"I'm kind of concerned that the Empire hasn't done more," Amy said before taking a bite of the basket of fish N chips she had gotten.
We were at the restaurant we had agreed to meet at near two weeks ago. Since then Nova had made a variety of appearances. I had been focusing on breaking down the gang warehouses. Glory Girl had helped me on occasion, in a somewhat amusing turn of events getting us known as the 'Glorious Guild'. Out of the other ideas that had been kicked around, it was probably for the best.
I took a bite of my sandwich and nodded my head in agreement with her. The Empire had hardly done anything recently, and it was more concerning that they haven't.
"Yeah," I said, "Makes me feel like they're planning something." Amy nodded in agreement.
"Definitely, but I'm a little glad. The hospitals have been flooding with people getting injured in gang fights."
"That reminds me," I said, reaching into the satchel I carried with me. The satchel was a great piece of work, it was a rich purple with my mark displayed on the side. Thanks to a few appearances from Lisa and myself, people dying their hair and decorating their faces and possessions with the mark had become popular enough that I didn't even feel the need to cover the mark on my cheek. But the real beauty of the satchel was its ability to become saddle bag if I needed them. Right now it just looked like a really weird purse, but I just needed to peel a small velcro strap to let drape off my back in horse form.
"I want to go to the hospital a test this out." I reached into my bag and pulled out a bottle containing a rich pink liquid and slid it over to her. Right now, the boardwalk was incredibly busy. Far too busy to stop and consider two girls sharing a lunch and passing around a strange drink. I doubted anyone was paying any attention and even if they did, there wasn't anything they could do with it. Probably.
"What is it?" Amy asked curiously, taking it in her hand and looking at it. She wasn't nearly as bitter as when I had run into her the first two times. I had met her a few times after that, when going out patrols with Glory Girl, and she had been in a much better mood in those moments. Never nearly as snappy as she had been the first few times.
It seemed to confirm what I had first thought, she wanted to get rest and get away from the hospital. She just didn't have a justification and leapt on the one I gave her, regardless of how weak it seemed. I was glad.
"A healing potion," I answered with a smug smile. I watched her eyes go wide and her grip on the bottle up until I thought she was going to break it.
"You can make healing potions?" She asked like she couldn't quite believe it.
"Yep."
"Then we got to go test it now," she said loudly, rising from her seat fast.
"But Am-"
"Nope, we're going to the hospital and testing this right now."
"But neither of us can drive. Or have a car."
"Then we'll get a cab."
"But can't we-"
"Nope." She grabbed my wrist and pulled me from my seat. I was a little too caught off guard by this side of Amy that I didn't resist as much as I could. So we were going to the hospital, I guess.
***
About five minutes later we had fumbled our way into a cab headed for the hospital. Three minutes of awkward silence into that, my cell phone went off.
Lisa, Victoria, and my dad were the only ones to have gotten my cell phone number since Lisa bought it for me. She said she has been able to shave money away from her secret bank accounts, but anything more than what she was pulling from them and it would bring police and hired mercenaries on her head. So she said anyway.
"Hello," I said, answering my phone swiftly.
"Taylor, hi, I got something you might want to know," Lisa spoke hurriedly.
"Um, alright. What's with the rush?"
"Your father is trying to use the stove and I think he might accidentally burn the house down." She said in a tone that made it hard tell if she was joking or not.
"Sounds serious," I said with a nod. "So, have you figured more out about The Four?"
"Yes and no," Lisa answered. "They are either extremely smart or extremely lucky."
"Hows that?" I asked curiously. It wasn't often Lisa's power didn't lean one way or another.
"Well, for one it seems like they aren't related, even though they clearly are," Lisa said. "Each one behaves completely differently, having different leaders. The Pedites are more aggressive, The Doctor are more controlling, The Workers are more economically inclined, and Industry doesn't seem to do much except defend its territory. Each one has completely different and unrelated tactics and gear. Nobody you've interrogated so far has ties with both groups. And if what we have found is true, it seems they only just started working together to fight the larger gangs. By all accounts, they have nothing to do with each other.
"Except we know they do," Lisa then added with a touch of frustration. "Each gang founded on the same night, which was done exceptionally quick for one gang let alone four, and even they way they are named! The Doctors and The Workers have the most in common. Industry is closer to Pedites, which is Latin for Infantry. And the leader's names too are both really similar. Plebeian and Proletariat? Practically the same thing. Civis and Sapien are could be related, civilization and wisdom? Not too much of a stretch.
"But the four don't fully fit together," Lisa practically growled. "If they were intentionally going for a theme they could have done it better, made it all click like a puzzle. Yet they don't. But it is just so obvious that was exactly what they were going for."
"Your power doesn't tell you?" I asked.
"It says they are connected, somehow," Lisa answered wistfully. "But I already have a headache trying to figure out how. There is a load of evidence saying they only became allies after the fact, but it is just unbelievable they weren't in league with each other from the beginning."
"So in other words, you have got anything."
"Ah, that isn't true. I did find one thing."
"Oh?"
"Yes. No one on PHO claims to be part of any of The Four, which is odd in and of itself, but I found at least four accounts that are actually part of one of the gangs, or maybe one for each account. And guess what they have been doing? Spreading the idea that The Four aren't connected they way we think they are."
"Well," I said with a smile, glad we were finally making some head way on them. "Isn't that suspicious?"
"Very," Lisa agreed. "I-ah shit, I got to stop your dad, just wanted to let you know what I've learned. Bye." She hung up before I had a chance to respond.
"My life is so weird sometimes," I said as I turned my phone screen off and slid it back into my satchel. Amy laughed a little.
"You think?" She teased lightly.
"Don't I know it," I said bitterly. "And that isn't even considering what going back to school is going to be like on Monday."
"Oh yeah, you haven't been to school in a couple of weeks have you?" Amy asked.
I sighed. "No, instead I've been hanging out with your sister on and off the last couple of days." I was mindful of the cab driver when I spoke next. "And yet, no matter how much I ask she won't introduce me to Nova." If I was going to sell the whole 'fan of the mighty Nova', I needed to start getting into the habit of praising my horse form while in human form. I had made it a point of hanging around other girls that had decided to get in on the latest fashion trend of dyeing their hair silvery purple and painting my mark on themselves. I noted with mild amusement they all acted the same way, which was pretty much exactly the way I had expected.
It was the men that got in on the trend that had confused me the most. But I wasn't going to touch that. Not a hand. Not with a pole. Not even with my telekinesis. Just, no.
After a minute of silence after that Amy pulled out the bottle I had given her and looked at it again.
"So how did you make this? And can you make more, presuming it works?" She was holding it low enough that the cab driver couldn't see it and wasn't speaking out right. But I could tell the idea excited her because of how she risked bringing it up despite our setting."
"I, uh, put certain plants together with that special ingredient you showed me the first time we met." It took her a moment to realize what I meant by that, but when she did her eye grew wide again.
"Do you have one of the plants with you?" She asked me with the same urgency she had shown when we had been eating not long ago. Once again, I was thrown a little off guard by it. I had met Amy a few times before and she had always been quiet and reserved. But today she was going into bouts of energy because of these potions. If anything, that confused me more. Shouldn't she be more concerned about these replacing her? I mean, if she didn't enjoy doing what she did why would she work herself into the ground healing people.
It took me a moment to remember the fresh plants I kept in my satchel. I reach in for the hard plastic box I kept an assortment of flowers I had picked this morning while I was out. I left the ones in my garden to grow wildly and charged a good handful each night for Lisa to experiment with. She seemed to enjoy it, though I couldn't tell if it was just because she got to use her power or not.
These ones were only a few hours old and just happened to be something I spotted in an empty lot on my way to take a bus to get lunch with Amy. Obviously, I hadn't charged them yet.
Amy took the box and plucked out a buttercup and seemed to study it with her power. She turned it over in her hands once and then looked at me.
"There's nothing different about it." She stated.
"I hadn't used the stuff on it yet," I answered awkwardly.
"Oh," Amy conceded with a frown. She shook her head and held out a hand to me. "Could I…?" She asked a little nervously. Instead of answering, I put my hand in hers.
She paused for a second, looking confused. Then her eyes went wide like as saucers for the third time in the last hour. She turned her head at the buttercup she was holding. It grew a little more vibrant for a moment then began to change. I wasn't sure exactly what was happening until the change stopped.
Just slightly, ever so slightly, the buttercup was more cartoon like. Not like I was, more like bad CGI, where it just looked a little too shiny to be real.
"What did you do?" I asked quietly. Amy pulled her hand away from mine and stared in a daze at the flower.
"I… might have grown some circuitry inside of the flower."
It was midnight now. The stars were out and a full moon illuminated my backyard where I, Nova, and Panacea along with Cheshire were gathered. Lisa's costume was a skin tight bodysuit in the colour scheme and style of the Cheshire cat, the name she picked for herself. Panacea was in her white robes complete with the red scarf that covered her lower face. And I was… Well, I was me.
Glory Girl wanted to come, by I was already paranoid that someone was going to notice the cartoon horse coming and going from my house. Let alone if they notice Glory Girl visiting. She wasn't the stealthiest of people.
Panacea knelt down and placed a hand on one of the violets that sat at the edge of my impromptu garden. Almost immediately the tall grass all around our yard began to shrink and shrivel.
"How is she doing that?" I whispered to Cheshire. I was under the impression that Panacea needed a direct connection with the things she manipulated.
"Plants are connected by massive underground networks of roots," Cheshire answered. "They must be simple enough organisms that contact with each other allows Panacea to access a large amount of them."
It did see she had a limit, though, judging the way the tall only disappeared in large patches at a time. It took ten minutes to clear the entire yard of the over grown grass and for the first time in years, I could see the bottom of our lawn.
"Which ones make the healing potion?" Panacea asked.
"Daffodils, yellow roses, pink Carnations, and blueberries," Cheshire answer happily. "Though we aren't growing any blueberries."
"Do you have any with you?" Panacea asked, looking back at her. Cheshire reached into a pouch on a large belt that was slightly angled around her hips. She drew out three blueberries and placed them in Panacea's outstretched palm.
Panacea took them silently and placed them near the ground. She turned her head to me and nodded. I walked forward and kneeled down next to her, allowing her to touch my horn.
Over the last two weeks I had grown several inches in all directions. Cheshire made a link to my size and how much I was using my magic. I tended to grow after long nights of taking down gang members when I used my magic for long periods of time. I also grew whenever I overextended myself. It only happened once since that night when I fought Hookwolf and it was completely intentional, an experiment Lisa had cooked up. It wasn't pleasant.
I was still very clearly a filly, but I was taller. My legs and neck were longer. My wings hadn't grown much but my horn had. Now it was long enough I could actually see it when I looked up. And with it, my magic had increased.
I got the feeling I could pick some pretty large things, but I focus on picking up a lot of things. I could pick up over sixty small stones now, and they way I made them orbit around me made me a terrifying sight to any gang member. Oni Lee and Krieg also learned to find them unpleasant.
But despite all that, I felt tired when Panacea touched my horn. She told me she could manipulate the magic circuits inside of my body, that there was too much resistance from them, but she needed the contact to be able to give the plants the magic. Something to do with the way they were structured made it so she could only understand them so long as she was using her power on them.
But I could feel her drawing magic out of me, fueling whatever change she was putting into the plants. All across the yard, flowers were sprouting out of nowhere. Every plant Cheshire had mentioned to Panacea was sprouting all over the yard, far larger and far more vibrant than any of the ones I had planted before. Several bushes sprouted up along the fence and immediately began to produce blueberries.
The entire effect lasted for almost two minutes and had been progressively slowing since it began. The moment Panacea took her hand from my horn I swayed on my feet. Just how much magic she took hit me all once, leaving me dizzy. Cheshire held out a hand and steadied me, probably stopping me from falling over before I got used to the feeling.
"So, these all have the magic circuits?" Cheshire asked. Panacea nodded seriously.
"They do. But…" She trailed off.
"Something is wrong with the plants." Cheshire decided. "You had to replace something? No, something went wrong anyway."
"Their internal clocks," Panacea interrupted before she could come to her conclusion. "The part of the plant that lets it go into resting phases to survive the winter were altered by the… magic, I guess. The other plants would only live a year and drop seeds that would survive the winter, but their clocks are broken and won't be able to tell the season is changing. These plants won't survive the winter unless they're taken care of." Panacea paused and consider it for a moment. "But that also means they will produce flowers and berries all year long."
"But the question becomes, will they make potions?" Cheshire questioned, turning her gaze toward me. Right, her power got fuzzy when dealing with magic stuff like this. With that in mind, I closed my eyes and focused magic through my horn and let it spread out over the yard. As the magic moved over the plants I didn't feel the same pull I had felt in them before. The need to charge them with emotion wasn't there anymore. I could feel magic radiating from them, but it wasn't coming from me anymore. I wasn't sure how I knew that, but I did. Where ever their magic was coming from, it was part of them now.
"I think so," I said. I wasn't sure, they had magic but they didn't have the same emotional charge I gave them. But just as easily, I could imagine that the emotion was just a catalyst for allowing me to pass magic to them. Panacea could have just removed that step, which would explain why I felt a little tired from the process.
"Well," Cheshire said with a cheerful clap of her hands. "Only one way to find out for sure." She walked over and plucked a handful of blueberries and two carnations. She popped a blueberry in her mouth and gave a satisfied look.
"I think this might just work," she said with a nod. I smiled, but then I remembered something.
"What time is it," I asked, turning to face Cheshire.
"Twelve twenty-seven," Cheshire answered without looking at a clock. She paused for a moment. "You're going to see Rune?"
"Well, we sort of promised," I said slowly. Cheshire shrugged.
"Fine, Panacea and I will make the world changing potion by ourselves while you make friends with the Nazi."
"Sounds good," I said with a nod, choosing to ignore the jab at me. I spread out my wings and took off with impressive speed. I had gotten pretty good at flying now, enough to leave a trail of silver and purple behind me when I was really trying. Cartoon physics.
"So," I heard Cheshire saying to Panacea as I flew away. "What kind of girls are you into?"
Wait, what?
***
I landed several dozen feet away from the PRT building. Miss Militia was waiting outside for me like she said she would when I had phoned ahead several days ago. Her eye crinkled on the other side of her scarf as she gave a wide expressive smile I couldn't see.
"Nova, I'm glad you came," she greeted me.
"It's nice to see you too," I responded. "I'm ready to see Rune."
"Right this way then." Miss Militia turned and took me through the front doors of the PRT building. This way had a lot more obvious security than they way through the garage I had seen. Foam sprayers lined the ceiling and there were a few Tinker scanners cleverly hidden in floor and ceiling. Only noticeable if you're looking for them.
She took me through a few screening rooms and past some employees that stopped and stared at me. It seemed that even after two weeks of making appearances I was still a shock to see to some people.
"So, how are things going with Rune's Wards application?" I asked as we passed through the third scanning room. Miss Militia made a face behind her scarf I was unable to understand from just seeing her eyes.
"It's… slow." She answered. "Our PR department is working on a way to rebrand her without the public knowing. With her permission, we've been working on changing her look completely. But her power is rather specific, and people will ask questions. The head of the PR department even made a trip here to-"
"Miss Nova!" A really fat man said as he stumbled his way towards up with an extremely large grin plastered on his face. His clothing spoke of a horrible fashion sense and the way he had his hair combed backward looked really off when compared to the rest of his appearance.
"Ah," Miss Militia said with a tone I couldn't quite place. "This would be the head of Image, Glenn Chambers."
"Pleased to met you," Glenn said excitedly without giving me a chance to speak. "I would just like to say that the people absolutely adore you, and should you ever join the Protectorate in any capacity I guarantee I can make you symbol across the nation!"
"I, uh, I- I don't," I stammered. My ears drooped as I thought about what to say in response to that. I failed to come with anything and continued to blather like an idiot.
"Oh, silly of me, where are my manners." Glenn said, rolling his eyes. "You don't think you can be an icon. No one does. But you already are one, whether you like it or not."
"I, wait, what? I'm what?"
"An icon," Glenn said simply. "The world at large took one look at you and thrust you into the position. 'A symbol of light and purity in Brockton Bay' to quote the title of an ever popular thread in PHO."
"But I've only hit a few gang warehouses!" I protested. Hardly anything to be 'A symbol of light and purity'.
"Doesn't matter," Glenn insisted. "You are the most adorable, most marketable, capes the world has seen. Unlicensed merchandise of you is already outpacing Alexandria in sales in the city. Little girls fall in love with the moment they saw you and others love the absolute absurdity of what you are. Since Assault unveiled you to everyone who follows his account, you've grown into an overnight success in just this short time.
"But that is just here," Glenn said excitedly, clapping his hands together. "If you let me start marketing licensed merchandise you could be making thousands by the end of the month. Millions if you join the Ward and let me put you on the world stage."
"This is ridiculous!" I shouted, stamping a hoof down.
"No, you are ridiculous," Glenn correct. "The internet just followed suit. Right now you're a fad, only growing in popularity. Together, we could feed that fire and turn you into an international sensation. Thousands, if not millions, if not billions."
"I think that is enough for now Glenn," Miss Militia said, putting herself between me and him for which I was glad. "Give her time to think about it."
"Yes, yes," Glenn said with a wave of his hand. "Well, Nova. If you change your mind, it shouldn't be that hard to contact me. I'll be watching."
Glenn turned on his heel and began walking off. The moment he was out of earshot I whipped my head around at Miss Militia.
"What the heck was that?" I demanded. Miss Militia sighed.
"That was our head of PR and Marketing. And don't worry, we have all felt the same way towards him at one time or another."
"Really," I asked dryly. Miss Militia and I started back into motion towards a smaller, normal elevator far from the main elevator I had used before.
"Really." Miss Militia confirmed. "You might not remember it, but Vista had a miniature version of exactly what is happening to you when she first joined. Glenn was all over her, though was not nearly as eager as he was with you."
I let out a heavy sigh as the doors of the elevator opened and Miss Militia let me enter first. "It's times like this I wish I could swear," I stated.
"You can't?" Miss Militia asked curiously.
"Nope, my power stops me." Miss Militia laughed a little.
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that."
"Why's that?"I asked. It seemed like an odd thing to say.
"Because if I had heard it, I would have to put it in the ever growing file on you. Then Glenn would know. And once he know's you are incapable of swearing…" She trailed off and let the idea sink in. I swallowed.
"So…" I began, trying to think of a way to change the subject. "Why are we taking this elevator, and why is it just a normal elevator?"
"This elevator only leads to the holding cells for unpowered people, which Rune was moved to after our Thinkers determined her want to be a hero was honest. Until we can get her on the streets, she'll stay here." The elevator stopped descending as she spoke. Once again she allowed me to go first.
She led me down several rows of cells before stopping in front of one. Inside, Rune was propped up against a wall with some pillows and had a very old copy of A Brave New World she was reading. She was in black and white sweatpants and a shirt, with only her mask remaining on. I noticed a few domino masks lying underneath the bed.
"Rune," I said, grabbing her attention. She looked up from her book and saw me. A smile spread across her face.
"Nova," she said, snapping the book shut. I looked at Miss Militia who nodded to me.
"I'll be back in half an hour," she stated. "I don't expect trouble, but PRT officers are watching if you need help." She offered another nod and then turned on her heels. Once she had disappeared into the elevator I turned back to Rune and sat down on my haunches.
"So I got to ask," I started. "I shot you through the chest, got you arrested, and you didn't really seem to care. And you are by far, the most patient white supremacist I've met. And I've met a lot over the last couple weeks. So, why?"
Rune chuckled a little, but didn't answer. She stood up and grabbed the edge of her bed and dragged it over, the legs releasing a horrible scratching noise as they dragged across the floor. She placed it directly in front of me on the other side and sat down.
"Yeah, I've been good. I get treated well enough here thanks for asking." Rune said smartly. I rolled my eyes at her, causing her to chuckle again.
"Well, let's check them off," Rune said holding up three fingers. "You shot a rock through my chest. I've had worse. From Hookwolf, let alone other villains. Once an independent hero set my back on fire. Had third-degree burns and spent two weeks convincing Othala to give a healing ability. So yeah, you don't even make the top ten. Plus, Hookwolf and all those guys were going to kill a fuck ton of people. I didn't want to do it, but I would have." Rune grimaced as she ticked off that finger. "I've done a lot of things to keep myself secure in The Empire. If we went through with this all chances of me becoming a hero would have been shot."
"Why was the Empire about to do racial cleansing anyway?" I hadn't thought about it, but that would definitely be a reason for all the heroes in the bay to start going after them. Even the ABB assuming Asians were included in the act. It didn't make sense when I thought about it.
"The Merchants had taken the area as their territory," Rune explained. "Kaiser believed if he cleaned out all of the ni- um, black people it would scare them off and send a much more permanent message."
"That's crazy," I stated, while simultaneously not being that surprised. Rune shrugged.
"You're dealing with neo-nazis. Not exactly the most reasonable bunch."
"Fair enough," I admitted.
"Alright, where was I." Rune held up her hand with two fingers still up. "Oh yeah, after you stopped me from doing performing the unwanted sequel to Kristallnacht, you showed up and didn't immediately discount me as a bad person. It was nice. Even in the Empire people treat each other like shit. That might be more of a gang thing, but I when everyone knows you're a neo-nazi it is kind of hard to get anyone to treat you like another human being."
"Ironic," I said, a little more scathingly than I wanted to. Rune winced.
"Believe me, I know." She paused and looked down at her feet for a moment.
"And finally," Rune started again, ticking off the second finger to only hold up one. "The way you helped Panacea lead to me getting a chance to get away from the Empire and become a hero. And honestly? When a cartoon horse walks into your life, shoots you in the chest, then gets you the chance to get away from the E88 and become the hero you always wanted to be, it is probably a sign from God."
I snorted. The horse like sound causing Rune to resist laughing herself, only for it to come out as a giggle.
"You know, to be fair," I began, "I think you could have become a Ward on your own if you had tried a little harder."
"I don't think you understood the position I was in," Rune said seriously. "Armsmaster didn't believe my intent. I had been arrested two times before this and both times I was ignored when I tried to talk with the PRT officers that watched me. Hell, I even tried to talk to Vista when we had gotten into a fight once. But she was too determined to bring me down to stop and talk. My only other option would have been to contact one of the heroes and arrange a secret meeting. Something that would have gotten noticed by the others and would be all too easy to become a trap for me. I was as trapped as I possibly could be. It was only because you had sided with me that Miss Militia took it and started pressing people."
If I saw any flaw with what she said I would have pointed it out, but even if I did I wasn't the one in the situation. Even if she had the time to explain every detail to me, I probably still wouldn't understand the inner working that made her life into a prison. So instead, I decided to let out a sigh.
"Well, I guess that all makes sense," I said with a nod. Rune echoed my sentiment with a nod of her own. We fell silent for a few moments. After a minute I asked,
"Have you met the other Wards yet?"
Rune opened her mouth and closed it again. She frowned. She opened her mouth again and said,
"I did… it didn't go well."
"What happened?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Clockblocker asked if I really thought whites were better than black. Gallant was there and he can apparently sense emotions. He called me out on it when I tried to lie and the rest sort of turned off to me."
"You lied?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. I had always considered the possibility, but I never really believed she actually bought into the white supremacist agenda. She seemed too smart and too forgiving.
"It's…" Rune trailed off as she struggled to find the words she wanted. "Complicated," she finished.
"Well, we have about twenty minutes until Miss Militia comes back," I said slowly.
Rune sighed. "Have you ever believed something you know is wrong, you know is twisted, but despite everything you've done to resist acting upon that belief, you still believe it and everyone hates you for it?"
"No," I answer truthfully as a pang of guilt rose in my chest.
"I didn't think so." Things fell silent between us after that. I stared at my hooves awkwardly and tried to think of something else to say.
"So," Rune began, sounding every bit as awkward as I felt. "How is Panacea doing? She getting any more sleep?"
"Well, now that you mention it," I said, a smile spreading across my face. "She's picked up a recent fascination with gardening…"
***
A/N So, two things:
1) Uber and Leet are basically the Flim Flam brothers
2) There have been some people (or person) who have been wanting this story to break the status quo that everyone is obsessed with keeping. Well have no fear, very soon the status quo is going to get shot in the knee caps.