So a while ago I posted my vigilante Marcus+Dani designs, today I drew a little more for them:
So basically in this au (called "a house built of living light", or AHBOLL), Marcus survives Bionic Showdown & goes to Megahertz for help w repairs. Long story short, Marcus gets attached and becomes a villain/anti-villain. But they realize they can't stay bc Douglas is still out there & Marcus wants revenge.
But Marcus also realizes they can't go against the Davenports alone, & so hatches up a scheme to hit Douglas where it hurts: turn his youngest child--who doesn't yet know he exists--against him. And you can probably guess how it goes from there...
i???? finally finished Licensed Response???? an mighty nein superhero au with a healthy dose of angst and found family and super dope real family too, the last chapter is right here!
"I'm just going to lend a hand," Caleb calls as they run. He doesn’t want to make this a hero thing, but this seems big. He can help out a few civilians and leave when the cops or a proper Powered Response Team shows up.
“Is this even legal?” Nott screeches.
(It really isn't legal.)
Or, the one where the Nein are a team of superheroes (well, they're working on it, at least).
Chapter One: walking the streets someone before me set on fire
[on ao3]
ZuZu’s Cafe isn’t normally a bustling place. Lots of foot traffic in and out (and Caleb absolutely counts each person that sets foot inside the shop), but people rarely stay in the small cafe for longer than it takes to pick up their order. It’s one of the reasons Caleb doesn’t mind coming here too much. Being out of the apartment sets him on edge no matter what, but Veth insists that he get out every once in a while. The usually quiet cafe is a good compromise. They can get some good coffee and some lunch and get a bit of work done and there are few enough people that a baseball cap drawn low is good enough to keep anyone from recognizing Caleb.
The operative word being usually.
Today there is a rowdy couple of college students in the opposite corner of the room, a young man with a pale X-shaped scar over one eyebrow that stands in stark contrast to his dark skin and a shock of white hair in the middle of his forehead, and a younger woman with a splash of freckles across her tan skin and vibrantly blue eyeliner swept artfully under her eyes. They have their laptops open and three empty coffee cups between them already, and they’re yelling at each other, though good naturedly. There’s another woman with them, looking disinterested in their argument, stealing food from their plates. Her undercut looks like it needs some touching up, and the hair that’s not shorn off is slowly escaping the messy bun she’s tied it up in.
Veth gives them an angry glare, and Caleb can’t help but agree. The freckled young woman meets Veth’s glare with a too cheery smile and a stuck out tongue.
And then her gaze settles on Caleb. He tugs his baseball cap down a little further and hitches his shoulders up around his ears in an attempt to hide himself further, but it seems the damage has already been done.
“Hey!” she exclaims, her face lighting up in recognition and something like glee. Caleb grimaces, sinking into his seat and glaring at Veth. “Hey you’re--”
“Jester!” the young man with the X scar interrupts loudly, fixing her with a withering look. “Leave the man be,” he continues more quietly. “He obviously doesn’t want the attention. Read the room.” The young woman, Jester, looks like a chastised child for a moment, though the man’s words sounded like nothing more than a gentle reminder. She bounces back quickly though, and is smiling and turning back to her conversation as though nothing had happened,
The other woman, though, does not have the tact the young man does, nor does she have the ability to take a fucking hint.
“Oh shit, she’s right. You’re the fucking Blitz!”
Caleb barely holds back a full body flinch. As it is, he still gives a visible wince, tugging at his collar like it’ll keep the prying eyes suddenly on him from seeing that she’s right.
“Beau!” the young man admonishes again, this time with a heat to back his words. “Christ on a bike, you two have no decency I swear to god--”
Caleb tunes him out after that, the sudden buzzing of other voices blurring with the ringing in his ears. The people at the counter who were previously engrossed in their phones have a new interest in Caleb and Veth, their whispering growing into loud muttering, to full blown conversation as though Caleb isn’t there at all.
He can feel his breathing start to pick up a bit, but he doesn’t have a chance to worry too much, before Veth pokes at his shoulder with one long finger.
“Caleb, come on. Let’s just leave,” she says softly.
Caleb focuses on the odd pitch of Veth’s voice, the almost accent that by no means should be calming, yet still is, and takes a breath. He steadies himself and closes the compiler he had had open on his laptop, tucks the computer away into his bag, watches as Veth puts their dishes in the return bin and gathers her own things. His hands are shaking, but if he puts them in his pockets he can ignore that. He doesn’t hazard the glance back at the table with Jester and Beau and the young man, or at the others at the counter who now have their attention fixed on him, even as it all starts to turn into a ruckus.
He hears the typical questions, all the things that circuited the tabloids and gossip shows for weeks after Ikithon’s arrest. Wonderings of where Astrid and Eodwulf are now, and what Caleb’s doing now, and have any of them had any contact with Trent, and have they considered returning to the Academy since they left it. It makes Caleb’s stomach churn, but he pushes that feeling far down, and simply leaves the cafe with Veth.
Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Veth’s hands flicker and half melt for a second, but she solidifies again, and he finally takes a full breath when they step out the door.
They’re halfway down the block when a hand hits Caleb’s shoulder.
He reacts on instinct, seizing the person’s wrist with one hand and summoning flames with the other, ready to blast the stranger in the face before he can even see who it is.
It’s the young man from the cafe, his eyes wide as he leans back, straining a bit in Caleb’s grasp. He’s eyeing the flames licking up Caleb’s wrist warily, and the air around the young man’s own hands is beginning to shimmer, Caleb notices.
So he’s powered too, huh? Interesting.
Caleb releases him, but doesn’t let the flames die.
“What do you want?” Veth snaps, before Caleb can even open his mouth.
“My apologies, I didn’t mean to startle you. I just wanted to apologize for my companions, back there. Neither of them seem to have a brain to mouth filter. They just spout whatever comes to mind soon as they think it. I’m sorry they called attention to you like that, Mr. Ermendrud.”
“Don’t--” Caleb hisses without thinking. He sucks in a breath through his teeth and lets it out slowly. “Caleb is fine.”
“Of course, I’m sorry. Anyway, I apologize for their antics, really. They didn’t mean to cause any trouble.” The young man truly does look apologetic, but Caleb long ago learned that appearances are often deceiving. Still, he went through the trouble of chasing them half a block just to extend an apology. That has to count for something.
“Well thank you, for the apology, uh…”
“Fjord. The name’s Fjord.”
“Well thank you for the apology, Fjord. Think nothing of it. Have a nice day,” he says, politely but still short.
The flames die down and Caleb straightens out his shirt, and turns to walk away.
That’s when the screams ring out from a block or two over. Screams, followed by a loud crashing sound, and car horns, and that is definitely not good.
Caleb tenses, the adrenaline flooding his system causing sparks to dance across his skin. He sees Fjord’s eyes go wide as the sparks skitter across Caleb’s face. Caleb doesn’t take the time to reassure him about it. He slings off the button down he was wearing and takes it and his bag and tosses them at Fjord.
“Take these for me please. Go back to ZuZu’s, ask the cashier to hold onto those until I can return, and stay inside. Go!”
And Caleb takes off running in the direction of the screams. Veth shoves her things at Fjord too, who stands there looking completely dumbfounded, and takes off after Caleb.
“Caleb! What are you doing? I thought you hated this sort of thing! What are you doing?” she calls after him as she struggles to keep up.
He turns just a bit to answer her, and instead of the Veth he’s expecting, he comes face to face with a panther. The animal has the same septum piercing that Veth does, so Caleb knows it’s her, but it’s still jarring to be expecting a fairly short human being and come up with a massive animal instead.
He shakes his head. There’s another crash, and that one sounded less like stone collapsing and more like a car colliding with something. Caleb picks up the pace.
“I cannot just let people get hurt. I can at least help until the proper authorities arrive! I’m not getting involved. I’m just going to lend a hand,” he says to the panther, because that really is all he is going to do. He doesn’t want to make this a hero thing, but this sounds like something big, and if it’s left alone, it’ll only get worse. He can help out a few civilians and leave when the cops or a proper Powered Response Team shows up.
“Is this even legal?” the panther screeches in Veth’s voice, and Caleb blinks at how strange that is before he can respond properly.
“I’m technically still a licensed Powered Responder. If the authorities show up, turn into a cat and leave. Or better yet, do not get involved. It is dangerous.”
Caleb didn’t think that panthers could look incredulous, but he is proven wrong at that exact moment with the expression Veth makes at him. And then she melts into another form, midstride, causing herself to stumble on her next couple of steps.
She curses as she finds her stride again. She’s a wolf now, but it’s one of her twisted forms, one of the ones that happens when she’s not totally in control. Bony protrusions follow the line of her spine, and she’s got monstrous looking fangs, claws that could almost be called talons.
Her curses come out slurred around the new teeth, which only serves to irritate her further. Caleb doesn’t say anything more, so she doesn’t have to respond.
He doesn’t bother to cover his face as they round the corner to the scene. There’s no reason to anymore. The public knows who he is, his civilian ID and his alias, they have for years, ever since the Ikithon Incident. They’ve known since Ikithon twisted his way into Caleb’s head, into Astrid’s, into Eodwulf’s. They’ve known since Ikithon made them villains, when all they’d ever wanted to do was help people. They’ve known since the three of them, mere children when it had happened, really, had had to stand trial to see if they should face the consequences for actions they never wanted to commit. For actions their bodies had taken without their minds.
Caleb shakes the thought from his mind as he comes to a halt and takes in the scene in front of him. His body goes up in flames as he sees that he was correct, this is an Incident. There is something in the middle of the road, atop a pile of rubble and smoking cars. Caleb would almost call it a lizard, except for the fact that it is easily almost fifteen feet tall, and walks on two legs, though it’s arms do reach the ground to act as support for it, its body is so massive.
Caleb groans when he looks at it. There is absolutely nothing he would rather do than turn tail and fucking book it, but there are innocent civilians here. There are people who cannot defend themselves and he can help.
After all of the evil he’s done, he owes it to the universe to at least try to help whenever he can.
Veth melts into another form again, or at least attempts to. All she really does is make the twisted wolf form larger, but that’s not nothing. The size will definitely help them in this battle.
Caleb’s arms are completely engulfed in flames now, small tendrils of it licking across his chest. Sparks dance through his hair. His eyes go red, shifting and changing like a burning ember.
His clothes burn away, leaving him in the uniform he keeps on, in case something sets his power off, in case something like this happens. It’s a very recognizable uniform, bearing a small logo of the Soltryce Powered Training Academy between his shoulder blades, a flame icon emblazoned across his chest.
When people see it, see him, half of them look relieved to see him. Half of them looked even more terrified, if that were even possible. Veth’s appearance isn’t really doing them any favors, but that’s not important.
What is important is that, as they watch, a handful of people nearest the beast drop to the ground, their bodies going lifeless within the span of a single second. Caleb doesn’t need to feel for a pulse to know they’re dead.
What is even more important is that, as they watch, the dead people’s bodies lurch where they lay on the ground, and slowly, jerkily, rise again.
"I'm just going to lend a hand," Caleb calls as they run. He doesn’t want to make this a hero thing, but this seems big. He can help out a few civilians and leave when the cops or a proper Powered Response Team shows up.
“Is this even legal?” Nott screeches.
(It really isn't legal.)
Or, the one where the Nein are a team of superheroes (well, they're working on it, at least).
Chapter Four: a revelation, some kind of resolution
[on ao3]
The Mighty Nein become an officially licensed Powered Response Team six months and two days after they almost got arrested. They respond to their very first official call four days later.
They’re all sitting in ZuZu’s during a mid-afternoon lull in business when they hear a voice crackle over the in-ear communicators they were each issued by the city, like tiny police radios.
“Any available PRTs, we have an incident on Twenty-fifth and Main, incident on Twenty-fifth and Main. Any available PRTs please respond,” the voice says. That’s only a few blocks away. The Mighty Nein all look up at each other with varying levels of excitement.
It ranges from Caleb’s pained ‘I guess we have a responsibility’ look, to Jester’s excited ‘hell yes, bad guys to beat up!’. From behind the counter, Zuala eyes them all with something like concern.
After he waits for the last of the other patrons to leave so the cafe is empty besides them, Fjord responds, “The Mighty Nein responding. We are en route to the scene, two minutes out.”
“Mighty Nein, the scene is yours, multiple hostiles sighted, witnesses report at least four large mutated spiders.”
Fjord freezes and shudders at that, before replying that he heard it, and they gear up to head out, leaving civilian clothes and belongings behind with Zuala before taking off.
Caleb’s grateful he doesn’t have to incinerate another pair of pants, at least, but he isn’t too happy about the running three blocks in the sticky heat of early summer.
He scolds himself for complaining about the heat when they come onto the scene.
There are four large spiders, just like the dispatcher had said. What they had neglected to mention was the one spider that’s phasing in and out of existence. It pops in and out of sight, lashing out at people with reckless abandon, every person it touches crying out in pain before seizing up, freezing in various states of agony.
Caleb stumbles when he sees them, these victims, these innocent people paralyzed, poisoned, but he regains his wits quickly, mostly thanks to Yasha’s strong hand clapping onto his shoulder in a reassuring squeeze. Yasha’s hand releases him, and his body goes up in flames, amber and gold flickering in his eyes.
The black smoking haze hovering around Yasha’s face crackles with electricity.
Veth’s form melts.
Beau and Jester flank Fjord as he pulls water from the air around them.
Molly smirks, silver and purple trailing behind him despite the distinct lack of breeze, and says, “Shall we?” and it’s almost as though his words take shape in the stagnant air.
As one, the Mighty Nein lunge.
Before the others can get into melee combat with the spiders, Caleb launches a fireball over the heads of the crowd, setting the spiders alight, just before the trouble spider zips out of existence again. The spiders screech, the ones still left in sight, at least. Their heads swivel as one in Caleb’s direction.
He’d be afraid, but his family’s there with him, Beau, Fjord and Jester hurtling forward into the fray before the spiders can reach him. His immediate job done, he turns to crowd control, as that one fucking spider pops into existence again near a disheveled looking man and his son.
Some protective instinct that Caleb doesn’t quite recognize rears its head, but he listens to it. He throws himself between the man and child and the spider. With a quick glance to be sure there are no other civilians around, Caleb runs his hands together and throws up a wall of fire in front of himself. The spider squeals, its wiry hair catching on fire as soon as it gets closer.
It reels back with another cry of pain, hissing and trying to find a way around the wall. Satisfied that it’ll keep the problem away for now, Caleb glances to his friends, his family. As he watches, Molly croons at a spider and Yasha drives her sword through its body into the ground. Beau sends a javelin through one and Fjord catches its body up in a sphere of water, lets her attack it while he contains its struggle. Veth, in the large twisted form of a bear, clamps her jaws around the third, and lets Jester press her hands to its back, inflicting wounds into it until the spider’s exoskeleton falls away with a sickening squelch.
At that, the spider by Caleb screeches again and disappears, reappearing closer to his friends with a wail.
Certain that the others have a handle on that situation for now, Caleb turns back to the man and the child, dropping the wall of fire behind him, and letting the flames dancing across his body die out. He intends to simply double check that they’re alright and move on, but when he turns around, his heart seizes in his chest for a moment.
The little boy is frozen in place, cradled in his father’s lap, his face twisted up, eyes wide with fear. Caleb hadn’t been quick enough to stop the spider from attacking him.
That makes his breath catch, sure, but it’s not what stops him in his tracks. What stops him is the little boy’s appearance.
Veth has taken that form before.
In the midst of a nightmare Caleb had woken her from a month ago, Veth had melted into this boy’s form.
He’d blame it on an imperfect memory, but his memory is without flaw.
No more than a moment passes while he mulls this over in his mind, though. That is all to be dealt with later. Right now, his attention is needed here.
He kneels in front of the man, reaching out his hands slowly.
“Hello,” he says softly. His accented is more pronounced, stressed out as he is now. “I am Caleb, you might know me as Blitz.”
“I’ve heard of you,” the man says shakily.
“I thought you might have. I’m here as a part of the Powered Response Team, The Mighty Nein. You are safe, now. My friends will finish off that last spider and then,” as Caleb speaks, the last spider gives it’s dying screech, “then my friend Render will come to our assistance over here, yes? She is a very talented healer. It will take a moment, she has to help those who were poisoned first,but she will be here very soon.” He’s not certain where it comes from, these words of reassurance. He thinks he’s saying everything he wishes someone would have said to him and Astrid and Eodwulf when they were in Ikithon’s iron grasp.
“He’ll be alright, won’t he? My son’s going to be alright?”
“What’s your name, friend?”
“Yeza. My name’s Yeza. My son is Luke. Pleasee, tell me he’s going to be alright.”
Caleb’s heart slams to a stop.
Holy.
Fucking.
Shit.
For later, he reminds himself.
“Well, Yeza, I am not a man of medicine, but if you look around you,” Caleb points at where Jester is right now, her hands on a woman’s shoulders. “My friend Render is a very gifted healer. She is wonderful at what she does, and this seems to be a perfectly fixable condition. Luke will be okay, I am certain. Just let Render make her way here.”
Yeza nods, takes a deep breath, and Caleb, though he’s not entirely sure why he does it, reaches out and clasps a hand onto the man’s shoulder just like Yasha had done to him just before the battle had begun.
He squeezes once, and gives a probably very strained smile before dropping his hand. The man looks a little more calm though so Caleb considers that a win. He glances over his shoulder to see where Jester is in her progress towards them. Only a couple more people to go.
As he watches, they shake the toxin from their limbs and look at her in thanks, relieved smiles crawling across their faces.
Jester steps up to them and kneels. She’s sweating, and it’s not from the sticky stale summer heat.
Her hand is trembling violently as she reaches out towards the boy, Luke, but she pastes on a blinding smile anyway. Caleb places his fingers on her shoulder, in the place where her uniform is carefully cut away to reveal her tanned skin. She’s too cold, and Caleb knows that she’s overextending herself, but he can’t bring himself to ask her to take it easy now. Not when she’s so close to fixing everyone, not when the last one is a child, Veth’s child, lying in his father’s lap, fear in his eyes and his muscles tensed with paralysis.
He knows Jester would just refuse him anyway, so he stays quiet, wishes there was a way he could lend her some of his energy to help her do this. There’s nothing he could do, he knows that, too.
Jester lays her hands gently on the sides of Luke’s face, cupping his cheeks in almost motherly affection, and smiles.
Her upper lip trembles almost as much as her hands.
She pulls the toxin from Luke’s body, and lets out a small cry of pain, and slumps into Caleb.
An abrupt call of “Jester!” goes up from the rest of The Mighty Nein, and he hears the commotion of them scrambling to get to her. Yasha’s sword being sheathed, Fjord’s weaponized water dissipating, Mollymauk hissing at the newly arrived cops to stay away from them, the strange popping sound that echoes when Beau summons or dismisses a weapon.
He hears the sickening squelching sound of Veth’s form melting.
Fuck.
Caleb curses in German.
“I’ve got Render,” he calls back frantically,collecting Jester’s slumped form in his arms. Luke is stirring and Yeza is sigghing in relief, this is fine he has this under control, he can’t let Veth… “Yasha, keep Nott the Brave back, don’t--”
It’s too late.
Veth is standing there, her twisted bear form melting away, a look of shock on her half formed face. Staring at her husband and injured son, Veth doesn’t even have the wherewithal to control the change in the slightest. She melts from the bear straight into plain old Veth. No mask, no altered clothing, no nothing. She’s Veth, same face and same black jeans and ratty old t-shirt that she’d stolen from Caleb and hacked up into something she deemed more fun before they went out this morning.
For a split second, her skin ripples, and she has splotches of different colors up and down her arms and neck, almost like the vitiligo that dots across Fjord’s jaw and hands. But then it fades back into her normal deep tan, and then she’s just Veth.
In the middle of a crowd of civilians, in front of the husband and son she hasn’t seen in over a year.
Lots of things happen at once then.
Mollymauk turns back to the police to sure they really aren’t approaching. The black haze that usually just hovers around Yasha’s face suddenly extends to swirl in a vortex of almost opaque grey. Through the haze, Caleb can just barely see Fjord and Beau going to talk to the law enforcement to explain what had just happened and show them their licenses. Yasha kneels next to Caleb and Jester and helps him get her situated a little more comfortable while they work out this nightmare and wait for EMTs to get there to double check that Jester’s okay.
Veth, her hair blowing out behind her from the force of the haze vortex that Yasha’s kicked up, just stares.
“My god,” Yeza says, staring right back at his wife. “You’re… Veth, you’re alive! Is it you? It’s really you?”
Veth, still a touch dumbfounded, nods once, jerkily.
“It’s me,” she says, and Caleb’s never heard her sound so small.
On the ground, Luke stirs, and coughs a little, looks up at Veth and says “Mama? Is that you?” and melts.
Yasha gasps softly.
“Oh god, no,” Veth whispers, horror hanging onto her every word. “Please no, no, no, no. Not him, no.”
Making sure that Yasha has Jester safely in her lap, Caleb gets up, taking a few steps closer to Veth. She flinches back, hr eyes wide and still focused on her son.
“Veth,” Caleb mutters softly, putting a hand out to bridge more of the distance. He has to put out a couple of flames that spark across his wrists. “It is okay,” he tries.
“No it’s not! Look what I’ve done, Caleb! look at what I did to my son! I cursed him!” Veth shouts.
Caleb’s glad that Luke seems too out of it to be paying much attention at the moment. Yeza, on the other hand, visibly flinches, and as he does, Veth recoils.
Yeza is clearly torn between his son, still lying half in his lap, and his wife, despairing in front of him. Caleb knows this is not a situation he can help in, so he goes to try to do something he can help with.
He kneels beside Yeza once again, and carefully gathers Luke into his lap, holding the boy gently to him as he shivers. Caleb gives him a quick once over to be sure that Jester had healed him entirely, and when he sees that she had, determines that the boy just needs to rest and he’ll be alright. He half murmurs, half sings an old lullaby he sort of remembers from when he was very young to Luke as Yeza approaches Veth.
Veth visibly recoils as he nears, but he isn’t put off, reaching out to take her hands in a loose grip. He’s giving her an out, Caleb can see, leaving her room to pull away, to leave.
“Veth, I thought you were dead. I--I can’t believe that you-- I mean, you’re Nott the Brave! My wife is a superrhero! Would you look at that. I thought you were gone, really. I thought I’d never see you again.”
“I texted,” Veth says softly, miserably.
“I know, but I still… I hoped, but some part of me-- you never came home one night, Veth! You just never came home!”
“I’m sorry. I am. I never-- I didn’t want you to see me. I didn’t want you to see… I got jumped by members of that gang, the Goblins, and they knocked me out and when I woke up I… I was a monster. I was cursed. I didn’t want you to see what they did to me.”
Oh. Oh, that makes Caleb’s heart hurt. Yasha gives him a sad look that resonates with how he feels just a bit too well.
“This is just another part of you, my dear,” Yeza says, almost too softly for Caleb to hear, and Veth scoffs. “Oh don’t give me that. This was something inside of you the whole time. That just brought it out. You know, stressful situations can trigger otherwise dormant powers in someone? That’s what happened to Luke when we thought we lost you.” Veth makes a distressed sound and Yeza places a hand so, so softly to the side of her face. “None of that now. Just. We’re just happy to have you back. We’ve missed you so much, Veth. I’ve missed you. I don’t care that you’re powered, and I don’t care how that happened. I’m just happy you’re okay. That’s all that matters.”
Veth lets out a watery laugh, just shy of a heavy sob, and sniffles miserably, before throwing herself at Yeza, looping her arms around his neck and holding him tightly.
As she does, her form melts again, and the fabricated mask is back on her face, her features just enough different that no one would be able to tell that it’s her. When she draws back, Yeza gasps, but he doesn’t so much as flinch in the face of it.
“Let’s get your boy out of here,” Yasha pipes up, gathering Jester in her arms. “He and Render both need to rest after this, and my home is only a few blocks away, we can head there. Platinum, Quartermaster and Sentinel can handle the police brief and meet us when they’re done.”
At the prompting, Caleb draws Luke to his chest and stands, only stumbling a little as he does.
He carries Luke over to Yeza and Veth and gestures the correct direction with his chin, and begins to walk.
Smaller now, and transparent enough to see through, but not be seen through, Yasha’s haze follows them, and they head for the back alley of ZuZu’s so they can change into their civilian clothing and head back to Yasha’s without drawing so much attention.
When the haze dispels and they open the back door, Zuala is there in th kitchen retrieving a tray of cookies from the oven. It clatters to the counter when she sees Jester in Yasha’s arms, Luke in Caleb’s, and Veth leaning heavily into Yeza’s side.
“Jesus Christ, what the hell happened? Who are they?” Zuala exclaims, reaching for the first aid kit they now keep here for emergencies.
Yasha waves it away and gives Zuala a brief rundown of the situation, and Zuala quickly shifts from confusion to resolve.
“Yasha, dear, go change and clear out the cafe, we’re closing early today. No one needs any immediate assistance?”
Caleb shakes his head. “No. They’ll need rest and for someone to keep an eye on them, but no one is terribly injured. Simply drained.”
“Good. We’ll tidy you all up and head back to the house so we can let them rest for a while, make sure they’re okay. The others are going to meet us at the house?”
Electricity crackles from the other side of the room as Yasha sticks the tip of her sword into a well-worn divot in the floor in the corner, and whispers a word, and her armor zaps away. The haze dissipates and the black war paint fades back into her skin and she’s left with the single blue line tattooed down her chin and the soft green flannel and denim cutoffs she was wearing this morning. Her sword is no more than a hilt, small enough that she can tuck it into the waistband of her shorts, and it’s like there’s nothing there.
She presses a kiss to Zuala’s forehead and heads for the front of the cafe to clear it out.
Zuala clears off the counter a little more so that Caleb can lay Luke down to rest his arms.
As Caleb sets him down, Zuala turns to Yeza and Veth.
“Hey, do you think you could gather the others’ things so that they can have their civilian clothes waiting for them when they get to the house?” she asks softly, and Caleb appreciates that.
A small, easily managed task is a good way to make sure Veth doesn’t zone out too far, that she stays with them well enough. It works. Veth nods and makes a noise of agreement and sets about digging out the clothes they had all tossed at Zuala before taking off. They’re stuffed in a little alcove mostly hidden by a cabinet, so it takes a minute, but it’s no issue.
Veth hands Yeza a worn button down that’s probably Fjord’s, and, in a voice the rest of them almost can’t hear, asks him to give it to Zuala so that she can cover up most of Jester’s uniform for the walk. Caleb takes his things from Veth and tosses his jeans and henley on over top of his uniform.
Veth prods at her own face, seems to realize that she hasn’t dropped the altered form, and concentrates for a second to melt into her own face. Yeza watches in something like awe.
“That’s incredible,” Yeza breathes.
Caleb can’t help but smile. He knows Veth was terrified of what her husband would think of her newfound abilities, but everything Caleb’s seen so far says that Yeza does not care in the slightest. In fact, he seems to be fascinated with his wife’s powers.
Caleb would use the word enamoured for the way Yeza looks at Veth.
It’s almost sickeningly sweet, like the pastries Jester is so fond of.
Caleb abruptly feels like he’s intruding, and turns back to Zuala where she’s checking on Jester and Luke.
“They are not turning into pastries, are they?” Caleb teases.
Zuala, without looking up, laughs at him. “You know I’m a licensed EMT, right, Widogast?”
Caleb did not know that.
He tells her as much.
“I have been for a while. Before we moved to America, opened this place, that was my plan. Fell apart a little bit. But I still remember the basics. It seems like Jester and the kid are going to be just fine, I think you were right. They just need lots of rest and some fluids and they’ll be back on their feet in no time. Nothing to worry about if they stay this way.”
Caleb smiles. The Nydoorins never fail to surprise him.
“You are full of many surprises my friend,” he says to her, and she makes a noise that is almost a laugh.
Yasha returns to the kitchen with keys in hand to inform them that the cafe is cleared out, and that she’s gotten in contact with the others to tell them where to meet.
As Yasha talks, Yeza takes Veth’s hand and leads her gently back over to the rest of them.
Gently, like she’s afraid he’ll break if she touches him Veth places her hand on her son’s cheek. Caleb can see the shine of tears on her face and in her eyes but he doesn’t say a word. Veth deserves this.
“Let’s get him back to our place so that we can get him comfortable. You can stay until he’s feeling a little better before taking him home,” Zuala prompts.
Yasha hefts Jester’s still unconscious form into her arms. When Veth takes a step away, still holding her husband’s hand, Zuala lifts Luke.
“Thank you so much,” Yeza says, as they head for the back door.
Caleb takes the keys from Yasha and locks it behind them.
“Think nothing of it. Veth is like family to us. And you are her family. So that makes you important to us as well, ja?”
Yeza nods and Veth tries valiantly to hide her smile.
“Well, I’m looking forward to getting to know my wife’s second family. Not every day you get to do that, huh?” Yeza jokes.
Veth groans. Caleb and Zuala chuckle. Yasha fixes him with an approving look.
Caleb thinks Yeza will fit right in with the rest of them, no problem.
"I'm just going to lend a hand," Caleb calls as they run. He doesn’t want to make this a hero thing, but this seems big. He can help out a few civilians and leave when the cops or a proper Powered Response Team shows up.
“Is this even legal?” Nott screeches.
(It really isn't legal.)
Or, the one where the Nein are a team of superheroes (well, they're working on it, at least).
Chapter Five: home is wherever i'm with you
Caleb is helping Jester study for her math final at her apartment when Fjord comes out of his room, shouting at her for her rent money.
“Oh, Caleb, didn’t know you were here. What’re you two up to?” Fjord says, cutting off his shout as soon as he sees Caleb.
“I’m doing well, thank you. I am helping Jester study for her mathematics exam. How are you?”
Fjord shrugs, dragging a hand over his hair. He looks tired. The shock of white hair at the front of his head seems more prominent at the moment.
“Little stressed. Got a final in one of my major classes that I’m not feeling too confident on. Despite Jes’s best efforts I’m still a bit sore from that run in with those weird mutated hyena things last weekend. I’m just trying to get everything squared away for the apartment so Beau’s not left hanging out to dry, before we head out for the summer.”
“Ah,” Caleb says. “So you’ve both made your plans to return home for the break?”
“Well, technically,” Jester says, twisting her fingers together. “I have not made any plans to go home.”
“What?” Fjord’s hand stills on the back of his head. “Jester, you told me you booked a flight to go back to California two weeks ago!”
“I know! I’m sorry Fjord! It wasn’t supposed to be a lie, but I went to book a flight after we had that conversation, and I was looking at plane tickets and you know it’s pretty expensive, and I would hate for my mama to have to pay that much money for me to go home for just a couple of months, and I could just stay here and work and video chat with her every night and that would be just as good and then I would be making money, too which would be great! And I would still be able to do superhero stuff too! So Yasha and Molly and Beau and Caleb and Veth won’t be on their own!”
Caleb watches Jester’s sudden nervous fidgeting, and cocks an eyebrow.
“Jester, do you want to go home? If the finances really concern you, you know that we would all help you figure something out. I know you miss your mother,” he says.
If Caleb is being honest, he is a hermit. He stays home, and aside from rent and groceries and the Netflix that Veth insists on, he does not spend the money he makes on like, anything. He has the money. If he weren’t concerned about it sounding like a handout, which he knows Jester might resent, he would offer to purchase a plane ticket home for Jester right then and there. If she wants to see her mother, Caleb would help her do that. A good relationship with a parent is something Caleb wishes he had had. If he can help Jester have that, he’d be happy to do whatever necessary.
When she still says nothing, Fjord prompts, “Jes?”
“I don’t think I can go home,” she says, very softly.
"I'm just going to lend a hand," Caleb says. He doesn’t want to make this a hero thing, but this sounds big. He can help out a few civilians and leave when the cops or a proper Powered Response Team shows up.
“Is this even legal?” Veth screeches.
(It really isn't legal.)
Or, the one where the Nein are a team of superheroes (well, they're working on it, at least).
Chapter Two: i got no one for the quiet life
[on ao3]
Caleb releases a blast of fire at the nearest pair of zombies, incinerating them in an instant, but two more immediately take their place, and Caleb groans in frustration.
“Stay away from the creature! Everybody get back!” he calls.
It’s marginally effective.
He really wants to be able to be able to throw up a wall of fire, but the blast radius from that will only hurt more civilians and hurt Veth, and Caleb doesn’t want that. He can’t hurt any more innocent people, not again.
Instead of throwing up a wall, he lobs a ball of flames at another pair of zombies with one hand, and another at the beast. The zombies go up in smoke, but the thing barely flinches.
Caleb swears loudly in German. Veth the giant mutated wolf shoots him a withering look, and launches herself at the beast. Her fangs tear into its forearm, rending flesh, and she comes away spitting blood from her mouth and gagging. Caleb grimaces in sympathy. That can’t taste good.
He launches another volley of fireballs at the zombies, cutting another two down, and racks his brain for a way to fight this thing if his fire is barely singeing it.
As he’s debating simply fleeing, a Powered Response Team should be here soon anyway, a spear sprouts out of the beast’s back.
Caleb glances around for it’s source, and lands on a cluster of people appearing from an alleyway to his right.
There’s a group of five, two lagging further behind the other three. Caleb identifies the one who threw the spear first, because as she emerges from the alley, another spear appears from nowhere, and she throws it again with practiced precision. She has an undercut, remaining hair tied up in a messy bun, needs a bit of touching up. Despite the mask covering the top half of her face, Caleb instantly recognizes her as the woman, Beau, from ZuZu’s. He also recognizes that uniform. Sentinel, a graduate of the Cobalt Academy, Soltryce’s sister school. Caleb’s seen her a couple of times before. But he wasn’t aware she was a licensed…
Caleb glances behind her. Oh. No, she’s not here as a part of a PRT. The people behind her are not professionals any city would send out as part of a response team.
A man in beat up jeans, Timberland boots, and a plain black hoodie, with a bandanna tied around his face, and a woman in sapphire blue spandex, her face half covered in a severe black mask, flank Sentinel, and Caleb can identify the man right away.
The X-shape scar and shock of white hair give him away. From that, Caleb can only assume the woman in blue is Jester, though her uniform does a far better job at concealing her identity.
The two people behind them turn out to be a woman dressed like a flat out viking, massive sword and all, her identity concealed by smears of black face paint and the haze of black smoke that seems to hover around her face, and another person dressed in flowy silver and lavender, a gaudy mask across their face covering almost everything but their mouth.
Caleb doesn’t recognize the viking woman, but he has an idea about the last person. He’s fairly certain that she’s Platinum, half of a vigilante duo, twins, likely, who share a power set, and switch on and off in who responds to incidents. There’s a warrant out for their arrests, vigilantism is a crime after all, but Caleb’s almost certain that Platinum and Silvertongue’s powers will keep them from ever serving time. From what Caleb can tell, they have an ability to make people do anything, an ability that sets him on edge and brings up memories of Ikithon, though as far as he knows, Platinum and Silvertongue have never used their abilities for anything but the good of others and to keep out of jail. But still. There’s more he doesn’t know about them than he does know.
Now is not the time to be concerned about this.
He shakes his head to rid himself of the thought and incinerates two more zombies.
Platinum throws her arms wide and gives a confident smirk as she approaches.
“I’ve heard that you beasts tire out pretty easily, isn’t that right?” she calls out over the din of the chaos around them.
The beast immediately goes sluggish, moving like it’s going in slow-motion.
“That’ll only last so long, dears! I’d recommend doing your things quickly!” Platinum shouts to them as the beast slows.
Caleb doesn’t pay it much attention, instead focusing on the last three zombies.
He burns through them quickly, turning back to the beast just in time to see Fjord twist his hands, commanding a stream of water that’s appeared in the air to wrap around the beast’s face. Veth tears through the beast’s other arm, as Jester leaps onto the creatures back. Her hands go black, like decay is crawling up her arms, and everywhere she touches, ugly, gaping wounds appear, leaking pus and blood in a truly disgusting fashion. Beau launches another set of spears at the beast’s chest, and pulls a bo-staff out of thin air to deflect when it tries to swat at her with one large hand.
The viking woman steps forward then, and calls at everyone to get back, which sends them all scattering. She says something that Caleb can’t make out, and plunges her sword into the ground, straight through the asphalt. For a moment, nothing happens, and Caleb’s heart sinks, because the beast is gunning straight for this woman, but just as Caleb thinks that’s it for her, something happens.
A single storm cloud manifests directly over the viking woman, a dark smear in an otherwise clear sky. She screams, a war cry if Caleb’s ever heard one, and rips her sword out of the ground. When she swings it this time, it crackles with electricity, and lightning arcs from her blade to the beast’s body. She barely nicks the thing’s arm as it makes a grab for her, but just that small touch is enough to sever the limb from the beast’s body.
It sucks in a surprised breath, but with Fjord’s bubble still around its face, it takes in only water, and as they watch, the beast convulses once, twice, and goes completely still.
Everything is blessedly, thankfully silent for a long moment. The silence is broken by the sound of sirens and screeching tires as the police finally arrive, no Powered Response Team in sight, and Caleb lets out an almost hysterical laugh.
He’s still got his license to intervene in incidents like this one, no matter how much most people don’t want him to have one, how much he doesn’t deserve it. Sentinel might have one too. But the others? Veth? They’ve just stopped a huge threat with minimal casualties, and almost no public property damage, and they’re probably going to go to jail for vigilantism.
“Hands in the air! All of you, on your knees, hands in the air!” a cop shouts, and Caleb sighs, and gets to his knees without protest.
Jester almost protests, before Fjord clasps a hand on her shoulder and brings her to her knees as he goes down too.
“Don’t give ‘em any reason to use those things,” Fjord mutters, and Caleb can see a slight tremor in Fjord’s hands.
Caleb whispers over his shoulder, “You have just committed an act of vigilantism and been caught. You are considered armed and dangerous to them, by virtue of what you can do. Do not argue. Not now. Say nothing. It is for your own safety.”
“Hey, pipe down!” another cop shouts at him as a few of them begin to approach.
Caleb faces front again. Recognition flickers across a few people’s faces.
“I have a Incident Response License, officer!” he says, loud enough to be heard without shouting. “It is in the front pocket of my uniform if I may reach for it?”
He gets the okay, and, slowly (he can see the guns still trained on them), he takes out the badge and ID that says he was allowed to do this, and tosses it towards the nearest cop. The woman looks it over, glances between it and him, and finally tosses it back to him.
“Your hair’s grown, Blitz. You’ll want to get a new ID picture taken. But you’re free to go.”
“I’ve got a license as well, officer,” Beau says, and the process is repeated again.
“Sentinel. You’re free to go, too,” an officer says, and Beau gets to her feet with Caleb.
As they back up a few steps, Caleb watches with a wince as Veth melts into another form again, her expression twisted in a way that tells Caleb that she didn’t really want to do that. Still, she seems to gather just enough control to direct the change, so she ends up looking like herself with a mask, though she does have mottled green skin. She groans in frustration.
“The rest of you have just commit an act of vigilantism. You are all under arrest on this charge. You all have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be provided for you. Do you all understand these rights as they have been read to you?”
There’s muttered assent from all of them, save Platinum, who stands, despite the direct order that had been issued before.
“Well officer,” Platinum says, and several guns move to train on her. “We’ve just done the city a great service. We contained the incident and ended it with shockingly few casualties, given the scale of this emergency. I mean, a beast of this size usually takes out a city block or two and injures or kills countless civilians in the process. When was the last time an incident was handled so efficiently in this city?”
As Platinum speaks, Caleb can feel the oppressive weight of her mind manipulation, even though it’s not directed at him.
“You know, she’s right,” Beau mutters.
“He, but thank you,” Platinum corrects, and Caleb sees more than hears Beau apologize to him. “I am right. I know you folks are just doing your jobs, but how about a meeting with someone who can do something about this? We do a truly remarkable job helping this city’s finest out. We really should be licensed, shouldn’t we?”
The cops around them, all looking just a touch dazed now, nod in agreement.
Caleb’s skin crawls.
“Fantastic, why don’t you get us that meeting then, dearest,” Platinum says, directly to the cop who had first spoken to them.
“Someone get Deputy Mayor Feelid on the phone!” the cop shouts, and Platinum lets out a breath Caleb hadn’t seen him holding.
“Oh thank god that worked,” he whispers as the cops around them all lower their weapons.
Beau raises an eyebrow at him. “That was impressive.”
Platinum scoffs. “It was. My influence doesn’t usually cover this many people. We’ll just be lucky if we can get that meeting with the deputy mayor so we can convince them to license us. Town Hall is shielded against powers. So we’d be on our own there.”
“I don’t want to know how you know that,” the viking woman says, with something like motherly concern in her voice.
There is little resemblance between her pale, hulking figure and Platinum’s lithe, tan form, so Caleb doubts any familial relation, but he doesn’t discount the strength of some friendships, ones like his and Veth’s.
Caleb sighs, a little long suffering and a little bit relieved. Veth is suddenly at his side, though she hadn’t been a second before. Caleb puts a hand on her shoulder, but quickly withdraws it at her wince.
“What’s wrong?” Caleb asks, just as Fjord and Jester join their little gathering.
“Oh no! Is someone hurt?” Jester asks, giving them all a quick scan.
Veth hisses out a short breath through her teeth. “It caught me in the side. I think it cracked a couple of ribs. Hurts,” she mumbles.
“Oh! I can fix that! Easy-peasy! Just hold still for a second, and I’m going to touch your side, if that’s okay!”
Veth regards her suspiciously with narrowed eyes for a moment before nodding once. “But don’t try any funny business missy!”
Jester nods solemnly. “No problem!”
She lays her hands gently on Veth’s side, and her brow furrows in concentration. Her hands begin to glow, a faint white light unlike the ugly rot from during the battle. Veth gasps and the light dies out.
“There we go! You had three cracked ribs, you were right, but they’re all fixed up now.”
“That’s incredible,” Caleb mutters.
“Oh, thank you! That means a lot coming from someone like you, Blitz,” she says, and no amount of her charming accent and pleasant demeanor can stop Caleb’s flinch at that name. “Oh, are you hurt too?”
Caleb shakes his head and sits on a large chunk of crumbled building.
Veth glances at him and then back to the group.
“Who are you people anyway?” she says, and that’s the perfect distraction.
“Well,” Jester says, “I’m Render! And this is Quartermaster and Sentinel,” she says with a gesture to first Fjord, and then Beau. “I don’t know them.”
Platinum laughs, and the viking woman smiles softly.
“I’m Silvertongue,” Platinum introduces himself, and Caleb actually looks up at that. He was severely mistaken about him, it seems. “Oh don’t look at me like that, sweetcheeks. It’s not my fault that the media loses it’s collective shit over the fact that I change how I dress occasionally. Sometimes I like to feel pretty while I fight crime, what can I say. Sue me.” There’s a moment where that thought almost takes root in Caleb’s mind as a command, but Silvertongue seems to realize what he’s done and he waves a hand. “Don’t actually. Pay that no mind. The power’s a little touchy sometimes.”
The viking woman shakes her head at him, and sheathes her sword as she takes a seat on a large chunk of rubble.
“I’m Sky Spear. Silver and I have known each other for a while. I have to admit, having more than just the two of us in a fight was pretty nice. Made things a lot easier, at least.”
“Teams have their benefits and their drawbacks,” Caleb mutters, and all eyes snap to him.
He curses in German, and Veth glares at him.
He sighs.
“I suppose you all know who I am.”
“I do not,” Sky Spear says, and Caleb’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise. “What? I’m Canadian.”
The response actually startles a laugh out of Caleb, it’s so unexpected. Caleb’s laugh sparks a response from all of them, after that, and soon enough they’re all giggling like children, sitting in a circle in the rubble, a mere few feet away from the corpse of a beast.
It’s entirely incongruous to their situation, but refreshing, nonetheless.
“Well, because you are the only one who does not know, I am Blitz. I’m somewhat infamous, to many Americans,” Caleb finally says, staring intently at his hands.
“Why is that?” Sky Spear asks.
“Perhaps that is a story for another day, my friend.”
“Ah. I understand,” she says softly, and turns to Veth. “And what about you?”
Veth’s eyes go wide, and her skin shifts rapidly through several different colors before it settles back into her usual tan.
“Oh, uh, I’m not, I mean,” she stumbles over her words.
“You’re Not?”
Veth grimaces, but still nods. “Uh, yes? Yeah. I’m Nott! Two ‘T’s. Nott the Brave! That’s what they call me! For sure.”
Caleb hides a snicker in a cough and Veth stares at him with a look that says ‘don’t say a word’.
Caleb stays dutifully silent.
“Hey, you lot!” a cop calls, and Silvertongue flinches, his eyes going wide. Caleb has a moment of panic along with him that his manipulation has worn off, but the cop simply continues. “What do you call yourselves? Deputy Mayor needs a PRT name.”
“We are, uh, The Mighty--” Fjord begins tentatively.
“Nein!” Caleb snaps. They are not a team, he does not want to tie more people into his issues, absolutely not, no.
“The Mighty Nine? But there’s only seven of you?” the cop says.
“Yep!” Jester says, gleefully.
Caleb smacks a hand to his forehead. Dear god, this has gotten out of hand.
“Yes,” Beau says, completely deadpan. “The Mighty Nein. Nein like the German ‘no’.”
The cop eyes them skeptically, but relays the information anyway. Caleb lets out a irritated sigh that draws laughter from the others, even Veth. He gives her a look that he hopes conveys ‘traitor’. She just laughs more.
“Deputy Mayor Bryce Feelid will meet with you all tomorrow to decide whether or not to license The Mighty Nein as a Power Response Team on a probationary status for the next six months. For tonight, you’ll all be under house arrest, but in the interest of keeping you in a singular location to keep better track of you, the Deputy Mayor has decided you’ll be confined to rooms at a hotel two blocks from here. Hope you lot don’t mind spending time in close quarters,” the cop says, and Caleb can see Silvertongue’s influence over him is beginning to slip in the curl of his lip and in the bitterness in his voice.
A grumble goes up through the group, but no one says anything in protest.
“Well, Mighty Nein! Your police escort awaits.”
Caleb curses in German.
~*~
Within forty eight hours, the Mighty Nein are an officially licensed Powered Response Team.
"I'm just going to lend a hand," Caleb calls as they run. He doesn’t want to make this a hero thing, but this seems big. He can help out a few civilians and leave when the cops or a proper Powered Response Team shows up.
“Is this even legal?” Nott screeches.
(It really isn't legal.)
Or, the one where the Nein are a team of superheroes (well, they're working on it, at least).
Chapter Three: friends are a fate that befell me
[on ao3]
Their six months goes by without much trouble, giant monsters and crazed powered criminals only grace the world with their presence once in a while, contrary to popular opinion. So they only have to get into the thick of things three times over the course of their probationary period.
However, one of the conditions of them receiving an official permanent license is that they must prove to Deputy Mayor Feelid that not only are they effective as a PRT, they have to prove that they are functional and stable. They have to prove that they truly are a unit, that they didn’t just slap a team name on their group to try get out of facing consequences for breaking the law.
Jester insists that this means that they need to have team bonding time.
Caleb hates team bonding time.
It always means he needs to leave the apartment and go out in public, because none of them really know each other. Even though he knows who Beau, Jester and Fjord are (though they don’t know that), and at least the three of them know who he is, none of them are willing to have the others over to their homes, not just yet. They’re just not that close yet, even though their deadline is fast approaching. They need to be a cohesive group in less than two months, and they’re just not there, and they don’t really know how to remedy that.
Which is why it comes as such a shock when, almost five months into being ‘The Mighty Nein’, Sky Spear invites them over to her house.
The second she makes the offer their group chat, which was already only barely functional, blows up.
[from zappy zap, 11:12 AM]
How would you guys feel about having team bonding at my place this week?
[from silver, 11:12 AM]
hey excuse me fucking what
[from doctor fancypants, 11:13 AM]
quartermaster and i are so in! he’s distracted playing a video game but he says yes
[from flame on, 11:14 AM]
This is a very kind offer, Spear. Nott and I would be happy to attend.
[from bo staff, 11:16 AM]
hey question: do you ever talk like a normal fuckin person caleb?
[from nott, 11:16 AM]
he doesn’t.
ever.
also, we’ll definitely be there spear, thanks for the invite.
[from zappy zap, 11:20 AM]
That’s great guys.
[from zappy zap, 11:24 AM]
My wife is excited to meet you all. She’s been hearing Silver and I talk about you for a while.
[from bo staff, 11:24 AM]
EXCUSE ME WAHT
WHAT
W H A T
SPEAR i have been flirting with you for MONTHS why didnt you tell me you have a WHOLE ASS SPOUSE
[from nott, 11:25 AM]
as opposed to only half a spouse?
[from doctor fancypants, 11:25 AM]
oh my gosh youre married?!
[from fish, 11:26 AM]
This is worth losin a video game. Spear youre married?
[from silver, 11:26 AM]
HEY SPEAR WHEN WERE YOU GONNA TELL ME THIS WAS HAPPENING HUH?
[from nott, 11:26 AM]
oh we’ll be there for sure now. i can’t wait to meet her.
[from silver, 11:27 AM]
HELLO??????
WHEN?????
[from zappy zap, 11:31 AM]
Silver, I’m two rooms away from you, come talk to me in person. I’ll see the rest of you on Saturday!
And that’s the last there is to say about that. Caleb certainly wasn’t expecting that, but it’s a pleasant surprise. It’s nice to know that at least one of them has at least a semi-normal life.
Caleb thinks that, and then grumbles and immediately turns back to his laptop and his coding. Computer code won’t make him think about why he cares about these people’s happiness. Computer code just makes him irrationally angry. Computer code is just facts. Computer code gives him an income, so that he’s not burning through the settlement from the Ikithon Incident because that would be irresponsible.
Caleb shakes his head and sighs.
Even computer code has betrayed him now.
Shit.
~*~
Saturday afternoon finds Caleb and Veth standing on the front porch of a small town home four blocks away from ZuZu’s Cafe, Caleb holding a bag with two bottles of wine and shifting from foot to foot nervously.
It’s Veth who finally rings the doorbell, her face melting into something just a little different, a black domino mask appearing over her eyes.
A woman with dark brown hair tied up on top of her head and soft brown eyes peering at them from behind a pair of large-framed glasses opens the door with a smile.
“You must be Caleb and Nott! It’s so nice to meet you, Yasha’s told me so much about you. Come in, come in.” She steps aside and ushers them in the door, instructs them to take their shoes off there, graciously takes the wine Caleb offers. “The others are through here in the kitchen. Already broken out the wine, I think. Oh! And where are my manners! I’m Zuala, I’m Yasha’s wife.”
“It’s lovely to meet you,” Caleb responds, a little taken aback by her overwhelmingly warm personality. He also can’t shake the feeling that he knows her from somewhere. She looks incredibly familiar.
“Caleb! Nott! You’re here!” Jester’s ever-cheery voice sounds out as they make their way into the kitchen.
True to Zuala’s word, Jester, Beau and Fjord are in there, sans their masks, for the first time, as is another young man with shoulder length purple hair twisted into elaborate braids, more piercings than Caleb can even count, and tattoos on every visible inch of skin, a peacock tail even crawling up the side of his face.
That’s Silvertongue, Caleb realizes. That tattoo on his face is the reason his mask covers so much, to cover the identifying mark. He looks familiar too, and Caleb still can’t pinpoint why, he’s so overwhelmed with the general chaos of re-meeting all of these people again.
They’re all crowded around the kitchen island, an empty bottle of wine already in between them, Silvertongue, Jester and Beau giggling while Fjord nurses what’s probably still his first glass.
There’s a woman at the counter, pulling a tray of pastries out of the oven. Caleb assumes this must be Yasha, Sky Spear, Zuala’s wife.
His friend.
God isn’t that a weird thought. Caleb hasn’t had a friend besides Veth in years. Not since Astrid and Eodwulf. Not since Ikithon.
He has a moment of blind panic where he worries that somehow Ikithon will fuck this up for him too, that he’ll find a way to corrupt these friends too, to ruin their lives too, but then he takes a breath and remembers. Ikithon is in prison. He’s in a power dampening cell in solitary confinement where he will stay for the rest of his life.
The kitchen smells like cinnamon.
Caleb focuses on that, and takes another breath. Zuala pats him on the shoulder and crosses the kitchen to kiss her wife on the cheek.
“Oh Caleb, Nott, you’re here!” Yasha says happily, setting the tray on the stove top and discarding the oven mitt next to it. She returns the kiss from her wife and crosses to Caleb and Nott with a wide smile. “So. Zuala and I have been talking about this for some time, and we decided that if we’re meant to be teammates, and friends, that it was best we stopped hiding behind masks. Not that I’m trying to pressure you into sharing your identity, Nott, but, I thought it was time for me to. So. It’s nice to meet you both. I’m Yasha Nydoorin.”
Without her armor and without the warpaint and the black haze concealing her face, Yasha looks wildly different. She looks soft. Her hair, a pale blonde, almost white, at the tips, fading into black at the roots, is tied into even more complex braids than Silvertongue’s, and Caleb thinks she must have done his hair for him. Caleb smiles at the thought. Without the haze and paint, Yasha’s face isn’t so harsh. Instead of a severe glare, her mismatched eyes are endearing, her gaze easy and kind. It’s a really incredible difference.
Caleb sticks out his hand, and Yasha accepts the handshake.
“Hello Yasha Nydoorin. I am Caleb Widogast. It is very nice to meet you.”
Caleb withdraws his hand and glances to Veth. She’s wringing her hands as she watches the two of them, nervously shifting her weight until she seems to come to a decision. When Yasha turns to Veth, Veth takes a deep breath, pulls out her hip flask and takes a deep pull from it, and extends a hand.
When Veth’s hand extends, her form melts, the mask disappearing, and features shifting back to the face she calls hers, though Caleb’s not entirely sure if that’s truly what she looks like, in all actuality.
“I’m Veth Brenatto. Nice to meet you all,” Veth says, shaking Yasha’s hand and glancing at the others in the kitchen.
Behind Yasha, Beau, Jester, Fjord and Silvertongue have gone silent, watching Yasha introduce herself to Caleb and Veth.
“Well,” Silvertongue finally says, reclining in his seat. “I suppose if even Nott-- Veth, sorry-- can give us her real name, the rest of us can do that too. Mollymauk Tealeaf, at your service, ladies, gents, others and Sentinel.”
Beau throws a wine cork at Mollymauk’s head.
“It’s Beau. Uh, Beauregard Lionett, technically, but really, it’s just Beau,” she says.
“And I’m Jester Lavorre!” Jester says, with just as much enthusiasm as she uses for everything else.
“I’m uh. I’m Fjord. Just Fjord really,” Fjord says, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “We’ve actually-- That is to say, the three of us actually had a run in with Caleb and Veth at ZuZu’s down the street, the day we all met.”
“I recall,” Caleb says. “A word of advice, Fjord. Your scar is very distinctive. It may do you well to cover it. I’ve known who the three of you are since the beginning.” He smirks as he says it, a little self satisfied.
Fjord lifts a hand to cover the scar on his forehead.
“It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Veth reassures him, smacking Caleb’s arm. “Just you definitely should cover it up when you go out to fight things if you want to keep your identity secret, like at all.”
Zuala laughs where she’s just finished plating the pastries from the tray.
“You super types are too sensitive. People have flaws, even superpowered ones,” she teases gently, as she sets the dish of pastries in the center of the kitchen island and pours two glasses of wine.
She passes one to Yasha, and keeps one for herself and Mollymauk gasps in mock confoundment.
“Nothing for me? Zu, I’m heartbroken!”
Zuala scoffs. “I employ you and house you, you can pour your own damn wine,” she teases. Caleb finally gets what he’s been missing.
Yasha, Zuala and Mollymauk look familiar to him like this because they run ZuZu’s Cafe, he’s seen them there before.
When he voices this realization, he gets matching looks of realization from Jester, Beau and Fjord. Veth laughs at him, and Mollymauk, Yasha and Zuala join in.
“Welcome to the party Widogast,” Mollymauk says mockingly, but there’s no real heat behind his words and Caleb, very hesitantly, lets himself laugh at the teasing. “There we go! He does know how to joke!”
That makes Veth laugh too, and just like that, any remaining tension is cut.
Caleb feels at home with these people. Despite every reservation he’s had for the past few years about having friends, about letting people get close, about letting people in, Caleb finds himself truly enjoying being around The Nein.
He hesitates to say it, but these people are becoming almost like a family to him, despite the fact that he’s only known them for a few months. This is the closest he’s ever been to anyone, besides Astrid and Eodwulf, and he likes it. He likes not being alone.
It’s terrifying.
Caleb pours himself a very large glass of wine. He drinks it faster than he has ever drank anything in his life.
Okay that’s a lie, but he does knock it back impressively quickly.
It settles his shaking hands, and he pours a second glass a bit more steadily before they all move into the living room so they can all sit.
They talk a little before Fjord finally asks what’s on everyone’s mind.
“So, Yasha, you said you were from Canada, right? What brought you to the states?”
Yasha’s smile falls a little bit, and Zuala takes her hand in something like support, Caleb thinks. Maybe they shouldn’t have asked.
“Ah, that is…” Yasha trails off, squeezing Zuala’s hand in hers. “I come from a very large family, one that’s very traditional. They had a whole life planned out for me, had all but arranged a marriage for me. But I fell in love. They didn’t like it. They already took issue with my abilities and me falling in love with Zuala, it was a tipping point. So we picked up and left. Opened ZuZu’s here a few years back and got married not long after. It’s been, what, five years? Best of my life.”
Zuala smiles so softly at Yasha that it twists something deep in Caleb’s chest, and makes him feel so warm and content he almost doesn’t know what to do with himself.
That might also be the wine, but potato, tomato. It’s a good thing he and Veth took a cab here.
“What about you, Fjord?” Zuala asks after a bit, breaking the silence. “What brought you to the East Coast? If I remember right, Yasha told me that you and Jester both told her you were from California?”
“Oh yeah, we both grew up in San Francisco. We met through some Facebook page that was for our college, people looking for roommates and whatnot. Found out we’d lived a few miles away from each other almost our whole lives and had never met before through some stroke of luck, but we met up for coffee a few times, and decided that we could handle sharing an apartment, and we moved across the country together. Talk about moving fast, huh?” he jokes and Jester all but cackles at that. “But I think I’ll end up staying here. Nothing much keeping me in California, now.”
“Why not?” Yasha asks softly, her words ever so slightly wine-slurred. At that thought, Caleb pours himself another glass. He’s definitely had too much to drink already. He sips at this glass anyway.
“Well I, uh. Don’t got any family to go back to, really. Closest thing I had was a foster dad who I lived with most of my life, but he died just after I turned eighteen. That’s why I don’t really use a last name most of the time. My last name’s just the street that the church I was left at was on. I worked some odd jobs over there, worked on a boat for a while to save up for school, and I guess I could go back to any of those, but it’s nothing I’m real tied to, y’know? I like it here a hell of a lot more.”
“And I’m here now! And I really love my mama and I miss her, but I’m probably going to stay here too because I like it here, and you wouldn’t want to leave me, right, Fjord?” Jester says, with a bat of her eyelashes.
Fjord rolls his eyes, but still agrees. “Wouldn’t want to leave you for the world now. Went and got under my skin.”
Jester laughs again. “It’s really funny that we became roommates, when you think of it, especially cause you’re so old, Fjord, but I’m really glad we did, cause you’re a good friend.”
Caleb protests too, his words definitely touched by the alcohol. “M’not that old. M’only twenty nine.”
A lot of eyes swivel towards him all at once.
“You’re only twenty nine, Caleb?” Mollymauk asks, and Caleb nods, a sad sort of smile on his face. “What the hell happened to you to make you age like that?”
It’s teasing, and Caleb can tell it, but a combination of the honesty in the air and the too much wine Caleb’s had makes him answer, “Torture, mostly, I think. Maybe the brainwashing? The experiments probably? But definitely the torture. Yes, definitely that,” he says into his near empty wine glass.
The room is too quiet.
Veth takes the glass away from him.
With nothing in his hands to look at now, Caleb looks up, curious about the sudden silence.
“Oh. I’ve ruined the mood now, haven’t I? My apologies.”
“No, Caleb, Jesus, you… What the hell are you talking about?” Beau asks, and Caleb shrugs in response.
“Well you know, the whole,” he gestures to himself and then makes a vague wave at empty air. “The Ikithon thing.”
It occurs to Caleb now that he never really looked at how much information was released to the public. It was enough to identify him and Astrid and Eodwulf. It was enough that some people thought he should be in jail for what he’d done. But after everything, he’d avoided anything having to do with the case like the plague. He never looked at what had become a matter of public record. It was too painful to dig through all of that just to find out what was missing. People knew enough. That was all that mattered. People knew, and they knew enough.
Now though, Caleb kind of wishes he had checked to see what the public knew. Cause now he’s gonna have to talk about it.
Fuck.
~*~
“Caleb, what do you mean, the Ikithon thing?” Veth asks gently.
She’s wringing her hands like she does when she gets nervous, and Caleb hates that he’s making her nervous. Best get it over with then, right? He can get it over with quick? For sure.
“Ah, Trent Ikithon,” and just saying the name makes Caleb cringe, but he presses forward anyway, “selected me, and two others for scholarships to the Soltryce Academy when we were young. He took us from the foster home we were in and told us he was going to give us a real home at the Academy, and that he was going to make us the greatest heroes this country had ever seen. And he did. He trained us out of standard classes, gave us more extra lessons than even the worst remedial student so that we’d be in peak form all the time. But then we…” Caleb trails off and mulls it over in his head for a moment, and when he speaks again, the word is very slurred, “plateaued.”
“You hit a point where you had mastered your abilities at that time as best you could. Everyone hits that point when they’re young. Your powers probably weren’t fully developed yet,” Beau mutters.
“Sure. But he did not like that,” Caleb counters, because Ikithon really hadn’t. He’d hated it when they’d started making less and less progress with each week, even though there was no more progress that was physically possible to make. “So he started brainstorming ways to make us better, and then he started trying them and that was just… the worst.” Caleb sloppily pushes one sleeve up, without thinking, and pokes experimentally at one of the old scars there, still shiny and standing out against the rest of his skin. Nothing happens, not that he was expecting anything to.
Everyone around him gasps though, and he looks up, curious what’s surprised them all so much.
They’re all staring at him.
“Christ almighty, Caleb,” Fjord mutters.
“What did that?” Jester asks, with none of her characteristic cheer. That makes Caleb a little sad. He doesn’t like that Jester sounds sad.
“Ah, Ikithon did. It was one of his ways to try to make us better. He would put, ah, crystals? In our skin, to see if they would enhance our powers. They didn’t. But he tried for a while.” Caleb pokes at a couple more scars and then tugs his sleeve back down and sighs. “After a while he gave up with the experimenting and just became cruel, and then he got tired of that and decided to be more direct in his methods. Ikithon can control minds. Like Mollymauk, but more powerful. So he just, took us over for a while. Made us his puppets. We did some truly unforgivable things. That was when he was caught but the damage had already been done. That’s the Ikithon Thing.”
“Fuck, Cay.”
Caleb’s not sure who says that, Mollymauk maybe, but he can’t help but agree. A laugh that’s a little self-deprecating and a little hysterical bubbles out of his chest, and he is helpless to stop it for a solid few seconds.
“It’s not funny,” he says, through the tail end of the laugh.
“It’s horrifying.” There is more emotion contained in those two words from Yasha than Caleb knows how to deal with, especially with his level of drunkenness.
“So!” Mollymauk exclaims, cutting through the tension with all the grace of a speeding MAC truck. “Who else wants to share their deep rooted trauma?”
It’s a joke, just barely, and it does the job, though it lacks the usual finesse of Mollymauk’s humor.
“Well,” Beau says, with a sound that’s almost a laugh but really isn’t. “My parents only ever wanted a good son, and when they got me instead, they got so pissed about it that they shipped me off to Cobalt against my will and had a son to replace me. I think they even gave him the same name as me, cause they always wanted a son named Beauregard. Never met him though, so who knows. Doesn’t matter much. That’s nowhere near as bad as--” Yasha cuts Beau off before she can finish that sentence.
“Trauma is not a competition,” she says, quietly but firmly. She leaves no room for argument. “You wouldn’t tell me that what I’ve lived through doesn’t matter, because what Caleb’s experienced is worse. Don’t do it to yourself either.”
Beau looks properly chastised, but not upset by that. She looks almost happy, like she’s pleased someone’s finally acknowledged what she’s been through. Caleb thinks it might be the first time anyone ever has. That makes him sad, but there’s time to be sad later, Mollymauk’s talking now.
“Uh, two years ago,” Mollymauk says, and he twists his fingers together and looks as unconfident as any of them have ever seen him. “Yasha found me in the back alley behind ZuZu’s, beaten to hell and back and completely out of it. She brought me to the hospital and stuck around for a bit, to make sure someone came for me, but I had no ID, nothing on me, not even a phone. I could barely even talk. Yash brought me back here and helped me get back on my feet and even after I was starting to be a person again, she let me stay and gave me a job. Mollymauk Tealeaf is a name I came up with on the fly when I needed to get a new ID. I uh, I’ve got no idea who I am.”
“They couldn’t track your tattoos? Find out where they’d been done? Those are pretty extensive and specific,” Beau asks.
“No. I got these after. As a way to become… me, y’know? I just cropped up into existence one day in this body I didn’t recognize. Thought I might as well make it mine.” Mollymauk rubs his hands together and lets out a deep breath. “Welp, I never wanna have to talk about myself again and that’s saying something! Someone else say something.”
Veth takes a huge swig from her flask, drains it dry, and then says, in what seems to be all one breath, “I have a husband and a son who live right here in this city and I haven’t seen them in over a year because I got my powers then and I’m terrified that I’m going to lose control over my form and that my mind will go with it and I’ll hurt my family.”
All eyes snap to Veth.
“You have a son?” Jester asks, a little excited and a lot sad.
“His name is Luke, and my husband’s name is Yeza. I don’t quite remember how I got these powers, but I remember it was an accident that happened when I got jumped on the way to the subway station one night. I fought back, and hurt a few of them pretty badly, but, something happened, and I just… I woke up like this. Melting from one thing to the next. Not myself anymore. And I was too afraid to go home, and that was when I found Caleb, and I recognized him, so I knew he’d be able to keep himself safe if I lost control, so I thought it was okay to stay. I thought he could teach me some control too, so that one day, I can go back to my husband and son. I text, sometimes, and I send them things, toys for Luke, or chemistry equipment for Yeza, he’s a very gifted chemist, but it’s not the same.”
There is a beat of heavy oppressive silence, before Caleb breaks it.
“I thought all that chemistry stuff was cause you were making drugs.”
Veth blinks up at him once, twice, three times, and then bursts into peals of uncontrollable laughter, that spreads through the group faster than any of them care to admit.
Before they know it, they’re all wheezing with, cackling and giggling and nearly rolling out of their seats.
And it feels good. It feels good to know these important things about each other, to know why they each are the way they are, and it feels really good to laugh like this with each other.
If Fjord and Caleb are a little teary-eyed and Jester and Veth have tears running down their faces, no one comments. How could they?
This is the closest they’ve ever been as a group, as friends, as a fucked up little family, and Caleb finally admits to himself, with no conditions added, that he likes this.
He likes this ragtag little family they’ve begun to build, in a rather pathetic attempt to create a team.
