her foot to the teen's chest!
Kayla fell back onto her elbows with a thud as Dr. Dread towered above her, and she still had no idea what was even going on. ”I didn’t...ever picture you to be someone else’s minion...” Kayla goaded as she slowly crawled backwards away from the woman.
”Minion? Oh...you mean that little message Gothic managed to get out. No no no. That is just a means to an end. A temporary arrangement that is mutually beneficial. It let me perfect this little system I have here,” she boasted as she knelt down beside Kayla and brushed her hair gently back from her face, which caused Kayla to look confused at her opponent. Dr. Dread chuckled before adding ”I just wanna see your face when it happens,” before she lifted her free hand and some sort of other device emerged from the palm. As it activated, the golden aura that had formed around Kayla began to be drawn towards it, and the sickening sensation Kayla had been feeling intensified! "UUUUHHHHHH! What...what is happening!?!?" she cried out as it felt like she was being torn in two! The beam emitting the red energy receded into the forearm piece and Dr. Dread reached out with that hand and took Kayla by her hair! "Don't try and fight it, little Praetoria! The more you fight it, the more pain you will feel."
Kayla reached up to try and tear Dr. Dread's hand away from her, but the villain just brushed her hand away like it was nothing! "What...what's going...on?" Kayla asked desperately. The golden aura that was surrounding her was being drawn into the device in Dr. Dread's palm steadily, and everywhere that it was being pulled from her body felt as if a strange static electricity was coursing along her skin in an odd tingling sensation.
"I've been doing some testing, Praetoria. And I've learned something. Your powers are not something permanent, darling. They can be transferred. Taken,” she said as she languidly swirled her free hand around in the air, the golden energy flowing from Kayla following it in slow circles like a smoke trail. ”My previous two test subjects...well...things didn't go quite right with them. But now...now it would seem everything is working just as it should. But this doesn't have to be painful for you, darling. Just let it happen, and the pain will end. At least for now. Then I can begin the genetic testing with you once I have you back at the lab..."
Kayla was trying to focus on what was being said, but it was hard to keep track with the strange feelings she was being put through. It slowly started to come together though. Dr. Dread is taking my powers somehow! This is impossible!
"No...you can't...I won't..." Kayla said feebly as she tried to pull herself away from the armored villain, but it was no use!
Dr. Dread wrenched her head to the side and down to the ground! "Stop fighting!" she said to the girl as she brought her hand closer to the girls heart. The golden aura was starting to grow dim now and Kayla could feel herself starting to black out between her panted breaths. ”Yes...just a little more...good girl...”
Kayla desperately pushed at Dr. Dread's hand clutching her hair and kicked her legs to try and free herself to no avail! Her eyes started to flutter closed as she pleaded ”Please...please don’t...”
CRACK!
Splinters of wood showered around the pair, causing them both to turn their eyes to behind Dr. Dread. The homeless man Kayla had saved was standing there, bleeding, holding a busted board he had just hit Dr. Dread with! "Let her go you damned b@*#@!" he grumbled as he reared back to hit Dr. Dread again!
Dr. Dread turned her attention away from Kayla and stood up to blast the man across the alley! Kayla wanted to try and help him. But she knew if she did, Dr. Dread would finish her off here and now! She knew she had to escape. She desperately tried to fly, and fortunately for her, was able to actually lift off! She flew up into the night sky slowly, much slower than she used to.
"Get back here, Praetoria!" Dr. Dread called out from below! Kayla turned to look at the villain, whose armor was now changing! Over top of the metallic suit, a dark, twisted version of the Regalia was forming! Even Dr. Dread appeared surprised, and a maniacal laugh escaped the villainess! Dread then tried to fly of their own power, and clumsily slammed into one wall then the next.
Memories of her own early attempts at flying came flooding into Kayla's mind.
That's my only hope! I have to try and use that to my advantage!
She quickly altered course and took evasive action. She was looking for somewhere, anywhere she could hide, but all the while Dr. Dread was slowly catching up, and trying to blast her out of the sky every time she caught sight of her. By the time she made it to the rail yards, her clothes were a tattered mess and her body was covered in bruises and scrapes.
Kayla, after a crash landing that resulted in her rolling across the gravels violently, scrambled to her feet and ran through the station and dove beneath a train. Dr. Dread caught up a few moments later, and Kayla found herself clutching her hands over her mouth and nose to try and hide the sound of her breathing as she hid beneath the train car like a girl hiding from a serial killer in a horror movie. Dr. Dread hunted for several minutes before cursing and flying off into the night!
After explaining her story, Kayla gingerly puts the two pain pills in her mouth and swallows them down with a sip of water.
"Internal injuries? Who, or what, hit you? How did they get through your invulnerability and your armor?" Shin asks, putting the basic medical knowledge he had to use. Of course it was eighty years outdated, but even wrapping injuries was still the same after all of that time. He listened to her tale as she told it, through Kylie's mental link. He looked concerned and perhaps a little angry as he kept up with his first aid, until all the cuts were covered with gauze and bandages.
He wanted to yell. To say that she couldn't keep running off from the team like this all the time. That she needed to trust them all if they were to help her. But he just let that all bleed out of him for the moment.
"I'm glad you're all right," He told Kayla, looking at Kylie and Holly. "You should get her to her room. Someone should contact the Alliance about this too," he added.
"She might be dangerous, but that's not her fault. She can't control the powers she was born with anymore than I could have stopped my mother from getting cancer. It's about the person beneath the power that will determine if she can reform," He says. "...How's your mother doing? You don't talk about her all that much."
”No!” Kayla says as she sits up abruptly, eliciting an inhaled hiss of pain as she clutches at her abs. ”No. We can tell no one! I...I wasn’t even sure I should tell you all. But...I trust you. All of you. Don’t...don’t tell anyone. Please!” she begs.
When burgers are suggested, Mattie lights up. When they drop in at the up market burger place she glances at what the other girls are ordering, unsure for a moment, finally though, she just shrugs and orders a regular hamburger (and fries), which she consumes quickly on the ride back to base.
When Kayla stumbles into the base, Mattie jump up with the others and helps to lead her through to the medical room. Once there, she backs away to clear space for the others, and the Blockbuster's mechanical arms, probes and scans do their thing. After Kayla tells the story, Mattie nods. "If you don't want us to tell anyone, then we won't" she nods, "Might be hard to keep it from them if the Shield turns up though!"
”I’ll think of something, just please,” Kayla pleads, reaching out and taking Scorch by the hand, ”promise me you guys won’t tell ANYONE, please!”
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Noticing Shin's confused displeasure about the "burger" Rory nudges him and whispers, Mattie and I will take you for a proper burger without the other gals.
Rory heard the elevator ding and jumps over the couch excited for Praetoria to be back, but when the doors opened he froze momentarily. Kayla was badly beat up and as the rushed her to the med lab Rory was cussing a blue streak, Who the f#~$ did this, I'm going to f$#@ing murder those m!$#%$$~#!!$s? Rory was incredibly thankful that the med lab was nearly fully automated.
Rory’s outburst causes Kayla’s steely defiance to not cry to crack a little bit, a tear rolling down the side of her face towards her ear. ”Rory, no! Just...just let me figure this out...” she says as she reaches out to take his hand with her other one.
Psyche slipped into Kayla's mind to dull the pain a bit, at least until the drugs could kick in. While she was in there she asked privately, "Kayla, is what she stole coming back?"
The person beneath is what I hope you're right about. "Mom's good. She thinks I should get a haircut. She thinks you and Holly make a nice couple, and isn't particularly interested in what either of you think about it. She thinks I shouldn't go in public without denouncing the Church of Psyche, but she hasn't come up with any new reasons for that in a while, so it's probably just habit. She thinks I should come stay at home, or at least visit more, if I'm not going to sleep in that nice dorm she's paying for.
I think she's happy with how everything's going."
::I...I don’t know. I didn’t even know this could happen! No one in the family has ever mentioned anything like this. I hope so...I’m so scared...::
Psyche lightly gripped Kayla's forearm with her mind, and strengthened her presence in Kayla's thoughts "We're all here for you, Kayla. We'll take care of this together. We'll figure it out, no matter what."