All the Time to Lose (Wormverse)

Ch 31: New Faces

I nod. That sounds like a fair trade. I return to my corner and wait. She should come over to me after getting pointedly ignored by Fulgur. Right on que, Emma Barnes starts walking towards me. No. Walking doesn't capture her arrogance. Striding maybe? Strutting? Swaggering?

Whatever it is, she does it. With Shadow Stalker gone, she's looking for a new super-powered friend. One problem for her is, I sure as hell am not about to be it. As usual though, my face is a perfect mask of a calm, emotionless figure.

A new vision catches my eye and I am soon surrounded by its variations. There is a slim chance that the Travelers and Undersiders both attack the gala tonight. I can't say for certain how slim it is, but it could spell trouble for future interactions.

I am jarred from the rather graphic images by Emma tapping my arm. My head snaps to look at her and she flinches slightly. Did she think I was going to zap her with lasers or something? Regardless, how I play this will shape how all of Brockton Bay sees me. No pressure.

She looks at me expectantly. Did she say something? I don't know. "Did you say something?" Her face is a mixture of indignation and a pout before she quickly covers it with a fake smile. "Oh nothing. I just wanted to say hi. I'm Emma-."

"Barnes. Your dad is Alan Barnes, a lawyer. This conversation will go nowhere." She looks taken aback and splutters "Wha-what? How?" Oh yeah, most of the capes know me by now, but the civilians wouldn't. I could tell her I'm a precog, but I like the timelines in which I don't tell her.

I take off my visor, staring her in the eyes, speaking slowly, quietly, but very clearly. "Taylor. Hebert." With that, I put my visor back on, and continue to stare at her, waiting for her to leave. To say she looks shocked is putting it mildly.

I'd say she looks like a ghost just punched her in the gut. As she processes my words though, her face contorts into something between shame and anger. Not that I'm surprised. Everything I just did was calculated to tell her that I know what she did to Taylor.

More so however, I want her to understand that I'm not some spineless teenager desperately seeking acceptance. I am perfectly capable of taking her down. Seeing that I'm not moving or backing off in the face of her anger, she walks off.

She's not storming off since that would draw too much attention, but the way she walks, with her head angled down and taking long, purposeful strides is enough to tell anyone just how upset she is. That ought to do it.

Not a minute later, a local reporter comes up to me. "Aeon is it?" I nod. "May I ask you a few questions?" I nod. And so it begins. "May I ask what it is you said to that girl to upset her so much?" Here we go. With all of the emotion I can muster, I look at her past my visor.

"I do not care much for societal divisions. What I do care about is how we treat one another. I do not tolerate those who cannot abide by the basic principles of human decency. Least of all respect for another."

The lady furiously scribbles down what I said, opening her mouth as she finishes, I answer her question before she even asks it. "Yes. You may quote me on that." Before she can ask another question, Vista comes over. "Pardon me." She says to the reporter before turning to me.

"Have you eaten?" Today? Yes. Within the last 8 hours? No. Oh right. The physician said I need to eat more. Apparently, my hesitation is answer enough. Vista sighs, grabbing my arm and throwing an apologetic look at the woman.

"Please excuse us." She leads me to the buffet table and makes sure I get some food, even going so far as to insist on watching me eat some, just to be sure I eat. That last part really isn't necessary. I am not one to waste food.

I spend the rest of my 'interviews' teasing about my power. I never explicitly state what it is, nor do I demonstrate it aside from answering questions before they're asked. Glenn said it would be a good way to get people interested in me. Apparently that's a good thing.

The next day is filled with more training and more paperwork. During my daily session with Dr. Yamada, she warns me that I have patrol this afternoon. I don't know why she was phrasing it as a warning...until she told me who my partner would be.

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"Ready to go kiddo?" I resist the urge to sigh or roll my eyes. It would not be nice and he is just trying to lift the mood. So, instead, I just nod at the bright red hero. He chuckles. "You really need to talk more, Aeon. You're scaring people."

I shrug. "Glenn said it would be good to stay quiet. Makes people more curious." Assault chuckles "He would say that. C'mon." He says, waving me to follow as he turns and strides out the door of the PRT.

The first few blocks are pretty quiet so we take our time walking while I explain a few nuisances of my power to Assault. When we reach a larger street with a few people out and about, we pick up the pace a bit and I shut up.

We pass by small groups of people, running in a few places but overall keeping a brisk but relaxed pace. The point of this patrol is to establish a presence as much as it is to keep an eye out for criminal activity.

I realized the other day that I need to be careful. With my ability to effect minds, including which timeline it follows...I can - to an extent - force people to make decisions. A terrifying thought to be sure. I will have to be careful about that.

Our patrol is quiet, with no criminal activity to be seen. I even focus on my visions to see if we're missing anything...we aren't. Assault tries to either get me to laugh or make a joke myself, but he is unsuccessful.

I honestly don't know how to make jokes and I tend to miss the jokes people make. We haven't run into any reporters which is nice. Assault gets quiet when we turn onto a fairly populated street. Assault makes a point of waving to people as we pass. Many wave back.

With the power still out in most of the city, the newspaper is being distributed at a huge discount so people can keep up to date. Not surprising that the swearing in and gala are big news. On the very front page though is a picture of each of us in our new costumes swearing in.

The headline reads 'New Heroes Bring New Hope to the City'. I'll have to remember to grab one later. I've always liked reading local newspapers when I traveled. It helped me feel like I was a normal human being. Oh. Why wait?

I pull out the small cash I have on me as I approach the 70-some year old Japanese man selling the newspapers. I hand him the cash and pick up the newspaper. I look up at him, and he's staring at me like an alien.

"You-you read the newspaper?" I smile, despite knowing that he can't really see it. "Of course. I do appreciate you doing this by the way." The old man gives me a dry chuckle. "You're the hero. You will do far more good for this city than I will."

I shake my head. "No. My work brings hope, but your work will bring back a sense of normalcy that the city really needs." The old man smiles. "Arigatō (thank you)." I smile and give him a small bow "Leie. (not at all)."

He looks stunned. "Anata wa nihongo o hanashimasu ka? (Do you speak Japanese?)" I shrug "Hon'nosukoshi. (Just a little.)" Assault is immediately next to me. "Everything ok Aeon?" I nod "Oh yes. Kobayashi-san and I were just chatting." The man looks startled as we walk away.

Oh yeah, he never told me his name. Oops. My power really likes to let me know things that I really shouldn't. I suppose there's no harm done though. After all, now Kobayashi-san will tell people what happened. It'll keep people interested, which will keep Glenn off my back.

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