Chapter 39: Eternal

[Taylor's POV]

Spending time with Tess and her sisters was... It was nice. We didn't talk about Cape life, nothing about the current procedure we were suddenly undergoing, nothing like that. Hell, all of our conversations were about normal things.

Like the one we were having right now. "It was difficult, reconciling with his flaws. I don't know how long I've spent under accelerated time, mostly on purpose, trying to set aside my feelings and think of Colin as he is and not as I thought." Tess went silent for a moment, sighing as she slumped into her seat. Illiyana put a comforting hand on her shoulder, while Melody let out a low hum in support as she undid the braid she'd put my hair in. I had no idea what to do here, both because of the subject matter and the person said subject matter was about in the first place, so I just smiled at her. Seeing that, and taking in her sisters' support, she went on. "Surprisingly, it was Erin that helped me with this conundrum."

That actually was a Surprise. The woman didn't really seem that helpful, she was an unashamed pervert who happily went on about her fetishes and porn. [In her defense, she's still Dragon. She might act like an idiot, but she's still The Tinker.] I blinked at the sudden inclusion of my Other Half, I wasn't expecting it, but had to admit that he had a point. [Of course I do. It's a mask, I'm not stupid enough to not see through it.]

I would've said something about that, maybe two somethings really, when the conversation I was in picked back up. "# To be fair, despite the act she puts on, she was still split from you, and you're not exactly stupid. #"

That just made me snort. She'd unknowingly echoed my Other Half, Who? And just added onto what he said. [No, go back, who's repeating my facts?] Projecting the image of Aunt Melody, he mentally nodded. [Makes sense, she knows us the best.]

I mentally nodded at that, "* Annoyingly, she may be the smartest of us. *" And practically snapped my neck with how fast I, and the rest of us, looked at Illiyana, who was in one of the reclining chairs. Seeing our looks, The Researcher raised a brow. "* What? *"

I wanted to say it, I really did, but I was also self conscious enough to not touch that subject with a 10 foot pole. "# Considering how much you and Erin 'Argue', the sudden compliment caught us off guard. #"

Tess and I nodded at that, while Illiyana huffed. Shaking her head, her snow white hair flowing with it. "* Our disagreements aren't an indication of our relationship. I love Erin, she's as much of our sister as you two are. Her... Proclivities, *" A small distasteful curl of her lips told us what she thought of that. "* Are somewhat distasteful in my opinion...- *"

"! PRUDE! !" We paused, all of us sharing a look.

Was she..? [We both are and have been.]

That made me mentally deadpan. |... Are you fucking serious? The whole time?| I was rightfully Baffled at this, because what the hell?

Smug Amusement pulsed from him, which was all the answer I nee...- "* I'm just going to pretend that didn't happen. *" That was something I could get behind. That said, and ignoring the muffled laughter coming through the walls, That's just fucking weird, she waved it off. "* Anyway, despite her vices, Erin uses the dilation effects far more then we do, which makes sense given how broad her spectrum is. Due to that, she IS older then the rest of us, by how much I don't know, *"

"! AND YOU NEVER WILL! !"

"* But the fact she is older then we are is undeniable. *" The fact she finished that as if the interruption never happened was both hilarious, and a little cool.

Still, the point of her little spiel was Interesting to think about. Tess and her sisters being A.I was something I'd long since accepted. It was just the reality that 'Age' didn't exactly mean the same to them that was getting me. (Though, to be fair, this'll probably be something I'll get warped on in the future.) Agreement pulsed from my boyfriend at that, and I mentally sighed.

Muting my thoughts for a moment, but keeping track of the conversation going on around me, I thought about what I'd thrown myself headfirst into. I knew what I was in for, and I'd had enough time to think about it. Immortality was immortality. I'd live long after everyone I knew died of old age. (Well, not everyone. Tess and her sisters won't die from old age, and neither will my Other Half. So even if everyone else is gone, I'll never be alone with them.) Still, I knew that didn't account for everyone... Well, one person specifically. (Just another thing to bring up to Dad. 'Hey, my boyfriend/eventual husband made me immortal. Sorry for not telling you.' Yeah, that'll go fucking great.)

Shooing that off, I focused on the more important aspect of this.

With our immortality, we'd be free to bring the fight to Cauldron, and any other dangerous Capes like the Slaughterhouse 9. Despite the impact we had on the world, we hadn't been as aggressive/proactive as we could be. I knew why of course, my Other Half was subconsciously restricting himself from doing stuff like that since he knew I'd be right by his side if we went to fight anyone/thing. Plus, before this whole procedure, I was liable to die if Alexandria focused her attention onto me and turned me into a bloody smear on the ground. (But now, I'll be 'Safe' enough to go against the big threats.) Granted, dying might be less of a possibility, but that didn't mean I would be safe.

Gray Boy was an example of a fate worse then death, but he was gone, and I trusted Tess and her sisters, myself, and my Other Half, enough to figure something out.

"It's fascinating how far off topic we've gone." I tuned back into that, putting those thoughts aside and unmuting myself.

Melody shrugged, while Illiyana sighed. "* Getting sidetracked isn't that surprising given how many of us are here. Erin and her spastic nature...- *"

"! I'LL SHOW YOU SPAS! !" What did that even mean?

"* Doesn't exactly make it easy to stay on topic either. *" And again, she didn't even care about the interruption. Shaking her head, she sighed again. "* But yes, we have gotten off topic. *" Remembering what said topic was, I couldn't help but frown. An action that wasn't missed at all given the way the white haired woman looked at me. "* While we all know your opinion on the matter, is there anything you'd like to add, Taylor? *"

Becoming the center of attention was something I was still a little leery about, but I easily brushed it aside. "I'm still in the camp that there are better people for you all then Armsmaster.""

""! SAME!/Amen. ""

We all took a moment to take in both responses, Erin was expected, my Other Half, not so much. Granted, I knew he thought the same way I did when it came to Armsmaster and our Aunts, Damn right I do, fuck that guy, but it was something else to hear it. "Anyway," I nearly scoffed at Tess' non sequester, but let it be. "I've come to terms with my feelings for Colin, and even understand that while he would make a 'decent' paramour," Unnecessary fancy word was unnecessary, I ignored that. "I wouldn't be able to be truly happy with him due to his failings."

Melody draped her arms around me, humming as she did. "# And the fact neither of you like him. Can't forget about that. #

Tess and Illiyana snorted. "I don't know if it's sad or not that we take th...-" A loud 'Beep' went off in the air, and we all paused. A moment after, a screen showing the Vita Chambers showed up, and I saw that both mine, and my boyfriend's, was empty. Well, empty of The Blood of Lazarus, leaving just ourselves being held up by the gear in the chamber. Tess blinked looking at the screen, one had appeared in front of everyone, then slowly nodded. "Ah, it's done."

I snorted. "That just sounds like we're food or something."

That earned me a snort from Illiyana and Melody, "I'm all for eating you o...-"

My eyes widened to the max, and I whipped my head towards his direction so hard I would swear I heard something crack. "DON'T YOU DARE FINISH THAT!" The Mischievous Eagerness coming from him was not inspiring Confidence. |You'll be sleeping alone for a wee...-|

[And I suddenly find myself not at all hungry.] That made me mentally nod, and ignore the cackling laughter coming from Erin. [You're not the one dealing with her doing the 'Whipped' motion between laughs.] My lips twitched up in Amusement, getting me an Annoyed scoff. [Anyway, we're going to be waking up soon.]

I bli...- "* Awakening in T-minus 10. 9, *" Ah, well that was happening. I tensed as the countdown, conditioning in the Danger Room taught me to do so, and waited for it to finish. "* 2, 1. 0. *"

The world around me started to ripple, and I felt my eyes drift closed, despite not being tired.

Opening my eyes, and taking notice of my surroundings, I groaned. (Ugh, something fell asleep.) It was an Annoying feeling, but I could handle it. Probably knowing their task was done, the helmet and clamps retracted, my feet landing onto the floor of the Vita Chamber as the glass slid open like a sliding door. Rolling my shoulders for a bit, and hearing my Other Half pop his back in his own chamber, Feels nice, I rolled my eyes and took a step forward.

As it was, I didn't feel any different, but considering this had just happened, and we apparently needed sunlight to fuel our 'Evolution', I wasn't Surprised. Though, that changed a bit when Melody appeared in front of us, looking us over with a worried look on her face. "# How are you feeling? You two okay? Anything feel off or strange? #" Seeing and hearing that Amused the both of us.

I shook my head though, aside from my feet having fallen asleep, nothing felt wrong. I shook a foot though, making sure to get the blood pumping. "So far so good, just pins and needles bothering me."

My boyfriend nodded at that. "Same, though it's easy to ignore."

Melody looked at us for a bit longer, then sighed. "# Good, that's good. #"

Letting out a breath, she snapped her fingers, a pair of drones bringing us some clothes. I blinked at that, then remembered I was standing in front of her, and the rest of our Aunts in wet underwear. Snatching the clothes the moment they got to me, I turned, nearly sprinting my way to the nearest bathroom, ignoring the way my Other Half laughed. "Hate to see her leave, love to watch her go."

I didn't blush at that, and anyone that said I did was a liar. "# Men. #"

"'Scuse you?"

That was the last thing I heard before I got to my room, and started changing.

When we were both done changing, he had no shame in changing in The Lab, we made our way outside. Even though it was setting, the sun was still up, so we could get this whole thing started and see how it worked.

The moment we stepped out of our home, I felt a tingling sensation coming from my skin, and even hair to an extent. (The fuck?) Looking at my arms and hair, I didn't see anything different, despite knowing something was happening. I frowned, grabbing a few strands of hair between my fingers, and rubbed them. It didn't feel different, but the tingling going through me was definitely there.

Feeling a finger poking my cheek, I looked at my Other Half from the corner of my eye, and met his Curious gaze. "We'll figure it out later. Let's just go sunbathe first."

I snorted. "If we wanted to 'Sunbathe', we should've gone to the beach." He rolled his eyes at me, though I didn't miss the Interest that provided. "We're kind of too busy to go to the beach."

Phoenix blinked, then started humming. His thoughts were Muted, so I knew he was planning something in that mad mind of his. That got a blink, and he poked my cheek again. "We're all mad here hun. Me more then the rest of you." Huffing at that, I looked away, knowing that I couldn't refute that without coming off as a hypocrite. "You still could ya know. I'm a proud hypocrite, and you should be too."

Leveling the most blank look at him, I 'Nodded.' "Uhuh. How about I don't give you more ammo to use? I like the sound of that better."

"Hmm?" He had the audacity to grin at me, Amusement rolling off of him as he did. "You suuure? Being a hypocrite is fun ya know." I would've rolled my eyes, but a light cough got our attention.

Turning to the source, we met the grinning forms of Tess and Melody. "As adorable as this is, we have observations to make."

Melody nodded along at that. "# The readings we're getting from your suits are telling us that something is happening, but we'd appreciate it if you two gave us your own observations. #"

Sharing a look with my Other Half, we nodded, and turned back to our Aunts. "Well," Bringing a bit of my hair up, I rubbed it between my fingers again, focusing on the tingling feeling I was getting. "Aside from my skin, my hair is tingling. It's weird, and doesn't really feel different, but it's tingling."

Picking up where I left off, he spoke. "Same with the hair tingling thing, but it's more of an annoying itch." Bringing up a bit of his own hair, I watched as my boyfriend blinked, then tilted his head in Confusion. "Quick question, but is my hair a little darker?"

Hearing the question, us women shared a quick glance, then focused on both his, and my hair. Melody came up to me, while Tess walked over to Phoenix. Both women took some of our hair in their hands, which felt like nothing compared to the time in their server, Which makes sense since they were more 'Real' there, and stared at it. "# I'm not seeing any differences, but it may be too early to make a call on it. #"

Tess hummed to that. "While that may be the case for you two, I'm seeing what looks like the development of chloroplasts."

That made me pause, remembering what exactly they were, then look back to my own hair. "Am I going to end up with chloroplasts too? Or is it because your hair is green?"

Interest was the initial response from him, and he started to think about it. Though, before he could say anything, Melody spoke up. "# While that's a good question, it's still too early to know for sure. #"

We both Agreed with that, and decided to put it away for now.

That done, we decided to just stay outside, soaking up as much sun as we could in order to figure out what would happen.

[Phoenix's POV]

Laying in Taylor's bed, we were sleeping in her room tonight, I went over everything that happened after the procedure with my thoughts Muted, so my drowsy Other Half didn't get disturbed. We were both unnaturally tired at the moment, so it was probably because of what was going on with our DNA.

We stayed outside for 2 hours, the sun had ended up setting afterwords, so there was nothing else we could do unless we went to another part of the world where the sun was up/rising, we found out a good bit of what was going on.

Firstly was the fact that yes, it worked for both of us. From what Aunt Dragon and Aunt Melody told us, our cells, and my hair, were absorbing sunlight. As it was, that energy wasn't doing much right away, but the small changes it was making hadn't exactly finished yet. Like it was noted earlier, my hair was changing into a darker shade of green then before, and was adapting chloroplasts. Taylor's was too, but it took an hour for that process to start for her. (It's fucking hilarious that we're both getting a little green.) Granted, her hair wasn't going full green, she was just gaining green tips and what might end up a streak of green growing on her right bang.

The energy was still working even now, so it was probably going to go to keep it up while we slept. Though, it would probably die off long before we woke up, so we were going to need to incorporate 'Sunbathing' into our schedule. I had no idea where we were going to put it in, but we'd figure it out. (Though, the idea of a beach day sounds interesting.) It would kill 2 birds with a single stone, get us to Relax, while also charging up on sunlight, but the issue was when to go for it. (Bakuda's somewhere, Leviathan is coming up in a month and some change, and Cauldron is still intact. Not to mention Scion and the Slaughterhouse 9.) I mentally huffed when I thought about all that, a little Annoyed to be honest.

I knew I could kill the Triumvirate without much issue, finding their homes and killing them in their sleep would be simple enough, and even in a fight I was Confidant I could beat them without too much trouble. Alexandria would be the easiest since I could go down her throat as Goop and melt her from the inside out, Legend would be an issue unless I caught him by surprise... And Eidolon would probably be the biggest threat if he got something good right off the bat, but I had Ultimates strong enough to go toe to toe with his bullshit.

The main problem though was I had no idea what they were doing in the background, I wasn't stupid enough to assume they would just roll over and let us do our thing, especially because we apparently no sold Thinkers, so I was ready to go on the offense when they made their move.

As for second, the Ultimatrix had been orange for a while now, but since there hadn't been any alerts or DNA resets, I was assuming it was just cataloging what was going on with us. Granted, something else could be going on, but I hadn't transformed after the procedure because I was a little Worried I'd lose the changes I gained. It was irrational, there was no reason for me to think that would happen, but I didn't want to test it today. That'd come either tomorrow, or the day after.

Either or really.

Hearing my girlfriend grumble random noises, I focused onto her, and blinked when I realized she fell asleep. (Didn't notice when that happened.) Despite how creepy it sounded, I always knew when she was asleep or not thanks to the Bond, so the fact I missed when she fell asleep just went to show how out of it I was. Letting out a silent yawn, I mentally shook my head. (Well, guess it's my turn now.)

Closing my eyes, I let myself Relax, and drifted off to sleep.

I knew something was wrong when the first thing I felt when I started to wake up was Amused Bafflement. That feeling only grew when I couldn't feel Taylor in my arms, making me grumble about shit. So, to figure out what the hell was going on, I opened my eyes, and raised a hand to wipe the cr...- I paused when my hand brushed against something, and slowly extended a finger to what I felt...

And immediately lost all grogginess as my eyes snapped open. "Mirror, I need a go...-" My eyes locked onto the trembling form of my girlfriend, who was sitting by her desk and doing her best not to burst out laughing. Unfortunately for me, when we locked eyes, she apparently lost the battle, and started laughing her ass off at me. Huffing, and having a good guess about what was going on, I ignored the womanchild, who only laughed harder at that thought, and made my way to her bathroom.

Reaching the bathroom mirror, I looked at my reflection, and scowled. "You've got to be fucking with me." I'd gone to bed with smooth skin, and woken up looking like I'd pissed off a bee hive. HAH! Ignoring the loud mental bark of laughter, I poked one of the pimples, then hissed at the feeling. (Just fucking great. And of course I don't have my beard to hide some of these shits under either.) Sure, it was slowly starting to regrow, but it'd take months to get back to what I'd had before.

Today was starting to look like a shitty o...- |By the waaay~, Amy is supposed to come todaaay.~ Or tomorrow, but I think it's today.| I felt my everything twitch. The laughter started to die off, loud breathes coming from my girlfriend as she got herself under control. |We're going to be giving her a tour of the base, and The Guild.| My murderous inclinations were rising, much to the Amusement coming from her side of the Bond. |Karma is a bitch, ain't she Mi Corazon?|

Grumbling more bullshit, I looked at the Ultimatrix, which was still glowing orange, and huffed. I had an idea on what was going on, Enhanced Memory was a blessing really, and stared at my reflection. "I might've made a miscalculation."

Her response was to practically collapse onto the floor laughing, like this was funny or some shit, "Because it IS!"

I just scowled harder.

After our morning showers, breakfast, routine, which had Aunt Melody fussing over my sudden bout of pimples and acne, we went on to do some testing. Said testing involved us going out and grabbing some sun, putting down more stuff to observe, and me going into Swampfire to confirm what I thought.

Doing that was all I needed to know that yes, I was Blossoming. I hadn't even dialed in Swampfire, just pressed the dial down onto Shocksquatch, and turned into the pyromaniac plant instead.

Really, I should've seen this coming. I'd basically injected myself with Methanosian DNA^2, so kick starting the species' maturation period should've crossed my mind, but it didn't. So now I was going to be stuck with Swampfire for a while, I had no idea how long a 'While' would be, and the horrible acne this process was going to give me... Freezing, my mind replayed a clip of another alien life cycle that went on in AF, and I shuddered. (God no, I'm too young to be a mother.)

"WHAT?!" Looking over to Taylor, who was taking the time in the sun to work on bug constructs, I saw her staring at me wide eyed, Alarmed Confusion rolling off of her in waves. Feeling that, and hearing the question, I blinked. "The hell do you mean by that?!" Surprised about the whole thing, and the fact I'd either not told her, or we were both forgetting, I just stared back.

While we were staring at each other, the purple haired form of Not-Medusa came on over. "# What? What happened? #"

Melody's question brought me out of my stupor, and I sighed. "Big Chill/Necrofriggians are asexual. Every 80 years they'll lay a nest of little ones. In the show, Ben had episodes where he blacks out and his instincts drive him to eat metal, throw it up into a nest for the hatchlings, kinda like how pigeons throw up their milk into their kids mouths," What the fuck? "And just generally act like animals when it comes to protecting their young."

There was a silence in the area after that, Melody looking at me like she was buffering, while Taylor seemed to be in the same boat. I am. I snorted at that, getting her to narrow her eyes at me. "And what the hell is so funny?"

Waving a hand at her current form, she was in her Methanosian Hybrid Form at the moment, signs of her Blossoming were evident, though she didn't have the acne. "If this is a sign of anything, then you might not have to deal with the same issues. Which is bullshit, Grade S Bullshit, but still a possibility."

My girlfriend paused, taking that i...- "# Alien grand babies...#" We both froze, then slowly, ever so slowly, turned to Melody, who suddenly seemed to be on cloud 9. Well, not suddenly if what she'd just whispered was any indication of where her thoughts were at the moment. Probably sensing our eyes on her, The Taskmistress blinked, then looked at us. "# Did I say that outloud? #" We both nodded. "# Ah... Forget about it please? #"

Amused Mischievousness pulsed from both my Other Half and I, and we shared a grin. "Love, have you suddenly developed short term amnesia?"

She snorted. "No, I don't think I have."

"Me neither, shocking."

"A big ol surprise huh?"

"What a revelation."

"One might ev...-"

"# Alright, I get it! #" We grinned at the woman, who looked both amused, and annoyed at our little skit. Turning her head up, she crossed her arms and sniffed at us. "# Annoying brats. #"

""You love us though."" Her eye twitched, and we shared a laugh.

It was nice really. Almost helped me forget that I was going through what amounted to alien puberty.

Almost.

Seeing my skin slowly start to change color, I scowled. (At the rate this is going, I'm going to need a day or two to finish this.) I didn't like that. Things had been going on in the background that would require me to go full tilt into overkill territory if any of them decided to pop up.

The Slaughterhouse 9 were bound to show up soon since the hit had been put out on Mouse Protector. Ugh, them.

Bakuda had yet to be found, Hate that.

The Nazis were bound to act out soon. Hate them too.

Coil had run off to fucking Narnia and had yet to make a peep.

The Travelers had disappeared off the face of the earth, and wasn't that a fucking terrifying thought, that the Proto-Endbringer was missing? Existential dread climbing. That thought filled me with a little Amusement.

The Fallen were still moving into Canada, that fucker Valefor being spotted somewhere. Need to kill that guy when we get the chance. I wholeheartedly agreed with that. Human Masters were an issue that we would need to address, but given the plans we had for something to shield us from them, we should be fine when we make the protections.

The Teeth were gearing up for something, I had no idea if The Butcher could take me or Taylor over due to our Bond, but there was no way in hell that I was going to test that.

Cauldron was still a problem.

And I didn't even need to get started on Scion and the Endbringers. We were free to start making anti Endbringer weapons now that the Vita Chambers and The Blood of Lazarus were done, but that was going to take so many resources and hours on hours of Tinkering that I was starting to get a headache just thinking about it. |Then stop thinking about it.| Turning an eye to my Other Half, I saw the Calm look on her face, despite the Turmoil going on through the Bond. |Right now you're becoming a pretty pretty flower. Later we'll be working with Amy and the Case 53's, and even later we'll be going on patrol. Unless something big comes up, don't think about it, you'll go gray if you do.|

I grumbled at that, but knew she had a point. Thinking about shit like this was why I used the big brains so much.

Shaking it off, I turned away, and focused on getting as much sun as I could to hopefully speed up the pr...- "# So if you laid a clutch, would you and the children eat our home given the fact it's reinforced with metal? #"

That question made me pause, and process it... And when I was pretty sure the answer was yes, I shivered. "Note to self, if I start eating the walls, get me the fuck out." Taylor, the traitor that she was, snorted, while Aunt Melody just smiled. Seeing the reactions, and no agreements, I huffed. "I hate it here."

Their giggles only fueled my 'Resentment.'

Huffing, I shook that off, and turned back to the sun. I was stuck in my Blossoming period, and while I knew I would end up getting stronger at the end of it, I didn't like how I lost so much versatility. Sure, I still had my guns, bike, grenades, and maybe my duel monsters, but it wasn't the same.

It didn't help that I was genre savvy enough to know where this was going.

All I needed to wait for was when the other shoe would drop, and what it would be.