31

Volition 3.9

"My dad's getting suspicious," said Taylor.

"You could just tell him…?"

I continued going through the forms I had just learned. Although I had learned the skills, they didn't truly belong to me. Their muscle memory, the balance, the body structure was all different from my actual body. Small things that could be dangerous to me if I didn't practice with my own body. My body right now, after Amelia's enhancements, was substantially faster and stronger than the people whose skills Cranial installed into me. It was easy to accidentally use too much force and become unbalanced, or even more comically, withdraw a heavy punch so fast it came back to hit me.

"It-it's not that easy," she said. Her body tilted, and her swarm of bugs came in to prevent her fall.

"Are you afraid that he won't let you be a hero?" I glanced at her giant beetle that she was practicing how to balance on while midflight.

Its bulbous eyes were staring at me intently.

I persuaded Amelia to make the creature fully self-sustainable, if not sentient. It couldn't reproduce either, just like Atlas in the canon. We also named it Atlas, of course.

But there were also big differences from the canonical Atlas in that it could survive on its own without Taylor and had some more features. It had a basic insect brain, vastly superior visual and auditory senses, tranquilizer breath attack, paralysis venom, and a digestive system that could handle most organic input. Through our Atlas, Taylor could actually see and hear quite clearly, even though she wasn't used to the extra sensory input yet.

Amelia had offered to make relay bugs to expand Taylor's range, and make Atlas double as a relay bug. I kindly advised Taylor against the offer until her range naturally expanded a bit more and she learned to improve her comprehension of insect senses, on account of the mental strain and the risk of going crazy by rushing things. She remembered what it was like during the first week when she first got her power, and accepted my advice.

It would be difficult for me to keep anything secret from her if she covered the whole city in bugs. I knew that this would lock down most of her potential, but it was a difficult decision that I didn't want to jump into, because I could never take it back. I had to be sure of either committing to stay above whatever Taylor's moral bottom line was, or having the ability to persuade Taylor beyond it when appropriate for my purposes.

"No, that's not it. I was a little worried about it before, but now we have the resources to be a great team. $30 million. I couldn't even imagine having that kind of money before. We'd be better funded than the Wards, even." she said.

"Then what's the problem?"

"Just, I don't know how to bring it up, you know? I've barely talked to him in so long. I met with the police again yesterday at school, with my dad and the vice-principal. I showed them all my evidence this time, and it came out that Emma was one of the bullies. He…didn't take it well. I've never seen him so mad before. I think he's also a little angry at me that I didn't tell him earlier. How can I tell him now that I've secretly had powers for months and went out to fight Lung?" she trailed off.

"Who is Emma? Why did your dad take it so badly?" Amelia asked.

Taylor stayed quiet, looking like she wanted to slink away in shame all of a sudden, so I answered for her. "Emma Barnes used to be Taylor's best friend, as close as sisters. Her father Alan Barnes was good friends with Taylor's dad as well. He's a divorce lawyer at Carol's firm, and I suppose at one point Danny might have considered asking him for help with Taylor's case, not realizing that Alan was part of the problem." I guessed that Taylor had been so open because she assumed we both knew the whole story, but since it turned out that Amelia didn't, her anxiety came back, scared that her new friend would betray her like Emma. But, it was important that Taylor think of both of us, not just me, as a safe space, so I revealed it, and gave Amelia a silent signal.

"Barnes…now that you mention it, I think I've actually seen her before, at a party. Redhead? Part-time model?" Amelia asked. She saw my signal and added, "And total bitch?"

"That's the one," I said, nodding as I saw Taylor relaxing.

"Well, that is a tough spot be in. Maybe he'll cool down if you wait a while. A good father should be understanding. He didn't press you on it for a year and gave you your space this whole time, what's a little more?" I showed my empathy but hesitated to offer any solution. We could all go in person and reveal the truth, I doubted Taylor would want that, nor would I really benefit from having Danny in the know, despite what I told Taylor before.

"But, he's already suspicious. I don't think I can keep it from him for much longer. I told him I met a couple of new friends, but I don't think he bought it," Taylor said sullenly.

It was some kind of neurosis, I thought. She knew she should tell Danny the truth but kept finding excuses not to. She wanted to keep the two parts of her life separate.

I offered to arrange a fake part-time job for her, but she thought Danny wouldn't like that. Being a hero with a power was one thing, but getting a part-time job just to make money when her grades still weren't very good wouldn't fly.

Laying low, not coming as often? Another nope was her answer. She wanted to be a hero and contribute to the team.

I ended up offering to have us all go and reveal the truth. I wondered if I had been wrong about her neurosis, that maybe she was waiting for us to offer to go with her, but she turned it down saying she thought it'd be better for her to explain it to her dad first by herself. Smooth things over.

Then it hit me.

She must have wanted us to do another successful job, so that she could use as leverage and say that what happened with Lung wasn't a fluke. She didn't want to have to admit that what she did that day was reckless.

But she didn't want to come out and say that was what she wanted because she had agreed with me yesterday that we would be better off training a bit first, and didn't want to push for something I thought we weren't ready for.

"Maybe what we need is another big win. Something to show that Lung and Oni Lee wasn't a reckless fluke but a result of good preparation. That way it'll seem like you weren't really hiding your powers for three months, but rather preparing and taking your time to make a well-considered decision to become a hero," I said, testing my theory.

I was right. Her face lit up. "Yes. I think that would help."

I would have preferred to continue laying low for another week, at least until I could resolve the situation with Canary, the outcome of which would significantly affect my strategy in Brockton Bay.

However, this was also an opportunity to encourage Taylor's conflict drive in a controlled direction with full support from her. It would save me the trouble of waiting passively for a situation that could be used to escalate in the name of justice and descend into the abyss of self-serving justifications. A big win would need a fittingly horrible enemy after all.

But if we were going to go out in public again, there was something we had to do first.

O O O

The PRT HQ was in an uproar as a massive swarm of bugs gathered in front of it. Troopers prepared defensive positions outside the main entrance and crowds gathered to watch and take pictures on the streets.

Reporters were already on the scene. They'd gotten the word after I used some of Coil's civilian connections.

The dense bugs came together to form words.

CRUCIBLE VISITING

Three individuals flew in overhead.

One appeared to be a swarm of bugs on top of a giant beetle. It was Skitter, who had surrounded herself in bugs for extra safety while flying.

One was a woman in a fantasy-style full armour costume of dark green and silver, leaves, flowers, vines, and carried by a large set of wings on her back whose feathers looked like leaves with silver outlines. That was Araliac's new living costume. It wasn't symbiotic yet—she was merely controlling it directly with her power.

The last figure was being carried by Araliac with the assistance of her vines. I was in a highly reflective, multi-coloured full body costume whose colours all changed depending on the angle of view, like a chameleon but using only dark and cool metallic colours with a medieval-fantasy style armour design. I could have flown as well but I didn't want to reveal that card so easily, because I couldn't fly if I wasn't touching Agate. Unfortunately Amelia hadn't been able to make wings for me yet as that would require a direct nerve connection and some kind of new organ on my back.

We touched down slowly without any problems. I had informed the PRT ahead of time that we would be coming to officially register. I just didn't inform them that our arrival would be so flashy.

Armsmaster came out of the building cautiously with his halberd out, flanked by Aegis and Vista. The PRT HQ building downtown housed the younger Wards, while the Rig served as the Protectorate's HQ so it wasn't strange that we'd be received by a couple of Wards with Armsmaster, who was in charge of both superhero teams.

Once we touched down, Araliac released me, and Skitter came down from Atlas, while the bug swarm on her was absorbed into her costume through a hatch on her back. Her new costume was still almost pure black but had been adjusted with some greyish shades and lines that sculpted more of a fantasy look which fit with our theme.

We walked towards the trio of cape heroes.

"Hello, Armsmaster. Good to see you again," I said to the tense Armsmaster. I then turned to Aegis and Vista respectively and also greeted them. "Aegis, leader of the Wards, and Vista, the most veteran Ward, it's an honor to meet you two as well. I am Polychromic."

"Hello, I'm Araliac. It's a pleasure."

"Hi. I'm Skitter. Nice meeting you."

"The pleasure is ours," said Aegis. "We're happy to welcome new heroes to the city."

"Great job on Lung and Oni Lee, I saw your video on PHO!" Vista waved happily.

Armsmaster relaxed and nodded. "I see you have new costumes."

"This is one of the things I wanted to finish before registering with the PRT. Image is important, after all, as I'm sure you know. It's just a shame that we didn't have them ready in time for our first major battle. But, we are heroes, and we don't have the luxury of sitting around when duty calls. To be a hero is to walk with death," I said ominously, adapting the creed of the magus to heroism.

Reporters were capturing every moment of this, and I was going to go full throttle on my "hero" philosophy.

"Walk with death? That's a rather morbid way of looking at things," Armsmaster said.

"Memento mori, right? That's your team motto," Vista said.

I looked at the twelve—thirteen?—year old girl rated as a Shaker 9, who had the power to warp space.

"That's right. As heroes, we are risking our lives every time we go out to fight. You've seen more and fought more than any other Ward, so I imagine you understand it better than most," I said.

Then I turned towards the crowd of reporters at the side and faced the cameras directly.

"Memento mori. Remember you will die. For our team—it's a commitment and a resolution, that we are putting everything on the line. For the innocent—it's a reminder, that life is short, precious, and shouldn't be wasted living in fear and misery. For those on the wrong side—it's a warning. Your time is limited."

"You should be careful with those words. You don't want them to be taken the wrong way," said Armsmaster. "We will proceed with your registration inside." Then he gestured for us to follow. With the gesture, PRT troopers also began to block off the reporters. I guessed that he didn't want us to continue talking to the press.

"Thank you for the advice, Armsmaster. I will take care," I nodded to him, and the three of us moved forward, following after Armsmaster and Aegis.

Vista stared for a while at me with an unreadable look before going inside ahead of us.

Armsmaster led us to a conference room and had us all sit down while PRT personnel brought in some paperwork.

"It is very rare that the PRT registers an independent hero team. Most of the time when affiliated capes register, they are rogues or individual heroes. The process for teams is a bit more involved," Armsmaster began to explain, opening a presentation. Aegis and Vista were also here, observing attentively. It wasn't clear to me what their purpose here was. Maybe the intention was to give them a bit of experience with handling an unusual situation?

"As a team, it's assumed that you have a degree of organization that individuals lack. This means that the PRT and Protectorate can coordinate with you in different ways. What that would look like depends on your own goals, how you intend to operate, your schedules and availability, and how much information you're willing to share with us. For example, New Wave has a specific territory where they patrol, and we don't send our own heroes there unless they ask for assistance. When parahuman crimes in progress are reported to the PRT, if it's in their territory, we sent it on to New Wave and coordinate arrests with PRT troopers, but typically don't send additional heroes."

So he went through the presentation on various rules and procedures heroes are supposed to follow, important laws, etc.

By the end of it, I had the paperwork filled out. I told them that we didn't have planned patrol routes, hours, or a territory to operate in yet, but that we'd be open to taking requests for support near the docks and downtown on a case-by-case basis.

For information sharing, I said that we would send them whatever was relevant if we didn't plan to handle any situation ourselves.

I declined power testing again, but did provide a bit more information on our powers as a show of goodwill. Only because they already knew what I was going to tell them.

"You've probably guessed already. I am a Thinker," I said. "I also have some other minor powers, but I'd like to keep them secret for now."

"Do you have postcognition?" Armsmaster asked suddenly.

If he was able to guess that, there was little point in hiding it. It could actually be obfuscating, as my "postcognition" couldn't be used to get new information anymore.

"Hm…in a manner of speaking," I said. Once it became clear I wasn't going to say any more, Armsmaster looked to Araliac.

"I can do a lot with biology," she said, using our prepared answer. I already knew that the PRT knew she was Panacea, so hiding that wasn't meaningful anymore.

"Did you make that giant beetle?" Aegis asked curiously.

"I did. I made sure it has no ability to reproduce," she answered.

All three of the heroes sitting on the opposite side of the conference table went silent for a while, assessing her. Biotinkers and capes with the ability to make living things had terrible reputations.

"It's good that you've taken precautions. I don't need to warn you of the potential consequences of making self-reproducing organisms then," said Armsmaster.

She nodded back.

"We've covered all the basics you need to know. Given what you've told us, it sounds like you're going to be acting much more independent than the PRT would like. I would advise you to rethink this. There is a reason that there are very few independent hero teams. It is difficult to survive without the resources of the PRT and Protectorate," Armsmaster said.

"We're not like other hero teams. As we've stated clearly in our manifesto, we're going to take the fight to the villains. We wouldn't say that if we didn't have the resources and confidence to succeed. You've already guessed that my rating might be as high as Thinker 9," I said, casually demonstrating my supposed postcognition. "Do you think I'd go into any situation without being fully prepared?"

Aegis and Vista both turned to Armsmaster with clear shock, while the Tinker was completely still.

"That was…classified," he said in a tight controlled voice.

"I'm sharing information about myself, aren't I? What harm is there in letting a couple of Wards know?"

"You know what I mean. If you can figure that out…" Armsmaster said, referring to the other classified information in his discussion with Piggot.

"I'm not unwilling to cooperate with you, Armsmaster. But you know why I can't do much more than this."

He was silent for a moment. Then, "Director Piggot would like to have a word with you in her office."

O O O

A/N: It's been a while since the last A/N. Considering that this is an OC SI story, and theoretically in the multicross/multiverse travel niche, both of which are small niches, I'm pleasantly surprised to see so many readers following and favouriting the story. As of this posting I see 564 favs and 661 follows, which is amazing to me. I originally had a hard time finding a multiverse travelling story with an MC that wasn't excessively overpowered or try to fix everything type of hero, and that was the driving force behind my decision to write this story, so I am glad that this has had such a great reception. This isn't my most popular story, but it's definitely the one I enjoy writing the most, and I hope I can continue to keep it coming for a long time.

That said, there's been a few reviews with questions/longer comments lately, so I'll take this time to respond.

omarekiaby - If Kaleidus simply said he was from another Earth, that wouldn't explain his precognitive knowledge which isn't an ability, or why he's trapped as he claims to be on Earth Bet (he did just demonstrate the ability to portal to other Earths at will). There's also the chance of taking Amelia/Taylor along if/when he manages to figure out how to escape from the Worm multiverse, so being upfront about is not a bad idea.

superpierce - On whether Amy is falling for Kaleidus, I'd hesitate to call it that at this point. Certainly she's become very attached, but it's not quite the same as romantic feelings, for which she still has the problem of Vicky's aura affecting her sexuality.

chingy - Amy's gift of making him superhuman was an unexpected bonus. The intention was primarily to change Amy's way of thinking and make her more attached and reliant on Kaleidus. The speech he repeated to her is the core of the content he wanted her to think about and accept, with the three key elements of "guide you", "holding back a monster inside", and "bear your sins with you". Creating an artficial magic circuit at the time was an opportunistic thing, in that he needed it to make the act more real and he also got a benefit out of it regardless of how persuasive he was, so as long as she saved him.

Zane Tribal Tyne Alexandros - There are lots of ways to gain more magical power depending on the magical setting he is able to visit. Even in Nasuverse, there are ways though they would be somewhat more difficult than in most other settings. I'm pretty sure magical cores in Harry Potter are fanon though. It's never explained where Wizard/Witch magic comes from or if they can actually get magically exhausted. My impression has always been that canonically, the power of one's magic was simply a matter of skill, not a source of power.

TediousExploit - Kaleidus definitely won't be getting into fist fights if he can help it, but suddenly whipping out amazing close range combat capability when everyone thinks you have none is a pretty good card. Like when Tohsaka used martial arts on Medea and completely took her by surprise. But more importantly though, what Kaleidus got out of the meeting was an opportunity to look at Cranial's tech up close, giving exp to Amy on observing brain changes, and one more reason which is currently a spoiler.