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Parahumans Series - Wildbow亜人 - 三浦追儺 & 桜井画門 | Ajin - Miura Tsuina & Sakurai Gamon (Anime & Manga)
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Taylor Hebert | Skitter | WeaverDanny HebertBrockton Bay WardsLisa Wilbourn | Tattletale
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Timballisto's Curated Works
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Published:2019-05-24Updated:2020-03-11Words:99,568Chapters:29/?Comments:226Kudos:730Bookmarks:266Hits:29,374
(Restricted) The Shadow Over Brockton Bay
Temeritous
Chapter 27: Wraith 3.10
Chapter Text
"Is that your name?" Emma asked.
I checked; Velocity was already halfway down the hall, heading for the elevator. He couldn't hear us.
"Give me a second," I said. Proving that this wasn't the Emma I remembered, she shut up and just watched me.
I knew that Case Fifty-Threes were mutated capes with no memories. I could see the omega symbol on the back of her right hand. Everything we knew about them said that they never matched a missing person's report, that identifying who they had been was impossible. If someone was kidnapping people and doing this to them, they were careful never to drop their mutants in the same place they'd been taken from.
And yet I knew that this was Emma, and she was here where we always had been.
"Emma is your name," I said. "Do you remember… anything?"
"Not much," she admitted. "They tell me that's normal, though. What's your name?"
"...Lazarus."
"That sounds cooler than mine. I think I even like Changeling better. You don't look like a Lazarus, though. You look like…." She paused, head tilting, tapping one finger against her chin. Would she dig my name up from some buried memory? "I don't know. Someone I used to know, I guess. It feels like my eyes know your face. I don't even have to look at you to know what you look like. You know my name, right? Were we friends?"
"You did used to know me," I said. "We were best friends for most of our lives. More recently we grew apart. I didn't even know you'd gone missing."
Emma smiled, beatific on her altered face. She really did look like a fairy; it was no wonder they called her Changeling. "You seem really nice, though. I can't imagine why we would have stopped being friends. We should never have grown apart."
It was too surreal. It was almost everything I used to dream of, back when I still thought I could forgive Emma if she just asked me to.
"What are your powers?" I asked, grasping at straws to direct us away from talking about the past.
Her already-glowing eyes seemed to light up more. "We just finished testing today! Look," her arms rose out from her sides slightly as if for stability, and she rose about a foot off the ground, bringing her up to eye level with me. "I can go up to about five feet off the ground, so it's not as good as really flying, but I can use walls to climb up too."
"Cool," I said, smiling weakly at her jubilance. Like a lot of other things about her, it seemed so… childish.
"And I'm pretty strong, and a little resistant to damage, and I can heal myself," she continued.
Weren't powers usually focused around one thing? "That's a lot," I said.
She nodded, happily. "That's just half of it. Want to know the other half?"
That was only half? "I did ask," I said.
"Let's be friends, then!" Emma held out her hand for me to shake, beaming.
Bemused, wondering if her alterations had come with some form of ADD, I shook her hand.
Something changed.
The world felt lighter, in both a physical, weighted sense and a visual one. It was as though gravity had suddenly been halved. Everything I looked at seemed sharper, more present. Emma was still grinning at me. I looked at myself through my Dust, but I couldn't see any change.
"What did you just do? I feel…." Good, but I wasn't sure I wanted to say it. It wasn't exactly the right word.
"I'm calling it Pact. I'm supposed to ask first, but we're friends, so it's okay, right? Here, tell me to do something."
I said the first thing that came to mind. "Do a handstand."
Immediately she stopped hovering and dropped to the floor, then leaned over backward into an expert-looking handstand. She stayed up like that for a beat, then twisted around on one hand to face me again. She was still grinning, upside down. "See? I don't even know how to do a handstand!"
But she was clearly doing one, and easily at that. So… "But because I told you to, you can?" She'd called it a Pact. "That's what the other half is, right? You can do things, even if you don't know how, as long as someone you're Pacted to tells you to."
She flipped back upright and started hovering again. I got the feeling it was more default for her than walking. "Yep! I can only have one Pact at a time, though. It makes me twice as strong, twice as fast, and I can only heal other people with a Pact."
"Why do I feel like this, though?" I raised one hand in front of my face, clenching and releasing it. Objectively it was normal, and I had full control and sensation. But it felt different.
"It would be unfair if the Pact only helped me," Emma said. "You get to be a little stronger and faster, too. The tester said that it made them smarter or clearer, too, but that was hard to quantify. We're supposed to do more tests on that part."
Hard to quantify was putting it mildly. It felt as though everything was just… easier. I could call up old memories in near-perfect detail. Everything looked different because I wasn't automatically filtering out the irrelevant details, instead taking them in as if each one was as important as the last. It felt so good that I immediately mistrusted it.
"Break the Pact," I said.
Emma pouted, but something snapped between us and I felt like the floor dropped out from under me by just an inch. Back to normal, a darker and duller world. "Didn't you like it?"
"It's… fine." Should I have explained that I don't like feeling out of control? Probably. Was I going to? Hell no. "Look, I'm tired. I'm going to bed. In the morning, I'll tell them I know who you are and get the heroes to call your parents. I'm sure they'll…" be happy to see you, is what I was going to say. But Emma looked only vaguely like herself. Facial recognition presumably hadn't matched her up because she'd de-aged to a different face, albeit one I recognized.
Would the Barnes want their daughter back when she looked nothing like her old self, didn't act like herself, and had no memory of them? It might be cruel to give them hope and this bad copy. And she was a Case Fifty-Three, she couldn't have a secret identity. It would put them in the same danger my father was in.
But, really, it wasn't my decision or my problem. This was something I could pass off to someone else.
"I'm sure they'll know what to do about it." I said.
I retreated to one of the empty rooms and pulled out my phone. No messages.
---------
I didn't have any trouble getting to sleep, and once there my Dust wandered the entirety of the PHQ. Coryn came down to perch on the helipad, looming above the tallest spire like an oversized gargoyle.
Morning came on fast, sun blooming weakly over the Bay. Coryn stirred, rising up to the top of my range to catch the first rays of light. The Dust inside the PHQ jostled my human body awake.
I came back into consciousness with gritty eyes and a dry mouth.
I remembered almost immediately to check my phone, but there was still nothing. I frowned and fired off a text, listen to your voicemail it's from me.
I let the phone fall against the pillow and rubbed my eyes; I hadn't gotten nearly enough sleep to feel refreshed, so I was forced to turn to my other method for driving off fatigue. With hardly a thought, I blocked the blood flow in my carotid and died.
Of course, that was when Emma got tired of waiting outside my room, knocked and came in.
She said something, taking a hesitant step into the room. My body was staring open-eyed at the ceiling while it resurrected, so it definitely could not be passed off as sleep. "i adwten to kalt ot... aarulsz aer uoy kaoy"
She came closer, reaching out to shake my shoulder. I used some Dust to push her hands away before she lost a layer of skin to my resurrection.
And then I blinked, alive again. I turned my head, frowning, and asked, "What?"
She shrank back. "Sorry. I just… wanted to ask you not to tell them."
It was early, but I still made the connection easily. "You don't want me to tell them who you are?"
Emma shook her head. "Who I was," she said insistently. "That's not who I am now. I wasn't nice before, was I?"
I could have lied, but I'm not that nice either. "No, you weren't. How would you know, though?"
"I've been looking at my face in the mirror… trying to figure out who I am. Smiling doesn't feel easy, but this… really ugly face does. Why would such a nasty expression be so comfortable if it wasn't used a lot? And then you… you said we used to be friends and weren't anymore. I guess you stopped being my friend when you became a hero, because I was a bad person."
I'm not a hero.
"You weren't always," I said instead. "You changed. Something warped you. The way you are right now is more like the girl I grew up with than the one I knew the last couple years."
Emma nodded, decisive. "Then I don't want to go back to whatever made me like that. I want to stay here, with you and the other heroes, and be a good person again. I want to be your friend. So, please don't tell them you know my name - " she grinned and held out her hand to shake again. "Just call me Changeling."
I shook it even though I was feeling conflicted. On one hand, Emma's loss was an old and open wound, one whose pain I had become accustomed to, and for the first time it felt salved. On the other hand, she'd already hurt me once. Could I afford to trust her again?
Also: "Take the Pact off, Changeling. And get out so I can change."
"You're no fun!"
The closet was full of plain light blue undersuits running the whole range of sizes, from Vista to someone a full foot taller than even me. I pulled one on, and went to meet Alexandria at the door. She was holding my old costume, one of the spares from when I was a Ward.
She didn't seem surprised when I answered the door before she'd even knocked. She hefted the costume up, smiling wryly. "I understand if you don't want to wear this, but we don't have much else on hand. Unless you want to go out in just the undersuit?"
No, it was skin-tight and I had zero desire to walk around feeling naked. I took the costume from her and retreated into the room, leaving it open so that she could follow if she wanted.
"Hi Alexandria!" Changeling chirped, waving at her.
"Changeling," Alexandria nodded a greeting. "Have you and Lazarus been introduced?"
"We've talked," I muttered, rolling up the legs on my costume so I could get my feet in easier.
"I didn't get the chance to say it yesterday, but I was very impressed during your power testing," Alexandria said to Changeling. "You're going to be a valuable asset and a good hero. We don't have many healers."
Changeling blushed, a faint pink spreading evenly across her cheekbones. "Thank you, ma'am, I hope so."
"Actually… Lazarus, has Changeling told you about her powers?"
"I got the rundown. Strength, speed, healing, hovering, Pact." I stood up and shrugged into the upper half of the costume, then used Dust to line up the magnetic strips in the back. A tab hidden in the collar at the back of my neck energized them and locked them in place. It would be easier to rip my way through the cloth than pull those apart now.
Alexandria smiled a little. "Her Pact might help you with your search, if the both of you are willing to try. From what I understand it tends to enhance powers as well as offer new abilities."
Changeling turned to me, eyes shining with hope. "You need help?"
I didn't feel like I needed her abilities, but I knew they might be useful when I actually found my dad. She could heal him if he needed it, or she could even transfer her Pact to him and help him escape under his own power.
And again, I remembered that denying other people's help hadn't gone well for me last time.
"Alright, she can come with. Pact me." I raised my hand for a high-five. I wanted to start getting used to the strange feeling as soon as possible, so that when I was actively searching there would be less to deal with.
Changeling exclaimed, "Yes!" and slapped my hand. Instantly my body felt lighter and the world more solid. I shook my head and turned back to Alexandria.
"Does she have a costume yet, or are the scrubs okay?"
Alexandria looked her over. "What about one of the undersuits and Coryn's old costume? We have spares, and the tabard is one-size-fits-all. It's that or the Shadow Stalker spares."
I grimaced. "Give her Coryn's stuff. Changeling, go get changed into one of the undersuits in your closet." I didn't even think about ordering her around; she acted so childlike that it was automatic to tell her to do something instead of assuming she'd know to do it on her own.
She snapped off a perky salute and zipped into the air, flitting back into her room. I rolled my eyes.
"How far back would Coil have had to split his timeline to make it so that you never called me, for one reason or another?" Alexandria asked.
I crossed my arms for lack of anything better to do with them. "He usually supports the Undersiders' jobs by splitting right before them, and if all goes well he keeps the timeline where they did the job. Since the jewelry store went off without a hitch, he probably re-split from there. And I'd decided to call you the day before that, when Tattletale told me some things, so unless he took some direct action involving me in one of the timelines, and has kept it running up 'til now… both lines should have us on the same track. Both versions of us should be having this same conversation right now."
"And we're going to have to proceed on that assumption, or we may as well give up now." Her mouth twisted, unhappily. I could tell she didn't like having to take something like that on faith. "I've put Watchdog onto finding Coil's civilian ID, but they don't have a lot to go on so it'll take a while. Assuming all day today for you and them to search for versions of him, pick a time that's significant to you to strike tomorrow. Don't pick at random; we don't know if that would remain consistent through his timelines."
Dad used to get home from work at five. Home in time for dinner.
"Five in the afternoon, tomorrow. I'm getting my dad back."
Alexandria pulled out her phone and started tapping on it, distributing the order. She'd just put it away when Changeling came out of her room, dressed in the same light blue undersuit I was wearing under my costume.
"This feels nice," she said, twirling in the air to show off. "Much better than those baggy clothes. Lazarus, how do I look?"
"Decent," I said, although my personal opinion of skintight clothes was that they rarely left anyone looking decent. "Let's go."
"Her temporary costume will be waiting in the car," Alexandria said, walking while looking down at the phone. "As will your mask if you want to wear it, Lazarus."
"Yeah, I'll wear it." I'd missed having something to cover half my face. It was easier to be around people when I didn't have to focus on making sure my face was showing the right emotions.
"Who all knows about the plan?" I asked when we were on the elevator going down to the garage.
"The people from the briefing last night," Alexandria said. "Dauntless and Triumph were read in last night and this morning, Miss Militia and Triumph are on day shift patrols, and I will be running the Console for both them and your search team. If something goes wrong, I'll be ready to deploy in seconds."
I hummed a vague acknowledgement, for lack of anything better. From a sensor, I caught Alexandria eyeing me.
"We could bring in some or all of the Wards as well, if you trust them. If I talk to Piggot through my LA PRT division, I think I can get her to okay a covert operation. Despite what I said last night, I sincerely doubt Piggot has been compromised."
I trusted them; I just wasn't sure I wanted to put them in danger. But Coil's power wasn't dangerous in the usual sense…. "I would only want to bring in Aegis and Clockblocker." Aegis could shrug off a bullet or a tinkertech rifle, and Clockblocker could rewind anything short of a headshot.
"If we need the bodies," Alexandria nodded. "It's your op, Lazarus. I'll tell you if you're doing something stupid, but I respect our deal. Nobody's making decisions for you."
It was a better deal than I thought I would get. I'd expected to be allowed to sit in on their planning session, find places where I could fit myself in around their plans. Instead I got to build them around me.
"This wasn't what I expected," I said. "Why are you doing it like this? Why are you letting me have free rein and tell heroes with years more experience what to do?"
Alexandria smirked. "You don't have free rein, kid. You have the most at stake and a power well-suited to the current task, and you've proven to be both willing and able as an independent agent. If we want to utilize your power, we have to do it on your terms, and it really is that simple.
"We're using your plan because it's good, not because it's yours. Like I said, if I thought of a way to improve it, I would. I already have, remember? I put Watchdog onto Coil's CID. I'll bet that one of his selves is hiding out as John Smith, unassuming tax accountant, miles away from wherever you find your dad. You alone couldn't find him, and you know it. That's why you're here with us."
I listened, not agreeing but also unable to refute her points. When she was done, I added, "And, you want to prove to me that you won't take away all my freedoms if I come back to the Wards, especially in LA with you."
She folded her arms behind her back and smiled. "And you want to prove to me that you're smart enough for me to trust you with freedom. An exchange goes both ways, Lazarus. Oh, when I think of what you could become with a few years on my team…."
"I want to go wherever Lazarus goes," Changeling announced; I turned to her, brow raised, surprised. She seemed serious. "Friends should stick together."
"It's not unusual for Case Fifty-Threes to… imprint on certain people," Alexandria explained to me. She looked at Changeling. "But you should understand that Lazarus is only one of the new people you're going to meet. Your feelings right now are due to her being the first person your age you've had any contact with, and they may fade."
"They won't," Changeling shook her head, and refused to elaborate on why she was so sure.
I knew, though. It was Emma.
-----------
Armsmaster glanced in his rear-view mirror and caught me staring at my phone again, willing it to spontaneously manifest a message from Tattletale. She was never this late responding to a message. Were they right?
"Focus, Lazarus," he said.
I bit down on my first snapping response, took a deep breath and released it. Changeling reached over and patted me consolingly, then sat back to stare out her window again.
"I am focused," I said. "My attention is infinite, it's only our time that's limited. You can skip the next street over, my range covers it."
Armsmaster grunted and turned his own attention back to whatever he was typing on the little laptop he had propped against the steering wheel. The car was in self-driving mode, projecting a holographic image onto the windows of a normal person with his hands on the wheel. Changeling and I were rendered 'invisible' by a similarly projected image of an empty back seat.
My Dust was spread over my entire range, forming a half-circle pane that passed through the ground and buildings. What was left over - not much - I dedicated to sweeping through the upper floors of taller buildings. It was as easy as I had expected to pinpoint living bodies; the Dust knew when it was touching a living thing, and I could tell the different densities between metal and concrete and earth. A few times already I'd found men with a passing resemblance to my father's bone structure, and been disappointed when I formed a sensor to look properly.
"Merchants again." I reported the address of a meth lab tagged with their signs.
Armsmaster noted it down. The plan wasn't to go after anything we found on this semi-legal search, but at the end of it the heroes would have a perfect snapshot of current gang territories and activities. When new villains arose to fill the Empire's void, the information might be valuable for understanding how their politics were playing out.
I stared down at the phone in my hand; not lost in thought, but meandering through it. The Protectorate said that Lisa's real name was Sarah Livsey, that she'd used her power to make her brother commit suicide. That for revenge against her parents she set them up for a fall, made worse by how high she brought them first. From the way it was phrased, they were assuming that she was repeating the pattern with Coil… and possibly with me. I knew from my introductory parahuman psychology course with the Wards that a lot of parahumans were like serial killers in that they felt compelled to follow a certain pattern of behavior.
But she told me her name was Lisa, not Sarah. Could they have mistaken her for someone else?
It was possible, but it seemed more likely to me that she'd just changed what name she was going by. To avoid detection, most likely. If she was giving me her name as a sign of trust, it would have meant more if she gave me her real one. The name with no baggage attached meant nothing. But was it because she didn't trust me, or because she was putting her past behind her?
If I looked at things the way the Protectorate framed them, she was a cold-blooded villain, the power behind the throne, guiding from the shadows and propping her 'leader' up just to watch them fail. She'd probably approached Coil herself, offering to work with him. And now she was ditching him to try to do the same thing with me.
The girl I knew wasn't like that, but I knew that my judgement couldn't be trusted. My eyes strayed to Changeling, who still stared out at the world as though she'd never seen any of it before.
The pieces fit both ways. Either Lisa was a cruel mastermind, or she was a girl trying to escape her past. The information the Protectorate had could have been misinterpreted; how could they prove that she'd caused her brother's suicide, that she'd been behind her parents' destitution? It was just as easy to say that they had been using her, and she left when she tired of it. It was just as easy to say that she blamed them for her brother's death, and took revenge.
I remembered one of the first things she had ever said to me: I could use a friend who doesn't die.
My hand clenched around my phone, and I decided: when I was done with this operation I would find Lisa and we'd have a long talk.
My head shot up. "Go up half a block and pull over. I found him."
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