ACL: 36. Atelier Alpaca

Chapter 36: Atelier Alpaca

Brockton Bay, NH, USA
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Type: Steel

Another quick call later and I rolled into Wyatt Hall as an Alolan sandshrew. At this point, the university was so used to my antics that most people only acknowledged my existence long enough to avoid stepping on the obese roly-poly that I’d become.

I heard that Lisa was already here with Sabah. Despite not being a student, the freckled blonde had become something of a regular here as the two worked together to hash out the finer details of their business. I was glad to see the former villain take her second chance seriously. I didn’t doubt that she was motivated heavily by greed and the security I promised, but those weren’t innately poor motivations.

“Gotta go fast~ Gotta go fast~ Gotta go faster, faster, f-f-f-f-faster~” I sang as I rolled up the stairs. I skidded into the classroom that doubled as Sabah’s studio before banking off a desk leg and into a three-point landing. “Yo.”

“I’ll give that a two total: Seven for the landing and a point off each for scuffing the floor, ripping off a children's anime, and being a general nuisance,” Lisa drawled.

“That’s still four,” Sabah pointed out, barely looking up from her work.

“Two more for his terrible singing voice.”

“Ah, that’s understandable.”

“No it’s not,” I whined. “My singing is cute. Everyone says so.”

“Everyone is trying to spare your feelings,” Lisa said, waving a hand in dismissal. “Really though, boss? Sonic X? You couldn’t think of a better anime to plagiarize?”

“I don’t know, my little brothers love it,” Sabah said. “It’s the easiest way to get some peace and quiet around the house on Saturday mornings.”

“Your little brothers are twelve.”

“Yes, they ar-Wait, how do you know that?”

“I’m psychic,” Lisa replied with a smug grin. “Actually, it’s a good thing you’re here, Menagerie. I need you to tell Sabs that her naming sense is shit.”

“There’s nothing wrong with ‘Dawn!’” the Arabic girl squawked indignantly. “It’s a perfectly memorable name for a boutique.”

“You’re only saying that because your name means ‘morning’ in Arabic.”

“And? It’s short and designing a logo for it should be easy. Besides, it’s my fashion boutique. Why shouldn’t I name it after me?”

“Because it’s unoriginal? It’s so generic that it tells you nothing about the brand? Like, if I told some rando about a brand new nutritional supplement called Dawn, they’d fucking believe it. It sounds like you’re running an MLM, not starting a fashion line. Hell, there’s an actual dish detergent named Dawn.”

“That doesn’t prove anything. You’re a social thinker; you can sell ice to an Eskimo.”

“Like that confidence, sister, but no. Seriously, the easiest way to do well is to lean in on Menagerie’s brand.”

Sabah crossed her arms. “Not happening. I don’t want to just be ‘Menagerie’s tailor’ forever, no offense.”

I raised my hands in surrender. “None taken. You do you, Sabs.”

“You’re already Menagerie’s tailor,” Lisa pointed out. “There’s nothing any of us can do to decouple from that short of you two staging a big fight in public. And publicly foregoing Menagerie’s protection would be… dangerous, not to mention career suicide with how popular he is right now. Besides, I’m not saying we should use Menagerie’s rep for quick success.”

I had to ask. “Out of curiosity, what did you want to call the business?”

“Menagerie’s Wardrobe. Get it? We can just copy the Men’s Warehouse logo and throw in a spheal in the corner or something,” she said. She saw the disappointed look on Sabah’s face and cringed. “Okay, it’s a work in progress, alright?”

“It’s lazy is what it is,” Sabah grumbled. “Fashion is art! Where is your pride, Lisa?”

“I have none. Point is, we want people to know that Menagerie is a silent partner in our operations. It’s protection.”

“That’s… a fair point,” the brunette admitted grudgingly. “I don’t just want this to be Menagerie’s boutique though…”

“How about something more subtle?” I suggested. I walked over and sketched out a quick design. It was a small circle with four, pointed spokes in an X-shape. On the right and left, two spokes merged in an arc, forming an outer rim around the smaller circle. “How about Atelier Alpaca? This can be our symbol.”

“What is that? It looks like a stylized target. And why an alpaca?”

Lisa looked it over. Then her palm met her face with an audible slap. “It’s from Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. It’s the symbol on each of the Origin Pyres you light for a bonus achievement. If you look on a map, the pyres themselves are arranged in this pattern, too.”

“You played it? I thought you hated video games.”

“I don’t hate them; I just think they’re boring. My power spoils the ending. My old boss made me complete every goddamn quest to see if Menagerie revealed anything about his power.”

“Oh, right. I still can’t believe you were a villain.”

“I’m reformed, pinky swear.”

“So? Did it?”

“Reveal his power? Sure, but nothing more than he already intended and nowhere near enough to give Coil the advantage he wanted,” Lisa shrugged. “Anyway, there’s a small cult following online trying to decipher what the hell this weird circle-thing is because it appears way too often to be a coincidence.”

I laughed. It was, of course, the golden hoops of Arceus. “Which is why it’s perfect. People know it’s my symbol without being too in-your-face about it.”

“But why an alpaca?” Sabah asked, puzzled. “Isn’t that like a llama?”

“Exactly,” I clasped my hands in reverent prayer. “It’s a profound and mysterious animal. Ancient legends state that reality began when the primordial alpaca spat into the eye of the void.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Menagerie,” Lisa groaned. “You’re not using the boutique to broadcast your weird llama-cult.”

“It’s not a cult,” I pouted. Then, with a sly grin, “It’s a community of like-minded individuals who support each other in the pursuit of a higher calling.”

“That’s called a cult, dumbass.”

“I don’t know… I kinda like it,” Sabah said. She’d pulled out her phone and looked up the animal in question. “Alpacas are pretty cute, fluffy too. And apparently, they’re used pretty often for wool in South America so they fit thematically. I bet I could stitch cute little patches on the clothes, with Menagerie’s circle-thing behind it, kind of like a sun.”

I clapped my hands and shot them a vapid grin. “Perfect! Now that that’s settled, can we get around to talking about my problems for a change?”

“You know what? Sure. Atelier Alpaca. It’s settled. What brings you here, Menagerie?”

“Lisa. Lisa brings me here.”

The blonde eyed me with fond exasperation. “Yo. Sup?”

“I need your help to stalk two people.”

“You know that sounds a little creepy, right?”

“Would it help if I said they were French Canadians?”

“Oh, go get ‘em, tiger.”

I did a quick double-take. “Wait, really?”

“Yes, they’re terrible. Have you ever been to Quebec? They take pretentiousness to a whole new level. Even the French think French Canadians are full of shit.”

“I didn’t realize you’re familiar with Quebec.”

“I’ve only been once with my parents,” she said with a visible shudder. “Quebec is the unwashed, smegma-filled pencil-dick of Canada. You know how I know the endbringers possess malicious sentience? Because Leviathan looked for a Canadian province to sink and chose to spare Quebec in favor of Newfoundland. That. That right there is proof of malice.”

I let out an amused snort. For her part, Sabah looked like she didn’t know whether to laugh or look scandalized. “I can see you feel very strongly about this.”

“I do. Mind blowing up Quebec? I promise Canada won’t even be that upset. Like, they might even give you the Cross of Valor, that’s the highest honor a civilian can earn in Canada, by the way.”

“Aren’t those for exceptional courage in the face of incredible danger or something?”

“I’m sure they’d be willing to make an exception. You’d be doing the world a favor. You’re all about that, aren’t you? Charity, community service, and all that other fluffy stuff.”

“No. My alpaca-god demands that I cherish all life, even French Canadians,” I replied with a wry smile. I pulled out the files Faultline gave me. “Here. Long story short, I found out that a pair of Heartbreaker’s children are either already in town or coming soon.”

“That–”

“Not Regent, his siblings. Two of his older brothers are looking for him and I want to make sure they don’t cause any trouble. Mind telling me where they are?”

“Probably? Depends on how much info you’ve got to get me started. Let me see…” She took the file and began flipping through the pages. “Huh, this is pretty well put together. Who’d you get this from?”

“Faultline. I called in a favor before she took her crew out of the city.”

Her nose scrunched up in distaste as she realized she’d just complimented her “rival.” “Ugh, really? You went to Faultline before me?”

“What’s your beef with Faultline?”

“She’s insufferable. She always acts like she’s smarter than me.”

“Have you considered that she might be right?” I asked innocently. She looked downright mutinous at the prospect. “Okay, maybe not smarter, but she’s certainly more experienced. There’s something to be said about a woman who’s thrived as a merc for years.”

“Nope, nuh-uh. I refuse to give her any credit. Fuck that busybody know-it-all.”

“Funny, I’m sure she’d say the same about you. You two might be more alike than you think.”

“Do you want my help or not?”

“Right, right. Lisa rules; Faultline drools,” I drawled. “Just find me the Vasil brothers.”

“Umm, should I be here for this?” Sabah asked nervously. She really didn’t want anything to do with the crimefighting aspect of cape life. “This sounds like the kind of thing I shouldn’t hear.”

“Nothing confidential’s being said. Feel free to ignore us if you want.”

She slipped on a pair of cream-colored earbuds. “I’ll get back to drawing more designs then. Just let me know if I shouldn’t walk home alone at night.”

Lisa worked swiftly. She pulled out her laptop and began typing away. In minutes, she had hacked into the PRT’s databanks to check for any spikes in crime rate. She also looked for any missing persons notifications throughout the city.

After an hour of me sitting awkwardly by, she closed her laptop and shook her head. “No, they’re not in the city. At least, I’m reasonably sure they’re not.”

“You can tell just from police reports? Crimes don’t get reported all the time,” I pointed out.

She gestured to the few photos we had of the brothers. “There’s plenty to go off here. Everything about this picture tells me something, from the way they dress to their posture. For example, see here, that’s Guillame. You can tell he’s the arrogant sort.”

“You can?”

“I can. He’s the oldest and has some kind of tracking power. Otherwise, Heartbreaker wouldn’t have sent him out to gather more women for him, or to track down his siblings.”

“And that makes him arrogant?”

“It does. It’s in his body language. He knows he matters and treats everyone else like shit.” Lisa then held up the report we had of Nicholas Vasil, of how he made an entire corporate hero team jump off a skyscraper for the giggles. “Now, Nicholas? He’s full of himself too, but he chafes. He feels like he deserves to be higher up their fucked up family ladder than Guillame, especially since he’s got the ‘stronger’ power. That skyscraper thing? That was him lashing out, trying to prove to daddy that he can get rid of problems.”

“Okay, so the two brothers have a lot of friction between them. What else? What’s that tell us?”

“It tells us that if they were here, we’d know about it already. Nicholas is not a subtle cape. Sure, Guillame can keep him on a leash for a bit, but that fucker’s a mad dog. So close to the prize, he’ll bite before asking whether he should. I bet that whoever they were chasing was tipped off more than once because of Nicholas’ impatience. At least, that’s my read on those two.”

I hummed in thought. It was fascinating watching the leaps in logic she made. Presumably, these were accurate leaps. How much easier would my life have been had I had her insight? “Thank you, Lisa. That was very helpful.”

“Yup. You know how you can be doubly sure?”

“How?”

“Delphi. Don’t think I don’t know about you two. She was the reason you went after Coil in the first place.”

“She’s twelve. I’m not bringing her in on an investigation like this.”

“So don’t,” she said, eyes rolling. “Just ask her, ‘What is the probability that the pair of brothers I am looking for are here in the city already?’ Don’t give her an explanation. Her power would still activate if you phrase your questions right.”

“I’ve got a better idea. You’re not the only thinker around, Lisa.”

“Huh? You came to me so I figured you didn’t have your thinker forms today.”

“I have steel type today. Most of them aren’t big on esoteric powers, but there are a few exceptions,” I replied. “This guy’s so obscure that I almost forgot he existed.”

“Well, impress us, big guy.”

“I’ll try. Shift, bronzong!”

Becoming a sentient bell was a truly unique experience. I felt hollow, in both the literal and figurative senses of the word.

My mind stilled for lack of a better word, entering a state of detached apathy. A bronzong could go one step further, into suspended slumber that could last millennia. I’d heard people describe it as a state of perfect zen in the past. Monks in Sinnoh, what used to be Hisui, meditated alongside bronzong to achieve a similar state.

Personally, I didn’t like it. The needs and wants of the flesh were far from me, but so too were the attachments that made life worth living in my eyes. What was the point of inner peace if there was no one to share it with?

“Wow… You turned into a literal, bronze bell,” Lisa drawled. She offered me a single, sarcastic golf clap. “I’m so impressed.”

“You mock what you do not comprehend,” I intoned. As bronzong, my voice had a slight reverb to it, as if echoing in my hollow body.

“You’re a bell. I think I comprehend bells just fine.”

“Enlightenment is the ultimate disappointment of the ego.”

“Oh, I take it back. You’re a Buddhist, fortune cookie-reciting bell. My apologies, great one.”

“The tongue, like a sharp knife, kills without drawing blood.”

“I’m pretty sure all knives draw blood. I seriously don’t understand you. How does a rusty, bronze bell supposed to see the future?”

“The mind that perceives limitation is itself the limitation.”

Lisa let out a frustrated sigh. She reached out and grabbed one of my handles. “Fine, whatever. Do your weird mojo, magic-ma–Eep!”

Sabah looked up from her work and took out a single earbud. “Hmm? What’s up?”

“He picked my nose!” Lisa cried, clutching her face.

“Lisa, he doesn’t have fingers at the moment.”

“He’s psychic!”

“Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth,” I said serenely.

“See! He admits it!”

Sabah frowned at me disappointedly. “I swear, you’re as bad as my brothers, Menagerie. Get on with it and stop distracting me.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I drooped apologetically. Bronze bells couldn’t really emote, but damnit, I tried my best.

We eventually got started on the divination.

Reaching out to a possible future was always an interesting experience, unique for each pokemon. A gardevoir placed a large emphasis on empathy and some hints of that future self’s emotional state carried through, flavoring the connection. A xatu didn’t need a person to act as a psychic anchor at all, what with its naturally high affinity for divination.

But a bronzong? A bronzong’s perception of time was rather different. As a wholly inorganic entity which lacked the needs of the flesh, it lived entirely in the moment. Or rather, time stretched out like an endless river in which it was but a pebble, an unchanging observer of the fish that swam above.

‘A bow to the Thousand Hands,’ I greeted when I felt the connection establish itself. It was firm and strong, as rigid as the steel of my mind. It stretched out across the river of time like a suspension bridge.

‘Huh? Who? Blake?’ Future-Lisa’s voice rang out like a clear chime. There was a brief moment of confusion but she was as quick to catch on as always. ‘Future Sight, then. What’s up? When are you calling from?’

‘Time is but an endlessly repeating cycle.’

‘Oh, not this shit again… Must be bronzong, right? It’s as annoying as I remember,’ she said. She began rattling off her inferences right away. ‘That was… February 2011 if I remember right, which means you must be looking for Heartbreaker’s bastards. Really, what day is it exactly? I know you don’t actually have to speak in Buddhist proverbs.’

‘The ninth. The proverbs are fun though.’

‘No, they’re not. You just want to sound smarter than everyone in the room.’

‘What we see is but a mirror of our inner selves.’

‘Fuck you, I’m not that bad,’ she shot back. I could feel her pouting from across time. ‘Wait, actually, this is past-Lisa we’re talking about so… Yeah, fair point.’

‘Humility is the rich soil upon which enlightenment takes root.’

‘Yeah, yeah. Hey, can you tell her that Faultline is definitely smarter than she is?’

‘You know that you’re the same person, right?’

‘Tell her anyway. It’ll be funny.’

‘She’ll try to kill me. Ineffectually, but she’ll make the attempt.’

‘Trust me, I know how much being compared to Faultline bothered me back then. That’s why it’s funny,’ she said, giggling.

I realized then that if it ever became possible for two alternate versions of Lisa to meet each other, they’d probably fight to the death. ‘In any case, the brothers?’

‘Hold on, I’m looking through my notes. Ever since I started working for you and found out you can do this kind of bullshit, I started keeping a digital journal.’

‘Really? That’s really thoughtful of you. But how do you know which events will be useful to me later on?’

‘I don’t. I also have a bunch of random events here that seemed significant at the time but got resolved too quickly to matter. What’s really important is that the details I’ve written down are just enough to trigger my power’s inferences.’

‘Ah, I see. That way, you don’t need to remember everything personally,’ I hummed in understanding. It was clever; she was turning out to be the most insightful psychic target I’d had so far.

‘That’s right. Anyway, my notes say they were arrested on the eleventh. Give me a sec, there’s an article I archived… Okay, judging by the state of their hideout and the stolen vehicle you found when you arrested them, they weren’t in the city long. My power says they arrived on the tenth, sometime between 11 AM and 1 PM.’

‘Thanks a lot, Lisa. I guess I’m ditching school tomorrow. Any idea where they’ll arrive from?’

‘The photo shows a takeout bag from a diner located west of the city. They’ll be taking Route 101 to come into Brockton.’

‘Brilliant. What can you tell me about them? Is there anything I should know before I go in?’

‘Hit them hard and fast. Nicholas’ fear aura has a range of several dozen yards. He can’t actually sense the emotions of others like Cherie can though. It’s Guillame who acts as the eyes of the pair. Has your Lisa figured out what his power is yet?’

‘No. Want me to rub it in?’

‘You know me so well, Blake.’

‘Will do. What’s his power?’

‘He can share the vision of anyone he touches, turning unwitting people into his spies. He can also make them blind so that’s something to watch for. There’s a duration for his power but I’m not sure how long it lasts.’

‘Got it. Depending on my type tomorrow, I shouldn’t have any problems,’ I replied. I made a note to take out Nicholas first before targeting Guillame at range.

‘Say, Blake, while you’re listening, mind doing me a favor?’

‘Of course not. What can I help you with?’

‘My old teammates. Can you look after them in your timeline? I don’t mean take them under your wing or anything; I know you’re already stretched pretty thin. I just want you to make sure they have a chance at a decent life moving forward.’

‘Any advice? Grue, Regent, and Bitch, right?’

‘Right. It’s been over a week since you’ve dealt with Coil according to my notes. They should more or less be at their breaking point.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Truth is, Grue isn’t actually a good leader. He’s okay, but he’s ultimately a teenager, not a thinker like me or a reincarnated legendary hero or whatever the hell you are. Without Coil and me, he can’t do the most important job required of him.’

I understood what she was hinting at. We’d been talking for a bit now and I could feel the bridge begin to strain. ‘Jobs. He can’t find new work for the Undersiders because he’s never had to go job hunting before.’

‘Right-o, bossman. Before he joined the Undersiders, he used to do low-end bodyguard work, but that isn’t going to cut it for three capes. Bitch is sticking around out of loyalty but Regent’s there just by inertia at this point. Left alone, they try to convince me to join them again, only for you to show up. That fight ends… predictably.’

‘What do you suggest? You obviously don’t want me to arrest them without a plan.’

‘That’s right. They’re criminals, but not awful people. As you probably know by now, Grue is Brian Laborn, Regent is Jean-Paul Vasil, though he goes by Alec, and Bitch is Rachel Lindt.’

‘Actually, I didn’t know that. I knew that Regent was one of Heartbreaker’s, but that was all.’

‘Well, it’s not like it matters. Brian only became a criminal because he wanted to gain custody of his sister, who has a really terrible home life.’

‘Wouldn’t it make more sense to join the Wards?’ I asked in disbelief. ‘Even I know that they’d kill to have an extra cape.’

‘It does to you and me, but he’s an inner city black kid who grew up in a city full of Nazis and Asian quasi-Nazis. You really think he trusts law enforcement?’

‘That’s… fair…’

‘So yeah, Coil promised him papers, a legitimate source of income, etc. He’s probably pissed at you because you ruined his chances.’

‘That’s not fair,’ I protested, ‘Someone like Coil would never have held up his end of the deal. They’re leashes, not promises.’

‘On some level, he probably knows that, but those promises were what he had to work with,’ she said gently. ‘Brian is… He’s ultimately a scared, vulnerable young man. Not scared for himself maybe, but scared nonetheless.’

‘I hear you. Alright, so how do I make him happy?’

‘Faultline. It was how she and I patched things up, actually. She’s more than capable of falsifying papers and establishing a legitimate income stream for him.’

‘You said he wanted custody of his sister. Since she’s obviously a minor, he wouldn’t want to leave the city,’ I pointed out.

‘So? Brian’s the definition of hired muscle. He’s at best middle-management and won’t ever be anything more than that. But, he’d also make for a decent head of security for the club. He can watch the house while the owner is away.’

When she put it like that, it sounded so obvious in hindsight. ‘That makes sense. I’ll approach him soon, or maybe get Faultline to reach out. I’m sure I can bargain with her. What about Bitch and Regent?’

‘Bitch’s life revolves around her dogs. She won’t ever leave them behind.’

‘I figured. I remember her; when we met, she seemed like she was more comfortable around her dogs than around you guys, her actual teammates.’

‘You read her right. She’s a dog trapped in human skin. She’s not dumb, but her brain is hard-wired to interpret social cues through the lens of a dog first, then a human a distant second. She’ll want to take care of her “pack.”’

‘How many dogs does she have?’ I asked. The connection was growing weaker and I could feel an almost physical tension weighing on me.

‘A few dozen. She’d do well out west somewhere, with more room to run around. She has the potential to be an excellent trainer for service dogs.’

‘I see… And Regent?’

‘He’s trickier. You have Cherie, right?’

‘Right.’

‘Then you can’t personally watch him. If those two come in contact, things really won’t be pretty. I suggest giving him aura, Bitch too, maybe, but I’m not sure where you can put Regent.’

‘What do you mean? I can see how putting him up at the orphanage would be bad. Faultline wouldn’t want anything to do with Heartbreaker’s kids, no matter that he’s on the run.’

‘Faultline thinks Labyrinth is too vulnerable, and she’s right,’ Lisa finished for me.

‘What about you? Can you and Sabah use him for something?’

‘Are you nuts? Hell no!’

‘What? Why?’

‘What do you mean, “Why?” Wait… Oh… Oh! You don’t know yet. Sabah’s Parian. A partial reason for her trigger was a pushy boy. Just knowing he’s the son of the biggest serial rapist in the world will make her walk on pins and needles around him.’

‘Oh, shit. Yeah, thanks for telling me. That’s a hell of a landmine to not know about. I should have known she didn’t get Parian’s “cooperation.”’

‘Technically, she did, she just gave it to herself, but yeah. You should’ve figured it out sooner.’

‘Anyway, that’s why none of your direct contacts work for Regent.’

‘Okay, thank you,’ I said, voice straining somewhat. The connection was almost unbearably tense now. ‘I think we’re almost out of time.’

‘One last thing! The ABB!’

‘What about them?’

‘Take out their sex trafficking operations, but don’t take Lung yet. Their absence will cause a Boston Games scenario and will invite the Teeth into the city,’ she replied quickly. ‘Think carefully before making moves against them.’

‘Will do. Thank you for all this, Lisa.’

‘No problem. It’s nice to have you rely on me, Blake.’

Author’s Note

I have no idea if Sonic X was an anime in Earth-Bet. It was released in 2003 though, so it’s not impossible.

I hope I made Lisa’s analysis of the brothers believable. 

Technically, Faultline never had to leave, but she’s an exceptionally careful person. And, as Gregor said, “A professional avoids all conflict he is not being paid for.” Faultline could stay and trust Menagerie to protect her team, but why risk it?

Blake is correct. By level up, bronzong and bronzor are the only two regular, steel type pokemon that learn Future Sight. The other two are Iron Crown (paradox Cobalion), and Jirachi.

I took bronzong’s influence to come largely from Buddhism. A traditional Buddhist greeting is “Namo Amitabha,” which literally means to bow (namo) to the infinite light (amitabha). Blake, and bronzong, follows Arceus, and so offers a bow to the Thousand Hands instead.