Mist of Shadows
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Boosted Villainy Part 15
🕑 Added 2022-07-18 23:39:36 +0000 UTCT.S. Noelle walked out of the RV's bathroom after pulling on socks, a sweatshirt and sweats that did a pretty good job of making sure someone wouldn't accidentally touch her skin. "Do you have an actual plan?"
"Not really," Taylor admitted. "I'm still trying to figure out how I'm supposed to tell my family that I'm a cape."
Myst looked up from the map of the city he was using to try and get some idea of the layout of the bay. "You could always try, 'would you still love me if I ran around saving cats from trees wearing spandex?"
"Why would the trees be wearing spandex?" S. Rose asked from the driver's seat as she took her foot off the brake and started into the intersection after looking both ways.
Myst glanced over at S. Rose. "I'm guessing lots of drugs."
"Can we focus on-" Taylor cut off with a shriek when something hit the side of the RV with enough force to flip it on its side, sending her, Rose and S. Noelle tumbling into a pile on top of the table and Myst as the RV skidded along the pavement for a couple of seconds.
"What the fuck was that?!" Rose complained as she carefully untangled herself from the pile, making sure not to touch Noelle's skin.
"No idea, is everyone okay?" Myst asked, glad that the girls didn't actually weigh all that much and that his force field had taken the initial hit.
"Peachy," Taylor replied as she floated to her feet, rather glad that she'd already copied S. Noelle's durability and regeneration. "Any idea what hit us?"
"No clue," S. Rose complained as she took her seatbelt off and stood up so that she could push open the crumpled passenger side door. "Can I get some help here?"
"Give me a second," S. Vicky replied as she flew out of the loft.
"That sucked," Rose grumbled as she floated into the air.
S. Vicky pushed the door open with a squeal of tortured metal then flew out of the RV and stared at the damaged 'tank' that was flickering in and out of sight. "I think Squealer hit us."
"Figures," Myst complained as he stood up. "You should probably make sure she's not going to finish the job."
"On it," S. Vicky replied as she flew up to the cab to check on the demented tinker. "Get out of the tank."
"Where the fuck did the RV come from?!" Squealer demanded, pissed that she hadn't actually seen it before she'd hit it and that it was surprisingly durable.
S. Vicky ripped the door to the tank off and grabbed the tinker before she could activate the tank's defenses. "You're supposed to watch where you're going!"
"I was! Fucking thing came out of nowhere!" Squealer complained as Collateral Damage Barbie pulled her out of her tank. "I might be drunk and higher than a skunk on stilts but the fucking RV wasn't there a minute ago!"
Rose grabbed a mask from 'under' the table and pulled it on then flew out of the RV through the passenger side door. "No one else has a problem seeing it."
"Just because everything is going pink and green doesn't mean I can't see shit," Squealer argued.
Rose flew over and tapped Squealer with her ring, restoring her health and sanity or at least health, quickly dodging out of the way when Squealer started getting a bit green.
Squealer blinked a couple of times then promptly threw up a mess of black and green sludge, feeling strangely better than she'd felt in years. "What the hell was that?!" she demanded when she realized that her headache was gone and she was stone cold sober for the first time in years.
"I wanted to make sure you didn't have any internal injuries," Rose replied as she studied the messed up tinker, wondering if she'd have to tap her a second time with her ring.
Myst floated out of the RV and made a shadow copy of Squealer. 'Can you pull the cloaking device?'
'Sure,' S. Squealer replied, knowing she kept a toolbox in the tank.
Myst manifested S. Squealer on the tank. "Azure, can you tip the RV over?" he asked as he used his cleaning gloves on Squealer and the sludge she'd vomited up, fairly sure he didn't want the sludge getting in the water supply.
"Sure," S. Vicky replied as she flew over and righted the RV after everyone escaped, revealing a decent amount of damage to the side of the RV where the tank had crashed into it. "We might need better armor."
"I'll add it to the list," Myst replied as he studied the messed up tinker that actually looked sort of attractive now that she wasn't wearing several layers of caked on makeup, dirt and grease.
"Hopefully it starts," S. Rose muttered as she flew through the opened door and over to the driver's seat, wanting to get the RV out of the middle of the snow covered intersection before someone else hit it or someone reported an accident.
"Permission to check for damage?" S. Amy asked as she walked over to Squealer.
"Fine," Squealer muttered, recognizing the healer and feeling a bit weird or possibly normal which wasn't normal and knowing that she couldn't outrun Glory Girl so she might as well let her check.
Amy touched Squealer's arm and checked her biology. "You're in perfect health."
"Perfect health?" Squealer asked in disbelief. "You know what I do for fun, right?"
"I'm aware," S. Amy replied as she put Squealer to sleep, quickly catching her by her armpits. "We're going to have to get Amy a brute package, it's useful."
"On the list," Myst replied as he studied the cobbled-together tank the tinker had been driving.
"We should probably hand her over to the PRT," S. Vicky complained, fairly sure the PRT wouldn't be able to keep her more than a couple of days but not sure what else to do with her.
"It'd be a Christmas miracle if they could keep her," S. Amy grumbled as she hauled Squealer over to the RV so the underdressed villain wouldn't freeze to death.
Myst frowned when S. Rose turned the key and he heard a weird grinding noise coming from the engine. "Give me a second." He gestured at the RV and used his gloves, causing all of the damage to vanish. "Did that work?"
S. Rose sighed in relief when the engine started after she tried again. "Thanks."
"How long do you think it would take to deal with the Merchants?" Taylor asked thoughtfully as S. Rose worked on getting the RV out of the middle of the intersection.
"Depends on how much information we can get out of Squealer's shadow clone." Myst turned his attention back to the giant tank when he heard S. Squealer jump down. "Did you get everything?" he asked, curious about the backpack and the toolkit she was carrying.
"I grabbed the cloaking device and my tools," S. Squealer replied as she walked over. "The rest doesn't matter and should distract the heroes. I'm freezing my tits off, let's go."
"Sure, I'll resummon you in the RV." Myst collected the backpack and the toolbox then dismissed the shadow clone.
'Fine by me,' S. Squealer agreed, happy to be out of the cold. 'Are you going to hand Squealer over to the PRT?'
'Any reason I shouldn't?' Myst asked as they headed for the RV.
'Skids recruited her right out of high school, got her hooked on shit and her head spun around. She has a bunch of moving violations, warrants for property damage and driving while intoxicated, which is mostly bullshit since driving is part of her power, but nothing serious on her record. If you're going to turn her in, can you at least drop her off in Boston? Piggot is a first class bitch and she doesn't deserve to get tossed into the cage,' S. Squealer argued.
'Beyond the fact that she helped the Merchants get people addicted to a bunch of shit?' Myst asked doubtfully.
'Like I said, Skids got into her head and she wasn't thinking straight. Besides, she focused on tinkering, the 'business' side of things was Skidmark's deal. She had anger issues before the drugs, they just made it worse, but she still managed to avoid doing anything too nasty and Skidmark was a controlling piece of shit,' S. Squealer argued.
'I'm aware,' Myst agreed, thinking about the scene in the story where Squealer had acted like a battered woman when he'd snapped at her. 'I don't have a problem handing her over to someone that will give her a second chance, especially since I'm planning on dropping Skidmark into another dimension.'
'Pretty sure Squealer needs therapy,' S. Squealer added.
'Pretty sure most capes are certifiable in one way or another,' Myst replied as he followed the girls into the RV and closed the door behind him. He turned and looked at S. Rose. "Keep heading towards Admin's house, I want to see if we can copy Squealer."
"I know you mentioned you got a better version of my powers, but are you sure it's safe?" S. Noelle asked warily.
"Not particularly, but I'd rather find out with a tinker than someone like Eidolon," Myst replied as he reached down and touched Squealer's forehead. "I should be able to set her personality and focus or at least influence things."
"What happens if she ends up insane?" Taylor asked, thinking about Emma.
"Worst case, I'll knock her unconscious and we can drop her off with the Protectorate," S. Amy suggested.
"Thanks," Myst replied without looking away from Squealer's face. 'Nudist, cheerful, loyal and enthusiastic,' he mused and activated Noelle's cloning power, creating a naked clone of Squealer.
"At least she doesn't look mutated," S. Noelle offered as she studied the naked clone that was sprawled on the floor of the RV, surprised that the clone didn't have any physical deformities.
The clone yawned as she looked up at Myst. "Hey boss."
"How are you feeling?" Myst asked as he pulled his sunglasses out of his inventory and put them on. 'Tinker, Vehicle systems: Focus multi-terrain systems.'
"Good," the clone replied cheerfully, glad the carpet was comfortable.
Rose reached down and touched the clone's ankle with the power copying gloves, trying to get a sense of her powers. "Vehicle systems tinker, her focus is on vehicles that work on multiple terrains rather than rugged designs," she explained as she copied the clone's tinker power.
"Pretty sure…" the clone trailed off as she turned and noticed Squealer on the ground next to her. "Huh, clone?"
"Sorry?" Myst offered, not sure how to break it to her gently.
Squealer's clone laughed as she realized that she wasn't going to get stuck working for the PRT and that her boss would take care of her much better than Skidmark ever did. "I'd rather be a clone."
"Seriously?" Rose asked as she stood up.
"Squealer has a shit load of mental problems and some legal trouble," the clone said as she twisted around and used the table to stand up. "I'm just a tinker with no criminal record or past to worry about and an excellent boss that is way too nice to throw me away, right?"
"I wasn't planning on it," Myst assured her.
"Cool," the clone replied with a grin as she glanced around the RV. "We have a garage, right?"
"I have a warehouse I need to clean out, we can probably set something up," Myst assured her, fairly sure it wouldn't be too hard to buy an old garage or the tools needed to run one.
"Any homicidal tendencies?" S. Noelle asked warily, thinking about the clones she'd accidently created.
"Do telemarketers count?" the clone asked thoughtfully, trying and failing to hide a smile.
Rose laughed. "No."
"Only technically," S. Vicky offered.
"You should probably hit her with your healing ring just to make sure," Taylor suggested.
"Joking aside, I just want to tinker," the clone assured them.
"Let me check first," S. Amy said as she reached out and poked the clone in the arm so that she could check her genetics and health. "If her corona wasn't different, I'd say I was looking at Squealer's biology, she even has the same fingerprints."
"We should probably fix those," Myst mused as he sat down at the table, glad that the clones weren't twisted and evil.
Rose turned to look at Taylor. "What do you think Admin, do you want a clone? New powers and a sister?"
"I’d have to be crazy," Taylor muttered as she manifested her copy of Rose. "We should do this before I change my mind."
"What about your father?" Myst asked.
"I'm already going to have to come clean, I might as well have someone to share the blame…" Taylor trailed off as T.S. Rose reached out and copied her, creating a naked clone of her boss. "You could have waited until we were in the bathroom," she complained as she reached down, grabbed a jacket and tossed it at her clone.
Taylor's clone absently caught the jacket as she glanced down at her breasts and stomach. "We should probably have Amy move some of the fat to our breasts."
"Put the jacket on," Taylor ordered, not wanting to admit how tempting the suggestion was.
"Why? Pretty sure everyone has seen a naked girl before," the clone replied as she turned to look at Myst. "What do the glasses say?"
"Duplicate and control items? You can basically make and control temporary duplicates of items, all the items, sort of like Admin's power," Myst explained, “only… not.”
“That is pretty far from the baseline,” S.Vicky agreed, “but then powers are weird.”
“How sane is she?” S. Noelle asked.
“More than the original,” C. Taylor replied.
“Hey!” Taylor complained.
“We have issues,” C. Taylor told her, “and the only reason I don’t fully share them is the knowledge I’m not myself… erm you. Since I’m not you, I can look at them and see them for what they are.”
“Says the crazy clone,” S. Vicky teased.
C. Taylor rolled her eyes. “I’m a step away from what I was… okay we really don’t have a vocabulary for all of this, so I’m going to wing it. I can see the problems I had as Taylor that I don’t have as me, because I haven't been shat upon from a great height for a long period of time like she has despite having memories of it.”
Taylor opened her mouth, frowned and closed it again.
“We have some problems, though just having friends who actually care about us and help us out is working wonders for our current mental stability,” C. Taylor explained, before S. Vicky swept her up in a hug that buried her face in her breasts.
“We love you too!” S. Vicky swore.
S. Amy reached over and patted Taylor’s hand. “There, there,” she said. “I’m not good at comforting people. Would a live sex show between my sister and one or more of her clones help?”
Taylor just stared at her, but seemed conflicted on what to say.
“It may not fix your problems, but it’s a pleasant way to distract yourself while waiting to see if they go away on their own,” S. Amy told her.
“I’m almost positive it doesn’t work that way,” Taylor said, not wanting to admit that she wouldn’t mind the distraction and finding herself a little envious of her clone who was currently fighting for air that S. Vicky had yet to notice.
“But not completely positive,” S. Amy pointed out.
“No…” Taylor reluctantly admitted.
“Good enough for me,” S. Amy said with a smile. “We should get popcorn.”
0o0o0
"You're going to have to explain this to Dad," Taylor said as they walked up the driveway.
C. Taylor pulled her attention off Taylor's S. Amy enhanced body and looked at her twin's face. "Why do I have to explain things?"
"You're the clone," Taylor replied. "That's one of the reasons I agreed to get cloned. I really, really don’t want to explain everything to him."
"That's bullshit and you know it," C. Taylor complained.
“I also wanted a sister who wouldn’t betray me and someone I could always count on,” Taylor admitted, “but my excuse is that I wouldn’t have to talk to dad.”
"Fine. Any idea how I’m going to explain this?" C. Taylor asked, hoping Taylor had some ideas she hadn’t, even though the odds were really low.
Taylor sighed. “Not a one that sounds remotely sane and doesn’t stress him out,” she admitted. “We should approach this like we do class assignments, make a list and narrow things down to acceptable topics.”
"You know, we could just give him the list,” C. Taylor said thoughtfully.
“What?” Taylor asked.
“We make the list and write down all the details and then hide in our room while he reads it, no public speaking at all!” she exclaimed, relief clear in her voice.
“Why didn’t I think of that sooner?!”
“Serious mental issues, lots of them,” C. Taylor reminded her.
“Oh yeah, those,” she said with a heavy sigh, before rubbing her temples.
“What?” C. Taylor asked as she saw the expression on her sister’s face.
“Shadow Emma is making suggestions on ways to make me feel better and make up for what her other self did,” Taylor said.
“And that’s a problem because?” C. Taylor asked as they stopped in front of the door.
“Because she came up with them from watching the two Vickys on the way over here,” Taylor explained.
C. Taylor opened her mouth, paused, and then closed it again with a thoughtful look on her face. “That might actually help,” she admitted, “a bit radical as a form of therapy, but it would help.”
“Seriously?” Taylor asked in disbelief as she opened the door and they entered the house.
Danny stared at his daughter…s. “I could have sworn I only had one daughter this morning,” he muttered.
“There is a perfectly rational explanation for this,” C. Taylor said, before pushing Taylor forward, “which she’ll explain.”
“What?!” Taylor sputtered.
“You need to get over your fear of public speaking,” she told her, “really this is for your own good.”
“That didn’t work when dad tried to make me eat eggplant and it won’t work now,” Taylor said firmly. “I’m throwing you under the bus like we agreed!”
C. Taylor sighed. “Dad… we have a lot to tell you… and I’d really rather write it all out. Can you wait like… half an hour while we write it all up?”
Danny looked into his daughter’s eyes and sighed. “I’m going to order pizza, you have until it arrives.”
“Order from Luigi’s,” C. Taylor said, “we need the time.”
“No we don’t,” Taylor argued, “it’s like ten minutes tops.”
“Oh, like I’m not going to have to argue about things you want to gloss over and ignore so you don’t worry him?” C. Taylor demanded.
“Order Luigi’s,” Taylor told her father before they both fled upstairs.
Danny just nodded slowly. “Luigi’s it is.”
0o0o0o0o0o0
Squealer was napping in the loft bed while C. Squealer rode in the passenger seat sitting on Myst’s lap, S. Rose not willing to let the clone drive regardless of powers since her progenitor had anger issues.
“It’s only a two hour drive even with the snow,” Myst said, “it’ll be good to get out of town and stretch our legs where we won’t be recognized. Taylor and Emma's shadows can talk about their issues so we’ll know how to help Taylor in the future.”
"You should try to help them with their issues, it's good practice," S. Vicky suggested as she glanced between S. Taylor and S. Emma knowing her sister could use some help with her bedside manner.
"I could just read a book on it," S. Amy argued.
S. Rose called out from the driver’s seat, "This is good practice for dealing with people with massive problems."
"I wouldn't say massive," S. Taylor complained.
"I've given you like a dozen complexes," S. Emma said honestly. "I was a complete bitch."
"Do you want to gag her?" S. Amy asked.
"Pretty sure that would prevent her from explaining things," S. Taylor pointed out.
"Eh, I'm trying to make you feel better, not get through all of your issues at once," S. Amy replied with a shrug. “I figure tying her up and yelling at her, possibly spanking her, will make you feel better.”
"Are you sure you aren’t just trying to get them to put on a sex show?” S. Vicky teased.
S. Amy blinked. “I figured it would make us all feel better, not just them.”
“She makes a good point,” S. Emma agreed.
S. Taylor just rubbed her temples. “I hope my other selves are having an easier time of it.”
0o0o0
Danny focused on the list filled with crossed out entries that didn't quite make sense. "Skipping the bit about Winslow that we already covered, you have regeneration, a force field and the ability to make temporary copies of people?"
"Basically," Taylor agreed.
"So, what about the cape that copied you, is he a villain?" Danny asked.
"No, too lazy or too much common sense," C. Taylor offered.
"He's argued both," Taylor admitted. "He just wants to make sure rogues have a chance to stay out of the gangs and the fighting."
"Why would you want a clone?" Danny asked.
"After what happened with Emma I wanted someone who would support me and I wouldn’t have to worry about stabbing me in the back," Taylor admitted.
“We have issues,” C. Taylor pointed out. “I mean, they’re understandable, but still there and this helps.”
“And the…” Danny gestured at their chests awkwardly.
“Given the chance to make some alterations, who wouldn’t go for gorgeous?” C. Taylor asked. “Besides, this was another thing that Emma tormented us about.”
Danny nodded. “I think you were beautiful the way you were, but I can see how you would be tempted. How sure are you about what happened with Emma?”
"Considering I made a loyal copy and she spilled everything, very," Taylor assured him. "I doubt she's making things up out of whole cloth and she knew things I didn't, things that happened at a photoshoot that I was able to check. Emma needs therapy."
"And Sophia?" Danny asked.
"A couple of ounces of lead," C. Taylor muttered as she grabbed another piece of pizza.
Taylor glanced at her clone then looked at her father. "I'm pretty sure she needs therapy too."
"Do you have any idea how you're going to explain having a twin show up?" Danny asked.
"Identical cousin from out of town," C. Taylor suggested.
Taylor shrugged. "Long lost twin?"
Danny glanced between his daughters. "Have you been watching daytime television?"
"We could blame it on one of Leet's crazy inventions," C. Taylor suggested.
"Probably more believable," Danny mused then shook his head and tried to refocus. "What are you planning on doing now that you're a cape?" he asked, hoping it didn't include spandex and punching villains.
"I was thinking about grabbing some spandex…" C. Taylor trailed off, causing Taylor to glare at her. "Come on, if you don't have a sense of humor about things, what's the point?"
"We don't want to give dad a heart attack," Taylor growled out.
"You should grab Shadow Amy and have her give him a checkup," C. Taylor suggested.
"Shadow Amy?" Danny asked.
"A shadow copy of Panacea," Taylor replied with a grin. "I've been copying every cape I can find, you never know when you'll need someone to toss at a crazy villain."
“That’s a good strategy, but if they know everything the original does… you can never let people know about that aspect,” Danny said intently, “you have access to all their secrets, people have been killed for less.”
“Oh… Yeah, we should probably keep that under wraps,” Taylor agreed suddenly worried about Myst having access to a clone of herself and what he could ask it… or ask it to do! Taylor blushed heavily, as her mind ran through dozens of parallel lines of thought and combinations.
C. Taylor chuckled as she realized what her sister was thinking. “Don’t ask,” she quickly told their father.
Danny nodded. “Yeah, there are some things I’m sure I don’t want the answers to, like what would make my daughter blush like that.”
“We were thinking hidden rogue for a career, as we are in contact with a cape that has helped us out a lot and suggested that making money would be a better use of our abilities than robbing people or punching them,” C. Taylor said.
“That seems a lot more reasonable,” Danny agreed with a relieved sigh. “How much do you know about this cape?”
“He gets along with Panacea and Glory Girl, seems concerned with figuring out a way to make the city profitable as that helps everyone, has given us a couple of copied powers so we aren’t simply squishy humans,” C. Taylor listed off.
“He gave you powers?” Danny asked. “A Trump?” he asked quietly.
“Very much so, and yeah he gave us Glory Girl’s shield and an impressive Brute package from another cape that he rescued,” C. Taylor explained. She nudged Taylor. “Stop with the naughty thoughts and give us a copy of Panacea before dad’s blood pressure gets any higher.”
“Hold on, I don’t have a direct copy of her, but I copied Rose who has a copy of her,” Taylor said, forcing her embarrassment and naughty thoughts away with a will.
“Rose has a copy?” Danny asked.
“Anyone with a copy power who gets copied gets their list of copied capes copied as well, but only through the copy,” C. Taylor explained. “We’ll get direct copies the next time we see her, but for now you’ll have to deal with a copy of a copy of a copy… I think.” She ran that thought through her head and nodded to herself thinking she’d gotten the number right.
A naked S. Rose appeared and C. Taylor gestured at her, causing a copy of her own clothes to appear on her.
“Okay, and here’s… Amy!” S. Amy appeared and was quickly clothed as well.
“You really need to figure out how to make me appear with clothes on or make me appear in another room,” S. Amy complained. “I think I’m just about embarrassed out, but I don’t want pictures appearing on the net.” S. Amy turned to Danny. “Do I have permission to heal you?”
“Sure,” Danny agreed a bit out of sorts at seeing naked young women popping into existence around him.
S. Amy grabbed his hand. “Your arteries are in questionable shape, heart could use a tune up… let’s see about your joints… prostate needs some shrinking… liver is okay but could be better… touch up the hairline… remove back hair, no one needs that, ears as well… redistribute fatty deposits and firm up some muscles… skin needs a bit of work… I’m just going to overhaul that system without saying anything,” she muttered.
Danny’s eyes widened and he took a deep breath, his posture improving as it looked like a decade or more was being rewound, seeming to grow younger.
“And done,” S. Amy said with a satisfied nod. “Take some multivitamins and eat like a pig for the next day or so,” she ordered, snagging a slice of pizza for herself before anyone could stop her.
“Wow,” Taylor said, staring in disbelief. “I didn’t think you could… that!”
“I can, I just don’t because then people would expect it and I’d rather be healing actual injuries and life threatening conditions,” S. Amy explained. “I typically reserve that for family and heroes.”
“Well, you are no longer in danger of a heart attack,” C. Taylor said cheerfully.
“How am I going to explain this?” Danny asked, curling his arm, pleased with what he was seeing. “Not that I am in any way complaining,” he quickly told S. Amy.
“Same accident that created two daughters, you have no idea, you were hit by a beam, probably Leet,” S. Amy suggested with a shrug.
“And the PRT will buy that?” he asked doubtfully.
“We’ve blamed him for several accidents that were our own fault and the villains have done the same,” S. Amy told him, “it’s the main reason no one really tries to recruit or capture him. Hell, I know of at least one incident involving Clockblocker and Vista the PRT blamed on him. He’s the gift that keeps on giving.”
“He doesn’t mind?” Danny asked cautiously.
“Mind? He plays into it, as it enhances his reputation and allows him more leeway with his stunts,” S. Amy assured him.
“Oh good,” Danny said, relieved just before his stomach growled loudly. “Order more pizza,” he told Taylor, before grabbing one of the last remaining slices, “I’m feeling a bit peckish.”
“So… we’re good?” Taylor asked hopefully.
“I’ve got the broad strokes, the details can wait,” he assured her, much to her relief.
“Also get some coke,” S. Amy ordered.
Comments
Mist of Shadows
I thought about it, but her thoughts on drugs are probably well known to her father, in other words, not something he worries about.
William Jackson
"Also get some coke." "No drugs in the house."
Mist of Shadows
Some people don't really understand the whole innocent until proven guilty bit.
joel miller
I had to get waivers for pyro and explosive charges to get into the navy. I was charged but never convicted and they have long memories.
