A Darker Path Pt 54 (Patreon)

Meetings

[A/N: This chapter beta-read by Lady Columbine of Mystal.]

Saturday Midday, February 26, 2011

Glory Girl

"Okay, I'll admit that the Boardwalk is nice on a Saturday, and I've heard good things about the Rogues' Guild, but this is the first time you've ever wanted to come down and meet them." Vicky gave Amy the side-eye as they flew toward the waterfront. They were both costumed up, which their mother had insisted on. In her opinion, every public appearance that wasn't school (or some other social occasion) needed to be leveraged to improve the team's PR standing. "What's really going on here, and why didn't you want to talk about it in front of Mom?"

Amy sighed. "Before I tell you why, I need you to make two promises. First, that you won't be upset with me, and second, that you won't tell Carol. Because she will totally be upset with me."

"Well, that's not ominous at all." Vicky's eyes widened with shock as something occurred to her. "Wait, are you dating one of them? Please tell me you're not dating Salvage. Because Mom will blow every gasket she has, and a few she doesn't, if she finds out that you are. And I won't be thrilled either."

"What?" Amy's voice was both startled and irritated. "No, geez, I'm not dating anyone. At all. I've never even met them, not to talk to anyway."

"Then what's going on?" Vicky hated to be in the dark about this sort of thing.

"Promise me first." Amy wasn't giving an inch.

Vicky could actually kind of respect that, even though she hated making promises about things she didn't know about. "Okay, I'll try not to freak, and I won't tell Mom, unless this is something actively harmful to you."

There was a long pause, then Amy nodded. "It's not actively harmful to me, so I guess I can live with the rest of it. I'm meeting Atropos."

"What?" Vicky was startled. "Again? I thought you weren't doing that anymore!"

She vividly recalled that first encounter in the park. The way Atropos had almost negligently taken her down and explained the facts of life to her had made a strong impression on her. After watching the video of the Slaughterhouse Nine takedown, she'd reached an even deeper awareness of how easily Atropos could have killed her, had the black-clad cape chosen to do so. Nothing she'd seen of Atropos since, including the second meeting in the park, had mitigated that impression one iota. Instead, it had set the understanding in concrete. Fucking with Atropos, ever, in any way, is fatal.

"I've, uh, I've actually gone to meet her, and she's come to see me, a couple of times that you didn't know about," Amy confessed. "You promised to try not to freak out, remember."

"Wait." Vicky frowned. "You're not dating her, are you?" The idea of Amy liking girls wasn't something she'd ever considered.

"Haha, nope, not in a million years." The denial came out too sharp and strong to be faked. "I don't even really like her. She's just … really, really good at persuading me to do stuff that turns out to be the right thing to do, but feels really shady while I'm doing it, you know?"

"And you wanted me along to make sure she doesn't con you into doing anything against your will?" Vicky was down with that. She could say 'no' and make it stick all day long.

"Well, actually, no. She said this time there weren't any strings attached. No shady favours, she said. Just hanging out on the Boardwalk. So, I thought it might look a little less strange if we both showed up. It's not like anyone's going to expect us to try to arrest her."

Vicky snorted. "Well, that's true."

For all that Atropos was an unrepentant serial killer, she had a higher public approval rating than every other villain in the world, and most of the heroes. She even had a public fan club that was gathering members by the day, and traded photos taken of her. The head of this fan club was the black girl Vicky had met in the park on that fateful day; she had signed Polaroid selfies taken with Atropos, which nobody was ever going to beat.

Life in Brockton Bay was fucking weird sometimes.

They came in for a landing in a temporarily unoccupied spot on the Boardwalk. Vicky alighted as gently as a feather, then let Amy down onto her feet. A few people took photos, and Vicky preened a little; this was as it should be. "Okay, so when's Atropos supposed to meet you again?"

Atropos' voice came from directly behind her. "How about right now?"

Vicky whirled, startled, but Amy barely reacted. "Hi, Atropos," she said, turning around. "Couldn't resist, could you?"

"You knew where I was gonna be, the moment Glory Girl said that," Atropos replied. "So it hardly counts as a jump-scare for you, does it?"

Vicky couldn't see the black-clad cape's face, but knew there had to be a smirk under the morph mask. "That was … mean," she muttered, wanting to use a stronger word but unwilling to do so with so many witnesses around. Even more irritating, everyone was taking photos now, not just the few who had snapped pictures of her and Amy together.

"Well, maybe you'll learn not to tempt fate like that." Making a cut-off motion with her hand, Atropos raised her voice a little. "Okay, folks, nothing more to see here."

Vicky watched in aggravated surprise as the request actually worked; the people actually stopped taking photos. They moved away, breaking up into groups of two and three, occasionally glancing back at Atropos but not intruding on her privacy anymore. "That's just bullshit," she muttered. "Why do they do what you tell them?"

You're a villain, she meant. Not a hero. Even if you did kill the Endbringers. It was totally unfair, especially since she'd been helping people since she got her powers and hadn't killed a single person, ever.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually." Atropos' voice was dry. "So, Amy, did you bring along that second present for Nilbog?"

"I did." Amy pulled a small vial out of her robes. "This should be enough for what you want. You haven't told anyone that I supplied this virus?"

In a sleight of hand move that Vicky would've sworn belonged to someone with a Mover power, Amy's hand was empty and Atropos was tucking the vial into her long-coat pocket. "Not unless you want me to. But it's probably better that we each maintain our brand, yeah? Me as the remorseless killer and you as the nice, safe, fluffy healer."

Ooh yeah, good point. While Vicky would've liked Amy to get at least some of the credit for destroying Nilbog and the Goblin Kingdom, Atropos' observation was smack on target. If Amy became known as someone who'd created a deadly virus for Atropos to use, she would possibly gain popularity in some circles but inevitably suffer at least a moderate level of backlash against her and New Wave in others. Mom would go ballistic, and not just because Ames has been meeting with Atropos behind our backs.

"That was basically my idea," Amy agreed, paralleling Vicky's train of thought. "Is anyone else going to get hurt by it? Any innocents, I mean?"

"The only relatives to Jamie Rinke who are living close enough to be threatened by it don't carry the same genetic combination that makes him so vulnerable to it." Atropos sounded totally sure of herself. "They'll suffer from the equivalent of a cold for a few days, then recover. There will be zero deaths outside the Ellisburg wall."

"How do we know you're not lying?" challenged Vicky as they started walking along the Boardwalk, people giving them their space. "You could be saying that just to make her feel better."

"I could, but I'm not." Atropos took a folded sheet of paper from her pocket and handed it to Vicky. "This is a list of his relatives in the region, along with their addresses. Keep tabs on them. You'll see for yourself."

"Jesus." Vicky opened the paper and stared at the dot-matrix-printed list, then at Atropos. "How did you even know to have that …?" She stumbled verbally, lost for words.

"I'm Atropos." The dark visage gazed back at her. "It's what I do. Do you doubt me now?"

"Um … no." The sheer level of audacious bullshittery in that single action had decimated her arguments in one fell swoop. There was nothing more to be said about Ellisburg. Fully aware that Amy was covertly grinning in a 'this is what I've had to deal with' way, she scrambled for something else to say. "Um, Gallant told me that Tenebrae and Miss Medic went out to the city limits last night, on the strength of a text you sent to Miss Medic. What was that about?"

"Wait, what?" Amy's head snapped around. "Is this about the Travellers? What happened? Is Noelle okay? She was okay when I left her."

Vicky stared at Amy in her turn. "Hold the phone. What do you know about this? Who are the Travellers, and what've they got to do with stuff?"

"Okay, from the top," Atropos said. "The Travellers are a bunch of ex-villainous ex-Simurgh-bombs currently camped at the edge of town while they decide on their next move. They came here to ask politely if I would kill the extremely troublesome powers of one of their number, a pseudo-case-fifty-three called Noelle. I killed her powers, and Amy fixed her body. With me so far?"

After a moment to sort events out in her head, Vicky nodded. "Uh … yeah, I guess."

"Good." Atropos turned to Amy. "Noelle's doing just fine, but you might have noticed that one of their other members, Genesis, was in a wheelchair. I didn't ask you to heal her for two reasons: one, I was on a tight schedule; and two, you can fix paraplegia in your sleep. I'm only going to call on you for stuff you haven't dealt with a thousand times before. Miss Medic, however, needed the confidence boost so I mentioned the situation to her, and it got done."

"Ah," said Amy. "Okay, that makes sense. I remember wondering why you didn't ask me to help the other woman, but we were kind of in a hurry, I guess." If Vicky were to guess, professional pride prompted the next question. "So how good a job did she do?"

"Genesis has gone from zero use of her legs to careful walking with assistance." Atropos' voice had a note of pride in it. "She'll be walking unassisted in a week, and running in a month."

Amy blinked, her gaze going distant. "Huh. From the atrophying I saw … that's actually pretty impressive."

Vicky frowned, ready to defend Amy's capabilities. "You could've had her walking in five minutes. I've seen you do it."

"No." Amy shook her head. "That was with people who'd recently had an accident or disease that paralysed them. Someone who'd been in a chair nearly all their lives would have minimal muscle tone, and the nerves themselves might have degraded to uselessness. I'd literally have to add body mass, or cannibalise it from the rest of their body, to get their legs back in proper working order. And then they'd have to learn how to walk, all over again. Unassisted walking in a week is damn good."

"Okay, if you say so." Vicky was absolutely not going to argue recovery times with Amy; that was a losing game from the start. However, something Atropos had said had gotten her attention, so she swung her attention back to the black-clad cape. "But who even gave you permission to 'call on' my sister for anything? Whatever hold you might've had over her from our first fight, you can't keep just yanking her chain anytime you want."

Atropos chuckled. "First, that wasn't a fight. That was a lesson. Second, I called in that marker exactly once. Since then, I've just asked. She's had the choice to say yes or no. I'm pleased to say she's said yes each time, and Brockton Bay is the better for it."

Right then, Vicky made a mental note to ask Amy about all the times Atropos had called on her, and why. "Okay, so how is healing a villain case fifty-three good for Brockton Bay?"

"Noelle's power was out of control." Atropos may as well have been reading the news, for all the drama she put into the words. "Anytime someone touched her, she spawned a twisted evil clone of them that had all the memories of the original, and hated everything they held dear. Clones of capes got variations on the powers of the original. She was also getting literally monstrous. Much bigger, and she would've been eating people whole and spitting out clones of them ad infinitum. Not something I needed or wanted in or near Brockton Bay."

"So why didn't you just kill her?" Vicky tried to keep the bitterness out of her tone, but it wasn't easy. "That's your go-to, isn't it? Murder?"

"Oh, it totally is," agreed Atropos, neatly taking the wind out of her sails. "And I could've. But the Travellers have useful abilities, and now that Noelle and Genesis have had their personal issues rendered null and void, there's a very real chance they'll join in on the revamping efforts in the city. Every little bit counts."

Amy laughed out loud, sounding delighted. "And because you got the cutest Ward since Vista to heal Genesis, they're a lot more likely to trust the Protectorate and PRT to let them actually do their thing here in Brockton Bay. That's sneaky. I like it."

"And the brunette in the front row wins first prize." Atropos gestured. "Here we are. The Rogues' Guild. Either of you guys met them before?"

"Not really," Vicky admitted, looking at the stall with the dolls, the guy in power armour, the dancing woman with the ribbons, and the others. "I've seen them while flying over, but that's about it. Ames?"

Amy shook her head. "No, but they sound interesting."

"Come on," said Atropos. "I'll introduce you."

<><>

Panacea

It was weird, but Amy was enjoying Atropos' company more than she had on previous occasions. She wasn't sure if it was because the Boardwalk was a nice place to be, or because she'd gotten feedback on the job she'd done on Noelle. It hadn't been easy, but she was quite proud of the result.

If anything was irritating her, it was Vicky's attempts to pick at Atropos' impervious calm. She'd been there herself; Atropos had all the answers, and that was all there was to that. Watching Vicky bash her head against the same stone wall was both amusing and annoying. Why couldn't her sister just accept that she'd lost the argument and move on?

It was, however, nice to get the full detail on why dealing with Noelle had been such a big deal; she'd caught hints, but twisted clones who hated everything she held dear? Hell nope, with an extra helping of 'fuck that' on top. She knew what her powers were capable of. Having someone who actively hated humanity in charge of those powers … a shiver went down her spine. If that happened, they could kiss most of the United States goodbye, at the very least.

But that threat was done with. And now here, today, she was going to meet some people whom Atropos had publicly approved of. Moving forward, she followed Atropos toward the rogue capes.

"Hi, Salvage," Atropos greeted the first one they came to; a man in hulking power armour, wearing a train conductor's cap and goggles. He was seated on a sturdy-looking metal folding chair, behind an equally sturdy-looking table. On the table, it seemed he was building toy cars and locomotives and aeroplanes out of scrap metal, polishing them on a wheel until they were safe to play with. "How's things going?"

"Pretty damn good, actually." Salvage offered Atropos a smile. "You were right about the fund-raiser. People know about us now, and bring their kids around. Thanks for bein' there for us."

"Not a problem." Atropos sounded pleased. "You being here helped me out, so I'm happy to help you out. I just thought I might introduce you to Panacea. She's helped me out a couple of times, too."

Amy wondered why Atropos hadn't mentioned Vicky, but then she noticed that her sister had already moved along and was watching the cat-costumed girl with the ribbons swirling around her; probably trying to see how it was done. "Hi," she said belatedly. "I'm pleased to meet you."

"Hey, nice to meet you too." One oversized metal hand extended across the table, and she gingerly shook it. It was definitely metal, not disguised biological material, and it made her wonder how much of him was metal.

She moved along with Atropos to Parian's stall. The 'doll cape', as some called her, was a known quantity in Brockton Bay. She augmented her income from her market stall with animated figures at mall openings and the like, but Amy had never actually met her before.

"Hi," said Atropos briskly. "Parian, meet Panacea. Panacea, Parian. You're both pretty cool, so I thought I'd introduce you."

"Oh." The voice was soft and sweet, for all that it came from behind a white mask featuring a classical doll's face. "Hello. I … I suppose I never expected a real superhero like you to come to my stall like this." At her elbow, needles threaded themselves, then started working at breakneck speed on a doll base.

Amy found the speed and precision of the doll construction fascinating, but she also felt it necessary to correct the record. "I'm a hero, sure, but I don't go out and beat up bad guys like everyone else. I'm the one who heals them afterward."

"You shouldn't put yourself down like that," Parian said, but not harshly. From the tone of her voice, she'd had her share of put-downs, probably because of her own choices in life. "You save lives. And if Atropos calls you cool, then you're cool."

It was kind of weird to realise that praise from Atropos was actually hard to come by. The girl was as ruthless in her descriptions of people as she was in her treatment of bad guys. "So, uh, what did you do that Atropos thought was cool?"

Parian seemed to think for a moment. "I, um … I suppose I took in Salvage and Bastet, and we formed the Rogues' Guild. They needed help and I helped them, which on a, uh, limited income wasn't easy, but it all worked out in the end." She gestured to the left and right. "But anyone could've done that, really." The doll at her elbow was quite a ways toward completion, managing to look like a stop-motion display in real time.

"Anyone probably could've," Amy felt compelled to say. This was something she saw a lot of. People who could do something to help those less fortunate, and … didn't. "But you're the one who did. That's actually pretty brave of you."

"Yes, well." Parian nodded toward Atropos, who'd moved several steps away. "We really got our start because of the stimulus cards. That lifted our collective budget out of the 'are we going to do this thing or eat?' dilemma, and gave us some breathing room. And now most of us have good jobs, and we owe it to the Rogues' Guild, and to Atropos."

It was a sobering realisation to Amy that, while she and Vicky hadn't really faced a change of circumstance due to Atropos' actions, many people across Brockton Bay had. Everyone was getting a boost, and it was people at the lowest strata of society who were feeling it the most. She tried to think back to the last time she'd seen a homeless person or a panhandler, and she couldn't.

"Yeah, I kind of owe Atropos a bit myself," she confided. "Not the same level of issues that you did, of course, but she gave me some advice and helped me out when I most needed it, and yeah, it really turned out well."

Parian's voice held a smile. "She's kind of like that. I'd be the last to say she's sweet, exactly, but she knows exactly how to help, and when to step back."

Amy had to laugh. "You're right there. That's her in a nutshell." She paused. "So anyway, what about you? I mean, you know about my life. That's kind of a thing when it comes to being an open cape. But is doll-making what you want to do for the rest of your life?"

"Well, I like making the dolls." Parian took the one that had been assembling itself; floating scissors started tidying it up. "But I also want to get into fashion design. It's been a dream of mine for a while now."

"Fashion design." Amy rolled the phrase around in her mouth. "That actually sounds pretty cool. Would you design normal clothes, costumes for capes, or both?"

Parian chuckled, a pretty sound. "I suspect designing cape costumes would lead to dramas with secret identities and having to cut and stitch things like Kevlar, not to mention other costume accessories. Normal clothing would probably suit me better for the time being."

"Hah, yeah." Amy rolled her eyes. "Imagine becoming known as the best villain costumer on the east coast. Nobody would be able to park on the street for all the PRT surveillance vans."

This time, Parian laughed. "Okay, that's legitimately funny. Here, this is yours." She handed over the doll she'd been working on since Amy arrived.

Taking it, Amy looked properly at it for the first time, and realised it was a near-perfect rendition of her, in costume, in miniature. Wonderingly, she found she could push back the hood and pull down the scarf, as she'd already done with her real costume, to reveal frizzy brown threads for hair, and even the suggestion of freckles across the doll's nose. "Wow …" she breathed. "I can't take this. It's gotta be worth—" Putting it down, she let it go, but couldn't bring herself to take her hands away.

"It's yours," Parian said flatly. "I want you to have it." Reaching across the table, she closed Amy's hands around the doll again.

"But you can't just give away dolls to superheroes just because they are superheroes," Amy protested.

"I don't." Parian leaned closer. "I haven't given one to Atropos, even though I owe her more than I can ever repay. And I haven't given one to Glory Girl. I'm giving one to you. Because you're talking to me like a person, not like just some doll-making machine. And because …" Her voice trailed off to a near-whisper.

"What?" Amy leaned forward as well.

Parian took a deep breath. "I think you're cute," she said quietly.

"Oh." Amy felt a blush spreading across her cheeks. "Um."

"S-sorry, I … I shouldn't have … forget I said—" Parian began to stutter, her words falling over themselves. "You can keep the doll, I—"

Amy took a deep breath. "It's okay." And it really was, not least because of the boost in self-confidence that associating with Atropos had given her. After rebuilding Bonesaw into a productive member of cape society and returning whatever Sveta and Noelle had been back to their human forms, an awkward pass was nothing.

Well, not 'nothing', exactly. It was … something. Something to think about, to consider. And definitely not something to knock back out of hand. Parian was nice to talk to, and it wasn't like Amy had any other girls striving to get her attention.

"It's okay?" Parian sounded dubious. Amy connected the dots almost immediately; Parian had been rejected because of her preferences before. Well, not today.

"It's totally okay," Amy assured her. "I love the doll. Vicky and my cousins are going to be so damn jealous." She paused. "And, um … do you have a number I can maybe call you on? So we can chat?"

"Um, um, sure!" A business card flew up out of the handbag that was hanging off the back of the stall, and Parian wrote a number on the back of it. When Amy took it, she found a cute little smiley appended to the end, and she smiled in return.

"Thanks for the doll," she said, tucking the card away securely. "It's amazing. You've got a real talent."

Parian nodded. "You're welcome," she said in a half-whisper.

Still clutching the doll, Amy stepped away from the stand. Atropos, clearly looking in her direction, gave her what she chose to take as an approving nod.

"Holy crap, that's gorgeous!" Vicky came back from where she'd been chatting with the girl in the dragon costume. "How much did that set you back?"

Amy grinned. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

Part 55