2.12

I fly myself out of sight - and hearing, just in case. Then I call up Noelle's appropriated phone. I'm fairly certain she got it from one of the gang members. It's not like she can walk into a shop without causing a panic. It's really too bad, that would have been one hell of a story for a sales clerk. Once she picks up I head her off, "Hey Noelle, I'm free to give this stuff a try. Where are ya?"

Several minutes later, primarily because 'small' to Noelle, and 'small' to me are two very different measurements, I manage to find her new hideout. She had managed to open the shipping bay door so she could get in. I give her a wave as I float in and settle myself close enough for my aura to reach her, "Heya Noelle, nice place you have here" and I toss her a small grin, but she doesn't seem to be in the mood.

Noelle seems impatient as she says, "Can you -really- fix me?"

I give her a shrug, "I can sure as hell try. And depending on what you're willing to settle for I -know- I can make a difference."

She furrows her eyebrows in confusion, "What do you mean?"

I debate for a moment... I'm not sure how much I want to reveal to her, I -just- met the girl after all, and if it gets around that I have an idea on how to remove powers then it could draw some attention to me. I mean, I've never heard anything about 'Secondary Cores' and I know there's research in regards to the brain and powers I don't know how widely it's all known. Particularly in regards to -removing- them. I already know cores can be eroded, and therefore damaged, and these secondary cores seem to focus on an individual set of skills - none of which -seem- to be protection against astral effects. The problem here is they are -alien- and have their own personalities based on what Shard has seen. So if I can't -change- it, I hope I'll be able to lock it away or kill it - either by physically disabling whatever special part of the brain there is, or do some damage metaphysically. Oh, right, I need to give her an answer.

I sigh then say, "I'm not entirely sure what the result could be. I honestly don't know enough about this stuff to guess. It could be anything from 'exactly what you want' to 'horrible mutation that consumes the earth in a tidal wave of chaotic flesh', though I think that last one is a slim chance."

She gives me a 'be serious' look... Sadly I -am- being serious. These things seem powerful in their niche, world ending terrible is a vague possibility... I mean, what if I manage a change and all it does is add that her power can now make evil mutated clones of -her-? Eh, no time like the present, I'll just have to be careful.

I smile, "So, ready for me to dive into your soul and try to wrestle your power into accepting an on/off button?"

She just rolls her eyes and nods, "Ready when you are."

Well, I have no idea what to expect and this is probably dangerous as hell for both me -and- Noelle. Let's get to it. So, I focus on her core first. I want to try to do this from hers since I want to try to get whatever I can manage bound to her. Who knows what would happen if it got bound to me somehow? For all I know that bit of brain I don't have, the Gemma Amy called it, is what keeps the stupid thing in check.

I can already feel that chaotic energy trying to eat away at me, but without touching her it doesn't seem to activate quite as strongly. So I guess that at least gives me a focus on where I can start. I build up a strong Astral Shield as a sort of 'tunnel' to her core, and start to build up the network. Once I'm linked I can see the damage to her core is about the same as before, so it hasn't healed any, but at least it hasn't been damaged more. Not that I expected much change in so short a time. Now... I guess I need to go deeper. I know the primary core is linked to the mind - Shard has been proof of that. So it might be possible to enter her mind from her core, and from there I would assume the secondary core -also- has a link to her mind. If I can find that path then I can start figuring out something more solid.

I may as well take the easy way. I push my consciousness up to one of the 'chewed away' holes in her core, and try to find a path to the center, and hopefully from there into her mind. At this point I realize my body feels like it's -miles- away... That's not going to turn out well. Oh well, Bye body, hope I can come back to visit sometime. Please don't let anyone kill you while I'm gone! And I merge myself deeper into her core, trying to memorize the 'path' I'm taking. The mental 'image' of her core fades away to be a labyrinth of connections, like the movie representation of neuron connections, everything is a split path everywhere, but none might connect to the path you're trying to reach. I don't think I've ever been happier for my aura sense, being able to reach out and check the different pathways helps me keep myself oriented in -generally- the right direction... the 'center' which has a giant pathway compared to the others going off far beyond what I can 'see'.

During my trek I don't encounter anything beyond some intense emotional pockets. In fact it feels like the core is almost like incredibly compact crystallized, yet still astral, mana that has absorbed much of what makes Noelle 'Noelle', it almost feels like it's a part of her mind as emotions flicker through, but none last long enough to grab anything more than the emotional pockets.

After a while I manage to make my way to the 'giant pathway' and it takes -no- effort to travel it, in fact it practically shoves me down the link. I can feel the link with my own core getting further away and I can feel the 'Chaotic' aura trying to eat away at it, but I said I was going to try this, and even if I wanted to go back now, it would be like swimming against the current, and I'm simply not strong enough right now - particularly seperated from my core like this. It does make me wonder if there's a way I could bring my core with 'me' if I try again. Though that thought makes me worry, I mean, does a body die without a core?

Once I get to the end of the path I've lost my connection to my core, but I still have my full aura, and although it is gradually draining to sustain me, I seem to be able to draw from Noelle's core, sadly it's -only- enough to keep me from draining out, I won't be able to recover any energy I use. So no using magic unless absolutely necessary. I assume what I am now is similar to Shard. When I look around I notice I'm on a plateau in a -series- of plateaus. Each has things on, some are cloudy and vague and ever-changing. One that has earthen bridges to a large series of others has Noelle standing on it, and I can feel her. She seems -so- small though. I'm not sure why, but I would guess it has to do with the condition of her core, though it could have something to do with her mind itself. That view, however, leads me to something that is rather terrifying. The 'Noelle' I can see, has fleshy tendrils sinking into her back and legs and it seems to have converted part of Noelle's 'astral self', but I can feel her actively holding it back right now. They trail back over the ground of the plateaus and across a few earthen bridges to a section that seems to have been -converted- to pure flesh and bone and eyes, teeth, tendrils, fangs, membranes... It reminds me of Noelle's lower half. In the middle of that chaotic mess is a fleshy sphere, with all of the chaotic bits of the land around it, but I can feel a connection from the center of it to what I assume is the secondary core.

After a few moments of looking around I decide -first- to speak with Noelle. It will probably be similar to Shard, so she -should- feel me here. I find that I can move around easily in this area just using methods similar to a 'lucid dream' rather than using 'magic' as that's very limited for me, though it's so ingrained into me now that I have a bit of a hard time -keeping- myself from using my flight spell. When I reach her I can feel my mind brush by hers - startling her. Oh, right, she has never dealt with Shard.

I grin and push out a feeling of [joyful greeting] because I'm not sure how well 'talking' will work here until I develop some sort of connection to her. The result is... surprising. Her mouth speaks saying, "Oblivium? Is that you?", while I notice the side of her I -couldn't- see from that side had morphed into a multitude of lipless mouths and a few were on the tendrils piercing her. The thing that bothered me the most though, was the resonance of thousands of voices from the 'fleshy area' that spoke in unison, though each with a different voice and -none- of them saying the same thing, but the general gist was: "You are not welcome here.". Well, -that's- not creepy or anything. How the hell am I supposed to fix -this-?... I feel the abomination in the back of her mind offer [safety] and [comfort]. Her astral body almost seems trained and seems to want to give in and let itself be drawn to that. Well, we can't have that.

I grab her non mutated hand and try to 'link' like I do with a core to share my thoughts a little better so I can try to talk to her. When she feels me she opens her eyes, but they're grey and filmy, obviously blind to everything around. "Hey Noelle, are you okay? I just got inside and I'm going to have to do a lot of work here. I need you to stay awake, don't fall into memories, just focus on me." I see her take a -long- time to consider my words and fight her natural reaction to give in to the monster. Then her hand clamps down -tightly- on mine... and she shoves me up front.

I blink for a moment of disorientation but keep hold of 'Noelle' so she doesn't try to fall into the monster... Yep. I'm a teenage guy. First thing I notice is I have boobs. I shove that out of my mind when I feel Noelle start laughing - on the bright side she's no longer trying to fall into the monster, on the down side she can read my thoughts. Oh well, this isn't -exactly- what I had in mind when I was going to attempt this. Wow this body feels strange, all the -legs-. Oh, and look, my body is collapsed, but apparently breathing, so -that's- good. I toss back a thought, "Sorry Noelle, but you're going to have to drive, I don't think I can clean all of that up from out here." She doesn't seem overly upset about that, apparently she had just done what she normally did with the monster, just on my end instead, a trained reaction from years of this. I could feel her agree with me, then I felt her pull me back. She was much more confident in her ability to hold the monster back while I worked. Apparently showing up in her head gave her a bit of confidence.

When I was back in the mindscape, I could -feel- the sudden danger filling the fleshy area. It wasn't rage, or killing intent, it was more like tripping an alarm in a base, automated defenses or something, uncaring and near robotic.

I speak into Noelle's ear, I think she'll be able to at least get the intent as long as I have contact with her, "Noelle, do all you can to stay yourself. I'm going to have to let you go for a while to see what I can do." The reply takes time but eventually she nods understanding, I wonder if it has to do with some time dilation in her mind, like in Shard's dreamscape? No matter for now, time dilation here only helps things and puts less strain on Noelle.

I release Noelle's hand and... well... What do I do now? How do I clean up all of... -this-? I think it over for a minute and address the most obvious method; Brute force and ignorance would say that I just need to tunnel into that mass of flesh and cut the entire connection. The problem is, that could result in Noelle dying, me dying from her dying, her losing powers entirely, her losing those parts of her mind that she values enough to give in to the monster, the monster then possibly being uncontrolled in her mind and just take it over - though it would probably cancel her powers either way. Still, none of those are -great- options.

So, what else do I know? I know this is connected or representative in some manner of the Gemma, which then has connections to broadcast back along its link, for power use most likely, since it has to have a physical representation at all. So, if I modify that, or... What if I interrupt the 'path' and filter the signal through a spell linked to her core? I could put up an Astral Shield enchantment that she could break down to 'selectively block' signals once her core has recovered, then she could influence the signal itself through her core rather than touching the chaotic energies with her core it would just control a 'filter' of aura. I'm pretty sure if I block signals going from this... 'ball' back to its core, the core won't send power through and blocking the signal from the orb should be easier than trying to block the chaotic power. With no incoming power or control I could watch to see what happens for a bit, and if all of this just starts turning back to normal we're great. If it just starts dying then I'll need to let -some- sort of signal through to feed it, but without the overwhelming strength it currently has I'm hopeful Noelle's mind will reclaim some of this.

Alright, I'll need Noelle for a part of this, I'll need to build the spell first and have her hold it, like holding your finger on a knot. That way I don't have to split my focus so much and stretch myself too thin. I go back to the 'path' to her core and I feel around it to get an idea on how she can influence it from here and I run a connection down the path back to the core, with a spell on the end meant to activate on contact and link - just a simple leech tether. While that's headed down to make the connection, I focus on building a filter spell that can be adjusted with some focus. It'll be hard as hell to get used to since I don't have the power to check and work from pre-existing mental signals, but the mind is pretty adaptable. Once I built that I create an Astral Shield that will block one way. Once I have my little (yeah... little... the thing feels like it's half a football field wide) filter/shield combo built, I link the 'ends' of the control path to the plateau Noelle is on, then I get her attention.

I hold the spells in place so they won't try to fire off and filter this plateau... which will do all of nothing but waste mana - or maybe flood her mind with mana? Who knows? Anyway, I hold them down to keep them from activating yet, then I grab hold of Noelle's hand with my free one, "Hey Noelle, I need your help here. I want you to keep pressure -here-." and I press her hand down on the spot to hold the filter/shield from activating. My mana here is the same as hers - It's how I got here after all - so she's able to interact with it. It takes a few long moments, but I feel her press down, a lot harder than she needs to but that's fine. "Thanks, hold that until I tell you to let go. Understand?" She nods very slowly but I see a smile spreading and I feel [hope] start to fill this plateau, and I see a few of the fleshy tendrils on the monster crackle a bit as if they are drying out. Nothing too big, but progress. It proves to me that if she has a reason to exist, and isn't just suffering she should gain back some of her self.

Now for the hard part. I've already used about a fifth of my reserves to set up that spell, and I have a feeling that in the mindscape things like 'monomolecular blades' won't be that effective, so cheap and easy wins aren't going to work. Eh, nothing for it, let's just give it a shot. I start floating toward the mass of flesh, but as I get over one of the plateaus it's taken over, several -massive- tendril-like appendages with blades and spikes erupt from the ground and attempt to skewer me out of the air. The worst thing was, going higher didn't work, the damn things just got -bigger- and they were -much- stronger than I was, I ended up having to retreat when one was deflected and ate a huge section of my deflection shield. "Well. I have a feeling -that's- not going to work."

I have to think for a moment. Maybe I can travel the chasms? or make use of another 'lucid dream' thing and just -be- where I want to go?... I don't think that one is going to work, it seems like the area the chaos thing controls is completely under its influence, I'll bet I get shunted outside it's area. Eh, can't hurt to try.

I'm disoriented for a moment, and have to dodge a sudden skewering, I get out of range satisfied that mentally teleporting is -not- going to work. Alright, so brute force and ignorance didn't work. Next, how does it know where I am and that I'm hostile? It can 'sense' me somehow.... That sparks an idea. It's 'zone' feels chaotic, while -I- feel like 'Noelle'. So what happens if I exude 'chaotic'?

I take my time, like when I link to another person... talk about layers of linking. Link to her aura, link to her core, link from her core to her mind, now link from her mind to the aura of her secondary core... yeesh. After a short while I have the outside half of my aura acting as a shield blocking anything from sensing me - since I didn't want the 'chaos' touching me directly, but the shield is built with aura that feels like the monster's chaos. Hopefully that's enough. I sigh to myself before I take the plunge, "Next time, even if I can't pull my core along, I need to at least do that 'artificial enhancing' thing I do for Shard. It might be fun to be a mental ride-along sometime."

I slip into the air-space over one of the fleshy plateaus and... whew, no terrifying spiny death things. From there, making my way to the flesh chaos abomination orb was fairly easy. On examination I found one -large- connection to the plateau itself from a 'mouth' on the orb. A quick sensing and I could feel it had a full 'on' signal flowing into the orb with the chaotic power -gushing- out of every surface of the thing. I assume this is the primary connection, but just to be safe I check the others. They seem more like anchoring points than control.

I place the 'receiving' portion of my spell around the giant connection, now I just had to carry the spell across and drop it on and it should do the rest. I fly back to find Noelle still stubbornly holding the spells. Good. I grab them and place a hand on her shoulder, "You can let go now, I'm going to finish up soon." It takes a few moments again, but she nods and releases the spells. I drag them over into the chaotic zone, then lock them into place and activate them. Everything was fine, right up until it all went to shit.

In the time it took me to blink I was suddenly flying through the air, a limb had torn up from the fleshy ground and smashed into me shattering my shield entirely and I felt most of the aura sustaining me be consumed to keep me from dispersing. I got the -hell- out of there, I was almost hit a few times, but burning a bit of mana for a dodge spell or two was -much- more important than saving mana. God, I hope this worked. If the thing goes out of control I don't have the mana to make that trip again. I'll just have to set the spells to full open and leave to recover before trying again. I touch Noelle and explain, "I have the spell set, now I'm seeing what will happen. I need to guide you if this works." I figure she'll take a moment so I keep my eyes on the mindscape. I see some of the tendrils withering as if being baked in the sun.

Noelle speaks up, "It's screaming." And when I use her to view the outside world, it -is- screaming, every mouth in her lower body is releasing a howl of pain, but the flesh isn't dying, just its power. Without the chaotic energy flooding it, it's trying to lash out and consume, I assume to convert biological energy into the chaotic energy. I'm just glad my body is too far away to worry much. I refocus on her mindscape and I see the chaotic 'zone' starting to dissipate as the monster is no longer able to 'request' more power from the secondary core. The flesh isn't gone, the tendrils are still there, just slightly dry. I assume it will take time, but like this I'll bet Noelle's mind will recover.

I grab Noelle's astral hand and place it on the little 'control' module I've made on this plateau - which I assume is the core of her consciousness, and give an explanation slowly so I can be sure she fully understands, "Remember the feel of this. You need to be able to find it later. If you tug here, it'll release the shield and activate your power. If you don't have enough control by then, it will let your full power through just like before, so do -not- tug this until I tell you." The rest of the explanation can wait until either I get out or she decides to give it a try. In theory she'll just have to try different 'filters' and it should just activate a part of her power. As long as she avoids the part that modified her own body then she won't have to worry about becoming a monster again, and if she can figure it out, she should be able to activate -just- the scan, or -just- the clone, etc.

Once she nods her understanding I make my way out of her mind, but I feel a -huge- amount of [hope] well up. I slip down the channel to her primary core, and back out of the labyrinth within, and to the place where my aura is touching hers. The network has apparently since faded, but converting myself to my natural state was like navigating a house I've spent my life in, blindfolded, a slight challenge, but that familiarity made it pretty easy. Once the change was made my consciousness filled my aura and sunk into my core, pushing my mind back where it's supposed to be. The shock of that was incredibly disorienting. And like damn near everything else when it comes to magic, I had a splitting headache.

After a few moments to acclimatize myself to my body again I had to blink several times to deal with the light, then I sat up and groaned, "Ugh, that was a -pain-... How ya feeling Noelle?"

I felt her large mass come forward and she lifted me into a tight hug, "Oh my god, it's gone! The hissing, the growls, the monster is gone, it's just become so much a part of -me- I forgot it was ever something else but now it's gone. Thank you so much!" This wasn't helping with my breathing situation. Girl might have thin arms but she's stronger than she looks.

I let her have her hug for a bit longer but then I pat her on the back a few times to let her know I need to breathe. When she lets go I take a deep breath and hold up a finger to let her know I need a moment, "Alright, first of all, it's being blocked, not gone. You can turn it on and control it later once your mind recovers. Secondly, because it's blocked you shouldn't make accidental clones."

She's grinning brightly but bites her bottom lip for a moment before asking, "And... what about...?" and motions at her lower half.

I nod, "Third, I need to call in a favor. We should be able to get rid of that, and as long as you don't activate your power the wrong way you should be able to stay 'human'." Ack, another hug. I can't go grab the person to cash in my favor if you're squeezing the air out of my lungs. I need those to do the breathing thing.

Once Noelle finally lets me go again I cough until I can breathe... I'm starting to think she's doing that on purpose. I wave at Noelle, "Alright, I'm going to go pick up your beautician. Wait here and I'll be right back." when she nods she looks a little nervous but I can tell she's holding back a grin. It's got to be a hell of thing to suddenly being without that burden. Sure she lost her powers, but it's temporary, and if she works at it she'll have them under better control than ever, who knows what she'll be able to do?

I give her a wave and bring up my spells, then fly out the window to head to Arcadia. I realize I don't even know what time it is. Based on the sun it's before noon though. Maybe I'll have this done in time for lunch. A short trip later and I'm landing in front of Arcadia - still in costume. I nod to the guard who returns it. Heh, the guy isn't fazed at all by a hero showing up. Doesn't even leave his post. I just fly right into Arcadia. Apparently you're trusted around students if you're a hero. I'll teach'em.

I fly through the halls with my focus on trying to pick up a familiar aura, I just hope she's on the 'hallway' side of the classroom or this is going to be difficult. Ah ha! She's even close to the door, convenient. I slam open the door completely stopping all noise in the classroom, including the lesson, "AMY! I need your help!"

She jumps out of her seat and rushes forward, "What's wrong?"

I grab her in a bridal carry just to mess with her and say, "I need a kidnapping victim. Thanks for volunteering." and I Boost out of the classroom and down the hall with her. Amy is struggling and griping at me as I have to slow down to open the doors. I set the griping girl down outside, much to the amusement of the security guard.

I give her a small smile, "Sorry for interrupting class, If you want I'll have this be you repaying me for that favor."

She glares at me, "I'll decide that once I see what you've 'kidnapped' me for."

I grin a little - it's creepy with the mask but Amy doesn't seem too bothered by it. I brace her in her flight construct and hand her the flight orb. I'll have to make a -real- spell for this one day if I'm going to use it this much. I point in the general direction of our destination, "That way, we've got an appointment."

Amy grins, dispelling the slight foul mood, she really does enjoy flight like this. I agree it's probably better than the bridal carry. On the way Amy speaks up, "So, what is this? Someone get hurt and you trying to get it 'taken care of'?"

I shake my head, "Nah, beauty appointment, poor girl is in dire need of it. You'll see. And if you disagree with me I'll find a way to give you -real- flight for a full day." Even if I have to beg Shard to do it. But she owes me and I think she'd enjoy a day with Amy, so I'm not worried about the possibility.

Amy raises and eyebrow but seems to be satisfied with that. I point out the appropriate warehouse as we get close and Amy lowers us, but I take over for the landing to set her down gently. When Amy stepped in and looked around she saw Noelle and her eyes got huge, she gasped, "What the hell...?"

I hold up a hand to Noelle to let me explain, "Her powers caused this, I did something so they won't influence her body anymore, but that doesn't let her change back. Like I said, beauty appointment. She wants a set of legs - just one set." Amy rolls her eyes at the little joke and Noelle is back to seeming unsure if this is even real. Amy takes a deep breath and decides to dive in.

She walks up and asks in a practiced manner, "Do I have your permission to... Heal you?" Eh, you could call it healing.

Noelle nods and gives a barely audible, "Yes, please..." and seems to be on the verge of tears.

Amy reaches out to touch her and I see Amy's eyes unfocus. She gasps and I see her eyes widen, I can't infuse and feel Noelle to see what she's doing, wasted opportunity. Oh well. A few minutes later the fleshy chaotic tangle of limbs seem to crumple in on themselves, then a few minutes after that they slough off, leaving pristine legs that fit Noelle perfectly... I toss up a construct to give her a set of leggings and charge it so it'll last a while, earning me a wry grin from Amy. Noelle is too caught up in just being -human- again. That and re-learning how to walk.

Noelle grabs Amy in a -huge- hug and squeezes her tight, I just smile as Amy puts up only a minor struggle. Once I see Amy turning a little red I whisper to Noelle, "She needs air, it's important stuff you know."

Noelle laughs, it's a free laugh, and she almost seems surprised at it, she looks between the two of us, "This isn't a dream is it? It feels too real... I -never- thought I could be normal again..." aaand she looks like she's about to cry. Nope, This is the situation of 'you only have to run faster than the other person'. I shove Amy back into the death embrace. Seriously Noelle would give Shard a run for her money in regards to hugginess.

A few minutes later and Noelle has finally calmed down, though she's still -incredibly- happy. I speak up, "Alright, Amy and I have to get to school. Noelle, I'm going to take you to my mother, she'll get you some clothes, and I'm sure she'll convince dad to pull a few strings and get a place to put you up for a while." I sigh, I have an idea to reunite Noelle with her pals, but I need to run it by Taylor. I don't like planning, and to be blunt, she's just better at it. Both Amy and Noelle nod and I grab up both in flight braces and toss 'control' over to Amy again. I'm dropping her off at school first anyway.

Partway there Amy speaks up, "Thanks Will, I'm glad I could help her, so thanks for calling me out."

I raise an eyebrow, "Oh, does this mean I don't have to figure out a way to give you flight for a day?"

She smiles wide, "Not a chance. I'm glad I could help, but it -could- have waited, so I'm going to hold you to the flight thing." She mumbles under her breath, "it's too tempting to give up..." then she speaks up looking at me, "REAL flight, right? Not this fake version?"

I give her a bright smile, "Yep, but -how- I do it will have to stay a secret" She just nods, still smiling brightly.

Noelle is just happy with life right now so doesn't let that she doesn't quite understand what we're talking about bother her.

A short time later I drop Amy off in front of Arcadia and she goes in to get back to her classes... or maybe it's lunch now? eh I'll find out when I get back. I wave to the guard, "I'll be right back"

He just chuckles, "Whatever you need to do man."

Noelle gives him a wave and he nods back, then I grab her up and launch into the air much faster than Amy does, causing Noelle to scream at first in surprise, then whoop in the joy of high speed flight. By the time I go in through my window the girl is giggling as she's figured out I don't exactly 'stabilize' her so if she throws herself a little she can roll back and forth in the air.

Once in my room of the hotel I go out to the hallway and to the door next to mine, and knock. Mom -should- be there, though she might be busy trying to find a new place to live. After a minute or so mom opens the door. I smile and motion over to Noelle, "Hey mom, this is Noelle, we got rid of the nightmarish bits so now she needs pants." I pause for a moment, "And a place to stay." Noelle looks confused for about the whole two seconds it takes for my mom to *Squee* and yank her into the room while slamming the door in my face. I hear Noelle yell and I think I hear the sound of nails on carpet along with calls of 'Help!' followed by her giggling. I guess mom found a ticklish spot.

I call through the door, "Hey, I'm going to school, I can still catch my other classes. See you two later!" And I go back to my room, change to normal clothes and fly out my window -back- toward Arcadia.

A couple of minutes later I wave to the guard who's just laughing. I give him a wave and a smile and step into the school. Hrm... About five minutes until lunch. May as well just go to the cafeteria. I float in, I think this is the first time I've seen it empty. I float up and grab a tray, the lunch ladies are all there since classes are about to let out for lunch, so I go through the line, one asks why I wasn't in class, so I explained I was busy saving a damsel in distress this morning.

Once I had my meal I sat across from where Sophia normally stakes her territory. And I was rewarded a few minutes later when Sophia sat across from me. Shard formed herself in the air and zipped over happy to see me and give me a hug. Sophia pulls out her box lunch and asks, "So, how'd the whole thing go?"

I explained how Armsmaster turned Mr. HappyBlades into a safety foam bludgeon which got a laugh out of her, though I'm not sure if it's because of the weapon or what I named the guy. Then I explained I fixed up Ms. Nightmarish Abomination. Had to temporarily kidnap Amy for it though.

Sophia's eyebrows raise a bit, "You -fixed- that?"

I nod, "Yep, had to figure out something new to do it though." I didn't exactly want Sophia blabbing any of this back to the PRT because of orders.

Sophia smirks a little, "About figuring out something new, Shard here taught me a little trick... and she's had -quite- a few interesting stories. One of which is that you guys are going to be taking some martial arts classes soon. I think maybe I could use some extra 'practice'." and there's the predatory smile.

The smile turned into a frown. Sophia is looking over my shoulder... oh no. I don't want to be dragged to the hero table, go away Vicky!... yep, she just entered my aura, it's Vicky. I give a pleading look to Sophia, who just shakes her head. She seems torn between enjoying my misery and being upset with Vicky. Just to properly display my desire to remain I bend my fingers into 'claws' and let them drag over the table as Vicky drags me away from it. I mouth 'Help!' but Shard offers no assistance and Sophia just gives an innocent smile and a small wave.

I sigh and go limp as Vicky drags me through the air. She has reorganized the table slightly. Now Amy is next to me instead of Vicky. Oh and Greg is sitting next to 'guy I don't know' He seems to have mixed fairly well with the group. I realize that -all- the heroes the PRT knows have this lunch period. Taylor is in the other one. So is Emma, but she's not a cape.

Vicky is the one that speaks up, "So, -someone- got an early start today, 'brutally slaughtering' an army of evil clones and saving the lives of a group of people and a new trigger, along with saving a girl from her own powers. That's quite a morning, what happened?"

I blink slowly and turn to look at Dean... Who I notice everyone but Amy, Vicky and Greg are looking at. He at least has the decency to look sheepish - right until he realizes -I'm- looking at him. Oh don't be shocked. You guys are -way- too obvious. I turn to Vicky, "So I assume there's already been a report?"

Vicky grins, "Stalker was called in, her tracker put her in the area."

I nod, "Yeah, She wasn't supposed to get involved, I didn't want her getting in trouble with the PRT since the clones needed to be put down." Well at least I know what she reported now. Not like they can determine how 'brutal' it was - what with melted corpses and all. And Vicky would have gotten the story about Noelle from Amy.

Vicky speaks up again, "What were you doing sitting with Sophia anyway?"

I blink, "Shard decided to hang around her today. Do I need a reason to eat with my sister?"

The only one that looks remotely convinced that Shard is my sister is Dean.

Vicky seems to let it go in favor of her next tidbit. She holds up her phone with a bright grin, "Good, because you and Amy look so CUTE together!" and there's a video of me holding a very surprised Amy in a bridal carry saying, "I need a kidnapping victim, thanks for volunteering" and then -disappearing- down the hallway in a flash of teal. Amy starts choking when she hears the video, just the words tell her what the image is of.

Vicky continues the inquisition, "Sooo, you kidnapped my sister -just- to save a damsel in distress? Or did you guys take a -detour-?"

I roll my eyes, "The girl needed help. I brought Amy back right after. Nothing happened."

Vicky looks a little put out about that. I'm a little amazed she's trying to set me up with Amy. I'm pretty sure Amy doesn't like me like that at -all-. Maybe Vicky is just clueless?

Carlos can't hold back anymore, "How did you save someone from their own powers?"

I just give him a flat look, "Fuckin' magic." Dennis was -already- on the verge of laughing from the video and Vicky's cluelessness, he couldn't hold back anymore, he cracked up. Greg, knowing I'm basically telling the truth starts laughing with him - which irritates Carlos, but he doesn't push.

Oh, right. "Amy, I need your phone number so I can pay you back for helping out today."

And Vicky interrupts before Amy can say anything, "Yeah, you should take her to a movie!" I think what Amy wants might be a -little- bigger than a movie.

Eh, I go along with it, but stress the word so she knows what I really mean, "Yeah... so I can take you to a 'movie'." Which makes her snicker just a bit, but she gives me her number.

I turn to Vicky, "There, -now- can I go visit with my sister a bit before I'm pushed back into classes?"

Vicky doesn't like it, but she deigns to let me leave, oh thank you great queen of the hero table.

I float back over to the wonderful emptiness of Sophia's table, where I see based on her aura she's making pebble sized Foxfire orbs and popping them in a closed hand. I guess she's practicing? I wonder if that's by Shard's instruction or just because she enjoys being able to do something new?

I seat myself at the table, "Hey Rage Beast. Y'know my hand -still- hurts. Seriously, from here on at least give me a bit of warning."

She just glances up at me with a slight grin at the memory, "Nah, it's best to keep you guessing. Just don't do anything that lets me stab you."

Eh, I expected as much. "So, who's idea was the demon transformation?"

Now Sophia is sporting a full predatory smile - which is pretty much her happy face. "Shard, she said she'd turn anything I could do into a weapon. That was -fun-, I can't -wait- for tonight. I'm going to make Taylor find me a full drug house or something. There's no way I'm wasting this opportunity on just one or two guys."

I just smile, "Shard, have some fun but don't let Sophia rub off on you too badly."

The rest of lunch we spent in comfortable silence while I -finally- got back to figuring out enchantment ideas for mom, dad, Taylor and Impact... Actually now I need to come up with something new for Noelle, she doesn't need the reversed Astral Shield anymore

After lunch, school was pretty normal, though a few students were upset that Shard wasn't with me. I ended up going by the PRT to speak with Agent Hutchison to give my report of the morning. I left out the stuff about Noelle, because it wasn't something I had done in an official capacity (there were no arrests involved). I explained that Sophia had met up with me that morning, I refused to answer his questions why, and I brought her to the location I had received an anonymous tip about, when Hutchison asked who gave the tip I replied flatly, "Mr. A. Nonymous." and went about the story. There were evil clones, we knew they were evil because they were trying to kill people. I decided this needed immediate action so I had Sophia stay out of it and brutally murdered the clones, dragged them into the warehouse and melted them so they couldn't regenerate. When asked how I gave the same answer I gave Carlos. A flat, "Fuckin' magic." When asked about the 'monster' the people were talking about I just said it fled. The guys apparently talked about a demon but I made vague comments that hinted that they were probably just talking about me because I -brutally- murdered the clones.

Once that was done, I went to visit the Wards. I had to wait at the door for a short while, apparently they were masking up, I guess I'm not supposed to know who they are. Once I was let in they all had their masks/helmets/etc. on... Greg had an eyemask. I rolled my eyes, really? I point at him, "Armsmaster asked me to see if I could do anything to help you control your power since it 'seems similar to mine'" I do the air quotes too just in case they weren't sure. "Show me what you can do and I'll see if I can offer any advice." I already had an idea from before but I wasn't exactly looking -closely-.

Greg nodded and said in 'heroic voice', "Alright Oblivium"... really Greg?... eh, whatever. He holds his hand out toward the remote and I see his normal brown aura getting infused with the blue of the secondary core creating millions of tiny orbs... one closer look he's literally making tiny Foxfire orbs, the way the power is working it's like it's taking bits of his aura and multiplying the power by ten, but just converting it into uncontrolled force, making lots of astral explosives, the reason it's working like 'telekinesis' is because he has enough control he's putting out a tiny stream of them that are all exploding fast enough they can lift something... which means he's wasting -tons- of potential power. Then again the way cape powers work it's likely -all- he can do is make uncontrolled force.

I sigh, "Alright, stop." When he drops it I try to explain, "You're making this." and I form a Foxfire orb - my size, not the microscopic version Greg is making. "Now, the reason it's important you understand it is because what this does is -this-" and I set it off a little above my hand, the normal powered ones only have about a high end human's punch in force. "That means, you are releasing force in all directions. You are also limited, you have to regenerate power." I pull out a piece of paper from my notebook and crumple it into a ball, "Here, focus as much power as you can in the center, then set it all off at once." I use a construct to hold it in the air a bit away from me, with how low his mana reserves are I doubt he can manage much, even with the multiplier. He focuses and I can see the muddy astral Firefox orbs concentrate in the center of the paper, once as much as he can grab compresses there, he releases it and it explodes, shredding the paper. I'd say about fifty percent stronger than my standard one. He's -staring- at the pieces of paper floating down to the floor and grins, everyone else is just staring, it's not that exploding paper is overly effective, it's just that I was right - meaning I have some way of seeing what he was doing.

I speak up again, "Every couple of minutes do that. In a few days I'll bet it'll be a little stronger." Though I'm not sure how his power works, it may not multiply it by ten, it may just charge it to a particular level. I shrug, "Anyway, there ya go. You make telekinetic explosions of force. Have fun." And I give a quick wave to everyone and leave before any questions can be asked.

Now I need to find Armsmaster, I'm certain he was viewing that via camera or something. I feel like I'm channeling mom, 'show up - get shit done before anyone can say anything, leave before anyone can stop you'. I -finally- find someone I can ask about where I can find Armsmaster, he makes a call on his radio, then leads me to a room just as Armsmaster is leaving one and apparently heading to the one I'm guided to. I don't see the need. "Hey Armsy, I talked to the new recruit, got him squared away, now I need my supply of containment foam capsules."

Armsmaster motioned to the room, "Let's discuss this in the meeting room."

I roll my eyes, "What's there to discuss? You asked me to help. I helped. There's proof I helped. Now your end is that you give me containment foam capsules. I want to go punch a couple of bad guys tonight so stop with the games. Give me what I asked for or I'm not going to bother doing you a favor again."

He stops for a moment and I can tell he's grinding his teeth, "They aren't ready, it'll be ten minutes. We can wait in the meeting room."

I shake my head, "Too convenient, they're already ready, you want to ask me questions. Have someone deliver them."

And I fly by him heading outside. I'm pretty sure I heard his knuckles pop from straining his fist. Oh right, he inadvertently blew himself up with Sophia's ring. I wonder what's going to happen in regards to that? heh, I can't help but chuckle when I realize they probably gave him an order not to screw around with my 'tech'.

On my way out I passed by Miss Militia, who was apparently looking for me. She doesn't look overly happy, probably because I just pissed off Armsy and she has to deal with him. She calls out, "Oblivium, wait a moment." I just stop and raise an eyebrow. She holds up what looks like an overly large black plastic tic-tac dispenser. "Containment foam capsules. Thanks for helping Mist."

I raise an eyebrow, "Why did he pick Mist?"

She shrugs but hands the container to me, "He said his power feels like controlling tiny drops of water, like mist."

I nod, "Makes sense, only the drops of water are tiny force bombs. I'm sure you guys can come up with some good tools for him to use that with."

She inclines her head a bit, "Thanks Oblivium, no one could figure out how to make his power work and the 'telekinesis' was...-"

I interrupt, "Lackluster?" She nods. I continue, "No problem. Sometime I think I'm going to have to make something for him, I'm curious about how his ability will work with some of the things I can do."

She smiles - although I can't see her mouth I can tell, "I'll see about working something out. You and Armsmaster don't exactly get along."

I give her a wave, "See you later MM" And I finish my route out of the PRT building with my new containment foam capsules. Ten minutes my ass.

I head home to change into my costume. Once we get a new house I think most of my evenings are going to be eaten up at mom's friend's dojo, I need to get my 'bad guy punching' in while I can. I call up Taylor and speak up as soon as she answers, "Hey T, I need to know where we're meeting, I want to join you guys tonight."

She answers, "Sure, Sophia wants to hit someplace big anyway. Meet us at the usual place, I have -just- the target."

I smirk, "See you guys there." I make sure to grab my staff and my pack and I deposit the capsules in there, I build up my shields and flight spell so I have seven orbs following along behind me, and I build up my mask. It feels like it's been forever since I just got to fight normal bad guys. Even just this morning it was 'evil clones'. I fly out my window and go to meet up with the group.

A short flight later and I find that Sophia is already there... and I can already see the new trick. Shard made red horns on her head, and Sophia has shunted them to shadow form -without- changing her whole body over. I give her a smirk, "Now that -is- a cool trick." I think she's glaring at me. "Don't worry, I'm not here to take your prey, I'm just gonna grab stragglers and I want you to let Shard have one guy before you go crazy." At that Shard builds up a body for herself, she has decided to match Sophia's new look and has not only a red body, but she's built up some horns and looks like the perfect little demonic imp. I reach into my pack and pull out a containment foam capsule and hold it out to her, "Build a construct to hold it, use it on someone." She grins and grabs it, then flits over to sit on Sophia's shoulder.

Taylor shows up a little later with Impact and speaks up, "Hey guys, I found a new gang that came in and started up a drug house, pretty large group, I guess that's why they thought they could infringe on the Merchant's business. Works pretty well for us, since Stalker here wanted to fight a small army. She'll go in first, we're just on cleanup. Originally it was just going to be me and her so we've got a bit of overkill for this one."

Everyone nods, just a group of normal guys... particularly when Sophia has Shard... yeah, this is going to be easy. We head out, I'm flying everyone, but partway there Shard takes over flying Sophia so I let her go. I set Impact and Taylor down, then I push my battery orbs down so they don't stand out too badly as I look in the window. I know Stalker is falling through the roof with Shard, and she had agreed to let Shard go first - I wanted to see it. Taylor didn't feel scouting was necessary, she's had her eyes on these guys for the last couple of days, they don't seem to have any parahumans, and I don't feel any in my range either.

I see Sophia sink slowly through the ceiling, but slide into a shadowed corner - the guys don't look up. Her aura is only about six feet so Shard is limited in targets. She decides quickly, and does what she does best. She tackles the guy's face in a fairy hug... the impact from her hug dash set off the containment foam capsule. I planned on her shooting them at people, but I -guess- that works. Foam covered the guy, which got everyone's attention, then the guy started -screaming-... and laughing... "No, n-no! not there, AHhhhhahahahaha! no, no stop!" Eventually Shard got the bright idea to use Filter, so she -exploded- out of the foam only for the guys to try to shoot her - mostly hitting the foamed guy and knocking him over. This, however, left Sophia free to float and land gently behind them. She charged up a good sized Foxfire orb, placed it on the ground and gently rolled it between the four guys. When one of them saw it and started to turn around she tilted her head, and shot the orb with a crossbow bolt, blowing the entire group toward her. In the distraction Shard merged with Sophia, so when the guys were blown toward her, she took care of them incredibly quickly, though instead of blades, Shard just assisted in Boosting Sophia's fists and legs so she could instantly cancel inertia and add additional force to attacks. The girl was a black and red blur and a couple of seconds later all four guys were down. Taylor was helping too, she used bugs to mark where enemies were, so Sophia/Shard went shadow form and -rocketed- to the biggest group, which was, sadly, out of view for me, but I -could- hear the fight... and Sophia's manic laughter, as she took them all out like a shadowy demon.

I floated back from the building and watched the back door and windows while Impact just stood in front of the front door and went into his breaker state so they couldn't open it. A couple of guys managed to get out the back, but some electric bolts took care of them. One of the guys tried to escape from an upstairs window so I cast my 'Fist' spell... I punched him so he fell back into the melee with Sophia.

Honestly, it was a little cathartic just to -watch- Sophia tear into those guys thinking, "I'm just glad that's not me." I mixed it up a bit on the fourth guy, I focused some soundwaves down on him to make him nauseous, see things, hear things, gave him a huge headache and completely disorient him. After a good ten seconds he had to puke and could barely walk. I flew over and brought him into the pile next to the back porch and hit him with my taser staff to make sure he wouldn't be leaving. I also made use of my 'sewing spell' to sew all of their legs/arms to themselves, and together. Mainly because I think it's funny when they have to hop into the police vans.

Eventually the sounds died down and Sophia walked out of the building and stretched, she was so happy it was leaking through her -aura-. Taylor had already called the police, and when we grouped up she just laughed, "I -really- feel sorry for those guys. They were -terrified-."

Impact was happy as a clam just keeping the door shut, though apparently a few of the guys decided to break the window beside it to get out, that's where Taylor came in. A few bugs, a baton and a stun gun took them down with ease apparently.

Once the police arrived and picked up the guys and inspected the house, finding several suitcases of various drugs and guns, we all gathered up and headed off to our meeting place to head our separate ways from there. I was glad for it, I just wanted an easy night to relax from the day. Taylor headed her own way but Sophia convinced me to follow her home so she could hold onto Shard and fly a little longer. After a -long- flight, Sophia had decided to take the scenic route, we landed in a development that was fairly run down.

Sophia spoke up, "Thanks for letting me watch Shard today... It was a lot more fun than I thought it would be, and not just for the fighting." Shard formed herself outside of Sophia and gave her a hug to the side of the face, and Sophia just -barely- tilted her head into it. Her personality wouldn't let her hug the girl, so that was practically the same thing.

I just smiled, "Thanks for taking care of her." and a few moments later Shard got her hugging over with, merged back into my aura and sank back into my mind. I waved goodbye to Sophia and Started flying off home.