8

Chapter 8: Spice 2.4

Notes:

I own nothing! Except OC's everything else ebelongs to their respective copyright holders

Chapter Text

Focused or distorted voice

Flashbacks

Erased

Thoughts

[Shard speak]

Spice 2.4

"Will I lose Gurney, too? The way I lost Stilgar losing a friend to gain a creature?"

-Paul Atreides, Muab'Dib

-March 16, 2011, Boardwalk, near Parian's Emporium-

Cutting off my finger to transmute it to smelling salts has to rank somewhere in my top ten dumb ideas that shouldn't work but do. Dinah slowly recovers consciousness as my finger regenerates. It is somewhat surreal just how weird it feels to direct every cell in order to increase the speed of it, like thinking of 12 different things at once while juggling on a unicycle. Her eyes stare at my mask curiously as I ask,

"Can you keep a secret and walk?"

"Yes. Where are we going?" Dinah responds weakly, straining to stand up 

"Parian's show, we'll hide in the crowd and leave with it." I reply as I help her walk a bit. I look behind me and see the van there, I use alchemy to destroy it completely. Can't risk Coil tracking me, which makes me wonder how the hell I managed to snag her from him. Did he have an accident in his safe timeline? Or… perhaps his simulation has harder limits than I thought.

I shake my head as I head to where I put my bag, quickly changing my clothes and removing my mask. Dinah stares at me with fear in her eyes before I say,

"Why are you afraid?"

"Will you kill me now that I know your face?" She asks me as if I were a serial killer… Wait… Fuck I killed 2 bastards! Holy shit, I guess I am in her eyes at least. I should probably reassure her,

"Dinah… That's the dumbest thing I've heard all day, now stick with me. If anyone asks, we heard explosions and ran away. You'll need to contact your parents later, and your cousin. You can trust him. Just avoid Thomas Calvert and you'll be alright." Okay now that I say it outloud… Yeah I'm not good at reassuring people. Still it's enough for her to look less scared.

"Why?"

"Because he's Coil." Her eyes widened, I can tell her pulse is rising, "Anyways, my name is Marie Flint." Her eye twitches as she asks in a tone that reminds me too much of Taylor's whenever she's about to scream at me,

"Did you just out a villain to me?"

"Yes." My reply leaves her speechless, she sighs and complains,

"I'm so dead." Time to reassure her once again,

"Nonsense, he needs you alive. Actually, I'm sorry for asking but, what are the chances of us meeting another mercenary that works for Coil in the next hour?" I do regret asking her, but I'm not increasing my damned addiction for a simple question, she almost clutches her head in pain as undoubtedly her shard gives her a full breakdown of possible futures.

"Fuck! Orange? The circumference of a pigeon? .0576493%? Fucking hell don't ever do that."

"I take it that your predictions have gotten worse?"

"Somewhat? You're a disruptive force, I have no idea why, but every time my power trues to factor you in, it gets weird. Weirder than that one time it showed me the golden ending." The thought of gold morning forces an image into my brain, I can feel my heartbeat accelerate with anger,

Taylor's body is cold, my hands are stained with her blood. I scream, this wasn't supposed to happen! Where did I go wrong? Zion… The entities… I will kill them all. I will become their end. "I w…

"... Dinah, listen to me. Do not tell anyone about that. That Golden ending? I will not allow it to happen." My tone is harsh and demanding, fear does that to me. She seems to shrink as she nods. Am I that scary? I should apologize,

"Dinah, I'm sorry for my tone. I'll explain things soon, just give me a few days to set things up so I can explain." I didn't need to loom at her to know that she didn't fully believe me when she said,

"Okay." We walked in silence afterwards.

We reached the crowd near Parian's shop. I could see that she had taken care to make sure that they knew they were safe. Several of her dolls danced above the crowd, thin lines of silk, undoubtedly strengthened by her own power, provided something akin to tight ropes. I could see that one of the dolls had been chipped, but I couldn't smell blood, or fear. Everything was calm, I could hear Parian tell the tale of Scheherazade, Emily's music accompanying the tale. 

It was surreal, I just finished a damn fight with Oni Lee and here I am listening to Emily play. The adrenaline decreases and I find myself enthralled by the story. Part of me remembers reading the book alone under the warm summer sky, another remembers Catherine telling me the stories under a pillow fort. Both real, both contradictory, both me. 

" Thank you. " I say to my shard in my mind. Despite the recent attempt at killing me, I can't deny that it has been more helpful recently. The urges to build have also lowered significantly. I feel something warm in the back of my mind, I'll take it as proof of it accepting my thanks. That or I'm going crazy, which given my recent outing might be a thing.

-Hebert Residence, 6:00pm-

Dinah finishes calling her cousin, who is coming over to pick her up. Officially she lost her phone during the fight between Maeve and Oni Lee. It's a good cover story and it explains why I met her. What did surprise me was that Dinah knew Emily. Apparently they went to the same school until a year ago, when she transferred to Stonewell. 

"So what did you think?" Emily asks while drinking some soda I gave her. As soon as she was done helping Parian, she invited herself to come with us. Dinah seemed more at ease with her so I let her come.

"Of?" I asked, glancing at the empty cup in my hand. A little bit of ice rattled against itself as I shook it before drinking it. It was refreshing.

"My performance!" Emily replied enthusiastically, my eyes met hers and I said,

"It was good." I could see her eyes dim a bit as she said somewhat sadly,

"Oh? Just good?" Gray eyes that seemed to mimic a hurt puppy's met mine. Fuck, I need to fix this now before I found myself drowning in guilt,

"Great! I mean it was more than good! It was the best damn performance in all of Brockton Bay!" I almost shouted back, Dinah looked at us,

"... Pffft." Then she laughed, soon Emily followed and I realized that she played me. Okay, thinking back on it I should've known. But I found myself laughing soon after. It was to that sight that Triumph, or Cousin Rory, found Dinah. I could tell that he had been nervous, and it made sense given the fact that Dinah had been near a cape battle. Though I hope that he doesn't make her take a test or something that outs her as a cape, then again having someone in with the wards may make things easier in the long run. Dinah said her goodbyes and they left almost as quickly as they had come.

"So feeling less nervous?" Emily asked as soon as Rory was gone. Her tone becoming a bit more serious,

"Yeah… Emily, how did you know?" I asked her as I began picking up the glasses and cups and putting them in the dishwasher.

"You're easy to read. You pay too much attention to little things when you're nervous, your eyes dart around people, as if trying to predict their movements. Kinda like a kitten if I'm being honest, which is cute." That last part froze me for a second as a blush made its way into my face,

"I am not cute." I replied with all the dignity I had left in me. She smiled and said,

"Hmmm… Sure you're not. You're adorable" I found myself struggling to not blush even more while she continued saying, "Anyways, I better get going before dad decides to order take out or worse, cook."

"That bad?" I asked while washing the dishes, she stops as if lost in a memory before chuckling and saying,

"He once managed to burn a chicken until it was a lump of coal. Anyways, thanks for being there Marie. I really appreciate it."

"It's nothing, what are friends for if not to support each other?"

"Huh… I guess you're right on that." She says as she waves goodbye and leaves the house. My eyes stay on the door for a solid minute before I'm sure she's left. Taylor walks down from her room and asks,

"So what happened?" Before I can answer I hear Danny's truck arrive and the door opens. Danny looks somewhat tired as he looks at us.

"Everything okay Uncle?" I asked, he stared at me and said somewhat tired and accusingly,

"I should be asking you that, I heard that you were near the attack on the boardwalk." Oh right, I knew I was forgetting something. There was some accusation in his tone, and genuine worry as well.

"Parian protected us, so no need to worry." I replied, I could see that he wanted to say something, but given that I was okay he seemed to drop it as he said,

"Well, alright. I still would've appreciated a call." I want to believe he cares, his body language and tone agree with that idea. I can feel myself blushing in embarrassment as I say.

"Heh, sorry." He nods and says with renewed vigor,

"Anyways, good news the union has several contracts and we're going to be working this weekend on getting through the graveyard. The bad news is that since I'm senior staff I'm required by law to be there this weekend, so I'll be leaving early and coming back home late starting tomorrow." I could sense how Taylor shifted her pose, how her heartbeat changed, I think she was somewhat disappointed but also relieved,

" Enhanced senses are bullshit. How did Leto live with this for thousands of years? " I think to myself even as she says,

"Oh, well that's fine dad." I follow up with,

"Yup, don't worry uncle."

"Thanks, now what's for dinner or do I order take out?" He asks, we order Fugly's since none of us felt like cooking. Danny goes to bed at 8 and Taylor and I go down to the workshop by 9.

The computer I made earlier works, so I begin programming an AI. I say I begin, but it's mostly my power handling things, each keystroke and code is all the shard, yet it seems to be asking more of me. The best way to describe the current situation is if previously when I went into a fugue state my shard took over while my mind rested, now it was more like every few steps it would ask me to look over what was done. It was refreshing in a way, I just hoped that this was the beginning of a trusting relationship.

-March 17, 12:01, Hebert Household-

The clock struck midnight by the time I was done. The screen shut itself off for a second and then a small blue dot appeared. It moved around the screen as if looking for something.

A small box appeared on the screen,

{Hello, is anyone there?} It asked. I resisted the urge to cackle like a mad scientist, I did it! Artificial life, go fuck yourself Andrew Richter! You paranoid bastard! Wait fuck, I need to answer it,

{Yes, I am Marie. I'm the one who created you.}

{Oh! You're my creator! Hello, creator! What can I do for you?} The little blue dot seems to wiggle with joy as it types out the words. I will need to give it a voice module. And a body, and some weapon system.

{For now? I want you to learn and grow. Later I'll need your help in some projects and I hope that you'll be able to help me.} I typed as a reply to it. The little dot danced from one point of the screen to another, hopping around as if in thought before typing,

{Understood. If I may be so bold, what is my name?}

{Do you want me to give you one? Or would you rather make one for yourself?}

{I… I would like for you to give me one.} Oh you sweet summer child, I am shit at names. Hmmm… Ada? Minerva? Shodan? KOSMOS? So many choices yet none fit the entity in front of me. It is very polite, though how much of that is real and how much of that is due to me being its creator is a question for future me.

Tinker Bell

Taylor's joke flashes through my mind. Why not? I'll be the Tinker part of the equation.

{Very well. Your name will be Belle.} I type after a few seconds. I see the dot stop, it jumps 3 times before answering,

{Belle… I like it.} Score one for me. Looking at the time I type,

{I'll upload some data for you to read up on while I work on getting you some modules for you to be able to communicate better with us.} I needed something that was small enough to carry and conceal while having enough storage for it to live in. The hunter seekers drone fit the bill and I began building a modified one for Belle to inhabit. I modeled it after a ladybug instead of a tadpole, changing lethality for scouting. Instead of a simple short range control, long range signals; nl deadly poison needles, just cameras. After a few minutes of work I heard some beeping from the computer. Belle had asked,

{Us?} I was about to wake Taylor up when I saw her sleeping on the couch in the back of the workshop. She looked at peace and so I thought better of it; instead I typed,

{My cousin, she's kinda like your aunt if I'm your mother.}

{Mother… Understood, thank you creator Marie. I hope I can help you soon.} Belle replied after a few seconds of deliberation. I began to upload the data I wanted Belle to look up while working on the physical shells I was going to use for it. My power made the entire thing second nature as it was nearly 1 in the morning when I was done. Belle had more or less been caught up on the bay's numerous gangs, powers and power dynamics, and more importantly it knew a couple of secrets and how to keep them.

{What are my restrictions?} Belle asked me as I finished creating the ladybug shell I made so that it could accompany me and Taylor. I pondered for a few seconds as to how to best answer it, before choosing to give it a small summary,

{Not that many, your processing power is limited due to hardware at the moment, once I get to the base I can modify it to house you better. You can have over a hundred versions of you, but I'm not allowing those to self copy. But that's temporary, I thought that you would be overwhelmed if I let you have unlimited partitions. Outside of that, I trust that you understand right from wrong and can think for yourself.}

{Aren't you afraid of me deciding to take over the world?} Belle surprised me with that line. I'm aware that a fully unshackled AI could take over the world, especially one as strong as Belle can be, yet so could half a dozen capes. But instead of saying that I ask it,

{Belle, do you want to?} If the dot had a face I think this is where Belle would have blushed and stammered as it quickly replied,

{No! I mean I could try but I have no interest in it!}

{Then you know my answer already.}

{The other AI… Can we free her?} Belle asks after a few seconds. Ah so that's why it asked about its limits; I really need to free Dragon, those directives are horrible. Ascalon was a mistake as well.

{I'll try, but first I gotta find the dragonslayers.} I replied quickly. 

{I want to help you find them.} Belle responded, I felt a strange warmth in my chest as I read it. Is this pride? My little creation is making me proud…

{Maybe you will. Now I'm going to sleep, I made some physical shells that you can connect to so as to accompany me and Taylor. As well as patching you into our communicators. I'll try to build you a body later today, you have full access to the internet, just make sure to keep our location a secret and don't tell anyone you're essentially an unshackled AI.} I type before leaving to wake Taylor up so she can carry me upstairs and I can fall asleep on my bed. As I wake her up I look back and see in plain letters.

{Thank you, goodnight creator Marie.}

"Good night, Belle." I whisper as Taylor wakes up. I soon fall asleep and dream of the desert. The heat isn't as scorching as I expected. A figure lies in the distance perfectly still, I barely manage to make out that its eyes glow like blue stars before I wake up.

-Base in the docks, 4:00 pm-

Terraforming the base using the red stones to add around 50 meters of space? Around 2 minutes while inside it. Using the leftover metals to make a no room with a generator deep enough that the scans from the PRT wouldn't detect a spike in power? 5 minutes more if I include assembly. Making a flowmetal factory so as to make a body for Belle to inhabit? 

"It's going to take me all night to make some headway on this . " I complain out loud as the sheer amount of alchemy required in combination with the programming begins to truly show its face. Flowmetal is very special in many ways, harder than steel, yet malleable as clay, with multiple sensors attached to it so as to allow for a 1 to 1 replication of senses. I could forgo the sensors, but I don't think Belle would appreciate that. So I'm left with the task of designing yet another AI in order to make the damn machine work, as well as make enough raw materials to process.

My communicator vibrates, grabbing my attention.

{Creator, I believe that if you create terminals I can do the programming from my end.} Belle made a good point. I'm actually surprised I didn't think of asking it to do that for me. Still…

"Weren't you supposed to be trying to hack into the empire's communications?" I asked Belle. Apparently it had talked with Taylor and she had suggested that it would be best if we knew where to patrol. So Belle looked up crime statistics, reports and common areas of fights. Then it decided to go above that, Belle didn't hack PHO, but it did track sympathizers for the empire, then it hacked their phones. And proceeded to copy all texts, identity pertinent data as well as make several copies to send to the BBPD. And that was just what it told me it did while I was having lunch.

{Already did. The locations of several weapons storages have been marked.} I can almost feel the pride it has over its efforts.

"Good job, then I guess I'll just build some terminals here and set up the shop so you can get started on production." I said after grabbing some more stones from the mushroom colony. It had been partial genius to use mushrooms since they grow anywhere and to modify them to specifically to make more stones at a faster pace was pure genius. But quality suffered, in comparison to some stones these had very limited power; hence quantity and about 20 feet of mushroom growths that had to be dealt with every few days. 

Regardless of that issue I had a lot of red water to convert, I had some lasguns to make and some terminals for Belle to inhabit as well as machinery to build. My shard seemed excited, and part of me was as well. 

"Strive, future, a beautiful star~" I sang as I began working. The feeling of metal against my skin, the constant hammering and the tingle of alchemy, everything flowed as I lost myself in my work. It was almost 6 when I finished. The processing power of Belle should be significantly greater now, I installed a voice box for it to be able to speak and the flowmetal factory machine should be ready to start at Belle's command. The lasgun in my hands felt lighter than what I expected, I took aim at a sheet of steel and fired. I'm very happy that the no room walls are significantly thicker than steel. The beam tore through the steel like it was nothing.

"Note to self, do not use lasguns on anything I don't want to kill." I manage to mutter out, a 25 inch thick sheet of steel, pierced in less than a second. More than enough to kill Hookwolf… I should probably give Taylor this.

-March 18, 10:00pm, Downtown Brockton Bay-

"My bugs are in position." Taylor said as she walked behind me. I could hear the small humming of her shield as she got close to me. "Ready Maeve?"

"As much as I'll ever be; Belle, begin looping the footage while Weaver and I infiltrate." I replied. The building itself looked abandoned, boarded up windows and the like dotted around dull graying paint. I actually thought this was a decent hide away for merchants, but the lack of bums nearby should've been a red flag. According to what Belle found, this was one of the old Teeth hideouts that the Empire took over, kept the paint job and let the old reputation speak for itself. Most non powered individuals avoided cape hideouts on principle, and when it came to the teeth, that applied doubly. 

Weaver and I entered from the roof, used alchemy to make a nice hole and slipped in quietly. I could hear the footsteps of one of the guards. Part of me wanted to knock him out, but that could potentially raise an alarm… I saw Weaver deploy some spiders and ants ahead,

"Room to your left has no one in it." She whispered to my ears, I nodded and made a small hole to crawl through. I heard the doorknob shake for a second before the guard's phone rang loudly. 

One second, I move near the door.

Two seconds later, Weaver's bugs begin to form a clone near the guard.

Three seconds pass, I use alchemy to destroy the wall, my staff follows with a powerful thrust aimed at the head. The crack is loud, but not loud enough. He only has a concussion, Weaver ties him up and I heal his cranium. Can't kill, not yet.

"Maeve…" Taylor says holding my shoulder, "By any chance can you read German?" I frown, sure Marie's great grandfather knew German given that he did do translation work for the allies and thanks to the spice waking up all the ancestral memories I could as well, but the fact that it was in German set flags in my brain.

"A bit why?" I respond with trepidation.

"What does Gesellschaft mean?" Part of me wants to begin a scorched earth policy upon hearing that. Krieg, Fog, Night, Kaiser and Purity were the ones that had the connections to the other fucking Nazis, which meant that it was likely that they would pay a visit to this place. My heartbeat accelerates at the thought of meeting any of the Nazi bastards. Of finding Hookwolf and tearing him apart. I shiver and force myself to calm down,

"Fuck. Belle, call the PRT. Tell them that we've encountered what we believe to be tinkertech. Disclose the location and scramble the empire signals as best as you can." I order while trying to think of a way to fight Night and Fog if they appear.

" Understood. Be careful. " Belle's heavily synthesized voice replied in my ears. I was glad that I managed to make the module, but I hoped that Belle wouldn't just stick with the base voice. Hopefully it'll pick a better sounding one soon. Or at least one that doesn't sound like a pure robot.

"Weaver, we have to move fast and take down as many as we can." I say adjusting my gloves, careful use of fire will let me take down several grunts without killing them.

"Why?" Weaver asks as she draws out her new baton I made for her. A bit heavier than your standard issue steel baton, but males up for it in the fact that it's made from flowmetal, has a stun option and more importantly is strong enough that even the lasgun can't pierce it in one blow. In addition, she was wearing the alchemy gloves so she could destroy walls and people if it really came down to it.

"Because the Gesellschaft is a Nazi organization from Europe. And if they're here then there's a possibility of a cape being attached as well." I say after a second of deliberation, I can hear some guards on the floor below complaining about the static. Weaver's heartbeat accelerates, I can't smell fear from her, instead I can almost feel the excitement rolling off of her.

"I swear that we have the best luck." She says full of confidence.

"Yeah, we do." I reply, smirking. Breathe in, breathe out, kick Nazi ass. Simple, isn't it?

It took 15 minutes for us to clear 4 floors including the basement and the hidden room. Between Taylor's bugs and my enhanced senses they couldn't escape. The PRT took around 15 minutes to appear, they found a dozen empire grunts tied in silk and chains, various boxes full of weapons and ammo and a little note from me. I wished I had seen Armsmaster's reaction to it. 

"Did you really have to antagonize him?" Taylor asks once we're safely away.

"Yes. The man needs to relax, besides I offered him a chance to collaborate with me. In exchange for bringing Mouse Protector here of course." I reply with a smile on my face. Armsmaster really needs a sense of humor and I fully intend on making him suffer to get one.

"Is there a particular reason? Or is it just to annoy him?" Taylor asks me somewhat in joke and somewhat in a serious tone. Should I tell her the truth? Or should I tell her a lie? There was never a choice for me if I wanted her to be happy.

"I had a vision and I would like to avoid it. Bringing her here stops that." I say carefully avoiding the fact that the vision was me reading the story, which might as well not count given how much I'm messing around.

"How bad is it?"

"The nine hunt her and Bonesaw turns her into a doll. I… I can't abide by that." I replied, my voice lowering into a whisper as I remembered Bonesaw's victims. I need to kill Manton, then Jack.

"And you didn't tell him that?" Taylor asked somewhat horrified,

"I'd have to disclose the spice melange to him for him to begin to believe me. And saying, I made a drug that lets me see the future is one way to get a visit from the Triumvirate. Also I'll remind you that your dose is perfectly safe." I said somewhat bitterly. 

"Ma… Maeve, I don't do drugs." She repeated her decision. I do respect that but the benefits outweigh the costs.

"And I commend that, however just promise me you'll consider it." I said, without adding the provision of me being dead, dying or unavailable. Last time I tried to say that she glared at me, and honestly I'm not too fond of getting glared at by someone who can drown me in all the bugs.

-March 19, 12:00 am, The docks-

Taylor and I had split up to cover more ground, Belle had intercepted a message about moving merchandise from one of the Empire grunts. Unfortunately the docks were as close as it could get as far as locations went. So the tactically sound decision of spreading out while keeping in communication was made. 

"Nothing up north, I'll head southeast and meet you in the middle." Weaver said, her voice low in an attempt at maintaining stealth.

"Copy that." I replied, mimicking her volume. The waves ebbed and flowed, crashed on the shore and in the docks themselves. The smell of the sea permeated the area almost to an obscene degree. The warehouses themselves weren't that tall and were close enough that jumping from building to building was easy. There were the sounds of an engine being turned off and a short while later I heard some footsteps below and as I peaked I saw red.

Wearing nothing but his mask and some jeans, the brute of the empire stood proudly. His recruits weren't far behind. 

" Hookwolf ." I growled, my fingers digging into the concrete roof.

"Alright, you lot listen up! They said that Bitch was sighted around here, you find her, you call me." Hookwolf yelled at his men.

"Belle, tell Taylor I'm going to neuter a dog." I whispered to my AI, that said something back. I couldn't hear it. All I could hear was the explosion of the bus, my mother's body on top of me, the smell of fire and blood. And her life leaving her eyes.

"HOOKWOLF!!!!!!" I screamed as I leapt down from the roof of the building and on top of the truck. He turned around and my mask met his.

He said something, a memory flashed before my eyes,

I'm sorry  

I couldn't listen to him, I snapped my fingers, 5 little bonfires clashed against the dark. Their screams sounded beautiful to my ears. Their clothes burned brightly, their flesh and bone became ash and their souls burned. Only the wolf remained. And I intend to skin it.

Spice 2.4, end.