Wyrms in Worm

“Zoom,” Sophia Hess shivered in terror as she heard the same whisper that she’d already heard several times and felt something brush her neck, knowing there’d be yet another red mark on her neck. “Come back here!”

“Zoom, zoom,” the voice whispered behind Sophia, causing her to spin around and swing at the air.

“You think this is funny!” Sophia snapped, ignoring the looks of fear that Emma was giving her.

“Creepy crawlers,” the voice whispered into Emma’s ears as something brushed her back causing her to jump and shriek. “Walking up your spine, creepy crawlers in your ears,” the soft touch brushed her ears. “Nibble nibble on your toes.”

Sophia glared into the darkness. “You’re not going to get away with this! You chicken shit coward!”

“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all,” the voice whispered as a mirror appeared floating in front of Emma.

Emma jumped back and stared in horror as her face changed, growing pale and terrified, showing the broken little girl within. “This is just a trick.”

Sophia shivered as what felt like a blade edge trailed along her arm. “You’re not going to get away with this. Do you know who you’re messing with!”

“Zoom, zoom,” the voice whispered as Emma’s lips turned hooker red and her face a deathly pale.

Sophia staggered backwards as maggots started coming out of her friend’s eyes and mouth. “What the hell!”

Emma shivered when she saw the look of horror that Sophia was giving her. ‘What?’ she tried to say, only to find her voice gone. She clutched at her throat. ‘Help! I can’t talk!’ she tried to say, growing more alarmed with each word that she couldn’t say.

“Run, run little girl,” the voice whispered a second before a familiar crossbow bolt hit the bus stop behind her. “I have your crossbow,” the voice said in a rather unhinged sing-song voice.

Sophia twitched and swapped to her shadow form as she saw a flash of metal coming at her. She stared in shock as she saw Emma take a bolt to the chest and go down.

Emma frantically tried to call Sophia back, shocked that she’d just abandon her. She shivered and tried to scream as something crawled over her scalp. She stared in horror as two black and white striped naked girls with faces painted up like clowns stepped out of a building carrying long knives and started dancing toward her while trailing their knives on the concrete, sending sparks off the metal as the clowns closed the distance.

Sophia stared in shock as Emma lurched to her feet, the stench of rotting meat hitting her nose like a truck as she looked into her friend’s vacant eyes. “Nazgul, come to me while there is still time,” Emma’s distorted voice rasped causing Sophia to bolt.

Aisha smirked as she watched the bitch that had shot her brother in the shoulder run like the hounds of hell were after her. “That was fantastic,” she said as she handed the kid dressed like the grim reaper a dollar coin. “And far too cheap.”

“If you’re feeling guilty, you can always buy me ice cream, people always ask inconvenient questions, like ‘where are your parents’ when I try to buy things,” Loki complained as he handed her a ten.

“Sure,” Aisha said after a couple of seconds, the look on Sophia’s face was worth a bit more time. “Do you know a good place to get ice cream?”

“Sure,” Loki replied and teleported them to one of his favorite ice cream shops or at least the local version of it. He frowned slightly when he noticed the name on the shop was different from the one he was familiar with even if the rest of the old shack looked the same. “Close enough.”

Aisha blinked as it went from being night to being afternoon. “What the hell?” she asked as the heat hit her. “Where are we?”

“Hawaii, it’s just down the road from a nice beach,” Loki replied with a grin as he walked over to the ice cream stand. “One double scoop waffle chocolate cone.” He looked up at Aisha. “What do you want, boss lady?”

‘You teleported us from Brockton Bay to Hawaii? I thought you were just an illusionist.’ Aisha pulled her attention off her thoughts and looked at the menu, wanting to make sure she had enough money to cover it. “Same as him,” she ordered as she handed the ten to the woman behind the counter.

“Nice costume,” the woman said as she worked on making their cones, not noticing the way the kid’s robes seemed to draw in the light.

“Thanks, I have to protect my super secret identity,” Loki said, rather amused that the woman probably assumed he was playing dress up.

Aisha took off her jacket and tied it around her waist, glad that she hadn’t been wearing anything too heavy duty though she was going to have to ditch her sweatshirt before she melted. “So, where are we going next?”

“To the beach so we can create a plan and destroy the villains in their secret bases, I have a list,” Loki said, thinking about the page he’d copied out of his father’s journal.

“Why would we want to do that?” Aisha asked, playing along.

“For the loot of course,” Loki replied with amusement as he took his ice cream cone.

Aisha shook her head. “I’m fairly sure heroes are supposed to capture the villains because it’s the right thing to do.”

‘What part of my costume screams hero?’ Loki thought as he smiled at the woman. “Of course, that’s why we’re heroes.”

The woman gave Aisha her cone and the change. “Come again.”

“At least once more,” Loki said as he started walking down the sidewalk towards the beach.

“Are you a trump?” Aisha asked in a whisper once they were a decent distance from the woman.

“Something like that,” Loki agreed with amusement. “Speaking of which, do you want to be a dragon?”

“You can turn people into dragons?” Aisha asked doubtfully.

“No, I can give people the ability to turn themselves into dragons.”

“Right, what’s the catch?” Aisha asked.

“I have a list of villains I’d like to capture or prank and I could use some help,” Loki said as he handed her a copy of his list.

“Shit,” she muttered when she realized he was serious. “You can’t just waltz in and steal from the Empire, they’ll kill you.”

“Did I forget to mention I’m bulletproof?” Loki asked with amusement then licked his ice cream cone.

“Yeah, you might have forgotten to mention that,” Aisha grumbled then fell silent as they worked on eating their ice cream cones. “How many powers do you have?” she asked after finishing her cone.

“I’ve sort of lost track,” Loki admitted as he conjured a bottle of re’em’s blood enhanced coke in a glass bottle. “How would you like to be a brute 8 or 9?”

“You have a power that lets you conjure food?” Aisha asked with a raised eyebrow. “Why didn’t you just conjure ice cream?”

“If I’d done that, I wouldn’t have had an excuse to teleport us to Hawaii and besides, you’ve known me less than five hours, would you really trust something I conjured out of thin air without a good reason, like magical soda?”

“Point,” Aisha admitted. “What does the coke do?”

“It makes you a high level brute,” Loki replied with amusement.

"Side effects?" Aisha asked warily, thinking of her drug addicted mother.

Loki shook his head. "None, you'd basically get tougher and a lot stronger."

“How would you give me the ability to turn into a dragon?” Aisha asked, hoping he wasn’t messing with her.

“I’d hand you a bottle of magical cider,” he replied with a grin.

“How long would it last?” Aisha asked.

“It’s permanent and yeah, I’d give you the brute potion before the job in case they catch us, of course, that’s unlikely because I also have rings that shift people out of phase.”

“So, trump 10, 11?” Aisha asked, trying to put a number on the ability to hand out permanent powers and failing.

"At least," Loki replied smugly.

"Assuming I agree to help mess with the Empire, you'd give me enhanced strength and the ability to turn into a dragon?" Aisha asked, wanting to iron out the details before she agreed to anything.

"I can also give you a trinket that gives you a totally awesome magical girl form," Loki offered.

Aisha snorted. "Now I know, you're joking."

Loki shifted into a six foot tall blue haired teenage girl then swapped 'his' grim reaper outfit for a yellow polka dot bikini. "Are you sure?"

Aisha stopped and stared at the smirking girl. "Why do you need my help?"

"Honestly? I don't," Loki admitted. "But it's always more fun to emotionally torture assholes with a friend."

Aisha laughed. "I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship."

"I'd like to think so. Speaking of powers and abilities, do you have any objection to grabbing Panacea to make sure nothing goes wrong?" Loki asked.

"How are you planning on getting her to help?" Aisha asked, not seeing a problem with having a healer on hand to help.

"Bribery!" Loki exclaimed cheerfully as she skipped down the trail. "The world needs more dragons!"

Aisha stared at her new friend for a couple of seconds, wondering how many screws he/she was missing then decided that she really didn't care. "Yep!"

"In that case, we might as well go somewhere we won't be interrupted." Loki teleported them to a deserted beach on one of the smaller islands where they wouldn't be interrupted. She used her clairvoyance ability and checked on Amy, grinning when she saw her stepping out of a shower. "Perfect timing."

Aisha blinked as a very naked and wet Amy Dallon appeared out of thin air and dropped two inches to the sand. "You don't need line of sight?"

"Nope, just a decent description or a name," Loki said as she studied the angry looking biokinetic. "Welcome to Hawaii, no we're not villains and we didn't kidnap you."

Amy glared at Loki, trying not get distracted by the fact that she was gorgeous. "What else do you call teleporting people out of the shower?"

"A chance to get fantastic powers and abilities?" Loki offered then teleported backwards ten feet as Amy lunged for her. "Sorry, as much as I'd love to have a cute girl play with my breasts and tongue fuck me, I'd rather not let a pissed off biokinetic touch me right now."

Amy stared at Loki. "Why the hell would I want to play with your breasts?"

"Because they're awesome," Loki said smugly as she lifted her breasts with her hands, letting her bikini top vanish. "Either way, if you'll help me out for like twenty minutes to an hour tops, I'll give you a decent brute rating and a dragon form in addition to flight."

"For how long?" Amy asked sarcastically, trying not to get distracted by the girl's breasts even if they were nearly perfect as far as she could tell. "I don't generally do requests."

Aisha glanced between Loki and Amy, rather amused by the healer's frustration.

"Permanently, you're one of the best healers around. I'm a touch surprised one of the tinkers hasn't already given you a force field belt to make sure you don't get shot by a random idiot," Loki complained.

"We don't have any tinkers in the area with the right specialization," Amy pointed out.

"Considering the Protectorate has access to teleporters, I find that rather suspect," Loki complained. "Either way, you need some decent gear and I just happen to be able to make amazing gear."

"How do I know this isn't a trick?" Amy asked.

"If I wanted to hurt you," Loki gestured toward the sky, "I'd have just teleported you a thousand feet in the air."

"Fine, what do you want?" Amy asked as she glanced at Aisha.

"I want to turn the world's best healer into a magical dragon girl," Loki said cheerfully.

"Why?" Amy asked warily, fairly sure the girl was insane.

"Because I can and because we don't have enough healers or dragons in the world and the one we have sort of sucks monkey balls. Are you telling me you don't want to be a magical dragon girl?" Loki asked with a pout.

Amy turned to look at Aisha. "She's insane, isn't she?"

Aisha shrugged. "People in glass houses shouldn't toss stones."

"What?" Amy snapped.

"If I had your power, I'd stick out a donation box." Aisha shrugged. "Okay, I'd probably charge the rich assholes a mint and volunteer the rest of the time but that's me. At the very least, there's nothing wrong with a box for donations that says, 'Donations aren't mandatory, just nice."

"She's right," Loki cut in, "people appreciate feeling like they're helping people. Either way, if you're willing to donate a bit of time, I'll turn you into a high end brute."

"Powers don't work that way," Amy argued.

"Want to bet?" Loki asked with amusement. "If I can turn Aisha into a high tier brute and dragon girl, you'll be my naughty servant girl for a week."

Amy snorted. "And if you can't?"

"I'll give you a chest filled with gold," Loki offered.

Amy snorted. "Prove that you can grab the gold and I'll consider it."

Loki used her clairvoyance power to find a decent number of gold coins under the ocean then teleported them to the beach in front of Amy along with the mostly deteriorated chest they'd been resting in. "Is that enough proof?"

Amy stared as the chest broke apart and water and gold coins poured out onto the sand. "Fine, get over here so I can make sure you're not a parahuman," she ordered Aisha.

Aisha stepped over. "How does this work?"

Amy reached out and poked Aisha on the forehead, checking her biology. "You're not a parahuman though you have the potential."

"I'm not surprised," Aisha said, thinking of her brother.

"How are you going to turn her into a brute?" Amy asked.

"Magical coke," Loki said as she levitated the re'em's blood enhanced coke over to Aisha. "All she has to do is drink the coke and she'll have enough strength to toss around trucks." She popped the cap with telekinesis, floated it over and dropped it in her inventory as she didn't want to litter.

"That sounds insane," Amy complained, wondering what was in the coke if it could turn someone into a brute. "Tinkertech drunks can cause some nasty side effects."

"If he wanted to mess with us, we couldn't stop him and he already said there weren't any side effects." Aisha worked on drinking the perfectly normal tasting coke, looking forward to being a brute.

"Fine," Amy muttered as she reached out and touched Aisha's forehead so she could monitor the changes. "What the fuck!" she sputtered as Aisha's muscles changed, growing denser and her bones seemed to shift composition, growing fair stronger than they had any right to be but losing none of the functionality bones should have.

Loki snickered. "Don't worry, you haven't seen anything yet. Just wait until we turn her into a dragon or give her flight!"

Aisha finished the last of the coke. "Now what?"

"Now you eat a cupcake," Loki said as she conjured a flight cupcake and tossed it to Aisha. "It should give you flight."

"Bullshit," Amy muttered. "A brute rating is one thing but flight?"

"I promised I'd turn her into a magical dragon girl, what type of magical girl can't fly?" Loki asked as he glanced between the teenagers.

Aisha quickly ate the cupcake then started floating off the ground, much to Amy's surprise. "Wicked!"

Amy stared at Aisha, trying to figure out how she was flying considering the only change had been in her brain. She pulled her hand away. "How long will it last?" she asked, wanting confirmation for what she already knew looked like a permanent change.

"It's permanent." Loki conjured a bottle of cider and levitated it over to Aisha. "Here, this should give you a basic dragon form."

Amy shook her head as Aisha twisted off the top and eagerly drank the bottle of Myst's Apple Cider. "Do I even want to know what's in the bottle?"

"Some of the best apple cider you'll ever try," Loki replied as she conjured a coke for Amy and levitated it to her after popping the top off. "Here."

"What the hell," Amy muttered then worked on draining the bottle, tired of being scared of combat and jumping at shadows all of the time.

"How do I turn into a dragon?" Aisha asked eagerly.

"You take a couple of steps back then sort of focus and shift," Loki explained as she watched Amy's muscles sort of ripple as she shifted to a more athletic looking build. "I bet I could bounce a quarter off her ass."

Amy stared at Loki, surprised she'd actually gone there then twisted so that she could see her ass which certainly looked more toned. "Huh, you're right…" she trailed off as Aisha shifted into a gray horse sized dragon. "I'm suddenly glad that I didn't take the bet."

"One magical dragon girl," Loki said proudly. "I should probably wait to upgrade her breath weapon until she gets a handle on her new powers."

"What else can you do?" Amy asked as she studied the four legged dragon, fairly sure her wings weren't actually large enough to fly without shenanigans.

"What can I do or what can I give you?" Loki asked as Aisha ran around on the beach, getting used to her new form.

"Both," Amy said, finding herself strangely interested in what powers he could hand out.

"Using the PRT's system, I'm basically a mover yes because of teleportation and a trump yes because of my ability to reverse engineer tinkertech and improve things and people."

"What do you mean by 'improve people?" Amy asked, wondering if she could fix her step-father's depression.

"Think of it like a really detailed video game, I can improve stats, qualities and powers by spending mana or energy," Loki explained as he conjured a cupcake and floated it over to Amy. "This should give you flight."

"If you can improve people, why haven't you talked to the Protectorate?" Amy asked then worked on eating the cupcake.

"It's on the list but I've only been on Earth Bet for about six hours. I have a list of people to talk to thanks to a precog but I'm not a fan of rules and regulations."

Amy finished her cupcake as she studied the cape's face. "Let me guess, I was on the list?"

"Yep, near the top. Speaking of powers, can I talk you into fucking me for clairvoyance?" Loki asked hopefully.

"What?" Amy sputtered.

"You've seen the movie Indecent Proposal or at least heard of it, right?" Loki asked.

Amy shook her head. "Sorry."

"That's the one where a rich guy offered a married woman a lot of money to have sex and it caused a bunch of problems because of morals, right?" Aisha asked after swapping back to her normal form.

"Pretty much," Loki replied with a shrug. "I'm sort of curious if I can talk people into fucking people or doing weird things for powers."

Amy stared at Loki. "You realize that's illegal as hell, right?"

"Not in international waters," Loki pointed out.

"How many zeroes are we talking?" Aisha asked.

"How large is the bounty on the Slaughterhouse Nine?" Loki asked as she scratched her chin.

Amy opened her mouth then closed it as she realized the girl was serious. "Are you sure you can kill them without dying?"

"Sure. If I give you the bounty and clairvoyance will you fuck me silly?" Loki asked, fairly sure she'd say yes given the amount of money and the fact that she was offering powers.

"What other powers can you give out?" Amy asked, needing a minute to process the girl's insane offer. Normally she wouldn't consider it but she knew the bounty was high enough that she'd never have to work again and that the strange girl was one of the few capes that might be able to pull it off given the fact that she'd pulled her out of the shower. It didn't hurt that she was better looking than Vicky.

"Electrokinesis, improved appearance, agelessness and more if you're willing to travel to interesting worlds with me," Loki offered.

"What about school?" Amy asked weakly, finding herself tempted by the offer.

"Completely overrated," Loki replied smugly. "I'm offering the chance of a lifetime and we both know you could make enough to retire on by taking a trip to Hollywood and offering to make people look twenty or thirty years younger. Not to mention, you could always just test out of school and hit college when you get back."

"My sister?" Amy asked, not wanting to leave her behind.

"Bring her with us," Loki suggested. "I'd love to see what I could offer her to fuck you. I mean there has to be a price, right?"

Amy shook her head, wondering how much it would take. "I doubt it," she admitted reluctantly after a few seconds.

Aisha shrugged. "Maybe I'm just warped but I'd happily fuck just about anyone or anything for that type of money, including family."

"Fine, I'll have sex with you for the bounty, clairvoyance, electrokinesis, improved appearance and agelessness," Amy offered, figuring she might as well be the best paid whore in history if she was going to whore herself out.

"Deal." Loki focused on Jack Slash with her clairvoyance, not terribly surprised to find him in an old RV in a forest somewhere. She used her telekinesis to rip his chest open then ripped his heart out, figuring it was poetic justice. She ignored Riley's scream of anguish as she teleported the table in the RV into Mannequin's chest. She teleported Shatterbird halfway through the windshield then teleported Hatchet Face into Crawler, completely destroying the monster's connection to his shard and killing him instantly. "Five down, three to go."

"Seriously?" Amy sputtered, not expecting it to be quite that easy.

"What can I say, I have a particular set of skills," Loki replied as she focused on William Manton and teleported a rock into his chest, not wanting to go anywhere near the Siberian if she could help it as 'she' was one of the few things in the world that might be able to hurt her. She ignored Hatchet Face trying to dig his way out of Crawler and focused on Burnscar, scanning her mind. 'Great, Dad's right, her power screwed her up.'

Aisha laughed. "Right."

"Don't freak out." Loki used her telepathy to put Burnscar to sleep then teleported her to the beach.

Amy jumped back. "Is that Burnscar?" she asked, recognizing her face and the distinctive burn scars.

"Yeah, her power fucks with her head." Loki gestured at Burnscar. "Gemino."

Amy blinked as a second Burnscar appeared. "Did you just clone her?"

"Technically, it's not alive but yeah, basically. I'm sending Burnscar somewhere she won't have powers and can get some help but I want the full bounty." She teleported the copy half way through the windshield next to Shatterbird then focused on Bonesaw. 'Sorry, I can't let you save Jack.' She used her telepathy to put the girl to sleep so she could look through her mind for traps and contingencies without the tinker running off or causing trouble.

"What do you mean?" Amy asked warily as she stared at the dangerous parahuman sprawled on the sand.

"Parahuman powers are provided by alien supercomputers in alternate dimensions that connect to bits of your brain," Loki explained as she looked through Bonesaw's mind, trying not to vomit as she saw some of her more terrifying experiments.

"That would explain some things," Amy admitted.

"That's it?" Aisha asked in disbelief.

"It would certainly explain where we get enough energy to use our powers," Amy said as she walked over and touched Burnscar, wanting to make sure she stayed unconscious. "She's sleeping, another power?"

"I have a decent collection," Loki said absently as she focused on Hatchet Face as he finished ripping his way out of Crawler. She teleported the cape's axe into his face, killing him instantly. "If you could be very quiet for a minute, I'd appreciate it."

Aisha nodded and kept her mouth shut.

Loki teleported Bonesaw onto the sand then used her x-ray vision skill and looked for the various failsafes and teleported them to the center of the Earth where they'd burn up. "Okay, that should be all of her failsafes and weapons."

"Is that Bonesaw?" Amy asked warily.

"Yeah, her name is Riley, she was a nice kid before Jack got his hands on her." She gestured at Bonesaw and copied her. She teleported the copy into the RV along with Hatchet Face. "Okay, since I'd rather not deal with the paperwork, can I just use a can of spray paint and write 'Send the check to Panacea?' on the outside of the RV I'm going to teleport to the PRT?"

Amy stared at Loki in disbelief for a couple of seconds while Aisha laughed her ass off. "Carol would try to claim most of it for New Wave or it would be stuck in a trust."

"Rats," Loki muttered as she pulled a jewelry box with a stone out of her inventory. "Before I check to see if I can use a shortcut, can you make sure she's actually a parahuman?"

"Probably a good idea, they've used body doubles before." Amy reached down and touched Bonesaw. "She's a parahuman and she has a disturbing amount of nonorganic material in her body."

Loki waited until Amy took her hand away then touched Riley with the stone, turning her into an elf. "Hopefully that worked."

Amy blinked when she noticed that Riley's ears were pointed like an elf and that she was a bit taller. "Did you just turn her into an elf?"

Loki grinned. "I didn't want to rip out all of her enhancements and her alien computer was pushing her to experiment and cause conflict."

"Does that apply for every power?" Amy asked warily as various pieces came together and formed a nasty picture.

"Most of them aren't nearly that pushy but yeah, most parahumans are pushed towards conflict or at least risky decisions. You probably feel better when you get a strange case at the hospital and your sister is probably pushed to be more aggressive."

"She certainly got worse after she triggered," Amy admitted as she reached down to check Bonesaw. She blinked as she realized the elf wasn't a parahuman anymore. "She's not a parahuman, how the hell?"

"Good, I was hoping that would work, with any luck, she'll still be a tinker, just without the side effects." Loki grinned as she reached over, touched Burnscar and loaned her regeneration.

Aisha stared as the scars on the villain's face healed before her eyes. "Did you just heal her?"

"Yep, I can loan people my regeneration," Loki replied smugly.

"You're almost as bullshit as Eidolon, aren't you?" Amy asked as she looked at Loki.

Loki laughed as she held her hand out towards Amy. "You tell me, he's a parahuman, I'm not."

Amy reached out and touched Loki's hand and blinked as she realized that Loki wasn't a parahuman. "What the fuck are you?"

"A god!" Loki joked.

"Seriously?" Aisha blurted.

"No," Loki admitted with a snicker. "Come on, the look on your face was amusing," she teased as Aisha glared at her.

"If you're not a god, what are you?" Amy asked.

"Complicated?" Loki offered.

"Right, Ms Complicated, do you have a name?" Amy asked, suddenly remembering that she'd never actually asked.

"I'm Loki Shadows, magic user and finder of lost keys at your service," Loki offered as she reached down and turned Burnscar into an elf then stuck her in her inventory.

"Any relation to the norse god?" Amy asked suspiciously, not sure what the hell else she could be as she wasn't a parahuman.

"Not that I know of though it would explain a few things," Loki admitted as she conjured an apple cider for Amy. "You might as well get your dragon on. Then we'll see about making you immune to fire, electricity and acid while we're boosting you to hell and back."

"Can I get some immunities?" Aisha asked.

"That depends on what you're offering," Loki replied, fairly sure they could figure out something.

An: Yes, this is connected to Myst in DC, much like Lexie's adventure is.