String - Identity 12.10

With the danger gone for the time being, we all took a moment to catch our breath and nurse any wounds.

Copycat, Seer, and Prosperity had stepped away to converse privately, while Madhouse grouped around me. The exhaustion finally became too much to ignore, so I found a broken tree stump to sit down on.

Lucy had gone back to the remnants of her family to make sure they were okay. From what I could see, she was currently helping her mother and grandfather out of the rubble their cabin had collapsed into. Prometheus was by herself, resting on her shoulder against a tree. Despite sporting no visible wounds, she looked more exhausted than I felt.

“What now?” Anomaly asked. “We go after Pandora?”

“Something like that,” Alice replied, sitting on a broken log. “Though, this conflict isn’t the same kinda thing as the one with the Cains. Pandora’s all about strength in numbers.”

“Yeah-yeah, you’ve said that before,” Anomaly rolled his eyes. “What I’m asking—”

“I don’t know!” Alice snapped, glaring at him. Anomaly looked taken aback by her outburst and looked away awkwardly as she wiped away the fresh streaks of blood that trailed down her forehead. “Don’t look at me to figure this stuff out anymore. Not until we find some way to reverse the damage that bastard did to me.”

“Liberation and Mercury,” I said, drawing everyone’s attention to me. I stared down at my extendable blade, the tip still dripping with the former’s blood. “Take out the leaders and the rest will fall just like the Cains. It’s as simple as that.”

“I don’t think it is,” Vigil chimed in, looking like she was suffering a chronic headache. “I know strategy isn’t really my forte, but we’ve seen how fanatic some of those guys are. They’ll fight till the bitter end, even if their leaders are taken out.”

She had a point. 

As much as I wanted to believe in my own strategy, I knew deep down this wasn’t going to be as simple as I wanted it to be. We were dealing with a different breed of crazy here, the kind to go down in a blaze of glory. Perhaps not all of them, but enough to ensure a bloodbath if things deteriorated significantly.

So, what exactly was the play here? 

I wanted to look to Alice for answers, but we all knew she couldn’t create anything concrete enough without Gold. My track record wasn’t exactly reputable, so that was a no-go. Vigil and Anomaly weren’t exactly playmakers either. We were stuck dead in the water with no proper direction. There was Cyberspace to consider, but I trusted them about as much as I trusted Pandora at this point.

What to do?

“Hey, guys? Here’s an idea we haven’t considered,” Anomaly voiced. “Why don’t we just… y’know, sit this one out? We don’t really need to jump into this again, do we? I mean, just look at what’s happening. Ajax is here. Ajax. Even with this Mercury guy… they surely got things handled, right?”

My fatigue stopped me from replying immediately. 

I wanted to argue and make the case that our intervention was necessary—that Bayside wouldn’t be able to survive without us. However, that simply wasn’t true. While our efforts had saved the city when Grim was involved, the same could not be said for Pandora. Ajax was more than capable of dealing with them, even without aid from the ECU.

“Maybe,” I said. “Maybe not. We don’t know what Pandora’s got up their sleeve. You heard that Mentalist, they’ve apparently got some sort of chance to survive this, and Seer said that things don’t end well for anyone if we all just sit on our hands and do nothing.”

Anomaly groaned and raked his fingers across his face.

“Maaaan, what the hell gives? Why does it feel like it all comes down to us? Why are we the ones that have to do it?” He grumbled, shaking his head. “Y’know it really feels like the people in charge are incapable of doing anything right. If we’re the ones that actually get stuff done, maybe we should be the ones in charge.”

“It is starting to feel like that,” Vigil murmured, looking rather demoralized. “Look, we don’t know what Augur’s words really meant. They were vague and full of double meanings—like how prophecies were read thousands of years ago.”

“What…?” Anomaly looked at her, puzzled.

“What do you mean ‘what?’ Oh, come on. Classics? Like Ancient Greece and Rome.” Vigil explained. When Anomaly showed no real signs of understanding, she just sighed and shook her head. “I seriously need to work on that with you. Everyone knows that stuff.”

“Hey, I know about them… just not all the specifics.” Anomaly retorted hotly. “Besides, who said that’s how his power worked? Just because he read some fancy words off a page doesn’t mean it's gonna happen the way he said.”

Vigil scowled.

“It’s similar!”

Find your salvation with the everlasting flame, beneath the wings of renewal.

There was only so much mental gymnastics I could perform to not see that as some kind of allegory for Lucy’s involvement. Pandora had come all the way here to try and secure her aid, after all. It seemed obvious—even the Augur hadn’t protested their presence here.

“Give it a rest, guys,” Alice said, rubbing her head. “The point is; Pandora’s got a way out of this, and they’re going to work towards that no matter the cost. But…” she drew in a deep breath before exhaling slowly. “Maybe we should limit our involvement, at least for the moment. We’ve got our own problems to deal with, namely getting our damn independence back.”

“Yeah well… I don’t even know where to start with that,” Anomaly shrugged. “You guys are the smart ones. I thought you would be the ones to figure that out.”

“We’ve got a method of escape. It’s just going to take time,” I said with a sigh. “There’s also a lot to cover—people we need to make sure are safe and secure for when we make that move.”

“Oh.” Anomaly blinked. “I hadn’t realized you had it all figured out. When were you gonna share that?”

“I haven’t had a chance to explain it in full yet. It involves Deadlock’s prototype,” I explained. “But I need to get it open first to even know if that’s a viable means of escape. Once my super computer is done, I should hopefully be able to interface with it.”

“Should be?” Anomaly parroted, his brow raised. “You don’t sound so sure.”

“I’m not really sure of anything at the moment,” I mumbled, looking around, my eye catching Lucy. “The only exception to that is Pandora. They need to go. They’ve managed to lock Ajax and the ECU into a stalemate. I imagine Mercury has had a considerable impact on that front because without him, openly fighting Ajax is suicide. The longer that conflict is drawn out, the more the city is going to suffer.”

“But this isn’t Grim.” Anomaly pointed out. “That dude was a bigger deal than all of Pandora combined. They ain’t gonna condemn or nuke the city because Pandora got some backup. That’s completely crazy.”

I blinked, and I saw fire—the same fire Mirage had shown me. Bayside turned into a hellscape with one of Ajax’s giant ships looming above the chaos. As quickly as it came, the reminder was gone, and I was left with a cold sense of dread about what I couldn’t see. 

Mirage let slip that he had done something—something to influence how this conflict was going to turn out. I assumed he had infiltrated Pandora, but what if I was wrong? What if he had infiltrated the ECU? It wouldn’t be the first time. Who else could sneak into their headquarters and free Bonesmith?

What the hell have you done…?

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that.” I muttered under my breath.

“Heads up,” Alice murmured.

I looked up to see the Rookies approaching. Part of me didn’t want to be bothered with them right now, but unfortunately, I didn’t have a choice. There were a few things that needed to be addressed before we could even consider parting ways.

“It’s good to see that you’re all still breathing,” Seer noted amicably. Alice just snorted and shook her head while Anomaly gave them an icy look. “We’ve decided not to return to the Citadel for now. Our powers are best put to use by helping,” paused for a moment as if he were considering how to phrase his next words. “We’re going to be severely punished for our actions, but it’s worth it if we can make a difference.”

Copycat scoffed and crossed his arms.

I saw Prosperity glare at him before rolling her eyes.

“How heroic,” Alice clapped mockingly. “Forgive us if we don’t share your enthusiasm.”

“You know, you say that, but I actually think you care more than you’re willing to let on,” Prosperity said, crossing her arms. “Tell me I’m wrong all you want, but from where I’m standing, you wouldn’t have come out here to check on the wellbeing of a friend if you were all bad. I even heard you guys trying to figure out what to do about Pandora. You clearly care.”

“You heard?” Vigil asked, perplexed. “How did you—”

Prosperity pointed to the fluffy, pointy ears on top of her head.

“These things aren’t just for show. They unfortunately give me the benefit of being able to hear a lot of things that normal people really shouldn’t be able to hear,” Prosperity explained. “So, yeah. I heard you.”

“Well then congratulations! You’ve discovered that we too, have feelings and morals.” Alice clapped mockingly again. However, this time she cut the applause short. “Has the ECU’s brainwashing really sunk that deep? What kind of people did you think we were? Even if we are technically criminals, that doesn’t mean we don’t give a shit about what happens to the city.”

“I didn’t know what kind of people you were, but I say with certainty that you didn’t give me a great first impression,” Prosperity retorted hotly. “I used to think you guys played a part in getting all those soldiers killed outside the bunker. I saw the damage you caused when you flooded a quarter of the city, and took over the places the Cains controlled. As far I was concerned, you guys were just another group causing problems for us.”

Alice let out an exhausted groan as she turned away from the Rookies.

“Oh my God. Get a load of this girl. I can’t even with this right now.”

I narrowed my eyes and glared at the Morpher.

“We had nothing to do with the deaths of those soldiers. You know Grim killed them, and you also know that the flooding was necessary collateral in order to weaken Grim,” I said flatly. “Think of us how you want, but don’t twist the facts. If it weren’t for us, there would be no Bayside, and you know that.”

“I do now,” Prosperity muttered, sulking as she crossed her arms. “It doesn’t take very long to see that our superiors are running around like headless chickens. That, and it’s pretty easy for me to hear what’s being said behind closed doors. Still, it’s not going to stop me from trying to do my best. This world… we need more heroes.”

I almost cringed at how disheartened she sounded towards the end. Alice didn’t even look like she wanted to poke fun at the girl, given how close to home that probably hit.

“We realize that things aren’t as black and white as we would want them to be,” Seer cut in, sounding eager to get the conversation back on track. “I wouldn’t have proposed working with all of you if you had a bad track record. As things stand, I believe our interests are aligned.”

“Keen to keep things civil then? I’m game. We’ve already made it through one fight to the death together and we didn’t end up turning on each other. What’s one more?” Alice giggled lightly. “So long as you guys know the consequences. You three are getting the shit end of the stick here, not us. Buuuut… doesn’t have to be that way if you don’t want it to be.”

I saw what Alice was trying to do, and I didn’t have the energy to contest her little recruitment pitch. Having Seer on our side would partially cover for the loss of Gold. Copycat and Prosperity were just more versatility and firepower, but she knew as well as I did that the offer wasn’t going to get anywhere.

“Hah,” Copycat laughed dryly. “See, I’d take you up on that offer any day of the week if the ECU didn’t know everything about me. Plus, things are pretty cushy with them. Being on the legal side of the law makes things easier for me, go figure.”

Prosperity gaped at him, and I watched her take a step toward him to start her interrogation. However, I took that moment to intervene. There was an issue that needed addressing, and nobody was going anywhere until we had straightened things out.

“It’s unfortunate then, because we have a problem,” I stood up, ignoring the aches and pains that shot through my body. “You copied Anomaly’s power, and I know what that means. You have his memories, which means you know everything there is know about us.”

Silence hung in the air as everyone exchanged confused glances. 

“Nice catch,” Alice’s tone shifted on a dime and became more aggressive. “Can’t believe I let that little tidbit slip my mind.”

Copycat just stared, and it was clear that he had no idea what to say. To be honest, the lack of reaction surprised me. I expected him to know this, and I figured the Rookies knew as well, but judging from the looks on their faces, that evidently wasn’t the case.

“Umm… what?” 

That was the only thing Copycat managed to say. When he found himself the center of attention, he awkwardly lost his balance. He caught himself quickly, but it was bizarre to see how this had caught them so flat-footed. “Hang on. H-How do you know that? Better yet, who told you that?”

“Wait, that’s TRUE?” Prosperity glared at him, looking like she had been violated. I couldn’t blame her. He had taken her appearance back when I first crossed paths with him. Had she not known he had done that? I figured that had been their plan to try and get close to me. “What do you mean you take their memories? You’ve—” her expression morphed into horror “—You’ve used your power on all of us!”

“Okay-okay, let’s just take this one step at a time okay?!” Copycat held up his hands to silence her. Prosperity looked ready to pounce and claw his throat out, but she managed to restrain herself. When it was clear she wasn’t going to push things further yet, he rediverted his attention back to me. “Thanks for that, asshole. Way to bust my ass here. Can I ask how you figured that piece of information out when I’ve told literally no one about that part of my power?”

He hadn’t told anyone? Cyberspace might have provided me with the information, but it was there in his file inside the ECU’s database.

“It’s on your file.”

“On my fuckin’ what now?” Copycat muttered in disbelief. “You’ve got access to our servers?”

I shrugged.

“For a while now.”

“You gotta be kidding me. They know? How do they know?” He turned and began pacing, his hands resting on his head. “It was my old crew. Gotta be. They snitched or–or something. I never said shit about the memories… but that explains the tight leash they’ve kept me on. Damn it, I thought it was just an extended probation. Fuck!”

“So it’s true?” Seer asked, sounding unsettled. “You… you’ve seen…”

Seer couldn’t even get the words out, but Copycat just shook his head.

“Look this is a complicated subject for me—”

“COMPLICATED?!” Prosperity was downright furious. “WHAT PART ABOUT THIS IS COMPLICATED?!”

I almost felt bad. 

It wasn’t my intention to reveal this as some kind of ‘gotcha.’ All I was trying to do was lay out some boundaries about what he was and was not allowed to say to the ECU. I had enough information on him to make his life difficult if he dared to try and make ours worse. Unfortunately, it seems I unintentionally struck first.

“Just let me—hold on! Look, when I say it’s complicated, I mean it. My power isn’t that straight forward. I don’t get the whole damn package when I copy someone. I get to choose what I take,” Copycat snapped back. “Powers? That’s easy. Appearance and body? Even easier. It’s like putting on a fresh pair of clothes. At the end of the day, I can get rid of it when I want, and go back to being me.”

His explanation was enough to placate his teammates, but they still didn’t look happy. I couldn’t blame them. I wouldn’t be thrilled either if I found out someone close to me had been keeping this secret.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Seer asked. “You could have told us. Could you not see there was trust to be gained by sharing this information? Why would you risk keeping it a secret when it can be used against you like this?”

“Oh, God, I wonder why,” Copycat scowled sarcastically. “Maybe because this is the exact reaction I didn’t want to go through again. I already had to claw for every shred of trust and respect from the old crew I used to run with. I couldn’t be fucked going through that shit again with another group of people—especially if I know I’m gonna be stuck with those people for the foreseeable future.”

“Wait, can we back up a bit?” Anomaly asked, giving Seer a flat stare. “So you copied my powers… but did you copy my memories too?”

Copycat sighed heavily.

“I considered it, but no. I didn’t.” My lie detector didn’t go off. He really was telling the truth. “Memories… they’re problematic. It didn’t take me long after getting my powers to realize there was a monkey’s paw involved with that. The memories don’t go away like everything else does. They linger for a while, and if I’m not careful, I can lose myself and forget who I really am. I don’t like taking memories if I can help it.”

Prosperity and Seer shifted uncomfortably as they continued to stare at their teammate. Finally, the former found her voice.

“So… you haven’t—”

“No. Not with any of you. I didn’t see the point.” Copycat cut her off. “One or two desk jockeys in our PR division maybe, but that’s because I was curious how things worked in that area when I first joined, but otherwise… no.”

“You were going to take mine, though,” I said, drawing his attention. “That night when you tried to corner me in that apartment complex.”

“So, you knew even then?” He asked. I just nodded. He scoffed and shook his head. “Figures. That clears a lot of my confusion up. After everything the ECU said to hype you up as the new hottest baddie on the block, I wondered why you preferred to run instead of fight. I really expected you to try and take my head off.”

“Ajax’s war machines factored in a lot. I didn’t want to stick around too long after you guys called in the incident,” I replied casually. “I could have, by the way, if I wanted to.”

“I know,” Copycat shrugged nonchalantly. “I’m used to punching above my weight. I suppose you could say my curiosity got the better of me. They warned us not to confront you if we spotted you, but I just couldn’t help myself. Yeah, at the time, I would’ve taken your memories and busted you to win some brownie points with the higher ups. Maybe they would’ve lightened up a bit.”

“What’s changed?” Alice asked, unconvinced. “Call me crazy, but I don’t think you’ve trashed that option just yet.”

“I’ve put it on hold for now,” Copycat gestured toward Seer. “He’s pretty convincing when he needs to be. Said we needed to come out here to help Abby, conveniently left out the fact we would be brokering some sort of deal with you, but that’s beside the point. I guess we’re all entitled to our secrets.”

Seer pinched the bridge of his nose.

“I had my reasons.”

“So did I,” Copycat mused bitterly. “But hey, secrets out now. Anyone else got any they’d like to share? C’mon, don’t be shy. Seer and I have already had our turn. What about one of you?”

“We’ll pass if you don’t mind,” I said cordially. “We have more important things to talk about now that we’ve got the immediate stuff ironed out.”

“Back to the problem at hand, then?” Seer questioned.

“Uh, yeah,” Anomaly raised his hand like he was in a classroom trying to ask a question. “Before you guys came along, I was just trying to see what the point of getting directly involved was. I mean, I figured Ajax and your, uh, seniors had this under control. I figured we could consider… I don’t know… sitting this one out? I’m not totally keen to throw myself into another fire.”

Seer looked at him in confusion.

“A stalemate doesn’t mean things are under control. If anything, it points to the opposite being the case.” Seer’s lips thinned as he scowled at Anomaly. “Don’t you remember what I said before? If we don’t do something, this conflict is only going to get worse. I’ve seen—”

“We remember,” I cut him off. “Various outcomes, none of them favorable.”

“Damn it,” Anomaly said under his breath. “Forgot about that.”

“So, we’re still working together then?” Prosperity asked, still cautiously eyeing Copycat. “That’s… good. I think. Yeah,” her eyes caught mine as she inhaled slowly. “What exactly are we working toward now? Taking down Pandora, right?”

“Seems like it.” Alice said.

“Have you guys got a plan?” Prosperity asked.

“Nope.” Anomaly said, popping the ‘p.’ “Nothing concrete.”

“Great,” Prosperity deflated. “Just great.”

As everyone began to workshop ideas on our impossible task, my eyes drifted toward Lucy and the rest of her family. They had gathered around Prometheus, discussing what they should do now. Before I even realized it, my legs were moving on their own, and I was headed toward them.

“Upgrade?” Seer called out to me, but I waved him off.

I heard them all start to follow close behind me.

“Ruined.” I heard Prometheus mutter as she stared at the collapsed heap that had been her home. She turned to her husband with a look filled with sorrow. “I am sorry. I should have listened when you told me we would be better off further north.”

“Bah,” her husband scoffed. “We were due for a renovation anyway. I suppose we don’t have an excuse anymore,” the man said as his lips thinned. He turned around and scowled as his eyes landed on us. One by one, Lucy’s family turned. “You troublemakers wouldn’t happen to know any contractors that won’t charge an arm and a leg?”

The silliness of the request was offset by his aged, gravely tone.

“Can’t help you there, gramps,” Copycat spoke up with casual ease. “But for the right price, we might be able to help you. I’m open to a sizable commission.”

Lucy’s grandfather disregarded his words and waved him off. I simply ignored the exchange and walked past the group toward the house. I could feel eyes on me as I leaned down and placed a hand on the broken foundations. I felt my power light up in my mind's eye, and I paid the three charges required for the repair. As a bonus and a gesture of good will, I spent one more charge to earthquake proof the house. It wasn’t difficult, just a slight alteration to the framework.

In seconds, the rustic cabin was restored and looked brand new.

[Charges: 9/30]

Not much left to work with…

Prometheus’s brow raised, while her husband’s jaw fell open. He took off his hat and rapidly turned between his wife and the repaired house. He said something in Korean, which my suit roughly translated to: “What in god damn…?”

“That’s an interesting gift you’ve received," Prometheus commented lightly. “Thank you for repairing our home.”

“Free of charge,” I said lamely. Prometheus’ husband chortled. “It’s the least I could do, given everything that’s happened.”

“Don’t be foolish. Pandora was going to come after us whether you were here or not,” she replied, drawing in a deep breath. “If anything, I feel as though I should be thanking you more for your aid.”

“Don’t,” I said softly. “And I wasn’t talking about what happened here.”

“Ah…” Prometheus’s features softened as a fresh wave of grief flashed through her eyes. “I see.”

“Why don’t we take this inside?” Lucy cut in, drawing everyone’s attention. “There’s a lot to talk about, and I don’t think anyone wants to stand around out here given what’s happened. We also have a first aid kit inside.” She said, her gaze landing on Alice and Prosperity.

“We wouldn’t want to intrude.” Seer said, beating me to the punch.

“I believe we’re far past the stage of intrusion,” Prometheus said dryly. “Come inside, before I change my mind.”

I didn’t need to be told twice. 

Without hesitation, I followed Lucy’s family into the cabin.