AN: Minor Editing Pass 6-1-24

The next day I woke up still a little annoyed that I had stopped Taylor. If I had been horny before, I was really pent-up now. Sighing, I reminded myself that this was for the best. Taylor was extremely fragile at this point. I wanted her to join me, but I also didn’t want her to be forced into anything. This was difficult. A part I could barely remember knew what it was like to be that deep into depression. It was weird that those memories had carried over when my own name hadn’t. Still, she was about to throw herself into a literal fiery dragon without backup just to theoretically save some kids. Instead of backing off and, you know, calling the cops. She really was barely above suicidal at this point… I would have to keep an eye on her.

I sighed and got up. I had work to do.

Getting out to the boardwalk and buying a laptop wasn’t too difficult. Getting back to my apartment, portaling myself into another dimension, and then writing out the beginning of my notes on how to save the world was slightly more so.

Really part of the problem was I was trying to anticipate what the characters I had only read about would do with new information. Cauldron would try to suppress it. Dragon would be compromised. The fallen and slaughterhouse nine would work to undermine it.

I ended up spending several hours trying to work through the problem before giving up for the day, deciding to take a late lunch and try to contact Vista and Miss Militia. I put on the boots and jacket, but realized that with my Taylor diversion I hadn’t actually remembered to get the mask. Sighing I took back off the jacket, ending up with boots, jeans, and a black T shirt. Frowning I sighed and debated to myself on the best mask I could come up with. Sighing I rubbed my hair in frustration. Maybe I should just steal a domino mask from the wards. I blinked. That might actually be kinda fun and I really wanted to see the Protectorate base built out on that old oil rig.

Opening the scrying portal and moving it slowly towards the rig where the ward’s base was supposed to be, I moved the pea sized hole up and down halls for nearly an hour before I found the signs that lead to the Ward's rooms. Inside their common room I looked around carefully only to find the entire area empty. I blinked surprised, but then realized it was not even noon and they would all be at school. I snooped around a little, but I didn’t find anything too interesting.

However, my efforts did eventually pay off when I found a box with a variety of domino style masks available near the door. Apparently they just keep them there, just in case. I sighed again. I really had hoped that domino masks weren’t actually a thing in Worm. Just another example of the unwritten rules being allowed by Cauldron when they really shouldn’t be. I mean, if you can recognize a criminal and put him behind bars, wouldn’t that be saving said possible parahuman asset for later. Even if your only goal was getting as many humans as possible as a force to use against Scion, why would you let them run around and get killed in stupid self-destructive battles before that point? It isn’t like penal battalions weren’t a thing since the dawn of mankind. You wouldn’t even have to force them at gunpoint to attack, just use a master like Canary to enforce their cooperation. That is what they ended up doing with Taylor after all.

Sighing I shook myself and grabbed two masks. At least I had the masks and I could think about Cauldron more at a later point.

I moved my portals back to a second hand clothing store and grabbed a gator mask. The tube of fabric would cover me from the nose down and a cowboy hat would hide most of my hair. Better, neither one was purchased so even if the PRT looked through surveillance videos they wouldn’t find me.

So, while it wasn’t the best costume, it would have to do. Really, I only needed them for appearance’s sake anyway since I didn’t actually have a civilian identity and friends here to protect.

That meant this was just for appearances sake. To make it look like I played by the same rules so no one would get any more nervous than necessary. Normally, every cape wanted a private life out of costume and so trying to find out who they were under the mask was taboo. However, while I didn’t actually believe all the major sides wouldn’t even hesitate before trying to find out my secret identity, I had to look like I was going to play by the same rules.

Ironically, I was pretty sure that my costume actually did a better job of keeping my identity secret than a lot of heroes and villains’ costumes. I mean, seriously Taylor, your hair is beautiful, but allowing it out the back of your mask with no alterations along with a skin tight bodysuit was kinda foolish.

After a few texts to Dinah about how to best attract the protectorate’s girls, I end up calling in as a possible Ward’s member recruit. Telling them I am a minor trump that apparently can reduce the backlashes of powers would be both true but also only mildly interesting. Best not arouse too much suspicion or effort in tracking me down. Especially since I had no intention of actually joining right now.

Making the call to the PRT and then making an appointment to visit with Miss Militia and Vista on neutral ground was surprisingly easy. Apparently, asking for them as the two with the most Ward’s experience sounded convincing enough.

Actually, I was surprised that they were willing to meet so soon. Four hours isn’t exactly a lot of notice, but I suppose that a new Ward is interesting enough to happen fast. I just needed to grab another burner phone and leave it unpowered somewhere safe. If things went tits up I didn’t need them tracking me down so easily.

Scoping out the park to the north I looked around for sensors and cameras. Finding quite a few I sighed. I guess this wasn’t exactly the neutral ground I had been hoping for.

However, despite my annoyance, I only had to wait a few minutes hidden in a side street before the two heroes arrived. As I watched them standing awkwardly, looking around for this new Ward, I paused to again consider how to best approach them. I was going to use a TV remote with some duct tape and wires as an explanation for my privacy dimension. Said screen could be explained away as a privacy screen, but I didn’t really have a good way of actually arriving at the meeting if I don’t want to show my portals.

Sighing again I walked out from one of the alleys nearby. The moment I was in camera range the heroes turned to face me. I nearly facepalmed, so much for a private meeting, it was clear that at least a few people were watching the cameras if they were that quick to spot me.

The heroes looked a little wary, but my apparent age and lack of hostility apparently convinced Miss Militia to turn her assault rifle into a pistol which she holstered before taking a step forward to shake my hand.

Reaching forward I shook lightly realizing that I didn’t have any gloves and nearly kicked myself. Hell, I hadn’t been wearing any this entire time and my figureprints might have shown up somewhere. So much for my criticisms of Taylor secrecy.

“Nice to meet you, I am Miss Militia and this is Vista. I was told that you asked to speak to us about the Ward’s program?”

I smiled. Right to business. “Sure, but I do have something I would like to do first.” Both of them tensed at that statement but I just continued. “I want to share a little bit about my living situation and so I bought this. With this, I should be able to create a field where no information should be able to get in or out from.” All technically true, but highly misleading in case Armsmaster’s lie detection was being used on me.

After a moment in which the two of them obviously listened to a discussion over their radios before they nodded slowly. Not sure how to feel about them not trusting me, but still allowing me to use supposed tinkertech in front of them, I look down and push the mute button on the remote before portaling the three of us into a half dimension. The two of them blinked as the world around them went fuzzy before both of them reached up to their ears, obviously to radio it in. Vista had apparently decided I was a threat again since I was suddenly several dozen feet further away. The radios obviously didn’t work and the two of them tensed again while staring me down. I wasn’t sure the correct way to approach this so in the end I just simply waited.

Really, I was surprised at the tension, but I guessed they didn’t expect my supposed tinker tech to be able to beat both Armsmaster and Dragon’s tinker tech radios. After a few more moments of tense silence Miss Militia was the first to respond. “I need you to take your field down. I don’t want to continue while this cut off.” I blinked but was at least grateful that she hadn’t pointed her gun at me again.

I shook my head but then quickly spoke up before the tension could get any higher. “Opening and closing the field is somewhat difficult and I am not going to talk about my personal situation without it. If you want to leave you can do so at any time. Simply walk out, there will just be a bit of a tingle. It is not harmful.”

Miss Militia and Vista slowly backed up away from me before sticking their hands slowly through the barrier. I was glad I warned them so they didn’t think the tingle was an attack, but a moment later the two walked stoically out and apparently discussed with either Armsmaster or Director Pigot. I thought about trying to eavesdrop, but I didn’t want to open a portal in case they spotted it.

The conversation was actually pretty quick and a moment later the two slowly crossed back into the bubble. The simple verification seemed to have relieved most of Miss Militia’s worries, but she still wasn’t relaxed. A good soldier, I supposed. I was beginning to realize my offer was a long shot, but I still wanted to try. I almost chuckled as her ability to leave the bubble was only because I wanted to give her the option.

Miss Militia paused and finally crosses her arms before doing a Kakashi eye smile. Huh, I didn’t actually think eye smiles were possible, but what did I know? “So what did you want to talk about, young man?”

I tried not to sigh again at the need to explain myself one more time, especially as I couldn’t risk giving them nearly as much information.

“Hello, you may call me Wanderer. I have been wandering around for a while considering what I can do to help. I don’t actually have all of my memories after triggering, but I am afraid that I am pretty sure I am actually older than 18. The reason I said I was younger and interested in the wards, was because I wanted to talk to the two of you in particular. You two were my first choices because you are both the most senior of the capes here. Plus I think you two are probably the most level headed capes in the city.”

The two girls didn’t seem pleased at my admission that I had been lying about my age, but were slightly mollified after my praise so I continued. Vista in particular looked proud she was being recognized for all of her work. I smiled internally and continued. “I have been working on a way to really help the world as a whole. I am planning on attempting to hit some big targets and drop some very important information to the PRT. However, I am not interested in joining the Protectorate directly.” Both girls frowned at that and I sighed deciding that I should explain. “The PR patrols and red tape simply won’t let me do what needs to be done. Plus I don’t need the attention since it would just place a larger target on my back since I am most likely classified as a Trump. Since trumps are those who can buff or remove other people’s powers I would be a large target for the villains and maybe even a few heroes.”

Miss Militia nodded her head stiffly while Vista actually looked a little interested in where this was going. I gestured towards the two of them. “To be blunt. The world is dying. The world has at most another 20 to 30 years, but a precog I have on my team has put the estimate much lower than that if nothing is done. The other reason I wanted to talk to the two of you in particular is you both could be very helpful for our efforts. So yes, I am offering the two of you a position on our team. It will be dangerous and difficult, but our precog says it has a high possibility of working.”

Vista looked conflicted. I knew she didn’t like how she was being treated, but it was also a long shot for her. Miss Militia looked wholly unimpressed and I sighed internally.

“Yes, I understand you want the information and a chance to verify it before even considering my offer.” The two girls nodded so I continued “So I have spent some time with our precog and we have some information for you. The precog says that Lung has recruited the Cornell University bomber. She entered the city a few days ago and is building up her bomb stock here.” I looked as stern as possible before I shook my head. “I will try to subdue her before I leave town, but if I can’t then you need to find her soon. If you don’t you are going to be looking at a full blown war zone in the city as the other gangs won’t stand back as the streets start exploding.”

The two girls had gone stiff at that and I sighed before continuing. “The second piece of information is that the precog has determined that your security has been hilariously compromised by the villain Coil and the E88. The ABB and the Merchants also have informants, but to a much smaller degree.” I doubted this information would do anything, but I might as well try.

“Finally the precog has found suggestions that the Slaughterhouse 9 are targeting Mouse Protector and Ravisher. If she is not dissuaded from attacking them, she will end up a half dead abomination like all of Bonesaw’s victims.”

The two females in front of me simply gaped for a few moments before Miss Militia seemed to shake herself out of it and turned to report this in. Deciding I was done with this game of telephone I spoke up. “Wait just a moment. I have only one more thing to say.”

Miss Militia turned around and Vista simply tilted her head. I noticed that I was back down to only about 10 feet between the two of us. “I am serious when I said that my team and I are trying to really make a difference here in this world. But that does mean we are moving on from here soon, probably in a few days.” Leaving the here as ambiguous as possible would lead people to think of Brockton Bay when I actually meant Earth Bet. “My team and I would love to have women as strong, kind, and smart as you both on our side. However we understand it isn’t easy to leave at the drop of a hat and this will be a full time position. So I am going to toss you a note card with my phone number on it. Text me if you want to talk about the details of joining us, but I am afraid that if we don’t hear from you in two days we will be gone and I highly doubt we are coming back. Also, while you can text us questions about what we have already shared, I am afraid my precog doesn’t have any other predictions she can make for now.”

Vista now looked overwhelmed. She was looking back and forth between the card I threw to her, Miss Militia, and me, but I didn’t say anything else before waving, pushing the mute button on my remote again and walking away. She was then even more startled as she saw the barrier start to dissipate.

Miss Militia seemed to make a decision faster. She looked to the side and started speaking quietly and quickly before suddenly realizing I had nearly reached the alley again and yelling. “Wait, we are sorry, but you have too much sensitive information about PRT security. we need to bring you in for some questioning and your own protection.” Already I could hear the roar of Armsmaster’s bike coming in fast.

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I looked behind me and visibly sighed before shaking my head even as Miss Militia started running towards me. Ducking around the edge of the building I prepared to portal away when I saw a red blur speeding towards me. I cursed. Velocity, how could I have forgotten him? He was basically a perfect counter for me since while he was a discount flash knockoff he would be able to stop me no matter what I did. Indeed as he arrived I felt the remote ripped out of my hands. A moment later I noticed a foam grenade at my feet. Wow, these assholes were really going all out to capture me when all I had done was try to warn them. Still I wasn’t about to let myself get captured. Plus, Armsmaster’s motorcycle was just around the corner and I really didn’t want to have him interrogating me with whatever bullshit tinker tech Dragon and he could come up with.

Throwing myself backwards while dropping the grenade through its own portal to 30 feet up I managed to avoid just about all of the foam. However that jerk back was actually what saved me as it was that moment that I heard a gunshot and my arm erupted in pain. Crying out I looked down to see my left hand, along with a large section of my forearm were simply gone.

There was a moment of silence before my brain rebooted and I heard Miss Militia’s boots just around the corner. The gunshot wasn’t from her. It was from a rooftop. Damn IT. That must be Victor from the E88. I had forgotten about him. His skill stealing made him one of the best snipers in the world. If the E88 had already gotten the information that I had given Miss Militia then he was probably trying to silence me. I blinked, he was also probably already lining up another shot.

I had already shown them my portals so now was not the time to be hesitant with my powers. Luckily Velocity had taken cover when he had heard the gunshot so there were no other attempts to foam me. Taking a breath I decided to screw stealth. Throwing myself backward one more time I made a portal behind me perpendicular to where I guessed Victor to be. That turned out to be a wise decision as I heard another gunshot as I fell through but nothing hit me. He had probably aimed where I would have landed. That or he was aiming for Velocity or Miss Militia. Now safe while closing the portal behind me I took a moment and sat back and just breathed.

Damn IT, DAMN IT, DAMN IT!

A small part of me wondered if Dinah could have prevented this cluster fuck, but I reminded myself that she was just a kid with limited questions. She also believed that nothing short of destroying our soul gems would kill us, which was true. Plus I had told her that Amy would likely be joining as well which gave us world class healing. So it makes sense that she wouldn’t be asking questions like ‘if I will be temporarily grievously wounded’.

Staring at the ripped apart and dripping stump of what used to be my arm I felt myself slipping back towards shock. Doubly so as my brain started to register the pain again. Yet before I could lose myself, instinct made me create a portal going through my arm. Said portal only blocked electrical signals and thus the pain.

The feeling was so strange that I nearly didn’t realize my arm was still bleeding. I kicked myself, I should have noticed that. Then again, that was probably the effect of the blood loss. Wrapping my stump in another portal that didn’t allow for anything to pass through it almost instantly formed a near perfect bandage even if it looked horrific.

Pausing and actually looking at what I had just accomplished, I realized this was new. This portal wasn’t flat. In fact, I wasn’t sure how I had done that.

Now that I wasn’t losing blood, and couldn’t feel the pain. I just stared at the stump. I didn’t actually feel like throwing up… I just stared… that was probably the shock setting in.

Literally shaking my head clear I realized that motion had made my entire body start to sway back. Heading over to my kitchen sink I poured myself some water. It wouldn’t fix things, but it was better than nothing.

I needed to stop and actually think.

Amy can fix this up easily. I was not going to die here. However I needed to be more careful, I also needed to start keeping track of all the villains. I should have known where Victor was the entire time. Especially if we were going to hit them all as we left town. Doubly so as now I had a score to settle now with the E88. Damn Nazis!

The next few hours were spent scribbling notes one handed as I searched out the town for the homes of the E88 capes. I didn’t remember all of their real names, but I hit pay dirt when I found Victor meeting with Max, Orthalla, Hookwolf, Alabaster, and the twins. Probably on his failed assassination attempt on me along with what they learned about my powers.

It took a little while, but I was able to leave a tiny portal attached to the interior of their shoes. A few hours later I knew where they lived. That was great. Now if only Coil’s bases, the Merchants, and ABB were so easy.

It was nearly 2 hours later when I got a text from Amy.

Opening up my phone I read the text.

‘Tried to talk to V about her aura. Said I didn’t know what I was talking about while her aura kept rising. No longer felt confident enough to talk about it. I want the help you promised tonight.’

I rubbed my head. This was almost exactly what happened to Taylor. Both girls were being driven to the edge and just didn’t want to deal with things anymore. Kinda scary when they both had Queen level shards inside their heads.

After a few texts to confirm that she was at home, I opened up a portal from her bedroom to my apartment.

I just held her for a few minutes as she just tried to breathe and calm herself down. Then she looked down at the bandage I had wrapped around my forearm and nearly screamed. “What the hell?!”

Without saying anything else she latched on to my hand to start healing me. Soon I could feel some of my body’s muscles disappearing as I watched my hand grow back like a timelapse of a tree growing. It was incredibly gross, but I wasn’t about to complain when I was literally getting my hand back.

After my quick explanation that made her scowl she sighed. Said scowl that made me a little nervous about the remaining E88 member’s health, or would have if I didn’t know how terrible people they were.

After a few more moments she looked up at me with my eyebrow raised and smiled a sad smile. “I know this is a big step, but I want out now. Plus I could do a lot worse than someone like you. You even tried to warn the PRT despite how corrupt you know they are at the moment.”

I shook my head. “Well, I admit that my first priority was actually trying to convince Miss Militia and Vista to join us, but yet, I do want the good people in the PRT to have a chance. Especially if our attempt to fix things goes south.” Something shifted. I wasn’t lying. I did actually feel a little better with my choices to try to help.

Amy sighed and hugged me. “You aren’t a bad man Max. I can tell you do actually want to help people.” She smirked, then whispered. “Plus, I wouldn’t mind the extra girls either.”

I snorted and decided to smack her butt while she was still in my arms. I felt as Amy tensed up and then to my surprise she let out a little groan. Raising my eyebrow I looked at her again. She seemed to hesitate before making a decision and then a little thrill raced down my spine as I watched her nibble her lower lip. Oh man, she is going to be fun. Especially when we get more girls involved.

Internally shaking my head, I tried to put the brakes on my libido train. Leading her over to the bed I had her lay down face up while I waited with my hand above her stomach and head tilted in question. After one more firm nod I pulled up her shirt and placed my hand on her belly button. No more words were said as I slowly bound my new companion. This was my third and the second I could actually enjoy.

Combining her shard down into her soul took almost as long as Taylor’s queen administrator. I guess the comments on how her shard was actually the Queen Shaper were true.

After I was done I reached forward to bring her up to sitting on the edge of the bed. Looking at her I really wanted to jump her then and there, but I wasn’t sure how to go about it.

I didn’t just want to dive between her legs, but I also didn’t want to just stop again. Not when she was this willing. However, it was Amy who surprised me as she immediately started pawing her own body. As I watched she started toning her stomach while giving herself an extra cup size with the removed fat. She was now a solid C cup with a narrow waist and now flawless skin. Raising my eyebrow Amy had the good grace to blush before starting to pull up her shirt.

Realizing it was best to just ask, I spoke up. “Are you sure you want to do it now?” I wanted it, but I really needed to hear her say it.

Amy once again surprised me as she actually smiled. “I am pretty clear headed for the first time in a long time. I kinda want it now before I get too nervous.”

I smiled. “Well, as long as you make sure I don’t give you any babies until we are ready, I am happy to sleep with you.” Leaning down I met her lips. I could already tell I was enjoying it, but surprisingly enough it was incredibly vanilla. Taylor had kissed better than this. Then again, Taylor could have at least watched her parents kiss. I doubted Amy saw Carol kiss anyone as it was a vulnerable moment. Plus she definitely wouldn’t have kissed anyone on the double dates her sister apparently dragged her on if she was still obsessing over Vicky. After another minute of her fumbling attempts I realized I was just going to have to take charge and so I reached down to start to undo Amy’s pants.

Yet, as I was looking down I realized that her breasts were still growing, now well past a D cup now with no signs of stopping

“Amy!”

The girl looked up at me confused at the reproach in my tone. “I thought you liked big breasts.”

I sighed. “I do, but I don’t need you harming yourself by going crazy. We can experiment later if you want to as long as it doesn’t hurt you, but right now I want to make love to my cute little Amy, not a porn star bimbo.”

Amy blinked before smiling shyly and I watched as her breasts shrunk back down. I was pretty sure she was still bigger than when we started, but as long as she wasn’t going to assume she was only a sex doll I was going to be happy.

As I bent down I smirked. “That isn’t to say you can’t make yourself as sensitive as you want.”

The girl shivered at that as I bent forward.

It was probably about 15 minutes later that she woke up to me spooning her. I could tell she was confused for several seconds before she remembered what had happened and smiled.

Still as she turned her head to look cutely up at me I was glad I got the reaction I wanted. Quietly she whispered “I am glad I am yours.”

My mind nearly bluescreened with how much I liked that. Amy could obviously tell and got a bit of a little smirk as she continued to bask in the afterglow.

Laying back down I was just starting to nod off when I got another call. Frowning, I glanced up and looked around until I found my phone. Sighing I opened up the caller ID, it was Taylor. I frowned again before answering the phone call. “Taylor, what is wrong?”

Taylor sounded frustrated and tired, but determined. ”I want to continue where we left off last time.”

I blink and looked over at Amy. Focusing on Taylor again, I nearly told her that I would need a rain check on that, but after a moment I paused. They were both my wives. They knew about each other. They might not have been ready to be involved with each other, but it was best to make it completely clear what type of relationship this was sooner rather than later. I wasn’t going to have my wives tip toeing around each other when they wanted to show and receive affection. That way led to resentment. Besides, while I wasn’t going to force anyone, I kinda wanted to encourage threesomes.

“Ok Taylor, why don’t you come on over then.”

As Taylor walked through a portal from her bedroom I made for her she was initially distracted by the transfer and probably a set of bugs in the new area. However when she finally noticed we were in my bedroom her face once again went red. Said redness then doubled when she noticed Amy behind me.

However, contrary to my expectations, Taylor only paused for a few seconds before squaring her shoulders and walking over to Amy. “I wanted to ask you to give me breasts.”

Amy blinked before looking Taylor over. Maybe she was still in her afterglow or maybe she noticed how uncomfortable Taylor was and simply smiled before scooting over and putting a hand on Taylor. “Huh, yeah I could do that, how big do you want them?” As I watched Taylor went from a small A cup to a small B cup, but then she slowed down and paused. “You are actually in pretty good shape, but we will need some sort of biomass if you want any more.”

Taylor seemed to be oscillating between excitement at her growing breasts and embarrassment, but I simply hummed. “You know I never asked, but does any biomass work or does it have to be meat to make changes to us and does it need to be still alive?”

Amy sighed. “Yeah, any biomass works but it is better alive or very fresh. So yes, I can work with biomass like a butchered steak since it is mostly still alive at the cellular level, but once it is cooked it becomes much much more difficult. Specifically muscle to muscle and fat to fat is much, much faster than something like grass to muscle even if it is all carbon chains.”

I nodded before thinking for a moment. “We aren’t in any hurry so why don’t I just open the portal to the trees south of town and you can just convert it for now. It is much less likely to be noticed than stealing a stake from a butcher. It will give you a chance to give the three of us a tune up while you are at it anyway.”

Nodding Amy reached through the portal I opened and grabbed a young aspen before grabbing both of our hands firmly. In the meantime I started rubbing Taylor’s shoulders with my other hand to get her to relax. We all knew what was about to happen so I hadn’t even put on anything other than my boxers, so I could feel Taylor’s nervousness from the moment she walked in.

In an attempt to keep everyone calm and relaxed while that was happening, I spent more time explaining to both of them more of their cannon future. Amy was annoyed to know that Taylor had held her hostage at the bank but was embarrassed when I told her that she had threatened to give Taylor and the undersiders a super cancer. Afterwards Amy looked suitably angry for the constant struggle Taylor had with the protectorate. Especially the betrayal of Armsmaster when he broke the endbringer truce. Taylor had her own moment to look a little angry as I told her how Amy would get her in trouble with the protectorate, specifically Legend and the Undersiders during the Endbringer truce. However, Taylor softened and looked extremely sympathetic as I told them about the attack from the Slaughterhouse 9 and Amy’s breakdown. Amy even looked pleased as I told her about how Taylor respected Amy to the very end even after she made mistakes with Vicky.

When I finished both girls hugged for a few moments and looked at each other.

Taylor had a small C cup now and was honestly stunning with her long legs. The additional time for the tuneup had taken a solid 30 minutes and Amy now looked a bit tired as she flopped back onto the bed. Taylor looked a bit ecstatic when she looked down at her body. Blinking she giggled and after a moment staring at Amy she leaned down and kissed her. I could tell there was no tongue but Amy looked surprised and then pleased as she smiled up at Taylor. Taylor had gone ruby red as she pulled back, but after a moment she turned back to me.

Smiling, I leaned forward before whispering in a quiet husky voice. “Lay down, we aren’t stopping this time.”

As Taylor and Amy relaxed to either side of me I smiled in contentment. This is exactly what I wanted when I started making this harem, but I didn’t think it would come together this quickly.

Life was good.

The three of us slept that night together. I couldn’t keep a smile off of my face as I looked down at my girls, a flower in each arm.

Still, despite assurances from both girls that they had ensured they shouldn’t be missed at home, I set an alarm to be awake tomorrow before dawn. Best to get them back to their own houses before they were possibly missed. They would be leaving with me soon, but it would help to keep the facade for a little longer.

It turns out the alarm wasn’t needed as Lisa got back to me asking for option number 1 before dawn. Coil had called her up and asked her to show up that afternoon to discuss what she learned about the footage on me. I suspected she hadn’t given him much info on me and was rightly worried she would be tortured for that info.

Despite my slight regret on not being able to bring her with us, I wasn’t about to drag her along. She would both see my intentions and could cause problems too easily by playing mind games. So with a quick visit from Amy for a body adjustment, Lisa, Brian, Aisha, and Rachael were half white, half hispanic teens running away from their abusive family in Chicago and headed up to Canada where Brian would join the Guild and Rachael would train police dogs. Amy even secretly adjusted Rachel’s brain hormones so she would be more empathetic. Apparently that was fairly easy, but wouldn’t fully fix her issues.

Alec refused to be any closer to his father Heartbreaker who was still in Canada so Amy gave him a small amount of lizard scales and sent him to Faultline as a Case 53. The four were told to showcase their powers slightly differently, but none of them were high profile enough that they would probably be found out.

I tried to talk to Lisa again, but Lisa complained the entire time so finally I threw up my hands and simply dropped them off at a bus station at the edge of town with a note and my phone number that said she had less than 2 days to change her mind. She probably did that on purpose since she could tell I was trying to get her to change her mind.

The next problem came at about 7am when Vicky called Amy’s number.

“Ames, I don’t know where you are, but you need to get back here and explain what is going on or I am going to tell Mom…”

Vista Interlude:

Vista held the card with the number in her hand. She didn’t know what to think. A part of her was surprised when she had realized the cape had thrown two at her stuck together. She had obviously handed one to Miss Piggot when she had been ordered to, but she had kept the second.

Did she want a way out?

Would it be any better than what she had here?

She was starting to hate any time she spent with her parents. They were constantly fighting. Recently they had even started fighting more and more over her.

Still she wanted to be a hero. What kind of hero runs away from her duty?

She had been a hero for longer than any of the other wards in the Bay. Despite what the damn Youth Guard would like to think, she had fought Hookwolf and Krieg multiple times now. All while surviving just fine. In fact, it was those stupid helicopter parents that seemed to be the most up in arms when she asked if she could get a taser or foam grenades. She frowned, or even body armor on top of the jacket she was wearing under her costume now.

Damn idiots.

She grimaced, still, what would it say about her if she left when the Bay was so close to exploding. When people needed her? She wanted to be a hero… it was all she had.

Interlude Piggot:

Something was happening. She could feel it. There were capes that were going to kick the proverbial ants' nest and it would be her job to pick up the pieces. She wanted this cape captured. She needed that precog off the streets. She needed his tinker on their side.

Most of all she needed them under control. A part of her knew that even then she couldn’t trust them. Not until their back was up against the wall and even then only as far as you could throw them. Capes would always betray you the moment the going got tough. Give her a good soldier any day of the week.

She frowned as she read over the report of Armsmaster’s analysis of what the unknown cape had said. They were tentatively calling him Coordinator or Wanderer for now.

Still, she needed to get a move on this. The last thing she needed to have happened was for this unknown cape to get involved and end up starting a gang war. Or worse be forced into one of the gangs against their will.

Didn’t they see how precarious things were while they were being repeatedly denied reinforcements from PRT headquarters?

She sighed and winced as her injuries flared up again. Damn it. The world had gone to hell and it was people like that damn Goblin-King that were making sure everyone went down with them. She wasn’t about to trust another one of them to fix it. Not when it was clear that Amy Dallon could do more than she was claiming. She wouldn’t let a bio-tinker near her ever again. Even if it meant dialysis every other day.

She needed to be on her A game. She was literally the only sane one left, after all.