1.17 Homecoming Part 7

Allison looks around the massive dining room as they appear in the middle of it. With the appearance of herself and Abigail, Joan and her mother, Noelle, break off the conversation they were having.

Joan is looking good. Still not pretty like she wants, but healthy and vibrant. And with the amount of parahumans in her family, it is only a matter of time before she manifests. I don’t need to Legacy or Ceta to tell me that. The real question isn’t whether Joan will manifest, but whether she or her sister Breanne will do it first.

“Allison!” says Joan as she rushes forward to hug Allison.

“Hey Joan,” replies Allison as she hugs her best friend back.

After a moment, Allison looks past Joan and at her mother instead as she watches them.

“Um, thank you for letting me stay here,” says Allison nervously.

“Oh, don’t worry about honey,” replies Noelle, “It’s no bother. We got enough rooms to fit six kids and we only got two of them at the moment.”

“Well, thanks again,” says Allison sheepishly, not really sure on what to say.

“Let’s go to my room,” says Joan excitingly as she grabs Allison’s wheelchair.

Allison feels a bit guilty as Joan pushes her wheelchair. It isn’t exactly like she needs to push around like this and Allison hates the idea of making Joan to do extra work just to keep up Allison’s secret identity.

“Hey Al,” says Joan.

“Yeah,” Allison says back.

“I accidentally spilled Leo’s secret identity earlier,” admits Joan, causing Allison no small amount of shock.

W-what?! You got to be freaking kidding me!

“So now the DSA, my family and his family all know about Gears and Jaylyn,” continues Joan before sighing, “And I got Mum on my back about that last one.”

“I wonder why,” mutters Allison sarcastically as they reach the stairs, “So how are we going to get up these?”

“Umm, I didn’t think that far ahead,” admits Joan, “Give a moment. Hey Abby! I need help getting Allison upstairs.”

“Of course you do,” says Abigail Fowler as she teleports next to them, “I’ll take the two of you to your room sis.”

“Thanks Abby,” replies Joan as Abigail touches her and teleports all three of them to the middle of Joan’s room, “I’ll be seeing you around Allison.”

And with that, Abigail teleports away again as Allison looks around Joan’s room. The room is large, as expected within mansion, with the basic essentials such as her big, fluffy bed, a chest of drawers, a wardrobe, a desk and other stuff like that. Basically the same as every other time that Allison has been here.

But what catches Allison’s eye is all of the posters and pictures on the wall. There is one for each of the Guardsmen field members and Allison smiles as she looks at Defender’s. But there are also a few pictures of Joan’s sister Alexis posing as Iris along with an official poster of Iris. Those are new.

Furthermore, there is a picture of Abigail Fowler, looking divine and commanding, next to a couple of posters for movies that her oldest siblings as the main actors, one for Irwin on the right and one for Breanne on the left.

Lastly, there are three posters of Marcelle Fowler, one from before her manifestation, one from afterwards and the third with both Marcelle and her new girlfriend and singing partner Diana Hunter 
singing back to back.

“Huh, you have a lot of posters,” says Allison as Joan plops herself down on her bed.

“What can I say?” replies Joan with a grin, “I’m proud of my family and their achievements.”

“I wish I could say the same about my own,” mutters Allison sourly before deciding to avoid that particular topic, “So, where did you get those pictures of Alex from? I don’t recognise them from anywhere.”

“Oh, I got those from back when I was in hospital still,” answers Joan with a wave of her hand, “Man, that feels like a long time ago. Anyway, Alex let me take those an apology for not telling me when she got her powers and for abandoning me. It was back around when Darkness attacked me.”

“So how are you getting on with them now?” inquires Allison.

“Great,” replies Joan as she gets back on her feet, “My parents, Mum in particular, are doing their best to make up for not being there for me. To be honest, I don’t really give a damn about how they treated me back then as I personally consider it water under the bridge right now. Anyway, Abby also has one of her bodies around as you saw while Alex will hang out when we’re both free. Marcy will often pop in for visits with Diana and we get to hang out then. A lot of people forget that those two are still only eighteen. Bree and I video chat every now again or meet up in Eldrim. Irvin and I don’t really care for each other. The guy is too focused on his career and I’m not that important to it. Not that he is a jerk or anything, but Irvin and I just don’t connect with each other you know?”

“Yeah,” mutters Allison, thinking back to how she gets on with her step-brother Nathan, “You don’t mind me staying here?”

“Better than letting you stay on the streets or being forced to give up your secret identity,” replies Joan with a shrug of her shoulders, “You’re my best friend. I’m not just going to abandon you. Plus Mum takes being a good mother really seriously now and your mum is a really bad one.”

“May I ask something?” asks Allison.

“Shoot,” replies Joan as she pulls out a DVD, “Want to watch this?”

“One of your sister’s films? Maybe later,” replies Allison before asking her question, “So what about my secret identity?”

“Oh, Mum, Dad and Abby know that,” answers Joan, “We’ll probably end up bring Alex and Leo’s parents into the know about that soon.”

“Great,” says Allison as she gets to her feet, “It’s going to be cool not to hide who I am from the people I’m living-”

“Joan!” says Abby as teleports into the room, catching Allison off guard as she adopts a defensive stance, “Breanna has manifested.”

1.17 Homecoming Part 6

Allison pulls up Joan on her contact list and dials her. It takes only a few seconds for her best friend to answer.

“Allison?” says Joan and Allison has never felt happier to her voice.

“Hey Joan,” replies Allison as she leaves the street.

“So Al, what’s up?” inquires Joan.

“My family finally kicked me out,” explains Allison, “Though I should admit that I kind of chose to leave in the process and I sort of forced my way past Simon on my way out.”

“So I’m guessing you need somewhere to stay,” replies Joan, quickly grasping the situation to Allison’s relief, “And since you’re phoning me instead of somebody else, I assume you want to continue your old life.”

Heh, good Joan. She summed up that I wasn’t going to Legacy because I wanted to keep up my secret identity while making sound so innocent. I wouldn’t expect anything less from Leo’s girlfriend. The guy is a firm believer that the woman of his life should be his equal.

“Pretty much,” admits Allison, feeling self-conscious about having to ask her best friend for help, “I know that you might not be able to help, but-”

“Honey,” says another voice that Allison vaguely recognises as Joan’s mother, Noelle Fowler, “Of course you can stay over here. The way your family has been treating you is just downright vile. I have honestly been meaning to do something about them for a while now, but haven’t gotten around to it yet. We’ll send Abigail over to pick you up now. No need to force you to make your way across town on your own.”

“Thank you,” replies Allison, feeling a bit tearful.

“See you here,” pipes in Joan before the phone call ends.

As she comes to a stop, Allison feels uneasy. For some reason, she suddenly feels alert and ready for battle as she has been many time whilst acting as Defender.

What is wrong you girl? I must have been through too many battles. No way is there anybody out here to get me.

But Allison takes notice of her surroundings, she realises that there is nobody about and night is falling. There is usually at least one or two people about in this part of town.

Okay, this really doesn’t feel right.

“You think you can just get away that easily you little @~&*ing bitch,” snarls an angry voice that reminds Allison of her stepbrother Derrick.

Oh don’t tell me that the stupid little excuse of a human being actually manifested.

With annoyed growl, Allison spins her wheelchair around to a massively improved version of dumbass stepbrother, both handsome and ripped, standing in the street.

A freaking Adonis. Of course Derrick is an Adonis and not something practical like a Bellator.

“Oh for crying out loud,” grumbles Allison as Derrick strides towards her.

“Don’t £#$%ing ignore me,” shouts Derrick spitting in her face, “Cannot just get away from being my bitch with such little effort.”

Allison laughs as she sees the fist coming towards her, easily tracking it with her super senses.

Does Derrick really believe he can just beat me like that? Oh wait, he thinks I’m just a helpless crippled girl in a wheelchair. Hah, little does he know that I’m an actually a B Class vigilante with plenty of combat experience. And while brick might be bland and simple, we do have our uses. It doesn’t matter if he out powers me, I got enough power, skill and experience to take him down.

Allison does nothing, just smiling like an idiot as she waits for the punch to connect with her face.

I can’t wait to see the look on his face.

But Allison doesn’t get that chance before Derrick’s fist pulls up short and he instead grabs her by the chin.

“I would hurt you, but I can’t be certain I wouldn’t kill a weakling like you,” sneers Derrick as Allison internally debates whether to hurt him or not, “Instead, I’m going to get you in trouble with the authorities just as you deserve.”

“And how exactly are you going to do that?” asks Allison dryly as she jerks her head away from Derrick.

“Why, you’re the manipulative and bullying stepsister who made an unprovoked attack on our father as he tries to rightfully punish you,” drawls Derrick, “You have record of causing trouble and picking on me. In fact, you have bullied me so much, that I actually manifested.”

“We both know that isn’t true,” mutters Allison.

“Who is going to believe somebody of your reputation over the sweet, well-behaved boy such as myself?” sneeringly asks Derrick as he leans in close to Allison.

Oh, that is it! Secret identity or not, I’m wiping that smug grin off his face. I have not whipped the butts of countless criminals and supervillains just to let Derrick of all people pull this @#£$ on me.

“I’ve heard enough,” states a strong, female voice as Allison is about to headbutt Derrick’s face.

Both Allison and Derrick turn to face a floating Aphrodite woman. She is tall with flowing brown hair and lush green eyes. She is wearing jeans and a white leather jacket whilst anger is etched into her facial features as she glowers at Derrick.

Oh, that must be Abigail. I hope it is anyway, not that I care given they are clearly going to help me.

Derrick recoils under her glare and suddenly sprints off, heading back down the street towards Allison’s former home.

Well, that is Derrick dealt with. For now at least.

“Are you okay?” inquires the Aphrodite, as she lands in front of Allison.

“I’m fine,” replies Allison, “You’re Abigail right?”

The woman nods.

I really am.

“Good,” says Abigail, “I’m going to teleport us back to the Mansion.”

“Okay,” replies Allison as Abigail touches her wheelchair. 

1.14 Slaughter Part 2

Joan screams as she is ripped away from Leo. The large brute of the man doesn’t make any efforts to be gentle with Joan as he walks away with her.

Despite wearing a mere dress with high heels, Joan starts kicking and screaming.

Abby!

Yes?

I’m being attacked!

I’m on my way!

Joan kicks her feet into the man’s leg and her stiletto digs into the flesh. The man lets out a cry of pain and releases his grip on Joan. She scrambles away, but the man grabs Joan by her hair, causing her to cry out in surprise.

He yanks her around and slams his fist into her face. Stunned by the blow, Joan staggers backwards before collapsing, landing face up on her back.

She coughs and blinks as she hears fighting. Not being in pain despite the punch to the face, Joan hears a clatter and turns her head to side. A knife with a bloody blade lies on the ground next to her.

A man cries out in pain and Joan feels herself being picked up again. A flash of light and Joan finds herself in familiar surroundings.

Joan!

Yes Abby!

Are you okay? I brought you home. I’m already telling Mum and Dad what happened.

Duplicate?

Yeah, I use them a lot these days.

Is Leo okay?

He is fine, you’re not.

I got punched once. It doesn’t hurt.

I have removed the pain for you.

Thank you Ceta.

You have slight bruising across your lower face and your nose is bleeding. You also have a bleeding cut on your upper lip. Other than those superficial injuries, you are fine due to my reinforcements to your body.

Good to know. Abby, can we talk out loud please?

“Sure,” replies Abby as she leans Joan upright on the couch, “Do you need help?”

“Ceta is taking care of it with the nanobots,” answers Joan with a shake of her head, “She is very skilled and experienced.”

“Hmm,” mutters Abby.

“I’m not feeling any pain,” points out Joan, “So what happened?”

“From what I can tell,” replies Abby, “And I have another duplicate there, some True Humanity thugs wanted to hurt our family and they figured the best way to do that was through hurting you. Not killing you. Just roughing up you and Leo.”

“Leo kicked their arses,” says Joan, having faith in her boyfriend’s skills.

“That he did,” confirms Abby, “From Leo’s memories and those of the thugs, the plan was for two to grab you and beat you up while the other three dealt with Leo. Between them, three had handguns while the other two had knives. As they grabbed you, Leo took down one of the gun-wielders before the thugs could begin to threaten him. He completely kicked their butts and only got nicked a couple of times.”

Joan briefly remembers the bloody knife that landed next to her.

Leo is an experienced fighter and can more than hold his own even without any of his equipment.

“He isn’t in trouble,” continues Abby, “Any force he used was perfectly justified and Alex and Martin are on the scene now and the police will soon be joining them.”

“Hey Abby,” says Joan as she looks down at dirty dress, “Could I get a change into something more comfortable?”

“Sure,” replies Abby as she reaches down to touch Joan’s clothing, “Mum is on her way just so you know.”

A moment after Abby touches it, Joan’s aqua dress morphs into a grey hoodie and a pair of jogging bottoms.

Nice, warm and loose clothing.

Joan kicks her shoes off her feet as her mother enters the room. As she looks up at her mother, Joan feels an instant pang of jealousy.

Her mother Noelle Fowler is absolutely beautiful as she is an A+ Class Aphrodite. Her features are refined and sharp while her skin is only slightly wrinkled, just enough to tell that fact she is no longer a young woman. Her beauty is enough that Noelle looks like she is in her mid-thirties rather than her late forties.

And like every other Aphrodite out there, Noelle has a ridiculously good figure, something shown off by the red gown she is wearing. Something Joan knows she’ll never have outside of getting her own powers. The worst part is that Joan has inherited most of her physical features from her mother, making all the more obvious to her that she will never have this level of beauty naturally.

Noelle’s red hair is longer, sleeker and brighter than Joan’s and is currently tied backed in a fancy hairdo while her caring green eyes are the exact same shade as Joan’s.

“Are okay Joan darling?” asks Mother as she swoops in and sits down next to Joan, embracing her youngest daughter in hug.

“Yes,” replies Joan as her mother’s arms wrap around her and pull hr closer, “I don’t feel a thing.”

“Don’t worry about a thing dear,” says Mother in Joan’s ear, “I’ll take care of it all.”

Why does it feel so nice to be held against her?

She is your mother.

But she-

Is that truly what she has done to upset you?

No...

So what actions are upsetting you?

She abandoned me! I lost my mother and a year and a half ago!

Ceta?

Hello?

Being silent are you?

What would Leo say?

What would Leo-oh, I remember what he said. “You are upset and angry with your family for abandoning you and now they are genuinely trying to be there for you yet you keep trying to push them away?”

And do you trust Leo?

Yes, yes I do. Thanks Ceta.

“Mum,” whispers Joan as she looks up at her mother.

“Yes Joan?” replies Mum in surprise.

“Always be there for me,” says Joan as she hugs her mum back.

1.12 Virtual Part 7

You can just take control of my body?

Of course I can using the nanobots.

No-no-no! I was really looking forward to not having to worry about people taking control of my body.

I won’t except to special cases like that.

How was that a special case?

I was reassuring Leo that we would take care of you.

I guess…

We won’t control your body unless it is a special case, an emergency or you ask us to.

And we can’t even control your mind.

Are you sure?

Doing so would be dishonourable so I didn’t include it.

Okay. Is it wrong that I would much rather have you two in my head than Abby and Divine Magicka?

No. While Abigail is your family, Legacy and I are both honourable and experienced in these sorts of things.

Makes sense.

Speaking of Abigail, perhaps you should explain things to your sister. You left uninformed about the situation when Leo came in.

I suppose I ought to answer her questions.

It would be the right thing to do.

Abby?

Joan?

I should probably explain some things to you.

You think!

Umm, here it goes.

Using their mental link, Joan explains to Abby about what has happened from Ceta’s cyber world where Legacy has been residing to visiting her there to Ceta taking control of her nanobots to the fact Ceta limited Abby’s ability to control her.

And now I got both Legacy and Ceta in my head due to them being in the nanobots.

That is…an interesting tale.

I know right?

You don’t trust me?

I do, but you just use your power without realising. I honestly don’t care when you do, but I just hate it you control me without my permission.

I’m sorry.

I know you don’t mean to hurt my feelings, but I just-it makes me feel helpless again and I hate feeling that way.

Too much like when you were confined to that hospital bed?

Yeah.

May I come in and meet Ceta?

Sure.

Joan lets Abby in and blinks her as her mental scrape takes form again. She looks around as Abby glomps her, sweeping her off the ground

“Hey sis,” says Joan as she dangles from Abby’s hold.

“Hello Joan,” replies Abby, “Sorry about how I’ve been treating you. I didn’t realise you felt so strongly about it.”

“It is just that single thing about controlling me against my will,” says Joan, “The rest of it I don’t mind. You can put me down now by the way.”

“Oh right,” says Abby as she puts Joan down, “So where is Ceta?”

“Here,” answers the AI as she appears next to Joan in her bright green armour.

“Hello Miss Ceta,” says Abby, “A pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“The feeling is mutual,” replies Ceta, “Shall we discuss matters?”

“I would like to do that,” replies Abby.

“Well, if you two are going to discuss boring stuff, I’m going to do something else,” says Joan as she walks off.

Heh. If somebody told me that my mind was going to be full of as many people as it has been six months, I would have thought them crazy.

“What are you laughing about?” asks Legacy as Joan giggles.

“I’m thinking about how nobody would even consider any of this possible last year or any time before that,” replies Joan, “What are you doing?”

“I was listening on those two,” replies Legacy indicating where Ceta and Abby are talking, “But I decided to see how you were doing.”

“You don’t have to do that,” points out Joan.

“Yes, I do,” disagrees Legacy, “I promised Leo that I would take good care of you.”

“Yeah, I guess you did,” mutters Joan, deciding not to argue the matter with her alien best friend, “You’re taking that promise pretty seriously.”

“Why wouldn’t I take it seriously?” asks Legacy in a confused tone, causing Joan to laugh.

“Not many people do,” explains Joan, “Here on Earth, we’re not as serious about keeping those sorts of promises. Either token efforts or taking seriously when something serious happens.”

“I’m not that sort of person,” answers Legacy.

“I know and neither is Leo,” replies Joan, “One of the reasons I love him so much and I like you so much. I also want to be the sort of person who takes their promises seriously.”

“It is pretty easy to do so,” points out Legacy.

“For you and Leo sure, but not for people like me,” replies Joan, “You two both wield power while I don’t. Both of you are fighters while I’m not. Hang on a minute, I got an idea.”

“What is that?” inquires Legacy.

“We got virtual reality helmets right?” says Joan, “You and Leo are both genius inventors while Jaylyn and Ceta are super powerful AIs. Between the four of you, you could invent an absolutely brilliant virtual reality game. A proper one virtual reality game.”

“That we could,” says Ceta from behind Joan, causing her to jump.

“What are you doing here?” glares Joan, “Aren’t you talking to Abby?”

“I can multitask,” answers Ceta, “I am an AI after all. As for your question, it would be easy to create a virtual reality game.”

“What sort of game would you like?” asks Legacy.

“A Fantasy RPG!” exclaims Joan, “With multiplayer so we can play with our friends and other people!”

“That is doable,” says Ceta as Joan beams at her.

1.12 Virtual Part 6

Joan groans as she goes under the disorienting process of disconnecting from the virtual world. Or cyber world in this case.

I can make adjust to your neural functions to make the process more natural.

Who is, wait, is that you Ceta?

Yes Joan.

I’m also here.

Hello Legacy. Not that I’m complaining or anything, but what are you two doing in my head.

Technically speaking we’re in the nanobots.

Oh. What will I tell people?

Leo, Jaylyn and the rest of the Guardsmen can know the truth while the others can remain unaware.

What about Abby?

You may tell your sister. She has proven that she can be trusted with our secrets and I don’t see any practical way to keep our presence hidden from her.

Okay. Say, I can block her now right?

Yes.

I’m going to call her! Abby!

Yes Joan?

Come here!

Okay I guess…

Joan giggles as Abby attempts to enter her mind, only to be block by her new defences.

What-what the? What is this Joan?

Like it?

What the hell is going on Joan!?

Oh, Ceta just set up some mental defences you so can’t just waltz in and do whatever you want to me. Now you need my permission to do stuff to my mind and to control my body.

I don’t-I can’t freaking believe you Joan!

Nothing wrong. Just the same as what you did to keep other telepaths out of my head.

Don’t you trust me?

Sure I do. I just don’t like when you take control of my body whenever it suits you.

I only did when I had good reasons.

Normal people don’t have to worry about their sisters taking over their minds and bodies whenever they get upset or angry.

You would just throw temper tantrums.

That doesn’t matter! The point is that I no longer have to worry about you taking control of my body anymore. You can only do it when I let you and only for a long as I let you.

Humph.

Don’t ‘humph’ me Abby! You don’t respect me anymore just because of your powers!

I do respect you!

Except for when it is convenient for you! You just use your powers with such casual ease that you don’t even know you are abusing them on people!

Th-that isn’t true!

It is too!

It is not!

Un-huh it is!

Leo is coming Joan.

Yay!

Wait, who was-

Joan doesn’t give her sister time to finish before breaking the connection.

“Hello Leo,” says Joan as Leo re-enters the room.

“Hi Joan,” replies Leo as he walks by her, barely glancing at her as he does so.

Joan is used to that as Leo isn’t in love with her for her looks, something she is very glad for. Plus she knows that with his power, he process everything faster in his mind so a second long glance is the equivalent of several seconds long for a normal person. But at the same time, now she is getting better, she does want him to appreciate her looks.

“I have good news,” says Joan as Leo sits down at his desk with a box of parts.

“Oh?” inquires Leo as he turns around to look at her.

“You know those nanobots I got in me,” says Joan.

“Let me guess,” replies Leo, “Legacy and Ceta hacked them and are now in control.”

“Yeah!” replies Joan, “How did you know?”

“Because I know my partner,” answers Leo, “Anything else?”

“Ceta also limited Abby’s ability to take control of my mind and body so I can block her or kick her out when I want to,” says Joan before turning an accusing tone on Leo, “Something you never even tried to do anything about.”

“We had this conversation before,” replies Leo with a resigned sigh, “Abigail isn’t abusing her powers on you and this is a matter between sisters. As soon as begins to use her powers to abuse you, I will step in that every instant.”

“I know,” says Joan, “You and Guardian risk your lives to take on Darkness to protect me.”

And we beat him into the ground as well.

We would have also killed him if he hadn’t given into our demands.

Really?

Yes.

I think he knew that and partly why he gave in so easily.

Seriously?

Yes/Yes.

“So what are you up to?” asks Joan as she looks at the box of parts.

“I’m working on some trivial stuff,” replies Leo, “My parents might be easy going liberals who have no clue of what I’m really up to, but I still need something to show them to back up my cover story for when I am doing all my Gears work. So I spend a bit of my time every now and again coming up with something trivial to show my family. Something that is impressive and would take up time for even an exceptional normal person to come up with, but someone with my powers and abilities can do with casual ease.”

“That makes sense,” says Joan as Leo looks away again.

Don’t forget to tell him about us.

Oh yeah.

“Hey Leo,” says Joan in her sweet voice.

“Yes?” replies Leo as he gets to work.

“Legacy and Ceta are currently residing in the nanobots in me,” says Joan.

“Okay,” replies Leo without even looking at her, “Legacy, Ceta, take good care of Joan.”

“Aye, aye brother,” replies Legacy using Joan’s body, much to Joan’s shock.

1.10 Dinner Part 6

Joan jumps into her bed and sobs into her pillow, not bothering to close her bedroom door. She has only been doing it for a couple of seconds when Abby enters her mind.

Go away!

We need to talk.

Leave me alone!

You overheard Mum and I talking didn’t you?

I said leave me alone!

I know you’re angry, but try to think about this rationally.

Mother tried to stop me from being born!

We both know that isn’t the case. If she didn’t want to be born, we wouldn’t be talking about it because you wouldn’t have been born.

Those pills she took are the reason I’m like this.

We don’t know that for sure and you can get better.

Only because superpowers have existed for the last two months. This would be an entirely different matter if the world hadn’t changed. In fact, I would still be dying in hospital.

Do you want to talk about it in the morning once you had time to calm down?

I don’t need to calm down! I finally found out what caused my life to be so horrible. And the only person I want to talk to is Leo!

“Joan?” asks their mother from the doorway of Joan’s bedroom, “Do you want to talk?”

Joan starts to open her mouth to reply, but Abby swiftly seizes control of Joan’s body before she can.

Give me back my body!

“Abby here Mum,” says Abby with Joan’s body and voice, “I’m just talking to Joan internally. She is a bit upset at the moment.”

A bit upset? A bit upset? I’m pissed! And I want control of my body back now Abby!

 “Okay Abigail,” replies Mother as Abby ignores Joan, “I’ll speak with Joan later or in morning then. Don’t stay in control of her body for too long. That would be rather rude.”

Speak to me for crying out loud Abby! Don’t ignore me!

Joan, are you willing to be reasonable?

Reasonable? Reasonable! You’re the one who has taken over my body. You have no right what so ever to talk to me about being reasonable.

How about we discuss something else?

And now you’re trying to change the subject!

I could just put you a state of bliss to calm you down.

You wouldn’t dare!

Try me mortal.

Joan, just calm down and discuss something else with me. You can ask me anything at all.

Humph.

Joan...

What it is like being an Aphrodite?

Now that’s better. As for your question, I’m not sure how to answer that.

Oh come on Abby! You can’t just tell me that you can’t answer my question.

I know, but it isn’t something I can just describe. I could say it feels wonderful, but I doubt you would find that helpful. Honestly that is the closest way I could describe it. Being Aphrodite is one of those things you have too experienced to actually understand what it feels like. How about I tell you what Mum and I were discussing? I can tell from your memories that you didn’t overhear that part.

Stop looking through my memories!

The other day, I was approached by a curious parahuman, a Bellator that bordered on Aphrodite.

Go on.

Anyway, she offered to provide some nano-technology to heal you.

What? You can’t be serious. You can’t even consider accepting that offer.

I did keep the offer in mind, but I decided to check her out.

What was she like?

Confident and calm. She called herself Jane Smith, but admitted that she wanted to keep her real name secret. She claimed she wanted to offer the nano-technology in exchange for a spell that I created using my own power to help a close friend of hers. Jane said that he was high tier Gadgeteer with an Monster enhanced rating and due to those combinations of power, he wished to remain hidden. All of those regards Jane was being truthful, I checked with my powers.

She is totally a supervillain.

I went to Leo earlier and showed him my memories and of the event. Since then, he checked her out since he left and informed me that she was clean as far as he could tell. Though I have no idea how he did it so quickly.

I trust Leo and if he says she is clean, I trust his judgement.

Anyway, I’m going to accept the offer. Mum and Dad both agree. And if it does work, you will be properly healed and not depended on my power. Plus Jane said the nanobots would self-destruct in a safe manner once you were healed.

I’m willing to accept this offer.

Look at it this way, if something does happen to you, Jane and her friend will have to deal with our entire extremely powerful parahuman family.

And whatever Leo can muster.

***

Using the sensors that Father placed in Mother’s room, Jaylyn watches as Aunt Abby enters with the woman known as Jane Smith as Mother waits on the bed.

This is the first time that Jaylyn has been able to see the woman who will heal Mother as Father couldn’t show her Aunt Abby’s memories.

As they approach Mother, Jaylyn runs the woman against her own records. It is only as Jane takes the syringe out that Jaylyn recognises the woman. While she has changed her face, the movements and motions that ‘Jane’ makes give her away to the AI.

It is the same one that infiltrated the FBI facility containing Washdown’s body and did something to it or with it. And here she is, injecting nanobots into Jaylyn’s mother.

Unacceptable. She cannot be trusted and is clearly using Mother for her own gain and possible either against Father or against the Fowler family.

Jaylyn diverts some of her processing power from creating profiles on the latest parahumans to checking through what Father has created so far. Father would understand Jaylyn halting the task he assigned her. This is to aid Mother after all.

Jaylyn also creates a sub-routine to alert her when Jane is detected by Father’s or Aunt Legacy’s sensor networks. This woman must be dealt with.

As the syringe is injected into Mother, Jaylyn gets to work on producing mobile combat units.