2

Summary:

Escalation is inevitable, PHO rep is only slightly less so.

Notes:

I own nothing! Except OC's, everything else belongs to the respective authors.

Chapter Text

Distorted Voice

Thoughts

Flashbacks

[ Shard ]

Exchange 1.2

"What is the value of a soul?"

-The final question of human alchemy

" Who are you? " Taylor asks me. I fear the queen of escalation for good reason, she could poison me several ways now. Her voice echoed in the swarm making it seem like it's everywhere. I look at her and say,

"The queen of France." Silence meets my sass, then again being sassy in a life or death situation isn't good so I dig myself deeper as I say, "Also nice costume Taylor, have you thought of adding a jetpack? Maybe some wings to go with the bug motif?" All while trying to keep the fear from my voice. She stares at me and physically relaxes a bit before saying,

" Why didn't you tell me you were a cape? " I stare at her incredulously, is she serious? I laugh, I can't help it, I feel something crawl along my neck in response, but I can't help myself. I'm laughing and the bugs are going to kill me.

"Same reason you haven't told Uncle Danny. Not enough trust. What am I supposed to say Taylor? Oh yeah I triggered when I saw mom die on top of me while the bastard that did it ran away?" I always had a temper regardless of my life, Taylor's body language changes again and she seems shocked and the bugs let up, I clapped my hands. I'm no longer surrounded by bugs and have a chitin spear aimed at her neck, a single twitch of my hand will cut her throat open. I realize what I'm doing and drop the spear almost immediately.

" Fuck you alien! " I scream internally at my shard, Taylor summons more bugs and surrounds me with them. They keep their distance even as they encircle me.

" How did you do that? " She asks me.

"I'm a tinker, my current specialty allows for me to ignore Manton limits and transmute living and non living things into other objects." I reply while smirking. Keeping a confident tone should at least distract her.

" Current ?" She asked curiously, her voice still distorted through the bugs.

"Stop with the damn voice of the legion Taylor." I replied, annoyed. She removes her mask and I notice the barely healed black eye. My own eye twitches and I seriously consider going to the PRT and crucifying Sophia in front of the wards while teaching her the meaning of a thousand volts. I can almost feel the shard smiling at the data that would bring. Maybe we can get along, bonding through excessive violence is a tempting proposition.

"Fine, what do you mean?" She says snapping me out of my revenge fueled thoughts, sure she may have scared me, and nearly poisoned me, but she's family. That gives her some leeway.

"I had a dream, I think it's my power since that's the only thing that makes sense. I have like a week or so left of alchemy. Afterwards? Fuck if I know what I'll get." 

"Language and I'm sorry." Taylor says seriously,

"Sorry for what?" I end up asking after a second or so of confusion. Outside of scaring me she hadn't done anything wrong and a couple of scares between family members isn't apology worthy in my opinion at least. 

"I… Well the Marie I remembered before meeting you was really afraid of bugs, like screaming over a dead spider as if it was alive and the size of a house type of bad, and when you didn't react like that I started getting suspicious; I decided to start spying on you. After a while I decided to go into your room while you were writing, your eyes were empty and you even snarled at me, I wasn't sure what to do until you started to ignore me."

"You were spying on me? How I didn't see… Jeff the spider told you?" I say as I sit down on the floor, the spiders, roaches and ants run away but continue their encirclement of me. I place a hand on the spear after clapping and just destroy it. She merely raises her eyebrow at it and says,

"You call my female spider Jeff? And no, that would be the ladybug I hid in your bookbag."

"Well excuse me queen of the swarm, I'm not a veterinarian, I'm a miracle worker. And get Jeff the second out of my bookbag!"

"Miracle worker?" She asked curiously all the while ignoring the fact that I'm calling all of her bugs Jeff. Yes, even the roaches.

"What part of transmutation is not understood? I can turn lead to gold, actually any metal into gold. I can also create pretty much anything so long as I know what it's made of and the materials for it, or stuff that's close enough for me to transmute into it." I say clapping my hands and touching the table nearby, a small wooden mug with a small owl carved into it appeared. However Taylor's mind wasn't paying attention to it, she seemed to snap into consciousness and asked,

"So we're rich?"

"If you can find a buyer? Sure. But anyways, any other questions?"

"Yes, how did you know I could control insects?" Fuck, think dummy! Don't say you're a character in a web serial I read once or twice! Okay maybe 3 times, I'm a sucker for creative uses of powers.

"Jeff told me." Her eye twitched,

"You don't speak insect." She deadpans. I end up sighing and stitching together a mix of truth and lies from Marie's memories.

"A few months ago Danny called Mom's emergency phone. He told us about the locker, and we figured that you probably triggered back then. Mom wanted to come here immediately, but she had a case, so she had to wait. As far as insects go, Jeff the spider was the big hint, the other was how some bugs kept looking at me."

"Makes sense to me." She replied, I squinted my eyes slightly, she didn't sound convinced but it was plausible enough for her to not worry about it too much, I hope. She takes the wooden mug and looks it over, staring into the owl,

"Why an owl?"

"Mom called me her tiny raven, she said that Auntie Anette said you looked more like an owl." I said somewhat sadly. She looked at me and sighed, with a sad smile on her face she said,

"I guess sisters do think alike." It was wistful… Fuck I'm feeling pity, dammit… I sigh and move to sit down on the couch, breathing deeply I eventually ask,

"So… Are we good?"

"For now at least. Are you joining the wards?" I stare at her. The sheer audacity, I laugh again and say,

"Can't. I'd die within a week."

"Why?" Taylor asks me as if I was exaggerating. Unfortunately I'm not, PRT rules are very annoying when it comes to developing Tinker tech, it makes sense given how often they're under attack and having a zombie virus bomb is just asking for trouble, but unless it's simple you'll have to spend days without doing anything new.

"Do you have any idea how bad the testing is? My speciality would be restricted as all hell and I couldn't make myself into a dragon. Or build organic lasers into my arms. Or make my arms shoot lasers in the shape of dragons." I reply with some indignity slipping into my voice.

"You want to be Lung?" I can almost taste the incredulity in her tone, the shock is obvious.

"No. I want to rip out his head for being a coward and not fighting Leviathan whenever the dickless water lizard pops up, even if the water lizard is sandbagging he could save so many people, but first I need to kill Kaiser and the Empire in its entirety, because fuck Nazis and they killed mom. Then Teacher and his pets, afterwards the 9 and I should probably have Butcher commit suicide or something… But anyways Teacher and his pets are the most dangerous, I should start with them first, but I owe Kaiser a debt thanks to Hookwolf. So he gets priority on my shit list." I explain quite tiredly, it takes a couple of seconds for me to realize that I may have spoiled her with future knowledge.

"Language and that doesn't sound heroic."

"Taylor, I'm twelve, not six years old. You lived alongside dock workers, so don't pretend as if you can't out curse me in a heartbeat. And it's the most heroic thing I can do, Nazis, megalomaniacs, murder hobos and the fucking Butcher can't be reasoned with for a length of time anyways."

"Heroes avoid killing." She states adamantly,

I wanted to tell her that that's a load of bullshit, God knows that I could convince her if I really tried, but a part of me knows that if I kill this part of her. The one that has hope, it's one step closer to Weaver, to Kephri, to the Skitter that fought endbringers. I can't bring myself to do that, to undo what little morals she has, I don't want anyone to have regrets.

"So you want to be a hero? Will you join the wards?" I ask avoiding the issue, I really don't want to fight her on this.

"It's been my dream for a long time, and no. I… I can't handle more teenage drama." She says oddly vulnerable. I realize that she isn't shunting her emotions to her swarm, which is good. 

"And you don't want anyone else in control of your life." I mutter, apparently too loudly because she looks at me slightly annoyed and says,

"Okay, are you a mind reader?"

"No, just good at reading people. Taylor, your power is literally control over swarms, if we follow the ideas stated by Manton and others there's a significant chance that your powers come from a situation where you wished you could be in control. Mine probably came from me being between wanting to save mom and kill the bastard that hurt her. So I get to make shit that could possibly do one or the other." I can see the conflict in her face, she empathizes with me, but she still believes in being a hero. "Anyways, when do we make our debut?"

"Debut?" She said surprised, I'd have thought that some backup would be appreciated, but I suppose that me being younger than her would make her hesitant, that never stopped Batman, then again he's better trained. Oh well…

"Yup. I'm not letting you go out there alone. And I'm a tinker, either I establish myself as strong enough or I get kidnapped and or drugged into compliance by the gangs." I say somewhat cheery, getting kidnapped and tortured only to then be killed would be worse than those options to me. She looks somewhat worried when she asks me,

"When did you get so cynical?"

"Always have been Tay. I can be happy and go lucky all the time if you want." She snorts as a response, the bugs leave and I breathe out. I approach her and say, "Hug?" We hug for a moment and I hear a car pull up. I look at Taylor who still has her costume on and mouth at her "Get to the bathroom!" She's faster than I am and closes the door quickly. I dive into her room, pick out some clothes for her and use alchemy to open the lock on the door, toss the clothing on the floor and grab her costume. By the time Danny actually goes up the stairs he only sees me with my backpack waiting outside the bathroom.

"Hey Marie." He says forcing his tone to not be miserable, I nod and smile as a response. He seems to perk up slightly at that, I notice that he's slouching slightly, he looks like he had a rough day. I recognized that look in his eyes, I had it once myself, the need for recognition or at the very least positive things with family.

"Hey uncle, how did your day go?" I asked, fully prepared for a several hour long reply. But he didn't immediately answer, instead he looked surprised that I was interested or at least seemingly interested in what he had to say. 

"Not too bad this time… We managed to get a contract with Medhall going and that should help some of the boys." 

"Medhall?" I asked pretending that I didn't know it was a front for the empire.

"Yeah, they happen to be the ones giving most jobs at the moment in Brockton." He responded somewhat bitterly.

"Don't like them?"

"It's… complicated. I don't like monopolies on principle. Also I brought take out, so Thai this time, you aren't allergic to it right?"

I stare at him, I can almost taste the lie, or the evasion at least. Danny seems to be hiding his real thoughts, but I decide to ignore it. Still I think for a moment to see if I'm allergic to anything. Nothing pops up in my mind so I shake my head. He nods and leaves while I head into my room. A few quick transmutations to make false walls and hidden nooks to hide all the cape things and I head down. Taylor joins us after a bit and we have a rather nice dinner.

It's not until after I'm halfway to falling asleep that I realize that I referred to this place as my room and my memories. And Taylor as my family… " I live in this world now. Shouldn't be odd. Yet am I really me anymore? " I ask myself and hear no answer. No dreams haunt me tonight, there's only silence and the sound of waves crashing upon the shore.

-March 9, after school-

Emily is smiling as she leads me into the music room, it is mostly empty outside of a few upperclassmen that Emily talks to for a minute or two before rushing to a closet and bringing out a case with a violin. It's clearly been used before and very recently cleaned. My hands tremble slightly as I grab it, I don't know how to play ; I've played for years, I place the violin properly, grab the bow and experiment with it. Memories flood my mind, drowning me under emotion.

Mom is smiling as I finally begin to play. I've struggled for some time to get my arms in the right position, to memorize the notes, to actually play without my fingers feeling pain, I want to believe it's worth it. So what if it's twinkle twinkle little star? With the way mom is at the edge of her seat, listening to every note as if I was playing in a symphony. "Marie, you're so good…"

A single note hits my ears bringing me back to the present, "It needs some tuning." I mutter as I begin to tune by ear, plucking the strings gently as memories flood my mind. It takes a few minutes but I finally manage to tune it to my satisfaction. One more note, perfectly tuned to my ears and I let myself go. It is a simple song at this point, I've played it a dozen times, I've never played it at all ; it takes a few minutes for me to realize that I've been playing Orpheus in the underworld from memory. Marie's memory, which for some odd reason is getting clearer as each second passes. There's something in my face, I hear the teardrop hit the wood of the violin before Emily begins clapping.

"You didn't tell me you were that good." She says as I stare at her numb to the world. I try to focus on my memories not Marie's, I try to remember and only see shadows of people in my mind's eye. Yet I can still remember that I have little time to prepare for Lung, for the chaos that it will bring… " What did I lose? " I think even as I pretend to smile for Emily. I can almost feel what I lost scratching my mind.

"I'm not that good." I reply half heartedly, she laughs and says, "You just played a piece from memory, and you tuned that old violin by ear, that takes skill and practice." I open my mouth for a moment before closing it, she's right; and yet… I can't accept it, not yet.

"Hey Marie, would you join the music club? I didn't mention it before but we're looking for more members. We don't really do competitions outside of the local ones and they're voluntary." She smiles somewhat nervously, does she think I'll be insulted or something? I don't think she's done anything that could be seen as using me or insulting me. I nod slightly as I once again play, this time it isn't classical music but an old song that always cheered me up, " It ain't easy, living free… " The lyrics come to my mind as I remain amazed at the fact that Marie knew this song as well. Mom liked singing it.

By the time school is over I have nearly a dozen new phone numbers to memorize, since the club isn't that big in comparison to say the art club with 30+ people, but according to Chris, our club leader/president/resident boss man, we make up for it in spirit. I chuckle slightly at the memory of the high spirited boy as I get in the bus, by now Taylor is probably home or near it. I sit near the back and watch as the bus moves to the stop near my home; it takes around 15 minutes for things to go to shit.

I could hear them approaching about a minute before they managed to clip the bus. The merchants, or rather Squealer of the merchants was driving like a maniac while trying to lose Armsmaster, she was driving what seemed to be a mixture of a tank and jeep at high speeds, she hit a car and launched it at us. I don't think she meant to do this, but regardless I threw myself at the floor, I heard the crunch of metal above me as the bus shook and fell to its side. I heard people screaming, but I couldn't afford to worry about them now, I needed to escape. 

My head felt like someone had smashed a club on it, my body trembled as I smelled the blood. A lady's head was covered in blood and it wouldn't stop flowing. I looked at the young man trying to close the head wound, he looked just out of high-school at the latest, he didn't seem to have been hurt, he wasn't saying anything but his gray eyes were shaking. He was trying his best to save her… Fuck.

I'm sorry.

I ran to the alley nearby, grabbed a pipe and transmuted it into a mask, transmuted my clothes to a more colorful ensemble. I looked like Circus's younger sibling, long shirt and pants that had several vibrant colors running through them in wave like patterns, but that was good enough to hide my identity. I leapt back into the crash as soon as possible and saw that the young man was still trying to keep her alive.

Someone tried to stop me from approaching them, I grabbed their wrist and said, "I can try and heal her." I didn't bother to look back as I approached them, the ring on my finger let me analyze her. Lots of useless information, her liver is somewhat shot, right ankle is prosthetic… Minor concussion, small fractures across her arms and chest, biggest wound is on head, low amount of blood.

"Hey, do you want to save her?" I asked the boy, he nodded and I clapped my hands. I used everything around me, some of the boy's own blood, and some of my own as well to close the wound and substitute the blood lost. Bones took more than I initially thought, but changing flesh to bone isn't that hard, I do pity the owner of the leather bag though.

To everyone else? I just clapped my hands, summoned lightning out of nowhere and healed some random lady. Some of them would complain of dry mouth and others would feel the static in the air, but everyone would be fine. I still told them that in order to heal her I used the ambient energy though, so they would be feeling a bit weak. But I also turned all the gasoline on the bus to water, which I then converted to oxygen, eliminated anything that could ignite that was nearby and turned all the glass into sand. After performing my good deed of the day, waved at them goodbye and left the wreck. 

Picking up my stuff and running up and through rooftops let me decompress from what I just did. If someone put 2 and 2 together I could be outed, if the traffic cameras worked I could be outed all for what? Saving one lady who probably would've been okay? Yet, that bit of gratitude in their eyes was enough to calm down the negative thoughts in my head. 

I arrive at home about half an hour later, my clothes no longer looking like a circus reject. Part of me wondered if anyone posted about me on PHO, that same part of me feared that precise thing. Healers are always sought after, I need a base. Somewhere close preferably, that way I can make some red stones. 

Red stones are fake philosophers stones, very toxic as well, but there are ways to mass produce them while not making super poison. It would only take about 5 hours of refinement, unless I made another formula, and I could make a handful of them, the toxic sludge could be transmuted into something less dangerous. As to why I want to make some of them? I want to give Taylor a decent escape tool in the form of a bracer that would allow for quick destruction, and I can use them to power my analysis rings. But first? Time to honor Mustang.

The cloth of his gloves was honestly fascinating, though weak to water it would allow for powerful fire alchemy to be used, hot enough that even Lung would need to escalate to counter. It took several minutes to set up the array and place the materials, a small transmutation later and I was rewarded with my very own flame Alchemist gloves. I was more than tempted to make Armstrong's gauntlets, but I put that idea aside for now. I needed to train and probably bulk up to use that style. Then there was my idea of making myself into a homunculus lite.

I would need several stones for that array to work properly, at least 7 to start, I'd need several more to get the powers, but the regeneration? That would be easy enough to start with. The only issue is keeping up the power without relying on stones, but thanks to my fugue I had a simple solution.

Alkahestry, instead of using tectonic energy I would use the leylines to power the process and myself. A part of me wonders if this places me closer to servants than humans, but that doesn't matter, if I can remain me, then my body doesn't matter. I look at the formula again, the math and chemistry checks out in my mind, my powers seem to agree as well as the dull sensation of pain that accompanies future complications is absent. I hear Taylor enter the house and leave my room to greet her. Overall a calm day, I miss those.

1.2- End.