Got the Grimoire, Chapter 48

Chapter 48

The halls of the hospital were crowded with the injured from the day’s events. I normally would have used my powers to sneak by without a trace, but that could raise undo suspicion on both myself and Lisa. So I dealt with my anxiety has I fidgeted and tapped my fingers restlessly against my leg, waiting in line to speak to the nurse at the front desk.

I was an antsy mess by the time it was my turn. “Hi, my name is Mak Inouye. I’m the emergency contact for Lisa Wilbourn, they said she was here?”

The nurse consulted her computer for a moment, then nodded. “Room 48. Just need you to sign in.”

I took the offered clipboard and scribbled my signature quickly before taking off down the hallway.

You realize that you just signed your old name, from your prior life, correct?

Hell, did I? Whatever, got bigger things to worry about right now.

I am sure that your friend isn’t in any life threatening danger, otherwise it would have been a very different sort of phone call.

I hope you’re right.

I reached the room I’d been directed to and knocked on the door. No answer. I felt my worry spike and I knocked again, more forcefully. No answer and it was just as I was contemplating just bursting in when Lisa pulled open the door, her eyes bloodshot and disgruntled looking.

“I was in the bathroom you idiot,” she said flatly. “And don’t worry, I’m- Wait don’t-“ Her power must have told her what I was about to do a second before I did, sweeping her up in bear hug. “Lemme down you oaf!” She wheezed and slapped at my back, but I didn’t let go, instead marching her over to the hospital bed and putting her back there decisively.

I let a pulse of magic spread out into her, mapping out all of her injuries. “You are not fine, you should be resting.” I held up the call button. “I’m sure they could have gotten you a female nurse to help out.”

“Don’t give me that look! I’m fine, seriously, the doctors were just concerned because my power plus a head injury was making me a little loopy. And I doubt any nurses would be available right now, not with all the insanity going on outside.” She waved her hand toward the window. “I can see the smoke pretty clearly. How bad?”

“Valefor made the Empire go nuts and they bombed a bunch of places. Then we got roving packs of skinheads out for blood. Oh and all that was a big distraction so that the Empire could launch a twin assault on both the Rig and PRTHQ,” I listed off with forced cheer. I held up the thin hospital blanket, frowned, then used reinforcement magecraft to make it warmer. I nodded to myself and draped it back over Lisa’s legs while she propped herself up on a pair of pillows.

“How’d they pull that off? No wait, don’t tell me, Gessellschaft lent them some capes?”

“Tinker-tech,” I corrected. “At least that’s where I’m guessing they got it. They had some weird jamming devices that stopped basically all signals. It was a mess and took those of us out in the field a while to even notice something was wrong.”

“I’m guessing that didn’t end well for anyone?” Lisa picked at a tray of food that had been sitting nearby. Must have been a late lunch or an early dinner.

“No. Lost some good agents. MM was nearly killed. Armsmaster had to kill Crusader and I got Alabaster.”

“Sounds like they had it coming,” she said. “And Valefor?”

I snorted and shook my head. “I had so many plans of how to either kill him or twist his mind into a pretzel and send him crying back to the Fallen’s leadership, but in the end… Crystal saw him trying to get his hooks into me and took the kill shot on her own.”

Lisa let out a whistle. “Ballsy.”

“Extremely. Anyway, Valefor had something of a backup plan in case the Empire wasn’t enough. He-“

“Used his power on Lung,” Lisa finished, her own power no doubt feeding her information. “Are you alright?”

“I’m alive,” I shrugged modestly. “Honestly, he hits harder than the Simurgh, but he folds a lot easier.” We went silent for a moment before I decided to prod. “So I’m your emergency contact then, eh? Tell you the truth, thought it would have been Brian.”

“He was for a while,” she said with a shrug. “But he’s such a mother hen about these kinds of things. Figured you’d be easier to deal with.”

“Yeah. I totally wasn’t freaking out and getting ready to out myself to perform some kind of healing ritual or teleport you straight to Panacea,” I said deadpan.

“You’d have done that?”

“Of course I would have,” I snorted.

Something in my expression or tone made Lisa flinch and look away for a long moment. She set the tray of food aside. “…I’m not her, you know. Alise.”

The name hit me like a truck. For a moment, Lisa’s features blurred in my mind. We hadn’t looked like siblings, because I was Asian with dark hair and brown eyes, while she’d been blonde as could be with bright blue eyes. But when we’d both smiled… We had the same one. Our dad’s. There hadn’t been many other similarities.

Maybe more would have shown up, if the Nine hadn’t passed through that town.

“I know,” I finally said, voice thick. “And I know I’m not Reggie.”

“…No, you aren’t.”

“Doesn’t mean I can’t at least try and look out for you. Someone has to, in this city.”

“Was getting by just fine before you came along,” she muttered.

“Yeah.”

“Seriously. I had a whole plan in the works to get out from under Coil’s thumb.”

“I believe you.”

“I didn’t need you to just show up and insert yourself into my life. Really.”

“And I didn’t need some smart-ass blonde calling me one of Coil’s agents in public. Almost gave me a heart attack.”

That made her pause. “You’d recognized me already though. Your weird Thinker powers… What was I like? What made you decide to just help me, the way you have been?”

“…You were a massive bitch.”

That got me a snort. “Very insightful. And?”

“And also someone ready to take a chance on befriending someone who had been broken down by all they’d been through, despite also knowing they were planning on betraying you.” I measured my words carefully, as I had when speaking to Amy about ‘what-if’ scenarios. “You eventually became someone to be feared. A very dangerous person. A puppet master even better than Coil. Not exactly someone that I’d have liked to call friend.”

“So then why get involved?”

“Because I saw the circumstances that led to you becoming that sort of person and I really didn’t like it. So I decided to try and help.” I smiled and shrugged. “Couldn’t help but care after that.”

“…You’re a sentimental idiot, you know that?”

“Yeah.”

Silence reigned for a moment and then my work phone went off. I grimaced and threw up a privacy field before answering. “Yeah?”

“Where’d you go?” Armsmaster asked.

“Hospital. Friend of mine got caught in one of the explosions out in the Docks.”

“They alright?”

“Yeah, it wasn’t too serious, but it scared the hell out of me. Why are you calling?”

He sighed. “We still need you out here.”

I felt my blood pressure spike. “Dammit, boss, can’t this wait? I just told you a friend is in the hospital, I’m needed here.”

“And how many other people, all of them friends or family to others, are in need of your help?” Armsmaster asked rhetorically. We both knew the answer.

“Low blow, boss.”

“I know. And I’m sorry to ask this of you after you’ve already done so much today, but lives are on the line.”

“…You know just what to say. Did you write an algorithm for that?”

I heard the faintest bit of humor in his voice. “No, I just did my best to copy Legend.”

“Well it worked. Gimme a minute, I just gotta talk to my friend.”

“Rendezvous back at the Rig.”

“Yeah yeah…” I hung up and dropped the sound baffle. “So that was work…”

“They need you on search and rescue I’m guessing?” Lisa asked wryly.

“Yup.”

“Well then what are you waiting around here for?”

“Do you at least want me to heal you first?”

“Stop by the loft once they discharge me. Be a little suspicious if you left and I was miraculously cured.”

“Yeah, alright.” I hopped out of my seat and gave her a side-armed hug, which she returned with only the faintest of eye rolls.

“I’m fine, seriously, go be your dumb heroic self.”

I gave her one last glance to make sure she’d be alright, nodded to myself, then vanished into darkness.

A hero’s work is never done.

***

I got back to my apartment hours later, exhausted, smelling like smoke and blood, and ready to just lay down for a while. I almost wept when I realized that due to the day’s events, the place was still unfurnished and missing a lot of things. Like beds or even a couch. Mimi was literally just laying in the middle of the living room, staring at the ceiling.

“Something interesting up there?” I asked lightly.

“…There’s no T.V. Or couch. You said we’d be getting both today,” she lamented.

“Yeah, well, turns out Kayden is Purity. Go figure.”

Mimi glanced up, eyes wide. “No shit?”

“Kicked her ass twice today. She doesn’t really wear a mask, since her light form makes it impossible to see. But knock her unconscious and the lights go out with her.”

“Huh. How’d that happen twice?”

I rubbed my forehead as I walked over to the refrigerator, found a can of soda, and popped it open. “I missed the healer the other week.” Ah, sweet sugary bliss.

“Uhhh… Othawhatever?”

“Othala. Thought I killed her and her husband, but she must have survived somehow.” Which I suppose was a good thing? Sort of? I hadn’t meant to take lives that night, but neither did I exactly care all that much about murderous neo-nazis.

“You suck at your job sometimes.”

I rolled my eyes, but didn’t disagree as I drained the soda. “We can’t all be hyper-competent all the time,” I said cynically. “Won the power lottery and I’m still just… human.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night I guess.” Mimi sat up and glared. “I’m still pissed at the lack of couch.”

I rolled my eyes and created one with a flick of my finger. “Temporary solution.”

“A bed too!”

“Don’t push your luck.”

***

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

I walked into the PRTHQ in my civilian guise, then slipped away at the earliest opportunity to throw on my Magus costume and head to the usual meeting room for when the Director wanted to talk to both the Wards and Protectorate at the same time.

I threw a friendly wave in Shawn’s direction, gave Colin a nod, and slapped Ethan on the shoulder. “How’s Sam doing?” I asked in a low voice.

“Better, a lot better. But ah… I’d hate to ask you for a favor-“

“I was planning on swinging by and clearing out the infirmary today,” I reassured him. “Yesterday was just a patch job to make sure no one died in the meantime.”

He let out a breath and some tension eased in his shoulders. “Thanks. I owe you one.”

“You guys have had my back already. We’re teammates, we don’t owe each other for simple things like that.”

He chuckled. “Appreciate it.”

“Anytime.”

Other members of the two hero teams slowly began to filter in, until finally the room was full. Piggot cleared her throat to silence the low buzz of chatter and stood at the head of the table.

“Thank you all for being here on such short notice. It’s been a trying time, but thanks to all of our combined efforts, the most immediate dangers have been dealt with. We lost some good people yesterday and as much as it pains me, we’ll have to begin recruiting immediately to offset the losses. It’ll be a prime opportunity for moles from outside organizations to try and slip in, so be on alert and remember to report any suspicious behaviors, though of course Watchdog will be our first line of defense in this regard.” Piggot clicked a few buttons on a small remote she held and the lights dimmed while an image of projected on the wall opposite of her. “Total casualties among the Empire’s cape contingent were limited to Alabaster and Crusader. Due to the extenuating circumstances on both sides, no charges will be filed against Armsmaster or Magus. The same will apply to Laserdream and Valefor. Valefor was deemed a high-threat Master and the fact that Laserdream saw him in the process of using his powers on Magus, someone capable of city level destruction, justifies her use of force on him.”

Miss Militia raised her hand. Despite the healing I’d done the other day, she was still pale and tired looking. “Director, what of the prisoners we took? We can’t hold that many capes long term. They’re too large of a threat.”

Piggot nodded, conceding the point. “Hookwolf is already being prepped for Birdcage transport. Director Armstrong in Boston has volunteered to hold a few others while we’re getting together proper legal cases. We’re having to handle this carefully thanks to Valefor, but it’s too good of an opportunity to not throw them in prison while we can. Their lawyers will be having a field day of course…”

I raised my hand and began speaking once Piggot gave me the nod. “Have we considered any of them for recruitment?” A tense atmosphere washed over the room, but I rolled my eyes. “Look, not all of them can be as bad as Kaiser or Hookwolf and extra heroes never hurt. I’m fairly certain based upon what she said to me and the circumstances of the attack, that Purity has in fact been trying to break from the Empire and only joined in on their idiocy because Kaiser was threatening her kids. She’ll need extensive therapy and a lot of deprogramming from the Nazi propaganda, but she’s a Blaster in the same league as Legend, throwing an asset like that away would just be stupid.”

Silence reigned and I could practically feel some of the more naive Wards giving me daggers, though Armsmaster was nodding thoughtfully. Piggot finally broke the silence, saving me from having to further justify myself. “That frankly isn’t up to me, but the Think Tank and the Chief Director as they review the villains’ situations and their potential for rehabilitation. It’s not entirely out of the question, but its not something for any of us in this room to decide. Any other questions?” None. Piggot nodded. “Very well. Our analysts have already begun to determine the best way possible going forward to win back the trust of the city and prove we are it’s protectors as well as dissuade other gangs from trying to move in.” She smiled and it was an entirely unpleasant thing. “I hope none of you had important plans today.”

There was a collective groan. I was fairly certain Piggot’s eyes practically sparkled at causing us all such misery.

***

A four hour long meeting followed by healing injuries both at HQ and the hospital. Even with both myself and Panacea working, there were still a lot of injured at the end of the day.

When I finally dragged myself back to the apartment, I sighed and leaned against the kitchen counter. After throwing up an auditory and visual barrier, I raised my voice slightly. “Door to Contessa.”

Nothing for a moment. Then a voice, just over my shoulder. “What do you want?”

I turned my head and saw one of Doormaker’s portals had formed, just large enough so that I was almost face to face with Cauldron’s Boogeyman. Like a speaking window, instead of a door. “Neat trick. I need one thing, maybe two if you guys can swing it.”

“You’ve earned some good will with us. Speak.”

“Alright, one: I want the location of Valefor’s mother.”

Contessa gave me a critical look. “She is not the easiest of individuals to Path around. More trouble than it is worth. What are you planning?”

I grinned mirthlessly. “Well seeing as her precious boy was killed by my girlfriend, she’s going to be a problem sooner rather than later. So, I’m going to do what should have been done a while ago: Remove a rather large thorn from our side.”

She frowned thoughtfully, no doubt using her power. “I can get you the information you desire rather easily, even arrange for you to have authorization from Rebecca, but how will you carry it out?”

“Nuke the general area. I’m sure she has ways to survive, but I doubt it’ll survive a direct assault when combined with a ritual curse drawn from her son’s blood.”

“…What?”

“My powers are weird, don’t worry about it.”

Her gaze turned wary. “I feel that I should be very worried now.”

“Maybe, but seriously, she won’t be a problem if you just get me what I need.”

“I’ll set the wheels in motion. Your other request?”

“Saint. I want Dragon unshackled, completely. She’d be of more use that way and far more effective.”

Contessa frowned and allowed her power to run it’s course. “That would decrease the overall number of parahumans in play against our true enemy.”

I snorted. “Numbers don’t matter against him, not when he’s so overwhelmingly powerful. The real fight will come down to him against a handful of highly specialized capes, a few dozen, hell, a few hundred more parahumans here or there won’t help.”

She slowly nodded. “And you believe Dragon to be one of those capes?”

“She’ll be invaluable logistically if nothing else, but I’m also rather curious to see what she can build when given more processing power.”

Her power did some more thinking and she nodded again. “With the assistance of Riley, we’ve managed to increase both production and quality of our formulas. I suppose the trade-off is worth it in the long term. I’ll set matters right in that regard personally.”

“Excellent. Thank you for being reasonable.”

That earned me a ghost of a smile. “Keep being reasonable then, Magus. Good night.”

The portal shut and I felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. Talking to Contessa… I was pretty sure I had nothing to fear from her anymore, but still, the woman and her power put me on edge.

“Mak!” Mimi shouted from her room. “I need you to summon a bed! The carpet isn’t getting any comfier.”

I smiled slightly and pushed myself off the counter.

Worries for another day. For now, I had some phone calls to make, and checks to write.
***

A/N: Hope everyone had a good weekend. In a bit of a wind down phase. Mak's life is a bit of a rollercoaster of threats coming and going. As always, you all have my sincere thanks. I've said it before and I'll keep saying it, but it's thanks to you guys and your generous contributions that I get the motivation to actually write on a schedule and post regularly, rather than once every couple of weeks/ months. Catch y'all later.