Of threads and new beginnings

In hindsight, trying to fly 200 miles on a psychotic sister, might not have been the best of ideas. We had lost our way multiple times, mostly because my sister simply forgot what she had been doing and when she saw something interesting, like a bird, or a plane, there was no stopping her from trying to kill it. After a sufficient number of sacrificial butterflies, birds and a near miss with a passenger flight, we finally managed to find ourselves in Brockton Bay.

Remember how I said that I only had 3 fingers left, turns out, that 3 fingers is barely enough to use a cell, while it is not enough to keep hold of said cell phone for a prolonged period of time. Which meant that I had fumbled my phone more often than I could count before I found a way to contact Panacea. Have I mentioned that it had been less than 2 weeks since the day my parents died and the doctors those people hired had not stopped giving me pain medicine.

You might imagine that I had not been in my best state of mind for that whole adventure, which might explain why I thought it to be a great idea, at that time, to go visit Panacea at home, it had been 3 in the morning after all. In hindsight, not using the front door and using my pet psychopath sister as a weapon of mass destruction to threaten a teenage girl in healing me, wasn't the greatest plan of all time. Not that it ever went that far, we chose the wrong window and were met with the force of a startled blond bulldozer in combat mode. Ironically the impact of a blond cruise missile and the crash of my already broken body on the tarmac outside caused enough damage to make it impossible to tell, which injuries had been caused there and which had been caused almost 2 weeks before. Sadly I couldn't appreciate that fact, because I had been dying on that ugly cracked piece of sidewalk.

Later, or so I had been told, my plan did work, in a sense, because Panacea healed all my injuries, while believing me one of the bystanders caught in the crossfire of our sisters epic showdown. That morning, quite a few more people joined the exclusive club of privileged beings forced to lose limbs to razor blades of air by my sisters hands. And because some of those limbs had been pulverized on the spot, Panacea handily oversaw the tiny fact that I had been part of the attack on her house. She is forgiven for making such an erroneous mistake in the heat of battle. Not that I had been in any state to inform her of her transgressions at that time, bleeding out on the sidewalk while moaning pitifully had been all I could manage.

Waking up in the hospital with all my limbs and probably around 20kg lighter than I had ever been had been an experience I can only recommend. I was so skinny I could actually see my feet for once. Should I mention that I had trouble with obesity since I had been given back to my parents after starving in foster care for years. Nah, nobody cares and besides, it came in handy this time around, because last I remembered I only had one foot and the amount of mass needed to regrow a foot probably wasn't small.

Sadly, by the time I regained my faculties, the PRT had already done their homework and not even 30 minutes after waking I got visited by the good guys in their fancy uniforms. Normally I wouldn't have cared, I am minor who knows his rights, but as the last and sanest available family member of my sister, I felt obligated to play along. I didn't want to lose her too, at least that is what I told the PRT guys. In reality she was the only thing I would miss if I went carrier tomorrow, but telling them about my fantasies of bloody revenge on the world would have raised all kinds of read flags.

Not that it mattered what I had to say. They had already come to the conclusion that my sister needed professional care, true, and that staying here instead of going back would help her recover, which while true doesn't necessarily mean we had to stay in Brockton Bay, but someone in the PRT really wanted my sister, so they had already dealt with the supposed minders back home, to transfer custody to the North-East branch of the PRT. I just hoped they meant they had removed the heads of our guardians on a permanent basis.

I was informed, that I would be visited by a representative of the Youth Guard soon, my case had been given priority, thanks to my sister and that I could expect to be placed with a nice family within city limits in short order. I would also be allowed to visit my sister as soon as she gained a minimum of control, but they strongly encouraged me to use the PRT provided phone to facetime her as soon as possible. It seemed like my sister wasn't all that thrilled to be held in a cage and as her brother they assumed me to be a calming influence. Keeping a walking air cannon contained wasn't easy and no one wanted my sister to go hurricane Katrina on them.

The powers that be had decided and as the common mortal I was, I could only comply and start the most awkward call in my life. Of course, the goons of good stayed inside my room, privacy wasn't a right an orphaned minor could rely on. The advantage of 10 fingers and two functioning hands, was that it took less than 10 seconds to open the only app on the phone and chose the only contact. What a waste of a perfectly good phone.

Why I called this the most awkward call of my life became apparent the second my sister registered my appearance and her flood of tears, incoherent babbling and small scale squalls of air filled the screen. The goons reactions only heightened my embarrassment, because after a panicked phone call from what I assumed to be one of their buddies, they tried to get me to call down my sister before she transformed her prison into a outdoor combat arena.

To clarify, I am a teenage boy, a little awkward and socially stunted, with a massive chip on my shoulder, because I just recovered from the loss and regeneration of 3 of the 6 most important body parts, a loss caused by my sisters desperate attacks against her rapists. I didn't know the first things about calming down female teenage super weapons, even if they were my sister and my panicked made itself known by the colorful counter arguments that left my mouth in a rapid fire stream. And let's not forget that I was the one person who had been maimed two times in less than two weeks by the slightly insane teenage super weapon that was currently redecorating a building. I felt perfectly justified to call onto Cthulhu to smite those fools for forcing me into confronting that mess.

Sufficient to say my minders weren't ecstatic and the resulting call to sedate my sister required an even more inventive response. I am proud to say that I have studied the noble art of the sailor slang in great depths and the PRT goons seemed equally impressed, before they stole back their phone and left to call a nurse. They were even nice enough to remind me of their continued presence in front of my door, if I ever found it in me to cooperate for my sisters own good of course.

I was in no mood to pander to the authorities and the increased volume of my expose on their anatomic flaws, worked faster to call a nurse than those little emergency buttons do in movies. Not that the nurse had been a big help, I was apparently way too excited for someone who had lost a fifth of their body mass and was subsequently given the good stuff, which allowed me to count sheep for the next few hours.

My second awakening did nothing to improve my mood. There was nothing I could do to help my sister, I wasn't even sure I wanted to. I mean, I did want her to be comfortable, but the last two times I had seen her, she had reduced my available body parts on accident. I was not fond of pain or the crippling loss of coordination and available options for movement. I just didn't know if I wanted my sister to be anywhere near me. The only reason I had been able to hitch a ride on her to Brockton Bay was the ungodly amounts of pain medication in my system as well as the crippling fear of having to live without a majority of my limbs forever. Oh and the fear for my life of course, not like those assholes would have allowed me to live after gaining access to my parents fortune. Ironically I was much safer from the Empire in the city where they literally had an empire, at least here Nazis where a known entity and law enforcement at least tried to deal with them.

Now that I wasn't doped up so much anymore I could finally start to come to terms with what happened to me and while I still deeply loved my sister, she was the only human who had ever cared for me after all, I couldn't stomach the thought of her anywhere near my beautifully healthy restored limbs. My sister wasn't the only insane person which came out of the last weeks with a few loose screws. It was a miracle the "plan", better call it an international clusterfuck of a complete crash, had worked as well as it did. At least no one had died, at least not the one person I cared about. Who knew if there had been any accidents during this, accident? I am certain there was a word for this somewhere, but I couldn't think of anything and accident sounded so wonderfully innocent, like I hadn't used my sister as a jet to fly to and attack a family of innocent parahumans.

Maybe we could call it even, she took my limbs, I got her caught in PRT custody to restore them. She might have gained a few enemies as well, but at least we weren't under the thumbs of those people anymore. Limbs against a different kind of prison, with a different kind of warden and a chance to start anew, if the hero cape shortage in Brockton Bay was as dire as I had read on PHO, didn't sound like that bad of a deal. She might even have come out ahead. I did not begrudge her this, but I still think it is kind of unfair that I didn't get super powers from the ordeal.

My roaming thoughts were disturbed by the opening of my door and a professional if haggard looking woman in her mid fifties entered the room. Behind her back I could see a PRT goon critically examining my room before entering. This would be fun, not!

"Hello Benjamin, I am Miranda Norbert and I am here to talk about your future and what options you have from now on. As your designated Youth Guard representative it is my pleasure to help you find a new and wonderful family."

She gave me the kind of friendly and patient but business like smile only those with long years in the service can manage and pointed behind her.

"This is Mr. Korban from the PRT, he will be joining us today to help alleviate any concerns you might have about your sister."

The goon gave me the kind of look disappointed adults have given me all my life.

"After you refused to cooperate, we had to sedate your sister. I dearly hope we don't have to do so again."

Before I could snark back, Ms. Norbert gave him a stern look.

"Now, Mr. Korban, as I have told you before, Mr. Nightcastle has had an awful 2 weeks, if you can't keep yourself in check I will have to inform my superiors that the PRT is trying to force a minor into compliance by withholding access to his only remaining family."

"She is as much a danger to him, as to anyone else"

"Which is the only reason I am allowing this, parahuman minors might not be part of my purview, but as the chosen representative of Mr. Nightcastle it is perfectly within my rights to demand access to his family members. I am certain that you don't want that to happen."

I chose to only watch and observe that skit, I wasn't sure this wasn't a good cop, bad coop routine, but it certainly was entertaining to see the goon relenting. When Ms. Norbert returned her gaze to my face, she seemed to have guessed my thoughts.

"Don't worry Benjamin, I get payed for being a pain in their butt, and while an official complaint might not allow you to gain direct access to your sister anytime soon. She is a danger, not only to you, but also to herself. I can ensure you that it is within my capabilities, to get your a way to privately contact her by phone. I am in close contact with Ms. Johansen, your sisters Youth Guard representative."

I still didn't believe her, but just for taking the goon down a notch, I would listen to what she would have to say.