Ablation

It took several days before Lisa contacted us with good news. The Empire has called reinforcements from the Gesselschaft, and brought Purity’s team back. So we did a small announcement on PHO about it. Chelsea bought a digital videocam, a throwaway laptop to upload the video from, and we began filming. I chose one of the furthest piers from the city, the Brockton Bay skyline visible from there.

“Hello, Brockton Bay. Advance apologies for what we’re about to do. You see, Empire Eighty Eight decided that three teenage girls are too dangerous to leave alone, and brought an even more unsavory kind of reinforcements than neo-nazis. Actual nazis. Since they decided that no holds are barred in this… small confrontation, I decided to send a warning to them. If they aim to eradicate us, we’ll aim to eradicate them. We won’t wait for them to escalate to lethal measures. The reinforcements they’ve called speak loud enough of their intentions. So when we fight next, we’ll fight to maim. Kill, maybe? Long story short, we won’t hold back. Simple as that. Please, stay indoors after curfew, and be careful.”

The video finished, we uploaded it using a cafe wifi and just… went home. Let them simmer in anxiety for a bit longer. Meanwhile, I had a date with Amy. She’s been giddy since yesterday about a new idea she had and wanted to try it out right away.

“Okay, so. I’ve been thinking. Masters, right? How do they function? What do their powers actually do? Well, since the PRT doesn’t actually have any human Masters, I had to improvise.” She began, clearly high on her brilliant discovery. We sat in one of the private booths of a cafe I’ve found in one of my strolls. I ordered a couples’ ice cream and milkshake combo, and was feeding small spoonfuls to Amy while she was gesticulating and explaining her idea. “So I contacted the power testers in the PRT, they get to do this kinda thing so rarely that they gladly provided me with all the data I need.” In between her sentences, I sent another spoonful into her mouth. 

“Mh. Turns out, human Masters can be divided into two categories, and those two categories can also be divided into two smaller categories. The larger ones are: body Masters and mind Masters. Body Masters are more involved in their mastering, the most prominent ones on the East Coast being Hijack.” That’s fun. So Alec is prominent. Another spoonful. 

“Mh. They only control the bodies. The level of concentration that requires varies between each Master, like Hijack only being recorded to be able to control one person at a time, while Gravemonger, a villain from Texas, could control several at once, but with way less finesse. But one common factor between them is that once their victims are released from control, their reintegration into their normal lives is easy…er. It’s easier.” Another spoonful. “Mm. This is nice, actually. Feed me more.” She paused in her explanations to sip on the milkshake. “So their control is never long-term, but always fast-acting and potent, overpowering the mind Masters’ control.” Another spoonful. Amy took her time to melt it in her mouth.

“So mind Masters, those are the capes whose powers affect the brain. It’s usually either much shorter than body Masters’ control, or much, much longer, often not requiring the cape to concentrate on them at all.”

“Like Heartbreaker.” I note. When people say human Master, he’s the first person to come to people’s minds.

“Yeah! Like Heartbreaker, Valefor, Simon Says, those guys. They directly affect the brain, sometimes implant urges, commands, and overall are a major problem because you as a victim can’t do anything against them. Like with body Masters, your secrets are yours to keep, but with mind Masters, you’re completely at their mercy.”

“So where are you going with this? Did you figure out how to… counteract them?”

“Yes! Yes I did! I figured out a surefire way to counteract both of them, and even some Strangers too!”

“Holy shit! That’s incredible!” And it is! Most Masters are villains, so Amy quite literally solved so many problems for the Protectorate. I sigh. She’s doing so much good for the world just by existing. Kind of makes me regret choosing villainy. Another spoonful.

“So, about Strangers. I’ve dug out a bit of info on them, but some of them are… you know.” She gesticulates wildly.

“Anti-memetic?” I offer.

“What’s that?”

“Like they prevent you from knowing about them.”

“Yeah! Anti-memes. So aside from those, I figured that they’re also kind of divided into several categories. One type of Strangers, like body and mind Masters, affect people’s brains. They block off their perception, or affect the part of the brain that processes images. Or they body Master the victims into turning away from them, or to be unable to open their eyes. And then there’s the other kind. They’re the Breakers, Shakers and Blasters. But their power manifests in a way that prevents people from perceiving them.”

“Does that mean Grue is a Stranger?”

“No, no. I mean, picture a Shaker, but their Shaker effect is turning people’s heads away from them whenever they’d look at them! That kind.”

“But what’s the difference between them and body Strangers?”

“There is one! And that is, they’re doing it non-biologically! Like, straight up telekinesis instead of stimulating synapses!”

“Huh. Okay.”

“... Yeah, those ones I can’t really do anything against.”

“You can’t beat them all.” I pat her on the shoulder as she opens her mouth, waiting for another spoonful.

“Aah.”

… I have some inappropriate thoughts that I want to act out but she’s literally blindly trusting me right now. We didn’t even kiss properly yet! Holy shit! What am I doing? I drop another spoonful of ice cream in her mouth.

“Actually. You know, I still haven’t tasted that ice cream myself.” I note.

“Oh shit! Sorry, do you want me to feed you too?” Amy asks. I smirk at her.

“I have an idea that’s a bit more fun.” I crawl through the cushions towards her and press her against the back of the sofa. While realization is hitting Amy hard, I steal a kiss from her lips and sit back on my spot. “Yeah, I see why you like it.” I look back at her, licking my lips. She’s doing her best at looking like a windows bluescreen.

“Wuh?” She says concisely.

Actually, where the heck did I get that confidence from? 

“Amy?” I poke her side. 

“Ack! Uh… Sorry, what year is it?”

“February seventeenth twenty eleven.”

“Right. What was I talking about..? Actually, scratch that. I wanna do that again!”

The milkshake and ice cream were forgotten, and I was really glad that this was a private booth and that I dusted every hidden recording device that I could find. A couple minutes later, I was gently brushing Amy’s not so disheveled hair as she remembered where she stopped at in her impromptu lecture. By that time, the ice cream had all but completely melted.

“So, Masters and Strangers, right?”

“Uh huh.”

“The ones that specifically target the biology of their victims. So I started thinking. What if I modified your nervous system?” I wasn’t sure if it was a non-sequitur or a genuine smooth segue into biomodding me again. So I laughed.

“All you gotta do is ask, princess.” I said, watching her ears go red.

“Uh, yeah. Can I?”

I draped one arm over her shoulder to meet her hand. I was almost done with properly brushing her and was going through the motions as a mini-massage instead.

“So what do you think about uhh… encrypting your nerve signals? Like, I could make it so that your spinal cord sends a handshake signal first and only if the receiving nerve, muscle or any other tissue has a corresponding handshake code, only then can it decrypt the rest of the signal and act it out. Really, it doesn't change your reaction speeds that much! Only by like, a couple milliseconds. But I’ve sped your reaction speed up by an order of magnitude so it’s not that big of a deal! And since a biological body isn’t limited by the binary, I can go ham with the encryption and make it doubly hard for body Masters to control you.” I felt a tingle run through my body as Amy began applying her changes.

“I actually took classes in programming and cyber security for that reason! There’s this Tinker-made site that gives you fun tasks like writing your own file compressing programs and stuff. And I’ve gone through like a solid quarter of all the tasks!” 

“Wow! That’s… that’s crazy, Amy! Good job!” I squeeze her using the arm I draped over her. She laughs nervously.

“Yeah, that’s like the most effort I’ve put into studying anything non-medicine related.” She admits and her shoulders drop. “Carol demands that I get at least passing grades in every class, despite my career being guaranteed to be in the hospital.”

“... That sucks. I- I also wanted to give up on school. For many reasons.”

“The bullying.” She says.

“Yeah.”

“And the… cape thing.” She says more tensely.

“That too.”

Amy sighs heavily. Her hands squeeze mine. “I… Taylor, do you trust me?”

Do I? Amy’s been nothing but good to me this far. She’s a biotinker who can send me into an indefinite coma with a touch and we’re snuggling in public right now. “I do.” I squeeze her closer.

Edit:

“Someone I trust recently told me that…” Her breath shaky, she pauses, gathering her thoughts. “You're Durasteal.”

I shut my eyes tight, fully aware that Amy is watching my every move. I drape my other arm over her shoulder, taking a hold of one of hers.

"It's kind of obvious now that someone pointed that out." Amy continues. "You're a Brute Striker who can absorb durability and turn things to dust in the process, she's a Brute Striker who is super durable and can turn things to dust with a touch. You have the same hair, same body shape, same posture." She's waiting for me to deny it. To give some sort of proof that I'm some other cape, just less powerful. Maybe, I'm Durasteal's clustermate? That would explain why we have similar powers. Maybe I have an evil twin. Instead, I sigh.

“Did you know, there are many things a hero can't do?” I decide to ask. When I don't receive a response from her, I continue. “There is the obvious answer. A hero cannot break laws. A Protectorate hero needs warrants, paperwork, state authorization. Any crime that is not happening right in front of their eyes - they're unable to stop without proper procedure. Vigilantes have three strikes. They can't take matters into their own hands without butting heads with the government. But that's just that. The first part of what they cannot do.”

I bring my hands up, digging my fingers into Amy’s hair.

“A hero cannot enforce laws in a way a villain can respect. Because that'd just be another law they've resolved to break, because it was made by the same side whose laws they've already broken. It's a matter of perspective. The villains know that the heroes are reactive. They only respond to the symptom.”

“Without curing the illness itself.” Amy finishes for me. She sighs and sniffs. “You know, pharmaceuticals are kinda the same. L-like some drugs are only there to suppress or cure the symptoms. Lower your body heat, widen your blood vessels, that kinda thing. Even painkillers don't remove the cause of pain, only the pain itself. But they still help the patient survive until their own immune system can fix the- the illness.”

“... So heroes are the drug here?”

“Y-yeah?”

“I can work with that. I'm not saying that they're useless. But sometimes all the drugs in the world can't save you if your body is weak and frail. When your immune system can't keep up. Like in our city. You know how it's been in a slow but inevitable decline ever since that big ass ship blocked the bay. I want to be the one to remove the harmful elements from the city, without having to be reactive. Think of it as controlled burning. By having them, you drastically decrease the chances of actual, more devastating fire. That's what I want to be.”

“To burn the ground so that… it can't be burned by others?”

“There's a difference between a no-man's land and controlled burning... I think that's enough metaphors.” I chuckle with not quite enough mirth in it. “Villains only respect other villains. Maybe that's not true. Maybe you just need to be the overwhelming force of good like Legend or Alexandria.”

“Or the third guy.”

“The third guy! Him too. Phantom or something.”

“Eidolon.”

“Him… But they haven't done shit to the world, have they? Heartbreaker has been in the cape scene long enough to have his second generation cape kinds come of age. There's Three Blasphemies. You'd think the Triumvirate would have no problem dealing with them. Or at least put some effort into getting rid of them. The Slaughterhouse Nine are still a thing. Heck, look at Ellisburg! Legend could level that place in seconds and instead they covered it up with a concrete dome!”

“So you think you'd do more good as a villain?” Amy asks, and I try not to bring my fingers close to her cheeks. To feel them wet.

“I would.” I keep running my fingers through her hair, aware how Amy knows I could crush her skull with a twitch. Yet she lets me. “I'd be dangerous enough that other villains would look at Brockton Bay and be like 'oh heck no, I'll go look for a safer turf to fight for', but also not be a total detriment to the city's development. I’d… enforce my own rules. Make the unwritten rules written in my city. No harming civilians in cape fights. No going after the cape's family or secret identity. Marquis,” Amy tenses at the mention of his name, “Had an influence on this city that persists still after twelve years since his imprisonment. Only in Brockton Bay can you feel safe riding a bus, despite seeing a cape fight happening right down the street.”

“I think… people only attribute it to Marquis because they don't want to acknowledge that it's the Empire who's keeping the tradition alive. Out of some twisted respect for the man.” Amy shrugs.

“I'll get rid of them too.”

“Yeah. I… saw your video.”

Oh. I guess I should style my hair differently in either of my personas. We stay like that for a long time. Amy pressed against my chest, me running my fingers through her hair. Neither of us speaks up. That is, until-

“Should I… should we break up?” Amy asks, voice fragile.

“I don't know. I don't know .” And I don't either. I want us to stay together. We might have started dating out of... I don't know, teenage hormones? Pretty girl awooga, and all that. But I like her. But we're also on opposite sides of the law. I can't do a complete 180 on my behavior, especially after that big announcement today.

“We could be… I could be your nemesis. I could keep you in check from… from going crazy authoritarian regime on the city.” Amy shakes. I… don't know if it's a giggling or a crying kind of shake. I'm not sure. She's done enough work on me to prove that she could basically create Brutes from scratch. And... I could too. It would work so well if we were rivals.

“Or you could join me. You'd have veto powers. I'd-” God! I'm grasping at straws at this point. “I'd make you my second in command.” And there I go trying to drag down another person who's close to me, into villainy.

“Isn't that reserved for Chelsea? What about her, by the way?” She turns slightly towards me. I'm looking at the ceiling, not meeting her eyes.

“We're friends. We- uh. Never heard her voice before trying to forcefully recruit her. Didn't even know it was her at the time. But uh… yeah, we're not dating, especially now that I'm dating you. We tried it a year ago, online, and it didn't work out. She would be upset but- but I can have two seconds in command! You'll just be my favorite right hand.”

“That'd still mean I'll become a villain.”

“You could… you could do it masked? Y- you know. Have a secret identity for once? Lead a double life?”

Amy scoffs or chuckles or just exhales. She covers her face with her hands.