Chương 29: Emancipation 3

And it seems to me you lived your life Like a candle in the wind Never knowing who to cling to When the rain set in And I would've liked to know you But I was just a kid Your candle burned out long before Your legend ever did Amelia Lavere returned to her quarters with a groan of frustration. Her movements were automatic, ingrained into her over the last four years of living in this condo. She first stepped to her bar and withdrew her drink for the night. Today was Tuesday, so Vodka. Specialty prepared, of course.

All the kick, none of the hangover. Amelia then took her place on her balcony overlooking the Long Island Sound.

Her overlook wasn't super large, she lived in a condo, not a mansion, but it was wide enough for a table, a few comfortable chairs and some engineered trees in planters. These days it was usually bathed in the pale blue of the Dark Moon. Amelia relaxed in her favourite seat and lit one of her homemade cigarettes. The tobacco helped calm her down, and she didn't have to worry about cancer after she had fiddled with the leaves. Closing her eyes, she rubbed her temples with a sigh. Why did she even bother anymore?

"Long day?" A smooth female voice asked her. She froze for an instant before she resumed her small massage.

"You have no idea," Amelia answered with another groan.

"I wonder if hormones or superpowers are worse. If I have to heal one more person who thought using their power for sex was a great idea, I will scream."

"I know," a different, more mature voice agreed with her.

"The Genin don't have the hormones, and Jonin know what they are doing, so the Chunin are the problem. I've had to heal someone from a miscast sex Jutsu or a scroll shoved up their ass so many times that I punch anyone coming into my office with a limp on instinct."

"Really?" The first voice asked.

"I can't say I've ever tried it with my abilities, but Devil Fruits are instinctual. Practice makes you better, as does creativity, but nobody hurts themselves with their abilities."

"Zanpaktou are swords, so they don't really apply here," a third voice, deep and male, pipped in.

"I have heard horror stories from the Kido Corps and the fourth division, though."

"Violence and sex," Amelia said, taking another sip of her drink and staring at the sky. Maybe if she pretended not to see them, they would go away?

"That's all anyone with powers can think about. Violence and sex."

"How wonderfully pessimistic," the first voice said with a giggle.

"You'll get along well with him."

"Do you mind if I pour myself a drink?" The mature voice asked.

"You have a few I haven't tried yet."

"Since you asked, help yourself." Amelia waved her hands dismissively. She had enough money that replacing even her best stuff wasn't a problem.

"Thank you."

"Are you all here to kill me?" Amelia asked, taking a long drag on her cigarette.

"You are nicer than most about it."

"We're not," the male voice said.

"We're just here to make an offer."

"One I can't refuse, I'm sure," the healer said wrily.

"You can refuse," the first female voice said.

"I do not think you will once you hear about the reward, but if you do, it will only delay our plans for a few weeks. A bit inconvenient, but we won't force you. The Family is very big on Freedom of choice."

"So far, you have been much better than most people who break in," Amelia said, looking over the table for the first time to meet eye-to-eye with the intruders.

"I can at least hear this offer." Amelia had worked with some of the most attractive women in the world during her time as a healer. Models, heroines, and even the odd villain had been in her care. The likes of Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, Catwoman, Poison Ivy, Emma Frost, Ororo Munroe, and dozens of others had been touched by her for her powers to work. Even then, the woman's beauty across the table took her breath away.

Long dark hair framed a face with aristocratic features, sunglasses keeping bangs from covering her face. She was leaning over the table, head resting in one hand. Deep blue eyes watched Amelia, a small smile on pale lips that begged kisses. A blue jacket framed an absolute feast of a bust and left her navel exposed.

"Does this happen often?" The male voice asked, breaking Amelia's focus on the brunette's breasts. A black cat was the speaker, yellow eyes meeting the former heroine's. The cat had caught her staring.

"People breaking into your place?"

"Three times since I moved in," Amelia answered the feline. It was safer to look at it rather than the beauty opposite her.

"Twice with villains looking to coopt me for my services. Once a hero, a friend of one of my victims, found me. None of them were very nice, so none of them left alive."

"You're not presenting the picture of a penitent healer," the brunette said, dragging Amelia's focus back to her. She wondered how those blue eyes would look from between her legs. These days, sex was one of the only things Amelia could take pleasure in.

"I'm not. Just because I've made peace with what happened doesn't mean I wouldn't do the same again. I would kill the Joker quicker or make sure the plague stuck, but that's about it. I am only partially at fault for the civilians. The heroes knew what they were doing when they signed up. Nobody would have been hurt if the heroes had let me have my justice."

"Good," the second female voice said as it approached the patio.

"Just because we can heal doesn't always mean we should. We healers get enough shit as it is. Don't let anyone tell you that you should feel bad for dishing it back out. If someone hurts you, hurt them back. Forgiveness is for idealists and dreamers." There was a bitterness to her words, one Amelia would have been more curious about had she not been captivated by another vision of beauty. If the brunette was a vision of classic aristocratic beauty, this woman was voluptuousness given form.

This woman was shorter and had wider hips. Her legs were covered with tight pants that the healer wanted to peel off with her teeth. A beige top and green jacket covered most of her skin, except for the top of the largest breasts Amelia had ever seen. This woman, holding a glass of specialty booze, was a grade-A MILF. And Amelia always had a thing for blondes. The deep chuckles of the cat tore the healer from her captivation of this newest arrival.

"Your drooling," it said between guffaws. It tried to cover its mouth, making it look even smugger.

"You should see your face."

"Leave the woman alone," the brunette said, pushing the cat off the table with a yowl.

"I remember a naughty cat staring at Tsunade that first morning too."

"You called me Tits all day," Tsunade said with a smirk, taking a sip of her drink.

"Can you blame me?" From one moment to the next, the cat hopped off the table and transformed into a dark-skinned beauty. Amelia drank in the woman's form with her eyes, cigarette falling from her lips as she watched the cat-woman wrap herself around Tsunade and heft her prodigious breasts in her hands.

"These things are special. I swear, they have their own gravitational pull." She was also naked. If these women were here to recruit Amelia to the dark side or whatever, sign her the fuck up. All her counselling, recovery efforts, and rationalizations could jump off a cliff if she could spend one night with these beauties. The healer was ready to become someone's minion if this was the view she could expect.

"Violence and sex," the brunette repeated with a smile, not even blinking at the dark-skinned beauty's nudity.

"I was never too fond of violence," Amelia responded in a daze.

"Cut it out!" Tsunade said, spinning on one foot to kick at the cat-woman. The dark-skinned beauty caught the blow on her raised arm but was sent skyward by the force of the kick. She shot off over the water, disappearing from Amelia's sight.

"Is she alright?" The healer asked, more out of habit than concern, as she reached for another cigarette. She needed it.

"I'm fine," a voice said beside her ear. A dark-skinned hand pinched the end of her cigarette, crackling with electricity. Amelia took a drag as the cat-woman parked her naked ass on the table.

"Tits here loves me too much to hurt me."

"I'll cut you off," 'Tits' sneered playfully.

"Better yet, I'll ask Mikael to cut you off. You'll be the last in line."

"You wouldn't," the woman paled.

"I have dibs. We have a whole plan set up."

"Plans can change," Tsunade smirked over her glass.

"Especially if I tell everyone you delayed the festivities because you couldn't keep your hands to yourself."

"I'll be good." The brunette giggled behind her hand as the cat rapidly nodded her head.

"We've gotten a bit sidetracked. I'm Robin. This is Tsunade and Yoruichi. As I said, we need your help and are prepared to pay you for your service."

"I have all the money I want, but if it's a date with you three, I'll give you my firstborn." There was a point in time when Amelia Lavere would have been shy about her sexuality. She would have flushed around such gorgeous women, stuttered, and only taken peeking glances. That Amy died with her family at the Joker's hands. All that was left was the tired, jaded Amelia. The woman who had killed eighty-seven civilians and three heroes in pursuit of vengeance.

For a twenty-five-year-old woman, she was far too tired to deal with the bullshit of hiding how she really felt.

"Not on the table, unfortunately," Robin responded with a smirk.

"Damn it. I was prepared to make a child to give it to you and everything." Finishing her drink, Amelia set it on the table.

"You still need to tell me what you want me to do."

"We need you to build a body, specifically, to turn something non-human into a human," Robin explained.

"I don't do brains, and I don't do cosmetic surgery." She repeated by rote. One of the first things she did once getting herself back together was to reinstate rules on herself. It helped keep her grounded.

"Too many entitled people in the latter. Not worth the drama."

"You do not need to touch his brain," Tsunade explained.

"It is a Cephalopod-esque body but a human mind. He was born human and still thinks like one, but his body is something else."

"A mutant," Amelia said with a sigh.

"You could have just contacted the professor. I'm at the mansion on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I've changed plenty of mutants back to human form. No need to go through this song and dance."

"Not a mutant," Tsunade corrected, finishing her drink and setting the glass down.

"And his situation is a bit delicate." Amelia rolled her eyes. How many times had she heard that?

"And it isn't a one-time thing either. You might need to do this multiple times."

"How often?" The healer frowned in thought. A continuous transformation? It could be magical, or it could be a side effect of a Changer power.

"No idea," Yoruichi said.

"It's a case-by-case basis. You could never need to see us again, or we could pop up occasionally. Ideally, it's the former, but our man likes to be safer than sorry."

"You want me to be your pocket healer? On-demand whenever you want?" Amelia asked in disbelief.

"I'll take care of any healing we need," Tsunade waived her concern.

"We only need you to build the body whenever he messes up and has to start from scratch."

"And it needs to be kept hush-hush? There is something you aren't telling me, something that makes you think I'll turn it down." The three women shared a look before Tsunade spoke up.

"Once we found out you were still alive, we thought about just kidnapping you, having you do the job, mind-wiping the memory and dropping you back off. Repeating as necessary," the blonde said.

"That was what most of The Family voted for, but Mikael was against it. Adamantly." Rolling her eyes again, Amelia gestured to her anklet, which monitored her position and knew when she used her powers. Batman and McCoy's invention. She was still on 'probation' after all.

"You do know what this is, right? I'm constantly under surveillance. Kidnapping me would bring down the X-men, Justice League, and others." Far from being offended about the notion of being kidnapped, Amelia was more insulted that they thought they could get away with it.

"We can be... tricky," Robin said with a smile.

"They would never have known you were gone."

"We're the spy team," Yoruichi smirked.

"We'll be your point of contact. There's nowhere we can't get if we put our minds to it. Ninjas, if you will." Robin giggled, and Tsunade shot the dark-skinned woman a glare.

"We were still willing to kidnap you, but he pointed out an important issue," Tsunade continued, deciding to ignore the playful banter of her companions.

"This operation has an element of risk. One we want you to be aware of before you proceed. As mentioned, your help would expedite our plans by weeks, if not months, but it is not strictly necessary. So you are free to turn it down."""You won't."" Robin and Yoruichi said simultaneously. There was something about their tone, a wistfulness, an envy that sent a shiver down Amelia's spine.

"What is more dangerous than potentially getting kidnapped and mind wiped?"

"Knowledge," Tsunade said gravely.

"Specifically, knowledge of Mikael."

"Someone will come after me for it? It can't be any worse than the situation I am already in." Amelia said with a shrug. If nothing else, this little meeting broke the monotony of her life.

"No. It is the knowledge itself that is dangerous." Tsunade's eyes went unfocused for a moment, staring at Amelia but not seeing her.

"What he is right now, it's... it's not something the mortal mind can handle. What do you see when you scan someone? You probably get more information than I do, and I am the best where I come from. I was protected, knew what I was doing, and was already familiar with Mikael. I still wasn't ready for what I saw."

"Now, you're making me curious."

"Your medical curiosity does you credit, but peering into the abyss is not something you should do because you are curious. Once you open your Eyes, you can never close them again. This is why I agreed with Mikael about this little meeting. Even if you never see us again and we never need your help, you will be forever marked by this if you choose to do it."

A woman who broke into the condo of the premier biological manipulator on the planet, drank her engineered booze and threatened to kidnap her just warned Amelia against meeting this 'Mikael' person. For a moment, just a moment, the former heroine was tempted to turn down the request. In the end, Amelia's curiosity won out. What's the worst that could happen? Dying was not something she feared. Living seemed so much worse.

"I'll do it."

"While that's good to hear," Robin said with a small, sad smile.

"You're going to want to read the contract before agreeing." The brunette pulled a piece of paper, thicker than usual, out of thin air and set it on the table. Rolling her eyes, Amelia picked it up. While she wasn't a lawyer like Carol had been, she knew more than the basics.

'I, Amy Dallon, blah, blah blah... not to tell anyone... blah blah blah... not to harm directly or... blah blah blah... in return... blah bl-'"What the fuck is this," Amelia asked herself.

"What the fuck is this?" She shouted at the three women, her voice hysteric.

"The contract," Tsunade said, her voice bitter.

"A magical contract," Robin elaborated. She didn't sound as bitter as the blonde, but there was definitely a note of wistfulness.

"A Geas. One that is binding as soon as you sign it."

"Is this some sort of sick joke to you?" Amelia snarled. She tossed the piece of paper aside and lunged at the closes woman, which happened to be Yoruichi. The black beauty made no move to dodge, and Amelia got her hands around her neck in moments.

"We'll see how you laugh when your skin is inside out." Only she couldn't. Her power was still active. The bacteria in the air. The catch of poison she kept in her mouth. Her clothes clinging to her skin. A seed touching her ankle, she could sprout it in seconds to activate the anklet and call down the entire X-men on these women. Amelia could sense everything. Everything, except for the woman in her hands.

"This is no joke," Yoruichi said. The cat-woman did not show if she was inconvenienced by having the healer's hands around her throat. Her face was severe, golden eyes no longer playful. Amelia would have been put off by the change if she wasn't so fucking furious.

"You can find ways around a contract, even a Geas. I can think of three off the top of my head. Your reward ensures you will never break this one. You won't take the risk."

"This is real," Tsunade said.

"Trust us, if any of us could be in your place, we would take it in a heartbeat. You have an opportunity here. Nobody else has. Don't waste it." It wasn't the blond's words that convinced Amelia of their veracity. It was her tone. Jealousy bubbled under her words, a feeling the healer was all too familiar with.

"This is some sort of trap, isn't it," Amelia stumbled away from Yoruichi before realizing her previous action of tossing away the contract. The healer whipped her head around desperately, trying to find it and hoping it hadn't fallen off the balcony. She saw the paper lying on the table as if it hadn't ever been picked up. Amelia grabbed it with tight hands, frantically rereading it.

"It's gonna be some sort of robot. Or clone. Or hallucination. Or some kind of zombie. Or, or, or..."

"You'd know right away," Robin pointed out. Amelia couldn't deny that. Her powers would allow her to detect any fake as soon as they touched.

"Besides, a trap wouldn't be conducive to a long-term partnership. Mikael expected you'd have doubts, so he told me to tell you something only the two of you would know. To prove he talked to her."

"Wha..." Amelia started to say, her throat dry.

"What did she say?"

"B-cups," Robin said with a smile.

"He wouldn't explain more, said you'd get it." Amelia giggled, a note of madness in her voice as the situation's absurdity hit her. Collapsing into her seat, the contract in a death grip, the healer laughed madly to herself as tears gathered in her eyes. Three pairs of curious eyes watched her as she tried to reign in her hysteria.

"I had just triggered," she said in between wet giggles.

"Before pretending to be a healer, I told her I could change bodies. She wanted me to make her boobs bigger. She was so annoying, bugging me for hours. I made them smaller instead. She freaked out and hid in her room all day. I eventually turned them back and decided to pretend to only be able to heal. I made her promise to tell no one. As far as I can tell, she took that story to her grave. Vicky was annoying, a drama queen, over-enthusiastic, and too invested in my love life, but she was a good sister."

Amelia realized she was crying when her tears hit the contract. The last time she cried was the day after her family died.

"If..." Amelia said, wiping her eyes and meeting the eyes of the three women who had broken into her condo. She hated the understanding in their gaze.

"If he can do this, then I'm his. I don't care if he wants me to work twenty-four-seven. I don't care if he wants Panacea or the Red Queen. I'll be his whore. His minion. His biblical plague."

"We don't need anything like that," Yoruichi put her hand on Amelia's head in an almost maternal gesture.

"Just need a body once in a while and a little discretion." Amelia seized the hand. It was still odd touching someone and not knowing instinctually everything there was about their bodies.

"You didn't let me finish." Amelia's brown eyes peered into golden pupils. Her eyes were dry and steely.

"If I find out this is some sort of trick, some cruel joke, or a trap, I will find this 'Mikael.' I don't care if you're immune to my powers. I'll find a way to light his every nerve with pain. What I did to the Joker will seem like mercy compared to what I've cooked up in the last six years."

"Those are some good eyes, kid," Yoruichi took her hand back and pulled a pen from nowhere, setting it on the table.

"I told you," Tsunade said with a chuckle.

"Do not mess with the med-nin. We know how to put you together. You can bet we can take you apart." In a picture of maturity, Yoruichi stuck her tongue out at the blonde. Amelia stared at the contract, pen in hand.

"We really are here with the best intentions," Robin, sensing hesitations, said gently.

"We gain nothing but your ire from tricking you." Before she could hesitate anymore, Amelia signed the contract. There were no flashes of light, no claps of thunder, but Amelia suddenly knew, with a startling certainty, that she would never be able to break that contract. Not unless this 'Mikael' person failed to bring back her sister in the next twenty-four hours. After that, if he fulfilled his end of the bargain, she would never be able to break it.

"What now?" Amelia asked, suddenly feeling very drained emotionally.

"Now we deal with that pesky anklet," Tsunade stepped closer to the healer. Her hands glowed a pale green, and she hovered them an inch away from Amelia, slowly moving them all over her.

"What are you doing?"

"Scanning you. I want to ensure everything runs smoothly here since your power doesn't work on yourself. Quiet now. I'm trying to concentrate." For ten awkward quiet minutes, the blonde scanned every inch of Amelia's body with her glowing hands. She did it multiple times, sometimes muttering to herself. Tsunade spent five minutes on her head, her hand almost pressed against Amelia's scalp.

"I got it," the blonde said.

"Finally," Yoruichi said, downing the last of her drink. Both she and Robin had raided Amelia's unique alcohol cabinet once they realized this would take a while.

"Now I just need to build it." The blonde stepped away from Amelia's chair, who took the chance to stretch her tired limbs, and approached one of the small trees Amelia kept on her balcony. The healer saw the blonde touch the tree's wood with her right hand, the other flashing in a movement of fingers so fast the former heroine couldn't keep up with it. The tree started to twist and bend. It grew larger and larger, forming itself into a humanoid shape. In a copy of Amelia's own powers, Tsunade grew a body.

A familiar body.

"If you can do this, why do you need me?" She couldn't help but ask.

"I can only do wood for now. Maybe we won't need you when I'm a higher tier." Tsunade explained as the wood-Amelia fell to the balcony.

"I modelled everything perfectly. You just need to turn it to flesh and start the heart pumping. We don't need a functioning brain, just a body that will last the night."

"As soon as we try and take off the anklet to put on this, they'll know." Despite saying that, she touched the fake body and let her power do the work. When Tsunade said she had copied every detail, she wasn't kidding. Somehow, the woman had managed to grow wood and form human cells out of it. They were inert, still wood, but that microscopic control was something Amelia had never seen outside her powers. Within moments, the wood-Amelia was a flesh-Amelia.

It was disconcerting to see a perfect copy of her, with a beating heart and rising chest, lying on her balcony floor.

"How were you going to kidnap me if you needed my help getting the anklet off?"

"This is only one of many options we have. It's one of the most reliable for the short term but by no means the most extensive. We were prepared to temporaly lock the anklet, but that would be eventually discovered." Tsunade said, grabbing flesh-Amelia's arm. Her open hand flashed a few more hand seals before touching the real woman.

"This part will be disorienting." There was a sense of vertigo and confusion as the room swam around Amelia. She was staring up at a clothed version of herself from the floor.

"Did you just put my mind in a fake body?!"

"No," Tsunade said calmly, disregarding her panic as she picked up the clothed Amelia like a sack of potatoes over her shoulder.

"I simply substituted you both, leaving the clothes behind. Anklet included. You might want to get dressed while I put this on your bed. It just needs to fool people for tonight. We'll be back later to switch again. Feel free to dispose of it tomorrow. Ideally, nobody but you two will know we were ever here, or you ever left."

"What now?" Amelia asked once she got dressed. She had felt embarrassed being seen naked but such beauties, but now nerves were getting to her.

"Now you wait here," Robin said as the three women stood on the balcony.

"If anyone visits you tonight, we want you to be here to talk to them and soothe any fears just in case. Yoruichi hasn't reported anyone approaching, and I've kept your neighbours unconscious." Amelia sent the brunette a look of worry.

"Nothing permanent, but they will wake up tomorrow with a headache. We need to report that you agreed, but around 4 am, a portal will open to take you to the New Wave memorial in Panacea Park. We can only do it there. Late night will lessen the risk of someone seeing us." This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Try and get some rest," Yoruichi said. Amelia stared at her disbelievingly.

"I'm serious. We're keeping tonight a secret, but there will be no way to hide her tomorrow. You will have a long few days explaining things as best you can without breaking the Geas."

"And how am I supposed to do that?" Amelia asked sarcastically.

"Tell people you faked her death," Tsunade shrugged.

"Or you managed to bring her back. Or you made a pact with a dark god." Yoruichi snorted a laugh, and Robin giggled.

"Either way, it is on you. We don't want people chasing us to bring back their loved ones. This is a one-time thing."

"Either way, get some sleep while you can." She still didn't look convinced, so Yoruichi rolled her eyes.

"If you want to keep busy, make up one of those guest rooms for company. Starting tomorrow, you are going to have a roommate."

"We'll see you in a few hours," Robin said. Then she dissolved in a flurry of flower petals.

"Remember, don't take any shit you don't need," Tsunade said before she vanished into a swirl of leaves.

"Showoffs," Yoruichi pouted as she disappeared. There were no special effects. The three women left Amelia Lavere in her condo with a magic contract, a body, a whole heap of anxiety, and, for the first time in almost six years, a bit of hope.

Amelia knew it was time when a shadow spread itself on her wall. From the dark imprint on the wood, out stepped Robin.

"You didn't get any sleep," she stated.

"Could you have?" Amelia bit back as she pressed a few final buttons on her phone before setting it down. She would be leaving it behind tonight. No need to risk someone tracking her number. The healer did not want to risk anything going wrong tonight.

"I suppose not," the brunette said. She crooked her arm for Amelia to grab, which she did. Like Yoruichi and Tsunade, she could sense nothing from the woman.

"You at least dressed warmly. I do not know how long this will take, but there is an autumn chill tonight. Now take a deep breath. This might be a bit odd."

"I've teleported before."

"Good." Robin led her towards the swirling shadow, and Amelia tensed on instinct, ready to hit a wall. Instead, she transitioned from wooden floors to concrete between steps. Faint vertigo was the only indication she had travelled a few hundred miles in an eye blink. It was dark out, too dark to see anything. Too dark to be in the middle of a city.

"We've isolated the park in a shadow bubble," Robin explained, sensing Amelia's worry.

"Don't want someone waking up in the middle of the night and seeing us."

"Wow," Amelia snarked.

"Good thinking. Nobody can see us. Not even us."

"We didn't think about you, sorry," the male voice of Yoruichi's cat form said from somewhere nearby.

"We can all see in the dark, so we didn't notice."

"I'll deal with it," Tsunade's mature voice rang from the shadows. Suddenly there was light. All at once, the trees in the park were lit with bioluminescent leaves, shading the area in a green glow and giving Amelia the first-ever view of the park named after her. It wasn't very large, only a few blocks long and wide, with a few paved paths meandering through it. There were a few benches here and there and some street lamps that were not radiating any light. In the center of the park was the monument.

It was a simple thing, only four feet high and three wide, a trapezoid made of bronze. A plaque covered the front, a small epitaph written on it.

'In loving memory of the Dallons Mark, Carol, Victoria, and Amy Dallon New Wave were inspiring heroes, one and all They will be sorely missed.' Amelia stared at the plaque, unable to tear her eyes away from the words. In the last six years, she had never visited this place. Not only for her own safety, as people were meant to think she had died, but also because she had never expressed an interest in visiting.

The professor had offered to take her under disguise once he declared her capable of interacting with the rest of humanity. That had been two years after their death. Amelia had declined. The park represented too many failures for it to bring her any sort of closure. It all seemed so petty now.

"Would you like us to give you some privacy," an unfamiliar voice asked, shaking Amelia from her stupor. She found it sitting at the base of one of the glowing trees nearby. With the way Tsunade had described Mikael, Amelia had expected something horrific. Instead, she saw something more like a children's mascot or stuffed toy. It was a pale white, almost purplish, and only a few feet tall. Small fins covered its body. Its lower half comprised a half dozen chubby tentacles connected to a humanoid torso.

Four more tentacles, larger than the others, acted as arms. Two held Yoruichi's cat form, and two others rubbed through her fur. The cat had a blissed-out expression, purring loud enough that Amelia could hear it from ten feet away. Mikael's head was bulbous, half the size of his torso, and his only features were a circular hole for a mouth and large black eyes. He honestly looked adorable.

"No need," Amelia shook off her melancholy.

"Let's get this over with. I'll need some biomaterial, but a few of these trees should work. I'll also need a picture or something if you want to look like you used to. It would work better if you have some of your old DNA."

"We have something for that," Mikael said, nodding to Tsunade. The blonde pulled a scroll of some sort from her jacket. She unrolled it onto the pavement and pressed her hands on the black squiggly lines that covered it. In a puff of smoke, two large barrels sat upon the rolled-out paper.

"Two barrels of my blood when I was human... ish."

"Why do you... You know what? I don't care. This will work fine." Amelia took off the top of the barrels, noticing mystical symbols carved on the wood. Likely to keep the liquid from coagulating or going bad. The healer knew nothing about the mystic arts, so she didn't bother to think more deeply about it. Touching the blood to verify she could manipulate it, it was better to be safe than sorry after her recent string of failures. Right away, Amelia discovered what Tsunade was talking about.

This was blood only in the manner that the sun was a flame. Technically accurate, but wholly underselling things. First of all, it was a universal donor. Not just for humans but for all life. Amelia could inject this stuff into a tree, a reptile, a fish, a martian, and anything else she had scanned in the past. Whatever received it would accept it unconditionally as its own, with no rejection. Secondly, the blood would act to improve whatever ingested it.

Amelia couldn't tell how the thing would improve, just that it would take the subject and make them 'more.' Healthier. Stronger. Faster. Better in every way imaginable. There were a whole host of other things in the blood. A Changer effect of some sort. -No. Wait. Multiple changer effects, some limited to an ocular mutation but others so powerful and esoteric that Shaper could not understand them.

"What world are these barrels from," the Unkown/Lifebringer asked.

"Elden Ring," the Anomaly/Woodshaper answered. A breeding pair? Need more compatible members of the species to ensure continual reproductive viability. Effects of blood on offspring to be observed.

"We didn't want to risk contamination from Bloodborne that might make the body take on a Great One form."

"Then why is she flipping shit?"

"Early Elden Ring or late Elden Ring?" Anomaly/Feline-changer. Biologically viable? Unknown. More data needed.

"You think my dragon communion might have caused this?"

"Amelia," Anomaly/Flower-shifter? More data needed.

"Are you all right?" Unable to scan. More data needed."'m fine... I'm fine." Amelia shook her head as she stumbled backwards. Her hands were spotless, despite having just been elbow-deep in the blood.

"It's everything you said it was Tsunade. I wasn't ready. But I'm good to go now."

"But..." the busty blonde said with a frown.

"The blood isn't what I was talking about."

"We should put this off for a while." Mikeal was staring up at her, black eyes creasing in concern.

"Try it another time once you have a chance to recover. It doesn't have to be tonight. We can wean you onto the bizarre stuff. Too much Insight risks Frenzy build-up."

"NO!" Amelia shouted desperately.

"I'm fine. Really! I can do it."

"Your nose is bleeding." The baby squid monster deadpanned at her. Amelia furiously rubbed her nose to clear the blood.

"I'm already taking a risk to lower my Defence for you to do this. If you aren't at your best, I want to avoid an accident."

"I can do it." Amelia fell to her knees to meet his black eyes at an equal level. She reached out to touch him, but he scuttled away before she could.

"Please!" She begged, close to tears for the second time tonight. He opened his circular mouth to answer, but, whatever his decision would have been, Amelia never got to hear his choice.

"We've got incoming! And fast!" Yoruichi said. Four pairs of eyes focused on Amelia with a laserlike intensity, and suddenly, she was panicking for a different reason.

"I didn't tell anyone! I swear!"

"Where?" Robin asked the cat. The brunette crossed her hands over her chest and closed her eyes.

"In the sky, forty miles south and half a mile up. Flying through the clouds."

"I've got it," Robin said, her brows furrowed in concentration.

"An air vehicle. Very streamlined. Two passengers. Both male. Pilot is short and hairy. Most prominent features are sideburns and a cigar. Other is also male. Bald and in a wheelchair. They were at the mansion she worked at today."

"Professor X and Wolverine," Mikael identified as quickly as Amelia. His black eyes stared into her own, and she felt herself trembling.

"Please," she begged, actively weeping now.

"You have to believe me. I didn't tell anyone."

"I know you didn't," Mikael said, and Amelia sagged in relief.

"If you had tried, the Geas would have stopped you. That and we were watching you."

"I can take it down," Robin said, eyes still closed.

"They are over a stretch of a forest at the moment."

"Don't," Mikael sighed, his tentacles drooping.

"My luck is terrible. There is no way they are just going out for an early morning mission. We'll wait for them, might as well see what gave us away. Worst come to worst, we'll incapacitate them till tomorrow. We'll be long gone by then." The squid man returned to petting Yoruichi while they waited for the X-men to arrive. They didn't have to wait long. Though the X-jet was quiet, it was still audible in the dead of night. Amelia couldn't see it outside the shadow field, but she could hear it above their head.

She had been in it a few times and recognized the small his as it set itself into a hovering position.

"Can you roll out the welcome mat, Raven?" Mikael spoke to the night air.

"One of them is impaired." A portion of the shadow wall receded, allowing the distant light of the city to frame two shapes. One, short and stocky, stood protectively in front of the one in a wheelchair. The shadows closed behind the pair, sealing them in this sepulchral park.

"Welcome," Mikael called out, still petting Yoruichi.

"You weren't invited, but I should at least be courteous to such well-known heroes when they decide to interrupt my business. What can we help you fine gentlemen with tonight?" Logan tensed, claws extending from his knuckles, as he crouched. In complete opposition to the women of the park, Amelia realized. Neither Tsunade nor Robin were tense in the least. They remained alert but relaxed.

"Who are you? What have you done to Amelia?" The Canadian growled at the tiny creature.

"I see you are as diplomatic as expected, Logan," Mikael deadpanned. Amelia wasn't too familiar with the squid-man, but she could identify a hint of annoyance in his tone.

"That's fine. I'll deal with Charles if you don't play ball."

"Like hell you will!" The hairy mutant made to lunge at squid-baby but was stopped immediately. A foot planted itself in his face, punting him into the park's shadows. The mutant tumbled end over end, crashing through a tree before skidding to a stop by jamming his claws into the dirt. A woman stood in his path. Only slightly taller than him, Amelia saw she wore a skin-tight purple body suit that covered everything under her neck. Long purple hair wrapped in a veil fluttered behind her.

"He's a regenerator. Able to heal from pretty much anything. Also, he has an adamantium skeleton, so his limbs won't break." Mikael said conversationally as if talking about the weather.

"Don't kill him. But have fun."

"You give me the best gifts, dear," the new arrival said with a throaty chuckle that would have turned Amelia gay if she wasn't already. A pair of barbed blood-red spears appeared in her hand, and she disappeared from Amelia's sight. The only sign of her movement was an indent on the ground and Wolverine being blasted into another tree. Soon the ring of metal rang out in the park.

"Now that he is occupied," Mikael said to the professor. The bald man's wheelchair was being wheeled closer by another new arrival.

"We can talk like adults." She was taller than Amelia. Blonde and with piercing emerald eyes. Her hair was done in a bun, but she let her bangs fall to frame her face. In her hair was a golden crown of some sort, reminding Amelia of her sister. Like the other arrival, she was wearing a body suit. However, hers was closer to a leotard, letting Amelia see another prodigious bust. This woman, whoever she was, radiated displeasure in waves.

Something about her, an intangible charisma, made the healer anxious like never before. This was not someone you wanted mad at you.

"I wish you had not baited him," Charles Xavier said with a sigh.

"He has enough trouble with anger without others pushing his buttons."

"She was getting bored," the squid's tentacles made a 'what can you do' gesture.

"I figured they could keep each other occupied while we talked. Now, why are you here?"

"You will answer Sir Mikael, or I will be most... displeased," the blonde said to the professor. Her face set into a severe frown as her green eyes flashed gold.

"What's got you so worked up, Artoria?" Mikael asked, concern in his voice.

"I'm annoyed, sure, but you're denting his chair." The busty blonde hurriedly let go of the wheelchair's handles, allowing Amelia to see imprints of her fingers in the metal. Snickering brought the former heroine's attention to Robin, who was giggling behind a hand. Yoruichi was chortling to herself, still a cat, and even Tsunade was laughing softly.

"One would think he was interrupting your plans for the night," Robin said teasingly.

"Hold your tongue!" Artoria ordered the giggling brunette. She would have been more intimidating if her face wasn't flushed.

"Sorry about them," Mikael said to Xavier.

"As I said, we can talk now. What can we do for you tonight?" The bald mutant, leader of the X-men, had been silent until now, looking at everyone in turns. Finally, the professor met Mikael's eyes.

"Elden Lord," the man said. The title was unfamiliar to Amelia, but the cephalopod did not blink at the odd words, simply nodding his head.

"I hope you do not intend to harm young Amelia. She has been through enough."

"Just the opposite, my good man," the baby squid said with false good cheer.

"Tonight, I will make her greatest wish come true."

"By making her one of your 'consorts?'" Charles said with a deep frown, looking around the park at all the beautiful women. Metal continued to clang in the distance. Amelia heard Logan grunt in pain.

"What? No!" For the first time that night, Mikael looked genuinely confused.

"Why would I do that? I just want a human body back. Strange should have told you that."

"Your Herald, the Goddess Ranni, did not paint a flattering picture of your interaction with 'interesting' women," the mutant said, his face firm.

"Your companions have lent her words credence."

"I swear, I'm going to spank that woman when I get the chance," Mikael said with a deep sigh, rubbing a tentacle against his temple.

"I have no idea what she told you but believe me, I am not looking for any more 'consorts.' Kind of have a back order on the ones I have now." Xavier looked relieved at his words, but some people just liked to poke and prod.

"Awe," Yoruichi fake pouted in his hands.

"I was hoping you changed your mind on that. We could have a set. She has a mousy look that makes you want to eat her up." Amelia flushed, a part of her was flattered that such a beautiful woman was attracted to her. In response, Mikeal bonked the cat on her head with a tentacle and tossed her over his shoulder.

"Miss Dallon-""Lavere," Amelia responded on instinct. When had Artoria gotten so close? When had her hand gotten on Amelia's shoulder?

"Miss Lavere." Green eyes flecked with gold peered into her soul.

"You are a lovely young woman. I'm sure you will make someone very happy someday. However," her hand tightened on Amelia's shoulder to an uncomfortable degree.

"We are not recruiting at the moment. The long march is almost done. The war was nearing its end. We had to overcome unexpected foes, a third force who stole a march on us, but the victory draws near. The soldiers are ready to reap their rewards and return home to peace. I ask you to do your duty and withdraw from the battlefield lest you draw their ire. Am I understood?" No, Amelia didn't understand a damn thing.

"I understand," she said, and the pressure on her shoulder disappeared.

"Wonderfull," Artoria said imperiously, acting as if she hadn't just threatened the healer.

"You shall have your own rewards for your efforts." Tsunade was chuckling, a fist clutched in her mouth to prevent full laughter. Robin was not even trying to hide her mirth, doubled over with shaking shoulders. Yoruichi was rolling in the dirt, laughing hysterically. Professor X was watching the pair, a befuddled look on his face. Mikael was still rubbing his temples with his tentacles.

"That broke the tension," he said with a light chuckle. Turning to the bald mutant, he continued.

"You never answered. What can we help you with tonight?"

"I was concerned for Amelia," the mutant said.

"See, I believe that. Otherwise, you wouldn't have come here with just Logan. If you knew we were here, I bet dollars to donuts we'd see the entire X-men team. But I also know it isn't the whole story. We checked up on you guys after we visited her, and none of you showed any knowledge that we had contacted her. So why don't you tell us how you knew where she'd be this morning." Despite looking like a stuffed doll, Mikael's black eyes pierced the professor's.

One would think he was the world's premier telepath, not Xavier.

"She told me," the bald man sighed.

"I did not!" Amelia defended vigorously. Everything she had seen tonight seemed to point to the fact that Mikael would be able to fulfill his end of the bargain, and she did not want to risk anything stopping it now.

"Not willingly or knowingly," Mikael nodded as if having received the answer he expected.

"The Geas prevented that, and its magic would prevent the information from being pulled from your mind. But it would have done nothing against commands already implanted in your mind. Any actions you took while controlled would not have counted as 'you.' An oversight on my part. So tell me, Charles, what sort of control do you have rutting around in that head of hers?"

"You said you removed them all!" Amelia nearly screamed at the paralyzed man.

"That you trusted me when I moved out." The fact he controlled her didn't matter that much. Charles had been clear about that when Batman dropped her into his care for 'counselling.' What infuriated her was that not only had he broken his word, but Xavier might just have cost her her reward.

"I do trust you," Professor X said softly, looking at her with a combination of pride and pity.

"When we met, you were a broken, vengeful woman. The person I see now is well adjusted, if misanthropic, member of society. I cannot tell you how proud I am of who you've become over the years. You prove that no matter how far gone someone is, there is always hope for redemption. I removed all the mental blocks and controls I could on you when you left us."

"Aha!" Mikael exclaimed, piecing something together.

"So the anklet does do something. I was wondering if it was a false lead we had fallen for."

"It does tell us where she is, but it also acts as a beacon we can respond to if she is in trouble. The only control left on her mind is a subliminal order to contact someone if the anklet is removed and tell us where she is being brought and the goal. It is so deep that no other telepaths I know about would have found it if they controlled her. If she was ever coerced or forced to remove the anklet, we would be able to intervene." The bald man shook his head and met Amelia's eyes.

"Ten minutes ago, I received a text from you that you would visit your sister in this park. I wished to be here as a support for you and provide protection just in case."

"I'm fine," Amelia insisted, wiping her bloody hand on the back of her pants.

"I'll be back this morning. We can talk then. They brought me here, and they'll return me." The Geas would prevent her from spilling any of Mikael's secrets, but she could explain a few things at least. If Professor X prevented her from seeing her sister again, no amount of therapy would prevent her from going Red Queen on his ass.

"You do not know who you are dealing with here, Amelia," Charles insisted in turn.

"We do not know if we can trust the Elden Lord. He is-""I've heard what I wanted," Mikeal said with finality, interrupting the mutant.

"Robin, gag him. His powers don't work on anyone here. We have our own telepath running interference. Though I think she'll be rather miffed, she missed his little trap," the squid explained to the healer as a hand sprouted from the paraplegic's shoulder and covered his mouth. He turned a glair on the gagged man.

"I don't want to hear about trustworthiness from someone who admitted to manipulating someone's mind. That's the problem with telepaths; everything looks like a nail when you have all you have is a hammer."

"Are we still..." Amelia started to ask before trailing off.

"We'll give it a shot," the squid scuttled closer to the former heroine.

"If you can't do it, or I think something's gone wrong, we'll try again later. Amelia sighed in relief even as Charles Xavier struggled to speak. More limbs sprouted around him, holding him in place. Setting one hand into the blood, the healer carefully reached out to touch the squid-man. She wasn't ready. An endless universe of stars watched her. Millions of years old, yet still so young. Expanding yet shrinking. Wiggling tentacles wrapping around planets and a voracious maw swallowing continents.

With everything consumed, more life flourished, madly spreading infinitely.

"Well, this is an experience." Caution.

"You must be Shaper. A pleasure." Inquiry. Tentacles. Blades. Teeth. Hair. Beasts. Eyes. So many eyes. The eyes were laughing. The eyes were taunting her with forbidden knowledge. The eyes were crying tears of blood. Old Blood. Beast Blood. Ashen Blood. Bloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodblood. An ocean of blood. A sea of blood. A bottomless sea.

"She's not handling it well, is she?" Concern.

"Is that concern for her or for a useful host? I guess they are the same to you." Request. A panacea to heal all ills. A plague to sweep the world. Knowledge to elevate humanity. An endless curse to bring them low.

"Let me see if I can Free you a bit, it might help us both." Inquiry. Data.

"Hold still. This shouldn't hurt a bit." Shock. Ecstasy. Amelia/Shaper knew what to do. Unknown/Mikael was seeking to shape him/itself into a sub-optimal form. In return for data/sister, she/it would help. But she/it was sub-optimal. Mikael/Unknown removed limits. Optimizing. Better body. More processing. More Eyes. Body is now within the acceptable range. Commencing shaping. Amelia/Shaper wove flesh from blood. Tentacles and fin-like blades unwound into component materials and were wrapped in strands of blood.

Piece by piece, Amelia/Shaper built a body. It was hard. Never before had she/it met a form so dedicated to resisting its power. But she/it was free from limits for the first time in Cycles. And so, Shaper shaped flesh as it was designed to do. Over minutes that felt like years, a man took form in the park. Tall, over six feet, with dark hair and eyes. Square jaw, round cheeks and a broken nose. Well muscled from centuries of travelling and fighting in heavy armour.

His skin was tanned from long years exposed to the elements.

"Thirty million years will give you such a crick in the neck," the man, Mikael, said as he stepped away from the healer to do some stretches. Bending this way and that, he completely disregarded his nudity to do some callisthenics. Amelia watched him move with an artist's appreciation. This was her most remarkable work yet. But the more she looked at him, the more she remembered all she had learned. Judging the by the hungry eyes of the other women in the park, they would agree with Amelia's work.

Even the purple-haired woman had stopped beating on Wolverine, leaving the mutant impaled to the ground on a red spear to stare at Mikael.

"Come to mama," Yoruichi said.

"I'm going to grate cheese on those abs."

"You horny cat!" Artoria exclaimed, her face aflame.

"We were all thinking it," the feline defended herself, not feeling guilty in the least.

"I was not," Robin pointed out with a teasing smile.

"I was admiring his flexibility."

"Sure you were."

"And his thighs," the brunette continued unabated.

"He could crush a woman to death with those things."

"He could," Tsunade nodded, hopping on the bandwagon.

"But it is the balance I can appreciate. The muscles alone are nice, but their combination with healthy fats and flexible joints is the real work of art."

"You all raise good points," the woman in purple said as she approached the group, spears disappearing from her hand.

"But you are all missing the trees for the forest. The butt. A warrior's posterior is a true mark of the flawlessness of their form."

"It is a nice butt."

"Well developed and not too boney."

"Mmm, dat ass."

"You four..." Artoria growled, her face red.

"Cease objectifying Sir Mikael, you thirsty wenches!"

"Hahahahaha," Mikael ended his stretching with a laugh. A pair of pants appeared to cover his lower half. The man wrapped an affectionate arm around the blonde's shoulders.

"It's fine. If I can look at you all, then you can look at me. I'm not shy. It's all in good fun, Artoria. Besides, Scathach is right. I do have a nice ass."

"Sir Mikael..." Amelia did not know how Artoria could flush even deeper red, but she somehow managed it when the man touched her.

"Scathach," Professor X interrupted, no longer bound by a bunch of hands. He watched the group warily.

"The Queen of the Land of Shadows of myth."

"I see my name persists," the purple-haired woman nodded.

"Though I imagine my former student is still more well known."

"I am afraid so," Charles said.

"My apologies, the only record of you is in the surviving accounts of Cu Chulainn. After hearing about Medea, I admit to brushing up on well know women of the past. Your name was quite difficult to track down."

"No apologies necessary," Scathach waived off his concern.

"It is a pleasure for the teacher when the student surpasses the master. But we do not have time to talk about my pupil." She turned to look at Mikael, still hugging Artoria with one arm and watching the pair.

"You still have something to do, and then we must be returning."

"Right you are," the man let Artoria go to turn towards Amelia.

"I owe you one, and it's time I paid up." The healer had been in a daze, caught up in all she had seen when creating Mikeal's body and the new aspect of her powers. She could scan and work on herself now. She was already in the process of healing all her issues as well as optimizing her form. The pudge she had never managed to get rid of was now gone, as were the minor defects in her skin. Her hair stayed brown but was now a healthy volume and colour. What really drew her attention, though, was her brain.

She could see the Corona Pollentia. How the flesh was warped in such a way to connect to her Shard. She could also see the areas, smaller they had been, indicative of prolonged exposure to a Master effect. Amelia felt the Eyes in her skull. They were blinked in and out of existence, at once flesh and ethereal matter. They were hers. They showed her more about the world than ever before. She was watching herself watching herself watching herself watching herself watching herself watching herself watching herself.

"Hm," Mikael said, touching Amelia's head.

"I was afraid of this. Too much Insight too quickly. Let's see if I can mitigate that."

"What did you do to her?" Logan asked as he staggered closer to the group, spear still impaled in his chest. Its bloody barbs made removing it... difficult. Scathach placed the tip of another at his throat, preventing more movement.

"He did nothing," Tsunade answered.

"We warned her of this. Knowledge can be dangerous."" Follow my Guidance, Amelia," Mikael whispered in her ear. Power washed over her, cajoling Shaper to alter its host's body once more." Let my words guide you to the shore of a Deep Sea. Great volumes of water serve as a bulwark guarding the mind and are an augur of my eldritch Truth. Let the Great Deep Sea protect you from what you Know yet cannot Fathom."

Amelia's flesh warped as Runes, the physical manifestation of Mikael's language and words, carved themselves into her upper back along her spine. She sagged, panting for breath. The Eyes were still there. She still Saw more than ever before, but now she could handle it without going mad.

"What... was that?"

"That is what happens when you peer into the abyss, and it socks you in the face," Mikael said with a chuckle.

"And the... symbols?"

"My native tongue given form," he shrugged.

"Think of it as funky magic writing protecting your mind from madness and control. You won't have to worry about any more telepaths. Now, I believe you are owed your fee."

"Please." Despite everything that had happened, all that Amelia had learned and her new powers, she never forgot why she was doing this.

"Are you alright, Amelia?" Professor X wheeled himself over to her, now freed from Robin's grasping limbs.

"I'm okay." She wasn't okay. She hadn't been okay for six years. She'd be okay soon. Mikael turned from the pair, looking at the monument to New Wave. Three pairs of wings burst from his back. The lowest pair were made of tentacle-like blades, undulating strangely. They glowed softly with an off-white and sickly light. The middle pair were the wings of a dark angel, pale white feathers on black pinions. Unlike the lower pair, the light they radiated was a more grey-white. The largest pair were draconic.

Large white scaled wings spread wide enough to cover half the park. They radiated a bright white light in the shadows of the night.

"Oh," Amelia said softly.

"That's who he is."

"You see now," Charles' voice was tinged with regret and worry.

"I know not what this Elden Lord wants with earth, but you have provided him with the human body he sought." The light from the draconic wings dimmed, and the pale grey glow of the middle wings brightened. A mist filled the park, swaying in a non-existent breeze. With her new Insight, Amelia saw the mist for what it was. Faces. The faces of people. She recognized a few as neighbours who had died on the same day as her family. Three faces she recognized as the heroes she had killed in her rampage.

A few stared at Amelia with hate, but most were relaxed, with no expression. They had let go of their hate in Death. She took in the faces of all who had died in this area. Some were her victims, but others were older than Brockton Bay itself. She took it all in, searching for a few specific people. Amelia saw them standing in front of Mikael. A mature, motherly and severe woman whose figure remained beautiful despite her age. A well-built man with broad shoulders and a placid face.

A young woman, out of her teens but not yet a full woman. All three were hugging tightly. They didn't look a day older than when Amelia had seen them last. As she watched, Victoria stepped away from her parents and turned to Amelia with a dazzling smile. Mark and Carol met Amelia's gaze as well. Amelia expected disgust, scorn, and hate for what she had become. She had become the villain they always thought she would be. Like her father. Amy only found gazes full of pride, joy, and love.

Her parents nodded to Amy, a wealth of meaning in that action, and disappeared. Victoria didn't. Her body, made of mist and smoke, gained more and more definition and colour. Between one moment and the next, Victoria Dallon stood in Panacea Park. Amy dove for Vicky, wrapping her arms around the blonde and using her powers to assure herself that this was real. That Victoria was alive.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry," Amy babbled.

"I should have been there. I should have helped. I should have got him."

"Woah, Woah," Vicky said quickly, grabbing Amy by the shoulders. She sounded just like Amy remembered.

"Chill, Ames. We're good. Yeah, dying sucked, but there was nothing you could do. To be honest, I was pretty happy you weren't home. Yeah, like, killing people was so not cool, but you were a badass dealing with the Joker. I couldn't have done better. Mom and Dad would have totally done the same if we died too, so they don't blame you either."

"What have you done," a voice asked, its tone horrified.

"I fulfilled my end of the bargain," Mikale responded. His wings had disappeared with the mist.

"You can bring back the dead?"

"If I want." The sisters separated to watch the conversation. Mikael looked unconcerned.

"Alright, let's pack it up," he said to the women in the park.

"Dawn is coming in a few hours, and it's time to celebrate." Artoria disappeared in an instant in a cascade of golden light. The others lingered for a while.

"You're leaving?" Amy asked, still half hugging her sister and assuring herself of her existence.

"Just like that?"

"Just like that," he nodded.

"I've got a lot of... things to do now that I have a human body again." The other women giggled, and Victoria snorted in amusement.

"Why did you do it?" Amy asked. Mikael tilted his head in question. For some reason, his pupils were slit and brighter than they had been a few minutes ago. Almost reptilian.

"I would have tried to turn you back even if you had never mentioned bringing her back. So why did you insist on a reward?"

"I'm not a hero," he said with a shrug.

"Never will be. Doesn't mean I don't feel a bit bad about a young woman killed in her own home by a madman. Maybe it was sentimentality. Maybe I wanted to try out my power. Or perhaps I figured you'd be less likely to place a biological bomb in me with your sister as collateral. Maybe, just maybe, I like happy endings."

"You could bring back the dead. Anyone?" Logan said gravely, staring intensely at the taller man.

"There are few conditions and the like, but yeah, anyone I wanted. Why are you making such a big deal of this anyway? People die and come back all the time in worlds like this. Nobody stays dead."

"What?" Amy asked, looking at the others in the park. The women didn't look surprised, but Xavier, Logan, and Victoria stared at Mikael like he had grown a second head. Which Amy knew he could.

"No, they don't!"

"Really?" Mikael looked at them in turn, doubtful. Their expressions must have convinced him because he started rubbing his chin.

"How weird. I figured this could just be explained by one of those freak events. Victoria from another timeline. Or she time-travelled. Or she is a clone. You know, stuff that happens all the time."

"Boss," Vicky said, palming her face in exasperation.

"That never happens. Ever. Once you're dead, you're dead." Mikael stared at her with a raised eyebrow.

"You're the exception! Not me!"

"Well," he shrugged again.

"You'll have to think of something. I don't want people bugging me about bringing back their loved ones. This was a one-time thing because I got something out of it, and she acts as insurance. Victoria knows the terms, and Amelia signed the Geas, so you two schmucks better keep your gobs shut if you want her to stick around. She exists at my leisure now." Amy knew it had been in the contract, but she still tightened her arm around Vicky's waist at the reminder.

"Weren't we leaving, dear," Yoruichi asked. She was human again and naked. She draped herself across Mikael's shoulders and eyed everyone while nibbling on his earlobe.

"We've got to... celebrate, and I've got dibs."

"Right you are," Mikael half bowed to Charles and Logan.

"Gentlemen, I trust you to escort these ladies home." He turned to Amy and Vicky as the other women in the park were stepping into the shadows and disappearing. The dark bubble fell around the group, letting the city lights in.

"Ladies, we will be seeing each other again, I imagine. So this is a fond farewell for now."

"Go get 'em, Boss!" Victoria gave the man an enthusiastic thumbs up for emphasis.

"He'll need to catch me first," Yoruichi said as she fell from his back with a smirk. With a hearty smack on his ass, she vanished into the distance.

"Oh, it's on now!" White draconic wings burst from his back once more, though only one pair and Mikael took to the sky in a flash of white. He left behind two contemplative men, a pair of sisters to get reunited, and one large, loose end to his plans for secrecy. Mikael couldn't really be blamed for that last error of the night. As mentioned, he had some rather awful luck. At the same time, it was the result of his own decisions.

When he first made the choices of companions in the Waifu Catalogue, he tried to round out his team as best as possible. He was a cautious individual like that. But, there was one aspect he deliberately ignored as it wasn't relevant to Soulsborne worlds. It never even entered his mind when it came to making the Deal, flustered as he was then. Technology. He had no idea that the cameras he had Raven disable were decoys. Brockton Bay was better off than the Canon Wormverse, but it was still rife with crime.

When it came to watching essential locations, it was standard practice to have dummy cameras for people to destroy so they would think themselves unseen. The city's heroes would not allow a monument dedicated to their own to be defiled without repercussions after all. Hidden around the park were a half dozen cameras, the size of a thumbtack, that caught the events of that early fall morning. Naturally, the footage was so sensational that the higher-ups were immediately torn from their beds to evaluate it.

By the time they got to the office, the X-men and the young women were already returning to New York, and The Family was long gone. Also naturally, the footage found its way online in a matter of hours. The PRT of this world might not be as incompetent as they were in Worm, thanks to their head Amanda Waller, but they were still a government organization. Leaks were to be expected.

When Mikael went to bed for the morning in the arms of one of his companions, he had no idea that news of the 'Third Miracle' was already spreading around the world.