A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay 40 (Patreon)

A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 40

-VB-

“The Fallen are coming to the city, soon?”

Thanks to Carol and the still unsolved mystery about how she found out about Vicky’s newfound relationship with Amy and I, the New Wave team meeting didn’t happen with the whole team. The “core” members and the Pelham second generation held their own meeting, and the “Rabbit” squad held our own meeting.

Was it effective? No.

Was it necessary? Yes.

Carol was still being a bitch and still on probation. Sarah made it very clear that until Carol did something about her attitude, she would remain permanently on probation, but it also didn’t stop her from attending strategic meetings like the ones each group held in preparation for a new shitstorm.

Of course, our wise Sarah Pelham made sure Carol didn’t barge in our meeting.

So when I broke the news, it was just Vicky, Amy, and I in my house.

Amy shuddered. “They are the worst.”

And they were, especially more so for a city like ours that was hit by an Endbringer. Their mere presence spat on the city and our struggles for survival, and I knew precisely what I intended to do to them if I spotted them. They weren’t like Uber and Leet or even like the late Kaiser. They reveled in violence and death. There was no negotiating with them.

Thankfully, it wasn’t the Mathers who were moving in but the less known, less competent, and overall less powerful Crowleys who were.

I didn’t remember much about them from Worm. Mathers Clan was the big bad of the Fallen, after all, and, honestly, I skimmed over a lot of the content. I regretted skipping so much now, because I was over that line of information. I was no longer operating with detailed foreknowledge.

Oh sure, I had some more shit I could use to weave some of the bullshit that might be headed our way (Tagg and his ilk), but overall, the total upturning of the Brockton Bay cape scene with capes I’ve never read about that I, the original owner of the body, knew of - like Vacaneer - and the deaths of so many of the original capes from the city pretty much totaled any and all foreknowledge.

Besides, Worm after Taylor’s arrest was all about Chicago, not Brockton Bay.

On top of that, I was a hero, despite my initial attempts at neutrality and non-intervention. Tagg, even if he did get PRT ENE’s directorship with Piggot still alive, kicking, and raging, wouldn’t be coming after my ass. In fact, if he did come here, then I had a hunch that he would be after Vacaneer and the rest of the villainous rogues and villains who matched the heroes in equal number.

“You’re going to go and punch them, aren’t you?” Amy accused with a glare.

“Yes. What else do you expect me to do?” I asked her in turn without being childish. She was being concerned for me, so there was no need for me to return a glare for a glare, even if there was something irksome about how she accused me. “If you forgot, Amy, then let me remind you that Vicky and you are the prime victims for those bastards.”

“If you forgot, Alan,” she repeated my words. “That Vicky and I are some of the strongest capes in all of Brockton Bay. As much as we love being cuddled, we aren’t weak damsels in distress.”

Vicky nodded firmly next to her adopted sister. “Yup. Besides, you made Amy a Brute on top of her healing biokinetic thing. She can probably whip up something that helps us fight the Fallen. What are their specialties again?”

“Strangers and Shakers.”

“Then I’m sure Amy can make something.”

I thought about it.

Well…

Technically speaking, she could, but there was no way that a simple organism Amy could make, even with qi meddling, could produce something that could work to protect our senses. She could make a lot of different ones to create overlapping senses, but she would have to hook those up with our senses. We would have to get used to those new senses, which might not work or even work against us depending on how much information the Fallen could gather while fighting us.

However, I’m also an artificer. I have used it so far only to make herbal baths and brews.

“Do you want to try?” I asked her. “I can make something, too.”

They looked at me in surprise.

“You can?”

“It … won’t be field tested,” I admitted. “But I can make something that might be able to supplement whatever Amy makes.” I sure as hell wasn’t going to be aiming merely to supplement, but at the same time, Amy had better experience with that aspect of her power because of my own meddling (alcoholic oranges we ate every morning was one such product). I would be aiming to make something equal but I haven’t been focusing much effort on my own “tinkering.”

Amy blinked. “Wait. Those pills, teas, and the bath. That’s … those are part of your power. You can tinker on top of being a Mover and a Brute?”

Vicky whined. “That’s bullshit!”

I laughed. “What can I say? I’m the perfect man.”

My two girls slapped me for that.

“But speaking of fighting,” I muttered as I pulled Amy closer to me and caressed her stomach. “You know you can’t fight, right?”

She grimaced but nodded; she’d just entered her last trimester in her pregnancy. While I was confident that our baby wouldn’t die from a normal punch, why should we take any chance where parahuman rapists were concerned?

Vicky cracked a fist onto her palm. “I’ll do your part of the fighting, too!”

“... No.”

“Huh?” we looked at Amy.

“I’m not going to just make a few things and let you all fight while I do nothing,” she mumbled as she stood up and walked over to our indoor avocado plant, which was something she bought … just last week, which was when her trimester got announced to our close group of friends.

She touched the plant, and it twisted. Its bark twisted and tore off as the green trunk underneath unfurled and twisted around themselves. The bark came back as the tree, now with four legs, uprooted itself. I saw a jaguar’s head on it, though made out of leaves and bark. Powerful legs cracked to life and its paws stomped on the ground.

But most of all…

I sensed qi running through it.

I looked at her in awe.

She grinned at me. “Surprise~!”

She just made a Spirit Beast.

“Amy.”

“Yeah?”

“OP, Please Nerf.”

Vicky looked at me in disgust. “Ugh, you sound like Uber and Leet.”

I laughed.

Maybe this wasn't going to be as serious as I thought it could have been. Vicky and I watched as Amy brought to life four more life-sized jaguars, each brimming with bits of her qi. 

"I'm not just a healer, darling," she crooned as her jaguars purred underneath her hands. "I'm a fucking Queen."