Crystalized Munchkinry - Act IV - Chapter 45 (Patreon)

He watched as the events unfolded in the virtual space. Standing beside him were Shaper and Fragile One, both observing. Fragile One vibrated in place with excitement, while Shaper silently watched, occasionally sighing.

When Dragon began hunting for Coil, he sent her a message containing several coordinates of Coil's technological backup plans through his connection to Taylor's communication watch.

Then he turned toward the other two Shards.

"So, what do you think?"

Predictably, Fragile One was the first to react.

"That was so sad! The best Host didn't get to punch things! Admin, why didn't the best Host get to punch things? Can you help her punch things?"

He smiled at the Shard. "This wasn't about punching. But sure, I can help her punch things in the future."

Fragile One's avatar lit up with a smile, and an inner light shone from her toward Admin, casting an eerie shadow across Shaper's stoic face. Then she suddenly jumped at the slime avatar and hugged him.

"You are the best boss! I enjoy punching things! Shaper! Best Host is going to punch things!"

Shaper simply ignored the other Shard and spoke plainly. "What's your plan?"

Admin gave the green avatar an impish smile. "It seems to me that poor Amy suffered a rather traumatic event... Ripe for a second Trigger."

At the same time, he transmitted his plan to the Shard itself through the established Network channels.

Fragile One, still holding the slime avatar in her hands, smiled in confusion while looking between the two of them.

Shaper blinked several times, processing the information, then her face lit up with a truly menacing smile.

Taylor sat in the back of the ambulance, watching as the female medic examined her. She tried acting as if she was afraid, but she didn't think they were really buying it.

It wasn't like she was in any danger.

She watched as New Wave arrived and crowded around her friends. After Miss Militia asked a few questions, the entire family left, flying away like an enormous cloud of beautiful people.

She saw Miss Militia head toward her while she sensed a familiar car enter the range of her abilities.

The next few minutes were rather chaotic, with her father hugging her, yelling at Miss Militia, hugging her again, and glaring at everything around them as if daring anyone to try and attack her again. She was thankful that Miss Militia took it in stride, while the medic simply shook her head, exasperated, seemingly used to this kind of behavior.

"Mr. Hebert, please calm down. Your daughter is not in trouble. I just want to ask a few questions, then you can take her home," Miss Militia spoke in a calming voice.

Taylor watched as her father visibly tried to calm himself down.

"Right. I'm sorry... It's just, so soon after..." He fell silent for a moment before taking a breath. "Yes, go ahead. Ask your questions." He fell quiet, though he continued hugging Taylor.

She watched as Miss Militia's face twitched slightly at that, before returning to her calm expression as if nothing had happened.

"Right. Miss Hebert, could you tell me what happened?" she asked, turning her attention to Taylor.

"I didn't see much. Vicky pushed me away from under a giant rock, so I only heard things," she said, hugging her dad and pretending to be shaken.

"That's enough. We have recordings, and we just want to make sure they are accurate, so don't worry, Miss Hebert," she replied with a reassuring smile.

Taylor couldn't help but smile back.

"Right, so we were walking down the street..." she began, explaining the events.

After a pleasant interrogation, her dad immediately bundled her into the car and drove them home. The car was silent, though Taylor could tell that her dad was more worried than angry. Maybe he didn't know she had appeared as a parahuman?

Neither of them spoke during the ride. Danny concentrated on the road, his hand gripping the steering wheel tightly.

When they reached the house, they silently went inside, and Taylor watched as her father, still quiet, walked over to his liquor cabinet, took out a glass, and poured something dark and probably heavily alcoholic into it.

He went to the sofa, dropped down into it, and motioned for Taylor to join him.

He took a sip and finally spoke. "Are you alright, Taylor?"

"Yeah, Dad. The worst I got was a sneeze because of the dust," she told him flippantly.

"That's good." Her dad took another sip. "That's good."

"Yeah, so I'm going to take a shower, then call Tess and see if she needs anything."

"Mhhm," her father responded.

As she stood up, he continued to gaze at the drink in his hand. “Don't forget you're grounded…"

She whirled around in surprise."What? Why?"

"Dragon sent over the video of you fighting the Merchants."

"What?" she yelled indignantly. "That traitor..."

"Go take a shower and call her. But no going out farther than your run for the next week. My poor heart can't take it, okay?"

"Fine..." she muttered petulantly.

Tess smiled victoriously.

She got the creep.

She immediately locked down the location and stealthily surrounded it with her drones. Draining the database was child's play, but for now, she simply encrypted it and sent it to several different servers. She would take a closer look later.

First, she had to deal with the PRT infiltration.

She emulated a vindictive smile on her avatar.

Coil and his minions could live in darkness for a few more hours.

Or days.

The important thing was that he wasn't going anywhere.

"Coil is finished," Contessa said as she walked into the room where Doctor Mother was sitting, typing away at a computer.

"Oh, how so?" the Doctor asked while looking up from the screen, where one of the windows showed the fight between the gray-clad hero and Mush.

"He tried something. I'm not clear on what, but Brockton Bay is getting harder and harder to see." The woman wearing the fedora explained while standing in front of the desk. "His plan failed, and Dragon reported to the PRT that she has him locked down. It's only a matter of time before he gets taken in."

The older woman frowned slightly, then typed into the computer, bringing up the PRT reports.

"Yes, I see. He has a useful power. What does the Path say?"

"I can go in and take him out, or evacuate him, but then all the steps toward the eventual goal vanish."

The other woman's frown deepened at that. "What if you let him be?"

"The Path stays clear as far as I can see."

"Leave him, but get him a message. Call in the favor and tell him to keep silent."

Contessa nodded in understanding and walked out the door without saying goodbye, already asking questions.

Doctor Mother sighed, took a sip of water from her cup, and returned to scrutinizing the video while reading the reports.

Amy woke from her nightmare with a quick scream.

As the images of her sister's body lying on the ground faded from her mind, she stumbled out of bed and headed for the bathroom. A quick wash with cold water was exactly what she needed right now.

After walking for several seconds without reaching the door, she finally looked up, realizing that she wasn't exactly in her bedroom anymore.

She was standing on top of a small hill, surrounded by verdant green grass. A gentle wind caressed her skin, and the sun shone down with a comforting warmth.

She stood rooted in place for a moment before slowly turning around in bewilderment"Where the hell am I?" she yelled, a hint of panic coloring her voice.

"In your mind," came the stoic reply from behind her.

She whirled around, only to come face-to-face with a girl dressed in green clothing made of moss and leaves, her eyes completely lifeless.

"Who the fuck are you?"

"Your power," came the reply in the same flat voice.

"What?"

"Right. Here is a quick summary," the girl said, a hint of irritation entering her voice. "I'm the avatar of your power. I don't like you. You just heal things. You second-triggered today. You get new powers because I want you to punch things. Questions?"

Amy stared at the other girl for several minutes, her mouth hanging open and her eyes wide with surprise.

Finally, she managed to force out a single word. "What?"

The supposed avatar simply sighed and gestured toward the chairs that had not been there a second ago. "Sit. I will try to explain it in a way your tiny meatbag brain can understand."

Amy wanted to retort and tell whatever this thing was to go fuck itself, but the look in its eyes stopped her.

"So let me get this straight." She took a drag from the cigarette that the avatar had somehow conjured for her. "You are my power. You are giving me new ones. And I have to punch people."

"Yes. Preferably in the face."

"Right." She took another drag. "And why the fuck should I believe you? As far as I'm concerned, this could be a fucking Master trying to fuck with me."

"Valid," the green woman replied, then shrugged. "But I don't care. Tomorrow, when you wake up, you will have a new power, and it will prove it to you."

Amy just glared.

"But if you want to give it a chance, you can try it out here."

Amy snorted. "Sure thing, and I fart rainbows."

"Don't tempt me," came the immediate reply from the other woman.

Despite the flat voice, Amy could hear the immense threat behind the words.

"O-kay," Amy said, a little shaken. "So this is a virtual space? Made by you, right?"

"Not by me, but yes. Usual stuff. Sped-up time, and anything you want can happen." She explained, then gave Amy a gimlet eye. "Though no hanky-panky."

"Fuck you."

The next several minutes passed in silence. The only sound was Amy puffing on her cigarette.

The supposed avatar was the first to break the silence.

"Do you want to see something really disturbing?"

"Worse than your dress sense?"

"Much."

Amy thought for a second, then shrugged.

"Eh, why not?"

With that, a giant screen appeared in front of them, showing Vicky sleeping in an identical bed to the one Amy had woken up from, with the same grassy hills surrounding her.

"Here, some alcohol," the avatar said, offering her an entire bottle of whiskey. "You will need it."

Vicky woke up well-rested and raring to go, just like always. She sat up, stretched her arms until she heard the satisfying crack of her joints, smacked her lips a few times, and then opened her eyes. Then she immediately closed them because what she was seeing was definitely not what she expected.

She repeated the process a few times, just to make sure it was real.

With a dainty movement, she stuck her pajama-clad leg out from under the blanket and touched the grass. The sensation felt real.

"Huh. This ain't Kansas anymore!" she exclaimed in her best valley-girl imitation.

She slowly extracted herself from the bed and began curiously looking around. First, she looked underneath the bed, then she began hovering to see if she could spot any kind of civilization. Vicky was about to fly off in a random direction when something crashed into her, throwing her backward onto the bed.

She landed on it, strangely not feeling any pain, and without the bed showing any sign that it had just been subjected to immense forces.

Vicky was about to hit whatever had attacked her when she saw what, or rather who, was sitting on her legs.

It was a girl, suspiciously similar to her, only made from some kind of glass-like material, with an inner light giving her an otherworldly aura.

She was also sporting a massive smile.

"Hello, best Host! I'm Fragile One, but you can call me Franky! I will call you Vicky! Can I call you Vicky? Please! I waited so much to meet you. ---- was so mean and said I can't meet you, but now ---- said I can meet you, so now I'm meeting you! So cool! We are going to have soooo much fun!"

With that, she enveloped Vicky in a bear hug.

"Oh no, there is another one," Amy exclaimed in horror.

The green avatar next to her nodded sadly. "Yeah..." she said. "Want more alcohol?"

"Do you have anything stronger?"

"So you are my power, and now you are going to give me more powers?"

"Oh no! ---- said you are strong enough. I'm going to give you more control and make everything nicer. I will also be able to talk to you!"

"More control?" Vicky asked.

She was sitting on the bed with her knees pulled up, hugging a pillow, while Fragile One lay on her stomach. The avatar's chin rested on her hands, and her legs swung around in the air in an oddly cute manner.

"Yeah! Better aura, so you can do better aura stuff with the bad guys! And self-healing! And a better shield! I like you, so you need better shields, so ---- made the shields better!"

"That's so cool! Amy always complains about my aura!"

"Yeah, sorry about that..." Fragile One said, looking slightly abashed. "I didn't really understand people stuff when I gave you your power..."

"Oh no, don't be sad. I love my power!" Vicky exclaimed, then gathered the morose avatar into a hug.

They hugged for a few seconds before Vicky pulled back and held the avatar by her shoulders. "But who is this person whose name you can't say?"

The glass woman gave her a brilliant smile. "That's my boss! ---- is the best boss!"

"Powers have bosses?"

"Sure! Sadly, my request to form a union was rejected!"

"A union? Do I even want to know?" Amy asked, staring deeply into her glass.

"No, you don't," the druid-like girl answered.

She downed the last drops from the bottle, sadly shaking it in an attempt to get more out of it, then threw it away as she stood up. "Come on, you useless meatbag. Let's go talk to your sister and the idiot."

"What? We can talk to them?" Amy asked, looking up in surprise.

"Sure, it's all connected. ---- just wanted to give us some 'individual' time." She explained while making quotation marks with her fingers, still speaking in her deadpan voice.

"Who?"

"The boss. You will meet them later."

"Ugh, fine. Let's go suffer."

He watched as the Shard and Host slowly trudged toward the materialized door leading to the other space, both moving with the same defeated air.

Both meetings had been fascinating, going almost exactly as he had expected.

He ticked another item off his to-do list, then went to take another look at the new powers the girls would receive.

They were complete, but another check never hurt anyone.