Ink-stained Pages
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Chapter 7
🕑 Added 2024-01-19 14:17:01 +0000 UTCAfter Cassie was sufficiently mellow’d out off some Sour Diesel, we ended up formulating a very free-form and foundational plan for operation ‘Survive and Thrive’ 2nd Edition.
Basically, it all centered around me - surprise surprise - becoming a Cape. I guess I was technically one already, but we didn’t know just what they had on file about me in the PRT. Cassie promised that she’d work on nipping around the edges, grabbing what she could from the Protectorate’s database, but their security was apparently top-notch - probably due to Dragon - and she didn’t seem too confident in her hacking abilities against the world’s greatest Tinker’s security systems.
Which…fair enough. I had the very private knowledge that Dragon was actually an AI, but even if I hadn’t known that, I probably wouldn’t have tried to out-hack her.
Anyways, becoming a Cape - I was planning to take advantage of the whole ‘fresh-faced vigilante looking to make a difference’ shtick, preferably with significantly less of a bodycount than what I started with. We didn’t have much in the way of assets for gear, either liquid or non-liquid, and the extent of my money started and ended with the small amount I managed to bum off of that old lady and the nazi asshat.
Cassie had quite a bit more than me saved up from her own side-gigs, but I was already mooching off of her generosity by staying rent-free, for now, inside of her bunker. My mom definitely didn’t raise a useless bum, so I was planning to stay independent and be the one to help Cassie out financially. Eventually. For a time.
It was a work in progress.
Going out and raiding goons was a quick and dirty way to grab money in the short-term, and it came with the very real side-effect of getting me more familiarized and experienced with my magic. Call it the naivety of a new vigilante, but I couldn’t really think of a better way to have my cake and eat it too than ruining the lives of some scumbags, raking in stacks of ill-begotten cash, and flexing my badass magical prowess all at the same time. Yesterday’s fear had all but fled from my spirit, leaving behind an ironclad chassis of determination and zeal.
There was still the very real caution and worry about the effects of my little killing spree yesterday, but it was overshadowed by the relief of finally having a rough plan and grasp of my situation. It was crazy what a full night’s rest and pretty little eyecandy could do for a man’s confidence. All I needed for a night out on the prowl was a more concrete grasp of my magic - so that I could non lethally take down criminals, a rudimentary Cape outfit that properly hid my identity, and a cool name to go by. The PRT probably labeled me something as a placeholder already, and something told me that it was most likely something lame or one dimensional like ‘Golden Dagger’.
Considering the fact that I’d shaped my magical Armament into an absolutely wicked, ten foot long stretch of celestial spear excellence, I obviously held no love for that name. The ostentatious design of the weapon hadn’t even been of my own choosing; I’d simply demanded that the perk give me whatever weapon it felt my soul synchronized well with, and in a dazzling whirl of crimson and gold mana, the spear appeared before me.
It had scared the fuck out of Cassie too. The memory made me grin. Good times.
“And what are you smirking at?” The girl in question peered at me suspiciously from over the top of her second monitor.
I stood, barefoot and shirtless but still wearing Cassie’s sunglasses, in the freshly cleared area in front of her workspace, my new weapon gripped lightly in my right hand. The disgustingly sharp tip scratched a thin, clean line across the concrete floor as I experimentally twirled it in my grasp.
“Just thinking ‘bout a Cape name,” I lied, twisting my wrist sharply and adding a bit of my old Drill Team flair to the movement. Spinning a rifle was completely different than spinning a weapon that could just as easily slice your arm off, but the theory was kinda the same. The spear practically whistled as it cut through the air, speeding up to a near blur as I spun it in circles and attempted to toss it between my hands. I’d been practicing the move for the past few hours after gaining the Armament ability, and while I didn’t consider myself very skilled with it just yet…
The fingers on my left hand shot forward fearlessly, smoothly sliding through the minute windmill-like spin of the spear and wrapping firmly around the shaft. A sharp ‘crack’ echoed through the bunker as all of the rotating spear’s moment abruptly snapped to a halt and bled the force directly into my wrist. Pain shot through my arm - a sharp ache that shook and quaked my bones - but I gritted my teeth and rode through it. The first few times I’d tried this little trick, surprise and pain had forced me to drop the weapon to the ground.
Around the tenth time, I got used to it and managed to keep a hold of the shaft.
Now, hours later, it had already become second-nature to simply ignore the minor ache and power through. The spear was a beautiful weapon - sharp, graceful, and deadly, with a length that allowed you to keep enemies at bay and safely dispatch them with piercing thrusts and concise, wide-sweeping slashes. I could feel my understanding of the weapon deepen as I flipped it around in my hands, stepping forward and stabbing the dangerous head at an invisible enemy. One time, two times, three times, four - each thrust was like a well-oiled piston, my arms burning with the captivating sting of muscle soreness as air whistled past my spear.
“...Woah,” Cass breathed quietly, her voice managing to sound both mesmerized and impressed as she watched me train. “Get it, hotshot. You’re totally showing those invisible nazis who the boss is!” In spite of the sarcasm in her words, the girl didn’t even bother hiding the squeaking of her desk chair as she rolled over just enough to get a better view.
I rolled my eyes, but remained focused on the task at hand. Right before my tenth stab, I tapped into my pond-sized well of mana, urging my Weapon Magic forth with a simple flex of my will. The dip in my reserves were almost negligent as a golden, ten foot ray of pure magical energy jutted from the tip of my weapon, combining the ‘woosh’ of energy with the hiss of metal slicing through air. The magical energy practically doubled the length of my attack, and I knew without a doubt that anyone unsuspecting of the technique would be in for a rude and soul-crushing reality check.
I slammed my foot on the ground and twisted with the stab, sweat dripping down my skin and matting my hair to my head, and slashed towards the far wall. The golden energy left a fiery trail in the air, beautiful and ephemeral all at once, before I finished the movement and abruptly yanked my spear backwards. With a crack of displaced air, the golden energy shot forward like a launched harpoon, streaking across the bunker and skewering the concrete wall all the way through.
It left no evidence of its entry, of course - it simply looked like it’d been placed there by the person who laid the concrete. No scorch mark, no hole, nothing.
I walked forward and observed the embedded golden construct, my chest still heaving as I worked to control my breathing. The knives had done the same thing - sinking in without cutting or piercing, but they’d killed the men I had aimed at. Though, now that I thought back on it with my perfect recollection, I had been desperately trying to kill the nazis for a multitude of reasons - my identity and Cass’ protection included. When I’d attacked Mac, it had been to simply get him off of her, and he hadn’t died. I wanted him fucked up and incapacitated.
Maybe the trick to making the attacks nonlethal was simple willpower? The power of love? Wasn’t Undertale all about that shit? The information given to me had been pretty cryptic, but if it was something as esoteric and wishy-washy as determination and meaning I’d be pretty fucking pissed. Pleased at the possibility of solving one of my biggest problems, I reached forward and ran my finger over the golden construct, dissipating it into particles of mana.
Cassie’s low whistle brought me out of my thoughts, and I turned back to the lounging teenager. She was still watching me, her eyes roaming lazily down my sweating torso before she quickly returned her gaze to my face. “Ahem,” she coughed, gracing me with a self-indulgent smirk, “I think I know what your Cape name should be.”
“Oh?” I mentally disconnected the thread of mana willing my Armament into reality, causing the regal-looking spear to disappear in a vortex of magical energy. Cassie stared dumbly at the showy display, and I snapped my fingers to grab her attention. When she looked up at me again, she was met with an amused grin. “Focus Cass. Badass Cape names now, stroking my ego later.”
“R-right. Gotta remember that my newest roommate and current only friend is Eidolon Prime. No biggie. Just another day in the Bay.” She shook her head and lightly smacked her cheeks to recenter herself. When she opened her eyes and looked at me again, there was excitement on her face and a confident, upwards tilt to her chin.
“Now, I was thinking: You have this whole ‘tarnished royalty’ thing going, right? That majestic spear you randomly summoned three hours ago, those golden energy attacks, your stoic and nonchalant demeanor that when, combined with your annoying and handsome face, makes you seem like you’re staring down your nose at a bunch of insignificant ants-”
I raised my hand like I was back in math class. The words were flying out at breakneck speeds, and though I was able to keep up, I felt like I was being both complimented and unfairly judged at the same time. “Er, I don’t stare down my-”
“Shush,” Cassie scrunched up her nose and frowned, and I snapped my jaw closed with an audible ‘click’. “Thank you. Basically, I think we should play up the ‘dashing and mysterious stranger’ archetype. For instance, and this is just me spit-balling an aesthetic, but…imagine a vengeful prince, exiled from his Kingdom for cavorting with forbidden magics. He is alone and suitably edgy, with ambitious plans to reclaim the throne with the help of a cool and powerful sorceress who has been supporting him from the shadows since the beginning.”
As she spoke, the nerdy little hacker’s cheeks gradually began to redden, a small, lopsided smirk forming on her lips as she lost herself to her imagination. For a moment I could imagine Cassie, sans the ‘cool girl’ piercings and bobbed haircut, snuggled tightly in blankets and giggling quietly to herself as she browed shitty Y/N novels online. Maybe she even wrote them herself. It wouldn’t have been surprising, ‘cause that whole ‘spit-balled aesthetic’ sounded like something I would’ve read on Wattpad in my previous life.
I snorted at the entirely too accurate mental image. “I knew I should have looked through your browser history yesterday…probably would’ve made for some interesting reading material. I didn’t know you were such a geek, Cass.” My voice was light and teasing as I smirked at her. “You got us hella off topic.”
The sound of my dry voice broke her out of her fantasies. “Alright, that’s it! You’re getting it Mr. Over-Inflated Ego.” Cassie pouted petulantly, stamping her one good foot down on the floor and rolling her squeaky computer chair closer to me. It stopped a few feet too short, and she awkwardly pawed the floor a couple more times in order to roll the rest of the way. I merely stood there and watched, idly untangling the knots out of my messy black locks. Swinging my head around tended to tangle up the dreads.
It took her a couple seconds, especially with her bum ankle, but as soon as she was in front of me Cass wasted no time in throwing a couple jabs swiftly against my side. The technique actually wasn’t bad - clearly someone had taught her how to throw a punch. It didn’t hurt, and I doubted she even put much strength into the hit, but I made the conscious and empathetic decision to rub the spot and grunt anyways. Maybe it would make her feel like she didn’t have the arm muscularity of a wet noodle.
“Ow…” I groaned exaggeratedly, putting my all into the Grade A acting. “Now who has the Brute rating? I think I’m gonna bruise…”
Cassie let out a disbelieving snort. “Jerk, maybe that’ll teach you to silence the bull and listen when your ‘girl in the chair’ is briefing you,” She sniffed in what was supposed to be miffed annoyance, but I spied the small smile pulling at her lips that she tried to hide by swiftly rolling backwards to her desk. “All of the ‘off topic’ shit is actually impo-”
I moved without really thinking about it, like my body was on autopilot. I stopped the rolling chair in its tracks by simply placing my foot in the way. Before the momentum could fully send the wheels rolling over my fragile big toe, I squatted down and dropped my arms on either side of Cassie’s fishnet-clad thighs.
“Oh!” she squeaked, freezing in place.
The chair was practically stuck in place by the weight of my body, and I peered up at the wide-eyed girl and quietly studied her expression. A burst of warmth blossomed in my chest at the adorable and tantalizing sight of her ruby red lips parted open in surprise.
‘What am I doing?’ The thought came in, a whispered nagging in the back of my mind. Instincts and logic were at war with each other. I was attracted to this messy, bratty, criminal mess of a girl, and we had only known each other for, what, a couple days? This wasn’t my first interaction with a pretty chick, and I knew that I wasn’t in love or anything silly like that…but maybe my new teenage body was more prone to crushes than my adult one had been. I’d almost forgotten what that was like.
Her legs twitched at the sensation of my forearms against the sides of her thighs, as if unsure on whether or not to retreat from the contact. Our faces were close, too close, close enough to where I could smell the dark, nutty scent of coffee on her breath. I could see her dark eyes - glimmering, aroused, inexperienced - fluttering closed as she submitted to the electricity between us and instinctively relied on me to decide the best course of action.
“Uh, Jay…?” she breathed, quiet and electrified and scared. The tough girl act was all but gone at that moment.
It was so sweet and pure that I almost folded.
‘Fuck, I’m horny. I’m a horny asshole and she’s an innocent girl who has been alone for a long time. I shouldn’t be doing this right now.’ Or ever.
This was Day Two in an absolute hell-hole that was well on its way to being massacred by a glowing yellow manchild with depression. I didn’t want to make things even more complicated for me than they already were. Not right now, at least, with so many uncertainties and tasks that needed doing. Like training, and stabbing goons, and…training. It definitely wasn’t because I was a fatal cynicist at heart and held no real hope in the future of this world getting much brighter.
‘The Grind before pleasure,’ I tried to convince myself. Futilely, perhaps, but the grim reminder of just where I was shook me out of the debonair mood. It was pretty damn stupid to get too attached to somewhere you don’t plan on staying for the long-term. Especially when roughly half the population of the world was living on a two year timer.
I had time to think more on it after getting to the safety of the bunker, and there was another step to my plan that I hadn’t felt the need to discuss with Cassie just yet. I was still planning to get powerful and fuck up some nazis, sure - I had a taste of power, and that taste cinched my mentality of ‘an eye for an eye’. But then, when I left that criminal power vacuum in Brockton Bay, I was planning to get the fuck out of dodge before Jack Slash the Gaslighter whispered his sweet nothings into the ear of Earth Bet’s very own Killer Superman.
There was always the chance that I could actually kill Scion, given enough time and training and support from my very own magical cheat-code compendium, but I wasn’t counting on it. And neither was I counting on things going the exact same way it went in the web series, with Taylor Hebert spearheading an army to take him out.
Butterflies, man, and for better or worse I was gonna be making a lot of waves.
I just knew that there had to be something in the Grimoire to escape into a world where the Entities couldn’t touch. Places out of this multiverse entirely. Maybe I could even take a winter trip to Arendelle, meet the characters my little sister had loved so much. Disney had some pretty interesting magic, and Elsa was hot - excuse the pun.
And, at the core of all of these issues and uncertainties…I just couldn’t be sure that whatever dimension-hopping magic I got would let me bring along passengers. The past taught me not to get my hopes up, and that was a really big hope to get up. Maybe she was one of the lucky ones in Worm who survived and escaped to another Earth, but she just as easily could’ve died as yet another statistic of the Golden Morning. For now, I could only assume that Cassie was safe for as long as I was here to keep her that way.
And after I was gone?
Well, that grim and open-ended question was why I didn’t do what every bone in my body wanted to do and claim her right then and there.
“Cape names,” I said suddenly, moving away from those heavy thoughts. I’d been silently staring at her for close to a minute and I got the feeling that she was seconds away from hyperventilating. “You were gonna tell me what you think my Cape name should be. Something ‘mysterious and dashing’, right?” I took my arms off of the chair, allowing her to move and breathe easier without my presence looming. The intimate atmosphere that had just surrounded us dissipated into thin air, but the electricity was still there.
The heat in my body was still there.
It was frustrating.
She was silent for a few seconds, just staring quietly into my eyes, before she cleared her throat and shook her head. Her face was hot and flushed, her bruised lower lip quivering for a moment before she bit it and spoke in a high, breathless voice, “Avalon.”
I raised an eyebrow, latching onto the name and subsequent topic change like a lifeline. “Avalon?”
“Like King Arthur? Knights of the Round Table? Those old, dusty legends seem pretty cool and appropriately ego-boosted.” Cassie said, her voice gaining more strength. She shifted in her seat uncomfortably, pressing the front of her pink hoodie down with a frustrated and embarrassed frown. For her sake, I pretended not to notice.
It was also for my sake, since the thought of her panties growing wet from mere eye contact almost broke through my already flagging self-control.
‘Down, boy.’
“Anyways, Avalon was this super mythical island absolutely filled with magic and mystery. King Arthur’s sword, Excalibur, was created there, and it was said that all sorts of legendary wonders began and ended in Avalon.” She took a breath, lips quirking up into a half-smile. “It just, I don’t know…sorta reminded me of you. I just have this dumb feeling that you’re like, I don’t know…” She blushed again, a stubborn pout forming on her lips. “A legend in the making. Someone wondrous and unique, like back then.”
She looked away from me, abashed. “You definitely felt like my own personal knight with those thugs, at least…”
‘Be fucking still, heart.’
I stared at Cassie, feeling heat - a different sort of heat than before - flow up my neck and into my cheeks. My skin felt warm, and my stomach twisted a bit. It was all…annoying. Annoying, because I wasn’t the type of man to get butterflies in my tummy and blush when complimented. This girl was doing things to me, and it was making me second guess myself.
So, instead of thinking more on it, I just did what I did best and dove straight into the thick of it all in order to avoid having to unpack too many messy feelings at once.
“Avalon it is then,” I smiled crookedly, offering her my fist. “I ‘preciate the assist, my ‘cool and powerful sorceress’.”
She stared at it for a moment, conflicting emotions battling for victory on her face, before a warm smirk finally won over the others. She smacked my fist with her significantly smaller one. “You did say that my coding was like techno-magic. It’s only right if I get to claim that title, hehe.” There was pride and warmth in her voice.
I laughed out loud - a sharp, sudden sound. “Fair enough, Cass…fair enough.” Something told me that I wouldn’t be rid of my ‘sorceress’ anytime soon, and that…was not not not a bad thing.
A sudden lurch in my gut brought my attention inwards, since it had been a few hours since the Grimoire had offered anything up. I could feel the anticipation beneath my skin, my heart instinctively lurching at the thought of finally grabbing something that could get me and Cassie out of this shitty world, and I inwardly beat that feeling down into a tiny corner in the back of my mind. That was what I was afraid of - getting my hopes up. A dimensional-traveling power was rare enough. One with space for a hanger-on? Please.
The ability offered, however, nearly made me question whether the Grimoire was actually sentient and a fan of bitter romantic dramas. It was almost poetic, in a funnily ironic way.
Sole Protector (Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds - 400 CP): “We had legends. We had heroes. Lorule had hope. But all that is gone. Lorule has only me now.”
When you are the sole defense of something, be it a person, organization or object, to the point that your loss would result in the destruction or death of that which you are protecting, you’ll find yourself in a much better position to defend it. Your intellect, reflexes, strength and magical power all receive a significant boost for the duration of the ‘battle’ (which can instead refer to non-combat such as a court case) until you have triumphed against your enemies or lost all that you have been fighting for.
“What are you grinning at?” Cassie suddenly asked, eyeing me with a lazily amused stare. The previous intense and sexual energy seemed to have left her tired and drained.
I looked up at the girl, still squatting in front of her rolling chair. I looked at her short black hair, baggy pink hoodie. The way that her torn fishnet squeezed firmly against the softness of her legs. The cherry red lips that I had almost covered with my own a scant few minutes ago.
‘Fucking Hell.’ My decision for the perk had already been made for me by my heart, but at least my mind agreed that it was a worthy purchase for the large amount of charge that I’d built up over the past while.
I accepted Sole Protector, allowing the Grimoire to reach out and reel it into my soul.
“Nothin’,” I replied, standing to my feet and patting my hacker on the head. “You’re a handful, you know that?”
Cassie scowled and nipped at my fingers, causing me to take a step back with a chuckle. “I didn’t even do anything this time.”
“Mmmhm.” She did, but not on purpose.
I guess being her magical protector wasn’t the worst thing in the world. Nazi Slayer, Avalon, Protector of Cute Virgin Hacker Girls…I wondered what other titles I’d gain while living on Earth Bet.
_________________________________________
Perks Received:
Sole Protector (Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds - 400 CP):
“We had legends. We had heroes. Lorule had hope. But all that is gone. Lorule has only me now.”
When you are the sole defense of something, be it a person, organization or object, to the point that your loss would result in the destruction or death of that which you are protecting, you’ll find yourself in a much better position to defend it. Your intellect, reflexes, strength and magical power all receive a significant boost for the duration of the ‘battle’ (which can instead refer to non-combat such as a court case) until you have triumphed against your enemies or lost all that you have been fighting for.
800 CP Remaining.
