Chương 59: R&R Ch. 59 — Unsupervised and Unfiltered

Jasmine was still reeling after the last twenty-four hours. She had to go to a meeting where they got lectured despite them doing nothing wrong. Nicholas murdered someone with a word she didn't know he could use that had terrifying implications. Their team leader said they were going on a superhero road trip and would potentially move. And Nicholas had explained the conditions on how he could or couldn't use power word murder. And she had asked him out on a date!

There was so much going on that Jasmine wasn't sure what she should or shouldn't do anymore. It was just a lot, and there wasn't a right answer in this situation, just a bunch of ones she would have to try her best on. A week would be enough to recover her soul, but it wouldn't be enough for Nicholas, which meant they would rank up on the road, which was fine. Jasmine didn't mind slowing down.

Her mother had sprinted through the first few ranks, and that's why she had stalled, supposedly her foundation was so shot that she couldn't keep carrying on. Jasmine wasn't sure she believed her mom specifically, but she knew it was something that happened to others. Her phone chimed, breaking her out of her monologue, and she smiled reading the text. She was definitely going to follow through on that, but first she had to do her due diligence as a teammate.

She tugged on their bond, doing her best to send the complex set of emotions that accurately explained what she was trying to convey. Nicholas almost instantly sent back the emotional equivalent of "stay safe, have fun, I'm not going." She hadn't expected it to be any different, but she could hope that he would act differently sometimes. Jasmine, however, was definitely going to go see all of her friends from the wave and hang out with them, especially if this would be the last chance she had to see everyone.

Now, in something substantially nicer to look at, Jasmine left the base having only her fire whip bracelet out, though Quicksilver was just a thought away, so she would never be defenseless ever again. There was already a car waiting for her when she left the base, and Jasmine happily got in, letting herself be driven across town to the venue someone had booked. With everyone being super, nobody was going to look at them funny for having alcohol either, and Jasmine wanted to try it.

There was just something sad about leaving everything after she had made progress that made her want to cut loose somehow. This was about as safe as she could be while cutting loose, and if something happened, she was going to be with a few dozen other rookie supers so there wouldn't be much they couldn't handle that was likely to show up.

"Retribution, you came!" Twister cheered, giving Jasmine a hug as soon as she left her car.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world," Jasmine agreed.

"I can't leave without saying goodbye to all my friends." Twister froze at the words, and Jasmine wondered if that was something she shouldn't have shared.

"You're leaving?" Twister asked, pulling away the spiral of energy around her arm, twisting angrily.

"Our team leader decided Retort, and I needed more experience in different areas, so we're going on super tour," Jasmine said with a shrug. Other people were listening now. Jasmine was closest with the people she had been on the same shift with, but she had attempted to connect with everyone.

"Why's Retort not here?" Sparky asked, looking around to see if he was hiding anywhere. Jasmine could almost see it, that he would hide in the corner, glaring at everyone who got too close to him and only getting non-alcoholic drinks. The image was so clear in her mind she looked around to see, but he wasn't there.

"He didn't want to come; today was exhausting for us. He gets energy alone; I get energy from all of you." Jasmine said, doing her best to explain.

"Did you guys fight with your mentor about the move?" Twister asked curious.

"No, we had to deal with Lupine today. It was a pain." Jasmine still had mixed feeling about what happened. Lupine was a monster, and she certainly didn't want him to go free. But magically silencing him so that you could kill him? That had been a bit too far for Jasmine.

"What happened to him? Is he going to be okay?" someone Jasmine couldn't remember the name of, with her head swimming like it was.

"No, Retort killed him. It's what he was supposed to do." Jasmine answered, her words slurring. The room froze, and Jasmine had enough processing power to wonder if she had royally made a mistake in admitting that. Lupine had been sort of the leader of a graduating class that had filled most of their team for the wave. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Which meant she had just confessed to the murder of. That couldn't be a good thing.

"What do you mean, murdered!" Constellation asked, glass falling from his fingers. Jasmine wondered why she had thought Constellation reminded her of Nicholas at one point. They looked similar, and they were both pretty quiet most of the time. But that's where the similarities ended; Nicholas wouldn't have asked why to an obvious question. And he would have been the one just nodding, not looking like they were about to cry. Losing a friend is hard. Having to be the one to decide had been hard.

But crying did nothing.

"Because he committed treason and tried to kill all of us. What do you think? He was the equivalent to a high rank four Beyonder because of his absorption ability. What exactly did you think the two of us could do?" Jasmine asked, annoyed. She didn't like it. She hated it, but they weren't strong enough, and the two options were kill him or let him be free. Constellation seemed to snap.

"You two were strong enough to lead us to winning against a wave that should have been impossible, and your argument for murder is that's just how the world works? Where was that drive to save everyone when you let Retort kill my friend!"

"I know exactly how the world works! I'm the granddaughter of Brynhild, for god's sake! And Lupine had two options. Get no punishment at all and re-debut as a new hero or as a controlled villain because he was strong. Or face actual consequences and die. So yeah, when he risked your life, what do you think I picked!" Jasmine shrieked. She would not stand there and let someone walk over her. Jasmine hadn't meant to say the part about her grandma. She had hoped to keep that a secret forever.

Or at least until it was too late, but everyone seemed to be properly mollified, so Jasmine carried on.

"He was either going to walk away free or die. That was what Nicholas and I faced. And it was in the middle of a fight. So him walking away free would be by murdering us or actually surrendering. But when he was trying to say something when we had him cornered, his power flared. We acted the best we could." Twister nudged Jasmine.

"So do I get to joke you're a nepobaby?" Jasmine was hurt.

"Do you actually think that?" She hated how her voice sounded in that moment, but she needed to know if one of her friends actually thought that of her or not.

"If I had found out earlier, sure, but now? You're a badass, even if your grandma is the badass you've earned my friendship." Twister said, easing Jasmine's heart. Even if that's what Twister said, she knew that not everyone in the room would feel that way, which was just how things were going to be. She couldn't do anything about it.

"Part of it is my grandma still though," Jasmine sulked, the words tumbling out.

"If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't handle my power nearly as well."

"What do you mean?" Twister asked.

"I was born to be my grandma's perfect vessel for the power I had. So can I really say any of it's mine?"

"That's like really fucked up." Twister pointed out.

"It's not like any of us controlled what we were born with. And you aren't the only person who has a rich family. My understanding is at best it makes you likely to hit E-rank, not anything after that."

"Yeah, my mom is stuck there. She could never get to D for a few reasons." Jasmine admitted.

"So you had a higher starting point. So what, but is Retort one of you guys too, a legacy?" Twister asked.

"Nope," Jasmine sulked.

"He's completely a first-timer who contacted the crystal on his own and has been kicking ass ever since. Are you really okay with what happened?"

"Yeah, I am. I want to be a hero, so I wasn't really in with the group that wanted to retire as soon as all of this was done. I might try and see who all wants to go traveling with you. See if we can get the band back together."

"That would be fun, especially if we guard the same caravan. Nicholas and I will work together since we're registered as a full duo, but everyone else will be whoever." Jasmine nodded. The party wound on, and while people did stare and mutter at her behind her back, Jasmine took the time to cut loose and have fun. Everything was going great until she decided it was time to go and everyone thought they needed to say goodbye to the descendant of Brynhild.

They all wanted to be close to her now, but it wasn't because of Jasmine's own efforts, just what her grandma could provide them. She had transferred schools every time this had come out for the same reason, but that didn't mean she was any better at dealing with the people that just wanted to hang onto her.

"I'm going to head back. I think it's time for me to call it a night," Jasmine said, hugging Twister as the two walked towards the cars.

"I'll see you on the trip."

"I'll see you later." See you later was much better than saying goodbye in Jasmine's opinion. But that didn't stop her from sulking all the way home. The night had been a shitshow. Nicholas was waiting for her when Jasmine stumbled into the front room of the base.

"Fun party?" Nicholas asked helping Jasmine to her room.

"No. I'm a moron. Do you want to know who my family is? I told everyone else, so I might as well tell you." Jasmine sulked.

"Do you want to tell me?" Nicholas asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No."

"Then there's the answer: if I figure it out, I won't tell you. And I don't want you to tell me until you're ready. Everyone is allowed to have secrets or things they don't want to talk about," Nicholas said, moving to leave.

"Do you know?" Jasmine was intensely suspicious. She had figured he would start making guesses weeks ago, but no.

"Do you want me to take my guess?" Jasmine did not.

"I told everyone you had killed Lupine. Some of them were really upset." Jasmine said, making sure she got out the last of the important information out of the way.

"I don't mind." Jasmine marveled at his lack of care.

"Night Jasmine, and seriously, don't worry about it."

"Night, Nicholas." Jasmine stared at her ceiling, wondering if Rend would have a problem with her taking another shower today. If they were moving, what harm would a little bit of extra hot water be? Hopefully, the travel would be easier, and they wouldn't have to come back to this whole mess that she had made way worse by kicking the beehive.

It had been easy to get in to see Lupine's corpse. Nobody had looked at Constellation as he stood over the body of his best friend. Lupine looked unharmed. It had been so easy for Retort and Retribution to kill Lupine that he looked untouched. He had known that the two had been lying.

"I promise I'm going to make this right," Constellation said, grabbing the cold hand of his best friend. Constellation stood there for a long moment before he tried to pull away. Lupine's corpse didn't let Constellation go.

"I can help?" a phantom voice rasped.