Chapter 30: A Queen's Shackles

[Taylor's POV]

Perched on the ledge of a building a mile out, I thanked every god I knew that I wasn't in Bond range. If I was, my Other Half would've heard the thoughts running through my mind. (I'm going to fuck him. I swear to god I'm going to fuck that goddamn idiot into a coma.) We both understood what he'd said. I knew he'd kill for me, it'd already happened, and I swore I would turn anyone that tried to hurt him into a maggot infested corpse drifting along the seas. He was mine and I was his.

We KNEW that.

But we hadn't TALKED about marriage yet!

Logically, I knew that was the ultimate culmination of our relationship, there was literally no other option. Well, not like either of us wanted another option in the first place.

But emotionally?

I was thankful that my Cloak Mode made it impossible for conventional surveillance and the naked eye to see me, or else pictures of me hugging my legs on top of a roof would be circulating through PHO at the speed of light. My mask was hiding the blush blooming on my cheeks, and I was pretty sure my ears were burning, but I was justified for being an emotional wreck at the moment. The sheer amount of Love I felt from my Other Half at the declaration of marriage almost made me faint. (UGHHHHHHH!) I could never let him know how I reacted to this.

NEVER!

He'd lord it over me to the day we died, and I wasn't going to willingly give him ammunition against me.

Then, to my Horror, my V.I was put to the side, and a familiar voice rang out in my ears. "The both of you are adorable." Then she was gone!

"Tess! TESS!" She didn't respond, and I groaned. (War. This means war! That digital heathen will rue the day she crossed me!) Tess had no id...- Curiosity was coming over from the Bond, and I waved it off. |We're going to have a talk about that.|

He was silent for a bit, Amused Interest coming over, then he responded. [So... Sex.] My eye twitched. It was hard to intimidate someone that not only grew up with a majority of female influences, bugs would only last for so long, but at the same time it was oddly endearing to have someone know just what you meant.

That aside, he asked, so I answered. |You'll find out when we get home.| I was still going to visit and spend time with my dad today, but when we got home... (Mhm.) I knew my goof was blunt with things like this, but hearing the promise, because that's what it was, of marriage... Well, that deserved a reward or two later.

[... I can literally feel how horny you are.] And back to reality I came.

Shunting my Lust and Anticipation into the Swarm, I stood up. |Horny? What horny? There's no horny here.|

[... I'll just pretend I don't know what you just did.] That would be for the best. [Anyway, thoughts on Amy?]

That made me hum. |Already using her name?|

My Other Half mentally scoffed at me. [What part of 'I get attached unhealthily quickly to anyone' did you forget?]

I rolled my eyes. |Whatever.| His smartass comment aside, I did have a comment or two about Panacea. |She looks like she's killing herself.| And it did look like that. The girl was pale, she was hiding small bags under her eyes with makeup, and her posture was subtly hunched in a way I recognized. It was only when she was riding my boyfriend... (Nope.) When she was a passenger on Wildmutt, that the stress she seemed to be carrying disappeared. Though, it came back after they started talking, which made me frown.

[Ah, you see it too then.] That was obvious, probably why that was a statement instead of a question. [How do we deal with it though?]

I frowned. I had an idea about what was weighing on her, being Mastered into loving her sister was probably eating at her, but we'd probably be able to figure something out given time. (Gonna have to really think about that when we're using Brainstorm, the crab's bound to come up with something.) Thinking about that, I blinked and remembered the message Tess sent earlier. (Canary's an option... Though how do two different Master effects work when it comes to something like this?) That was a whole experiment for later.

Shaking that aside, I only had one idea we could try. |Maybe we should toss her in the Danger Room and see what happens?|

Interested Confusion pulsed from him at that. [I'm all for that. But we'll need to wait a bit first. If the first thing we do is lock her in there, we're probably going to lose our partner.] That was a good point. [... So maybe on the third day or something like that?]

Scratching my chin, I weighted that time frame in my mind. |Depends. We still need to work out the schedule first, so we'll need to get Tess involved in that.| I was good at making plans, but this was a dedicated schedule, and since Tess had been in charge of helping us set our own up, she was our go to in this situation. |Then we have to actually see how much progress we're making with her help, then go from there.|

My boyfriend hummed over the Bond, Understanding the point. [So, a week long trial run, then figure out a day after?]

I nodded, not that he could see it. |Sounds about right.| There was a spark of Anticipation from him, I didn't get why, but he'd probably tell me later.

[Mhm... By the way, how's the Supergirl knock off?] I snorted at that.

While we hadn't gotten to the series yet, he showed me some clips or stills from the show, so I got why he was calling her that. Looking at the feed showing Glory Girl, I hummed. |She's trying to learn how to shoot lasers from her eyes.|

Humor and Amusement spiked from his side of our Bond. [Think I should give her a red cape?]

I snorted. |I want to say yes, I really do, but she won't understand why.|

Disappointment. [That fuckin sucks...] He mentally shrugged. [Oh well. Still, don't want a burger or something?]

Mentally shaking my head at him, I answered again. |No, too many calories. Maybe next time though.| A mental nod was his answer, and he went quiet. While he talked to Amy, I kept my eyes on everything around us. At the moment, my range was 2 miles, give a 1/4th or so. It was a Surprise to us that my range was still increasing, but we weren't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

With my bugs, I saw everything, and thanks to my suit helping me process all the information I was getting, as well as minor bleed over from Grey Matter and Brainstorm, I was able to flick through dozens of feeds at the same time. In the future that'd probably grow to hundreds when I got more proficient with my Power, and gained more from the aforementioned aliens, but this served me well enough for now.

So with the range of my Swarm, I found an issue who was stomping his way across the city... Towards my Other Half and Panacea... (Okay, what the fuck is Lung doing?) I watched as the dragon man, who was already covered in scales and sparking with fire, stomped ahead, and frowned. (He's not stupid enough to challenge Phoenix, is he?) Aside from that one time we stopped him and the E88 from escalating, we hadn't had much interaction with him. He was just kind of there really... But now that I knew just how strong he could get, I sort of got Worried.

Not for my boyfriend, but for the Bay. Lung was able to ramp up enough to go toe to toe with Leviathan, and I knew my boyfriend could out power the City Killer. So the issue became 'Can Lung go higher then that?' I frowned at that, and started repositioning.

It would take him 10 minutes to get to his destination, so I had time to set up and stop him... But as I ran and swung along rooftops, I noticed another issue. (Well shit. Mayday, Vista, and Flechette... Are those two a set pairing or something? It'd make sense if they were, but still.) Shaking the thought away, now wasn't the time, I landed on the nearest roof, and brought out my Sentinel. Activating it, I made gathered enough bugs for a Swarm Clone, connected a feed to it, and had it gather on the rooftop the Heroes were on. I might not have wanted to work with them in general, but this was Lung, and seeing as he was already semi ramped up, I couldn't afford to let something happen.

My Swarm Clone formed, and the three Heroes all turned to face a potential threat. Though, when they saw what was going on, they lowered their weapons/dimmed their Powers. "Khepri." The veteran Hero started it off with a nod, so that was nice.

'I' hummed at Mayday, my Swarm Clone, which was basically an inky black figure of me with fireflies for eyes, nodding at the Hero. "Mayday, Vista, Flechette." The younger girls nodded in greeting, though I could tell they were both weary at the mass of insects in front of them, and I decided to get to the point. "What is your plan for Lung?"

The veteran cape frowned, looking over his shoulder at Lung. "The idea was to wait for him to ramp down, have Vista create a connection between here and the Villain, for me to blast and knock him down, then Flechette to fire a Foam Bolt at him. Ideally it would slow him down long enough for Dauntless and the rest of our reinforcements to arrive."

'I' tilted my head, thinking about it. "An acceptable plan. Yet I don't see any other Heroes in the area. ETA?"

Mayday grunted. "Militia is 12 minutes out, Dauntless is the same, and Triumph is off duty today."

It was my turn to frown at that. "That is an issue..." Mentally debating whether or not to tell them, I decided that they needed to know in case they didn't. "Are you aware of his destination?" The Heroes shared a frown, and after they shook their heads, 'I' clicked my teeth. "Anubis is currently making a deal with Panacea." The three of them flinched at that, and I saw as they recognized the problem. "The issue here is that Glory Girl is in the area. And she's not in the best of moods at the moment." Not much else needed to be said.

Mayday jolted, Vista cursed, and Flechette just looked confused. Though, her confusion was understandable. Really, Mayday Surprised me by understanding the risk, but I just chalked it up to him being really briefed about the other Capes in the city. "How far out is she from him?"

A quick look at my Minimap was enough of an answer. "Unless she suddenly moves towards him, or sees him, 4 minutes."

"Shit!" I paid the curse no mind. "Chances for a non lethal take down to work?"

That made me frown, and I checked my Sentinel. At the moment it was in non lethal mode, but I wasn't sure how effective that would be against Lung. His physiology changed into something more draconic the more ramped up he was, and there was no data available to me that'd tell me if a non lethal shot would be enough. "I lack the data to give a confidant answer, so let's assume 50%."

Mayday clicked his tongue, and Vista spoke up. "Obvious question here, but can Anubis bring Lung out of the area and keep him out?" We turned to the younger Cape, who stayed steady under our gazes, and thought about it.

It... Could work. He'd need an opening, XLR8 couldn't outright move a man of Lung's caliber without help, but if we had him down? "It can work." And it could. So, sharing my vision with my Other Half, I filled him in on the topic at hand. |Think you can do it?|

He scoffed at me. [Course I can. Just tell me when.] I nodded, watched as he told Panacea that an issue came up, and got up. Though, the healer was apparently interested in what the hell was going on, and got up with him. After paying with the money he took from Glory Girl, he showed the Ultimatrix, and popped the dial.

As he started searching for the Kineceleran, I looked to the Heroes. "Anubis is preparing. You should as well." They nodded, and Vista bent space near them, towards a nearby rooftop in the path of Lung's destination.

I made my Swarm Clone disperse and follow them, ""Jesus Christ!"" I ignored the terrified whisper shouts from Vista and Flechette, which highly Amused my boyfriend.

With them on the move, I used my grappling hook and good old parkour to reposition and get a good shot on Lung.

When we were all in place, and my Other Half had turned into XLR8, I reformed the Swarm Clone. "I am in position."

The girls jumped a little, but Mayday nodded, crimson orbs forming and crackling in his hands. "How are we playing this? Vista, me, you, Anubis? Or you, Vista, me, Anubis?" Knowing she was first, Vista bent the space in front of the veteran Hero, who looked at her in approval.

It was a good question. "I'll start off. My opening shot will most likely cause him to stagger, which will be your chance."

Mayday nodded, and I charged my Sentinel. "And me?" The three of us looked at Flechette, who was shuffling a bit and trying not to look at my Swarm Clone.

The veteran Hero shook his head at her. "Your loadout won't help here, so at the moment stick on standby." The Ward nodded, and he turned to my clone. "On your mark."

Giving him confirmation, I aimed at Lung, and held my breath. The world fell away, and I put the dragon man in my sights. "3. 2. 1." A Pulse Round went off, thunder rang in my ears as the shot cut through the air. After a moment, it struck true, and blasted through the man's crotch. Lung let out a screech/roar, falling to his knees. "NOW!"

Mayday needed no other word, and fired his orbs through the distortion. One moment they were there, the next they were above Lung, forcing the man to be belly first onto the road. Seeing what happened, my Other Half cackled and shot forwards, a blue and black blur shot through the city. In moments, he was in front of Lung, his cackle echoing through the area as people kept on running away. "ALL ABOARD THE A-TRAIN!" His tail wrapped around one of Lung's legs, and he shot forwards again, dragging a now bleeding Lung as he bled everywhere my boyfriend ran throughout the city...

Seeing the bloody tail he was leaving, I also saw bone and teeth, I hummed. ""Maybe I should've specified what we wanted him to do...""

The girls just stared, confused about what they just saw, while Mayday shrugged. "Nah, fuck that guy." Good enough for me.

"... Did you shoot Lung in the dick?"

'I' looked at Vista, who looked somewhere between mystified, and in awe. "Yes. Yes I did."

Mayday looked uncomfortable, while both of the girls shared a look, then nodded at me. ""Cool./Nice shot.""

I did not preen, and no one could say otherwise, especially since I cut the feed between my Other Half and I.

[Phoenix's POV]

"~Running around at the speed of sound!~" Dragging Lung's body through the city was fun. Ever since I'd seen A-Train do it to that one guy that crippled his brother, I wanted to do it to someone. (Monkey see monkey do.) I ignored that though, and ran around the Docks, leaving a trail of blood and...

Looking at the man, I was pretty sure he was leaving scales and bones on the ground too... (Can I use this?) I'd had the idea to take a sample of Aegis' blood, figure out how his redundant biology worked, then add it to the Serum, but Lung's regeneration seemed far stronger considering he wasn't dead despite the fact his lower jaw was gone, and his flesh was being torn off.

I hummed, speeding towards the water as I thought about it. (I'd need to separate the part that makes him go all rage monster, and take away the fire shit, but maybe it could be done... Hmm... The issue though is if adding that would destabilize the Serum. I'm already trying to make the thing work with the Ultimatrix on my wrist, it SHOULD work given the way I'm intending to introduce it to my system, but adding in another Human's DNA could fuck it up.) That made me frown, my legs started skating on the water, and I dunked Lung into the sea as I thought. (I'll test it later. If it works it works, if it doesn't then it doesn't.)

That decided, I turned my attention to Lung, who was flailing and steaming, but still not drowned enough to fall unconscious. "Fuckin drown already you idiot!" His squirming only grew stronger at that, and I scowled. "This is taking too long." Tapping the dial, I transformed. "Water Hazard!" Now that I wasn't a Kineceleran anymore, I fell into the sea.

Though that didn't matter, the sea was my home, and with it, came enhancements that made it easy to swim towards Lung, and wrap my arms around him, locking his arms against his side. The water heated and tried to boil me alive, but as an Orishan, especially one in the water, I was fine. "Just give in already." Manipulating the water around me, I forced streams of water through his nostrils, his closing wounds, and directed them to his lungs. As long as he couldn't breath, he'd be liable to either pass out, or die. I didn't care which happened first, just that it did.

Surprisingly, it took a few minutes for the fucker to stop struggling, and eventually give in. When he went slack in my arms, and his scales started to vanish, I kicked off the water, swimming to the surface.

Shooting out of the water, I threw Lung onto the ground, which was a fair way away, making the guy crash into a wall. I didn't care about him though, and blasted water out of the barnacles on my back and shoulders, water wings forming to direct myself as I used the ones on my arms to propel my body towards the downed Villain.

Landing on the ground, my eyes took in the area, not seeing anyone that'd get in the way, and I nodded. Tapping the dial, I turned back into myself, and brought out a pair of cuffs. Though, looking at how mangled and purple the fuckers' body looked, I didn't want to get close to him... [How far is the nearest PRT goon?]

My Other Half mentally hummed at me, then answered a few seconds later. |They're a minute or two out.| I nodded, and decided to just put the cuffs away. |Gonna stay and wait?|

That was a good question... [Nah, I left Amy standing around, so I'd rather go back to talking to her then wait for some goon to come pick up this shithead.] Taylor sent over a nod, and went back to doing whatever it was that she was doing.

As she did that, I brought out a syringe, I kept a bunch of small shit in my inventory for situations like this, and jabbed it into the fucker. When it was filled up, I took it out, and put it back in my inventory.

I had a bunch of shit in there now that I wasn't armed to the teeth.

Now that I wasn't busy with Lung, I brought the dial back up, and pressed it down. But since Water Hazard wasn't who I wanted to be, I tapped it again. "XLR8!" Getting into stance, I blurred forwards, making my way back through the city.

When I got back to Amy, I wasn't even Surprised to see Glory Girl hovering protectively above her. The blonde and Amy were seemingly talking about something though, and that just seemed Interesting.

[Amy's POV a few minutes earlier]

Seeing Phoenix suddenly frown wasn't exactly a good thing. It was an even worse thing when he suddenly cleaned his hands and got up, putting my sister's money on the table as he did. "What's up?"

He looked at me, for some reason I thought his eye looked different, then gestured to the door. "Someone annoying decided to come bother me." That told me nothing. "Couldn't fucking wait till after I was done eating either." I looked at the table, seeing the food was all done and the money on the table, I turned to give him a look. He rolled his eyes at it though. "Moral of the thing."

"Uhuh." The dry tone made him snort, and I felt myself smile as I got up. "Welp, who's going to die?"

Seemingly not even bothered that I was coming along, which was nice because if he pulled some 'You're a healer' shit, I would've kneed him in the dick. "Lung apparently wants to start shit."

That made me pause. After the E88 tried to push into ABB territory, Lung showed why he was the undisputed leader of the Asian gang. It was a complete surprise that we had a goddamn dragon in this city, but after remembering we had Nazis, a corrupt/incompetent PRT, a teleporting suicide bomber, and a whole lot of crackheads, the idea of a rage dragon just sounded about right. (Still, what the fuck is that guy thinking? 'Oh, The Changer is here? I'll just go slam my dick on the table and see what happens.) I didn't know Lung, we all just thought he was a lazy bastard, but no one was that one dimensional.

"Coming?" That snapped me out of my thoughts, and I looked at my... Partner(?), and saw the bastard was smirking at me.

The smirk just made me huff at him, and I fell in behind him as we made our way out. "Smug asshole."

He hummed, making me twitch. "I'd make a joke about assholes or something, but we literally just ate, so I'd rather not."

I just rolled my eyes at him. "If we hadn't just ate I'd bring up some of the bullshit I've had to un lodge from some dumbasses just to get you back for that."

Surprisingly, that just made him let out a hum. "I wouldn't mind hearing about that to be honest."

"... The fuck? Why?" I didn't get it, like, who the hell would want to hear about that?

He shrugged. "Cause then I could laugh at dumb people doing dumb things."

I stared at The Changer, not even caring that we had just left Fugly Bob's. (... You know what? Fuck it, that's friend material right there.) I nodded along with that thought. "Squeamish about anything?" If I was going to have someone to rant too about the dumb shit my patients did to themselves, I'd rather know the line at the start.

He hummed, the dial of his device popping up, and a hologram of 'Wildmutt' popping up. "No eye stuff. That shit makes me cringe." Totally understandable. "But other then that, I'm good."

I nodded at that, and focused on the holograms I was seeing. No one really knew what Anubis/Sun Wukong was really capable of, so I wanted to pay as much attention to the figures I was seeing. Though, I only saw one form that seemed to be unknown before the hologram of the speedster popped up. Then I watched as he pressed down on the dial, and a flash of green light went off that forced me to look away. "XLR8!"

When I looked back, the form of the velociraptor like form was in front of me, and I had to use every once of self control I had to not just put my hand on him. I wanted to know how that thing's biology worked. How did those orbs on his feet handle the friction running at his speed? Where did the visor come from? How dense were his claws? How strong was his tail? I wanted to know, but I reigned it in, and let out a breath as I looked at the grinning blue skinned creature in front of me. "XLR8? Really? Are you a child?"

Everyone knew the goddamn pun at this point, but I just had to ask anyway. He just shrugged again. "Everyone's a critic." That said, the visor came down, and he got into stance. "No idea how long this'll take, but I'll be ba...-" His head tilted up a bit, and I saw Vicky flying ov...- The sound of thunder went off in the distance, my head whipping towards the sou...- For some reason, he started cackling, and that threw me off. "Best fucking girlfriend." Then he was gone in a blur of blue and black.

I just blinked, staring at the spot he'd been at, then turning to the street. The trail he'd left behind was dissipating fast, and in moments, was gone... (I've seen it before, but still, that's some crazy speed.) I'd been more focused on the raid against The Simurgh to really think about it, but seeing it in person was cool.

That aside, I tuned out the bystanders, and watched Vicky fly down to me, seeing that she was about to smile, but the worried frown on her face looked like an issue. "You okay Ames?"

The worry she had for me made me warm, but I put that aside and focused on placating my sister. "Yeah, I'm good." She let out a relieved sigh... Which made me blink. "Did... Did you expect something to happen?" While I would understand why, again, Phoenix was a complicated subject for those of us in New Wave. Carol hated him, 'Murder is murder' and all that. Sarah and Crystal were fine with him, Eric thought he was the shit, while Neil, Mark, Vicky and I were neutral.

My sister scrunched her nose at that, it looked cu...- I crushed that thought, and watched her shake her head. 'No... It's just... Well..."

I got what she was aiming for. "He's an asshole?" If I was right, he'd just laugh at me calling him that.

Vicky winced, and looked away. "Well, yeah. I mean, he stole my lunch money after all! Who even does that?!"

Despite the situation, I snorted. Thinking about it now, and with the blessing of hindsight, I could recognize that situation was hilarious. "Sounds like a shit joke. Strongest Changer walks into a lunchroom and demands your lunch money."

My sister's lips twitched, and let out a small chuckle. Though after it ran its course, she sighed, looking over to where Phoenix, I refused to use that stupid fucking name his current form had, had ran. I watched her for a bit, she might've been clad in the uniform but she was still beat...- Shaking the thought off by lightly biting my tongue, I watched as she turned back to me. "So, what'd you two talk about?"

Raising a brow at her, I looked left, saw a bunch of people, looked right, saw even more people, then looked back up at her.

She scratched her cheek at that, awkwardly looking away. We both knew that discussing this out in the open would be a bad idea. Phoenix had told me our conversation wouldn't be overheard, but he wasn't here at the moment to give us privacy.

So, instead of talking about the elephant in the room, we avoided the issue, and talked about what might be going on in school. We couldn't exactly be blamed for leaving, well, I couldn't, Vicky had voluntarily left to make sure I was safe. It made me giddy that she'd fight The Changer for me if she really had too... That thought made me mentally scowl, I knew she wouldn't stand a chance if said fight ever happened, but it was the moral of the thing. (Yeah, the moral of my sister gladly sacrificing herself for me if it came too it. Great fucking morals right there Amy.) I ignored the thought, and just listened to Vicky as she went on about whether she'd get detention or not.

It was after a few minutes of talking that we noticed the blur coming towards us. Vicky made to hover above me, but wasn't fast enough to really get there when my new acquaintance stopped a few feet away. The visor popped up, I really wanted to figure out if that was actually a biological growth or not, and he looked between Vicky and I. "Good talk?"

I snorted. (It's like talking to a more socially illiterate Clockblocker.)

Vicky huffed though, and I looked over to see her with her arms crossed. "Yeah. Are you done though?" I mentally frowned at that, I wanted to know as much as I could about my new partner, but I knew why my sister was eager to cut this whole thing short.

Looking to Sun Wukong, I saw him tilt his head a bit, one of his claws tapping the underside of his visor. After a moment of that, he nodded. "It's good enough." My fingers twitched, and he looked at me. "I'll either reach out to you on PHO later, or Dragon will. Either or really."

The casual name drop of The Tinker was a surprise, but one that shouldn't have been as shocking as it was. (Really, The Master, The Changer, and The Tinker. Why wouldn't they work together? They're in the same organization!)

"Anyway," Wukong brought me out of that thought. "I've suddenly got shit to do," How fucking convenient. "See ya later fuckers." And with a snap of his visor, and a quick salute, he was gone in a blur of blue and black..

Which left Vicky and I, and the random people watching the whole thing, standing there with no idea what to do now...

Then she groaned. "We're going back aren't we?"

I groaned with her after that. (Fucking school. Just kill me now.)

The sweet release of death was denied to me, and we spent the rest of the day at school. We were both bombarded with questions about what happened, especially me, but thankfully Vicky took the heat and I was mostly left to suffer through school like everyone else.

Though, it was what came after the school day ended that made me dread what was coming.

As soon as the day ended, Aunt Sarah and Uncle Neil were there to pick us up... Vicky and I knew why, so neither of us made an issue about it. Apparently they also called the hospitals and told them I wasn't going to be heading there today, which was something that almost made me fight back at, but my sister kept me from trying and just smiled at me. I dropped it, and just waited till we got home.

Getting home was a tense thing. It only got more tense when as soon as we walked in, Carol pinned a glare onto me, as if I made some kind of mistake. Indignation boiled in me at that thought, but I kept it down.

Things took a turn for the worse though when Carol told Vicky to go to her room. My sister fought against that, but the woman wasn't taking no for an answer, and so Vicky was gone. Thankfully uncle Neil and aunt Sarah were staying, so that was good. It just sucked that Mark was having one of his days, so he wouldn't be there to support me.

And so we talked... Well... I talked, and they listened...

For all of a few minutes.

It was easy to sum it up, Pantheon, and The Guild seemingly via proxy of Dragon, wanted to work with me to help the Case 53's. It was easy to understand, Phoenix was some kind of Tinker specializing in Changer forms or something along those lines, so if anyone's tech would be able to help the Case 53's, it would be his. (Seriously, I'd be more surprised if his tech couldn't help them.)

Uncle Neil and Aunt Sarah understood that. Hell, Carol understood that... It was just... Her reaction. "So," Her eyes bore into me, and I did my best not to flinch under the intensity of her look. "What I'm hearing is you'll be twisting people into something they aren't." It wasn't even a question!

My eyes widened, and I could feel the urge to snap and deny it, fight back at the unfair statement, but I buried it like I always did. Thankfully, Aunt Sarah came to my aide. "Carol! You know damn well that isn't what she said! Hell, that's nowhere NEAR what she said either!"

Carol scowled at that, turning to Aunt Sarah with a harsh look in her eyes. "Isn't it?! Let's say by some miracle that Anubis and his tech manage to help the Case 53's, the chances for them to regain their normal bodies is still minimal. Best chances are they turn into something similar to Khepri and those 'Hybrid Forms' of hers. From there, it'll be up to her," She practically stabbed the air in front of me with her finger. "To mold their bodies however she pleases!"

I bit my cheek at that, stamping down the rage and indignation that accusation created. (Why?)

A hand slammed onto the table, Aunt Sarah looking at her sister with a scowl on her lips. "What the fuck Carol?! You're basing this on the possibility that Pantheon's tech doesn't just outright heal them! Hell, Amy might not even need to do anything aside from just make sure things work out!"

"Oh come off it Sarah, Anubis isn't some miracle maker. He's not even the first Tinker to make claims that he could fix the 53's either."

Aunt Sarah's scowl grew at that, but Uncle Neil cleared his throat, getting their attention. "Devil's advocate here, I have to admit you both have points," He held up a hand when they both looked ready to say something. "Carol with the point that Anubis isn't the first to claim he can fix them," Mentally, I frowned at that. I didn't remember if he had ever claimed to be able to do it in the first place, it was just assumed at this point and everyone was running with it. "And Sarah with the point that Amy might not even need to do anything aside from give them a checkup." Aunt Sarah frowned, but made a noise in agreement.

Carol just scowled. "And what if she does?" The side eye just made me bite my cheek harder, not enough to draw blood, but dangerously close.

Uncle Neil shrugged. "Then she helps people get better. What exactly is the problem you have here Carol?"

I wanted to know that too, know just why she was against me doing what I'd been doing for well over a year already. (There has to be a reason... Right?)

Carol huffed, a scowl plastered on her face as she looked at me. "Go to your room, we'll talk about this later." My breath caught in my throat. She wasn't doing this, was she? She WASN'T serious, was she?! "Now, Amelia."

I wanted to scream, to shout that this was bullshit, air out all my frustrations on her for this stupid fucking inju...- The taste of blood filled my mouth, and I felt the fire die out.

Without a word, I got up, and just left. It didn't matter that this was unfair. Didn't matter that this was supposed to be a good thing. What I felt didn't matter at all to Carol.

So, I made my way to my room, closed the door, and collapsed onto my bed. I knew I'd probably have to go downstairs later to get my bag, but that was later.

Right now, I just didn't want to think about what just happened.

Won't be the last we see of Lung, so don't worry.