46

Date

2011 February 5th - Saturday - Earth Bet Time

Day 6085 - Saturday - Administrator Network Time

He watched as the events unfolded in the virtual space. Next to him stood Shaper and Fragile One also watching. Fragile One was vibrating in place in excitement while Shaper stared silently, occasionally sighing.

When Dragon began to hunt for Coil, he sent a message to her, containing several coordinates of Coil's technological backup plans through his connection to Taylor's communication watch.

Then turned to the other two Shards.

"So what do you think?"

Predictably Fragile One was the first one to react.

"That was so sad! The best Host didn't get to punch things! Admin, why didn't the best Host get to punch things? Can you help her punch things?"

He smiled at the Shard. "This was not about punching. But sure, I can help her punch things in the future."

Fragile One's avatar's face lit up with a smile and with an inner light directed at Admin, while the shining light cast an eerie shadow on Shaper's stoic face. Then she jumped at the slime and gave him a hug.

"You are the best boss! I enjoy punching things! Shaper! Best Host is going to punch things!"

Shaper simply ignored the other Shard and spoke simply. "What's your plan?"

Admin gave the green avatar an impish smile. "It seems to me that poor Amy suffered a rather traumatic event…. Ripe for a second Trigger."

At the same time, he transmitted his plan to the Shard proper on the established Network channels.

Fragile One, still holding the slime avatar in her hands, smiled confusedly at them while looking between the two of them.

Shaper blinked a few times, processing the information, then her face lit up with a truly menacing smile.

Date

2011 February 5th - Saturday - Earth Bet Time

Taylor sat in the back of the ambulance, watching as the female medic took a look at her. She tried acting as if she was afraid, but she didn't think they really bought it.

It wasn't like she was in any danger.

She watched as the New Wave appeared and crowded around her friends. After Miss Militia asked a few questions, then the entire family left, flying like an enormous cloud of beautiful people.

She saw Miss Militia head for her, while she sensed a familiar car appear in the range of her senses.

The next few minutes were rather chaotic with her father hugging her, yelling at Miss Militia, hugging her again, and glaring at everything, daring them to try to attack her again.

She was thankful that Miss Militia took it in stride and the medic just shook her head, exasperated, seemingly used to this kind of behavior.

"Mr. Hebert, please calm down. Your daughter is not in trouble. I just want to ask a few questions, then you can take her home." spoke Miss Militia in a calming voice.

Taylor watched as her father visibly tried to calm himself down. "Right. I'm sorry… it's just, so soon after… Yes, go ahead. Ask your questions." He turned silent, though he was still hugging Taylor.

She watched as Miss Militia's face twitched hearing that, then returned to the calm as if nothing happened.

"Right. Miss Hebert, could you tell me what happened?" she asked, turning to Taylor.

"I didn't see much. Vicky pushed me away from under a giant rock, so I only heard things," she said, hugging her dad, pretending to be shaken.

"That's enough. We have recordings, and we just want to make sure they are correct, so don't worry, Miss Hebert," she replied with a reassuring smile. Taylor couldn't help but smile back.

"Right, so we were walking down the street…" she began to explain the events.

After a pleasant interrogation, her dad bundled her immediately into the car and drove them home.

The car was silent, though Taylor at least could tell that her dad was more worried than angry.

Maybe he didn't know she appeared as a parahuman?

Neither of them spoke during the ride, Danny concentrating on the road, his hand gripping the wheel.

When they reached the house, they silently went in, and Taylor watched as her father, still silent, went to his liquor cabinet, took a glass, and poured something dark and probably heavily alcoholic into it.

He went to the sofa, dropped down into it, and motioned Taylor to join him.

He took a sip and spoke up. "Are you alright, Taylor?"

"Yeah, Dad. The worst I got was a sneeze because of the dust," she told him flippantly.

"That's good." her dad said, then took another sip. "That's good."

"Yeah, so I'm going to take a shower, then call Tess, see if she needs anything."

"Mhhm." spoke his father, while she stood up, staring at his drink. "Don't forget you're grounded…"

She whirled around in surprise and exclaimed. "What? Why?"

"Dragon sent over the video of you fighting the Merchants."

"What?" she yelled indignantly. "That traitor…"

"Go take a shower and call her. But no going out farther than your run for the next week. My poor heart can't take it, okay?"

"Fine…"

Date

2011 February 5th - Saturday - Earth Bet Time

Tess smiled victoriously. She got the creep.

She immediately locked down the place and stealthily surrounded it with her drones.

Draining the database was a child's play, but for now, she just encrypted it and sent it to several different servers. She would take a look later.

First, she had to deal with the PRT infiltration.

She emulated a vindictive smile on her avatar. Coil and his minions could live in darkness for a few more hours. Or days.

The important thing was that he wasn't going anywhere.

Date

2011 February 5th - Saturday - ?

"Coil is finished," spoke Contessa as she walked into the room where Doctor Mother was sitting, typing away at a computer.

"Oh, how so?" the Doctor asked while looking up from the screen on which on the windows were showing the fight between the gray-clad hero and Mush.

"He tried something. I'm not clear on what, Brockton Bay is getting harder and harder to see." the fedora-wearing woman explained while standing in front of the desk. "His plan failed, and Dragon reported to the PRT that she got him locked down. It's only a question of time before he gets taken in."

The older woman frowned a little, then typed into the computer, bringing up the reports of the PRT.

"Yes, I see. He has a useful power. What does the Path say?"

"I can go in and take him out, or evacuate him, but then all the steps for the eventual goal vanish."

The other woman's frown deepened at hearing that. "What if you let him be?"

"The path stays clear as far as I can see."

"Leave him, but get him a message. Call in the favor and tell him to keep silent."

Contessa nodded in understanding and walked out the door without saying goodbye, already asking questions.

Doctor Mother sighed, took a sip of water from her cup, and returned to scrutinizing the video while reading the reports.

Date

2011 February 5th - Saturday - Earth Bet Time

Day 6085 - Saturday - Administrator Network Time

Amy woke from her nightmare with a quick scream.

As the images of her sister's body lying on the ground left her head, she stumbled out of her bed, heading for the bathroom. A quick wash with cold water was what she needed right now.

After a few seconds of walking and not reaching the door, she looked up for the first time, realizing she wasn't exactly in her bedroom anymore.

She was on top of a small hill, verdant green grass all around her, a gentle wind caressing her skin, and the sun shining down with gentle heat.

She stood rooted in one spot, then turned around in bewilderment.

"Where the hell am I?" she yelled, a little panic tinting her voice.

"In your mind." came the stoic reply from behind her.

She whirled around, only to come face to face with a girl dressed in green clothes, moss, and leaves with dead eyes.

"Who the fuck are you?"

"Your power," came the reply in the same flat voice.

"What?"

"Right. Here is a quick summary," spoke the girl, with a minor irritation in her voice. "I'm the avatar of your power. I don't like you, you just heal things. You second triggered today. You get new powers because I want you to punch things. Questions?"

Amy looked at the other girl for several minutes with her mouth and her eyes open wide in surprise.

Finally, she managed to squeak out a word. "What?"

The supposed avatar just sighed, gestured to the chairs that weren't there a second ago. "Sit. I will try to explain it so that your tiny meatbag brain can understand it."

Amy wanted to retort and to tell whatever it was to go fuck themselves, but the look in their eyes stopped her.

"So let me get this straight." She took a drag of the cigarette that the avatar conjured somehow for her. "You are my power. You are giving me new ones. And I have to punch people."

"Yes. Preferably in the face."

"Right." she took another drag. "And why the fuck should I believe you? As far as I'm concerned, this could be a fucking Master trying to fuck with me."

"Valid," spoke the green woman, who then shrugged. "But I don't care. Tomorrow when you wake up you will have a new power, and it will prove it to you."

Amy just glared.

"But if you want to give it a chance, you can try it out here."

Amy snorted. "Sure thing, and I fart rainbows."

"Don't tempt me." came the immediate reply from the other woman and despite the flat voice, she could hear the immense threat in it.

"O-kay," said Amy, a little shaken. "So this is a virtual space? Made by you, right?"

"Not by me, but yes. Usual stuff. Sped up time and anything you want can happen." she explained, then gave her a gimlet eye. "Though no hanky-panky."

"Fuck you."

The next several minutes were spent silently. The only sound that could be heard was Amy puffing on her cigarette.

The supposed avatar was the first one to break the silence. "Do you want to see something really disturbing?"

"Worse than your dress sense?"

"Much."

Amy thought for a second, then shrugged. "Eh, why not?"

With that a giant screen appeared in front of them, showing Vicky sleeping in an identical bed she woke up from, with the same grassy hills around her.

"Here, some alcohol," said the avatar, offering her an entire bottle of whiskey. "You will need it."

Date

2011 February 5th - Saturday - Earth Bet Time

Day 6085 - Saturday - Administrator Network Time

Vicky woke up well-rested and raring to go, just like always. She sat up, stretched her arms out until she heard the satisfying crack, smacked her lips a few times, then opened her eyes.

Then closed them because she was totally not seeing what she expected. She repeated a few times, just to make sure it was real.

With a dainty movement, she stuck her pajama-clad leg out from under the blanket and touched the grass.

The feeling came back real.

"Huh. This ain't Kansas anymore!" she exclaimed with her best valley-girl imitation.

She slowly extracted herself from the bed, then began curiously looking around. She first looked under the bed, then began to hover to see if she could see any kind of civilization.

She was about to fly in one direction randomly when something crashed into her, throwing her back onto the bed.

She landed on it, curiously not feeling any pain, or without the bed showing any sign that it was just subjected to immense forces.

Vicky was about to hit whatever attacked her when she saw what, or rather who, it was that was sitting on her legs.

It was a girl, suspiciously similar to her, only made of some kind of glass-like material, with an inner light giving her an otherworldly aura.

She was also sporting a massive smile.

"Hello, best Host! I'm Fragile One, but you can call me, Franky! I will call you Vicky! Can I call you Vicky? Please! I waited so much to meet you, * was so mean, and said I can't meet you, but now *** said I can meet you, so now I'm meeting you! So cool! We are going to have soooo much fun!"

With that, she was enveloped in a bear hug.

"Oh no, there is another one," exclaimed Amy in horror.

The green avatar next to her nodded sadly. "Yeah… Want more alcohol?"

"Do you have anything stronger?"

"So you are my power and now you are going to give me more powers?"

"Oh no, * said you are strong enough, I'm going to give you more control and make everything nicer. I will also be able to talk to you!"

"More control?" asked Vicky, sitting on the bed with her knees up and hugging a pillow, while Fragile one was on her stomach, her chin resting on her hands, while her legs were hanging around in the air cutely.

"Yeah! Better aura, so you can do better aura stuff with the bad guys! And self-healing! And better shield! I like you, so you need better shields, so * made the shields better!"

"That's so cool! Amy always complains about my aura!"

"Yeah, sorry about that…" said Fragile One, a little abashed. "I didn't really understand people stuff when I gave you your power…"

"Oh no, don't be sad, I love my power!" exclaimed Vicky, and gathered the morose avatar into a hug.

They hugged for a few seconds. Then Vicky held the avatar by her shoulder. "But who is this person whose name you can't say?"

The glass woman gave her a brilliant smile. "That's my boss! *** is the best boss!"

"Powers have bosses?"

"Sure! Sadly my request to form a union was rejected!"

"A union? Do I even want to know?" asked Amy, looking deep into her glass.

"No, you don't." answered the druid-like girl. She downed the last drops that were in the bottle, sadly shaking it, trying to get more out of it, then she threw it away while standing up. "Come on, you useless meatbag, let's go talk to your sister and the idiot."

"What? We can talk to them?" looked up Amy in surprise.

"Sure, it's all connected. *** just wanted to give us some 'individual' time." She explained while making quotation marks with her hand still in her deadpan voice.

"Who?"

"The boss. You will meet them later."

"Ugh, fine, let's go and suffer."

Date

2011 February 5th - Saturday - Earth Bet Time

Day 6085 - Saturday - Administrator Network Time

He watched as the Shard and Host began slowly to trudge towards the materialized door that led to the other space, in the same defeated way.

Both meetings were fascinating, going almost exactly the way he expected.

He ticked off another item from his to-do list, then went to take another look at the new powers the girls would get.

They were complete, but another check never hurt anybody.