Chapter 45 (Patreon)

The Docks

40 Minutes Before Midnight

I came to a soft landing on top of a rundown apartment building, the silence of the dilapidated neighborhood around me being all the assurance I needed to know that I wouldn’t be bothered for a few minutes. Lung’s golden corpse, his head reattached and soldered onto the neck with tethers of Chamon, dropped down right beside me - only to sink into thin air, blue, transient sparks of mana lighting up the darkness as the massive, fifteen foot statue dropped fully into my new Dimensional Inventory.

A gift from ol’ Grimmy for defeating Lung and exposing the fuck out of Kaiser and Coil, perhaps? It came with a pair, as well…

Dimensional Inventory (Madoka Magica: Wraith Timeline - 400 CP): Do you want to keep your precious things close to you?​ You may store physical items within a time-frozen pocket dimension. This manifests one of two ways - either you can access items freely from your Warehouse, or you may store it within a bottomless dimensional pocket. 

Standing Stones (The Elder Scrolls - 400 CP): Thirteen runic stones found within the icy tundras of Skyrim, now inhabiting your Warehouse. They were made in the fashion of the thirteen major constellations within the sky, and are able to grant power to those who attune to them. Each stone grants a unique ability based on the constellation, but each person can only be attuned to a single Standing Stone at a time.

Endlessly useful, the both of them - although I’d have to wait until I was back at the Sanctum to tether myself to one of the Standing Stones. I could feel them lurking deep within my soul, like all Perks that featured items, but I could also tell that they were large, heavy, and… not something I wanted to just plop down willy-nilly. They could wait.

My eyes were still glued to the screen of my phone, though it had already died mere moments after I’d left the Market and scanned both PHO and my personal text messages.

A nugget of warmth settled deep within my gut, entirely separate from the trove of mana that enriched my Celestial Grimoire-empowered core. No, this warmth was based entirely around emotions. The kind of emotion that makes your throat close up ever so slightly, or your eyes mist up involuntarily. I was pretty sure ‘pride’ was the word I wanted to use here…? There was pride and relief that, at the very least, my showdown with Lung did nothing to alienate or scare the people of Brockton Bay away from me. 

At some point - maybe multiple points - during my stay here, I’d started to actually… care about the people of this city on a level that was more than a generic, moral-blanket ‘I’m a decent fucking person’ level. Earth Bet would never be my home, but I wanted to leave it better than it was when I got here. That, I knew for sure. And for me, that started in Brockton Bay. No matter where I went in the future, what worlds I saved or left in ruin, Earth Bet would always be my origin story - the place that shaped the foundation of just who Avalon was.

“‘Rise’, huh…” I murmured, not even bothering to hide the proud smile that formed on my lips. “Guess that song really is a banger. Good shit, Grimmy.”

My phone had been practically blowing up with notifications, both from PHO and from mutual acquaintances and friends. Not too many people even had my number, so it had been a bit of a surprise to see just how many text messages I’d received. 

Sabah’s were respectful yet prying, asking me if I needed a place to rest or lay low after being attacked publicly by Lung. How she expected to hide me in a college dorm I had no idea, but it was nice to see that our friendship hadn’t waned due to distance. Her repping my ‘hashtags’ on PHO, and having the ‘Invictus Partner’ tag was even more surprising, but I figured Cassie had been busy on the networking front after what I decided to do.

Sherrel’s were sporadic. It was clear that she was busy working on something or driving, evident by the many, many uncorrected typos. She simply wanted it made clear just how willing she was to drive her truck straight through Medhall and ‘smash through every single one of those racists fucks’. Her loyalty had never been in question for me - and I knew, without a shadow of doubt, that she’d do exactly what she said she would. Apparently she added more shit to her truck, too, including fucking laser blasters - overall, nothing but good or violent news.

Amy and Cassie’s messages were conjoined - at some point, Cass had added her into a group chat with me labeled ‘Avalon’s Harem’, which was absolutely silly as fuck. That group chat was where the vast majority of the notifications came from. Questions from both of the girls, and when those questions ran dry, it turned to words of affirmation and them - mainly Cass - reassuring me that they had things handled on their end. Amy was back with her family now, dealing with invasive prying from both Amy and Carol, while Cassie…

Well…

(11:10 PM) Cassie: i’m building a fricking army!!! Muahehehe…

(11:10 PM) Cassie: focus on coil 1st babe. kaiser’s yours, but there’s a lotta ppl upset with the empire that wants to help. #RISE

(11:10 PM) Cassie: im at some factory w sherrel, trainwreck, and this super cool chick named imp. empire’s planning smth 4 sure but we’ll figure it out. will keep you updated ᕙ(  •̀ ᗜ •́  )ᕗ

(11:11 PM) Amy: Please be careful Cass. I’m on lockdown here but if you need help I will run away if I have to. I mean it.

(11:12 PM) Cassie: :3 cute as fuck. 

(11:17 PM) Cassie: wait just checked this chat again. who tf is imp??

(11:17 PM) Amy: … Are you okay?

Remembering exactly what had been in that group chat was as simple as directing my perfect memory backwards a few minutes. I was thankful to them both, more than they would probably ever know. It had been somewhat… unbelievable, almost mystifying, the way that Brockton Bay had rallied behind my decision so quickly, but I would’ve been able to handle them turning their backs on me if it had come to it. It would’ve sucked, sure, but I wasn’t a bitch. But having both Cass and Amy actively planning and organizing ways to assist me, knowing full well what would be happening in less than forty minutes…

There was nothing like that feeling of relief and happiness. I knew that Amy wasn’t mine yet, wasn’t ours yet, but the flames of desire and possessiveness fanned itself inside of me. I wouldn’t let anything happen to these girls. Ever.

Beneath the downpour of rain that sizzled into steam against my Aqshy shield, I allowed myself to breathe and actually think about what I was doing. I wasn’t stupid. I knew from my brief perusal of PHO that there were people who wanted to join and help Invictus - the ‘Deadman’ guy, ‘Thatdude’, and ‘ImpishDelight’ - who Cassie had apparently already met, judging by the fact that she was having random ass Alzheimer moments within minutes of typing Imp’s name. Now that I thought back on it, her mom was definitely the woman I healed back at Fugly Bob’s, meaning I, what… helped Aisha out faster than it happened in canon?

How the hell did that equate to her getting her powers even earlier, though? ‘Huh…’

Regardless, I wasn’t mad at it. 

Invictus would need members, and I trusted Cassie to properly handle things until I was able to head over and check things out myself. She was with Sherrel, Trainwreck, and if my memory of canon was accurate, a badass kid who’d stab anyone who threatened her friends. If any asshole tried anything, I was confident that their combined might was enough to put ‘em on their ass. I just needed to sus out where she was having this super secret Invictus meeting at, ‘cause I knew that Cass was smart enough to know not to invite a bunch of random people to our very secret underground hideout. And if not there, then where the Hell-

Alarm bells rang through my head.

Boots against stone. Attempts to be quiet. Near silent breathing. Someone is behind you.

Maybe it was because I’d just got done slaying a parahuman dragon and my nerves were shot to fucking hell, or maybe it was just because I’d just been thinking about Aisha Laborn and I didn’t like the thought of someone sneaking up on me, but I reacted instantly as soon as Hidden Intuition made it clear what was going on.

‘Really needa keep Second Sight up more often.’

I teleported backwards blindly, relying entirely on my own instincts and heightened spatial awareness to carry me through whatever the fuck was about to happen. They hadn’t attacked me on sight, which meant that it was most likely not someone who wanted to hurt me, but despite all of my magic power, I wasn’t invincible. Not even close. It paid to be decisive.

Conveyance took me across the entirety of the rooftop, all the way to the other end, and in front of me I saw the flash of a dark black cloak, shrouding the tall and slender form of what had to be a young woman, before she seemingly realized what had just happened and turned around. My Armament was already in my grasp at that point, the razor-sharp spearhead pointing directly at the cape even as electricity began sparking around my free left hand.

Sparks, one of the Novice spells I’d gotten a rough crash-course of when ol’ Grimmy blessed me with Clever Craft. Holding raw magic - or magicka, if I was being specific - in my hand like that felt… odd, in an immensely good and satisfying way that felt different from corralling the Winds. It required no words or flamboyant gestures, just the instinctive knowledge of where and how to channel my magicka to achieve exactly what I wanted to achieve - at least, with Sparks. There was a lot there to unpack, feelings and theories and visualizations that brought to mind the question of what, exactly, electricity was… but that was for another time.

Hopefully while I was high.

For now, all I needed to focus on was the fact that my spell was a loaded gun, and I’d be damned if I let anyone fire their shot off before I shot mine.

“Easy, Avalon. I’m not here to fight you,” the girl spoke cautiously, her voice muffled and tinny beneath her metal mask. Evil Eyes cut through the rain and darkness with ease, allowing me to take note of her dark brown eyes that was constantly shifting from my crackling electricity to the ten foot long spear that simply radiated lethality.

Her body language spoke for itself.

Dark cloak, crossbows bolts holstered on right hip, young female voice. Cloaked figure is Shadow Stalker.

I’d been getting that vibe already, but I ‘preciate the heads-up.

“After tonight, I’m really hopin’ you’re not. That’d be a really stupid thing to do,” I replied evenly, my shoulders untensing ever so slightly. Tilting my head, I studied the water-logged teenager again. “I saw what you posted on PHO, Shadow Stalker. Whaddya need to get in contact with me for?”

The clock was ticking down, slowly but surely. Usually I’d throw in a bit more banter, maybe play around with her a little bit more, poke fun at the bullshit I knew she was getting up to on the side, but now simply wasn’t the time for that. I knew exactly how I would hunt down Kaiser and Coil, but the timing was everything. I didn’t know how his power would react to things like Immutable Form, Arcane, and Eyes See All or None, but that was the thing - it didn’t even fucking matter. 

He had until midnight to make his peace. Regardless of how my magic affected his Shard, every single version of me knew to hunt that bastard down and murderize him at midnight. There was no way for him to escape me. Escape us. 

I just couldn’t be late.

“Invictus,” Shadow Stalker stated bluntly, taking a cautious step forward. When I didn’t react outside of letting my spear fade back into my soul, the girl’s confidence reasserted itself. She squared her shoulders and straightened up, her voice growing louder. “Let me join. The Wards, the PRT - I fucking hate them. I hate everything they stand for. The pandering, the bowing, the immaturity, the bullshit. But you… you’re strong. The strongest person in this depressing ass city.”

When I didn’t respond immediately, she clenched her fist. Determination and raw, steely grit coated her next words.

“I want a piece of that.”

Shadow Stalker is hiding something.

She was hiding a lot of somethings, actually, but I had to take this step by step.

My eyes roamed down the dark, segmented pieces of her armor. I had better intuition than possibly anyone else in this entire city, Tattletale included, but I wasn’t omnipotent. “You bugged or wired?”

The former vigilante rolled her eyes, though I knew it wasn’t necessarily directed at me. “They try to have us wear bodycams and microphones whenever we’re on patrol, but nah - I ditched it before coming out here to find you.” Though her voice stayed stoic and in control, my ears picked up the slightest bit of warbling and hesitation at the very edges. She was scared. Or, rather…

Shadow Stalker is worried. Shadow Stalker is worried because she is at risk of breaking her probation by going AWOL. 

Understandable, but I couldn’t really find it in myself to give a shit. Juvie was pretty much the place for her to go, considering the whole ‘bully, assault, and torture this completely innocent girl until she either killed herself or triggered’ bit she pulled and was currently pulling. Back when I met Madison, I’d thought to myself ‘Aye, at least Sophia shoots nazis’, but now that I was actually standing there and interacting with her… I couldn’t help but feel like she was even worse.

Madison was dumb, but Madison was also weak. Madison was a fucking NPC.

Sophia had power, even if that power was a relatively weak Breaker ability that was countered by a policeman’s taser. She held responsibility, went through seminars and classes and training in order to, very explicitly, not do the shit she was doing to Taylor, but she said ‘fuck it’ to all of that and did it anyway. When I put that together in my head, pushing past the fact that she had an attractive voice and probably an attractive body and face, my answer was practically made up for me.

Sparks dissipated from my hand, the sound of quiet little birdies chirping dying away all at once.

“Nah.”

A pause. 

Shadow Stalker reacted like I’d just slapped her in the face out of nowhere, taking a half-step backwards. My eyes drifted over her form, taking note of the little signs of microaggression and frustrated confusion. The clenching of fists, the bowing of the shoulders, the twitches of the fingers. “... What? If it’s because of the Wards, I don’t give a shit about them. I-”

“I couldn’t give less of a shit about what the PRT thinks about anyone,” I cut the girl off, sliding my hands into my pockets. I took a step forward, then, and she bristled as my voice turned lower, more bored. “It’s not about that. I’m sayin’ no ‘cause having a coward and a pussy in my team is bad juju. We got big dicks over in Invictus.”

The sound she made was an odd mix between an incensed frog croaking and a kitten’s fearful hiss. I’d be lying if I didn’t say it almost made me chuckle - but self control reigned supreme, and I stifled it into a grin instead. 

“You don’t know fuck all about me.” 

Sophia is anxious. Sophia is angry. Sophia is embarrassed.

“I don’t? I met this chick named Madison - real fangirl, but her phone… it had some crazy shit on it. Like, crazy fucking heinous shit. Criminal shit. I think I saw the name Shadow Stalker pop up a couple times, too. Something something, locking an innocent girl in a locker with biological waste, tormenting her for months, siccing assholes on her to-“

Alarm bells.

I was capable of dodging bullets, so the duo of tranquilizer bolts that were suddenly shot my way by a panicked, unstable Shadow Stalker. It was as simple as tilting my head to the side, allowing the needle-tipped ammunition to skim past my cheek.

The same hand that I’d just placed in my pocket came out in a blur, birds calling out their vengeful cry as Sparks lit up the darkness surrounding us and screamed its way across the rooftop to the kneeling girl. Her eyes, already wide with fear and anger, practically bugged out through the eye holes in her mask when she realized just what the fuck was coming at her. She couldn’t phase out of the way because it would hurt a lot more.

So she took it.

The arcs of magical electricity collided with her body, sending her flopping backwards with a choked-off, strangled scream of pure, unadulterated pain. Instinctively, I bled off the channeling of magicka in my core, leaving the teenager shivering and twitching in a heap on the rooftop. Sparks wasn’t supposed to be an incredibly damaging spell, being one of the very first pieces of magic you learned as a fledgling wizard, but-

‘... Right. It’s raining. Let’s not kill the bitch, Jay - c’mon bruh.’

My grin dulled, twisting with vestigial traces of mockery and dry, wry amusement. I knew time was ticking, I knew that I had better things to do right now - like, say, hunting down two megalomaniacal supervillains and kicking their throats in, but the tiniest ball of anger was beginning to smolder in my gut like a Doritos Locos Taco from Taco Bell.

How dare she even deign to attack me for revealing the truth? What sort of backwards-assed pussyified logic was that? 

I didn’t care about Taylor Hebert - not really. If I did, I would’ve done some stupid fuck shit like apply to the worst highschool in Brockton Bay in order to become her friend and lead her down a path of righteousness and ass-kickery… but I didn’t. I hadn’t even thought about her over the past month, outside of asking Cass to dig into Madison’s social media accounts for proof about the bullying. Maybe it was the alexithymia and Autism talking, but I just didn’t very much care outside of being a somewhat decent human being.

But one thing I did care about was fuck ass bullies and painfully ignorant people who lorded their power over weaklings. Fuck that.

“Y’know what… sure, ‘ight. Let’s do this. You wanna crash out, we can crash out.”

An angry, pained groan and another burst of tremors was the girl’s only response as she struggled back to her feet. That was fine, too. If she wanted to talk, we’d talk.

After all, I’d almost forgotten that, with the Celestial Grimoire, I really did have all the time in the world if I wanted to. 

The sound that rang through the air was reminiscent to a giant clocktower’s brass cogs clanging against each other at a staccato rhythm, the overpowering base of which I felt shook me deep within my bones. Just You, Me, and Them was an ability I hadn’t had the opportunity to use ever since gaining it in spite of its pure versatility and power, but at a time where I needed more time to discipline a bully in between hunting down two of the largest villains on the East Coast?

It was better late than never.

There was a noticeable dip in my magic reserves as a pulse of gray, black, and white shot from the wet stone beneath my boots, spreading outwards at breakneck speeds and curling around the rooftop like some sort of… monochromatic bubble. I was still my normal color, and so was Shadow Stalker and the roof and the building I was standing on, but when I looked to the side and gazed out into the rest of the city…

It was like something out of a Noire film from the 60s. Oddly beautiful, in an ‘oldies’ kind of way, but that era wasn’t really my vibe. Though it still continued to rain down onto my little slice of the world, the droplets of rain had simply frozen in place everywhere else, just like everything else. Cars no longer moved on the streets below, a plane that had been passing by up above simply hovered there, and everything got… silent.

Deadly silent.

Beside me, a golden pillar of raw, coiling tendrils of magic shot into the sky. It was as wide as I was, but stood at least five stories tall. Oddly enough, despite looking like energy, the ‘mana tower’ had more of a crystal-like consistency when I touched it.

‘Huh. This is how she’d get out, then. By breaking this tower.’

The little kid in me was over the moon excited at that fact that I’d just pulled an actual fucking Za Warudo. The other part of me, the adult Jason Black, was still grappling with the anger Sophia roused in him. Deeming it the most important, I focused on that.

“The- the fuck did you do?!” 

Sophia is panicking. Sophia is scared. Sophia is angry.

I glanced back at the girl just in time to witness her body turn into a wispy, ghost-like form in the shape of Shadow Stalker eat up the distance towards me in one or two bounds. The girl was a fast sprinter, that much was obvious, and it was clear that her Breaker form gave her lunges that little bit of extra lightness to move just a little bit faster… but, at the end of the day, she was still just a baseline human with a smidge of extra spice.

‘And,’ I noted with a pleased hum, feeling my muscles thrum with power, ‘The Lockdown gives me a lil’ bit of a powerup. Almost forgot about that.’

I didn’t spray her down with Sparks like the last time, not wanting to straight up kill the probationary Ward, but when a crackle of electricity sparked around my left hand and her dead sprint suddenly shifted into a roll, Shadow Stalker transitioning from her Breaker form and into her human body in a sudden fit of horror and realization…

“Clench your teeth, toots.”

My leather boot found deep, gratifying contact with the bully’s metallic face mask. I held back immensely, not wanting to turn her head into a bloody red mist-

But she still went rolling back like a bowling ball, a deep, guttural snarl of pain escaping out of her mouth. Her mask, now bent and warped inwards, went flying into the sky, the leather bands holding it in place snapping from the force of my kick. In between one breath and the next, I’d already teleported forward the ten or so feet, snatching the mask out of the air with one hand while the other slid back into my pocket.

Nose and lip leaking blood like a faucet, Shadow Stalker scrambled for the crossbows that had fallen to the ground during her impromptu armadillo impersonation, but I had no interest in entertaining whatever the fuck this was for any longer than necessary. Raw Aethyr wrenched the weapons in opposite directions with extreme vengeance, forgoing fine control in favor of pure force.

Her wide, bloodshot eyes could only watch in horror as the weapons flew off the sides of the roof, where they immediately froze in place at first contact with the monochromatic outside world. With her mask off and her sweat and rain-slicked face exposed for all - or, just me - to see, Hidden Intuition draped itself around my neck in excitement. Its words were a hushed, amused whisper.

Sophia is horrified. Sophia is horrified because she thinks she’s about to die. Sophia doesn’t want to die. Sophia is confused. Sophia is confused because she thought you two were the same. Sophia wants to join Invictus. Sophia wants to hurt and kill people. Sophia wants to join Invictus because Invictus hurts and kills powerful foes. Sophia wants your respect. Sophia wants your acknowledgement. Sophia wants-

“You are… fucked in the head,” I blinked, the plain bewilderment clear as day in my voice. “Is that how you see Invictus? How you see me? Just a way to hurt people?” Even with Hidden Intuition laying it all out to me, I couldn’t grasp the mental gymnastics needed to come to that conclusion.

Her features warped, her split lips pulling back into a defensive, almost animalistic grimace. “Fuck you! That isn’t- you don’t know me! I- I’m strong, I’m not a fucking coward or a pussy. Hebert, she… she’s the coward. The weakling. Why the fuck do you care if I make fun of the bitch a little? It’s not like she’ll ever be anything worth a shit in this world.”

She wasn’t even making sense.

Normally I’d just say ‘fuck it’, knock her out, and leave to get on with my business, but there was something in the way that she said what she just said with such bleak, overwhelming conviction in her voice. Despite knowing she was completely and utterly defeated and held to rites, the bitch tripled-downed and ran it into the mud, even if she was absolutely minimizing the shit they did to Taylor. This went beyond just base arrogance and sadism.

Shadow Stalker was fucking crazy. Had to be.

So, out of a vague yet burning curiosity, I dug in again - this time, with a goal in mind.

Why was she like this?

Sophia is angry. Sophia is almost always angry. Sophia is almost always angry because she has multiple undiagnosed mental maladies.

Not too useful. 

Sophia is angry. Sophia is angry. Sophia is angry because you called her a weakling. Sophia hates being called ‘weak’ because she hates weakness. Sophia is angry-

“Nothing to say?” Shadow Stalker grumbled nasally, holding back a wince as she grabbed her bruised and bleeding nose. “You’re not gonna-”

CRACK!

The sound of bones settling back in place and the girl’s pained, almost mewling hiss of agony nearly startled me, but I retained my cool distance, merely watching as she panted through clenched teeth.

“Fuck! Haa, you’re not gonna beat my ass some more, maybe give me some bullshit speech about propriety and kindness like those other deadbeats? Stand on some moral high all you want, but I’ve seen your vids. I’ve seen you laugh and grin while beating the shit outta the nazis. You’re just like me.” 

The snort that came outta me was completely involuntary. I shook my head, not sure whether I wanted to pity or vilify her for the pure amount of bullshit coming out of her mouth. “No, you dumb bitch - I’m not like you. I enjoy beating up bad people ‘cause it helps me protect the people I care ‘bout, and it’s fun.”

Shadow Stalker rolled her eyes, a derisive scowl forming on her lips. “Whatever.”

“You enjoy beating up good and bad people, weak or strong, ‘cause you get validation from a buncha people who couldn’t really give two shits about you..”

Her cheek twitched, gaze darting away from the monochromatic cityscape and back to me. It was a fast reaction, probably instinctive, but I knew when I hit a nerve. I was onto something. Force of Spirit coalesced as liquid gold around my tongue, making the deep purr of my voice ring out sharper, more powerful.

“That’s what I mean by you bein’ weak. I killed Lung tonight. A few days ago, I killed Stormtiger, fucked up Rune, and turned Crusader into a desiccated corpse. Before that, it was gang bangers and drug dealers. Before that, when I first triggered? Neo-nazis who attacked me and my girl.”

“Get to the fucking point.”

“The point, Sophia, is that I do what I do for actual fucking reasons - and it ain’t because I want to feel better about myself, or because I want to get props from a buncha random motherfuckers. I fight ‘cause I want to grow more powerful and protect my people, and I’d just stagnate if I went around killing a bunch of random mooks or beating on fucking civilians. That isn’t power, that isn’t dominance, that isn’t prestige - that’s called being a fucking coward.”

Shadow Stalker’s eyes flashed, and for a second, as she glared hatefully up at me and clenched her fists, I genuinely thought she was going to go for one of the throwing knives glinting dully in the folds of her cloak. There was a limit to my patience and ‘kindness’, and although I was only talking to her because ignorance and stupidity annoyed me and not because I actually cared to help her, getting attacked again would’ve buried any and all desire inside of me to continue this.

Fortunately for her, she opted to continue speaking instead.

“... I’m not a Trump. I don’t ‘grow’ by fighting capes or eating my wheaties or whatever the fuck you do in your spare time. And-..I don’t just beat on random civvies. The fuck do you think I am?”

Annoyed by the dig at her ‘heroism’. Believes she wouldn’t torture random innocents for fun.

“Right,” I tilted my head, my gaze turning lidded with bemusement. “I’ve seen the proof already. I know what you did to Taylor Hebert. You telling me you wouldn’t do the same to some other innocent teenage girl if you ended up getting the same sick kick out of it?”

“Fuck you,” she spat, but the fight seemed to have drained out of her. The girl barely shifted when I squatted down a scant few feet away, her mask held lightly in my grip. “I don’t- it’s not a ‘sick kick’. I just fucking hate people like her. Walking around everyday with her ugly fucking head bowed, just taking it and not doing shit to stand up and be somebody. Sheep. Weak-willed prey who just rely on people like us to survive. It makes me fucking sick.”

Disgust at the thought of ‘weaklings’ who rely on others to survive. Disgust at the thought of people with mental disorders like ‘depression’ or ‘anxiety’. Disgust at the thought of people who can’t stand up for themselves or ‘fight back’. 

My mind worked a mile a minute, even as a part of me simply watched as the black girl glared down into the reflection of her bloodied face in the puddle of dirty rainwater growing beneath her. 

Doesn’t trust ‘weak people’. Doesn’t trust ‘prey’. Hates ‘prey’. Despises ‘prey’.

The whispers were getting quicker, more accusatory, and I knew from previous experience with Hidden Intuition that that meant I was getting closer to the answer that I was looking for.

It was practically at the tip of my tongue. I just needed her to confirm it for me.

“You consider people like ‘us’ - me and you - to be, what… predators? Top of the food chain?”

An affirming grunt was her only response, her eyes not straying from her warped reflection.

“... Correct me if I’m wrong. Hell, don’t even respond if I’m talkin’ out my ass, but… what happened?”

The girl glanced up at me, one sharply plucked eyebrow raising up to her hairline. “What are you talking about?”

“When your dad, or your uncle, or your brother - whoever the fuck it was… when he didn’t help you. When he didn’t act, and left you, alone, to deal with whatever fucked up situation you were dealing with… what happened?”

…

Alarm bells.

“A-AGHHH!”

My Evil Eyes warm and heavy with power, I watched as Shadow Stalker collapsed backwards in pure, unadulterated agony, the gleaming steel of the throwing knife she’d brandished flickering beneath the moonlight as it clattered against the rooftop. The dose of pain I’d sent through her body was just a quick stab - about the same amount of pain I would’ve felt if I’d actually let her plug a hole in my chest with that fucking knife. Why murder or maiming was her first response to emotional turmoil, I had no clue, but it was something she’d need to work on, and fast.

“I’m gonna guess it was something really fucked up, probably even your Trigger Event, and that’s why you lashed out the way you did. Again.”

Labored, pained breathing and a wet, hard swallow of saliva answered my inquiry. 

Sophia is in pain. Sophia feels humiliated. Sophia feels sadness. Sophia feels hatred.

I stood, slow and languid, and tossed the girl’s mask down at her feet, where it splashed into the same puddle of water she’d been staring into so intensely before. My next words were calm, composed, but the strength behind them - enhanced by Force of Spirit - was undeniable.

“Your first two tries - you just fucked ‘em both up by attacking me. I’m not putting you in the ER ‘cause a lion doesn’t sweat the nibbling of mice, but… three times and you’re done. You’re not a predator, Sophia Hess… you’re a traumatized little girl, lashing out at ‘weak’ people in a vain attempt at patching up that infected, pus-filled wound whoever hurt you had caused.”

She was struggling to get back up now, her gloves scratching incessantly against the dirty stone of the roof as she tensed and engaged her core muscles. “I…”

“I won’t air out your dirty laundry. Not ‘cause I give a shit about you going to juvie, but because that should be the Hebert chick’s decision. Just know this: Invictus is a team of warriors. Of champions. And never, I mean never, will we allow a coward and a leech to fight beside us.”

“...”

Whatever Shadow Stalker was going to try and say, if she was going to try and say anything, was cut off by the same loud, ringing sound of cogs banging against each other, only this time, it was inverted - like a VCR tape being rewinded. The monochrome coloration of the world was sucked back towards me as I ended the ability, blacks and whites and every dulled, boring color in between sliding through the air and gathering beneath my feet… where it all simply ceased to be.

Sound came back - the ever present screams echoing in the distance, the sound of a lot more rain falling across the city, and the wind blowing through trees and windows. For a moment, the sudden rush of sound overwhelmed the both of us, Shadow Stalker grunting as she slammed her hands against her ears and my eyebrows raising as I dampened the influx of sensory information with a slight pull of Azyr.

But it didn’t take longer than a couple of heartbeats to adjust. 

I took a step towards the edge of the rooftop, and Conveyance brought me fifteen feet closer to the edge. I went to take another step-

“Wait!”

Shadow Stalker’s voice was hoarse and exhausted, any and all anger and rage sapped right out. 

I genuinely debated just ignoring the girl. Even knowing more of her trauma, and having the additional meta knowledge that her Shard further pushed forth her aggressive tendencies, Sophia was just not a pleasant person to be around. But… curiosity was one of my most fatal flaws, and I, at the very least, wanted to hear out her last statements. I doubted I’d ever have a meeting with her again, one on one.

There was the sound of her clearing her throat, and then:

“... Say I do, uh -... fuck! If I… work on shit more. Stop wasting my time with weaklings… will you let me try again? Not right now, just- in the future, I guess.”

I paused.

Not because what she said surprised or shocked me, although it kinda did. No, I paused because the Grimoire was offering me another perk, this one sizable and potent. I could feel the large mote of light reel its way towards my soul, a carrot on a stick that I was immensely interested in gobbling up.

Infinite Potential sounded so fucking tasty.

“Sure,” I called out distractedly, starting to take another step into the air. “Prove you’re worthy of Invictus. Fight evil, protect the good, and stop letting your trauma turn you into a pussy. You know how to get in touch.”

The fact that she treated her attempts to attack me as something casual enough to not apologize about was evidence enough, in my honest opinion, that nothing good could and would come from this ‘heart to heart’, but I’d been surprised before. If I just successfully talk-no-jutsu’d an actual psychopath into channeling her trauma towards good instead of petty, cowardly evil, then I’d take that as a big fucking win. I doubted the others would ever accept someone like Sophia Hess. I doubted she’d ever join Invictus. But maybe that would be her own carrot and stick.

Regardless, if Taylor decided she wanted the evidence to go public, then all bets were already off. Sophia would just have to lay in the bed she made. Both options were wins in my book.

Conveyance took me over a hundred feet into the night sky before I could hear her response. The rain was still coming down hard, something that would probably end up lasting for the rest of the night, but it did nothing to actually rain on my parade. 

My mind scanned the proffered perk even as I began drifting aimlessly through the air.

Infinite Potential (Persona 5 Royal - 600 CP): The Fool. The empty yet infinite. A Trickster possessing this Arcana and the Wildcard that comes with it is truly one above the rest. From now on, truly befitting the nature of the first Arcana, you hold such infinite potential for growth. As long as you put the effort in, some improvements in your abilities will always appear, never too regress and the speed by which you can improve is also notably heightened. May your powers grow even further.

“... Damn.”

I was intimately familiar with the Persona series, the fifth one especially. The meaning behind the words were clear - I wouldn’t be getting my own Compendium or Persona, but my innate potential, much like Joker and Yu, would become virtually infinite. With the amount of magical power contained within the Grimoire, I already possessed immense potential as far as variety of abilities went, but this went above and beyond. Stagnation, mental blocks, physical limitations - all of that basically disappeared with the purchase of this perk. 

I’d actually be able to obtain unlimited power, and not just an unlimited amount of powers. Not to mention I’d improve in all ways at a notably higher rate - perfection, considering I’d just unlocked a brand new magical system that scaled extremely high.

Even with it taking almost all of my collected charge… wasn’t that worth its entire fucking weight in gold? Yes, yes it was.

Yoink.

It was a heavy feeling, like swallowing something large - no freaky. The perk settled deep within my soul, amongst the likes of Heroic Aptitude, Immutable Form, and Reality Marble - another foundational ability that would forever contribute to my growth as a mage. Nothing really felt all that much different, but I wasn’t expecting anything to, either - it was infinite potential, not instant gratification. I had to put the work and effort in to see any sort of positive result, and the mere thought excited me.

Heroic Aptitude combined with Infinite Potential was a scary fucking combination, and I needed to see just how effective they would be together. One required me to push my limits for an all-around boost, and the other made it so that I improved in all things faster, while simultaneously removing any ‘limiters’ I may have had. It was a match made in heaven, and tonight would be the crucible that officially started my ascension. Ascension 2: Electric Boogaloo.

“‘Ight Coil,” I grinned crookedly, raising both of my hands to chest height. “You got, what… thirty five minutes before I slam a meteor down ya throat. More than enough time to play some hide and seek, yeah?”

It could have been a variety of factors - my excitement after obtaining literal infinite potential, or my impatience to finally kill that sneaky bastard after fifteen straight minutes of playing surprise therapist to a homicidal teenage girl - but my mana, or, magicka, responded to my call with the excited and dogged speed of a hyperactive puppy. 

Clairvoyance, from the knowledge instilled within me when I purchased Clever Craft, was a novice-level Illusion spell that relied almost entirely on your memory and imagination.

It was why I mentioned Coil’s name aloud before channeling my magicka; it brought to mind his face, or, rather, the fanart I’d seen of him - along with every little detail of his wikipedia page that I remember reading with my perfect recollection. His deal with Cauldron for his powers, his paranoid and twisted mind, his future kidnapping of Dinah, the fact that he had rapists and pedophiles and murderers on his merc payroll - all of this combined together within my brain, and my magicka breathed it in, working it within the spell’s matrix and pushing it forth into the world at large to find him. To find this horrible person.

Where is Coil?

A small orb of misty, light blue magicka, roughly the same size as a baseball, coalesced in the air between my palms. What sounded like the sizzling of meat on a grill accompanied the small light show, and much like what I remembered seeing from the video games in my past life… a trail of blue mist snaked out of the orb, shooting down from the sky at a very sharp angle and snaking between alleyways and street lights. From high above the rooftops, I watched in awe as that ghostly glow twisted its way through the entire city like some sort of magical GPS service, moving further and further North until even my enhanced vision could see it no longer. 

The drain on my reserves was noticeable, especially after I’d just gotten done freezing time, but it had such a low magicka consumption rate that I was certain I could hold the spell for hours and still not run out.

“Well, well, well…”

A heady sense of anticipation and intrigue filling my chest, I teleported back down to the empty alleyway below me, alighting right above the start of my Clairvoyance trail.

Thirty three minutes, now, until midnight, and I knew exactly where the little piggy was. If there were other versions of me getting ready to hunt him down, then they’d be aware of that exact same timeframe. No matter what, under no uncertain terms, I would get to him at exactly 12:00 AM, midnight, and kill him where he stood. I took that moment, hovering, with my new magical spell burning magicka between my fingertips, to ascertain that fact for myself one last time.

‘Time’s tickin’, bitch. Run, cry, fight… it doesn’t matter.’

I floated out of the alley at a brisk speed, scaring some homeless guy that was huddled beneath a double decker layer of newspapers. The misty blue trail lead roughly towards the Docks, and I followed closely behind.

‘You’re dead.’

And distantly, I had to wonder…

How many versions of Avalon would end up killing their own versions of Coil tonight?

__________________________________________

Powers Rolled Last Chapter:

Dimensional Inventory (Madoka Magica: Wraith Timeline - 400 CP): Do you want to keep your precious things close to you?​ You may store physical items within a time-frozen pocket dimension. This manifests one of two ways - either you can access items freely from your Warehouse, or you may store it within a bottomless dimensional pocket. 

Standing Stones (The Elder Scrolls - 400 CP): Thirteen runic stones found within the icy tundras of Skyrim, now inhabiting your Warehouse. They were made in the fashion of the thirteen major constellations within the sky, and are able to grant power to those who attune to them. Each stone grants a unique ability based on the constellation, but each person can only be attuned to a single Standing Stone at a time.

Powers Rolled:

Infinite Potential (Persona 5 Royal - 600 CP): The Fool. The empty yet infinite. A Trickster possessing this Arcana and the Wildcard that comes with it is truly one above the rest. From now on, truly befitting the nature of the first Arcana, you hold such infinite potential for growth. As long as you put the effort in, some improvements in your abilities will always appear, never too regress and the speed by which you can improve is also notably heightened. May your powers grow even further.

A/N:

So, that was Sophia. Somehow the chapter ended up going that way, don't blame me - hope you enjoyed seeing that little piece of her. Whether or not she becomes more relevant later on will depend on how people feel about her, but I tried to make a bit less one dimensional than what Wildbow did in the web novel.

We rolled a new perk and you guys got to see the last two! Standing Stones is, quite literally, a treasure trove that Jason doesn't even realize the potency of. It straight up grants powers when attuned to, and can make people into straight up mages with their own magicka without Jason having to use Power-Granting Deal. I'm looking forward to him setting them up back at base.

Dimensional Inventory is exactly what it says it is - a pocket dimension that acts as an inventory system for storing objects, knick knacks, and... dead bodies? 😨

Infinite Potential is exactly what it says on the tin, and I was quite shocked when I rolled it this chapter. The first roll was something shitty that he skipped over, which is why he only rolled once this chapter despite it being 6k+ words. Limiters removed, raw talent/retention increased... shenanigans ensued.