Got the Grimoire, Chapter 49

Chapter 49

Thursday, March 17, 2011

I appreciate this, Raziel, but this is seriously way more than necessary.

The Grimoire, as oddly silent as it had been lately, had given me a huge power-up.

Sorcery (Libriomancer, 800cp): Well, it’s been a quite some time since one of you came along. You are a true sorcerer, able to “see” or “feel” or “sense” magic as is appropriate to your chosen medium. For Bi Wei it was starlight, for Ponce de Leon, wind. Who knows what it is for you. In any case you are able to draw upon the power of magic in very nearly all of its various forms. While not capable of the specific applications of magic such as libriomancy, bardic music or sanguimancy you can generally dabble and control magical energies of all sorts to some extent. More specifically you have the most general powers of your envisioned “wizard” able to communicate across great distances to pre­created scrying mirrors, teleport short distances or fly as you please. Cause heavy objects to become light, light objects to become heavy and lift and throw both of them with magic. Heal most wounds, unravel violent spells and turn them back on their caster or simply deliver raw concussive force as needed. Don’t even start me on your ability to go unnoticed in crowds, transform magically unprotected individuals into newts or turn a letter opener into a broadsword. You’re a sorcerer now ­ subject only to the amount of magic you can channel and your imagination.

3000-800=2200cp

I do not choose what your ‘Grimoire’ grants to you, my host. That little song and dance that your previous tenant would perform on occasion was simply for show.

What an asshole move.

You realize that you just essentially called yourself…?

I’m aware.

Of course I’d told Raziel about my previous life and the circumstances of how I’d ended up on Earth-Bet. If you couldn’t trust the angel living in your soul as a confidant, then who could you? Felt way safer than trying to tell any of my friends.

I shook my head and turned my mind back to the ongoing breakfast date with Crystal.

“You know, when you said you’d buy me dinner, I figured it would somewhere…” I paused, looking for the right words.

“Yes…?” Crystal arched an eyebrow.

“I dunno, in town?”

She snorted and flicked a morsel of food at me. I caught it in my mouth with a cheeky smirk. She rolled her eyes, but answered my question. “We’re both fliers and you can teleport. There’s a whole world outside of Brockton Bay that we can see.”

“True enough,” I mused. “Not that I don’t want to live anywhere else or something, but it just feels like everyone and everything important in my life is centered around Brockton Bay now. Feels weird to leave.”

She gave me an odd look, but shrugged. “Yeah, I guess I kinda get that. It’s home, even if it can be a shithole sometimes. Which is why we try and make it better."

I bit into my breakfast burrito and chewed thoughtfully as I thought about the people in Brockton Bay who were either too poor, too stubborn, or too hopeful to just move on to a different city. By most metrics, it was the kind of place that should have been condemned or left to rot ages ago, but people just… kept going. It was inspiring, in a depressing sort of way.

We were sitting on the edge of a building overlooking a plaza that served as a memorial to Behemoth’s first appearance. A monument to the grit and determination of New York when so much was destroyed, yet also rebuilt.

It was also one of the few, if only of it’s kind. Endbringer fights all got memorials of some sort to honor the fallen, but few other places rebuilt as effectively as New York had. A different time, one when parahumans had been less cynical and the heroes not as outgunned.

The Golden Age of Heroes. What a joke.

Do not dismiss their intentions, even if they fell short of the mark. Raziel chided from within my soul. To succeed, you must at least try. Better to have tried and failed, than to have never even made the attempt.

Wise words.

I felt Crystal nudge my shoulder with her own and give me a look. “I see the gears turning in that head of yours. What’s got you so occupied?”

I smiled apologetically. “Sorry, just thinking about… Well, stuff. Endbringers, parahumans, their whole impact on society. Hard not to when you’re here.” I waved a hand at the monument.

“Yeah, it’s a lot to take in,” she agreed. “You given any thought to- Ah, no! No work talk!”

I tried valiantly to hold in a laugh, but didn’t succeed very well. Crystal gave me a look of utter betrayal and I had to wave it off. “Sorry, you’re just so cute when you get like that.”

She glowered at me and held up a hand glowing with energy. “Yeah?”

“Oh and that’s just precious,” I cooed. I reached out and much to her surprise, grabbed the glowing appendage. It tickled slightly through my layers of protection magic.

Her fake glower continued for a minute before breaking into a grin. “Seriously unfair how strong you are.”

“I can make you stronger.” The words were out before I could take them back. Just a thought that came to me as soon as she’d said it.

She cocked her head, intrigued. “What do you mean?”

Well, in for a penny… “I got a new power recently. Haven’t really had a chance to use it, with everything that’s been going on lately, but uh…” I tried to shrug nonchalantly. “I got a Trump power thats kind of like Othala meets Dauntless. If someone I dunno… gives me stuff of value, I’m able to directly convert it into energy that can then empower them.”

In fact…

“I have a store of energy now, from when I first got the power. I could use it on you, if you want?” I offered.

“Okay,” she agreed without hesitation.

I blinked. “Just like that?”

She rolled her eyes. “I might be the second- erm, maybe third strongest Blaster in Brockton Bay, but I’m not even in the top ten or twenty in the country. A gal like me needs every advantage she can get. And I trust you enough to not chalk this up to some kind of Teacher type scheme, so… yeah, why not?”

“I dunno, some idea of ‘I need to get stronger on my own’ or something like that?”

She laughed at that. “I’m a parahuman superhero who probably won’t live to see thirty, especially if I’m planning on fighting the Endbringers alongside you. I’ll take whatever help I can get. Pride is overrated and will get you killed in this line of work.”

“Fair.” I rolled up the now empty tin-foil and stood. “Well, this is as good a time as any to test it, I suppose. I got us here in like… two seconds. How long would it take you to fly home from here?”

Crystal considered it for a minute. “Maybe… a couple of hours, give or take?”

I placed a hand gently on the side of her face and tapped into the power within me, that separate source that was not mana or anything like it, but a completely different wellspring. It flowed into her and I shaped it with my intent. By default, the power would strengthen the body, make one more resilient, stronger, and faster. But I could direct it and I focused it upon Crystal’s abilities, strengthening her connection to them. I could tell she felt it as well by the way her eyes lit up.

“Let’s test that then, shall we?”

***

I did a little too well. With the boost I’d given her, Crystal was able outpace me and make it back to the Bay before I could without the use of teleportation or using my Vestment. Then again, she’d been flying for a lot longer than me. I bet my flight speed would increase with practice…

Yes, keep telling yourself that.

Shut up, Raziel.

I got back to my apartment just before noon and did a quick check on Mimi. She wasn’t home, so I figured she was out and about doing something.

I checked my schedule, noted I wasn’t required at PRTHQ for another couple hours, then headed to check in on my second favorite blonde in Brockton Bay.

Walking through the Docks was… different. Tensions were high and not just because of the bombings that had happened just a few days ago. In point of fact, rebuilding and reconstruction had already begun. That took me by surprise. Piggot had seemed to think reconstruction might not start for weeks, if not months, predicting that the city would try and drag it’s feet. The poorest part of the city made for a bad investment in time and materials after all. But just a few days after and already crews were at work? And I wasn’t looking at neighborhood crews either, the guys doing the work looked like professionals and they had the tools and materials to back it up.

There was also the tension of the gangs. Or I should say, gang. The ABB hadn’t quite fractured yet, still held together by Oni Lee and the mere threat of Lung’s return, but they had already begun to split into camps based on the groups I spotted giving each other wary eyes. Some looked to be sizing up construction crews for possible extortion, others were clearly meant to be guarding them. The PRT’s Think Tank estimated a month at most, maybe even less, before they completely dissolved back into their pre-Lung affiliations.

That was assuming Lung stayed put away and I was determined that he would. Birdcage wasn’t in the cards this time around, too much evidence of Master interference, but due to past crimes and the danger he represented, he would be going to a max-sec facility out of state. Hopefully that would contain him. I was also planning on lending my expertise to that sector actually. Magical runes and warding spells could probably contain parahumans a lot more effectively and humanely than throwing them into the Birdcage.

That would also prevent things like Canary’s trial from happening. I hadn’t forgotten about the poor gal, just been busy with other things. If Dragon was unshackled, then maybe she could do something about it, but otherwise if there was an alternative to the Birdcage and more evidence came to light as to the circumstances of Canary’s situation… Well, it was good to have backup plans in any case.

I finished my walk of the Docks unmolested and knocked on the door to the Undersiders’ loft. After a few minutes of silence, I just let myself in and found Alec on the couch, playing his video games with a lazy sort of contentment about him.

“How’s it going?” I asked him as I loomed behind the couch and watched gameplay flit across the screen.

The young Master smiled at me and it was… unsettling. It didn’t look like his fake, almost normal looking smiles, no this was genuine and that made it all the more horrifying because of how abnormal it was.

“The news broke. Didn’t make much waves on the city networks cause of all the shit going down, but it was national headlines. Heartbreaker found dead, his entire network seemingly undone in the span of a night. Even the sleeper agents he had in places suddenly just… stopped being loyal to him. Most of my siblings are either on the run or in custody.” He exhaled and closed his eyes like he was experiencing bliss. “How’d you do it?”

“I can ignore the Simurgh’s Scream and make others immune to it,” I half-lied. “Heartbreaker had nothing on her.”

“Well sweet, thats a huge load off my back. Now I don’t gotta be looking over my shoulder.” He gave me a sloppy salute. “Thanks.”

“Sure thing. Just sorry I didn’t get to him sooner.”

He shrugged as he turned back to his games. “You’ve been busy, it’s whatever. Oh, if you’re looking for Tats, she’s in her room. Bomb jacked her up on Monday.”

“Thanks.” I moved down the hall and tapped lightly at the door. “Lisa? It’s Mak.”

“Door’s open.”

I let myself in and blinked at the darkness, just barely illuminated by the light of a computer monitor. Lisa looked like death, wrapped in a blanket, eyes bloodshot, and holding herself very carefully, like the smallest movements could cause pain.

“How you holding up?” I asked, creating a few motes of soft dancing light with a twitch of a finger. I still liked being able to see.

Lisa scowled and glared at the lights. “I feel like how I look and don’t even pretend otherwise. You already know how bad it is, you did a scan. I’d probably still be in the hospital if they weren’t so full and I hadn’t insisted I was good to be released.”

“How’d you get away with going to the hospital anyway?” I asked curiously as I glanced around the room. Pretty functional, no real decorations aside from the computer and desk. “I mean, no parents or anything?”

“Emancipated minor, duh. Paperwork is so easy to falsify once you have the right passwords. Would you mind…?” She held out a hand, wincing at even that motion.

“Yeah, I got you.” I gripped her hand and allowed golden light to flow into her, the healing energy clearly taking the edge off the pain as she sighed in relief. “Panacea didn’t hit your hospital?”

“Pft, are you kidding? They needed their precious healer at the other hospital, the one where all the good and well off folks live. I’m just lucky that I have health insurance.” Her head leaned back against the chair. “You could make bank if you were just a healer full time.”

“Maybe, but at this point I have more money than I know what to do with.”

“Yeah, I hear that. Started spending some just to make myself feel better. Being a philanthropist is surprisingly rewarding.”

“The work crews are yours then?”

“Yup,” she said proudly. “I mean, between the money you gave me from the Slaughterhouse Nine’s bounties and then Coil’s accounts, I’m like… rich. A girl can only spend so much day to day without drawing too much attention. So, you’re looking at the new unofficial CEO of Fortress Construction. Coil had some other dumb name for it, but I liked Fortress Construction better. Our focus was Endbringer shelters, but I’m shifting away from that and into new construction, hoping to revitalize Brockton Bay and particularly the Docks. All the destruction helps, I bought up quite a bit of property over the last couple of days.”

I give Lisa my best disapproving frown. “You bought the land and buildings of people who probably were barely scraping by only to lose their livelihoods thanks to the Empire’s stupidity?”

She rolled her eyes. “C’mon, Mak, you know I’ve got more of a heart than that. Most of the people with businesses didn’t own the actual buildings, greedy landlords did. Said landlords usually skimped on insurance or are too cheap to rebuild properly, so I cut them a pretty good deal to buy the property and started the process of rebuilding it all. And I’m not planning on raising anyone’s rent, some are even going down.”

“That’s… surprisingly generous of you.”

“It will help the economy in the long run, especially if you deal with the gangs. A rising tide lifts all boats and all that jazz.”

I made a noise of agreement and finally let go of her hand, the healing done. “There, you’re right as rain. Try to avoid bombs in the future.”

“Oh I will. I should be thanking you by the way… Only reason I survived was thanks to your little amulet.” She held up the piece of jewelry with the stylized eye I’d gifted her. “So… yeah. Thanks.”

“Just glad you made it through. Last few days have been wild, but hopefully they’ll calm down now.” I sighed. “Knowing my luck of course, we’ll have the Teeth or something knocking on our door soon.”

“Or an Endbringer,” Lisa said with a smirk. Then she saw my expression and her own faltered. “Oh hell, don’t tell me…”

“Middle of May. Maybe. We have time and it might not even be Brockton. They’re attracted to conflict zones and we’re pretty chill now that the dust is settling. It might not even come to that.” I smiled and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “And no matter what, I’ll be there to stop it. For good, this time.”

“…You’d better.”

***

“So how are you liking being able to patrol again?” I asked Vista as we strolled from rooftop to rooftop.

“Oh it’s awesome. Don’t know why we ever stopped in the first place.”

“Yeah?”

“Oh yeah!” A disdainful expression crossed the young superhero’s face. “I mean seriously, we were going to be in danger either way, but nooooo, we just had to stay put for our own safety. Nevermind that-“ she cut herself off and glanced away from me nervously.

I held back a chuckle, not wanting to belittle her. “Go ahead, I won’t be offended.”

“Nevermind that we all have more experience than you, a full Protectorate member,” she finished. “Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but it’s true.”

“You’re right,” I agreed. “You and pretty much every Ward in Brockton have been capes a lot longer than me. But and here’s the biggest qualifier, I have anti-Master capabilities. Not to mention I’m in my twenties and made a fully informed decision to still patrol, even with Valefor out there. The Wards aren’t just the junior Protectorate, you’re supposed to be a safe haven for young parahumans to learn how to use your powers before you’re adults and thrown into the deep end.”

Vista rolled her eyes at me. “Nice idea in theory and the same one that all the other Protectorate members have said to me, but it doesn’t actually work like that. I’ve had to fight villains and criminals plenty of times, don’t go telling me that the Wards are supposed to be ‘safe’. And don’t try and pull the ‘well that’s just Brockton Bay’ crap on me either. I’ve read the statistics and seen the reports, plenty of Wards have been hurt, kidnapped, and even killed. Doesn’t matter if its villains or Endbringers, it still happens.”

I sighed. “Yeah. It sucks, but you’re right.”

She glanced at me from the corner of her eye. “Not gonna try and keep saying that ‘oh you’re just a kid, you should stay out of danger’?”

“No, because you’re right. So instead, we should arm you better and get you better prepped for dealing with the real threats.”

Her face brightened. “Seriously?”

“Yeah. I’ll make a case for all of the Wards to get some better gear. Public image is important, but shouldn’t be more important than your lives and safety.”

She beamed. “I think you just became my third favorite member of the ENE.”

I didn’t stop the laugh this time. “Only third of the ENE, eh?”

“Well yeah, Alexandria is the best of all time, Legend is right behind her, then Miss Militia and Assault are one and two for ENE and then you take the third spot. Triumph used to be there, but he became kind of an ass once he joined the Protectorate. Like he wasn’t a Ward just like us only a few months ago.”

“Well in that case, I’m honored. Miss Militia and Assault are some of my favorite heroes in the Bay too.”

That got something of a frown out of Vista. “Really? I know you and Assault get along pretty well, but it seems like you get along a lot better with Be- ah, Armsmaster than MM.”

“On a personal level, sure, but I still respect the hell out of Militia,” I said. “We just have certain… lets call them disagreements on how far the government should control a cape’s actions.”

“Politics. I got you, my parents argue about that kind of sh- uh stuff, all the time.”

I shot her an amused glance. “You can curse around me. I seriously don’t care, just not in front of the fans.”

“Oh thank God. I’ve been trying to see if you’re a cool adult like Assault or a hard-ass like Dauntless.”

I fought the urge to ruffle her hair. Pretty sure that would drop me back in the rankings.

***

Cloaked in shadow, rendered invisible to the naked eye, silent to the ears, even scentless, I appeared within the hospital’s morgue. I carefully walked past silent PRT troopers as they stood guard over the one section that was supposed to be off limits and for special consideration: The bodies of fallen parahumans. I ignored the ashes of Alabaster that had somehow been collected and the body of Crusader, and slowly opened the drawer containing Valefor’s corpse. The autopsy had already been performed and the body was slated for cremation, so no one would notice the difference after I was done.

Carefully, I began draining the remaining blood from the corpse. Quite a bit had been lost when Crystal had blasted a hole through his torso, but there was still more than enough left for my purposes.

Once I’d gathered what I needed, I teleported myself out into the night sky outside of Brockton Bay’s city limits, just in case. “Door to Contessa.”

“So soon?” Cauldron’s chief agent asked almost conversationally.

I glanced over my shoulder to find the same speaking sort of window, but it was into an unfamiliar location. Contessa was busy typing something on a laptop. “Watcha got there?”

“Ascalon.”

I felt a chill. “You aren’t planning on…?”

Contessa glanced at me. “Your morals, while laudable, will not sway me in this. Dragon is useful, yes, she is an amazing hero, but there are forces that can twist any. I’m removing Saint’s access, but not Ascalon itself. Cauldron will hold onto it, should the need arise.”

“You can’t just hold a kill switch over Dragon’s head like that!”

She turned her full attention to me. “You mistake me. This is not to be used for any sort of blackmail purposes. Dragon shall not even be aware of it’s existence. This is a contingency, should she go rogue or be corrupted by an outside force, nothing more.”

I thought about it hard for a minute. It honestly wasn’t the worst of ideas… “Who holds the key then?”

“Myself, Doctor Mother, and the Number Man.”

“No one else?”

“No one else.”

“…Fine.”

A smile flickered across her face. “I’m glad to have your approval.” Oh, so she can be sassy. “You wouldn’t consider putting a chip of some kind in your own head, would you? You are after all, incredibly dangerous and-“

“Do you have a location for me or not?” I asked impatiently, not entertaining that line of thought. Superman gave Batman kryptonite in case he was ever mind controlled or went rogue, but I didn’t trust Contessa to give her something like that.

Contessa’s eyes glazed over for a moment and she rattled off a series of coordinates. “It’s a whole compound, not just her. There will be collateral damage if you proceed.”

“No. There won’t.”

She shrugged and went back to the laptop. “Good hunting, Makanaokeakua.”

“I hate it when you use my full name.”

Another quick smile. “Indeed.”

The door shut and I shook my head. “Door to Ellisburg.”

Time to take out two monsters with one stone.

And let me tell you, blood and death magic, make for one hell of a stone.
***
A/N: Hello my wonderful patrons! Sorry for such a late post. Sundays are just truly my least favorite day of the week and even when I try and get these chapters out sooner, other stuff pops up that I have to take care of, leaving Sunday night my only time to sit down and pump out content. Hope y'all enjoy. Any feedback is as always, much appreciated. Catch y'all later :)