A skeletal turtle, standing on its hind legs and over six feet tall loomed into existence behind her. I wasn't going to hurt her, but a little scare was fair game, right? They tapped her shoulder, and I could see even past her 'done with everything' expression the moment she jumped. She turned around, and before she had a chance to do something stupid, I had my Super Dry Bones grab the ladle and put some meatloaf on my waiting tray. People watched warily as I gave myself some generous helpings and walked away, my new minion in tow.
This lady was either getting fired, or getting a serious earful. If I wasn't a perfect little angel she would have escalated things for no reason. Anti Cape sentiment was a thing people often didn't talk about, but I didn't judge. I did judge that apparently nothing in this school could come easy to me.
I walked out of line, one mediocre school lunch in tow before eventually spotting Victoria and heading over to her table. She was sitting next to some slightly familiar looking handsome guy and a decently sized friend group including…
"Oh! It's you, the gay girl from the lemonade stand!"
One of the people seated at the table burst into an uncontrollable laughter. The girl in question sputtered, face going red and cycling through a bunch of different expressions before settling on anger.
"You!"
"Me!"
"Do you realize the massive headache you've caused me?!"
"No… oh, were you in the closet?!"
Victoria looked at the girl with an interested expression on her face. At that, the freckled girl's eyes darted back and forth nervously. It made sense. Attention from a beautiful woman made me nervous too.
"...it, look, people won't stop talking about it now! You had no right to force that on me!"
"...it was a kissing booth. I even asked you if you were sure, and you explicitly consented to wanting to do it."
"That's not the point!" Kiss girl rebuked me, still red in the face.
"It so is!" I responded, crossing my arms and leaning back in a haughty expression of my superiority. Really, she should have been more grateful. Lachesis was very pretty.
"Are you stupid?"
"No!" I shouted, stabbing my green beans with a plastic fork and bringing them to my mouth… only to remember that I was wearing a full face mask… one I couldn't take off in public.
Well, now I felt stupid at least.
"A-Anyways, you were flirting with me! What did you want me to think?!"
"I was what?!"
"You were what Ames?!" Victoria interjected. "You didn't mention that part!"
Ames struggled to form coherent words for a few moments as the table looked on at her in mirth.
"When did I do that?!"
"When you were picking out your number, you tried to hold my hand." I pointed out, pointing at her with my fork.
"I wasn't doing that! I was just trying to touch… you…"
She seemed to realize how that sounded exactly one moment too late.
"Wow, Amy, I wouldn't have thought you were the bold type." One of the teen boys snickered at her distress. She shot him a death glare, and that just made him smile wider.
"Hey, I was flattered! I'm not used to that kind of attention…" I admitted. Amy blinked at me owlishly.
"Really? You get bashful at attention? You?"
"Hey, just because I bask in the adulation of the public doesn't mean I'm not shy in other ways…" I pouted. Really, was it so hard to believe? Maybe I was a little too good at being Henchmistress.
I looked down at my food, frowned, then picked up my tray and handed it to Abomasnow. May as well have someone enjoy the food I threatened an old lady to get.
"Sooo, Henchmistress?" The boy next to Victoria asked.
"Sup?"
"How's your day been so far?"
"Ugh! It's been a disaster! I totally flubbed that dissection… and that quiz… but I mean, things are going great otherwise, so I can't complain too much."
"Going great?"
"Well, yeah? No one's hurt, people are laughing, and nothing's broken."
Dean glanced over at the lunch line. Kids were having to step over my broken Guard to get their lunches. Oops. I mentally dismissed the guards and the broken bits vanished as though they were never there.
"Nothing's broken."
"How does that work? Your summon was broken but not fully destroyed. Why didn't it just pop?" Victoria asked.
"Well, that one didn't because it was part of a squad. My other two guards were still alive, so the broken bits stuck around, obviously."
"Is there an upper limit on your power? I've seen you summon a lot of different summons today, and other capes with projections typically have more noticeable or strict limitations. What's yours?"
"Why yes, pretty hero girl, I will now divulge the weaknesses of my power to an entire lunch table at your insistence." I snarked.
"Pretty?" Victoria smirked. D-Don't smirk at me like that! You're making me blush!
"Actually, do you mind if I touch your tree?" Amy asked.
"Her name is Abomasnow, and sure. Abomasnow, do you consent to pets?"
"Abomasnow!" Abomasnow cheered. People were staring, because duh, but at least Ames and Victoria didn't seem to mind. Ames walked over and began stroking her hand across Abomasnow's coniferous belly.
"Woah…"
"Is she soft? I haven't pet her yet, so you have to tell me if she's soft."
"After… the other one, I thought this one wouldn't show up to my power either, but it's like it's really there…"
"Wait, your what?"
Ames looked at me with what would only be described as abject 'are you an idiot' energy.
"I'm Amy."
"..."
"Amy Dallon."
"..."
"Panacea..."
"...You're Panacea?!"
"You didn't know?!" Victoria gaped. I blushed under my mask, unclipping my witch hat and pulling it over my face as though the extra layer somehow hid my expression even further.
"No! You guys might be open capes, but I haven't memorized your faces or anything!"
"Whatever…" Amy, Panacea apparently, muttered as she continued petting Abomasnow. I mentally commanded Abomasnow to pet Amy on the head as well, since I mean, she was Panacea. The miracle healer herself. If anyone deserved headpats it was her. Amy didn't even react.
"Yo Amy, would your power work on the turtle thing?" One of the boys at the table asked.
"Dry Bones is dead. I don't think your power would work since you can't heal dead."
"Right…" Amy muttered, glancing over at my Super Dry Bones warily. "Dead. Well, at least that makes some amount of sense. I don't know why my power wouldn't work on that lady from the booth still.
"I'm pretty sure Lachesis was a demon or something."
"A demon?"
"You probably could've affected Coeddil though, since he's a giant tree too."
"Damn, that's a missed opportunity…"
No, don't be disappointed Panacea! Not enjoying the sight of her mild dissatisfaction, I summoned something that would hopefully make her happy.
Spoiler: Roll: 12
Poofing into existence was a large cottage. It was like someone took an old dark age hamlet and made it do a fusion dance with a chicken coop. It had a kitty cat weather vane, a giant fish on one side of its hilariously slanted roof, and an anchor on the other. Running straight through where the door would be was a massive ship's cannon.
And the whole, huge house stood on sixteen… cat legs?
I was so glad for my full face mask because power what on earth is that?!
As the excited shouts and laughs echoed through the lunchroom, I rubbed the back of my head.
"I uh, I guess I'm not homeless anymore?"
"Anymore?" Victoria asked.
"Yeah. I'm like, homeless and stuff." I lied, mentally commanding my Armstrong to stand still and not turn so it wouldn't bean some poor teenager accidentally. I wanted to tell people I had a place to stay, but I didn't like the idea of causing trouble for Sabah. If people knew someone had taken me in for now, it might make people scrutinize her more since I've interacted with her a few times already…
Actually, knowing that I was sitting at a table with the Dallon sisters did remind me that I'd promised Sabah to look into other teams. New Wave was a team, right? And there were two members right there. May as well poke em a bit and see what happens.
"Actually, Victoria, Amy, what's it like being a part of New Wave?"
Victoria titled her head at me.
"Why are you curious?"
"Well, I don't wanna be homeless forever! I want a place to stay, and before you say 'what about the Wards', I'm pretty sure I've burned that bridge already."
"I'm certain that's not the case." Boy whose name I had yet to ask because I didn't really care interjected, a sure tone of his voice. "The Wards are fine people from what I've seen. I don't think you'd have anything to worry about…"
"Oh I'm sure they're goody goody two shoes alright…" I muttered, before my eyes met Amy's. "N-Not that that's a bad thing!"
Amy didn't respond, she simply continued petting my Abominable Snowma'am.
"Well, New Wave is all about accountability-" Victoria started cautiously, and I cut her off.
"Oh please! Spare me the canned dialogue. Come on… give me like, the honest thoughts."
"Don't take this the wrong way Henchmistress, but I'm not sure New Wave is for you."
"Do tell?"
"Well, it's not for a lot of people. New Wave asks its members not to wear masks. Lots of capes aren't willing to do that. Secret identities are important to a lot of capes, and I'm almost certain you're the same way."
"Well, it's not like my identity would cause problems or anything. I'm not important."
"That's not true." One of the girls at the table insisted.
"Well, it's not true now. I'm the Henchmistress, scion of evil. Who I am under the mask is really nothing compared to that at least."
"Do people even call you evil?"
"...Is such hate tolerated in our school system?!"
The table laughed and I felt a weight lift off my shoulders at the deflection. It was so much easier to be comfortable when people were laughing.
One thing I'd give New Wave was transparency. I'm sure they had their secrets, but being open capes made them more… human. Approachable. The Wards and the Protectorate had all this bureaucracy and advertising. Image and propaganda. It was smart, sure. Effective? Absolutely. But for all the things they do right, it was impossible to imagine the PRT giving me a real home. New Wave was, if nothing else, a family.
Victoria chewed on her plastic fork as she considered how to answer.
"Well, I wasn't joking about accountability. Mom would probably insist you face justice, and she'd want to be thorough."
"That seems excessive."
"Well, we don't want people joining New Wave who aren't committed to what we stand for. We might not be a big deal these days, but we still stand for something. If you aren't willing to, say, pay back the money you've stolen or apologize to the people you've robbed, she wouldn't think highly of your commitment to joining us."
Her explanation was expected, but it did make me get a little sinking feeling in my stomach somehow. I never seriously considered joining New Wave, not really, but I was willing to consider the option just to get off the street. I respected what Victoria was saying, but it really wasn't what I needed to hear. I just wanted a roof over my head I could call home.
"Not to be a downer, but there's not a chance in hell Carol would accept you."
"Amy! That's not true!"
"It is." Amy said, sitting back down and cradling her cold hands to warm them back up. "Carol doesn't like villains as a rule. Even a little bit. If you played ball, you might get a roof over your head, but Carol would never be your mom."
"Amy!" Victoria shouted, turning to me with an empathetic look in her eye. "She doesn't mean that. Mom can be a bit standoffish at times, but she loves me and Amy."
"...thanks, Amy." I said, kicking my feet under the table. "I appreciate the honesty."
Victoria frowned, but she could sense that the mood at the table had dimmed. Amy seemed surprised by my easy acceptance of her words, and maybe even a little concerned. Ugh, nonono! This wasn't supposed to be a sappy, feel-bad day! I stood up from the table and approached my Kitty Castle.
"Attention students of Arcadia High! Anyone looking to take pictures with me and my minions, form a line. I'll be magnanimous and not charge you for the privilege!"
It took a moment for people to realize I wasn't joking, but soon enough, I was doing my thing. Taking pictures, cracking jokes, and making people smile. It was a comfortable place to be, and it reminded me that just because New Wave was a no go didn't mean I had to leave school behind without making a few more good memories.
Just because I wasn't hero material didn't mean I couldn't still make people happy.
Sadly, the Armstrong was way, way too big to get out of the cafeteria, so I unfortunately had to unsummon my Meow's Moving Castle. If it wasn't for the cafeteria in Arcadia having such a high ceiling, there were good odds that it might've been summoned on its side. Thank heavens I didn't go to Winslow or something…
So it was just me, Super Dry Bones and Abomasnow in the back of the history class… Amy's history class. I was here because Victoria apparently had college classes for the second half of the day. I don't know how that was supposed to work. I know about AP programs and stuff since Immaculata had some, but I'd never been in one myself.
That didn't mean Victoria could just leave.
No. Now, Victoria had to follow me around all day instead of going to her AP Parahuman Psychology class, so she was rightfully upset with me. Amy was only less annoyed because she really liked petting Abomasnow, and for her part Abomasnow loved the attention.
Amy's Parahuman History class was thankfully a class closer to my actual level of schooling, and also not a STEM class, so I was actually decently able to follow along. After a short lecture on the material, she'd had us form groups of four to discuss a mental exercise and present our findings to the group.
Well, discuss was probably a generous term. It turns out Victoria being several grades ahead of the rest of us, and still being smart enough to attend college made her way overqualified.
"Well, that's one of the most obvious implications of Eidolon's disappearance. That's not even getting into more recent changes, like the Fallen imploding and fracturing into several subgroups."
"Yeah."
"Yup."
"Mhm."
Victoria frowned.
"You know, it's not much of a discussion if I'm the only one contributing."
"To be fair, Vicky, it's not like any of the rest of us need to contribute with you here." Amy said.
"Yeah. If following you around all morning hasn't beat into my head how much smarter you are than me already, learning you're supposed to be in a college class right now totally has…"
Victoria frowned.
"Thank for that by the way. I'm going to have to catch up on the lesson I missed…"
"You'll be fine, Vicky." Amy groaned. "Trust me."
"Come on, surely you guys have some thoughts about all this?"
"I mean, it sure is depressing that Scion and Eidolon aren't around anymore, yeah." Amy began. "But like, day to day, not much has changed."
"I mean, there's fewer Endbringer attacks now, yeah?" The fourth guy, who I honestly forgot was here, added. "Considering you've actually been to cleanup for those before, that's gotta be nice, right?"
"I mean, sure, I guess. But it's not like they stopped. 'Post Scion' era or not, just because we've got some new faces tearing up human civilization doesn't mean it's not still happening but with a different coat of paint, fewer Endbringers or not."
"Well, I think it's super wonderful!" I added. "And no, I don't buy that stupid theory that Eidolon turned into an Endbringer. Yes, I see the similarities, but come on. He's a hero! Him and Scion sacrificed themselves to get rid of the Endbringers, and I think people should appreciate that more."
"Yeah, and the world still shat in Earth Bet's breakfast by giving us some replacements. Lucky us." Amy sniped.
"Boma! Bomasnow!" Abomasnow frowned.
"Exactly. You're being so pessimistic Amy."
"Can you actually understand what that thing is trying to say?" Amy deadpanned.
"I can understand through context." I said proudly. "And can't you tell you're making Abomasnow upset? You haven't stopped petting her since I gave you permission."
"I can't help it that it's got a fascinating biology. There's some sort of underlying energy flowing through its whole body that's just so… enchanting." Amy said.
"Really?" Victoria asked, interest suddenly peaked. "So she's not just an image or a projection, but she's actually… physically there?"
"Well, yeah."
"That's weird. Most projection based powers don't typically work like that." Victoria hummed. "Actually, personal curiosity question. Henchmistress, why did you ask me to punch your golem if you could just unsummon stuff like you did for the goblin and the house?"
"W-well, the Pebblit was like… a demonstration? Showing off that you could beat up my summons would help people feel safer, right? I wouldn't want anyone to feel too uncomfortable."
"Is that the only reason?"
Gosh, when a pretty girl asks me with so much interest it's hard to stop myself from just babbling incoherently about whatever comes to mind!
"Well… it also just feels really bad to summon something and not make use out of it. It happens sometimes, but it always feels wrong."
"So if you summoned something right now, you'd try and find something you could do with it?"
"Oh, uh, yeah. Watch."
Spoiler: Roll: 18Spoiler: Summon Theme
I snapped my fingers… and nothing seemed to happen. I looked around confused, before turning to my left and coming face to face with a short little blonde girl. Her face was eerily pale, like a porcelain doll staring at me with knowing, bright blue eyes and a gentle smile.
…something about her didn't sit right. Wasn't right.
She had on an old fashioned bright blue dress, black dress shoes, and a little white bow over her blonde locks of hair. The immediate comparisons to Bonesaw were as unfortunate as they were accurate. And she was staring right into my eyes.
I yelped in shock, almost falling out of my chair, and subsequently drawing the eyes of the entire classroom. I blushed under my full facemask and sputtered out whatever came to mind as I caught my breath and my own summon laughed at me.
"Everything's fine, she just surprised me!"
The class… didn't seem to believe me, but I just shrugged off their attention as best I could and turned back to Victoria.
"Yeah, so if I summon… Alice here, I can unsummon her if I want, but it feels bad."
"Don't do that!" Alice replied pouting, her voice having a slight echoing quality to it that made shivers crawl up my spine. "I just want to be friends!"
"And we are friends, Alice. Heck, all of my minions will be your friends." I proudly declared.
"Abomasnow!" My conscientious coniferous companion agreed.
My Super Dry Bones just kinda shambled in place. Poor guy wasn't much of a talker.
"Actually, that reminds me… do you give all of your summons their personalities?" Random guy who I forgot was here asked.
"Pffft… of course!"
"No way! I'm my own demon, Auntie Red!"
I looked over at Alice, annoyed. Please don't contradict me while I'm lying to people Alice…
"Demon?" Amy inquired. "Can I take your hand?"
"Of course!" Alice happily replied. She laid her hand on Amy's daintily, causing Amy to immediately frown.
"...nope, my power can't see her at all."
"That's because I'm dead, silly!"
Victoria looked like she had about… ten million questions. Thankfully, I was spared having to actually answer any of them by the teacher calling for everyone to present their analyses on the lesson or something (I wasn't paying that much attention). Amy, the boy and I all instantly looked to Victoria, and she immediately got defensive.
"I'm not even supposed to be here!"
"Same here." I said cheekily.
"Nope. Do you think I was even remotely able to pay attention with all this going on?" Amy said, gesturing vaguely in my direction. Rude!
The three of us looked to the boy, who just held up his arms in surrender. No, he was probably a lost cause.
"Amy, your group seems like you're having an animated discussion. I suppose that means you're ready to give your minor presentation?"
Oh shoot, uh…. Alice, go!
Alice raised her hand. The teacher, not seeming to know what to do in this situation, gestured for her to stand up in confusion.
"So, what are your thoughts on the societal implications of the disappearance of the Scion-Era Endbringers?" Alice gave the teacher an innocent smile that was just a little too wide as she opened her mouth.
I trust you Alice!
I should not have trusted Alice…
"What's wrong, Auntie Red?" Alice asked as she skipped down the hallway next to me. "Did I do something wrong?"
Alice…
"I'd consider saying 'the Endbringers just wanted to be friends with everyone' to be a bit, I dunno, insensitive? They've killed billions." Amy chuckled. Great… at least someone found my suffering funny.
"That's what I do when I make friends too." Alice countered. Maybe I should reconsider being friends with her…
"The teacher thought I was doing it on purpose! My minions have their own personalities, I didn't tell her to say that, and yet I almost got in trouble for it!"
"Well, you are my Auntie." Alice replied.
"Oh don't you start! You then proceeded to master the teacher! In front of the whole class! I had to stop you from making her do something humiliating…"
"She was being a meanie." Alice pouted. "She deserved worse."
"Alice, you can't kill the teacher for mildly inconveniencing you!"
"I can, you just didn't want me to." Alice said without a hint of shame, like she was suggesting I put sprinkles on my ice cream or something equally mundane.
It was just… too much to expect my power to give me something normal. I sighed, thoroughly exhausted by this absolute disaster of a day, Abomasnow and the Super Dry Bones following behind me. Victoria floated behind our group, and all five of us were trailing behind Amy.
"What's next, Amy? Is school almost over yet?"
"Last is gym." Amy frowned. Oh my god, gym class! How could I forget? The ritual humiliation of every wimp to ever go to school, and my own personal hell. It wasn't enough that the changing room was really awkward for a girl who likes girls like me, but I also had to be bad at sports in general.
"Can I just go home?" I whined.
"Well, yeah, that was always an option." Amy snarked. "It would sure save us a whole lot of trouble…"
"No way! I wanna play games!" Alice said, pulling on my dress and giving me a pleading look. I was already thoroughly drained after today, but I mean, if my ritual humiliation at the hands of teenagers made Alice happy, I was willing to go through with it. I really was too nice for my own good.
"Alright…" I said, basically dragging my feet into the gymnasium. It was exactly the kind of rich school gym you'd expect: Big bleachers on either side, a nice little basketball lined court at the bottom that hosted several games, with attachments for volleyball and everything. Notably, one side of the bleachers was folded in, while the other jutted out, ready for use.
The other kids in the gym, Amy and Victoria included, made their way to the changing rooms, and I instinctively moved to follow before remembering I didn't have a change of clothes. Instead, I just sat down on the ground level bleachers, Alice sitting next to me and kicking her feet back and forth in excitement. My big minions just sat on the floor.
From an outside perspective, today was a smashing success. The PRT let me attend school mostly unattended, and considered me benign enough to not immediately arrested. People had taken photos with me and my summons, and I'd just gotten a massive PR boost from all of it. People were laughing, people were smiling, and all around had something new to talk about.
Well, everyone was happy except me…
Today just reminded me how much I dreaded school. My mind tended to wander back at Immaculata, and my grades suffered for it. It's not that I wasn't smart, but tests never really jelled with me. For all I succeeded today in making myself look like a joke villain, well, I just felt like a joke. People were being lenient and merciful with me, but I felt pathetic in a way that had nothing to do with my power.
I just kinda sat there and stewed in my own head as I waited for all the students to get changed. Alice noticed and poked me in the side.
"Are you upset?"
"...maybe a little."
"Well, why don't we play a game? That's what friends do, isn't it?"
"It'd be unfair for me to play."
"There's no such thing as a fair game. You should just crush them like the little ants they are, Auntie Red."
I slumped over. This is what I get for opening up to a literal demon child… though actually, maybe she had a point. I've been playing up the joke part of the villain too much today. Letting people just… walk all over me. I was a villain. What was even the point of being a villain if I didn't at least act like one when it suited me? Was I seriously going to let myself get sidelined?
I had a power, and it came with friends! I should be worried about people feeling unsafe, sure, but I still had to be dangerous enough to warrant not just arresting. I've been trying to fit myself into this system that doesn't work for me just because some online concern-troll got up my nose. I'm a Joke Villain! I put on the mask to make people smile, so what's the point if I can't make myself smile.
I stood up, hands on my hips and pride in my stance as the coach came out with a rack of dodgeballs. I walked over to him, projecting as much confidence as a girl my height could.
"Henchmistress, I know you want to play, but-"
Before the man could finish his sentence, I snapped my fingers. Alice lifted a teacup from behind her back, locking eyes with the man. His eyes glazed over and his hands mimicked the motion as Alice sipped her drink. As soon as Alice lowered the teacup, the coach collapsed like a sack of potatoes, fully asleep. I ordered my Super Dry Bones to carry him over to the bleachers.
I turned to the newly assembled gaggle of teenagers, lifted my chin, and made my declaration.
"Arcadia High School students! I've decided on today's game. All of you will be on one team, and me and my minions will be on the other! If any of you can hit me with even a single dodgeball, you win! But if all of you get tagged and I remain untouched, then I win!"
"Uh, Henchmistress-" Victoria began. "You can't just knock out the coach and decide the rules on your own."
"Of course I can! Or have you forgotten that I'm a villain? In fact… Abomasnow, freeze the door shut."
"Aboma!" Abomasnow replied. She opened her mouth, a frigid orb of energy coalescing from her frosty breath before firing out like an ice beam! The exit was covered in a thick sheet of ice before anyone could respond. I raised my hand for my snowman to high five… and she obliged like a good abominable snow tree.
"Are you threatening us?" Amy asked, not feeling entirely threatened, which was fine.
"Not as such, no. In fact, me and my summons will stay on my side of the line, just as you'll stay on your side of the line. So? Are you ready to lose to Brockton Bay's latest and greatest?!"
The assembled teenagers were a mix of wary and eager. The eager looks came mostly from the athletic looking teenage boys and girls, who all had just enough overconfidence in their numbers advantage and the seemingly easy task I'd given them. It didn't really matter what the other kids thought, since some six foot three beanpole of a guy stepped forwards.
"Hell yeah we're game!" He shouted. Apparently, this guy was somewhat popular, because his declaration was met with a steady stream of cheers. Victoria watched this happen with a cautious stare before I saw a greedy gleam in her eye.
"Alright. Arcadia high accepts your terms, Henchmistress. I just hope you don't mind if I wipe the floor with you." She said cockily. Confidence was a good look on her, as were those athletic shorts… no, focus!
"Well well, try as you'd like!" I said, swaggering over to my side of the field. "I just hope you're good at dodging!" Dry Bones passed the balls around mostly to the Arcadia side. I wanted them to have a chance of winning, and all the better to keep them playing by giving them a taste.
"The game begins when I throw this ball. If you manage to hit me once, the game ends immediately. If my minions are hit too much, let's say ten times each, then I will get rid of them and summon a new minion in their place after a short delay. I wouldn't want to make this too easy for me, since I'd obviously win."
"You're on." Victoria said with a grin. Amy looked considerably less enthused, but even she looked a little happy at the sudden development.
"Three, two, one… zero… negative-"
I pulled the classic, instantly throwing a ball at one of the boys right in the front. He caught the ball easily, but now that the match was signalled to start, I sent a variety of mental commands. Snow swirled through the air. The room was still warm thanks to the AC, but the mist made it harder to see where I was. Super Dry Bones stood protectively in front of me, while Alice played the role as dodgeball bait.
A role plenty of people were eager to take. She basically toyed with the boys, playing hopscotch around their shots, letting them come ever so close to hitting her without actually hitting the mark. Abomasnow, however, was too juicy a target for the more strategically minded players. They hurled their dodgeballs at her form, and being a big bulky snow-woman, she was hit five times in quick succession. Thankfully, her powerful arms weren't for show. She picked up two dodgeballs in either hand, and spun her arms almost comically fast before hurling the balls at the enemy team. One frontliner sports boy got tagged in the leg, while another narrowly avoided the shot… instead causing it to hit some poor unathletic girl in the back.
Sorry, high stakes villainy going on.
Victoria, though, was amazing. Flying above the field, the kids in the back of her side of the field had gotten the bright idea to throw her their dodgeballs so she could skip over Abomasnow and hit me. Thankfully, her rapid windmilling of shots only bounced off Super Dry Bone's body, but without much in the way of muscle, he couldn't really contribute. Sheer numbers were rapidly overtaking my two less agile minions. Abomasnow managed to tag another one on the way out, but she eventually hit ten.
She gave me a thumbs up, and I silently thanked her before dismissing her. The girls in the back cheered as Abomasnow's snow dissipated. I was thankfully able to turtle behind my… turtle for the few seconds I'd promised before feeling enough time had passed.
Let's see who was next on team Henchmistress…
Spoiler: Roll: 6Spoiler: Summon Theme
Just like Alice, for a second, it seemed like nothing happened… I peeked out from behind my Super Dry Bones, and I was met with nothing. I could vaguely see the outline of the floor, but everything else in the room was shrouded in a deep, sickly yellow fog. I tried to swish and swoosh the fog, but whatever it was didn't respond at all to my movements.
I could make out vague sounds of alarm, and I made sure for posterity to mentally command whatever the heck I summoned not to kill or seriously hurt anyone… and also not to get hit by dodgeballs. That would suck. I looked around, having no idea where anyone, or anything, was, and I couldn't see… anything at all.
Okay, power, what was this thing's name at least? I thought about it, and the name Ameno Sagiri came to me. Great. That told me nothing. Okay, uh, reveal yourself to me?
The fog all around me seemed to part. I saw Alice standing over some poor teen boy who had… er, soiled himself, and several other students looking around in alarm. What was more… stark, however, was the giant supermassive camera lens of an eye, staring down on all of us from what appeared to be a massive cross between a disco ball and a naval mine… except it was the size of the entire gymnasium by itself, even half sunk into the floor somehow.
Wait… tell me I didn't just summon something so big it annihilated the entire Arcadia high gymnasium?!
Thankfully, or very extremely unthankfully actually, looking up I could only see a black and red sky. Wow. Awesome. What is going on?!?!?
No. No this is fine. I already trapped them in here in the first place. This is all a part of the plan uh-huh mhm! Just roll with the punches!
"As you can see, I brought my own dodgeball! I hope you don't mind~! OH-hohohohoho~!"
"Though, do be a dear Ameno Sagiri and at least let the poor kids play the game."
"Of course, master." Ameno Sagiri replied in the deepest, most cartoonishly evil voice I could have conceived of a giant eyeball camera guy having. Thankfully, the fog cleared enough for all the students. Trying to make the teens feel more confident, I laughed.
"What's wrong? Isn't he a massive unmissable target? Ten shots, remember?"
Thankfully, whether out of pure survival instinct or pure stupidity, one of the guys took his chance to throw their dodgeball at… me?!
I ducked behind me Dry Bones, letting my sturdy turtle take the hit with a rattle of bones. Right, that was a valid strategy… go for the Master. Not that I was gonna complain, because it got everyone motivated to keep playing in spite of… that. A torrent of balls was thrown at me and Ameno Sagiri. My disco ball simply radiated fog, sinking into the floor of the wherever the heck we were and shaking violently. The balls seemed like they were about to hit him, only when they made contact with the fog he was extruding, they simply… vanished, exiting out of the fog and tagging the girls at the back.
Me? I was not so lucky. I eeped and squeaked and ran around like a mouse trying to avoid shots, barely managing to avoid the people who were trying to hit me thanks to the thin layer of fog obscuring their visions. Super Dry Bones faded as he got hit by his tenth ball while Ameno Sagiri, unprompted, began to gloat.
"Is this the truth you hold so dear? Embrace the bliss of ignorance, you who have no hope of facing the truth."
Victoria responded by throwing her dodgeball right at his stupid face with incredible force. In spite of her height and angle, the ball simply passed through the fog like all the other shots.
"Humanity wishes for nothing else but comfortable lies." Ameno Sagiri quaked. "And I will give them what they desire."
Okay that's wonderful my eyeball son but you are not helping me at all! Maybe my next summon will actually be able to throw a flipping dodgeball!
Spoiler: Roll: 7
The school of flying fish, did not have opposable thumbs. They flew around me like little guardian shields, absorbing shots as the balls going after me got more and more numerous as everyone ignored Ameno Sagiri. If their own shots weren't able to hit him, they'd just hit me instead! He was worthless to me!
"Hey cyclops! A little help?!"
Thankfully, Ameno Sagiri did have more tricks up his sleeve. He stopped shaking and closed his eye, before opening it, the massive camera focusing its lens on me, and all of a sudden, I felt faster. More agile. I darted around shots with the same ease as Alice, deciding to make a little game of playing hopscotch with her.
My demon child can't possibly be this cute?
Ameno Sagiri then turned his gaze on the rest of the Arcadia team, and they, in turn, started to slow. Boo yeah! I scooped up one of the many dodgeballs and hurled it at sporty looking boy. Normally, I'd never have had a snowball's chance at a cookout of hitting him. But with him slowed and me fast, the ball was a direct hit. He scowled and walked into the fog, and I eyed my next target.
And then Ameno Sagiri got hit.
"The eye's weak! Go for the eye!" Victoria shouted, before being passed another dodgeball, and hurling it right at my eyeball.
Even uncoordinated, with the Bewildering Fog no longer protecting his massive body, the Arcadia students had coordinated their shots on him now that he was vulnerable. My Floundairs swam to cover him, barely managing to save him elimination at the cost of their own lives. I mentally ordered Ameno Sagiri to extrude more fog, and he quickly became invincible yet again.
Come on, mama needs a new pair of shoes!
Spoiler: Roll: 8Spoiler: Summon Theme
Thankfully, my power found a lovely new set. It was a tall, top heavy humanoid in what looked like petrified wooden armor. Portions of it glowed a golden amber color, and instead of a stomach, it had a giant yellow eye.
What was with my power and giant eyes today?
But it had exactly what I needed. A hand! It picked up a ball, and together, we began to take out Arcadia high students one by one. I was feeling cocky, the sheer speed disparity giving me the exhilarating feeling of actually being good at sports. And all it took was summoning a dark eyeball monster to grant me unlimited power.
Me and my Guardian Oak threw, Alice dodged, and Ameno Sagiri simply watched as the enemy team was whittled down to only a few people left, Victoria included of course, and I let out a laugh.
And then my power-up ran out. I stumbled at the sudden loss of dexterity, tripping over my own boots. I pushed myself up from the floor just in time to see a hail of balls about to end my fun game.
Spoiler: Roll: 1
Five little Ladybug… mushroom thingies appeared. Thankfully, their sheer number let them absorb the shots meant for me, but I could tell what Victoria's gameplan was. Keep me in place while her and two others kept their balls ready to punish Ameno Sagiri when he came out of the fog to help me.
I mentally calculated my next move as my Guardian Oak eliminated another poor unfortunate student-
"Stop right there!"
I don't know how they even got here considering I didn't know where we were exactly, but I saw one… two… three costumed figures come through the fog. Brandish, Lady Photon, and Mannpower, all in costume, and all very unhappy to see me.
Gulp.
This is normally the part where I'd ask myself 'What are they doing here?!' but uh, considering my giant evil eyeball leaking fog like a smoke machine and looking evil was right there, I think that kinda answered my question… was it leaking out of the gym? Oh my god it probably was.
"This game is over." Brandish said to the three students who'd managed to survive this far. They very quickly took the hint and rushed in the general direction of where the bleachers probably were. Oh man, a full cape team, here just for me. Maybe harmless and pitiful wasn't so bad after all.
"W-What'd you interrupt my game for?! I was having a blast!"
"You seriously invaded a school and held the kids hostage and didn't expect a crackdown?" Lady Photon said, lowering herself to the front. Amy and Victoria joined their ranks, though Amy kept herself back. "You can't have expected it to go well."
"It was going great until you guys showed up!" I shouted. "No one got hurt, and I was providing an unforgettable high school experience! Really, you all should be thanking me."
"The PRT has been content to let you run rampant, but New Wave doesn't cater to the public." Brandish said sternly, brandish-ing an axe made of pure light and pointing it at me. "We'll take you in and let you be the PRT's problem if they're so keen to put up with you, but we won't stand for you terrorizing children."
My mind was running a mile a minute. Alice was a bad matchup because she couldn't use Mad Tea Party without eye contact, and the fog made that impossible to maintain without interruption.
And all her other abilities instantly killed people. That was obviously a no go.
Actually, maybe I should just… go. If I fought the heroes head on, I'd either lose (very bad), or win (also bad). No… it was a cartoon villain's prerogative to leave the heroes with a giant evil monster and escape in the chaos.
I turned up my chin.
"You say my games are over, New Wave? I disagree. In fact, I'd say they're only just beginning!"
Spoiler: Roll: 14
So of course, I summoned a Giant Velociraptor. Hopping onto it and gesturing for Alice to do the same, I turned to look at the assembled heroes staring me down.
"You haven't seen the last of me, heroes!"
I mentally commanded my Guardian Oak to engage in combat (nonlethally), and ordered Ameno Sagiri to let the flog blossom out once again and to guide me out without letting anyone follow me. Thankfully, for Ameno Sagiri, this was a trifle. The fog exploded out of the vents in his body, shrouding the entire field in an impermeable sheet of yellow, save for a small trail of floor leading me to the door of the gymnasium. With Alice and my Clever Girl, I booked it and didn't look back, sending one last mental command to Ameno Sagiri to keep the heroes distracted.
As Alice hugged my midsection and I rode on the back of a fricking dinosaur through Arcadia's foggy halls and out the front door, I let myself smile.
And I thought school couldn't be any fun.
"Hello? Mina, are you there?"
Sabah opened the door to her apartment, finding the lights already on. She had heard about Henchmistress being seen at Arcadia, but hadn't managed to get updates all day with the evening rush. She tried not to check her phone and stress over it, but it was definitely still alarming. She had about ten-thousand variants of "What were you thinking?" and "I demand an explanation." swirling through her mind when she set her bag down and laid eyes on Mina.
The girl was fast asleep on the couch, sprawled out like a starfish and covered in one of her mom's hand me down quilts. Standing over her was a girl who sent a shiver down Sabah's spine. Purely based on her blue and white outfit, Sabah briefly thought that Bonesaw was watching Mina sleep before the uncurled hair clued her in. Without looking at Sabah, the girl spoke to her.
"Welcome Back Auntie Black!" She said, her voice echoing. Somehow, the eeriness of her voice made Sabah relax. At least the stranger in her apartment was a summon.
"Hello…?"
"Alice."
"...You're one of her summons, yes?"
Alice simply smiled.
"R-right…"
Sabah went through her nightly ritual of slipping into her sleepwear, brushing her teeth, and winding down from a long day of work as Alice simply watched her. Not commenting, not judging, just staring.
"Would you, um, like anything?"
"No."
Silence.
"Well… good night."
Sabah entered her room and almost slammed the door behind her. Whatever. She knew Mina had her needs. She would just have to accept sleeping in an apartment with creepy evil little girls loitering outside of her door. It was fine.
She tossed and turned for a few minutes before sighing. Sabah was going to have to give her another ultimatum. No more demon children in the apartment.
"I can't sleep like this…"
"I can help with that."
"AAaaaaH!!!"
There was Alice, standing over her bed in the dark of her room, holding a teacup and staring her in the eyes.
"Nighty Night Auntie Black."
Her last thoughts as her consciousness winked out were:
This girl is going to be the death of me…
Welcome to the 2.0 chapters. As you can probably tell, the central theme of these is going to be Mina interacting with one of the local cape groups to hilarious effect. This chapter was New Wave. To head off why the Wards didn't pop up, I briefly explained that Arcadia is like, the absolute worst place they could dip and deploy to for their secret identities. This, ironically, made Arcadia the most practical location for her to interact with New Wave. I did consider a disaster dinner at the Dallons, trust me I did, but ultimately settled on the school as a setting for this chapter. Dean also appeared this chapter, though Mina didn't ask his name. He was at the lunch table with Vicky in case you missed him. Another 'in case you missed it' person appears very early in the chapter, though I'd rather not spell it out. Then again, it's pretty obvious.
The Megaten fans eatin fucking good this chapter. Alice was already an incredible roll, and a legitimately perfect showcase of how Mina's Joke Villain Status holds her back from being an enormous threat (it's really what makes this story possible). Obviously, Die For Me is an AOE high chance instant death attack, but because Alice is amazing and the best, she has other signature skills. Another Dimension is another all party instant death/unconsciousness attack, so nothing noteworthy, but she also gets exclusive access to Mad Tea Party, which ended up overshadowing Die For Me since, well, it has a lot of nonviolent applications.
Ameno Sagiri though... like, wow. The Dice fucking love me. He's so... applicable to dodgeball. His signature Bewildering Fog makes him literally impossible to hit. Technically, he can use buffs and debuffs while under Bewildering Fog, I just had him come out of it for Sukukaja and Masukunda for narrative timing, since Bewildering Fog does wear off after a time. He has like ten million attacks... but he's also a comically large target. Also, he's all about living in ignorance and convenient lies... and he was facing off against New Wave. Thematic Resonance??? Hello??? I'm not sure whether to write a Side Story for New Wave vs Ameno Sagiri, but a part of me really wants to. Let me know if that interests you! I'd have included it here, but I wanted to keep the tone light, and all my ideas for Ameno Sagiri vs New Wave were much more serious. Also the chapter was way too long already.
"You who bare your faces to the world, know that your delusion is powerless against me. Your ideals are nothing more than a mask of their own; a comfortable lie to hide your true natures from the world."
No sooner than Henchmistress had made her less than daring escape, her giant eyeball demon began to taunt us. Mom, Uncle Neil, and Aunt Sarah stood in a well practiced formation, while I hovered behind them, ready to support them wherever they needed and protect my sister. I briefly wondered where Dad might be, but it immediately occurred to me that today might have been a bad day. I thought as much with no small amount of bitterness, but I shook off the thought.
There were more important things to be focusing on.
Mom didn't waste time on words. There was little point in it. Henchmistress's summons had their own personalities, that much was abundantly clear to me after spending so long with her across two separate encounters. This camera eye thing? Well, it seemed to like the sound of its own voice. Even as Aunt Sarah started to pepper it with blasts to cover for Mom and Uncle Neil's approach, it didn't so much as budge, taking the opportunity to preach at us more.
"You will never reach the truth you claim to hold so dear.
"Shut up, ugly!" I shouted, flying forward to deck the eyeball right in its ugly lens of a face. Closing in, I saw its lens focus on me.
"If you cannot accept the futility of your actions, then perhaps a demonstration is in order."
In an instant, it began extruding more fog out of its urchin-like protrusions. The fog went from thick to blinding. A part of me wanted to keep flying forwards, but after watching the dodgeballs literally pass through the fog, I knew it was more dangerous to be flying at full speed than to slow down. If I plowed into someone in the fog, it could be deadly.
So reluctantly, I slowed down. I turned in the air, scanning up, down, left and right, but as I thought, I was alone, surrounded on all sides by an ocean of hazy yellow. I couldn't hear or see anything. I kept my guard up. The thing, Ameno Sagiri, had said this would be a demonstration. I knew he wasn't simply going to show me nothing but fog, but there was nothing I could really do but wait.
Thankfully, I didn't have to wait for long.
"Look at you, acting all patient~."
I turned to the sound of the voice, arms raised and ready to fight… only to see another me flying in the air lazily. Except… she wasn't really me. She was wearing a black version of my Glory Girl outfit, spikes on the shoulders, brass knuckles on studded black gloves, and a horrible sneer on her lips. The one white part of her outfit was a small cape that reached the small of her back, speckled with red flecks of blood. The worst part was her eyes, a sickly, pale yellow that shone through the fog with alarming clarity.
"And you're supposed to be?"
"Don't play coy, Glory Hole, don't you recognize me? Aren't you supposed to be a smart girl?"
"You're just something summoned by the Henchmistress's power." I said. "I know you're not real."
"Wrong! Though I guess I can't blame you for not knowing the difference. After all, you've always been hard headed." the false me mocked, putting her hands on her hips and floating higher over me with a cocky posture. "In case it wasn't obvious, my perfect little hero, I'm you."
"You're… me?"
"You have eyes, princess. Use them."
Whatever this thing was, illusion or projection or otherwise, it was clearly trying to look like me. It wore my face and my body, but its clothes and manner were all wrong. It looked less like a hero and more like a thug. A villain.
"Really? You know, this whole doppelganger shtick you're trying to pull off would work better if you bothered with wearing my actual outfit."
"You really can't tell?"
"No. I can tell a little too well that you're trying to be me, but you're not."
The false Victoria smiled wider at that.
"Oh Victoria, I am you. I know everything about you. Just like I know how much you really hated Henchmistress today."
"Henchmistress doesn't mean to hurt anyone." I said confidently. It was true for the most part, and interacting with her today had made me realize that the girl was honestly rather nice overall.
"Oh Victoria, that doesn't mean you don't still resent her." Shadow Victoria laughed. "The reason you didn't skip grades was so you could still have a place to spend being Victoria and not Glory Girl. Then here comes Henchmistress, forcing you to shove more of yourself into the background so you can play chaperone for an over excited little kid? What about you?"
"What about you?! It was exasperating, sure, but it turned out to be interesting enough.You have no idea what you're talking about!"
"Don't I? How could I not know about you? Doesn't eeeeveryone in Brockton know everything all about us? That's what being an open cape is supposed to mean after all! Oh, though I guess if they knew about how bad you really want to kill gang members, they might not give a shit about you. Just like Mom and Dad don't."
My heart started hammering in my chest. How the hell did she know about that? About Mom and Dad? No, I couldn't just listen to her. I had to bite back.
"Mom loves me. Dad loves me. Amy loves me. And me? I love all of them. New Wave is a family."
"And just like a real family, you never had a choice who you were saddled with. Carol never gave a shit about you until you triggered, and then you got all the love you wanted for years, only to realize just how superficial it all was. That's why beating the shit out of gangsters feels so good. They aren't doing anyone any good anyways. Nobody's going to miss them, and its so nice letting your anger out on deserving shitbags."
"That's not-"
"And don't think I forgot about dear old Dad." Shadow Victoria laughed as she flew circles around me. "Though that doesn't mean he won't forget about us. Your school is under attack and he didn't even bother to show up! He loves you, sure, but what is that worth from a man who can barely make us breakfast even on a good day? A couple of useless platitudes and a pat on the back? It makes so much sense why Dean is perfect for us."
My blood started to boil. Everything she was saying struck me like a hammer blow, and I was running out of patience. I needed to wipe that stupid grin off her face. I flew at her, only for her to fade away from right in front of me, laughing as I plowed further into the fog.
"Oh, and Amy. Our lovable little sister. The one who caused all our problems with Mom to begin with. You put so much effort into trying to be a sister for her because you know Mom and Dad aren't going to be there for either of you. If only she'd just get over her stupid hangup and fix Dad's depression, things in our fucked up family might actually improve for once!"
"Amy can't do brains…" I said, a part of me knowing it was pointless to say, knowing she'd call out the lie immediately, but feeling like I had to say it anyways out of obligation.
"That's rich! We both know she can do more than brains! After all, why would her power let her see stuff she can't affect with her power? Like Abomasnow? You're a smart girl, you know she's just hiding it. Just like she apparently hid that she's gay from you."
"And isn't that hilarious." Shadow Victoria mocked, her face becoming visible in the fog once again. "You put all that effort into lining up dates for your sister, and she doesn't even trust you enough to tell you she's gay! If that isn't proof that those Skinheads deserved to have their bodies unceremoniously thrown into a dumpster, then I don't know what is!"
Shadow Victoria smiled.
"Of course, it's not their fault she doesn't trust you. No, that's all. On. You."
"SHUT UP!!!"
Even knowing it was pointless, I charged straight at my shadow. Once more, I passed right through her, the duplicate merely vanishing. This time, instead of her simply reappearing again, I saw three different figures. One was Amy, but it was a twisted form of her. She was wearing what looked like… Alice's outfit.
No. To be more accurate, that was closer to Bonesaw's outfit.
A bloodied smock, a red dress, and what appeared to be a hideous cape made out of writhing flesh. Tendrils with eyes and mouths swayed from it absently as the false Amy stood, an unnaturally cheerful smile on her face as she looked at my sister.
Amy was held in the grip of the wooden creature from earlier with the yellow eye on its torso, thoroughly restrained in front of her own Shadow. At the sight, all the complicated thoughts swirling about my head suddenly didn't matter as much. My sister was in danger, I was here to help, and there was something I could actually physically affect.
Something I could hit.
"Amy!"
"Speak of the angel, and she shall appear. Isn't that right?" Shadow Amy said happily, looking up at me and swooning. Swooning? Amy, for her part, looked completely horrified.
"Y-You can't! You fucking can't, you hear me?!"
"But the truth is what New Wave is all about! Wouldn't it be so much nicer not keeping any ugly little secrets?"
The Amy in the cape looked up at me and fluttered her eyes, clasping her hands together.
"Hey Sis! Aren't you looking wonderful tonight? You know, there's a reason I never told you I was gay."
Shadow Amy's words intrigued me, but they weren't what drew my attention. It was Amy that did. Restrained, terrified, and half ready to give up on life entirely. Like she was watching her world fall apart before her eyes. Whatever Shadow Amy was about to say, it was going to hurt her the way my own Shadow had hurt me.
I flew forward-
"Oh Vicky, I really do l-"
"NO!!!" Amy screamed.
The wooden creature holding Amy suddenly lurched forwards, still holding Amy in its grip. It held out its hand and shot a pulse of green energy at Shadow Amy. Shadow Amy simply smiled and titled her head, allowing the shot to pass her by.
"There." Shadow Amy smiled. "Was that so hard?"
Amy breathed heavily, pupils dilated and currently in the middle of a panic attack.
"Amy!"
I tried to fly over to her through the fog, only to find myself staring at Shadow Victoria, her eerie, smiling face taking up my entire vision. I recoiled, lashing out with a jab… only for it to simply pass through her again. I backed up and looked around, only for Amy and her fake to be nowhere to be found. It was just me and myself.
And Eye, I couldn't forget.
"You saw it. She really doesn't trust you. If she would just let you help her, everything would be fine. Where does she get off being so stubborn?"
Shadow Victoria almost seemed to swim through the fog, diving and surfacing all round me like a siren, whispering horrible secrets into being. And she just. Wouldn't. Stop!
"No one else gets it! The only person who really knew Victoria before Glory Girl was Amy, and she doesn't even trust you enough to tell you basic shit! You really are a terrible sister."
"I- I'm not! I'm trying my best!"
"And when has your best ever been good enough for anyone? For Mom? It's thanks to her that Amy doesn't have any support, thanks to her that no one in your family has been to a therapist… and it's thanks to her that you'll never be just Victoria ever again!"
"SHUT UP!!!"
I lashed out, swinging my arms around like hammers, hoping to hit her and get that sweet satisfaction if I just got lucky. Subconsciously, I knew it was useless. Physical attacks didn't work. The shadow just disappeared even if they got hit, but in that moment, I didn't care. I just wanted her to shut up. I didn't want to think about the shit she was spewing.
I just wanted to hurt someone.
Whatever these things were, they were horrible. This Shadow me… it was digging into me. Taking every dark and unflattering thought I'd ever considered and throwing them right in my face.
Is this what Henchmistress wanted?
That thought was enough to give me pause, and pause was enough to get me thinking. They knew things Henchmistress had no way of knowing, acted in ways I was sure she wouldn't want them to. Henchmistress didn't want her summons to hurt and kill people, she'd admitted as much at lunch, but the things they were saying were hurting. Hurting more than I wanted to admit.
She had saved Dennis's life at the photoshoot by calling off her own summon. Her summons could be difficult to control, and acted on their own accord just like Witchmon had. Just like Alice had. And whatever these Shadow things were, they weren't physically attacking us. Even the thing holding Amy was just restraining her. Whatever these things were, they were holding back because they weren't allowed to physically hurt us.
So they were doing so mentally. Because they wanted to.
And the worst part was that this thing… it was right. All the things it was saying out loud, they were right. I'd thought all of these things and just… never said them out loud. And it was spitting them right in my face. It was peeling away the polite fiction of my life and confronting me with nothing but the ugly, shameful truth. I felt myself burning with shame and anger. If I was like this, why would anyone bother to get to know the real me?
Why did Dean bother with me?
My mind flashed back to early last week. We had just gotten back together again. It was messy, as it always was, but Dean was one of the only people I could let my guard down around. I don't know if he realized the effect what he said had on me, but in this moment, the words came to me with perfect clarity even in this hazy maze of fog.
"Sure, you might be a mess sometimes." Dean had said while running his hand through my hair. "But you're also my kind, wonderful girlfriend. I fell in love with both versions of you."
And that was it.
If I couldn't fight these things head on, which was abundantly clear at this point, then the only way to deal with Ameno Sagiri's demonstration was clearly to meet it head on, but in a different way.
What did Ameno Sagiri say? We'll never reach the truth we claim to hold so dear or something equally sanctimonious? This 'demonstration' he called it. Whatever his goals or personality, it was clear he was testing us. Not physically, but mentally. He was testing who we were. What we were. Confronting us with the worst, darkest, and most awful parts of ourselves, and asking us to deny them. Prove him right.
Fuck that.
"Maybe…"
My shadow appeared from in front of me, leaning back with a satisfied smile. Everything about her was horrible. Ugly, petty, and selfish. Her appearance alone got the words I needed to say stuck in my throat. Every instinct in my body wanted to reject this hideous thing. I forced the words out anyways, as though hoping speaking them into being would make them easier to swallow.
"Maybe you're right."
My shadow stared at me before letting an ugly sneer spread across its face. It grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and pulled me in close, its yellow eyes glaring into my own. Even with the forceful conduct, it still hadn't attacked me.
"And I bet you think you're all clever. That you can be a brave little hero like your mother wants and save the day, huh?"
Bringing up my mother was as good a confirmation as anything. It was goading me.
"Sure. Fine. Maybe I resent Mom. Maybe I resent Dad. Maybe I resent Amy. Maybe I wish I could kill Nazis without repercussions… give them the same treatment they give innocent people every day and see how they like it… and also just for my own satisfaction. Maybe that's all true."
"Saying it isn't the same as accepting it."
She was right, of course. I could feel an ugly sensation curling in my chest. I was right. I knew I was right. I had to trust in my gut. So I didn't ignore the ugly feeling. I focused on it, and when I gave it my attention, the pain became more real, and yet it faded just enough for me to keep going.
"I don't care. Everything you said, it's true. But it's not all that's true about me. I'm kind. I'm strong. I put myself in the line of fire to help people."
"Is that really the reason?"
"It's not the only reason, but it's one reason. It's not a lie. You say you're me, but I know that's wrong, because everything you are? There's more to me than that. There's more to Amy than… that."
"That's what you'd like to believe."
Where before, it had been talking at length, now that I'd pushed back, its words were more clipped. Retorts instead of assaults. It was on the defensive. I was going in the right direction.
"It's true. I'm more than the worst parts of myself. So is Amy. We're all more than ourselves at our worst and our ugliest. You aren't the truth, you're just an ugly, incomplete look at a bigger picture."
Shadow Victoria did not like that. Not one bit. Her face grew furious. She reared back, balled her fist, and swung.
I held myself still through sheer force of will… and the fist harmlessly passed through my face. Shadow Victoria stared into my eyes, a stern and serious expression on her face.
"..."
"I'm not… no, that's a lie. I am afraid of you. But I've always wanted to be a hero growing up, and part of that means being brave. Confronting your fears… I guess I just never thought that the hardest things to confront would be living in my own heart."
It sounded so cheesy when I said it like that. The sheer corniness of the line made me smile, the levity or the absurdity injecting me with an embarrassed energy that nonetheless felt good. This was like an episode of Cape Pup now that I thought about it.
"And you think that's enough?"
"I hope it is."
I needed to spend some time with Dean after this was all over.
My shadow merely stared at me, its yellow eyes burning a hole into my own. I held its gaze, shame and pride swirling inside of me in an ugly emotional cacophony that I did my best to keep from showing. Even though I knew I was more than the terrible thing standing in front of me, that didn't make it a lie, either. It took everything out of proportion, but they were still my own thoughts laid bare.
"I know it is." I said, the ugly feeling tied in knots unraveling as I let the truth of what I was looking at wash over me. "Because even if you're just the worst parts… you're still me."
My shadow smiled.
It wasn't the ugly, unnaturally wide smile that was all perfect, sharp teeth. It was a gentle, closed smile.
"Fine." My shadow relented. "I hope you're right, because I already know you have no idea what you're doing."
Then, my shadow closed her eyes, dissolving into motes of blue light that glowed brighter than the fog could keep at bay. They seemed to form the rough outline of a figure, a humanoid I could barely make out, before the motes of light faded from view. And yet, despite her disappearance, I felt something settle in my chest.
She would never be far away when I needed her.
And sound seemed to return to the world. I heard snippets of conversation. Through the fog, I could make out outlines. All the other members of New Wave, in their own confrontations with their own Shadows. For a brief moment, I thought they were all coming to a close.
No one else's conversations had gone like mine.
"No matter how much you posture, you'll never be safe."
"And you'll always be the disappointing, background man of the house!"
"It's only a matter of time. Now's a bad time to be a Master, and you've got two of them under your roof… you don't even trust them. You can't trust anyone in this world, not even your own family!"
"She has your eyes, you know."
"She's right about you. You're one bad day away from turning into a monster. Will that day be today, I wonder…"
Distorted voices of my family members' Shadows. I could see through the fog somewhat. It was still everywhere, choking everything, but my eyes could see shapes. Often pairs, but sometimes more, of figures in the fog.
And I spied a familiar, large shape. Seven feet tall and jagged edges.
Amy.
But also Mom, Aunt Sarah, Unle Neil… and Dad.
He really was here, and he needed my help. All of them did.
But I didn't know who to help first. Amy was my first instinct, but her Shadow had been strange around me… and it occurred to me that it might not be the only one. I had no idea what ugly thoughts and feelings I'd be seeing. Things I'd be privy to that I didn't deserve to know. Going one by one might hurt more than help.
But that wasn't the only thing I could do to help.
My aura. It could project emotion. I used it to make people scared, or to fill people with courage. No one else could see through the fog. It felt dishonest, but I had no business learning the deep, dark secrets of every member of my family, helping them all one by one.
I let my aura go. Focused on the feelings that had carried me through my own confrontation. The love I felt for myself, the courage to power through fear, and the strength of heart to face down the worst parts of myself, and I slowly built up the feeling in my aura and shared it with the world around me.
Because we weren't alone.
I believed it with all my heart. The more I thought about it, the less dishonest it was. New Wave was many things. We were a failed movement, a dying grasp of honesty in a world of deceit, and wholly insufficient to right all the wrongs even in just our own city.
But New Wave was also a family, with all the good and bad that that entailed. We were messy, we kept secrets from each other, and we were all selfish in our own ways. Yet family were the people you could rely on to lend you strength when you found your own wanting.
And so I lent them my strength.
The first voice was one I didn't expect. It was Dad.
"...You're right. I haven't been there for them… I haven't even been there for me. But that changes… I'm ready to take that first step. I won't let anyone stop me. Not Carol, not the kids, and not even you. I'm going to drag you kicking and screaming if I have to, because wherever I go, you're coming with me until we're both smiling again."
Aunt Sarah.
"...I'll never be safe. Not in this crazy world, not ever… but that doesn't mean running away from it all. It's high time we pushed back. I let the world destroy me, destroy you, and destroy any hopes we had for a brighter future. We're finding that light again, together, no matter what it takes."
Uncle Neil.
"I've got a lot to own up to, but I'm not going to pussy out of it. My family needs me, and they deserve my honesty. About her.. And about you. About me."
Mom.
"Fine! Maybe they hate me! Maybe they don't trust me and I don't trust them... but you and I? We grew up in the Bad Old Days. We became heroes before the Protectorate even properly existed. I've let what New Wave once stood for get crushed and tossed aside. But we're heroes. Both of us. And it's high time we stopped bowing our heads and taking it. So fine, maybe I can't trust anyone… but I can still have faith in the people I care about even if I can't trust anymore. Because that's what New Wave is about, and it's time we both lived that."
"I'm not you!" Amy cried. "I'm not a monster in the making! I'm not one day away! I'll figure something out… I don't know what or when, but I'm not going to be just like dad. I'm going to be a hero, someone Vicky can be proud of, someone I can be proud of! You can eat shit if that's not what you want. Maybe I do need to be more selfish, but you'll never convince me that I want to be a villain… I just need- I just- we just need help…"
The fog that was once so thick and impossible lightened as my family found their courage. The shadowy faces and taunting voices that once filled the space faded as the Shadows retreated. Vague figures were now familiar faces, and they met eye to eye with emotion and determination.
And another Eye was there to meet them.
"You're determination is but a fleeting moment." Ameno Sagiri rumbled, it's form revealing itself from beyond the fog, and staring down on us with contempt, "In time, you will regress as all others do, once again seeking the comfort of illusions. This moment changes nothing. Humanity sought to escape reality of their own volition, and you are no different, no matter the masks you wear"
"Bold words for a guy who's about to get the world's biggest black eye." Uncle Neil said, cracking his shoulder, and looking downright murderous.
"And don't you know?" Dad chuckled, his voice surprisingly soft. "We're New Wave. We don't exactly do masks."
Aunt Sarah stepped forward, ready to make her own statement, but Mom stepped in front of her, a fierce expression on her face.
"New Wave… we're a family. And when you hurt my family?" Mom said, leveling her sword at the eye. "You pay the price."
"It is a pity that I cannot shepherd this place into a happier future. That you continue to resist what's best for you."
"Like you know anything about us!" I shouted. "You threw everything you could at us to make us give up, and it didn't work! Are you just going to keep giving us sermons, or are you ready to die like the monster you are?!"
"If you won't accept the truth of the world so easily, then I suppose the time for words has passed." Ameno Sagiri hissed. "I will show you the error of your ways by force!"
No sooner than he finished his threat did the rainbow lights running up the cracks in his body glow brighter before pulsing downward. And Sarah and I were the only two out of range when that rainbow light pulsed across the ground, knocking Mom, Dad and Amy to the floor, even the wooden construct Amy was controlling falling by her side.
Uncle Neil managed to stay standing however.
"Fastball!" He shouted. We'd practiced this maneuver, and the practice paid off. Mom turned into her ball form and Neil wasted no time grabbing her, rearing back, and starting his own game of dodgeball.
Mom hurtled at Ameno Sagiri, and Ameno Sagiri's eye tracked her, the rainbow light on it's body flowing directly to his eye, and I got a bad feeling immediately. I swooped in and caught mom before she could impact Ameno Sagiri, and it was for the best that I did.
A massive rainbow colored ocular beam of light burst out from behind me and fired off into the nebulous distance of the fog.
Ameno Sagiri blinked, and I took my chance, hurling Mom back in. She transformed in mid air and brought two of her lightblades down on Ameno Sagiri's eyelid, leaving two deep, molten cuts in its frame and causing Ameno Sagiri to shudder.
A gust of wind hurled mom away, and she simply turned into her ball form and let Aunt Sarah catch her.
Thankfully, this distraction had let the fallen members of my family clamber to their feet. Dad hurled a large flashbomb, more light than damage, right in Ameno Sagiri's face. Amy, controlling the Henchmistress's wooden sentinel, had the thing rear its arms and fire several amber blasts of energy directly at Ameno Sagiri's form, scorching it's body in several places, even knocking one of its plates off and revealing the bright rainbow energy making up its body.
Seemingly realizing the futility of trying to fight all of us at once, Ameno Sagiri began to extrude fog from his protrusions again. Dad and Sarah wouldn't be stopped from attacking, so I had to act fast.
"Wait! He'll deflect your shots like this!"
Thankfully, the trust we'd built up after so many joining exercises had them hold their fire. I knew that Ameno Sagiri couldn't very well drop this move without making himself vulnerable again, so it was a simple waiting game.
Unfortunately, it was one I quickly realized wouldn't favor us. The energy under Ameno Sagiri's plates began to grow brighter and brighter. Even with his eye shaking from keeping the fog around his body up, I could see it landing on my family members, his sheer gaze weakening them.
That had happened during the dodgeball game. It made people weaker, and it could make himself stronger as well.
"Know that I take no pleasure from your annihilation. I am merely an executor of humanity's will, and they… I… will see that will to it's completion."
"Are we just supposed to sit here?!" Amy shouted, her hands jittery even from this far away.
"This thing controls the Fog, we can't hit it like this!" I shouted.
Wait.
The Fog. As soon as I'd confronted my Shadow, seeing through the fog had become easier. The same Fog it was using to defend itself…
It was risky, but even in the worst case scenario, Amy was here. If anyone got hurt, she knew what to do, and this might be the only way to stop ourselves from getting steamrolled. I trusted her.
"I'm gonna try something… be ready to follow up!"
I flew in, focusing on that feeling that had settled in my chest. As the wall of yellow, hazy fog approached my vision, I held onto that feeling. I reared back as I pulled in on Ameno Sagiri's massive, shaking eye, and reached out-
…and passed through the fog. Ameno Sagiri's eye widened minutely, almost impossible to tell from this close. My haymaker landed with everything I had. I felt my shield shatter from the sheer force of the impact and let myself fall.
Ameno Sagiri reacted worse.
"I-Impossible!"
The massive, spiderweb of cracks that spread from the point of the impact had spread to cover almost the whole lens of its eye. It's whole body rocked back several feet, and the energy it had been spooling leaked into the glass chamber of its eye, effectively blinding it.
And my family didn't waste any time.
"New Wave! Go All Out!" Aunt Sarah shouted.
I felt my shield pop back into place and shot directly upwards. Sarah's laserblasts were the first attacks to hit, searing the glass of Ameno Sagiri's eye and lending him even more blind for Dad's Flashbangs. These were not, however, the nonlethal variants.
"BOOOOM!"
Ameno Sagiri reeled, finally closing its eye far too late to prevent the serious damage of the lobbed explosives. Chunks of Ice manifested and shot out in haphazard volleys, hoping to catch anyone, but unable to hit anything fighting blind.
This gave Mom and Niel time to make it into melee. Mom's dual blades carved huge chunks out of Ameno Sagiri's lower body, removing armored panels and fog protrusions with alarming ease while Neil simply ripped them off, creating a nice, soft belly to for Mom to stab into the beast.
Rainbow energy pooled and rushed downward, but I was ready for it this time.
"Mom!"
I flew in a low arc, giving mom enough time to calculate a good trajectory. She gave one last brutal stab to Ameno Sagiri's soft, unarmored lower half before using the leverage to kick herself into the air and turn into ball form.
Even as I swept by and caught mom, I stuck my leg out and gave the area of his body below his closed eye a hard kick, dislodging another armor panel on the way out.
Shadow me had a point. It felt good.
I reared back, ready to throw mom at the eye again when it reopened.
Fully healed.
The energy pooled again. Even with Neil tearing away at its lower body, Ameno Sagiri didn't seem to care. It's eye focused on me.
"As I said. Futile."
I was so distracted with Mom and my own attack that I didn't even see the energy it had gathered for the quake get redirected into its eye. All I knew was that I was in its line of sight and it was fully charged. Aunt Sarah put a shield directly in front of its eye, hoping to stop the blast close to its own body and cause it to hurt itself with recoil, only her shield shattered the instant the beam fired.
Directly at me and Mom.
I dived down. The eye tracked me. The laser followed its line of sight.
And Uncle Neil saved us. Using all of his super strength, he had gripped the fragile underside of Ameno Sagiri's body and lifted up with all his might. He was nowhere near strong enough to lift it, but he was strong enough to prevent its eye from following me as I swooped around its sight-line close to its body.
And thankfully, the laser ended. Sarah's own fired at the eye, drawing his attention away from us as Ameno Sagiri simply ate the scorch marks on the glass, focusing a blast of pure energy right under Uncle Neil. His forcefield held, but he was launched back far away from him.
I took a chance and hurled Mom at Ameno Sagiri from behind. She transformed in mid air, landing on his head, pulling out her dual lightblades, and jumped off his front, stabbing them in to the glass of his eye and letting gravity do the rest. Two harsh lines tore straight through the protective glass over his pupil as Ameno Sagiri's untouched eye tracked her down.
But my part in this wasn't over.
I followed Mom, grabbed the sides of the glass through the holes Mom had made, and ripped! The glass shattered under my grip, exposing his true eye for all to see.
Ameno Sagiri moved to close his eye.
Not wanting a second run of his regeneration, Mom threw her lightblades at his eyelid, preventing him from fully closing his eye and forcing his expression open. More rainbow light gathered around his eye, focusing into the lens and narrowing in on me as I floated before his face, almost daring him to try.
"Everyone get clear!" Neil's voice shouted.
I didn't waste any time, retreating to the sound of his voice. Mom and Sarah backed up as well, forming up around Neil, Dad, and Amy. Neil was holding a pulsating ball of wood, likely what remained of the Henchmistress's wooden guardian in the shape of a massive dodgeball.
Neil reared back, and in one swift motion, using all of his super strength, he threw the dodgeball directly into the hole in Ameno Sagiri's glass as he continued to struggle with Mom's swords. Sarah's shields covered the hole, trapping the wooden ball inside with his true eye.
Dad smiled. He lifted a hand, miming holding a detonator.
"You're out!"
Click.
The ball of wood, filled with Dad's deadly explosive orbs and likely its own explosive compounds, shrieked!
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!
Shards of glass and metal were sent flying everywhere. All of New Wave huddled behind Sarah's shields as shrapnel flew and the light of Ameno Sagiri's body started to dim.
The fog began to clear, and the shattered eye of Ameno Sagiri leaked rainbow colored ooze like tears trailing down the sides of its battered body. It's body dimmed into a dull black as it began to sink into the floor, melting into a puddle as its armor plates sunk into its body.
"Not enough… my presence in this world was much too fleeting… I cannot deliver you from this world's evil. You are doomed to live in this painful reality with nothing to shelter you…"
"You're wrong." I said, hovering forward. "We're New Wave. Whatever happens, we've got each other. It's not our fault you can't see that."
"I… do not… see…."
The last of the cohesion holding Ameno Sagiri's form together vanished. It's shattered, broken eye dissolved into a pool of shadow… only for all of it to vanish. All of the fog, the sludge, and the light… gone as thought it never existed. Me and my family stood there in Arcadia High's gymnasium. Tired, drained, and victorious.
I only recognized that we weren't alone when the first person started cheering.
Amy's entire gym class was still right there. Amy's face paled.
"How much did you see?!"
"Only the end." One of the girls said shyly. Amy all but collapsed into a heap in relief. I moved in to hug her, but she held an arm out in front of her. I wanted nothing more than to scoop her up in a hug, for my sake more than hers, but I held myself back. Amy didn't look great, and if she didn't trust me enough for a hug now, then I'd just have to earn that trust.
"...Amy." Mom said. "You should be checking to see if any of them are injured."
"...right."
Dad walked up behind Mom and put an arm on her shoulder. She met his eyes, eyes that had actual light in them for once, and stiffened as he gestured to Amy, whose shoulders had started to slump.
Something about the way Mom was looking at Amy softened.
"...you did good today... Amy."
Amy looked like a deer in headlights. She simply nodded numbly before walking over to her classmates as a means of retreating from an unfamiliar emotional situation. I could relate to that at least.
There was something in the air between us. Between all of us. Secrets on the verge of being aired right then and there but for the audience we had. It was awkward, but I could tell something about New Wave had changed today.
I was under no illusions that everything wrong with our team would be fixed. Things had a tendency of getting worse before they ever got better, but I could tell that the seed of improvement had been planted. Not just in the team, but in all of us individually.
"We're having a team meeting this evening." Sarah said. "We've got a lot to talk about."
And I wasn't alone in realizing that. Amy was talking to her classmates, shrinking away from the attention but still doing her duty as a healer. I wanted to hug her, both for her sake and my own, and it took a lot of willpower to stop myself from flying over and crushing her in a hug. She sent me a pleading look, asking for distance, and I did my best to tell her with my eyes that she could always rely on me.
Dad looked alive, Mom looked vulnerable, Neil looked stalwart, and Sarah looked determined. To say things were better would be a lie…but maybe, with enough time and effort, maybe that lie could become the truth.