Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ding!

Temple & Sanctuary - Domain - 400 Points

In each of the four Realms of New Hyrule lies an ancient temple, built to power the Spirit Tracks and watched over by one of the Lokomo. The Ocean Realm has two, but the fifth temple doesn’t generate power. As I was saying, these temples absorb energy from the land, from what little prayer is still directed to the old gods of Hyrule and the Spirits of Good, and from the simple goodwill of those living nearby.

This energy would normally power the Spirit Tracks, but in the absence of that, it instead channels that energy directly into you. Well, not you specifically. A temple isn’t a very good house, so you’ve also been provided with a small refuge from the prying eyes of the world, a Sanctuary of sorts. The energy is channeled there, in part to maintain its defenses, both physical and mystical. So long as you’re inside the Sanctuary, you have more or less complete control over the energy flowing from the Temple.

You now have 500 points saved up!

Jason lets out a shuddering sigh, not letting on that anything out of the ordinary is happening at the moment. After all, he’s in a public place right now. Specifically, he’s behind the counter of his part-time job, working as a barista in the coffee shop closest to his university.

Besides, by this point the… eccentricities of his power are old hat to him. Five days in and Jason is almost used to being thrown random prompts from his power. Of course, this is the first one that seems to be moderately useful. However, there’s several major issues with this one.

For one, Jason didn’t fucking know what the ‘Realms of New Hyrule’ even were. He lived in America, in Brockton Bay, and while his home was a shithole of epic proportions, that didn’t change the facts. As far as he could tell, there was no such thing as Hyrule. And that meant there probably wouldn’t be much praying directed to the old gods of Hyrule and ‘the Spirits of Good’… to say nothing of there not being much simple good will in most Brocktonites anyways.

On top of that, while the idea of being able to stop paying rent on his apartment and instead move into a hidden ‘Sanctuary’ was appealing to him, it said nothing about the Temple that came along with the Sanctuary being hidden too. Jason could just picture it, him paying four hundred points for this power, only for the Temple to sprout up around him, utterly annihilating the coffee shop and half of the city block. Or even if it wasn’t that unintuitive, it would probably still show up nearby, likely on the city outskirts… and attract the attention of the authorities in a heartbeat.

No. While Jason might have the points for it, he doesn’t actually want to spend practically all of his saved up points on Temple & Sanctuary. Luckily, he doesn’t have to.

Pass.

Just the thought causes the prompt to disappear. From what he understands of his powers, of this ‘Celestial Grimoire’, he might pull it again one day, but for now, he’s passed on the opportunity and will have to wait for another power to come up. It’s funny, he’d been so excited when he first realized he was a parahuman.

Well no, first he’d been freaked out. But once he realized he wasn’t going crazy and he had actual powers, he was definitely a little excited. Especially because his power reminded him a little bit of Eidolon, the most powerful hero in the world. Eidolon’s powers allowed him to have any three powers at any time. In comparison, Jason’s powers apparently allowed him to save up points and then every day or so, offer him something he could buy with those points.

As far as he could tell, those powers, once he bought them, should be permanent… and while he didn’t know if there was an upper limit to how many powers he could buy, it certainly seemed like it had the potential to get out of hand in a good way. Unfortunately, he’d quickly realized that it had the potential to get out of hand in a bad way as well. Not to mention, his powers were a lot more unwieldy then Eidolon’s were, on account of him having to pay for them for some ungodly reason.

His first few offers had either been way too expensive or came with detrimental side effects like Temple & Sanctuary. Seeing how Jason only got a hundred new points with each ‘pull’ of his power, he had to admit that he was playing things safe and being as conservative as possible… but at the same time, he figured he had to get something usable soon enough, right?

“… Hey Taylor.”

“Yeah?”

“What would you do if you had superpowers?”

He doesn’t look up from the drink he’s currently making as he questions his coworker, Taylor Hebert. Technically, she’s both his subordinate and a colleague. Younger than him by a couple years, a brand new Freshman at the University, she doesn’t have quite the seniority he does. But at the same time, it’s not like Jason is a manager or anything in this shithole of a coffee shop. No, he’s just ‘Senior Barista on Duty’, which as can probably be guessed, comes with all of the work of being a manager, but none of the benefits or increased pay. Yay.

Taylor is quiet for a time after his question, but Jason doesn’t worry too much about it. The young woman is quiet by her very nature, and also rather thoughtful from what Jason has observed so far. She’s probably just giving his question its due diligence really. And indeed, after a moment…

“… I’d use them to help people.”

Jason smiles slightly. It sounds like a canned response, but he knows better. Taylor is being sincere right now.

“Oh? What if your powers weren’t very good for helping people? Or what if they were particularly unwieldy?”

Another comfortable silence between them as they continue working. Jason doesn’t get impatient. They’ve both got a few more hours left in their shifts after all, so they have all the time in the world. Finally, Taylor speaks up again.

“Doesn’t matter. I’d find a way. There are too many villains in the world. Too many bad guys. The world… the world needs more heroes. So I’d find a way.”

As she repeats herself, Jason just nods, humming.

“What about being a rogue, maybe? Not committing crimes, not fighting crime… just using your powers for your own ends to make some money? You and I both know you could use it… so could I.”

This time around, Taylor doesn’t hesitate very long at all. Even though Jason knows he’s right, even though he knows she still lives at home with her dad and that the whole reason she’s working this job is to help her old man make ends meet. She doesn’t even need to think about it.

“That would be selfish. Selfishness is what got us to where we are now in the first place.”

Jason just chuckles, lifting his head up at long last as he sets the latest finished drinks in the ‘out window’ with the names scrawled on them facing outward. As a result, he sees their newest customer approaching the front door before Taylor does, his words to his coworker dying on his lips as he instead changes tact immediately.

“Swap.”

Taylor doesn’t question it. He might not be a manager, but as ‘Senior Barista’, he was still in charge of the shop during their shifts. He could have left her to do everything up front while he pretended to work in the back, but Jason liked hanging out with people, and he actually didn’t mind sharing the load with Taylor. She was a good sort. That’s why, when he sees a familiar red head approaching the door, he calls for Taylor and him to switch places.

As Taylor moves over to the workstation, Jason moves to the cash register… just in time for Emma Barnes to finish her approach. She has a sweet smile on her admittedly beautiful face, though the way her eyes dart to Taylor makes it clear she’s upset that she won’t get to address the young woman directly. In fact, Jason’s quick thinking doesn’t stop her from doing so, at least a little bit.

“Hey Taylor! Fancy seeing you here today!”

Emma’s voice is disgustingly sweet, Jason notes. It’s crazy how good the beautiful red head is at sounding both well-intentioned and poisonous at the same time. Truthfully, he doesn’t know everything that there is between Emma and Taylor. All he really knows is that the first girl has it in for the second, and if they were any younger, Emma would be Taylor’s bully through and through. As it is, she’s just Taylor’s chief tormentor, showing up like clockwork on most of the young woman’s shifts in order to be a royal pain in the ass.

Unfortunately, there’s nothing that either he or Taylor can do about it. Neither of them can really afford to lose this job at the end of the day. And he doesn’t have the authority to ban Emma from the shop. Senior Baristas don’t have that right, go figure.

However, there are ways he can alleviate the issue at least a little bit. Before Taylor feels forced to answer Emma, Jason speaks up, a broad smile on his face and his voice as loud and chipper as ever.

“Hi there, welcome to The Bean Shop! May I take your order?”

Emma barely spares him a glance.

“The usual, please.”

Even her ‘please’ manages to sound less polite and more insanely contempt-filled and dismissive. But Jason isn’t going to let her have this one.

“Sorry, my memory is pretty bad. Please remind me what your usual is?”

Now Emma is forced to give him her full attention. From what he knows about her, the red head is a model. Went straight from high school into being on the front covers of magazines. No university for her. Clearly, she’s a bit of a spoiled brat and used to getting her way.

“Oh, sure.”

Then, without hesitation, the red head immediately begins listing out the most ridiculous, overly complicated drink that one could ever imagine. Jason doesn’t hesitate to punch it in though, every single request Emma makes is something that’s allowed in the computer program that the shop runs on, so it’s not even hard. That doesn’t mean the drink itself won’t be stupidly difficult to actually create by hand, however.

Just as Taylor is grabbing a cup and preparing to try to do so though, Jason clears his throat, letting his voice get a little gruff.

“Taylor, I need you in the back to put that latest shipment in the freezer.”

Taylor pauses, but before she can unthinkingly question him, Jason all but barks at her.

“Now, Taylor.”

“U-Uh… y-yes sir.”

With that, the tall, willowy coed hurries into the back of the shop, leaving a flummoxed Emma to stare after her, her mouth slightly ajar in surprise. Until Jason finally speaks up, smiling slightly.

“Sorry, good help is so hard to find these days, you know? You can tap, swipe, or insert your card whenever, ma’am.”

Looking back at him, it’s clear that the red head doesn’t know whether to be angry with him or happy with him. Finally, she smiles sweetly and presses her credit card against the scanner until it beeps, signifying that the payment has gone through.

“Oh, I know exactly what you mean. I actually knew Taylor in high school if you’ll believe it… she was always such a slacker back then. Still incredible to me that she’s going to university! Really, they’ll accept anyone these days! You know-!”

As Jason prepares Emma Barnes’ insanely complex, ridiculously complicated drink, the red head drones on and on about Taylor, badmouthing the other woman now that she’s no longer there. It would seem Emma had decided Jason is an ally in her torment of Taylor at this point, rather than an obstacle. If only she knew.

Regardless, he largely tunes out the young woman, barely listening to the increasingly outlandish things she’s trying to lay at poor Taylor’s feet. Finally though, just as Emma is winding down from one story and trying to gather steam for the next, he places her drink in front of her with a big smile on his face.

“All done, ma’am. Here you go.”

“I- oh! Well… thank you.”

Her hesitation makes it obvious that she was definitely planning to say there was something wrong with the drink originally, back when she thought Taylor would be making it. But now… well, she just takes it from him, gives him a flirtatious wink and grin, and turns to begin heading out. Jason wonders if she really thinks he doesn’t notice her throwing the drink in the trashcan just outside once she leaves, but in the end he supposes it doesn’t matter. Crisis averted for now.

He-

Ding!

Flash Air - Domain - 400 Points

Flash Air is a displacement Magecraft that substitutes one thing for another. It can be used to change the makeup of a building displacing doors and windows to different locations. By displacing a portion of space it can also create portals that lead from one spot to another, this can be used to shift projectiles to a different trajectory or to cause an opponent's attacks to hit themselves for example.

You now have 600 points saved up!

What? That was… way too fast. His power had just gone from once a day to twice in under an hour. What the hell was going on? More than that, Jason reads the description of this ‘Flash Air’… and then reads it again. And again. For a long moment, he just stands there, frozen in place. Fortunately, it’s a slow time of day and nobody else comes up to the counter while he’s having his out of body experience.

Flash Air… seemed ridiculously overpowered. It was expensive too, but his bearish attitude towards his power was apparently paying off, because he had enough to buy it. And better still, it didn’t seem to have any obvious detrimental effects like making a whole-ass temple that would cause the relevant authorities to come down on his head and investigate.

Jason finds himself thinking back to his short conversation with Taylor about powers and what to do with them. And… he smiles as he finally purchases his first power.

Keep.

Flash Air Purchased! 200 Points Remain!

Immediately, knowledge of ‘Flash Air’ enters his mind. He knows what he can do with it on a purely intuitive level… and he also knows what others far better than him were able to do with it in the past. Jason’s eyes widen a little at some of the things they managed to accomplish… as well as the implication that there were other wielders of this power before him to begin with.

As far as he knew, parahuman powers weren’t supposed to work like that. They weren’t supposed to be passed down. But then, at the same time, the Celestial Grimoire was entirely unlike almost any power he’d ever heard of before.

Smiling slightly, Jason looks down at the counter, hidden behind the large industrial coffee machine. He pulls two cups down from the stacks of plastic cups off to the side, each of different sizes. And then… he uses Flash Air to swap their locations. It’s a very minor application of his power. He knows that beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he can do so much more with this. But a small giggle leaves Jason’s throat all the same.

He had power. Real power.

Of course, he also still had a real job to take care of. Someone comes up to the counter and Jason has to focus back on the mundanity of his day to day existence, even as applications for Flash Air fill his every spare thought.

The hours both drag on and fly by from there, with Taylor eventually coming back up front to help him. But they don’t exchange another word with each other, Jason too lost in his own thoughts and Taylor too naturally quiet to engage him herself.

Or at least, that’s what he assumes because after night has fallen and they close up the shop, Taylor does actually speak up while they’re finishing things up in the back.

“… Thanks. For earlier.”

Jason lets out a startled little laugh.

“Oh, don’t mention it. Hate entitled, spoilt bitches like that. Consider it my civic duty, real-mmph!”

Mid-sentence, he finds himself going wide-eyed as Taylor suddenly seizes him by the front of his shirt and pulls him into a kiss. It’s not a very experienced kiss… but it is a kiss, nonetheless. It also lasts for quite a while, a good twenty seconds of awkward lip smacking and tongue entanglement. When Taylor finally pulls back, her face is flushed and her eyes are wide, as if she can hardly believe what she’s just done. Jason, meanwhile, is wondering what HE should do in response…

-x-X-x-

A/N: Will try to keep this up to date at the end of every chapter, get on me if I forget please. Though if it gets too out of hand, might have to change it at some point.

Jason's current banked points: 200 Celestial Points

Jason's current powers:

- Flash Air (Gained in Chapter 1)

Chapter Text

A/N: Jason and Taylor have a talk and things escalate and deescalate. This is fine.

-x-X-x-

Jason was a young man in his early twenties with a healthy libido. And Taylor, while not conventionally beautiful, definitely wasn’t ugly by any stretch of the imagination. Suffice to say, under normal circumstances he probably would have just gone for it, kissing her back and letting things progress however they were bound to progress.

Indeed, before he’d suddenly gotten powers, Jason definitely wouldn’t have turned down a pretty young woman coming onto him this strong. However… the fact that, he had a lot on his mind right now. Not just work, not just school, not just Taylor’s problem with that Emma chick… but literal superpowers.

And he’d just purchased his first real power to boot. Flash Air… from the sound of things, it was an incredibly impressive power. Just from the instinctive understanding that came along with it, Jason couldn’t wait to begin playing around with the power. Unfortunately, before he could do that, he needed to figure out what was going on with Taylor.

“Uh… not that I’m complaining Taylor, but where did that come from?”

The tall young woman bites her lower lip for a moment and almost seems to shut down in real time right before his eyes. He’d gone out of his way to make it clear he wasn’t upset, but that didn’t stop her from taking his words in the worst possible way it would seem.

“S-Sorry. I shouldn’t have… I know I’m not particularly good looking, I promise I won’t-!”

Stepping forward, Jason grabs Taylor by the shoulders. They’re both plenty tall, but where Taylor is abnormally tall for a woman, he’s just about average for a man. So they even out pretty well.

“Hey. Don’t talk shit about yourself like that. Based on what nonsense that red head out front was spewing, you get enough of that from skanks like her.”

Taylor flinches and Jason wonders if maybe he should have kept that to himself. He tries for a crooked grin.

“It’s alright. Like I said before, I hate entitled, spoilt bitches like her. Frankly, her personality is so rotten that she’d have to throw herself at my feet and beg before I’d so much as spit on her. Everything she said, whether it was about you or not, went in one ear and out the other.”

Taylor hesitantly nods, though she still looks rather uncertain and downtrodden. The only thing that causes a flicker of amusement in her eyes is when he mentions spitting on her tormentor. Not surprising, all things considered.

Suddenly though, she seems to find her resolve, going from uncertain to determined in the blink of an eye.

“S-Still… I want to thank you… properly. I-Is that alright?”

Jason tilts his head to the side. He doesn’t want to reject her, especially when that would damage her already destroyed self-esteem even further. At the same time though…

“You already have thanked me, Taylor. You don’t need to-!”

“Please… I want to…”

Wordlessly, Jason watches as she slowly sinks to her knees. The tall, dark-haired girl looks up at him with wide eyes, as if making sure he hasn’t suddenly decided to hate her in the last few seconds. Then, she reaches up with trembling fingers and begins the process of unbuttoning and unzipping his pants.

He should probably stop this. The only problem is, he doesn’t know how to stop it without hurting Taylor. Or maybe that’s just an excuse. Maybe the truth of the matter is that Jason wants to see where she takes this.

Her hands are neither deft nor experienced as she reaches into his boxers and pulls out his cock. Doesn’t stop her from stroking him up and down his length though, biting her lower lip as she studies his hardening member in a mixture of trepidation and determination. She’s resolved to do this, that much is obvious. And for all that Taylor has clearly had a hard time of it, when she decides to do something, it seems she sees it through.

Still, Jason is caught off guard when Taylor suddenly leans forward and takes him in her mouth. A handjob was one thing… a blowjob was another entirely.

“Fuck, Taylor…”

Even he can’t quite describe his voice as those words escape his lips. But Taylor must not hear anything objectionable in his tone, because she quietly nurses on the first inch or so of his cock, sucking on just the tip of his dick for a few moments as her hands continue to slide up and down the rest of his member.

Looking down into those big dark eyes of hers, Jason lets out a shuddering breath… and reaches out to rest a hand on her hair. She startles briefly at the touch, but he’s not gripping down or anything like that, more just looping his fingers through some of her locks.

“You’re not ugly, Taylor. No matter what anyone says, they’re lying. You’ve got plenty of great features… and I’d be lying myself if I said I hadn’t noticed them.”

Taylor’s cheeks blaze with a burning blush as he speaks, and she looks briefly like she wants to run away rather than listen to his compliments. Alas, she can’t escape now. Her mouth suckling at his dick, her hands around his cock… if she ran away now, she’d be insulting him more than anything. Basically, she’s his captive audience right now, albeit a captivity of her own making, one of the mind.

“Your hair, for instance, is absolutely gorgeous. Such beautiful dark, lush locks. It frames your face well. And sure, you have freckles. Who cares? Freckles are cute and in some cases even hot.”

Taylor shudders, and her hands drop to his legs as she begins to take him deeper into her mouth, sliding further down his cock. He’s not sure whether that’s because she’s trying to distract herself AND him from his words, or whether she’s enjoying being complimented. Either way, Jason continues on, still not holding back even a little bit.

“And your legs… your legs are to die for. Long and beautiful. I’m sure you had a few years as a teenager where you were lanky and awkward, like a newborn deer. But those days are behind you Taylor, no matter what anyone might say. I’ve seen you working alongside me since you started here. You move so gracefully it’s not even funny.”

That seems to be her limit. The barrage of compliments finally proves to be too much as Taylor abruptly pulls off of his cock with a gasp.

“S-Stop… please, s-stop.”

Jason frowns slightly, even as Taylor averts her eyes from his, barely able to look at him while her hands return to stroking his member. After a moment of silence, she lets out a shuddering breath.

“Y-You don’t… you don’t have to make me feel better about any of that s-stuff. I know that Emma is a bitch. I know not to trust anything that comes out of her mouth. And… and I know I outgrew my ugly duckling phase a while ago.”

That was nice to hear, but it sort of ran counter to what Taylor had said earlier. She’d said ‘I know I’m not particularly good looking’ like it was a fact. Like it was indisputable. Letting out a sigh, Jason shakes his head.

“But knowing it and believing it are two different things, aren’t they Taylor? You might know that everything that red head says isn’t true, but it’s another thing entirely to avoid internalizing it when she never actually stops. Isn’t it?”

Jason might not have known Taylor and Emma’s complete history. He’d only met Taylor herself a few months ago after all. But he’d had his own experiences with bullying. He had first hand experience with what he was saying right now. And as Taylor stares up at him with wide eyes, he knows she realizes that fact.

Coming to a sudden decision, Jason reaches down, grabs Taylor by the shoulders, and lifts her back up to her feet. She squeaks a little as he does so, her hands still wrapped around his dick.

“W-Wait… I w-wasn’t done…”

Letting out a sigh, Jason shakes his head. He could hardly believe he was doing this. And yet…

“Taylor, you don’t actually want to suck my cock. You just want a friend.”

Taylor freezes like a deer caught in headlights at being called out so bluntly. Jason just smiles in order to lessen the blow.

“Consider us friends, Taylor. No strings attached; no extra benefits needed. Now if you WANT to fuck some time, I’d be down because as I previously mentioned, you’re pretty hot regardless of what you think of yourself. But only if you want to fuck, not because you think you need to keep me interested.”

Slowly, Taylor comes out of her freeze, seeming to mull over his words for a long moment before finally nodding. At the same time though, that determination blazes back to life in her eyes, even as she looks down at his throbbing cock in her hands.

“A-Alright… but I’m going to finish you off with my hands. Friends don’t give friends blue balls.”

Jason laughed at that, even as Taylor went back to jerking him with her hands. He grunts at her admittedly poor technique and after a moment breaks his silence.

“Less yanking, more tugging and stroking, Taylor. No need to try and tear my dick off or anything…”

She blushes but seems to assimilate the lesson eagerly, almost like a sponge in the way she was willing to take his advice and learn from him in the short time that followed. Soon enough though, Jason was nearing the edge.

“Getting close now, Taylor…”

Reaching over, Taylor grabs a nearby towel and brings it up, even as she continues stroking his cock with her other hand. With a low groan, Jason proceeds to ejaculate into the towel as Taylor watches, her face bright red. If he was less of a gentleman, he could have had that bright red face covered in his cum right now. Or maybe those angular cheeks of hers chipmunked outwards from his seed filling her mouth.

But no. Jason mentally pushes away such thoughts. He wasn’t the kind of guy who took advantage of girls like that. Especially not hurt young women like Taylor, who really did just need a friend in this cruel, heartless world. Though he had to admit, getting jacked off into a towel was definitely the weirdest way he’d ever started a friendship.

Taylor moves away, washing the towel off in the sink while Jason tucks his cock back into his boxers and fixes up his pants. After they’re both done with their respective tasks, she gives him a brief smile and a nod before heading out. Left all alone, Jason lets out an explosive breath… only to jolt a moment later.

Ding!

Psychic Abilities - Astral Projection (Four Dots) – Transformation – 100 Points

In the World of Darkness, psychic abilities and mythic sorcery are, at first glance, completely different. However, both manipulate the same powers, albeit in very different ways, and are both considered forms of linear magic. While a sorcerer utilizes numerous tools and ceremonies to harness supernatural powers, a psychic makes do with lots, and lots, of willpower. Furthermore, the majority of psychic powers are innate, and can be improved, but not gained, without outside interference, in stark contrast to sorcery.

Splitting one’s spirit from their body, becoming a living ghost. In this state, they cannot affect the material world, except through the use of their psychic powers. They may also perceive other astral projections, but other forms of spirits appear hazy and indistinct, except to those with other spiritual senses. While outside their physical form, the psychic loses all awareness of it, leaving it vulnerable to attack. Should the body die without its spirit, a ghost will almost certainly result. Unfortunately, this will still count as a death for the purposes of this jump. Fortunately, short of outside intervention, the psychic may return to their body at will, regardless of distance.

[4] The astral form of the psychic may travel 1,000 miles from its body and remain outside for up to five hours. With effort, they may also manifest visibly for mundane observers as a silent and translucent, ghostly apparition.

(CG Note: Requires Psychic Abilities - Astral Projection (Three Dots) - World of Darkness: Sorcerer first.)

You now have 300 points saved up!

… What the fuck? Jason’s eyes widen, not just because of how his power seems to be escalating in frequency, but also from the first words he reads in this latest pull. Initially, he’s over the moon. But then he keeps reading and begins to properly understand what he’s looking at. It’s not actual psychic abilities… or at least, it’s not ALL psychic abilities. Instead, it’s specifically Astral Projection. Worse than that, it’s apparently a higher rank of Astral Projection that he needs the previous ranks to actually be able to use.

Jason doesn’t really understand this Four Dot and Three Dot bullshit. Does that mean there’s a Two Dot and a One Dot that he has to pick up before he can pick up Three Dot as well? It seemed rather likely, to be honest. Maybe there was a world in which he could bank the Four Dot version and one day be able to use it after purchasing the Three Dot version and whatever versions came before it, but admittedly, Jason wasn’t convinced.

Shaking his head, he ultimately decides it’s just not worth it. Especially not when there are things like Flash Air that he can purchase for four hundred points just waiting for him in the wings. If he starts spending a hundred points on powers he might literally never get to use, then he won’t ever have the points free to buy the things that will actually make him powerful.

Pass.

Sighing as he feels the power fade away, Jason shakes his head and presses his lips together in a thin line. With Taylor already gone, he finishes his own duties as ‘Senior Barista’ and then locks up the coffee shop before heading out onto the streets of Brockton Bay. Fortunately, since their business is less of a nighttime establishment and more of a morning to afternoon, the sun has just set in the last hour and while it is dark out, it’s not too late.

Even with how dangerous Brockton Bay is, he should be able to get back to his apartment along his usual route without any issues.

… However, there was also Flash Air to consider. The power, from what Jason understood, allowed him to do all sorts of things. It allowed him to teleport objects for instance, but not outright teleport living beings. However, he didn’t need to be able to teleport living things… because he could instead open portals by swapping the air itself from one location to the next.

His limits meant that he couldn’t swap the air between his apartment and right in front of him, unfortunately… but he COULD swap the air from here to that nearby rooftop and then travel from roof to roof all the way home with relatively rapid speed.

Or he could head to the Boat Graveyard instead and really put his power through its paces. Just a stray thought, but one that sticks as Jason groans and rubs the bridge of his nose. He had a full day tomorrow… just as full as today and the day before it had been. And just as full as the next day and the day after would be.

The life of a university student didn’t leave much room for anything… extracurricular. But on the other hand, his powers were the most interesting thing in his life right now. Could he really bring himself to ignore them for something as mundane as keeping his schooling and work on track?

-x-X-x-

A/N: Will try to keep this up to date at the end of every chapter, get on me if I forget please. Though if it gets too out of hand, will turn it into its own post and link back to it later.

Jason's current banked points:

300 Celestial Points

Jason's current powers:

- Flash Air (Gained in Chapter 1)

Chapter Text

A/N: Just because Jason gets home safe doesn't mean he's gonna get a good night's rest...

-x-X-x-

No… no, he knew better. Of course he knew better. Jason shakes his head, dispelling his own idiotic thoughts. Go to the Boat Graveyard to practice his powers? Yeah, him and ever other new cape who had ever fucking triggered while living in Brockton Bay. Everyone had heard the stories. Hell, it felt like they couldn’t go more than a handful of months without there being some news report about a new trigger getting caught by the PRT destroying things with their powers out in the Boat Graveyard.

And those were the lucky ones, really.

It was sort of a rite of passage… if rites of passage had a tendency to get you fucking conscripted or killed by the cops or the gangs. Because yeah, if you were a new trigger, you tended to try and find a place to experiment. But also, you were liable to be caught by one of the movers and shakers in the city.

If you were really lucky, you’d be picked up by the Protectorate and the PRT, the two organizations in charge of trying to police parahuman crime and keep the peace in the city. Key word there being try. Most of Brockton’s new triggers who were caught by the PRT wound up being transferred to somewhere else in the United States.

On the other hand, if you weren’t very lucky, you could wind up being scouted by one of Brockton Bay’s shit-tier gangs instead. And considering your choices were between the White Racists, the Asian Racists, and the Druggies, it was a crapshoot either way. If the Empire or the ABB found you and you weren’t either white or Asian, you were usually fucked. If the Merchants found you, you were just plain fucked. Oh sure they might not kill you, but they’d do worse than that for sure.

Not many were fully aware of it, but Jason remembered a blonde tinker who’d named herself Gearshift posting a couple times on the PHO forums about her vehicle work a couple years back. She’d been a little shy, but also more than willing to throw profanity laced tirades at anyone who so much as questioned any of her work.

Gearshift had never shown her face or even appeared in public, but Jason wasn’t an idiot and he suspected the Powers That Be probably made the same connection he was able to make when Gearshift suddenly stopped posting pictures of her tinkering around the same time that Skidmark got a new vehicle tinker in the form of his druggie girlfriend ‘Squealer’.

So yeah, the Boat Graveyard was a death sentence, as much as Jason really, really wanted to go. And frankly, roof hopping without a proper costume and without some training in using Flash Air was just as bad.

As frustrating as it was, Jason had no other choice… he had to go home the normal way. With the coffee shop locked up nice and tight behind him, he tucks his hands into his pockets, keeps his head down, and follows his usual route through the city to start heading back to his apartment. With the sun not fully set yet, he doesn’t need to really worry too much. The route he’s taking is firmly within the territory of the Asian Bad Boyz but isn’t actually populated with mostly Asian people. This means that not only do the ABB barely patrol it, but the Empire isn’t likely to invade it to try and make a statement by committing hate crimes against its residents.

Basically, the only time Jason and his neighbors would need to worry about the gangs is if something happened to weaken the ABB. Because they were prime real estate if the E88 decided that they wanted to carve off some more permanent territory from their rival gang. However, doing that would only piss Lung off, which was probably why it practically never happened.

And today wasn’t the day that changed either. Taking the safe route home, Jason makes it back to his apartment with plenty of time to spare, letting out a long exhale once he has the door closed and locked behind him. Leaning back against it for a moment, he lets his head droop as he considers the day. Not only the strange increase in power offers, but also the whole interaction with Taylor.

Did he really just make a friends with benefits relationship with his coworker? Yes, yes he did. Did he really just pass on a blowjob and only avoid getting blue balled because Taylor insisted on jacking him off to completion? Yes, yes he had.

“Fuck… I’m a self-sacrificing idiot, aren’t I?

Yes. Yes he was.

Still, even with all of that… a small grin spreads across Jason’s face as he glances over to the refrigerator. A moment later and there’s a square space where the refrigerator door is supposed to be, a window opened into the refrigerator itself thanks to his power. On top of that… Jason reaches out and twists, managing to open up a second space in the fridge, replacing a small square on one of the shelves with air and…

As a chilled soda can drops into his waiting palm, Jason crows a little in delight. He had an actual power now! Not just some sort of lottery system that slowly fed him points and threw random shit at him until something stuck, but an actual honest to god power! Flash Air was definitely one of the more versatile things he’d heard of parahumans being able to do too.

… Though to be fair, his true power, the aforementioned lottery and points system… that was probably THE most versatile thing Jason had ever heard of. Even as he pops the tab on the soda can and takes a long drink, moving through his apartment to drop onto his couch, he can’t help but reflect on what he knew so far.

The shit that had been offered to him over the past few days since he’d triggered was… well, it was all very diverse. Some of it was useless, to put it bluntly. And some of it was out of this world and insane. Some of it was stuff he would have liked to have if he had other powers backing them up, and some of it was stuff that was just too expensive for his savings at the time.

All of it painted a disturbing picture though and raised some interesting questions. How many powers could he buy? If he bought too many, would he eventually lose the first ones he purchased or be forced to pick and choose? So far, Jason hadn’t seen any sign of any of that… but to be fair, he only had one power at this point in time.

Brow furrowing, Jason uses Flash Air to swap some things in his apartment back and forth. Just because he didn’t go to the Boat Graveyard or use his power to go roof hopping didn’t mean he wasn’t going to practice, after all. Just meant he couldn’t do any big scale experiments. Not if he didn’t want to destroy his apartment.

Though, Flash Air was pretty good about putting things back where it found them. His refrigerator was completely whole once he let go of those two uses of his power to get himself a soda. And even as he bounces things back and forth all across his apartment, everything is mostly fine.

With Flash Air alone, Jason thinks he could maybe be a hero. And… he thinks he wants that, after the conversation he had with Taylor. He’s not sure though, just yet. His life is already pretty full at the moment. There’s a lot on his plate. Trying to go out as a hero might be the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Only… what about when he got more than just Flash Air? How could he justify not using his powers to help people once he was as strong as say… Eidolon?

Yeah, okay. So maybe that wasn’t going to happen any time soon. Eidolon was one of the strongest heroes in the world, only behind Scion. The Golden Man, as Scion was knowing, was said to have every power ever. But Eidolon could have any three powers he wanted at any time. They were both so strong that it was a little silly for Jason to ever think he could match them in power.

And yet… eyes flitting around his apartment as he continues to practice swapping items with Flash Air, Jason allows himself to dream… just a little bit.

-x-X-x-

“Jason! Where have you been?”

“S-Sorry… I stayed up too late. Passed out on my couch. Wound up missing my first two alarms.”

“Just… prepare yourself. My Aunt is furious.”

Jason blanches and hurries to sit down next to his fellow TA at the side table. While he had his own classes he was attending at Brockton Bay University, Jason was also far enough along at this point to start working as a TA for one of the Professors. It made for excellent extra credit… when it wasn’t driving him mad with the additional workload anyways.

There was one bright, shining spot in the madness though. He wasn’t this Professor’s only Teacher’s Aid. There was also Crystal… specifically Crystal Pelham. She was a year further in her studies than he was, and basically had one foot out the door already. However, back when Jason was a Freshman, Crystal had been his tutor for a class and they’d been friendly acquaintances ever since.

She’d been the reason he got this TA position in the first place after all, though whether he was supposed to thank her or curse her for that, Jason didn’t really know sometimes. Especially since-

“Mr. Allen. You’re late.”

Jason winces as Crystal Pelham’s aunt, Carol Dallon, glares him down, her arms crossed over her chest. He plasters the strongest smile he can on his face and bows his head in apology.

“Sorry Professor Dallon! I swear it won’t happen again!”

For a second, he thinks she might respond with something like ‘no it will not, because you’re through as my TA, get out of my sight’. And maybe if it wasn’t for Crystal, that’s exactly what would have happened. Especially since Jason catches Crystal giving her aunt a pleading look out of the corner of his eye, one that seems to save him, at least in the moment.

“… See that it doesn’t, Mr. Allen. If you truly want that internship with my firm when this year is up, you’re going to have to prove it to me. Tardiness is the exact opposite of what I should be seeing from you.”

… Fuck him. Even as the domineering, short-haired older woman turns on her heel and walks away, Jason is left letting out an explosive breath. Crystal reaches over and gives him a reassuring shoulder squeeze, prompting him to give her a weak smile of thanks.

Truthfully, he’d been working incredibly hard all year to try to earn that internship that Carol had been dangling in front of his face. Crystal had told him all about the situation when she’d gotten him this opportunity in the first place. Basically, her aunt was taking something of a forces sabbatical from not just being a lawyer, but also from active hero work.

Oh yeah, both Crystal and Carol were actually heroes. Independent Heroes, and maskless ones at that. Ninety percent of all heroes and villains were masked up and had secret identities and everything… but not New Wave, the Hero Group made up of the Pelham and Dallon Families. Their voluntary unmasking had taken place back before Crystal had ever even gotten powers, and had something to do with accountability if Jason was remembering correctly.

Regardless, while Carol Dallon was technically the heroine Brandish and Crystal Pelham was technically the heroine Laserdream… they were both on a heroic hiatus right now. Crystal was focusing on finishing up her studies and had hung up the Laserdream identity until she had her degree. And Carol… well, Carol had not taken the death of her husband Mark Dallon well. Hence teaching as a Guest Professor at Brockton Bay University for a year, rather than her normal vocation as a lawyer by day and a heroine by night.

Unfortunately for Jason, nothing he did was ever good enough for Carol. As hard as he worked, as much as he struggled… it was like the short-haired woman had it out for him in particular. He knew that was nonsense of course, Crystal herself had said that Carol was just like that with everyone, and he’d seen how she interacted with her students as well. Put bluntly, Carol Dallon was just a hardass.

… But when she held his entire future in her hands, the fact that she was ‘just like that with everyone’ didn’t exactly make Jason feel better. He was beginning to feel like nothing he did could make Carol happy. And if he couldn’t make Carol happy, what sort of future did he have after University?

Though, now that he had powers-

Ding!

Dust Refinery – Magitek – 100 Points

Able to infuse Dust with new life, the Refinery is the staple of Dust Enchantment. While Dust infused iron is common, it pales compared to the Dust enchantments this refinery allows. Allows for the crafting of Foci and magic rings, talismans, insignias, and tomes.

You now have 400 points saved up!

Speak of the devil. Jason tries not to stiffen too much as he suddenly gets another alert from his powers. To be fair, it’s not the first time that he’s been offered something while at school. Not even the first time he’s been offered something in front of Crystal. He was a lot less subtle the actual first time, and convincing Crystal that he was fine had taken some doing.

This time though, he’s able to keep his cool. Reading through this lates offering, he finds himself at a bit of a loss though. What was Dust in the first place? Why was a Dust Refinery so cheap?

… How big was a Dust Refinery? Fuck. He couldn’t take this power here. It was a building, wasn’t it? So even though it sounded cool…

Pass.

He tries not to let it get to him. Another roll he can’t take. But hey, he has Flash Air now! And four hundred points saved up as well. One of these days, he’ll get something else useful. And until then, he hasn’t even been able to deploy Flash Air in action just yet. So… so it’s fine.

“Hey. You okay, Jason?”

Apparently it wasn’t fine if Crystal could tell he was feeling downtrodden. Offering her a stronger smile than before, Jason nods.

“Yeah… yeah, I’m fine Crystal. Just gotta get to work, yeah?”

Indeed, they both had plenty of TA work to do for Carol, and he needed to get as much done before his actual classes came along or else it would just pile up more and more and Carol would consider him all the more worthless for it. Before Jason can really dig in however…

“Sure, yeah. Uh, before that though, I was just wondering… if maybe you wanted to go and get coffee later?”

… Wait, what? Was Crystal Pelham asking him out… on a date? Maybe… maybe he was reading into things too much. There could be plenty of reasons for why she was offering to go out for coffee. Maybe school-related reasons. Or maybe her aunt had decided he was never getting that internship and had conscripted Crystal to let him down gently.

‘Gently’ and ‘Carol Dallon’ didn’t exactly go hand in hand, so it probably wasn’t that last one. Fuck, he hoped it wasn’t that last one. Still… Jason finds himself at a loss for words as he tries to figure out how to respond.

-x-X-x-

A/N: Will try to keep this up to date at the end of every chapter, get on me if I forget please. Though if it gets too out of hand, might have to change it at some point.

Jason's current banked points:

400 Celestial Points

Jason's current powers:

- Flash Air (Gained in Chapter 1)

Chapter Text

A/N: Jason and Crystal go and get coffee.

-x-X-x-

There was no way Crystal was asking him out on a date. Which meant that she had something rather serious to talk to him about. Hiding his sudden anxiety behind a smile he plasters across his face, Jason nods.

“Sure, that sounds good to me. Uh, I have a short amount of time between here and work around three if that works for you?”

Crystal’s eyes light up, and then she frowns.

“Yes that works for me! Oh, but that’s right… you work in a coffee shop, don’t you? We can do something else if you prefer…”

Maybe if Jason had thought this was an actual date he would have taken Crystal up on that offer. But seeing as he knows it’s not, he just shakes his head and chuckles.

“It’s no problem. We can just go someplace different from my work, if that’s alright with you.”

“Yeah, sure!”

And with that, the not-a-date is set. Jason and Crystal get back to work, exchanging small talk here and there, but with Carol all but breathing down their necks, Jason doesn’t dare spend too much time ‘distracted’. He’s already pissed the woman off enough by being late after all.

-x-X-x-

Ding!

Transformation Pendant – Illusion – 100 points

A cool pendant one can attach to their clothes or wear around their neck. By pressing a button or flipping a switch you can change clothes in an instant, into a different pre-prepared set.

You now have 500 points saved up!

His latest pull comes right as he’s holding the door open for Crystal. Jason doesn’t react of course, having gotten rather good at nonreactions at this point. However, he does do a double take after giving the pull a cursory glance over. A… Transformation Pendant?

It wasn’t as strong as it seemed at a first glance. It didn’t let you disguise yourself. But it did let you change clothes in an instant, and that… that actually sounded quite good. Only a hundred points as well, and Jason had more than enough to buy it.

He does hesitate for a moment though. What the fuck was up with his power’s pricing? How was a transformation pendant supposed to be equal in value to a whole-ass refinery? Jason honestly couldn’t say. But one thing was for sure… he was taking this one.

The only thing he doesn’t know for sure is where it’ll put the pendant if he accepts right now. Thinking fast, he turns to Crystal and gives her an apologetic smile.

“Hey, do you mind if I use the restroom real quick?”

“Oh! No problem, want me to get something for you since I’m already in line?”

Giving Crystal his usual coffee order, Jason heads off. Luckily this coffee shop’s bathroom is both a single person deal and unlocked. He’s able to slip inside, lock the door behind him… and then finally accept his second ‘power’. Not that it’s actually much of a power. But Jason will take whatever he can get at this point.

Keep.

Transformation Pendant Purchased! 400 Points Remain!

Jason had been afraid the pendant would appear in the middle of the air in front of him until he grabbed it or something, maybe glowing with a bright light like items in a video game sometimes did. That doesn’t happen, thankfully. Instead, the Transformation Pendant appears in his right hand, causing Jason to look down at it in wonder. It’s a small thing, on a relatively unassuming silver chain. With a shaky breath, Jason puts it around his neck, hiding it under his clothes.

Immediately, he can feel the pendant going to work. If he wanted to, he could have it suck in his current set of clothing so that he could put on more. Jason doesn’t do that, of course. But he DOES designate his current clothes as a ‘prepared set’ so that he can toy with it later. For now though, after stroking the pendant through his shirt for a moment, Jason schools his face, getting rid of the goofy smile he finds on it when he looks in the mirror. Then, he heads out of the bathroom after pretending to wash up.

By the time he returns to her, Crystal already has their orders and has gotten a table. Trying not to dwell too much on his newest acquisition, Jason sits down and takes a sip from his drink, finding it to be perfectly prepared. He gives Crystal a reassuring smile when she eyes him hopefully.

“Perfect, thanks.”

Shrugging, the older girl just lets out a little laugh.

“Ah, well… I just followed your instructions, really.”

Jason nods, humming as he takes another draw from the cup. Then, he sets it down and raises an eyebrow.

“So… what’d you want to talk about, exactly? I’m not silly enough to think this is an actual date or anything like that.”

Jason lets out a little self-deprecating laugh at that, to show he’s just joking around. Even if part of him wishes it was a date, he’s smarter than that. And judging by the look on Crystal’s face, he was right to be as well. For a second, Crystal Pelham looks mortified.

“O-Oh! Oh no, I didn’t even think about that when I asked… Jason, I’m so sorry if I-!”

But Jason just waves her off with an easy-going smile. Sure, maybe some very tiny piece of him had held out hope that it WAS a date right up until this point, but he’d known better. No harm, no foul.

“All good, Crystal. Like I said, I’m not that dumb.”

She still looks a little regretful, taking a moment to sip from her own drink in order to hide her distress. When she’s finally done however…

“Look, Jason… I just want to be clear that it’s not like I wouldn’t want to date you. I just have a lot on my plate right now. Between college and being Laserdream, I-!”

“Holy shit, you’re Laserdream!”

Speaking of which. Jason leans back as Crystal, almost like she summoned them by invoking her own heroine name, finds herself dealing with a fan. They aren’t too annoying about it at least so Jason doesn’t have to get involved, but they do gush over Crystal for a moment before having her sign a corner of their T-shirt. Then, thankfully, they leave. Crystal winces as they depart, before looking at Jason like she doesn’t know what to say.

A gentle smile on his face, Jason gives her a reassuring nod.

“I’m all ears, Crystal. What did you need to meet with me about?”

Letting out a shuddering sigh, Crystal seems to gather herself up. Meanwhile, Jason prepares for the worst. He doesn’t think Carol would have Crystal dismiss him for her, but it’s not completely out of the question.

“… It’s my cousin Vicky. You might know her as Victoria Dallon… aka Glory Girl.”

Jason raises an eyebrow but nods all the same.

“I’ve heard of her, yes. Have yet to meet her though.”

Which was pretty strange in and of itself, he couldn’t help thinking. After all, Crystal’s cousin Vicky was also Carol’s daughter Vicky. They were the same person. However, Vicky didn’t attend Brockton Bay University, despite being a high school graduate. Jason had always found that odd, but it explained why he hadn’t met her yet he supposed.

“Right, yeah. That’s because Vicky decided to take a gap year after graduating high school. Rather than jumping straight into University like us, she went ahead and took a year off. Only, rather than vacationing and figuring out her life like most people would, she’s spent the past year patrolling more as Glory Girl than ever before.”

Jason hums to show he’s listening. He doesn’t really know what to say to that information. He also doesn’t really know where Crystal is going with this.

“… Some would say Vicky has been almost singlehandedly keeping New Wave in the public eye with her patrols. Some would say that’s not entirely a good thing.”

Oh? Jason raises his other eyebrow, but Crystal just shakes her head.

“Sorry, family drama. Nothing you should be worried about. The reason I’m telling you all of this is that Carol has put her foot down. Vicky has to go to college or she’s going to be cut off. Luckily, Vicky DOES want to earn a degree, so it’s not that big of a deal… and Carol was even willing to pull some strings so Vicky could take an exam that might get her into BBU too.”

At Jason’s confused head tilt, Crystal bites her lower lip and clarifies.

“Vicky’s grades in high school were… fine. But not good enough for Brockton Bay University. Part of the reason she chose the gap year was because she knew she’d wind up at community college first. Part of the reason she’s willing to entertain going back to school now is because Carol is offering her a path straight to the University. I know, I know… it’s nepotism at its finest.”

Jason just shrugs as Crystal hangs her head.

“It is what it is, Crystal. But I still don’t really understand where I come in here.”

“Oh! Right, sorry. Vicky needs tutoring. God, I really beat around the bush there, didn’t I? The exam Vicky has to take is in a month and she’s rusty on just about everything. She needs a tutor and I was hoping you might be willing to help out. Not for free or anything… I can afford to pay you a very good rate, actually! See, Carol put me in charge of finding Vicky a tutor… and well, my cousin’s family is pretty loaded thanks to the whole lawyer thing.”

Wow. That was… an offer. Jason takes a moment to process Crystal’s words. He could use the money. Of course he could use the money. Of course, he could also get a power in the next day that allowed him to create gold from nothing or something ridiculous like that. Then again, he could not as well.

That all said…

“Does Carol know you’re offering the job to me?”

He’d thought Carol hated him. Or at the very least, had a very low opinion of him. If Crystal was going behind her back then… except no. Crystal nods her head.

“Yeah, I told her. I wouldn’t keep that sort of thing from my aunt Jason. I know you think she doesn’t like you very much… but that’s just how Carol is. She didn’t have any objection to you being Vicky’s tutor, so long as it doesn’t affect your work as a TA and the two of you turned out to be compatible. And it’s really good money, Jason. Good enough that you could quit your job and still be set for the rest of the year. That kind of good.”

Jason blinks owlishly and finds himself categorizing the Pelham Family up a handful of income brackets in his head. Jesus fucking Christ, apparently being a lawyer paid really, really well. Set for the rest of the year off of a month’s work?

It honestly felt too good to be true. However, if he hadn’t had his powers, Jason doesn’t think he would have been in a position to say no to such an offer. It’s only because he has these crazy powers now that he finds himself hesitating and considering the situation from all angles.

“I… can I have the night to think it over? It’s an amazing offer, don’t get me wrong…”

Crystal smiles and nods in understanding.

“I’ve gotta get Vicky set up with the tutor in the next couple days, but you can totally give me your answer tomorrow morning. And I get it, Jason, really I do. All I’ll say is that Vicky isn’t like her mom. In fact, the two constantly butt heads because of how different they are in personality. My aunt can be… very abrasive. But Vicky is nice. You’d like her.”

A ringing endorsement if Jason has ever heard one. The two of them finish up soon after that and Jason finds himself heading to work. Taylor is already there waiting for him and the two of them relieve the day shift before getting started on the night shift. Thankfully, no Emma Barnes shows up to mess with them again this time around, and everything is almost normal, even.

Taylor also doesn’t come onto him again, nor does he come onto her. He might have if he didn’t have so many things on his mind. She definitely gives him a few looks that he doesn’t fail to notice. But she doesn’t approach him, correctly realizing that he’s lost in his own little world as the hours go by.

Fuck. On the one hand, not having to waste so many hours of the day on working at the coffee shop anymore would feel great. On the other hand, he doesn’t necessarily want to abandon Taylor. But… he doesn’t have to. If he had more free time, he wouldn’t have to spend it all on power shit. He could also make time for Taylor. Would he though? Or would he forget all about her?

… At the same time, Taylor couldn’t be his reason for sticking it out in this dead end fucking job. All things came to an end and even if he didn’t take Crystal up on her offer, he would still probably have to quit working at the coffee shop if he managed to earn the internship that Carol had offered when he’d started as her TA.

And all of THAT was ignoring the fact that with his powers, he might not wind up doing any of this for much longer. Being the Senior Barista of this Coffee Shop, going to school… how long before he was strong enough that none of it felt like it mattered anymore?

Ding!

Keen Eye – Destruction – 100 Points

You have quite the keen eyesight and kinesthetic sense my friend. I guess it comes with the territory of having to avoid things in flight. But in concern to martial skills it’s really helping with your aim - be it spellslinging, healing, offensive magics, or even any form of projectile based weapon. Perhaps you have a fairy sized bow, or slingshot? Your ranged skills would be quite good, easily the equal of any arbalist. This slightly boosts your abilities with other medieval level ballistic devices used to launch projectiles at greater ranges, like catapults and onagers. You’d do wonders helping defend a place against a siege. After all, it helps when you have the skills to actually hit a distant target.

You now have 500 Points saved up!

… What… the… fuck. Jason knows he shouldn’t be surprised. His powers have been giving him more options much faster since yesterday. At the same time though, this makes for three pulls in one day. Why? How… and more importantly than that, how has he gotten lucky enough to get two good pulls in one day?

Keep.

Keen Eye Purchased. 400 Points Remain!

It was a no-brainer. Maybe if it had been more expensive, but a hundred points for better eyesight and ‘kinesthetic’ senses? Yeah, Jason would take that. He’d take that in a heartbeat. Especially because he was sure it would help him with his use of Flash Air… and he could immediately tell after taking Keen Eye that he was right. Everything was smoother. Everything was so much clearer. He could utilize Flash Air far more efficiently like this, especially... especially in combat.

… Though once he got over his excitement, he was right back to his earlier conundrum. If only making life choices was as easy as taking or rejecting the things his power offered him…

-x-X-x-

A/N: Will try to keep this up to date at the end of every chapter, get on me if I forget please. Though if it gets too out of hand, might have to change it at some point.

Jason's current banked points:

400 Celestial Points

Jason's current powers:

• Flash Air (Gained in Chapter 1)

• Transformation Pendant (Gained in Chapter 4)

• Keen Eye (Gained in Chapter 4)

Chapter Text

A/N: Jason makes his call, finishes up his last shift, talks to Taylor, and has his first tutoring session with Vicky.

-x-X-x-

In the end, the first thing Jason does in the morning is call Crystal. He doesn’t bother wasting time waiting for them to see each other at the University.

“Mm… yes?”

“I need to know one final thing before I say yes, Crystal. I need to know exactly what sort of compensation I’m looking at.”

“Oh! Of course!”

Crystal proceeds to rattle off a number that Jason has to be careful not to react to. But… yeah, it’s a lot of money. An exorbitant amount of money, and all for the work of just a month as well. He could… well, he could make that sort of money really last if he was careful, and that was without taking into account his ever-evolving powers.

Nodding to himself, Jason bites the bullet.

“Alright, I’m in. I’ll tutor Vicky for the next month.”

“Great! Can you start tonight?”

Jason pulls the phone away from his ear for a second and gives it a look even though he knows Crystal won’t see it. Or perhaps because he knows Crystal won’t see it. Still, he can’t help some of the irritation leaking into his voice.

“No. You did say you could give me a couple days, yeah? I need to give notice to my job this morning and then work tonight’s shift. I can start tomorrow though.”

“A-Aha, right… sorry, of course. No problem! Tomorrow is just fine!”

At least Crystal sounded contrite. As much as Jason liked Crystal Pelham, it was obvious she’d grown up with a bit of a silver spoon in her mouth. He’d be surprised if she’d ever had to even work a minimum wage job… or any job at all for that matter. Between her hero work and her studying, she probably hadn’t had the time… but it wasn’t like people like Jason necessarily had the time either. They were forced to make the time, even at the detriment of other things.

Even still, Jason didn’t let it get to him. In fact…

“Alright then. And thank you for this, Crystal. From the bottom of my heart, I appreciate this opportunity.”

“Y-Yeah! No problem!”

If Jason could do an amazing job tutoring Vicky, get her through her exam into BBU, and then spend the rest of the year not only knocking his studies out of the park but also wowing Carol Dallon with his TA abilities, that internship at Carol’s law firm was all but in the bag. And from there, the sky was the limit even if his strange powers literally never gave him another good pull again.

Though… speaking of which, Jason moves from his bed to his closet and starts emptying it out. Using the powers of the Transformation Pendant, he puts on his all of his clothes one set of clothing at a time before pushing them into the Transformation Pendant itself using him in just a pair of his socks and a birthday suit as the baseline. Soon enough and he has every last piece of clothing he owns in the Transformation Pendant’s liminal space, and he can feel them in his mind’s eyes, switching between outfits as will.

It’s a heady feeling, and one that buoys Jason even as he goes through his day. Letting corporate know that he’s no longer going to be working at their coffee shop after today goes about as well as expected. They don’t even bother asking him for two weeks or what he’s leaving them for. They know it’s a dead end job just as much as he does and he’s been enough of a model employee that all they really do is make sure he knows where to leave the keys and what not when he locks up for the final time tonight.

After that, Jason’s day goes… rather well. It feels surreal going to work for the last time. He also notices that his powers don’t activate again as the hours drag on. Not that he’s overly worried about it. Even with just Flash Air, Keen Eye, and the Transformation Pendant alone, Jason is already feeling like a proper parahuman.

He even finds himself better at mixing the drinks with Keen Eye, able to literally pinpoint the amount of things he’s putting into the cup with one hundred percent accuracy. Not exactly the most spectacular use of his powers maybe, but it’s exciting for him still at least at this point. And it’ll never get old too either, because this will be the first and last day where he’ll be using Keen Eye to mix drinks for people.

There’s just one thing Jason feels like he has to do as the day comes to an end and he and Taylor begin closing up shop. Even if it’s awkward, even if it’s uncomfortable… there’s no world in which he’s just going to ghost Taylor especially after what happened between them. So…

“Hey Taylor, got something I need to talk to you about.”

Looking at him like a deer caught in the headlights, the tall dark-haired young woman swallows thickly.

“Um… y-yeah?”

Jason lets out a sigh, deciding to just rip off the Band-Aid.

“Today… today is my last day working here, Taylor. I quit this morning and this is my last shift.”

Taylor chokes on her own spit at that, turning to face him completely.

“W-What?! Why? Don’t… don’t you have to give your two weeks a-at least?”

“For a place like this? Nah, fuck that and fuck them. They didn’t even bother to ask when I told them either. They know the score. I did tell them that you were probably the best one to replace me though, in the event that you stick around. Whether they listen or not… well, I wouldn’t count on it but at least I tried.”

Mouth opening and closing, Taylor looks like she doesn’t know what to say. Stepping over to her, Jason puts his hands on her shoulders.

“This isn’t your fault, Taylor. This isn’t because of what happened between us, alright? I know it seems a little too coincidental, but it’s the truth. I’ve received a frankly insane offer to tutor a rich girl for the next month and they’re paying me enough money that I’ll be set for the rest of this year at least.”

That gets an owlish blink from Taylor, who tilts her head to the side.

“What… how much money?”

Jason tells her and Taylor gapes at him for a brief second before finally reacting.

“That’s double what we’d make HERE in a year! And for one month?!”

Slowly nodding, Jason winces, half-expecting Taylor to blow up at the unfairness of it all. And if she does, he’ll understand, really he will. Because it’s not fair. He’s getting this offer because he knows Crystal. And it’s only happening because Vicky is getting a chance nobody else gets through Carol being her mom. Life is so rarely fair and-

“Of course you had to take it! You’d be an idiot not to!”

Wait, what? Jason stares at Taylor for a moment, pulled out of his own spiraling thoughts.

“You… you’re not mad? I could have tried to make everything work. I could have tried to stick with this job, and college, and done the tutoring on top of all of that…”

But Taylor just scoffs.

“For what? This job sucks out the soul. If you don’t have to do it, if you don’t have to waste your time here, then you shouldn’t. Full stop.”

Damn, that was surprisingly mature of the young woman. Of course, a moment later and Taylor suddenly looks incredibly self-conscious.

“B-Besides… you said the decision has nothing to do with me, r-right? So… you won’t have any problem meeting up sometimes for study sessions of our own… yeah?”

The funny thing is, that was exactly what Jason had intended to suggest to Taylor so long as he could get through to her that this wasn’t because of her. He feels a little guilty now for assuming she would be unreasonable about all of this, but he’s also impressed by her maturity. All the same, the way Taylor says ‘study sessions’ and the way Jason was thinking of them are clearly… two very different things. Not that he’s about to turn her down.

“Heh. Yeah Taylor, I’d love to ‘study’ with you some more.”

Taylor’s face is bright red as he matches her tone for tone. But she doesn’t back down from the sudden flirting. Instead, she escalates things by stepping forward and wrapping her arms around his neck.

“Then… maybe we could do some studying right here, right now. Last chance to fuck me on that counter where we both have to deal with sociopaths wearing human skin day in and day out.”

Well now, that certainly wasn’t an offer Jason could see himself refusing. Letting out a lustful growl, he grabs Taylor up, his hands digging into her ass cheeks as he walks her out of the back of the coffee shop and into the front. The blinds are closed, the door is locked, and the lights are pretty much all off save for the emergency ones that always stay on.

Jason and Taylor fumble with one another’s clothes and soon enough he’s lifting her up onto the counter in question and does exactly what she suggested. His cock, rock hard thanks to some stroking from the tall young woman, slides right into Taylor’s wet sex, causing her to moan into his ear as she clings to him for dear life.

He fucks her rather deeply, pounding into her hard and fast and making Taylor shudders and quiver under him. As he thrusts in and out of her, Taylor’s long legs come up to wrap around his waist, holding him in place as she looks him in the eye.

“I’m going to hold you to your words, Jason. We’re friends, right? So don’t you dare abandon me.”

He’s a little taken aback by the intensity in Taylor’s voice, but he figures he knows where it’s coming from all the same. He doesn’t have to be a genius or some sort of private investigator to realize Taylor hasn’t had an easy life… or all that many friends either. The fact that she thought she needed to offer him her body in the first place just as a ‘thank you’ showed that much.

Still, Jason just smiles at her and leans forward, answering Taylor’s words with a kiss. Of course, that’s when his power finally decides to activate after being dormant all day.

Ding!

Creative Solutions – Modus – 600 Points

Whether you choose the path of Dark or Primal Magic, or both, a great wizard is not one who bludgeons the world with his power, but one who has the perfect tool for any situation, and failing that can adapt their spells to match. Your creativity in using spells for new things, and setting up situations where they can be used to greatest effect, is outstanding.

You now have 500 Points saved up!

… Huh. On the one hand, it sounded cool. On the other hand, it sounded incredibly vague. But in the end, it didn’t matter one way or another, did it? He couldn’t even afford it. Which was strange, because the ‘power’ description didn’t sound like it was worth six hundred points. But maybe he was misjudging the depths of it. Either way…

Pass.

It was also a bit strange that his power made him manually pass on things he couldn’t even buy. One would think it would be intuitive enough to either only offer him things he COULD buy, or at least automatically tell him he couldn’t buy it anyways. But Jason puts that out of his mind for now and focuses on Taylor and her moans, making sure that their last time in the coffee shop together is as memorable as possible for the gorgeous, leggy young coed.

-x-X-x-

The next day, with the sun slowly starting to set in the distance, Jason finds himself outside of Victoria Dallon’s apartment, feeling a little nervous. He’s brought his laptop and a spiral notebook, expecting for today to be mostly about figuring out where Vicky was most rusty and trying to create a gameplan that worked for both of them.

In the end, there wasn’t much Jason could do but step forward and knock… so that’s what he does.

“Coming!”

He assumes it’s Vicky who he hears through the door, because otherwise he’s come to the wrong apartment. Fortunately, when the door opens Jason can immediately see the resemblance between not just Vicky and Crystal, but also Vicky and Carol. Oh yeah, and the beautiful bombshell of a blonde is also floating about six inches off the ground as well.

“You must be Jason! Come in!”

Vicky’s presence washes over him like a wave and Jason finds himself entering her apartment and moving to her tempo as she closes the door behind him and then flits off. He looks around the place but… it’s not really anything out of the ordinary for a young woman living alone. Except, of course, for the professionally made Glory Girl Costume just draped over the couch like it’d been peeled off and then forgotten about.

Jason is tempted to walk over and touch it to see if it’s really real… but he has the good sense to stop himself from doing that, knowing just how creepy it would be. In the end, he was here to do a job.

“So, Ms. Dallon… I thought maybe we could start by going over the subjects you think you’re weakest on so we can shore up those deficiencies first and foremost…”

“Yeah, let’s not though, alright?”

Wait, what?

Vicky floats back over to him, crossing her arms over her chest and giving him a broad smile.

“Crystal said you were cool so I’m just going to be upfront with you, alright? I know you’re getting paid a ton of money for this… but I also know you’re not going to lose out on that money if I fail the exam my mom’s set up for me. Here’s the deal… I’m not going to college. No way, no how.”

Jason’s mouth opens and closes wordlessly at that, completely caught off guard. Vicky just sighs and flicks her hair back over her shoulder.

“Look, it’s pretty simple. Mom wants me to go to college. I don’t want to go to college. So I’ve been working pretty hard for the past year to separate myself from New Wave however I can. And I succeeded too, see? I’ve got a sponsor who will be bankrolling my hero work as Glory Girl starting next month. They’ll pay for everything and I won’t owe my mom anything anymore. I promised her I’d take the exam at the end of the month, but I’m not planning on passing it. And when I fail and she cuts me off, I’ll be ready to land on my feet. I just need this month to finish getting everything ready.”

Smiling sweetly down at him, the floating heroine clasps her hands in front of her, which of course has the added benefit of pushing her tits together and up a bit.

“All I need you to do is come here every day and say you were tutoring me. We can do other stuff instead like watch TV, or you can get your own schoolwork done, or whatever. Maybe sometimes I’ll go out and patrol in disguise or whatever. And at the end of the month, you and I are both happy with the outcome. Sound good?”

No… no it did not sound good. Vicky was asking him to lie to her mother. To tell Carol fucking Dallon of all people that he’d tried his best but her daughter just wasn’t smart enough. Clearly, Vicky was smart enough. She just had her own ideas on what her future should look like and wasn’t willing to just sit down and tell her mom that outright. Or at least wasn’t willing to do so yet.

Suddenly, Jason was beginning to regret taking this job. Fuck him, he almost wished he was back in the coffee shop right now, rather than in Vicky Dallon’s apartment facing down the blonde herself as she asked him to lie to her terrifying mother for her.

What the fuck was he supposed to do?!

-x-X-x-

A/N: Will try to keep this up to date at the end of every chapter, get on me if I forget please. Though if it gets too out of hand, might have to change it at some point.

Jason's current banked points:

500 Celestial Points

Jason's current powers:

• Flash Air (Gained in Chapter 1)

• Transformation Pendant (Gained in Chapter 4)

• Keen Eye (Gained in Chapter 4)

Chapter Text

A/N: Jason lays down the law. He's very impressive too. Until he does something dumb.

-x-X-x-

“No.”

He’s not sure where it comes from, this sudden well of inner strength. Maybe its his power. Or maybe Jason is just done being walked all over. All throughout his life, it feels like all he’s done is let himself be stepped on. Growing up in the shitshow that is Brockton Bay, TAing for Carol Dallon, working at that shitty coffee shop. Just one thing after another.

And now, finally, he gets the opportunity to do something that actually sounds relatively engaging and rewarding. Very rewarding, to be fair. But still, teaching someone else, while it might not be his lifelong dream or passion, was something he’d always enjoyed doing. He’d been looking forward to tutoring Vicky for this next month, even if it would probably be a lot of work.

But no, here she was to rain on his parade. Just when he thought he was getting out from under the boot, just when he was getting some breathing room, here she was to try and stomp him back down again.

“Excuse me?”

Jason is very aware of the floating bombshell in front of him and her ability to put him through a wall if necessary. He just doesn’t give a shit at this point.

He could have invoked Carol’s name, of course. He could have threatened to tell Vicky’s mother what she was planning, or even tried to use Carol to garner some sympathy from the young blonde heroine. After all, if she fails the exam at the end of the month, he can probably kiss that internship at Carol’s law firm goodbye. Obviously, Vicky doesn’t know about that part. She doesn’t know he actually has something to lose.

And yet… he doesn’t tell her. In the face of Victoria Dallon’s building scowl, Jason just stands his ground.

“That does not work for me, Ms. Dallon. I was hired to do a job and I will be doing it. I may not be able to take your test for you…”

At this Jason pauses, because he actually knows quite a few students who have tried to make some money on the side by taking tests for other students. Not something he would do, so he amends his words.

“Rather, I will not be taking your test for you, so I can’t stop you from purposefully failing. However, until the month is out, I have been paid to tutor you and prepare you for your exam. I will be here every night to do so until that time, and you will participate. So sit your ass down and let’s get to work.”

Victoria Dallon stares at him from where she’s still floating a foot off the ground, her eyes wide as he looks right back at her. Finally, her voice almost soft, she asks the obvious question.

“… And if I don’t?”

This was where he was supposed to invoke her mother’s name, Jason imagined. Force her to at least put in the work or else he’d tattle on her to Carol. But Jason doesn’t do that, not even now. Instead, he points behind him.

“Then I’ll walk out that door, return the money to Crystal, and she can find someone else to be your stooge for the next month.”

He can tell his words have caught Vicky completely off guard. Maybe she was ready for him to try to use Carol to browbeat her into submission, but it’s obvious she wasn’t ready for him to threaten to quit on principle. Frankly, Jason himself could scarcely believe he was doing it.

Would he have been willing to go this far if he didn’t have his powers to fall back on? Maybe not. It wasn’t like he’d be going back to the coffee shop if Vicky forced him to make good on his ultimatum. But even if he was forced to quit the tutoring job… he’d be alright. He’d make it work and find some way to keep himself off the streets.

All his life, Jason had given up his principles time and time again for the sake of survival. Now that he had powers though, he didn’t have to keep his head down and just submit to those more powerful than him anymore. He could finally hold his head high and tell the people trying to step all over him to fuck off.

Silence has fallen in Victoria Dallon’s apartment and Jason deems it to have gone on long enough, so he speaks up again.

“Make your choice, Ms. Dallon. Ass on the couch, or I walk out the door. What’s it going to be?”

Another brief pause… and then Vicky floats over to the couch and sits down on it next to her discarded Glory Girl costume. She doesn’t look particularly happy about it, but she looks more bewildered than angry, truth be told.

Frankly, Jason is feeling much the same way, though he tries his best to keep his own bewilderment off of his face as he makes his way over to the living room’s single chair, pulls it over to the other side of the coffee table between him and Vicky, and sits down. Clearing his throat, he pulls out his laptop and spiral notebook as well as a pen.

“Let’s begin with what subjects you think you’re weakest on and go from there. Tonight will be mostly about developing a game plan for us to operate off of for the rest of the month.”

“… Fine.”

Just as Vicky starts talking however…

Ding!

Blood, Death, and Demons – Modus – 400 Points

Blood magic, necromancy, and demon summoning. What fun. The magics of Praes are dark ones, appropriate to those in service to the Gods Below. Your knowledge of the ritual magic of Villains is amazing, allowing you to bleed out a few prisoners in order to keep a massive area growing bountiful food, letting you call powerful demons with little risk to yourself, or forge powerful pacts with the greatest among them, allowing you to single-handedly turn the flow of entire battles. You have five years of training in these magics, and your spells are stronger, and can grow stronger still with sacrifices, either of blood, or of your own defenses.

You now have 600 Points saved up!

At first, Jason barely glances at the pull, distracted by Vicky and assuming from its high cost that it’s going to be another building or another esoteric power of little ultimate value to him like the ‘Creative Solutions’ pull he’d gotten before this one. But then his eyes actually catch on to what he’s reading and he finds himself freezing in place.

Blood magic, necromancy, and demon summoning. Literal satanic shit, not that Jason was very religious growing up in a world like Earth Bet. If God existed, he could go fuck himself. And if demons were real, they’d long since written Earth Bet off as a lost cause at this point. Place was a shitshow without supernatural forces.

And yet… could Jason really afford to pass up on such an opportunity? Five years of training in three separate types of magic. A guarantee that his spells would be stronger and could get stronger even beyond that. And… it wasn’t like he actually had to hurt anyone. It wasn’t like he had to do anything. It was just knowledge. Knowledge that he wasn’t sure he could really afford to pass up.

Before he can second guess himself, Jason pulls the trigger.

Keep.

Blood, Death, and Demons Purchased. 200 Points Remain!

Only belatedly does Jason suddenly worry about what the effect of having five years of magical knowledge all shoved into his head at once might feel like. As Vicky is still begrudgingly talking about what she needs the most help with in terms of her education, he feels a sudden building pressure start in the middle of his eyes.

As the knowledge starts trickling in, there’s a low-grade headache to deal with, but if this is how bad it is, he feels like he can probably handle it. So long as it’s just a trickle and not- oh fuck.

It all hits at once, the pain in between his eyes increases immensely, and Jason cries out before darkness takes him.

-x-X-x-

… What the fuck even was her life? Victoria Dallon sits there on her own couch after having let herself be browbeaten into talking about all of her greatest scholastic deficiencies by the guy her cousin Crystal has a crush on… only for him to suddenly shout and pass out right in front of her.

Vicky’s mouth opens and closes as she takes in his slumped forward on the opposite side of her coffee table. She was… what the fuck did she do now?!

When her mother had demanded that Vicky finally go back to college, Vicky had been less than enthused about the idea. Fortunately, she’d been able to work something out without having to do anything TOO drastic. Well, by her mother’s standards it was still pretty drastic. After all, if Carol found out exactly who was going to be sponsoring Vicky’s heroics going forward, she would almost certainly flip her lid and go ballistic.

But Crystal had said Jason was cool, so Vicky hadn’t really thought about the possibility that he might rat her out to her mother when she’d told him everything. She’d assumed that her cousin’s crush would be chill about stuff.

Instead, far from being chill, he’d laid down the law in a way that Vicky had to admit, might have left her panties a little wet. Jason was a handsome young man, and Vicky could understand why Crystal liked him. And when he’d gone ahead and told her in no uncertain terms what was going to happen… well, it’d only made him hotter in her eyes if she was being honest.

He hadn’t even tried to bring up her mother. He hadn’t used Carol’s name to try to force Vicky to comply whatsoever. He’d just given her an ultimatum, and one that Vicky fully believed he was ready to carry out despite what Crystal had told her about his lower class lifestyle. That sort of conviction was honestly impressive. And sexy.

Of course, him basically telling her to give him a list of all of the things she was worst at, even if it was purely her worst subjects in school… that was a little less sexy. Still, she’d been soldiering on while also considering how badly she would be betraying Crystal if she tried to get into her sexy new tutor’s pants… when Jason had suddenly let out a shout of pain and collapsed right in front of her.

Finally rising from the couch, Vicky swallows thickly as she stares at Jason’s unconscious form.

“Um… Jason? Please tell me you’re just fucking with me or something?”

Unfortunately, Vicky knows what an unconscious person looks like compared to someone faking being unconscious. Don’t ask her HOW she knows that, but she does. Way too well. And Jason… he isn’t faking.

Making her way over to him, she hesitates before shaking his shoulder.

“Jason, please for the love of god, wake up. Please don’t pass out in my damn apartment, do you have any idea how bad this is for me?”

Fortunately, he’s breathing steadily. Unfortunately, she thinks she sees a single drop of blood leaking out of his nose. Whimpering, Vicky flies over to her kitchen, grabs a paper towel, and rushes back over to… gently dab the blood away. Fortunately, the nose bleed isn’t massive or anything. Barely seems to last half a minute and only takes the one paper towel to handle.

Unfortunately, once it’s over Jason still hasn’t woken up. What the fuck even was that? Vicky was sure it wasn’t her aura. She’d gotten pretty good at controlling when she turned that aspect of her powers off and on, and while Jason’s immediate refusal of her plans had almost caused Vicky to activate it on instinct to try and intimidate him into submission, she’d managed to bite back on that impulse.

So it wasn’t her aura. But then, what? What the fuck? And… did she need to take him to a hospital? That would be so fucked. SHE would be so fucked. Her tutor goes unconscious during their first tutoring session and has to go to the ER? Nope, not going there. But then… that only left Vicky one option.

Flying over to her phone, she grabs it up and places a call. It rings for a few seconds before finally…

“Lavere Clinic speaking.”

Grimacing like she always does at hearing THAT name, Vicky nevertheless thanks her lucky stars that it’s her actual sister who picked up rather than one of her assistants.

“Amy, I need your help.”

There’s a pause at that, before Amelia Lavere, aka Amy Dallon, aka Panacea, lets out a long, drawn-out sigh.

“You’ve been doing so good too, Vicky. You know this means I can’t…”

“It’s not like that, Ames! I’m still on the wagon! I haven’t hurt anyone in a year! This has nothing to do with my hero work or our upcoming sponsorship or anything! I just… you know how Mom has been on my ass about university and she put Crystal in charge of finding me a tutor?”

“… Considering you wouldn’t stop complaining to me about it the last time we met for dinner, yes Vicky, I’m aware.”

“W-Well Crystal found someone. A cute guy named Jason who she secretly likes but won’t make a move on. A-And he came over tonight for our first tutoring session… and kindofsortofpassedoutinmylivingroom!”

There’s another brief pause as Amy has to process Vicky’s sped-up speech.

“Vicky, your aura-!”

“It wasn’t even on Ames; I swear to god! I had it turned off, I KNOW I had it turned off. The dude just passed out on me, completely independent of anything I did, I swear it!”

“… You know I don’t do brains, Vicky.”

Vicky winces, glancing down at Jason’s unconscious form. God she wished he’d just wake up so she could tell Amy it was a false alarm and hang up this call. But nope. He’s still out like a light.

“I know you can’t fix them Amy, but you can still scan them right? I just need you to come over and check what’s wrong with him. If it’s something you can fix, great! If it’s not, then I’ll fly him to the hospital myself, I promise. I just…”

She trails off there, because they both know it doesn’t need to be said. Vicky having to bring Jason to the hospital, regardless of what was wrong with him, would almost certainly be picked up by half a dozen news stations by tomorrow morning. And then it would all be fucked. The last year of Vicky staying on the straight and narrow with her hero work, Amy’s clinic slowly gaining popularity despite their mother’s attempts to destroy the business, and their plans for Victoria to be an officially sponsored hero of Lavere Clinic.

All of it could go up in flames, though mostly the parts involving Vicky would be the most likely to go up in flames. Amy wouldn’t be able to risk her clinic’s reputation, not when it was just starting to recover from all of Carol’s attacks, on Vicky if she were damaged goods.

“… Fine, Vicky. I’ll be right over.”

“Thank you Amy. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

“… Yeah. No problem, sis.”

With that, the other end of the line goes dead and Vicky turns to stare at her handsome, assertive, and rather sexily domineering tutor. It’s been a long time since she nervously bit her nails. Years and years. And yet… her fingers creep towards her lips, even as the blonde frantically waits for Amy’s arrival.

-x-X-x-

A/N: I mean, what was he supposed to do? Say no? xD

-x-X-x-

A/N: Will try to keep this up to date at the end of every chapter, get on me if I forget please. Though if it gets too out of hand, might have to change it at some point.

Jason's current banked points:

200 Celestial Points

Jason's current powers:

• Flash Air (Gained in Chapter 1)

• Transformation Pendant (Gained in Chapter 4)

• Keen Eye (Gained in Chapter 4)

• Blood, Death, and Demons (Gained in Chapter 6)

Chapter Text

A/N: No Grimoire Pulls this chapter, may not be one every chapter I'm thinking. Especially when its a lot of talking and not much time passes.

-x-X-x-

“Isn’t there anything else you can do, Ames?”

“I told you already Vicky, he’s as fine as I can make him. Whatever caused him to bleed from the nose and pass out like that, I can’t really say. His brain seems to be in perfect condition.”

“And you really think…”

“No, Vicky. You didn’t make him trigger purely based on your own bad grades. Setting aside how ridiculous that idea is in the first place, there are two main reasons it’s not possible. Number One, you would have passed out along with him if he’d experienced a trigger event. Number Two, he doesn’t even have an inactive Corona Pollentia in the first place. Meaning he literally can’t trigger.”

“Shit, does that mean we have to take him to the hospital after all? This is bad Amy. Really-!”

“Hush Vicky. He’s waking up.”

Indeed, Jason was waking up. And also feeling like a total idiot. Why hadn’t he stopped to think for a moment about what five years of training in some dark ‘magic’ would do to him? Seriously, he’d been a complete moron to just jump feet first into that! At the same time… the knowledge he’s purchased is flowing through his brain. It feels almost like he just got done spending five years training under three different Masters, one for Blood Magic, one for Necromancy, and one for Demon Summoning.

At the same time though, the five years feels slightly set apart. He gets this intuitive sense that it’s to keep them from influencing his personality, from making him into someone he wasn’t before. And given the things he learned from those five years of memories, that was probably for the best. The things he’d not-had to do in order to become proficient in these magics… it was enough to make his skin crawl and he was even a step removed from it all thanks to his powers.

Even with that step removed though, Jason had so much more knowledge at his fingertips now. Flash Air was an awesome practical power, and Keen Eye was a great upgrade that helped him in a bunch of cool ways, but Blood, Death, and Demons… now there was a power that expanded his options by a multitude.

He really didn’t even know where to begin with it all. Except, before he can do anything else, he needs to deal with the situation he finds himself waking up to.

“Jason! You’re awake! H-How are you feeling? Do you need anything? Some water, maybe?”

Victoria Dallon’s frantic, high-pitched voice fills Jason’s ears for a moment before another woman speaks up with a huff.

“Vicky. What he needs is some space. You’re crowding him.”

Looking embarrassed and subdued, Vicky pulls away, allowing Jason to put a face to the other voice in the apartment. When he does, he can’t help but stiffen a little bit.

Standing with her arms crossed over her chest staring down at him is Amelia Lavere, formerly Amy Dallon. Everyone knew her story, of course, even if she and the rest of New Wave might have preferred they didn’t.

Basically, Amy was adopted and neglected by Vicky’s mom, Carol, from an early age. In the end, the family row with Amy splitting off and taking her birthname of Amelia Lavere had been the talk of Brockton Bay for weeks. As well, her starting her own clinic and getting it off the ground despite the rumors that Carol had done her absolute best to sabotage it.

Jason wouldn’t have thought that Vicky and Amelia were on speaking terms to be honest. Except… looking between the two women, he suddenly has an epiphany and connects some dots.

“… You’re Vicky’s upcoming sponsor then.”

Both Amelia and Victoria stiffen at that, with the brunette whipping her head around to stare at Vicky accusingly.

“Seriously, Vicky?”

Whimpering, Vicky wrings her hands in front of her.

“I-I didn’t tell him about you Ames, I swear! I just… may have let it slip that I’m not expecting to pass mom’s little test or go to BBU because I’ll be going full time as a sponsored hero at the end of the month!”

Directing her glare towards him, Amelia grits her teeth.

“How did you figure it out?”

Jason shrugs, wincing as he pushes himself up in the chair. He’d been slumped over long enough to develop a crick in his neck. He hated those.

“Eh… I guess I just made a couple of leaps in logic and an educated guess. Everyone knows Lavere Clinic is finally getting off the ground, and that all your legal troubles are finally settled. Everyone also knows that healing as complete and total as yours is worth a lot of money, and that it won’t be long before you’re raking in huge amounts of cash.”

Shrugging, he continues on under the intense gazes of both young women.

“On top of that, Vicky seemed super confident about her sponsor, like there was no way the deal could fall through… but if it was a done deal with some major corporation, why was she waiting until the end of the month and going to all this trouble to placate her mom? Only way it made sense was if it was going to be a shitshow, not on a professional level, but on a personal level, and she wanted to have all of her bases covered beforehand.”

Pausing, he gives Amelia a crooked grin.

“Of course… didn’t know for sure until you confirmed it just now. Sorry.”

The brunette healer’s palm meets her face at that last part and she groans. Vicky, meanwhile, bites her lower lip before giving him a Look with a capital L.

“You’re not going to tell my mom, right? She doesn’t need to know anything about what Amy and I are planning.”

“Amelia.”

Vicky blinks as Amelia corrects her, looking a little hurt when the brunette levels a stare in her direction.

“Remember Vicky, you don’t get to call me Amy in front of other people. I go by Amelia now.”

Yeah, he remembered something about that too. Amelia HATED her old name. Considering everyone associated ‘Amy Dallon’ with Panacea and New Wave, that made a lot of sense. Jason wasn’t even sure if Amelia Lavere HAD a cape name anymore. Seeing as New Wave basically took away the choice of having a secret identity away from her, she’d just gone all in on being upfront about who she was and what she could do.

It seemed their past meant Amelia still let Vicky call her Amy in private though, at least. Which made sense if they were actually still far closer than anyone had really thought they were after everything that happened.

“Right… sorry.”

Nodding, seeming to accept Vicky’s apology, Amelia looks back at him, an appraising glint in her eye.

“I can see why Crystal has a crush on you. And why she picked you to be Vicky’s tutor. You’re pretty smart, aren’t you?”

Wait, what? As Jason blinks, Vicky squawks and shakes her head rapidly.

“Ames! Why are you throwing Crystal under the bus like that?!”

Amelia just rolls her eyes. Apparently ‘Ames’ is still fine, because she doesn’t correct Vicky on that one.

“Guy like him knows how much of a catch Crystal is. As far as I’m concerned, I’m helping her.”

Letting out a slight laugh of disbelief, Jason rubs the back of his head.

“Alright ladies, no need to mess with me. I know Crystal doesn’t see me like that. We’re just friends.”

There’s a brief pause as the two young women stare at him and then look at each other. In the end, Amelia shrugs her shoulders.

“Or he could be the idiot savant type of smart.”

Vicky just huffs and crosses her arms over her chest as well, muttering something under her breath about ‘men being so dumb’. As Jason looks between them, Amelia grows more serious after a moment, changing the subject.

“… I used my powers on you while you were unconscious without your permission. Are we going to have a problem because of that?”

Huh… a problem? Jason tilts his head to the side, honestly confused.

“You were just trying to help, right? Why would there be a problem?”

Sure, she was trying to help Vicky more than him, Jason knew that. But he was still the one who benefited the most from her coming over to try to heal him.

Rather than answer his question, Amelia just nods sharply.

“I’ll hold you to that then.”

Turning to Vicky immediately after, she just huffs.

“I’ll leave it to you to convince him not to tell Carol about the sponsorship, Vicky. I’m heading back to the clinic.”

“But Ames-!”

“No buts. This is your mess, Vicky. And remember, I don’t clean up your messes anymore.”

That seemed a little harsh, but while Amelia’s words are rather final, it’s clear she still cares about Vicky quite a lot. In the end, the two exchange a hug before Amelia is out the door. It’s only after she’s left that something she’d said while he was still waking up hits Jason like a fucking truck.

“W-Wait… did she… did she say I don’t have a Corona Pollentia?”

Vicky freezes in place before grimacing like she’s bit into something sour.

“Ah… you were awake for that, huh? Yeah… look not everyone has the ability to develop powers. If you don’t even have an inactive Corona Pollentia, you’re basically never going to trigger. Sorry.”

Jason leans on Vicky’s inaccurate read of the situation to take a moment to himself. She thought he was upset that he couldn’t get powers. But in reality, he was coming to terms with the fact that not only had he nearly just been outed by Amelia’s abilities, but also… his powers didn’t come from a Corona Pollentia.

What did that mean? Did it mean his powers were maybe masking their own existence from Amelia’s senses? Or did it mean his powers came from somewhere else entirely than where everyone else’s powers came from? It hadn’t escaped Jason’s notice that the pulls he got with his primary power spoke a lot about other worlds and universes. Magic and technology that didn’t exist on Earth Bet as far as Jason was aware.

… Was he even a Parahuman?

“Look… I really need you to promise you won’t tell my mom about the deal Ames and I made. I swear, I’ll let you tutor the shit out of me for the next month. Fuck, I’ll even do my best to pass that test mom wants me to take, even if I’m not actually going to go to University afterwards. She just can’t know right now. She’ll try to ruin everything if she does.”

Pulled out of his thoughts by Victoria Dallon’s ramblings, Jason blinks as he goes back over everything she just said. Rising from his seat, he shakes his head at her.

“I’m not going to tell your mother anything, Vicky. Nor do I need you to sweeten the pot. Did you think I was going to try to hold this over your head or something like that?”

At her blank, surprised look, Jason just huffs.

“Look, our original deal remains. I am going to tutor you every night for the next month. You are going to listen and obey my instructions and do your best to learn the things I’m intending to teach you. After that, whether you bomb the test or not, it doesn’t matter. And your sponsor being the Lavere Clinic doesn’t matter to me either. I was hired to do a job and that’s what I’m going to do. Are we clear?”

Swallowing, Vicky nods with wide eyes.

“C-Crystal, sir.”

Ah, that reminds him.

“Let’s leave my little fainting spell between you, me, and Ms. Lavere, yeah? No need to let Crystal know about any of this, I should think.”

“R-Right. Y-Yeah, of course.”

Of course. It would look bad on Vicky’s part if word about him fainting in her apartment got out, wouldn’t it? He honestly probably didn’t even need to clarify that last part, but it still felt good to do.

Sighing, Jason runs a hand through his hair… and then sits back down and picks up his notebook.

“Now… where were we?”

Vicky looks a little incredulous for a moment, but then moves to take her seat again as well. This time, there aren’t any interruptions as they spend the rest of the session getting an idea of what Vicky’s worst subjects are and what her best subjects are. She even seems a little more enthusiastic about things too. The blonde is definitely more engaged if nothing else.

They finish up a little later than he’d originally planned thanks to his fainting spell, but if nothing else, Jason has to admit that he’s pleased with the progress they make that first night. With this information, he can plan out a proper thirty day crash course in everything Vicky needs to learn and relearn before the test.

And sure, maybe it’s a little silly to be so invested in doing his job after everything he’s learned about Vicky’s plans for her future. She and Amelia have certainly got it all thought out from the look of things. But he was hired for a job and damn it all, he’s going to do that job.

-x-X-x-

After seeing her new tutor out the door with promises for him to come over again the following evening, Victoria Dallon is left alone in her apartment, biting her lower lip and squirming just a tad.

Damn it all, Crystal! Why’d she have to go and get Vicky someone so assertive and hot?! Why couldn’t Crystal have found her an unscrupulous nerd who would be wowed by Vicky’s massive ‘personality’ and not raise a fuss about the idea of taking her mom’s money in exchange for just hanging out around her apartment for a month?

Fainting spell aside, Jason was a very driven sort of person. Vicky liked that in a guy. She especially liked a guy who had his own sense of authority to him. It would have been so easy for Jason to just lean on her mother to browbeat Vicky into submission. Threatening to tell Carol would have left Vicky with very little in the way of real options.

Instead, he’d refused to invoke her mom’s name, refused to use her as the boogeyman, and ultimately just stood up to Vicky on his own two feet. Even after he’d wound up realizing just who her sponsor was, he hadn’t used that against her.

… Was it any wonder Vicky was a little turned on? Floating to her bedroom and flopping down on her bed, the blonde moans a little as she begins to shift her clothes to the side, her hands starting to wander over her body.

She definitely shouldn’t… even if Crystal hadn’t said it outright, all the signs were there that the older girl had a bit of a thing for Vicky’s new tutor. And yet… Crystal was being so obtuse about it that even Jason himself didn’t know.

… So why not? Why shouldn’t Vicky and Jason have a little fun together? They were both consenting adults, right? And it wasn’t like it could be anything too permanent. Just some good, honest fun in between serious tutoring sessions.

Vicky’s finger touches her slit and she jolts, surprised at how wet she already is. F-Fuck… who knew all she was waiting for was an assertive guy to tell her to sit her ass down so he could tutor the fuck out of her?

-x-X-x-

A/N: Will try to keep this up to date at the end of every chapter, get on me if I forget please. Though if it gets too out of hand, might have to change it at some point.

Jason's current banked points:

200 Celestial Points

Jason's current powers:

• Flash Air (Gained in Chapter 1)

• Transformation Pendant (Gained in Chapter 4)

• Keen Eye (Gained in Chapter 4)

• Blood, Death, and Demons (Gained in Chapter 6)

Chapter Text

A/N: In which Jason has his first 'encounter'.

-x-X-x-

He’s distracted, undeniably so. Can’t be helped, really. In one night he’d found out the young woman he was supposed to be tutoring wasn’t planning on operating in good faith, met her sister the famous parahuman healer, and oh yeah, chose to download five years of training in three different magical disciplines into his skull.

Blood Magic, Necromancy, and Demon Summoning. The things Jason could do with the knowledge he now had in his head were honestly a little frightening, but also more than a little invigorating. So yeah, to say he was distracted as he made his way home would be an understatement. Normally he’d have his head on a swivel. Normally, he’d be focused on his surroundings, as bleak as they might be. Tonight though…

He doesn’t see the hand coming as it reaches out of a nearby alley and grabs him by the scruff of his neck, yanking him off of the street and into the darkness. A knife is suddenly pressed against his neck as he’s pushed back against the wall behind him.

“Gimme your money!”

The stench of his assailant’s breath blasts over Jason like a wave. Druggie, has to be. And then it hits him… he’s fucking being mugged. Not exactly an uncommon occurrence in Brockton Bay, and it’s not like it’s never happened to him before. But he’s usually careful enough to avoid the worst encounters. He’s usually smarter than this.

He tries his usual strategy first of course.

“Man… do I look like I have money on me?”

It’s even worked once or twice. He doesn’t look like he’s especially rich, after all. A quick glance will show his clothes are pretty worn down and he’s clearly stretching their lifespan all the way to the end. Unfortunately, while it might seem like a perfectly logical thing… it runs afoul of one obvious fallacy.

It doesn’t matter how down on his luck Jason is, or rather appears to be. There’s always someone worse off. He might not look rich, but he definitely doesn’t look homeless either. And even if he did, the homeless stole from each other all the time as well.

“I don’t fucking care. Give me whatever you do have on you, or I’ll fucking kill you.”

This is where shit gets hard. Jason has his wallet and his phone. He doesn’t want to lose either to this fucker. Technically, most wouldn’t be able to do anything with either. His wallet really doesn’t have any money in it, and Jason could shut down the credit cards fast enough by reporting them stolen. And the phone is locked so it’d have to be factory reset.

But it’s obvious from the mugger’s breath that he’s looking for his next fix… and he’ll probably think he can trade Jason’s wallet or phone for drugs. And Jason really doesn’t want some drug dealer to get his ID either.

Trembling knife still at his throat, Jason considers his options for a moment, staring at his mugger. And then he sees it… Keen Eye must be activating, because he can see something in the other man’s eyes that he doesn’t think he would have picked up before. Uncertainty. Fear. Almost… almost like he doesn’t want to do this.

Taking a gamble, Jason leans forward and isn’t surprised when the mugger hastily pulls the knife back so he doesn’t slit his own throat on the blade. It still cuts into his flesh a little bit, something warm dripping down his neck. Jason ignores that though and gives the mugger his best crazy person grin.

“Then do it, bastard. Fucking do it.”

For a long moment, there’s silence in the alley as the druggie stares at him with wide eyes. Playing chicken like this is a good way to get yourself killed in a city like Brockton Bay, admittedly. The whole ‘tough guy act’ only lasts until you meet someone who’s willing to call your bluff and put you in the dirt just for a hit of their drug of choice, or even to secure some cash for their next meal.

In this case though, Jason isn’t exactly bluffing. And it seems that his would-be mugger can see that, because the man suddenly curses and steps back, stammering.

“S-Shit man… d-didn’t know you was a crazy… f-fuck, I’m going, I’m going…”

Jason watches the mugger go, making sure he actually leaves. Then, he brings his hand up to his neck and swipes his thumb through the blood he shed. Not just blood… Lifeblood. Lifeblood was a special thing in Blood Magic. It was blood that could have meant his death if too much of it was spilt. Something like blood from a slit throat definitely counted. Or blood pumping straight out of a skewered heart, that would count too.

Pulling it away, he watches as that blood turns into a droplet under his control, his breath hitching as he brings it down to his chest almost reverently. Pulling up his shirt, he places the droplet of blood against the center of his chest and watches it disappear inside of him.

A moment later and he feels a surge of strength. Miniscule in nature, but there, nonetheless. Truthfully, it wasn’t anything special… he’d need a lot more blood to really start enhancing himself. And using his own blood in any great quantity, specifically his Lifeblood in such a way, was basically doomed to failure. You couldn’t make something out of nothing after all. There was always a cost. Just like you couldn’t drink your own piss to stay hydrated forever, you also couldn’t really enhance yourself using Blood Magic if you were only using your own blood.

Still, touching his neck… he can feel that the small cut on his throat has already healed. A smile spreads across his face. This was why he’d been so confident in forcing the mugger to back off. Because even if the man had slit his throat, Jason was sure he could keep himself from bleeding out long enough to use Flash Air to end things in his favor. And at that point, the mugger would be free game. Jason would be justified in doing whatever he had to, both to defend himself and save his own life.

… Is it bad he almost regrets that it didn’t come to that? He almost wishes the mugger had tried to kill him after all. There was so much he could do with a fresh body. So much he could do with all that blood… but at the end of the day, Jason knew it was better that the man hadn’t died then anything else. He was glad not to have anyone’s blood on his hands but his own.

Snickering at his own joke, Jason hurries back home. Enough excitement for one night, he figures.

-x-X-x-

Ding!

Alchemical Prodigy – Lore – 200 Points

You have a truly prodigal mind, one that is able to process and absorb information exceptionally quickly, increasing your learning speed by ten times what it once was. Additionally, you have a sort of intuition that guides your alchemical pursuits, giving you brief flashes of inspiration and insight that can help you to progress your alchemical knowledge even without a teacher or source of information to draw on.

You now have 300 Points saved up!

Ah, he did so love the sound of brand-new powers in the morning. Jason wakes up with a grin, his eyes opening as he takes in his latest pull, reading it out to himself. Then, he blinks and wakes up a bit more, reading it again.

Prodigal mind? Ten times the learning speed? No, not just learning speed… ten times the processing speed!

Keep!

Alchemical Prodigy Purchased. 100 Points Remain!

Alchemy by itself wasn’t that big of a deal, though his new tutelage in the three darkest of magics did come with some alchemy on the side so Jason wasn’t going to scoff at it exactly. The real value though was in what the power said it would do for him in general. He’d always been told he was a smart guy. But in reality, Jason was just a hard worker. He put everything he had into everything he did and it barely let him scrape by. Now?

A slow grin spreads across Jason’s face and he gets ready for his day, downright excited for what’s to come. Arriving at the University, he settles in for his usual TA duties under Professor Dallon… and to his delight, finds that his new power does in fact help him out there. The responsibilities of being a Teacher’s Assistant, especially one for someone like Carol Dallon, were no joke. But now… Jason was flying through it all. It was just so… easy now.

He finds himself floating on cloud nine all day long, right up until he reaches Victoria Dallon’s apartment. He can only hope that the blonde isn’t going to try to backtrack on their agreement from the previous day. He really just hopes she’s ready to actually learn.

Of course, what he’s not expecting is for her to be dressed like she is when she answers her door and lets him inside. Last night, when they first met, Vicky had been wearing blue jeans and a cute top. Nothing out of line, though maybe it had been a tad unusual for her to be so dressed in her own apartment. However, she’d been waiting for a brand-new man she’d never met before to show up, so it made sense.

In a similar vein, the fact that she was wearing a pair of shorts and a tank top that doesn’t even reach her belly button ALSO could technically make sense, Jason supposed. Her new outfit looks very casual, the sort of thing you might wear when you were home and could truly get comfortable. Even still, they’ve barely known each other for two days. This seemed a bit… inappropriate.

And given the rapport he was trying to develop with Ms. Dallon, Jason knew he had to say something.

“Vicky, are you sure you want to be showing that much skin for these tutoring sessions?”

Looking at him in ‘surprise’, Vicky blinks… even as Jason’s Keen Eye lets him pick up on the fact that she’s faking her reaction.

“Huh? What do you mean, sir?”

Sir. That was new too. Jason files it away though for the time being and gestures to her.

“You’re showing off a lot of skin to a man who you’ve only known for two days. I suppose if you’re comfortable with it, I am too. But I just want to be forthright that I noticed.”

There’s some real surprise in Vicky’s eyes for a moment… before she grins and lets out a laugh.

“Wow. You’re really blunt, aren’t you sir? So you noticed, did you? Noticed my tight young body?”

Okay. It was official. Vicky was trying to seduce him and she wasn’t even being particularly subtle about it. The only question was… why? But to be fair, that wasn’t even a particularly hard question to answer. He already knew why. Vicky didn’t want to dance to her mother’s tune anymore. She didn’t want to pass that test at the end of the month and she didn’t want to go to Brockton Bay University.

And because of that, she also didn’t want his tutoring. She wanted him to take her mother’s money and lie about earning it. She didn’t want him to teach her anything, she didn’t care about his own integrity as a man and as an instructor. She just wanted him to give up on tutoring her altogether.

He was a little surprised that she was jumping to this so fast, but he wasn’t going to let her get to him. He’d given her an opportunity to put more clothes on if she wanted to, and she’d passed on that. So… wordlessly, Jason moves over to the living room and sits down in the same chair as last time. Then, he looks over at Vicky who’s still standing by the door, staring at him dumbly.

“Come sit down, Ms. Dallon. Let’s get to work.”

He’s expecting Vicky to make a scene; to try something else… but his assertive words and confidence demeanor seem to continue to work on her, because after a moment she hurries over to the couch and sits down.

“Err… yes sir.”

Jason won’t lie, having her call him ‘sir’ is kind of nice… even as he’s trying to tamp down on his arousal over the title. He can’t allow her to seduce him away from tutoring her. He won’t let her win.

Instead, he focuses on the matter at hand. Unfortunately his brand-new prodigal mind doesn’t help him with teaching others. He can process and absorb information faster, he can learn things himself faster, but he can’t teach other people any faster than he could before. Fortunately, he likes to think he was already a pretty good instructor and tutor to begin with.

However, combined with Keen Eye, his new mind does let him process Vicky’s actions and reactions a lot faster. As their tutoring session starts in earnest, he’s able to discern some interesting things. For one, despite her obvious seduction attempt, she was actually listening to him and doing her best to follow along.

If there was one thing Jason knew even before he got his powers, it was the difference between an attentive and inattentive student, and Vicky surprisingly fell into the first category right now.

That wasn’t stopping her from seemingly being more than a little aroused in his presence, however. The longer the tutoring went on, the more hot and bothered she got. Until suddenly…

“O-Oops! I dropped my pen!”

Jason can only watch mutely as Vicky does the most blatant ‘sexy secretary’ bit in the history of the world. Instead of just leaning down off of the couch to grab it, she even stands up fully and arches her back as she bends over at the waist, pushing her pert behind up into the air.

… Seriously? He was really starting to get conflicting information from what his eyes and his powers were telling him here. On the one hand, she really did seem to want to learn from him. On the other hand, she really did seem to want to seduce him so he stopped trying to tutor her.

But it couldn’t be both, right? So what the hell was the truth? And how the hell was he supposed to move forward when she was escalating like this? He wished he could say he was controlling his own reactions perfectly, but he was only human at the end of the day… and if she was going to bend over in front of him like that, he was going to wind up with a throbbing erection in no time.

-x-X-x-

A/N: Will try to keep this up to date at the end of every chapter, get on me if I forget please. Though if it gets too out of hand, might have to change it at some point.

Jason's current banked points:

100 Celestial Points

Jason's current powers:

• Flash Air (Gained in Chapter 1)

• Transformation Pendant (Gained in Chapter 4)

• Keen Eye (Gained in Chapter 4)

• Blood, Death, and Demons (Gained in Chapter 6)

• Alchemical Prodigy (Gained in Chapter 8)

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

A/N: This wasn't how I originally intended to end this chapter, but the last roll in the Grimoire legitimately left me at a crossroads.

-x-X-x-

Part of him wants to say yes, right off the rip. The thought of having Taylor there to help him out with Vicky does sound appealing, in more ways than one. Though at the same time, he has to wonder if that might be because of the sexually charged nature of his relationship to both women at this point. Between bending Vicky over his lap and spanking her, and fucking Taylor multiple times at this point on top of being sat across from her with her nipples poking through her top… yeah, it could just be that he was horny and jonesing for a threesome.

But this was the real world. Threesomes didn’t just fall into your lap every day. It was far from likely that bringing Taylor along with him tonight would result in a threesome between him, her, and Vicky. Rather, it was much more likely that instead, Vicky would get upset that he’d randomly brought some other girl over to her place without her permission.

Sure, he was the tutor. Sure, she’d submitted rather happily to him spanking her. But that didn’t change the fact that they met in Vicky’s apartment, not his. That was her home, her humble abode, her safe space. He wasn’t going to just let Taylor invade it to make himself feel better. At least… not without permission.

“… I’ll call her and ask.”

Taylor blinks at that and then frowns as he stands up, his dick still very much out.

“You sure that’s a good idea, Jason?”

Retrieving his phone and sitting back down at the dining table, Jason gives Taylor a heavy look.

“I’m sure that it’s a better idea than just springing your presence on her without any word of warning. How would you like it if I showed up to your place with Vicky in tow and told you we were all studying together without letting you know first?”

Taylor pouts and then shrugs as Jason brings up Vicky’s contact and places the call.

“I wouldn’t mind.”

Bringing the phone to his ear and listening to it ring, Jason peers at the tall, dark-haired young woman sat across from him for a moment. She… actually seems like she means that. But frankly, that said more about Taylor’s rock bottom self-esteem than anything else. Just because she wouldn’t mind it, doesn’t mean Vicky wouldn’t either.

A click sounds as Vicky picks up on the third ring.

“Jason? What’s up!”

It sounds like she’s in a tunnel, causing Jason to blink for a moment and hesitate… which is when Taylor strikes. Getting an unreadable look on her face, she suddenly ducks under the table, even as Jason rallies.

“Uh, hey Vicky. Are you busy?”

He hears Taylor crawling under the table, so he’s not TOO surprised when her hands suddenly fall upon his knees. It still causes him to jolt a bit though, especially as she wraps a hand around his cock a moment later and captures the tip of his erection in between her lips.

“Not that busy, no. Honestly, don’t have much going on most days, so I’m just doing some patrolling.”

Trying to ignore the woman under his dining table fellating him, Jason parses those words for a moment before being reminded of what Crystal had said about Vicky basically propping New Wave up entirely on her own with how much patrolling she’d been doing the last year.

Well, he supposed she had to be doing something when they weren’t meeting up for their tutoring sessions together.

“Anyways, why’d you call, exactly?”

Right. Putting everything else aside, Jason gets down to business.

“I have a friend… she’s my junior at the University, and she was my junior at my old coffee shop job as well. I told her when I quit that job that we’d still find time to spend time together, as well as study. I wanted to know if you might be okay with me bringing her over sometime for a three-way study session… maybe even as early as tonight.”

Could Jason have made this a request from Taylor herself? Maybe. But he’s not going to throw Taylor under the bus like that. Instead, he’s all too happy to make it clear this is coming from him directly. Though for some reason there’s both a long pause on the other end of the phone call AND a long pause under the table.

… Was it something he said?

“Hmm… what’s this friend of yours look like? Is she a cutie?”

Jason blinks at that, trying not to focus too much on the fact that Taylor is giving him a blowjob as Vicky asks how cute she is. Seriously, what even was his life?

“She’s attractive, yes. But I don’t know why that would be relevant…”

Down under the table, Taylor bobs up and down his cock a little faster. He’s not sure why she picks up speed like that, but it does make it all the harder for him to contain his voice and not groan right into Vicky’s ear. He doesn’t want to give the game away though, so he holds it in.

“Just wondering, no big deal. Hm, and if I say no, you’re going to make time to ‘study’ with this friend of yours anyways, aren’t you?”

Jason furrows his brow and frowns at the strange question.

“Yes? I promised her I would, I’m not going to abandon her just because we don’t work together anymore.”

Ugh, seriously Taylor! Why does she keep going harder?! Jason grunts as Taylor’s pace redoubles, her lips sliding further and further down his cock by the second. It was like she was trying to make him slip up and reveal something was happening to Vicky.

“Then I’m fine with it!”

For a second though, even with how enthusiastically Taylor is sucking his dick, Jason forgets that it’s happening as he stares off into space for a moment at Vicky’s sudden acquiescence. It really did feel like it was kind of coming out of nowhere, right?

“Really? You’re fine with it?”

Even Taylor, when she hears him repeat Vicky’s words out loud, pauses for a moment before continuing to fellate him. Vicky, meanwhile, just giggles.

“Sure! Better to know my competition and all that!”

Wha-? Competition? Jason opens his mouth to reply, but before he can, Vicky unknowingly cuts him off.

“Oh! See something I need to investigate Jason, so I have to let you go. But I’ll see you and your 'friend' later tonight!”

And with a simple click, the phone call ends and Jason can’t do much beyond pull the phone away from his ear and stare at it in disbelief. Seriously? What just happened? He can’t even really think too hard about all of it, because even though the phone call is over, Taylor isn’t stopping. Setting his phone down on the table, Jason leans back in his chair enough that he can look down under the table’s edge into Taylor’s eyes.

She gazes up at him, bobbing up and down on his cock as Jason sighs at her.

“Fuck Taylor… what am I going to do with you?”

She just keeps sucking… and all things considered, she’s getting more experienced quite fast, because he’s ready to cum soon enough. He warns her, but Taylor doesn’t let that stop her from swallowing his seed… again.

Only after she’s drained his balls does she climb up from under the table and give him a light grin.

“Well, I already said you could spank me whenever you felt like it, didn’t I?”

Jason narrows his eyes at those words. Honestly, it was kind of crazy how fast Taylor had escalated things. She’d been a lot less confident mere days ago, but ever since they’d become friends with benefits, she’d become a lot more aggressive. That said, as he studies her for a long moment… he thinks he can see some small cracks in the façade.

She’s still rife with insecurities, isn’t she? It’s just that she’s made a conscious decision to try and control those insecurities, to try and conquer them and be better, at least where he’s concerned.

He’s still tempted to take her up on her offer and spank her, but in the end he just shakes his head with a sigh.

“Look, just so we’re on the same page… Vicky was fine with me bringing you along tonight. But she also asked some weird questions, like confirming that I planned to study with you separately either way. And she also called you ‘competition’. Just wanted you to know that I honestly have no clue what’s going through her mind or what we’re getting ourselves into here.”

Taylor’s eyes narrow at that, but after a moment she slowly nods.

“… I understand. Thanks for the heads up.”

Then, she pulls out her phone and he gets to watch her call out from the coffee shop, telling corporate that she wouldn’t be showing up to her shift that evening for a ‘family emergency’. He’s not exactly going to judge her for lying to the soulless leeches to be honest, even if the small nature of the coffee place they both worked at means that it might not open at all in her absence this evening.

After that phone call is finished, Taylor turns to him… and suddenly gets this rather intense look in her eye. For a moment, Jason thinks she’s about to jump him, but then she just plans her hands on the table and leans over.

“Before, you said I could be your assistant.”

Jason pauses.

“Uh… yeah? Though I didn’t exactly frame it that way to Vicky…”

“That’s fine. She’s okay with me being there, so the capacity in which I’m present doesn’t matter. Still, if I’m going to be your assistant for the evening, I need you to share all of your notes from your previous tutoring sessions and let me know exactly where you and Ms. Dallon are at so far. I can’t exactly assist with all of the relevant data, now can I?”

Hesitating, Jason tilts his head to the side in consideration. No, he supposed Taylor was right about that. She couldn’t very well ‘assist’ properly. Nor could she truly jump into things and even study alongside Vicky if she didn’t know the subjects that he and the blonde were in the midst of covering.

“Come on. We only have a couple of hours before we have to head over, right? Best get started.”

And there was that aggression again. Even if Jason knows it’s a façade though, he can’t bring himself to pop Taylor’s bubble. This is probably the most socialization she’s gotten to have in ages if what he’d observed between her and that bully was any indication. He’ll just have to try and do his best to temper Taylor without discouraging her…

But really, it’s not like she’s going to pick a fight with Victoria Dallon, aka Glory Girl right? And Jason is sure Vicky isn’t about to punch down either! She’s a parahuman and Taylor isn’t! So… it would probably be fine.

“Right. Let’s get started.

-x-X-x-

Hours later, having gotten Taylor up to speed, he and she arrive outside of Vicky’s apartment door. The blonde must have been waiting and listening for their approach, because Jason’s fist doesn’t even make contact with the door before it suddenly opens and Vicky stands in the doorway.

Her eyes immediately zero in on Taylor, looking her up and down consideringly for a moment as Taylor quietly stiffens under the heroine’s gaze. After a handful of surprisingly tense seconds, Vicky just smirks.

“Huh, you were right, she IS attractive.”

Jason sighs as Taylor bristles. It’s a compliment he’s pretty sure, but Taylor doesn’t take it as one. Still… even if they’re all adults here, he’s pretty sure he’s the only one who can be counted on to act like it.

“Vicky, this is Taylor Hebert, my tutoring assistant. She’ll be helping me out for the evening, while learning a bit about how to be a tutor.”

Seizing that opportunity, Taylor pushes her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Dallon. I look forward to helping Jason in getting you up to speed.”

Vicky narrows her eyes and crosses her arms over her chest.

“Oh you do, do you? How nice. A tutoring assistant… heh, didn’t know it took two people just to teach little ole me some new tricks.”

Before Jason can say anything to that, Taylor quickly responds.

“I’ve been told some clients can be… special cases.”

Vicky looks surprised by Taylor’s cattiness for a moment before barking out a laugh and finally stepping aside so they can enter the apartment. However, even as she closes the door behind them, she keeps talking with Taylor.

“Is that right? I’m a special case, am I?”

Whatever Taylor says in reply, Jason doesn’t hear it. Mostly because his power takes that inopportune time to suddenly spin up a new pull.

Ding!

Staff of Magnus – Source – 600 Points

The weapon of the Father of Magic himself, Magnus' staff is a potent weapon. It can drain vast quantities of magicka from people and magical objects, storing them until its user calls upon it to power whatever spell they are using. Should people run out of magicka to drain, it will instead drain their lifeforce before converting it into magicka.

You now have 400 Points saved up!

Oh well damn. Jason was almost grateful for the distraction, given the tense atmosphere in Vicky’s apartment at the moment. The roll though… fuck, that was a tough call. On the one hand, he now had enough points saved up to buy Way of Wrath. On the other hand, he now had what might be an even better pull to save up for. The weapon of some Father of Magic himself… this ‘Staff of Magnus’ sounded like it was a massive Force Multiplier. With it, he could make use of all of the knowledge he’d gained from Blood, Death, and Demons as well.

However, that didn’t make this decision easy. The simplest solution would be to buy Way of Wrath now and then lock Staff of Magnus into his bank slot. But that would put him back to zero points, leaving him waiting until he’d saved up six hundred again before being able to buy it. Six hundred points and six pulls that might have other cool stuff he would want.

Suddenly, he wasn’t sure if Way of Wrath was something he actually needed. If he dropped that power and banked the staff instead, it would be just two more pulls until he would have the perfect spellcasting implement. And looking back at the other powers he’d bought so far, perhaps that was better than the savage, untrained martial combat style that Way of Wrath was offering.

Either way, he needed to make a decision soon and then get back to keeping Vicky and Taylor from engaging in a full blown cat fight!

-x-X-x-

A/N: Will try to keep this up to date at the end of every chapter, get on me if I forget please. Though if it gets too out of hand, might have to change it at some point.

Jason's current banked points:

400 Celestial Points

Jason's current banked power:

• Way of Wrath (400 Point Cost)

Jason's current powers:

• Flash Air (Gained in Chapter 1)

• Transformation Pendant (Gained in Chapter 4)

• Keen Eye (Gained in Chapter 4)

• Blood, Death, and Demons (Gained in Chapter 6)

• Alchemical Prodigy (Gained in Chapter 8)

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

A/N: Moving things along.

-x-X-x-

Glancing in Taylor’s direction shows that she’s not too fussed one way or the other. In fact, when he looks at her, she just shrugs, leaving the ball firmly in Jason’s court. With a sigh and a rueful smile, Jason just shakes his head.

“Alright, sure. We’ll sleep here for the night…”

Vicky crows in victory, pumping her fist in the air. Taylor, meanwhile, climbs up off the couch and sidles up to him. Reaching down and taking hold of his cock, the surprisingly confident young woman smirks.

“Somehow, I don’t think sleeping is what Victoria had in mind…”

Seeing this, Vicky stops her little victory dance and stares intensely at him and Taylor, stopping just short of licking her lips as she does a passing impression of a hungry predator.

Taylor is right. Sleep is the last thing on the blonde’s mind, and not something any of them get much of that night…

-x-X-x-

Ding!

Multifunctional Gauntlet – Magitek – 200 Points

You have a personalized multitool-toolbox. A device that looks how you want and can be kept on your person at all times. It’s somewhat bulky, so it is something you need to wear, rather than pocket – but in exchange, at the spur of the moment, it can do any job you need of it in terms of machinery – everything from a screwdriver, hammer, wrench, or even a blowtorch can be called upon with naught but a moment’s notice from within it.

You now have 500 Points saved up!

Sitting behind his TA’s desk at Brockton Bay University the next morning, Jason does his due diligence, quietly reading over the offered pull. However, even before he reads it, he knows what he’s going to do.

Pass.

It was the kind of thing he might have picked early on, or before he’d found out he could bank a pull and save up. But now? When he was so close to picking up the Staff of Magnus? No, no thank you. Frankly, at this point Jason was chomping at the bit, just waiting for the next pull from his power. The moment he had six hundred points, so long as he wasn’t anywhere public, he was going to buy the Staff. Frankly, he couldn’t wait.

He-

“Jason! Earth to Jason~”

Blinking out of his own thoughts, Jason flushes a bit and gives Crystal his full attention. He’s not sure how long his fellow TA was trying to get through to him, but admittedly, he’s been sort of avoiding her so far this morning.

Well, not avoiding her necessarily, they work in the same room together, so that would be impossible. But he hasn’t exactly initiated conversation with Crystal yet today, in large part because of what he and her cousin had done the night before… and this morning in the shower as well.

Swallowing thickly and pushing down those mental images, Jason gives Crystal an apologetic smile.

“Sorry, lost in my own head. What’s up?”

Huffing, Crystal raises an eyebrow.

“I asked how you and Vicky have been getting along, Jay. You know, now that it’s been a few days of tutoring. She giving you too much trouble? Let me know if she is and I’ll set her straight for you.”

Jason stares at Crystal blankly for a moment, because holy shit was that a lot to unpack. Least of which was her calling him ‘Jay’, seeing how she’d never done that before. But the rest of it… could it be? Did Crystal actually not know Vicky’s intentions?

He’d sort of been operating under the assumption all this time that Crystal had kind of set him up, so to speak. As in, he’d assumed she knew about Vicky’s plans from the get-go. Jason didn’t think Crystal was intentionally malicious about it, he just figured she didn’t know he would be so against helping Vicky for a boatload of money… or something.

Only now, as Crystal asks him point blank how it’s going and he finds himself looking at the studious older girl, does it strike Jason that Crystal probably didn’t know anything about her cousin’s plans at the end of the day. And even if she does, he’s not going to risk it by spilling the beans either.

Smiling somewhat wanly, Jason shrugs.

“Oh, no. She’s been… fine. A good student, really. We’ve been going over the fundamentals for the time being, but we’re moving into her problem subjects soon enough.”

Crystal slowly nods, and then flashes him a big smile.

“I really appreciate you taking on this job by the way, Jay. I’ll have to find some way to reward you personally, once the month is over and the tutoring is all said and done.”

Jason blinks at the slightly husky tone Crystal takes when she uses the word ‘personally’. Surely not… and yet, the events of last night run through his mind. He’d really been quite oblivious, hadn’t he? And as a result, he’d walked face first into a threesome with Taylor and Vicky. Not that he was complaining, but… could it be? Did Crystal actually have a thing for him?

… Nah. He was imagining things. Shaking his head, he gives his fellow TA a smile and then turns back to his work.

“I’m already making a lot of money thanks to you, Crystal. You’re a good friend for offering me this gig.”

Whatever Crystal might have said in response, Jason doesn’t find out, because before she can respond, a waspish voice fills the room.

“Mr. Allen. My office, now.”

Jason jolts as Carol Dallon suddenly calls him away.

“Right away, Professor!”

Giving Crystal an apologetic look (why did she look so crestfallen though?) Jason hurries to follow Carol into her office.

“Close the door.”

Swallowing nervously, wondering if he’d made a mistake of some sort, Jason closes the door behind him, before moving to stand behind the chairs in front of Carol’s desk. He doesn’t dare sit down without her telling him to… he knows full well that’s a great way to almost immediately get on the older woman’s shit list.

Leaning back in her chair, Carol looked at him for a long moment, her lips pressed into a thin line. Finally…

“I’ve been told by my niece that you are the one she chose to tutor my daughter for the next month. Is that so?”

Carol has to know it is, so why she’s asking, he doesn’t know. Still, Jason nods sharply, even as he keeps his back ramrod straight.

“Yes ma’am. That’s correct.”

“Very well, give me a progress report.”

Cold relief that he hadn’t taken Vicky up on her original offer fills every fiber of Jason’s being as he barely hesitates for a moment before launching into a completely honest report regarding Vicky’s tutoring so far. Well, honest to a certain extent. Obviously he leaves out certain things, such as Vicky’s offer and also the fact that they’d had sex the previous night. Carol didn’t need to know about that.

But he has his ducks in a row, regardless of last night’s threesome, and the fact that he’d spent the night at Vicky’s apartment. He can even show Carol his work, having been writing everything down from the tutoring sessions so far, and when he asks if she wants to see it and she says yes, Jason hurries to retrieve it for her.

All in all, there’s simply no way for even someone like Carol to say he hasn’t been doing what she’s been paying for. Sure, she can argue over how well he’s been doing it until the cows come home if she chooses to, but he definitely hasn’t been shirking his duty, no sir!

Finally, the short-haired blonde grunts and closes his notebook, before handing it back over to him. Jason takes it and stands there, waiting for her to start telling him how he needs to improve, or what he should be doing instead to prepare her daughter better. Which is why he’s more than a little surprised when that’s not what happens at all.

“Good work, Mr. Allen.”

Wait, what?

“I can tell you’re taking this seriously, and that you have Victoria well in hand. To be perfectly honest, my greatest concern was finding a tutor who would actually try, rather than someone who would just take the paycheck and let Victoria do whatever she wanted.”

Jason blinks rapidly as Carol practically hits the nail on the head, at least in regard to her daughter’s motivations. Seeing his reaction, Carol smiles… and isn’t that the most frightening thing of all? It’s more of a smirk than an actual smile at least, but it still sends a shiver down her spine.

“I know my daughter. She’s struggled with my authority and with figuring out her future ever since… well, for a couple years now. Victoria has always been a bit of a late bloomer, so I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that she’s going through her rebellious teenage phase late as well, despite no longer being a teenager.”

Sighing, Carol shakes her head.

“Still, I’m pleased with what you’ve shown me so far. Keep it up, Mr. Allen. Not just to earn the rather sizable chunk of cash I’ve invested in your services, but also if you want to continue on your way to that internship at the end of the year. As of right now, you are in my good graces. But it’s not easy to stay there. Do I make myself clear?”

Swallowing down the urge to say ‘crystal’, just because he doesn’t know if Carol would take it as a pun and get upset, Jason just nods.

“Yes ma’am.”

“Good. Dismissed.”

Jason returns to his TA’s desk in a bit of a daze, and when Crystal tries to talk to him, he just shakes his head and gets back to work. Fortunately for him, Alchemical Prodigy does all the heavy lifting because otherwise he’d probably be too distracted to get anything done… and then he’d likely be out of Carol’s good graces just as quickly as he got into them.

Though, truth be told… Jason hadn’t known that Carol Dallon HAD good graces. He’d always assumed if he did manage to get the internship he was gunning for, that it would be begrudgingly at best on Professor Dallon’s part. And yet… now here he was, having gotten an honest to god smirk out of the woman.

Was the sky falling down? Was the world ending? Well, maybe to that second one, given that the Endbringers were a thing. Still… holy shit. Just… holy shit.

-x-X-x-

Ding!

Don’t Give Up! – Source – 400 Points

Despair is the ultimate enemy of Magical Girls in this world - use too much power or dive too deep, and you’ll vanish forever. And life is full of plenty of hardships already without having to put growing up into the equation. It’s a good thing you seem built to deal with that, right? You’re good at holding onto hope despite things like your friends dying or breaking down, and though you may still shed tears, it will take more than a cruel and cold universe to make you fall to despair. Your willpower is boosted greatly by this, and emotion-based magic is just a little stronger in your hands to show for it. Just be careful - holding onto hope can turn into insanity if you focus too much on the impossible. But if something is possible? You’ll only give up when you’re ready to give up.

You now have 600 Points saved up!

And there it was. A couple hours before he was due over at Vicky’s, the next pull comes in and Jason is fortunately at home, in his apartment when it happens. He doesn’t hesitate. He pulls at the Staff of Magnus in his ‘Banked Slot’ and once it’s definitively front and center in front of him, he goes ahead and buys it.

Keep!

Staff of Magnus Purchased. 0 Points Remain!

He puts ‘Don’t Give Up!’ in his Banked Slot afterwards, because even if he might not end up getting it, he’s got nothing else to put in that slot at the moment. At the same time, the Staff of Magnus materializes before him, hovering in the air seemingly under its own power rather than falling to the ground.

Letting out a slow breath, Jason reaches out… and grabs the Staff. Immediately, he feels a surge of power flow through him. The thing had already come partially charged, but in this case ‘partially’ was a bit misleading. The Staff came with understanding, a sort of intuitive knowledge of its capabilities… and its capacity. Said capacity was so large, so massive, that it honestly beggared belief. So ‘partially’ still meant a metric fuck ton of power, Jason was happy to learn. Power enough to do a number of different things at the moment, in fact.

See, Jason hadn’t let himself be completely distracted by Taylor and Vicky, or by his work the past day. Ever since he’d locked in the Staff of Magnus, he’d been considering both what it might make him capable of, and what he might use to power it.

The Staff could drain power from people and magical objects, and if the people didn’t have power, it would drain their life instead. Part of Jason wondered if the latter might apply to Tinkertech, but that wasn’t something he anticipated getting to test any time soon. At the same time, he didn’t necessarily want to drain the lifeforce from anyone. He wasn’t a killer, so even using it on criminals seemed like a bad idea.

However… he did have five years of knowledge regarding Blood Magic, Necromancy, and Demonic Summoning crammed into his head. Five years of training, five years of practice, five years of skill.

There were ways he could use each magical discipline to potentially power the Staff, and ways he could in turn use the Staff to power spells from each magical discipline. However, the clearest cut way for him to power the Staff through his magical knowledge was likely to be Demonic Summoning.

He could summon demons and drain them of their lifeforce, secure in the knowledge that they were literally from Hell and therefore fair game. Heck, he didn’t even have to kill them necessarily, with his knowledge he could do a little demonic summoning, drain them to an inch of their lives, and send them back to the Hell they came from. Of course, that was likely to get them killed since he was basically sending them back weak and alone into the demon equivalent of gang territory, but… such was life.

There was so much he could do, now that he had the Staff of Magnus. But he was going to have to get his hands a little dirty in order to power it.

-x-X-x-

A/N: Will try to keep this up to date at the end of every chapter, get on me if I forget please. Though if it gets too out of hand, might have to change it at some point.

Jason's current banked points:

0 Celestial Points

Jason's current banked power:

• Don't Give Up! (400 Points)

Jason's current powers:

• Flash Air (Gained in Chapter 1)

• Transformation Pendant (Gained in Chapter 4)

• Keen Eye (Gained in Chapter 4)

• Blood, Death, and Demons (Gained in Chapter 6)

• Alchemical Prodigy (Gained in Chapter 8)

• Staff of Magnus (Gained in Chapter 13)

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

A/N: Jason and Taylor talk it out. Also give me ideas for potential Feats going forward btw. Since Taylor is going to be trying to make a list for them to mark off.

-x-X-x-

Taylor thinks about it for a moment, her face serious as the grave as she considers Jason’s question. Finally though, she grabs Jason by the hands and looks him in the eye.

“I know playing it safe is tempting, Jason… but I don’t think you can afford to take that risk.”

Huh? Jason can’t help but be a little baffled by those words. They don’t really seem to match up. Fortunately, Taylor goes on to explain her reasoning.

“Our world isn’t the kind of place where keeping your head down guarantees safety, Jason. You can be as introverted as possible, minding your own business and spending all of your free time inside and away from others, and you still might find yourself in the middle of a Parahuman Attack at any moment… or worse, an Endbringer Attack.”

Letting out a shuddering breath, Taylor squeezes his hands with her own.

“The Endbringers are inevitable. The bad guys that pollute Brockton Bay with their bullshit ideologies and vile actions aren’t going to just take a break so you can wait to power up in a careful and safe manner. Jason… if you don’t reach out with both hands and grab every last scrap of power you can get, you’re only going to find yourself running into a situation where you aren’t strong enough to win down the line.”

Well… damn. He gets it now. He understands what Taylor means. He could sit back, keep doing what he’s been doing, and accumulate power slowly. To be fair, even doing the slow method has netted him a pretty strong set of abilities by this point, and whether it’s by luck or some higher power, there’s even been significant synergy between said abilities.

However, is it really fast enough? Could he tackle an Endbringer tomorrow if one decided to attack Brockton Bay? No… no, he couldn’t. Taylor is right, if he’s not hunting for every last ounce of power he can find, then he’s only going to wind up too weak to do anything when the time finally comes.

That leaves continuing to do things the current way right out. But then, what’s his next best option?

“Should I join the Protectorate then, do you think?”

Even as he asks that, he’s a little hesitant to even consider the idea. It’s not that he dislikes the Protectorate or anything. It’s more that growing up all these years in Brockton Bay has shown him time and time again how ineffectual and useless the Protectorate and PRT seem to be. They might as well just be another gang holding territory in some parts of the city for all the ‘good’ they do.

Taylor shakes her head immediately, apparently having even stronger feelings about the Protectorate than he does.

“No, that’s a bad idea. They’ll only hamstring you, Jason. Bog you down in so much red tape that you never get anything done. Sure, they might help you get more power faster than just staying safe and doing nothing would, but they would also dictate how you use that power, and you’d be forced to follow their orders or face consequences. Better to stay independent.”

It made sense that Taylor would feel that way. After all, she had powers too, and she hadn’t tried to join the Protectorate either. Part of Jason wants to argue though a little bit. He wonders, if he could convince the Protectorate of his eventual capacity for sealing the Endbringers, wouldn’t that get him special treatment?

But a far larger part of him simply doesn’t want to join the Protectorate at all anyways, so he doesn’t bother bringing that up. Instead, he gives Taylor a smile.

“Then… do you want to team up? Going independent would be pretty dangerous… but if we could watch each other’s backs, we’d be better off right?”

Taylor beams right back, nodding happily.

“I agree. That’s our best path forward, really, to work together and focus on getting you as many more points as we can, so you can pick up more of these powers you get as they come in.”

Then, she starts to get excited.

“Oh! And you don’t have to waste your money on Parian either. I can make your costume for you!”

Wait, what? Jason blinks before growing more excited as well.

“Really?”

Taylor nods.

“Yes! I can use Black Widows to produce spider silk and then weave that into a costume that’s both knife-proof and bullet-resistant. I’ve been making my own costume for almost a month now!”

That… gives Jason pause. To her credit, Taylor seems to hear what she said a moment after she said it, because her smile drops and she suddenly looks a little… fidgety. Jason hates to rain on her parade, but given everything they just talked about, he kind of feels like he has to say something.

“A month is an awful long time, Taylor…”

Flushing, Taylor sighs.

“… Yeah, I didn’t really think before I spoke. I guess… I guess you should set up a meeting with Parian after all?”

It seemed like he would need to. Though to be fair to Taylor, who could say that Parian’s turnaround would be any faster than hers? Unless…

“Where’s the bottleneck at for you, Taylor? Is it in producing the spider silk, or is it in designing your costume?”

Eyes lighting up with understanding, Taylor starts to get a bit excited again, though far more muted than last time.

“Oh! I can produce tons of the stuff to be honest. I’m only held back on that front by the number of spiders I’ve collected. But the designing and construction, that takes a lot longer. I think I see where you’re going with this.”

Jason grins and nods.

“We should reach out to Parian together and offer her a trade. A steady supply of your spider silk in exchange for my costume, and maybe help finishing your own? And after that, we can work on continuing to supply her with the material in exchange for a discount or something!”

Only, Jason stops himself a moment later, flushing a bit.

“Ah, not that I’m trying to lay claim to your creations or anything like that Taylor. Obviously the spider silk would be yours to decide what to-mmph!”

Taylor cuts him off mid apology though, wrapping her arms around his neck and silencing him with a deep kiss. When they pull apart a moment later, she shakes her head.

“We’re in this together, Jason. My resources are your resources. And you’re right, once we get our costumes, we can sell the spider silk to Parian and start building up a war chest. We’re going to need a lot of money to get you the things you need to seal the Endbringers, right?”

Letting out a shuddering breath, Jason smiles.

“Right.”

He has a teammate now. Talking to Taylor, getting her on board… it really was the best decision he could have made. That said…

“What do we tell Vicky?”

Taylor pauses at that and tilts her head to the side.

“What do you mean? Are you planning to continue to tutor her?”

Jason doesn’t really have to think too hard about that before nodding.

“Yes. Even if there are arguably more important things to focus on now, I’m not the kind of person who goes back on his deals. I’ll keep tutoring Vicky till the end of the month. We’ll have to work around that bit of scheduling, I’m afraid.”

But Taylor doesn’t seem too concerned. She even shrugs in response.

“That’s fine. I’ll quit my job at the coffee shop if we can work out a deal with Parian that eventually starts bringing in money. That will give us plenty of extra free time. Still, I don’t think you should tell Glory Girl about your powers. She might want you to join New Wave, and then they would want you to reveal your identity. It seems like a bad idea.”

That brings a frown to Jason’s face, until he realizes one key fact… Taylor doesn’t know about Vicky’s true intentions. Nor does she know that New Wave is almost defunct at this point. Jason knows more than most because of his work as Carol’s TA, his friendship with Crystal, and now his tutoring of Vicky.

He knows that Glory Girl is pretty much New Wave’s flagbearer at this point in time, the only one actually going out on regular patrols. He also knows that she’s planning on taking a sponsorship with the Lavere Clinic at the end of the month, which is likely to sever her connection with New Wave in its entirety and leave her independent.

In a lot of ways, Vicky would be a perfect third member of their burgeoning team. But getting Taylor on board with recruiting her would involve revealing Vicky’s secrets to Taylor. He was fine telling Taylor the truth about himself, but Jason had reservations about exposing someone else’s secrets without their permission.

… Maybe he could get Vicky to sign off on him telling Taylor the truth without revealing Taylor’s powers or his own. It couldn’t hurt to ask, right? But for now…

“Yeah, you’re probably right. Okay, which one of us should contact Parian?”

Taylor bites her lower lip, before nodding her head at him.

“You do it. You’re way better with people than I am. Although, if we’re going to interact with another Cape, you realize… we’re going to need codenames?”

Jason blinks, not having thought of that. Shit… she was right. Every Cape had a moniker for their parahuman antics. Even New Wave, who didn’t hide their identities, went around with codenames when they were out and about on Cape Business. If you didn’t come up with your own cape name, you were likely to be saddled with one by those around you. It was inevitable.

“Well… yours is obvious, at least.”

Taylor looks surprised by that.

“Really? I’ve been trying to think up a good one for ages but they all suck or sound too… buggy if you know what I mean. What do you have for me?”

Adopting a somewhat crooked smile, Jason shrugs, downplaying it in case she doesn’t like it.

“I mean, you’ve practically made your own costume out of spider silk, and you’re about to make a deal with a costume designer for a supply of said spider silk. Seems to me that your name should relate to that. Maybe… Silk? Or Weaver?”

Falling silent for a moment, Taylor slowly nods.

“… I like it. Weaver, I mean. Silk is a little too seductress-adjacent for my taste. But Weaver? Weaver is good… really good.”

Jason can’t help but feel pleased with himself. Of course, then Taylor fixes him with a look.

“But what about you?”

Ugh… what about him? He had so many powers, and he was only going to get more. He didn’t want something pretentious though. Even if they were planning on going full steam ahead and getting him as much power as fast as possible, he sort of wanted to downplay things all the same.

“How about… Potential?”

There’s a pause at that, as Taylor gives him an uncertain look.

“It’s a bit of a mouthful, Jason. Not exactly the easiest thing to shout out in the heat of combat.”

Ah, he hadn’t really thought about that. Suddenly, Taylor gets excited again.

“Oh! What about ‘Potent’ instead?”

Potent? As in Powerful? Hah, that was the exact opposite of what he’d originally wanted. And yet… Taylor looks too thrilled to have come up with something after how he helped her. So in the end, Jason smiles back.

“I like it. Potent and Weaver. Weaver and Potent. Not sure if it’ll stick… but we’ll sure try.”

No sooner has he said those words as Taylor nods along, then he gets another feat.

Feat Achieved: Come up with a Cape Name! 100 Points Earned!

You now have 100 Points saved up!

“Oh! I got a Feat for that. Nice…”

Taylor perks up at that, before getting a downright predatory look in her eyes.

“I have to work tonight, but I’m going to spend all the slow hours thinking up potential Feats for you, Jason. Going to make a list, and then we’ll go through them as fast as possible.”

Chuckling nervously, Jason rubs the back of his head. He wasn’t going to tell her that she shouldn’t do that, especially since he knew how boring the coffee shop could be, especially later in the day before closing. But at the same time, he was starting to wonder if he might have unleashed a monster of some sort.

-x-X-x-

Ding!

Chaos Infected – Source – 400 Points

Hold on. How, exactly, have you managed to maintain your sanity? It appears your nature as a being from outside of reality has left you with... talents. Talents that are quite uncommon to the natives of this world. Namely, you can use Chaos magic without being tainted. Chaos magic will twist any spells in the vicinity, animates the dead, and breaks people’s minds almost as a side effect. The Chaotic disadvantage is mandatory, and does not count against the Drawback cap.

You now have 200 Points saved up!

The next pull from his power comes just as Jason is striding up to Vicky’s apartment door for their afternoon tutoring session. He’s sent off a message through PHO to Parian but hadn’t gotten a response back yet in the scant hour or so it’d been since. Jason almost doesn’t even read the pull, planning from the get-go to just Bank it and check it out later… but then the name of it catches his eye and he pauses for a moment to read the entire thing. As he does so, his nose wrinkles more and more in disgust and horror, until finally, he just shakes his head.

Pass.

Sure, his Bank Slot would remain empty for the time being, but frankly, he would rather it be empty than holding something that… disturbing. Even if it allowed him to use Chaos Magic without being tainted himself, it straight up said that it would still affect those around him, not to mention that last part about a ‘Chaotic disadvantage’ being mandatory. Yeah, no thank you.

Jason supposed they couldn’t all be winners, in the end. With a sigh, he knocks on Vicky’s door and is quickly let in by the bombastic bombshell of a blonde. Fortunately she turns away from him the moment he steps inside, because the first words out of her mouth have him freezing up for a long, perilous second.

“Jason! Glad you made it over okay. Apparently, there’s a new Cape skulking around my neighborhood, so we need to be extra careful for a little while.”

Recovering fast, Jason swallows thickly.

“Skulking? Are they a… villain?”

More importantly, did Vicky think that he was a villain? Sure, the woman he’d helped had been a prostitute… but he’d also called the authorities for the man with the broken jaw, right?

Letting out a huff, Vicky throws herself down onto her couch.

“Hmph! They better not be if they know what’s good for them. But… nah, they’re probably heroic. Only, it’s not confirmed yet and neither are their powers, so I still want you to be careful alright? In fact… probably best if you stay overnight for a little while!”

That… wasn’t going to work if he and Taylor were going to start doing nightly patrols as soon as they got in touch with Parian and got their costumes in order. Maybe it was time to bite the bullet.

“Actually Vicky, I did want to talk to you about something. Taylor couldn’t be here today because of work, but I know she wishes she could be. That’s why… I wanted to ask for your permission to tell her the truth. About you and this tutoring and your intentions at the end of the month.”

Vicky pauses at that, blinking at him owlishly.

“What? Why?”

Well, he couldn’t tell her the whole truth obviously, but Jason had come up with an idea on the way over.

“I just… don’t want her to put her all into helping me tutor you for the rest of the month and have her only learn after the fact that I knew your true plans. And she’s trustworthy, I know she won’t snitch or anything. But… I won’t tell her if you don’t want me to.”

What he leaves unsaid is that Taylor will probably understand if they get to the end of the month and he reveals he knew Vicky’s secret all along. After all, Jason is keeping some pretty huge secrets for Taylor now as well.

Still, if Vicky says he can tell her, then Jason will have an avenue through which to try and convince Taylor that they should bring Vicky onboard, maybe. It all comes down to Vicky’s next decision.

-x-X-x-

A/N: Will try to keep this up to date at the end of every chapter, get on me if I forget please. Though if it gets too out of hand, might have to change it at some point.

Jason's current banked points:

200 Celestial Points

Jason's current banked power:

• N/A

Jason's current powers:

• Flash Air (Gained in Chapter 1)

• Transformation Pendant (Gained in Chapter 4)

• Keen Eye (Gained in Chapter 4)

• Blood, Death, and Demons (Gained in Chapter 6)

• Alchemical Prodigy (Gained in Chapter 8)

• Staff of Magnus (Gained in Chapter 13)

• Bind and Seal (Gained in Chapter 17)

Chapter Text

A/N: Jason and Vicky talk and fuck.

-x-X-x-

There’s a brief pause as Vicky mulls over Jason’s request… before shrugging and grinning.

“Sure, why not?”

Truthfully, the easy agreement takes Jason aback. He can’t help but blink a little bit owlishly at the blonde.

“Really? That easy?”

But Vicky just nods, chuckling.

“Taylor seems like a good sort. She and my mom don’t have any sort of prior relationship anyways, and I can’t really see her as the type to seek out my mom just to tattle on me. If you trust her Jason… I trust her too. Go ahead and tell her.”

Well damn. It was really that easy? Jason swallows thickly before nodding.

“Alright… I’ll just text her now, yeah?”

That gets a queer look from Vicky. And really, that’s fair. There’s no reason for Jason to text Taylor instead of just telling her tomorrow. Except, if Jason gets Taylor the details of Vicky’s future plans now, then maybe by the end of the night Taylor will have gotten back to him with an agreement to let Vicky in on THEIR future plans.

It’s a big ‘if’, but Jason thinks it’s worth it to speed up the process so he’s not bouncing back and forth between the two women over and over again until everyone has everyone else’s secrets.

“Sure, if you want.”

And in the end, as confused as Vicky is by his insistence, she also doesn’t mind that much, shrugging and watching as he pulls out his phone and begins composing a text.

Taylor, just got permission from Vicky to let you in on the truth of her plans. Here’s the deal…

He proceeds to outline the current state of New Wave, how they’re spiraling towards possibly going defunct entirely, and how Vicky will be striking out on her own anyways at the end of the month on top of not planning to pass the test or go to University. Then, to cap it all off…

… That’s why I think we should let her in on what we’re up to. At the very least, I kind of want to let her know about me. Don’t have to tell her about you if you don’t want me to though.

With that, Jason sends off the text, figuring Taylor will get to it during a lull in her shift or something. Putting his phone away, he smiles at Vicky.

“Alright… should we get back to tutoring then?”

Vicky sighs, clearly putting on a bit of an act as she makes a show of pushing her tits together between her arms and rolls her eyes.

“Well… if we must. Could always skip to the fun part though, Teach~”

Jason smirks and shakes his head in response.

“Not happening, Ms. Dallon. And for testing me, that’ll be a spanking later. Now, focus up.”

“Heh, yes sir~”

-x-X-x-

“Glughk! Glughk! Glughk!”

Funnily enough, by the time Taylor is able to get back to Jason, the tutoring is finished, Vicky’s bottom is a little redder, and the beautiful blonde bombshell is currently on her hands and knees on the couch with her head bobbing up and down his member. As she sucks him off, Jason has one hand fisted in her blonde locks, and the other wound around to her pussy, fingering it with two digits at the moment.

Then, his phone lets out a chime and he has to let go of Vicky’s hair to pull it out of his pocket and check it. Not that that dissuades the blonde from continuing to face fuck herself rather messily and noisily all over his cock, however.

Pulling up Taylor’s message, Jason can’t help the wide grin that spreads across his face when he sees her simple response.

Yeah, tell her everything.

Jason can’t help but be pleased. It may have only been a few days since he started tutoring Vicky, but given how fast their relationship had progressed, he would be lying if he said he hadn’t already come to care for her greatly. With his decision to let Taylor in on the truth, it only made sense to tell Vicky as well… especially after he got semi-caught trying to be a hero near her apartment.

Before he can pull Vicky off of his cock however, the blonde takes him all the way to the base and then holds herself there, gurgling and flexing her throat around his dick as she chokes on it mightily. A tightening in his balls later and Jason groans as he doubles over Vicky’s head, holding her tightly while cumming down her throat.

She gags some more, but manages to swallow most of it, the naughty little masochist that she is. By the time he leans back, letting her pull off of his dick, Vicky’s tongue has swooped out to begin studiously cleaning every last inch of his cock on her way off, until finally she comes off of it with a pop.

Without missing a beat, the blonde moves to climb into his lap to ride him, but Jason stops her.

“Vicky wait… we need to talk first.”

Blinking, Vicky looks at him in confusion.

“Err, those words usually never mean anything good. But you don’t sound too much like you’re about to ruin my day sooo… lay it on me?”

Well, he certainly hoped this news wouldn’t ruin Vicky’s day, but to be fair, he didn’t know for sure how the heroine would react to knowing both he and Taylor had powers and hadn’t told her about them. Still, best to rip the band-aid clean off rather than beating around the bush, right?

“… I’m a Cape, Vicky. And so is Taylor.”

Vicky freezes at that, and promptly sits back on the couch, giving him a wary but also piercing look.

“Gang-related?”

What? Jason shakes his head wildly.

“No! Definitely not!”

But Vicky isn’t quite done.

“Any criminal activity whatsoever?”

“No! I mean… I don’t think so. I’ve only had my powers for two weeks. Taylor has had hers for a little longer, but she only told me about them yesterday because I told her about mine yesterday. Neither of us has done… much yet.”

That… causes Vicky to settle down a bit. She hums as she processes that information, slowly nodding. But then she pauses and frowns.

“Okay but wait, what do you mean by you ‘don’t think so’? Or ‘much yet’?”

Sighing, Jason runs a hand through his hair.

“The other night, near your place? That was me. I found a man trying to sexually assault a woman, and used my powers to give the woman some enhanced strength so she could break free. Only after the fact, and after she’d used that strength to break the guy’s jaw, did I find out she was a prostitute when she fled the scene. I’m not sure if I necessarily did anything criminal there… so yeah, that’s what I mean.”

Vicky just stares at him for a long moment… before letting out an honest to god guffaw. Jason’s face heats up a bit, even as she descends into snickering afterwards.

“Heh, oh my god… you were that guy? Armsmaster really wasn’t sure what to make of that whole situation. Meanwhile, I thought I had some idiot with no respect for personal boundaries encroaching on my space. I guess I did, but at least it’s the idiot I already let ‘encroach’, heh.”

Jason flushes and then growls playfully.

“Oi. Who you calling an idiot?”

He drags Vicky back over his lap and spanks her some more, something that the blonde bombshell doesn’t fight one bit. In fact, she even moans as he does so, while also grabbing his cock and stroking him back to full mast. As soon as he’s done and lets her go again, Vicky does what she’d tried to do before, climbing into his lap and sliding down his throbbing pole without hesitation.

As she sinks down his length, the blonde smiles.

“So… what can you and Taylor do, exactly?”

Jason hums.

“Well, Taylor can control every insect in a certain radius around her… at the same time. So far, her greatest feat is using a ton of black widow spiders to manufacture Spider Silk so she could make her own costume.”

Vicky’s eyes widen at that, even as she gyrates herself around on his cock.

“Wow… Spider Silk is the stuff that’s almost as good as Kevlar right? That’s no joke. And… EVERY insect? Holy shit, Taylor is a walking plague.”

Jason winces at that.

“She has the capacity to be, yeah… but c’mon, Taylor isn’t like that. She wants to be a hero… like you.”

Vicky puffs up a bit at that, pride writ large across her face right up until Jason takes advantage by leaning forward and biting a nipple. Then, she’s moaning and bouncing up and down on his cock. Though even then, she’s not letting herself get off base.

“Mm, and what can YOU do, Jason? What’s your parahuman ability?”

You can tell Vicky was raised in a Cape Family when she says things like ‘parahuman ability’ instead of power. Still, Jason considers how best to explain things for a moment… before just deciding to give her the whole spiel.

At some point in his explanation, Vicky stops riding him and just sits there in his lap, staring at him wide-eyed as he describes what his power does and all of the things he’s gotten so far. When he gets to the part where he explains why exactly he passed out and got a nosebleed in her apartment a few days back, she scowls and smacks him on the chest.

“This is what I mean about you being an idiot sometimes! What were you thinking? I thought for a second that I accidentally made you trigger or something!”

“I didn’t know my power could hurt me, to be fair. It was my first time gaining knowledge instead of an ability. And… all worked out in the end, right?”

Vicky slowly nods, before her eyes widen in remembrance.

“Wait… Ames said that you didn’t even have an inactive Corona Pollentia. That it was impossible for you to get a parahuman ability. But now you’re saying…”

She trails off, and all Jason can do is shrug helplessly in response.

“I don’t know what to tell you, Vicky. I mean… I guess maybe my powers aren’t like everyone else’s? Either that, or something about my power hides my Corona Pollentia from Amy’s power.”

Personally, Jason suspected it was the first one. His powers were just… such utter bullshit. They were like nothing he’d ever heard of anyone else having before. Sure there were outliers. For instance, Eidolon or the Fairy Queen. But Eidolon could only have three powers at a time, and the Fairy Queen was limited to other people’s powers. Both of them sort of worked within the confines of the established system, even if their abilities were still utterly busted.

But him? Jason’s powers didn’t seem to make sense really. And they often mentioned worlds other than Earth, or places and people that he’d never heard of before. Combined with his lack of a Corona Pollentia and Jason highly doubted he was a normal parahuman.

Judging by the look on Vicky’s face, she thinks so too. Finally, she huffs.

“… You’re absolutely bullshit, Jason. Some people say Tinkers are bullshit, some people say Thinkers are bullshit. But Trumps are the ones who are really bullshit, and you sound like the most powerful Trump I’ve ever met.”

Jason smiles faintly.

“Well… not quite yet. I’ve still got a ways to go, first.”

Vicky nods at that, and then suddenly begins moving around his cock again, gyrating her hips as she does so.

“You were right to bring me in on this. And also, I think the deal you and Taylor want to make with Parian is a good idea as well. Still, independents don’t last long. It’s part of the reason why Ames is going to be sponsoring me, because then I’m not really an independent, I’m technically on a ‘team’ with the greatest healer in the city if not the world. And no one wants to fuck with the White Mage.”

Jason blinks at that reference. That was surprisingly nerdy of Vicky… oh, she’s blushing a bit.

“Just something Amy likes to say, sorry. Guess her speech patterns are rubbing off on me.”

Oh… that makes more sense.

“Anyways, my point is… you have limitless potential, and Taylor’s power has terrifying implications. But you could still use a Brute to be your frontline. That’s where I’d come in.”

That WOULD be good, though two immediate issues came to mind.

“Would it interfere with your sponsorship with Amelia if you teamed up with me and Taylor though? And would your mother start to question it if you started patrolling with other capes? Err; to be clear… Taylor and I aren’t interested in unmasking. We’re thinking Weaver and Potent for our cape names.”

Vicky hums, bouncing on his cock as she mulls over his concerns.

“First… good names. I like ‘em. Second, I’m not expecting you or Taylor to unmask. I think at this point it’s safe to say that New Wave was a failed experiment. It honestly failed before Ames and I even triggered, but our parents were just too stubborn to admit it. With dad gone and Uncle Neil and Aunt Sarah divorced, there’s no real way it’s going to continue. Especially since the younger generation has all but split from the movement at this point.”

There’s a note of pain in Vicky’s voice as she talks about her father’s death, but she seems to be doing pretty well, all things considered. To be fair, it was months ago. Still, Jason stays quiet, sensing that Vicky isn’t done speaking.

“Crystal is trying to get out of the cape life, Erik has joined the Protectorate, and Ames has opened her own clinic. Frankly, if it wasn’t for her sponsorship, I’d probably have joined the Protectorate as well by this point. But… eh, there’s just too much red tape.”

Perking up suddenly, Vicky looks at Jason excitedly.

“Maybe I could get Amy to sign on you and Taylor for the same sponsorship! A team of Capes has to be better than just one Cape! You guys might have to unmask to Ames though… but I’m sure she’d be okay with it!”

Jason frowns.

“Are you sure she could afford that sort of thing, Vicky? She just opened that clinic of hers less than a year ago, didn’t she?”

Vicky just laughs.

“Oh Jason… think for a second. Amy is selling magical healing. Yes, she can afford to sponsor three capes instead of one. We just have to sell her on the idea.”

… Okay yeah, fair. He can just imagine how much money Amelia Lavere is making now that she’s selling her services instead of healing for free. That said, was that really a path they wanted to go down? Sponsored by the Lavere Clinic wouldn’t be half-bad, and hell, maybe they could get Parian in on it too if they made a deal with her.

That said, Jason needed to decide whether he was looking to commit to that much diplomacy and cape politics quite this fast…

-x-X-x-

A/N: Will try to keep this up to date at the end of every chapter, get on me if I forget please. Though if it gets too out of hand, might have to change it at some point.

Jason's current banked points:

200 Celestial Points

Jason's current banked power:

• N/A

Jason's current powers:

• Flash Air (Gained in Chapter 1)

• Transformation Pendant (Gained in Chapter 4)

• Keen Eye (Gained in Chapter 4)

• Blood, Death, and Demons (Gained in Chapter 6)

• Alchemical Prodigy (Gained in Chapter 8)

• Staff of Magnus (Gained in Chapter 13)

• Bind and Seal (Gained in Chapter 17)

Chapter Text

A/N: Stuff happens.

-x-X-x-

At the end of the day, the benefits outweigh the risks, probably. So after a long moment of thought, Jason slowly nods to Vicky.

“… Alright. I’m tentatively on board. We’ll have to get Taylor’s approval first of course, and it’ll also be contingent on Amelia saying yes as well obviously, but… yeah, I wouldn’t mind being sponsored by the Lavere Clinic.”

Indeed, Amelia Lavere had managed to turn tragedy into opportunity when she’d abandoned her previous identity of Amy Dallon to open her clinic. It helped that she’d always had such a sterling reputation and was one of the strongest healers in America if not the world. Being sponsored by her and her Clinic would surely give new heroes like him and Taylor a leg up that they otherwise wouldn’t have.

Vicky perks up at that, looking particularly pleased at Jason’s agreement. Heh, her pussy walls even clench down on his cock in excitement as she continues to gyrate her hips across his laps.

“Excellent~ Mm, and even if it the sponsorship doesn’t work out… I’ll totally join up with you and Taylor and we’ll make a kickass hero team nonetheless, alright?”

Jason smiles, chuckling as he grabs Vicky by the hips.

“Alright.”

Feat Achieved: Join or Form a Cape Team with three or more members! 100 Points Earned!

You now have 300 Points saved up!

That causes Jason to laugh harder and shake his head.

“I believe you, heh.”

When Vicky gives him a look of confusion at that, he tells her about the Feat he just received. Even his power registers him, Vicky, and Taylor as all already part of the same team. At hearing that, Vicky gets a certain gleam in her eye that, despite their current situation, has nothing to do with sexual pleasure.

“I wonder just how much we could game that system… there’s gotta be a lot of easy Feats to grab if that’s one of them.”

Shaking his head in amusement, Jason begins bouncing Vicky up and down on his cock.

“You’ll have to talk to Taylor about that. She told me she’s making a list.”

Taking the hint, Vicky drapes her arms over his shoulders and leans over him, letting her hair fall in a curtain as she begins to ride him harder.

“Mm… sounds like she and I will continue to get along just great then~”

-x-X-x-

He ends up spending the night at Vicky’s place, even though Taylor isn’t there to enjoy the fun with them. The next morning over breakfast, Vicky assures him that she’ll reach out to her sister asap and see about getting Amelia on board with further sponsorships, but that he’s in charge of getting Taylor’s approval as well.

That turns out to be as easy as another text with the tall, dark-haired young woman, who certainly has no complaints about being sponsored by the most reputable business in all of Brockton Bay. And sure, that might not mean much when it’s Brockton Bay they’re talking about, but still… the Lavere Clinic is a very bright spot in an otherwise muddy swamp of a city.

The next pull of his power, meanwhile, comes after he’s already finished up work at the University for the day.

Ding!

Excellence of a Prince – Lore – 400 Points

Your veins are filled with royal blood, and excellence is your birthright. How could you not live up to it? You learn incredibly quickly, now, able to bring a mundane skill to complete mastery in 7 months, and accomplish minor supernatural feats with such things too, such as a musician being able to pacify a whole forest with their song. With just this it’s unlikely you’d be able to take the skill further, for what possible way could you improve if you are already a little beyond the top? But still, with less than a year of unbroken and passionate study there will be very little you cannot accomplish. Of course, this doesn’t help when it comes to enlightenment (AKA character development), but who cares about the Heavenly palaces when you have a perfectly good kingdom down on earth, am I right?

You now have 400 Points saved up!

At first glance, Excellence of a Prince sounds nice. Until one realizes that he already got a better deal with Alchemical Prodigy. Maybe if Alchemical Prodigy was focused solely on Alchemy, Excellence of a Prince would have been a nice pickup, but Jason already knew it worked for anything. Alchemical Prodigy increased his overall learning speed by a factor of ten.

He was fairly certain that Excellence of a Prince’s boast of being able to master a mundane skill in seven months just wasn’t worth his while. In fact, seven months just felt like too long of a timeframe. ‘Less than a year of unbroken and passionate study’ would be nice if he lived somewhere where he had years and years to take advantage of it, but ultimately Jason didn’t have that kind of time.

In the end, it wasn’t even a power worth banking really. The only true gain he’d get from it would be for vanity’s sake, the ability to claim he was suddenly a Prince with Royal Blood. But that too didn’t seem too helpful in his current situation.

Pass.

Letting it go, Jason shakes his head and then checks his messages, curious to see if Parian has gotten back to him yet or not. He wasn’t expecting a message back in less than a day though, so he’s not too surprised when there isn’t anything waiting for him. Frankly, getting in touch with Parian might have to wait until they can lock down the sponsorship with Panacea, because Parian might not care to respond until it’s something through official channels with a Cape Name she recognizes.

Speaking of which…

Bring Taylor 2nite, Ames coming over

It seemed that Vicky at least worked a lot faster. The blonde sends him that text just after midday, prompting a bit of a panic on Jason’s part. Already? Sure, he’d met Amelia Lavere once before, but that was under very different circumstances. This… this was a lot bigger. Still, as soon as he gets that message, he calls Taylor.

“Jason, what’s up?”

“Taylor… Vicky has already talked to her sister. We’re meeting tonight apparently, either before or after the tutoring session.”

Probably before, Jason figures. Seeing as after was usually taken up by sexy times. But then again, he shouldn’t assume anything these days, should he? There’s a pause on the other end of the line for a moment, before Taylor finally responds.

“Oh. Alright, I’ll call out from work and we’ll go over together.”

Jason chuckles, unable to help a little ribbing.

“Just like that, huh? Your corporate overlords might start to think you don’t have any loyalty to them, Taylor.”

Taylor half-snorts, half-laughs on the other end of the line.

“Honestly, if we can get this sponsorship locked down AND make a deal with Parian, then I’ll definitely be in a position to quit that job. So… fingers crossed.”

That sobers him up a bit. Taylor is trying to act nonchalant, but he can hear it in her voice all the same… she wants this. She really wants this to work. It was never in any question that she would agree to trying for the sponsorship, because at the end of the day, if she can make enough money to just be a hero full time, she’ll do it.

Smiling softly now, Jason sighs.

“Alright then, I’ll see you later, Taylor.”

“See you later.”

After hanging up with Taylor, Jason decides there’s only one thing to do… he needs to start collecting more power. Not just so that the Staff of Magnus will be charged up nice and proper whenever he and Taylor finally go out on their first patrol together, but also just in case Panacea wants to see some practical examples of what he can do.

That said, Jason spends the next few hours summoning demons and draining them to within an inch of their unholy lives before sending them back from whence they came. He’s lucky that the Summoning Ritual has a muffling component to it, because if it didn’t he’d probably have gotten noise complaints from his neighbors by now about all the yowling and howling.

It did, when one didn’t have context, kind of sound like he was butchering people in his apartment. But obviously, that wasn’t happening. He was just using demons as mana batteries. Perfectly normal stuff.

Regardless, Jason finishes and cleans up well in advance of Taylor’s arrival, even getting in a quick shower before the bug controller shows up and they leave to head over to Vicky’s place. They talk about mostly mundane stuff on the way over, an unspoken agreement that the Cape Stuff needs to stay behind closed doors.

Finally though, they arrive at Vicky’s apartment, where they put on masks to hide their identities in case this all doesn’t work out. It was a suggestion from Amelia herself according to Vicky. Jason wasn’t sure that that was a good sign or a bad sign, but in the end, he could appreciate the desire to keep identities hidden until things were more concrete.

When he and Taylor enter Vicky’s apartment, it’s to find Amelia sitting in the living room, one leg crossed over the other with a cup of tea in front of her. Vicky, meanwhile, shifts nervously from foot to foot, looking like a middle manager desperate to get their bright idea approved by their boss.

For a long moment, they all just stare at each other… and then Amelia nods to Taylor and then him.

“Weaver and… Portent, I presume?”

Blinking, Jason opens his mouth to correct her… before closing it. Would correcting her at this juncture cause issues? He didn’t want to get off on the wrong foot. But also… Portent was kind of a way better name than Potent, wasn’t it? It even fit more thematically as well, given his current powers and how he’d been building himself up so far.

Before Taylor or Vicky can correct her, Jason nods in response.

“That’s correct. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Lavere.”

He can feel Taylor giving him a look, but hey it wasn’t like he was officially out as a Cape yet. This was the perfect time to be changing his name on the fly if a better one came along.

Meanwhile, Amelia sighs and takes a sip from her tea. Then, she glances at Vicky with a look of fond exasperation.

“Vicky has talked my ear off about you two all day long. Seems to think I would be a fool not to consider sponsoring you… even though her own sponsorship is still contingent on a few things and doesn’t start until the end of the month.”

That last part, Amelia gives Vicky an arched look over. The blonde bombshell blushes but doesn’t back down.

“That’s why I was saying you should take these two on for a trial period, Ames! Test them out, use them until the month is over, and then have me join them when the time comes! It’ll work perfectly!”

Oh? That wasn’t quite what Jason had thought would happen, but he supposed it sort of made sense. Amelia though, sighs and shakes her head.

“Unless it doesn’t, Vicky. Trial periods are all well and good in certain situations, but when it comes to Cape Business… there’s no such thing. The moment I openly sponsor these two, they’re associated with me and my clinic. Meaning if anything happens to them, or they do anything untoward, it will be associated with me and my clinic. Trial period or not.”

… That was a completely fair thing to say. Jason had only really thought about it in terms of whether Amelia had the money to pay for them or not, but of course she had the money. And when you had as much potential capital as someone like Amelia Lavere, it stopped being about the money and started being entirely about reputation.

“Then don’t openly sponsor us.”

Taylor suddenly speaks up, prompting Amelia to slide her gaze over to the taller woman. To her credit, Taylor doesn’t flinch despite suddenly being the center of attention.

“Like Vicky said, take us on for a trial period. Give us enough money to get our start under the table, let us patrol for a little while as Independents, and if we can show you that we’re worth associating with, you sign us on for real at the end of the month, the same as you’re going to do with Vicky.”

Amelia pauses for a moment, processing that suggestion before slowly inclining her head in Taylor’s direction.

“That is… an idea, yes. There’s still some risk to me. You could have both fooled my sister into trusting you, all as part of some scheme to get money out of me.”

“Ames!”

“Hush Vicky. I can’t ignore the possibility. I’m one of Brockton Bay’s wealthiest women now, and everyone knows it too.”

Silence falls as Vicky pouts mightily. Meanwhile, Amelia slides her gaze over to him, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

“And what do you think, hm?”

Before Jason can even open his mouth to respond, however, his power decides that that’s the perfect time to activate.

Ding!

Hero of A Hundred Faces: Everyone’s Leader – Control – 400 Points

Some figures are too grand for the common man to properly comprehend them. In the case of the Arch-Demons, this provokes a deep fear and despair, comparable to facing a natural disaster of cosmic scale. But in your case, it is different.

The more unreachable you are, the more people find themselves attracted to you, like moths drawn to a colossal flame. Your defects are instead camouflaged under their own impressions of you, as any strangeness or red flags gets covered by their own projections. The more you grow in power, the more people are mesmerized by this effect, the deeper your mark on them is, and the harder they find to find anything to dislike you.

More than a hero, you become a living idol, a god on Earth that will leave a lasting legend for generations to come, regardless of how untimely your demise may be. Yet, even as grand as you become in their eyes, you find that it is still easy for you to maintain a closeness with any of these followers, being capable of acting as a close friend with any of them.

You now have 500 Points saved up!

Admittedly, it’s poor timing… but the name alone draws Jason’s attention and once he starts reading, he can’t quite look away. At first thought, especially with the mention of Arch-Demons, he’s not sure this is something he wants. But the more he reads, the more it seems like something he can’t pass up.

… How much easier would it be to get people to work with him on eventually taking down the Endbringers if he had a power like this? He didn’t necessarily want to become a god or anything like that, and he’d never put much thought into leaving a lasting legend behind either. But… he was just thinking about diplomacy and politics wasn’t he? And now there was this.

“Portent?”

Realizing he’s really gotten distracted, Jason winces and bows his head apologetically in Amelia’s direction.

“Sorry. My power can be very distracting sometimes.”

He doesn’t give it another thought. He buys the newest pull.

Keep.

Hero of A Hundred Faces: Everyone’s Leader Purchased. 100 Points Remain!

Then, he tries to focus on the matter at hand. What would work best for their long term plans? Should he try to argue for Amelia skipping the trial period altogether and sponsoring him and Taylor now, or should he go with Taylor’s idea of testing them out and then officially sponsoring them along with Vicky at the end of the month?

On the one hand, it would allow him and Taylor to dip their toes into Cape Life without being thrown in the deep end right off the bat (hopefully). But on the other, it might make them seem more vulnerable if they were Independents without any sort of visible backing…

-x-X-x-

A/N: Will try to keep this up to date at the end of every chapter, get on me if I forget please. Though if it gets too out of hand, might have to change it at some point.

Jason's current banked points:

100 Celestial Points

Jason's current banked power:

• N/A

Jason's current powers:

• Flash Air (Gained in Chapter 1)

• Transformation Pendant (Gained in Chapter 4)

• Keen Eye (Gained in Chapter 4)

• Blood, Death, and Demons (Gained in Chapter 6)

• Alchemical Prodigy (Gained in Chapter 8)

• Staff of Magnus (Gained in Chapter 13)

• Bind and Seal (Gained in Chapter 17)

• Hero of A Hundred Faces: Everyone’s Leader (Gained in Chapter 20)

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

A/N: Taylor and Jason need to find SOME way to spend their time...

-x-X-x-

It doesn’t take more than a moment of introspection for Jason to recognize that his first instinct, to push Parian for a face-to-face meeting faster, is born of impatience and not prudence. There’s no reason to rush things except to feed his own ego and the desire to get out and start doing shit already. But going that route is more likely to alienate Parian than it is to get her to play ball, and that’s the last thing Jason wants to do.

With a sigh, Jason shoots off a message to Taylor, quickly bringing her up to speed on his PMs with Parian. Once he has confirmation from her that she’ll drop off a section of the Spider Silk within the next hour, Jason responds to Parian, letting her know that the Spider Silk is on its way. Then, once Taylor confirms the drop-off, he shoots another message to Parian to let her know that it’s there and ready for pickup.

He doesn’t get back a response from Parian, but to be fair, he guess it makes sense. If she thinks this is a trap, she’s not going to let them know she saw his messages or when she’s going to pick the Spider Silk up. That would be foolhardy. Still, Jason won’t deny feeling impatient by the time he and Taylor reconvene at his apartment later.

“I was thinking… maybe we go out without Parian’s costumes? We really have no idea how long it’s going to take her to get back to us, or when the costumes will be done even if we do manage to make a deal with her. Maybe we’re spinning our wheels for nothing.”

Given how Taylor has been so far, Jason is expecting her to jump at the chance. But instead, she winces and shakes her head.

“… Every ounce of Spider Silk I’ve produced since getting my powers has gone into my first attempt at a costume, Jason.”

Jason groans as he quickly realizes what she’s saying.

“Meaning that you just had to ruin what you made so far to give Parian a sample, didn’t you?”

Taylor grimaces and nods.

“I mean… not ruined necessarily, but definitely way more unfinished than previously. But I did have one idea for what we could do while we’re waiting for Parian. I don’t want to spin my wheels anymore than you do, Jason.”

Jason blinks, wondering what Taylor is about to suggest. If it’s just more sex, he’s going to have to put his foot down…

“You have access to Empowerment Rituals through Blood Magic, right? Stuff that will make us physically stronger and faster than the normal human being?”

For a moment, Jason stares at Taylor in surprise.

“Uh… yeah, I do. How’d you know though?”

He was the one that had five years of Blood Magic tutelage after all. And he hadn’t exactly explained Blood, Death, and Demons to Taylor or anyone else in full yet. Nor had he told anyone about his Demonic Summoning so far. Jason always made sure to clean up after himself before he had Taylor over to his place.

So how the hell had Taylor found out that one of the main purposes of Blood Magic was personal empowerment?

“I looked it up online to try and figure out what it could do for us. I mean, you had to have a good reason for picking a power like Blood, Death, and Demons right? Anyways, I know everything I found on ‘Blood Magic’ online was fictional, but I figured people’s imaginations couldn’t be too far off from the truth right?”

Swallowing hard, Jason slowly nodded. Then, trying to preempt Taylor asking him if he’s already done anything (like summoning demons) he quickly moves the conversation along.

“The only problem with those sorts of Empowerment Rituals is that they require a lot of blood Taylor. And neither of us knows a butcher so I’m not really sure where to get that much blood.”

Far from looking discouraged, Taylor grins. There’s a glint in her eye as she leans forward.

“Feel free to shoot me down if I’m wrong but hear me out… what if you could summon some demons and use THEIR blood for the Empowerment Ritual.”

… What? For a moment, Jason’s mind bluescreens. Not because he’s appalled by Taylor’s suggestion or anything, but because he’d spent all this time worrying about whether or not Taylor would be upset or judgmental of the fact that he’d already summoned demons without her knowledge. Yet now here she was, outright suggesting it instead.

“That’s… an interesting suggestion, Taylor.”

Pouting, Taylor leans back and crosses her arms over her chest.

“I said to feel free to shoot me down if I’m wrong or it’s a bad idea, Jason. I’m a big girl, I can take it. What’s the problem with my suggestion exactly? Maybe we can still workshop it.”

Jason hesitates, thinking it over for a moment before shaking his head with a chuckle.

“Well, you’re not entirely wrong. Demon Blood is actually more powerful than Human Blood when it comes to Blood Magic, and FAR stronger than Animal Blood too. We would need a lot less of it to perform an Empowerment Ritual for each of us. The problem is the extraction part. When you summon a demon properly, they’re in a circle that contains them and keeps them from harming you. But the reverse is also true. You can’t physically touch them or else you risk breaking the containment. Normally, the only way to get a demon’s blood would be by making some sort of Deal with them.”

That said, he’s already proven that he doesn’t have to follow the normal conventions when it comes to demon summoning. Especially when he has out of context solutions like the Staff of Magnus for handling them.

Taylor slumps and sighs.

“Oh. Yeah, I guess that would make sense wouldn’t it? And I can’t imagine making any sort of Deal with a demon is a good thing… no way we should sell our souls just for some blood.”

Smiling slightly, Jason shakes his head.

“No, we definitely shouldn’t. That said… there might still be a way.”

He pulls out the Staff of Magnus, causing Taylor to blink in surprise. In for a penny, in for a pound.

“… I might have already engaged in some Demon Summoning, Taylor. With this staff, I can literally drain people’s magic… or if they run out of it or don’t have magic in the first place, I can drain their lifeforce instead. Now obviously I’m not too inclined to use that on actual people… but I found a loophole. I can drain demons through the containment circle.”

Taylor’s eyes widen at that, and her grin comes back with a vengeance, looking positively savage now.

“That’s amazing. So wait, do we even need their blood then? Can we just use the power stored in your staff for the Empowerment Rituals?”

But Jason shakes his head at that.

“Blood Magic is finicky. While the more basic spells can all be cast with magical power in place of blood, the bigger stuff like what you’re talking about demands at least some blood… and in egregious amounts unless you can get your hands on magical blood. Which… we can, technically.”

Understanding dawns in Taylor’s eyes at that.

“You want to threaten them with the Staff and make them give over their blood that way?”

Jason grins and nods.

“Exactly.”

“Let’s do it!”

And here he’d worried that Taylor would think less of him for his demonic summoning. But here she was, all too eager. Shaking his head ruefully, he sets out to make the summoning circle, for the first time doing so with someone’s help. An apprentice, if you will. Of course, Taylor makes a couple of mistakes here and there, but Jason double checks everything. Not just her work, but his work too. You can never be too careful when it comes to demons. While he was packing some serious firepower with the Staff of Magnus these days, he was still a squishy human and so was Taylor.

Only once he’s confident that they’ve got a perfect summoning circle does Jason finally nod and motion for Taylor to step back.

“Whatever you do, Taylor, do not speak while the demon is here, alright? There’s a reason most demonic summoning takes place in dark basements or caves far away from anyone else.”

Taylor furrows her brow at that.

“I thought that was because in most fiction it’s super illegal and frowned upon?”

Shaking his head, Jason gathers himself together, preparing for the summoning even as he drops into lecture mode.

“That’s a common misconception. While it’s true that demon summoners are persona non grata in most “civilized” societies, the real reason that warlocks do their demonic summoning behind closed doors and in private as much as possible is because a demon can make a deal with anyone in their presence, not just their summoner. And they’re tricky creatures who love to twist things to their benefit. So, no matter what the demon says, you can’t respond okay?”

Swallowing thickly, Taylor nods and takes a step back, giving him space. From the wide eyes she’s giving him, Jason thinks she realizes how much of a show of trust it is that he’s even willing to do this in front of her. He trusts her not to screw him over. He trusts her not to fuck this up.

Giving Taylor one more smile, Jason turns back to the circle… and starts the summoning. It doesn’t take long for a demon to come crawling through a rip in space, plopping down in the center of the circle looking nasty as all the rest. Inhuman eyes fix on him first and then on Taylor… before glancing down at the Tupperware container they’ve set in the circle with it.

“Summoner. For what purpose have you-!”

Jason doesn’t bother waiting for the full spiel. He just points the Staff of Magnus at the hellish creature and begins draining him right there on the spot. The demon shrieks and screeches in pain, shuddering and shaking in the center of the circle.

Normally, Jason wouldn’t let up. He would just hold the Staff of Magnus in this position until the demon was an unrecognizable husk of its former self, and then he would send them back from whence they came. But this time, Jason stops early. He stops once there’s literal smoke rising off of the demon’s flesh. He stops while the thing can still move.

“Y-You… you’re the one they’ve been… whispering about…”

Jason blinks at that. Carefully, the demon lifts itself up, a long sinuous tongue tracing out to lick its lips.

“You don’t have to do this. We can make a Deal. Such a thing will always favor the one with the most leverage… and you have quite a lot of leverage.”

It seems his reputation precedes him. Feeling a faint bit of amusement, Jason points down at the Tupperware container.

“Fill the receptacle with your blood and I will let you return to the Hells with what power you have left.”

The demon’s eyes flicker to the Tupperware and it hisses in anger.

“That’s… not a very fair Deal. Surely you can offer me something in exchange. Perhaps the girl? Perhaps-!”

The moment the demon mentions Taylor, as though she’s just some trinket that Jason would part with as a show of goodwill, he points the Staff of Magnus at the creature and drains him some more. Further inhuman screeching fills the space for a second as the demon writhes.

“OKAY! OKAY, I’LL DO IT! PLEASE, MERCY!”

Five years of tutelage in the art of summoning demons came with some extra memories on the side. He hadn’t learned entirely ‘alone’ in those faux memories. There had been others in his ‘class’ and not all had made it to the end of those five years. Most, in fact, had not. As such, Jason feels a faint semblance of vicious satisfaction in making a demon of all things beg for mercy. It’s not exactly something they’re known for.

Relenting, he pulls back the Staff of Magnus and watches as the demon, whimpering brokenly now, lifts up its arms and sinks a claw into one wrist. Holding it over the plastic container normally meant for holding leftovers, the demon lets its blood flow freely, until the Tupperware is close to overflowing.

Finally, the demon pulls back, cradling its arm to its trembling chest.

Feat Achieved: Make a ‘Deal’ with a Demon! 100 Points Earned!

You now have 300 Points saved up!

“Is that enough? Please, I…”

With a wave of his hand, Jason sends the demon back to Hell. He’s tempted for a brief moment to finish the draining… but it sounds like at least one or two of his previous ‘victims’ had survived long enough to warn others about him. The fact that he was developing a reputation among the denizens of Hell was concerning, but it also meant he had to consider things a bit more.

For instance, if he wanted demons to ‘willingly’ give him their blood going forward, he would need to actually stick to his word when he offered to let them go after they filled up a container for him. Otherwise, they would just refuse entirely once it got out that he was known for welching on even that minor of a deal.

“Well… that was something. Should I…?”

Blinking out of his thoughts, Jason looks to Taylor and nods.

“Oh, yeah. Go ahead, it’s safe now.”

Hurrying forward, Taylor puts the lid on the Tupperware container and carefully picks it up and sets it on the table. Then, she looks at him expectantly. Jason flushes a bit… part of him thought she would judge him after that display… and yet, he doesn’t see a single ounce of concern in her eyes. She’s with him to the end of the line.

Swallowing thickly at the thought of having inspired that much loyalty, Jason turns back to the summoning circle and brings forth his next demon. And then another. And then a fourth and a fifth.

Only one of the next four knows him as the first did, though all of them willingly give up their blood once they realize what the alternative is. The one who knows him recognizes him faster than the first one did, and actually prostrates itself and begs for mercy before he even has a chance to drain it.

In the end, that’s the first demon Jason doesn’t drain even a little bit with the Staff of Magnus before sending it back. He’s not quite sure how to feel about that.

Still, the afternoon is a productive one. Incredibly so. They soon have five containers of demon blood sitting on the dining table. Not all the same size of course, Jason’s collection of such things is… varied to say the least. But between the two of them, he thinks they have enough demon blood for an Empowerment Ritual apiece. The only question is, what does Taylor want to empower first?

“Agility. The Empowerment Ritual builds on what’s already there, right? I’m not very strong, but I have started running in the mornings to build up my speed and other things. I want to be more graceful and faster than I am now. It’s pretty much my biggest weakness when it comes to my power. If someone finds me, I need to be able to get away.”

Jason slowly nods at Taylor’s answer, understanding her reasoning well enough. Though that begs the question… what the hell should he go for?

-x-X-x-

A/N: Will try to keep this up to date at the end of every chapter, get on me if I forget please. Though if it gets too out of hand, might have to change it at some point.

Jason's current banked points:

300 Celestial Points

Jason's current banked power:

• Focus (600 Point Cost)

Jason's current powers:

• Flash Air (Gained in Chapter 1)

• Transformation Pendant (Gained in Chapter 4)

• Keen Eye (Gained in Chapter 4)

• Blood, Death, and Demons (Gained in Chapter 6)

• Alchemical Prodigy (Gained in Chapter 8)

• Staff of Magnus (Gained in Chapter 13)

• Bind and Seal (Gained in Chapter 17)

• Hero of A Hundred Faces: Everyone’s Leader (Gained in Chapter 20)

Chapter Text

A/N: Blood Magic! Blood Magic everywhere!

-x-X-x-

After thinking through all of his options, Jason only hesitates for a moment longer before making his decision as well.

“I think I’ll go for Regeneration.”

Taylor blinks at that, eyes widening slightly.

“Wait, that’s an option?”

A chuckle escapes Jason’s lips before he’s able to get control of himself. For a second there, he’d forgotten that Taylor didn’t have all of the knowledge he had. In fact, she was working off of whatever literally fictional information about Blood Magic that she’d been able to find online. Shaking his head in amusement, he gives her a nod.

“Yes, it’s a thing. But like you said… the Empowerment Ritual builds on what’s already there. A human’s natural healing abilities are quite low. A Regeneration Boost will allow me to heal from cuts and bruises in hours, and broken bones in days. It’ll allow me to regrow lost digits in weeks, and lost limbs in months. So long as I stay alive I’ll be able to heal any injury, but time will still be a huge factor… at least at first.”

If he kept building on Regeneration through these Empowerment Rituals he and Taylor were planning to do, then eventually he would have some pretty rapid healing. Like wounds closing up in mere moments, that kind of thing. Shrugging, Jason tries to explain it another way.

“Basically, I’m going for Minor Regeneration while you would be going for Major Agility. I’m playing the long game, but yours will definitely have more benefits early on.”

Taylor mulls that over for a long moment before finally nodding.

“Alright. I’ll stick with Agility for now then. My original reasons remain true, after all. I need to be able to move quickly if any of our enemies find me.”

Jason smiles at that. He appreciates Taylor sticking to her guns. If there’s one thing that the tall young woman has shown so far, it’s that she’s in no way lacking in her convictions.

Together, they start preparing for the Empowerment Rituals. Where Demonic Summoning requires Ritual Circles, Blood Magic Empowerment does not. Instead, it basically involves a lot of painting on naked flesh. Taylor doesn’t hesitate to strip naked for Jason, but she does hesitate to bring herself in reach of the Demon Blood he’s about to use to mark up her body.

“Uh… not that I doubt you Jason, but we’re absolutely certain that Demon Blood isn’t going to have any side effects, right?”

Jason smiles a little bit at that. It’s a fair question honestly.

“I’m positive, Taylor. While you’d be right not to want to come into contact with Demon Blood out in the wild, there’s a key difference between that and this. This Demon Blood is ‘freely given’. Demon Blood forcibly taken is as hostile and aggressive as the Demons it was taken from. But by making the summoned demons bleed of their own accord, we’re basically bypassing those protections.”

Then, because why not, Jason turns the brush on himself first.

“And just to make sure, we’ll start with me.”

Taylor’s mouth opens to protest this, but she can’t get a word out before he’s already brought the paintbrush down on his skin and started drawing runes. Her teeth click shut and she watches on concerned as Jason applies the runes for a Regeneration Empowerment to his flesh.

One might think, based on the fact that these rituals had to be performed on a body, that someone would be limited in the number of Empowerment Rituals they could perform. One would be wrong. Even as Jason covers large swathes of his flesh in bloody runes, he’s unconcerned about ‘wasting space’. The reason why becomes more readily apparent when he finishes the last stroke… and the correctly dune runes all glow with power for a moment before disappearing from sight, absorbed into his body.

Taylor’s eyes widen and even though she doesn’t ask, Jason is happy to explain.

“I’ll have to do that four more times for the Empowerment to properly take hold. This is why Demon Blood in particular is so valuable to us… if we were using simple animal blood, I would have to do it a hundred times without taking a single break. If we were using human blood, I’d have to do it over twenty times. Not only would that be taxing, but it would also require gallons and gallons more blood.”

Swallowing hard, Taylor lets out a faint laugh.

“W-Wow. Guess… guess we’re lucky your powers are bullshit then, aren’t we?”

Yes. Yes they were. Though in the case of Blood, Death, and Demons, it seemed likely that the power was made to synergize with itself. Of course, it definitely hadn’t taken into account him getting his hands on the Staff of Magnus. Negotiating with demons for freely given demon blood so he could empower himself through Blood Magic would likely have been a lot more treacherous and a lot more costly if he couldn’t just bully them into doing what he wanted.

Just as he told Taylor, Jason draws the same exact set of runes across his body four more times, each time watching as they glow brighter than the last before disappearing. Finally, after the last time this happens, Jason can feel it finishing… and he knows he did it right too, because he gets a Feat a moment later.

Feat Achieved! Get stronger without the direct intervention of the Celestial Grimoire!! 100 Points Earned!

You now have 400 Points saved up!

Grinning, Jason shares his success with Taylor, who ends up grinning just as goofily as he is. Well, right up until he goes over to the kitchen to grab a knife, of course.

“Wait, what are you doing?”

Jason shrugs.

“Just testing it out real quick.”

“Wait!”

But he’s already applied the knife to his arm, giving himself a small cut barely an inch in length. As blood wells up, Taylor squawks and rushes over in concern. This just means she gets to watch as, right before their eyes, the wound starts to heal already. It’s not immediate or even particularly fast, but by the time Jason wipes the blood away from the cut with a paper towel, the healing process has already visibly begun. By the evening, he won’t be surprised if there’s not a single mark left on him.

“Wow… do me!”

Jason snickers at Taylor’s enthusiasm, but far from being embarrassed by her double entendre, Taylor just grins wickedly.

"And I do mean in BOTH ways once you’re done Empowering me.”

Instead, Jason winds up being the one who’s blushing slightly. Honestly, Taylor was incorrigible. Still, performing the Empowerment Ritual on her is even easier than it was on himself. After all, using his own body as a canvas forced him to think about all sorts of angles. With Taylor, he could just face the project head on.

Once, twice, thrice. And then a fourth and a fifth. Five times, Jason paints out the runes on Taylor’s naked pale body. Five times they glow brighter and brighter before disappearing. Until finally… it’s done. Taylor hops to her feet once he tells her she can and begins bouncing up and down, eyes wide in delight.

“I feel so… loose. Holy shit, this is amazing.”

In a burst of agility, the tall bug controller lunges across the room, touching the far wall and then bounces back across to touch the wall opposite. Jason’s eyes can still follow her, it’s not necessarily super speed… but damn if she isn’t a whole lot faster now.

“This is great. This… deserves a reward~”

Taylor is suddenly in Jason’s lap. He grunts at the impact; his body jarred a bit by her speed. But he doesn’t let that stop him from reaching out and groping her ass, his cock steadily rising to full mast between their bodies as she grinds down on it with a lecherous grin.

“You’re insatiable, Taylor.”

Huffing, Taylor wiggles in his grasp.

“I mean… do we really have time for anything else?”

Jason raises an eyebrow, causing Taylor to pout and continue on.

“We’re not going out and doing any hero stuff while we don’t have costumes. We’re not due at Vicky’s for a while yet. And we don’t really have the time to summon more demons and perform more Empowerment Rituals, do we?”

Jason sighs. She raises a good point, actually. Even freely given demon blood, while completely safe to use for Blood Magic, isn’t safe to keep around in containers all willy nilly for anything longer than a few hours. You risked all sorts of hellish contamination of the surrounding area if you just left unwarded Demon Blood sitting on a shelf or in a refrigerator or something.

So yes, they didn’t really have any time to do much else… besides have sex.

Rather than admit Taylor is right verbally, Jason simply lifts her up… and proceeds to impale her on his dick, filling her with his cock right then and there. The newly empowered woman squeaks and then moans as she stretches along his length, descending his mast and shuddering in abject pleasure once she’s fully impaled on his cock.

“Mm, that’s it. That’s the good stuff. Fuuuuck~”

Jason growls and buries himself in Taylor’s chest as he grips down tightly on her ass and begins to bounce her up and down on his cock. If you asked Taylor, she’d probably say she didn’t have a chest to bury oneself in, but that wasn’t entirely true. While she wasn’t the most well-endowed woman he knew, there was still plenty there, and if nothing else he enjoyed focusing on her nipples and the way she reacted when he did so.

“J-Jason!”

Grinning wickedly, he attacks her nipples with greater fervor than ever before, going to town on her teats as he thrusts up into her from below. Taylor rides him while moaning up a storm and clinging to his back, her fingers clawing at him. He doesn’t let up for even a single second though, enjoying the sounds she’s making and the way she squeals for him.

For a time, he just sits there, fucking her up and down on his cock… but eventually, Jason lifts them both off the ground, somewhat unsteadily rising to his feet as Taylor squawks and grips down on him all the more tightly to avoid falling.

“W-What are you doing?”

Smirking, Jason continues to squeeze her ass, even as he takes one step after another towards his ultimate destination.

“What does it look like I’m doing? At this rate, we’ll be late to Vicky if we keep this up. So… we’ll have to multitask.”

As they reach the bathroom and Jason turns on the shower, Taylor isn’t exactly complaining. In fact, she’s moaning all the harder. That said, at the mention of Vicky, Taylor does eventually respond.

“Jason… I think we should tell Vicky about all of this.”

That… gives Jason pause. Because truth be told, he was still leery of spreading information about him summoning demons around to too many people. Still, Taylor has some pretty good reasoning.

“If the three of us are going to be a team, keeping this from her forever will be impossible. Eventually she’ll realize you’re helping me get stronger. Then she’ll want to know how… and then she’ll want to know where the blood is coming from.”

That was… a fair point. Jason could even imagine it in his mind’s eye. Vicky with a stormy expression on her face and hands on her hips, asking where they were sourcing their blood to perform Blood Magic in the first place. And while sourcing it from demons instead of animals or people really was far more morally correct, saying ‘oh don’t worry, it’s demon blood’ definitely wasn’t going to appease her.

Reaching up, Taylor caresses Jason’s cheeks as they step under the hot spray of water from the shower, her back pressing against the shower wall.

“You have nothing to be ashamed of, Jason. So rather than let it come out later, when it becomes apparent we were hiding something… we should just be honest with her from the start. You’re hurting demons. Literal hellions. That’s not a bad thing and if you own it, Vicky will understand it’s not a bad thing too.”

Jason lets out a shaky breath. Heh, whenever he thought he was hiding something from everyone for both his own good and their own good… here was Taylor, to explain why he needed to open up more. Still, he couldn’t deny that she was right.

Leaning in, he kisses Taylor deeply, their tongues interlocking for a moment before pulling back.

“Alright. I’ll tell her.”

Taylor’s smile is blindingly bright at that, and they go back in for another kiss as the hot water continues to run down their bodies. They’ll get around to taking an actual shower… eventually.

-x-X-x-

“Holy shit, that’s so cool!”

Jason blinks as Vicky… gushes over what he’s just told her. Admittedly, she might be at least partially gushing over Taylor’s new agility. The bug controller had challenged Vicky to try and catch her, and then gave the blonde bombshell the run around for a couple minutes before Vicky had finally, cheerfully, admitted defeat.

To be fair, if they weren’t in Vicky’s own apartment, she might not have been so willing to let Taylor ‘win’ their little game of tag. Alas, if she’d gone any faster, she might have put a hole through one of her walls and even Vicky was smart enough not to do that.

Regardless, he’d still expected her to have reservations about what he and Taylor had done. You know, the demon summoning. But instead, Vicky’s eyes are sparking bright with excitement as she turns her gaze onto him.

“This is the solution to our biggest problem!”

Huh? What even was their biggest problem?

“Can your Empowerment Ritual do brains? Like increasing processing power and memory retention and all that junk?”

Jason thinks about that and slowly nods.

“It’d be a general Intelligence Empowerment, but yes.”

He hadn’t bothered even considering that for himself because of Alchemical Prodigy and there being other, more important things for a squishy human like him to worry about. Jason also got why Taylor hadn’t gone for it, because as she’d explained her power working, it seemed like it took care of all the extra processing needed for controlling as many bugs as she did at one time.

But Vicky was already a flying brick. An ‘Alexandria Package’ as they called it.

“Don’t you see? Give me a boost to my ‘Intelligence’ and we’ll blow through all of the material that will be on that Exam at the end of the month in like two or three days. I’ll read everything you’ve got for me, know every answer, and be guaranteed to pass. And then… we won’t need to worry about tutoring anymore!”

Jason’s mouth opens at that… and then closes. Vicky, meanwhile, continues on without pause.

“You’ll have more than earned my mom’s money too… do you know how much a power-up like what you gave Taylor would probably be worth to the right people? Shit, you could make more money than Ames with that sort of thing! You can literally make Capes!”

Well… shit.

-x-X-x-

A/N: Will try to keep this up to date at the end of every chapter, get on me if I forget please. Though if it gets too out of hand, might have to change it at some point.

Jason's current banked points:

400 Celestial Points

Jason's current banked power:

• Focus (600 Point Cost)

Jason's current powers:

• Flash Air (Gained in Chapter 1)

• Transformation Pendant (Gained in Chapter 4)

• Keen Eye (Gained in Chapter 4)

• Blood, Death, and Demons (Gained in Chapter 6)

• Alchemical Prodigy (Gained in Chapter 8)

• Staff of Magnus (Gained in Chapter 13)

• Bind and Seal (Gained in Chapter 17)

• Hero of A Hundred Faces: Everyone’s Leader (Gained in Chapter 20)

Chapter Text

A/N: Vicky gets an intelligence boost~

-x-X-x-

Jason sighs as Vicky positively vibrates with energy for a moment. Finally though, he has to shake his head, a rueful smile on his face.

“I’m happy to perform an Intelligence Empowerment on you Vicky… but don’t think it’ll be the solution to tutoring that you think it is. Certainly, it will help you in terms of processing power, memory retention, and all around conceptualization of the material, but greater intelligence doesn’t help one wit with work ethic.”

Vicky squawks at that, sputtering as Taylor watches on from the sidelines.

“E-Excuse me?! I have an amazing work ethic!”

But Jason isn’t having it. He gives Vicky a long look, raising his eyebrow at her in response.

“How many times have you tried to get out of these tutoring sessions since we met, Vicky? I literally had to bend you over my lap and spank you at one point just to get you to pay attention.”

The blonde blushes profusely at that, squirming under Jason’s gaze.

“T-That’s not…”

She trails off, clearly at a loss for words. Privately, Jason thinks Vicky is already plenty intelligent. From what he’s seen so far of her, she’s not dumb in any way. She’s actually pretty smart. But she has impulse control issues. She’s flighty and even reckless at times. And yes, from the sound of her deal with Amelia, she’s been working on her worst personality traits for a while now, but it doesn’t change the facts.

Victoria Dallon is the kind of girl who has basically coasted through life until now because of how easy everything is for her.

Finally, after a period of introspection, Vicky huffs and crosses her arms over her chest with a pout.

“F-Fine. But I still want you to perform the ritual!”

Jason smiles and nods. Like he’d already said, he’s happy to do so for her. Just so long as she doesn’t think it’ll get her out of tutoring.

“Alright. We’ll need to clear a space for the Demonic Summoning Ritual first then.”

Vicky pales a little bit at that, glancing around her apartment for a moment.

“Uh… alright, but like… the neighbors won’t hear anything, will they?”

Jason just shakes his head, already rising to his feet and eyeing the place to for the best spot.

“Nope, soundproofing is a component of the ritual.”

Slowly nodding, Vicky doesn’t bring up any more complaints. Soon enough, they’ve cleared a space for the Summoning Circle, at which point Jason gets to work after giving Vicky the same warnings he gave Taylor. Under the watchful eyes of both women, Jason summons some demons and fills up some of Vicky’s kitchen containers with demon blood.

Out of the three demons that he summons, only one of them recognizes him and immediately submits, which means he also gets to drain some life energy from the other two using the Staff of Magnus before they give in. It also means that Vicky gets a solid look at how awful demons are when they don’t realize you can no-sell them.

That’s good because otherwise it would just be Vicky watching Jason bully some admittedly very ugly inhuman creatures for thirty minutes. Instead, she gets a front row seat to how nasty they are when both of the demons who don’t recognize him single her out and offer him a lot if they get to ‘play with the blonde’.

Once they’re done with the blood collection, Jason cleans up the Summoning Ritual and then has Vicky strip naked. She definitely doesn’t mind that part, though she has the same concerns that Taylor had about painting demonic blood on her body wholesale. Still, Jason is happy to set her worries at ease… and him and Taylor have already done it with no adverse effects anyways.

Just as he’s finishing the third set of blood runes on Vicky’s skin, however, Jason has to pause as a telltale sound fills his ears.

Ding!

Restraining Order – Benevolence – 200 Points

Did you know the individual known as Professor Paradox isn’t allowed to be within a certain distance of Celestialsapiens? As it turns out when you hop up and down the timestream, you tend to attract a lot of unwanted attention in those who aren’t too happy with your actions. The good news is that the common desire not to bother with your shenanigans goes both ways, because things like cosmic reality warpers and time travelers do their best to ignore you. Even if one of them makes a sweeping change to reality, you will remain completely unaffected by it and able to keep on as if nothing has happened. In short, so long as you don’t mess with them, celestial and cosmic entities won’t mess with you. Of course, this truce goes out the window if you approach or meddle with their affairs directly...or show up to their front door.

You now have 500 Points saved up!

Well damn. It was almost perfect timing. Jason hesitates for a moment, which both Vicky and Taylor notice.

“Jason? Everything alright?”

“Yeah… I just got another pull from my power. It’s a weird situation though… I’m one hundred points off from buying the power I currently have banked, so I can’t just buy that one and bank this one. I could buy this one and keep that one banked, but it would slow down the acquisition of the banked one.”

Taylor immediately perks up.

“Maybe we can get you a Feat to take care of that problem!”

Jason nods.

“That’s not a bad idea, but I need to finish with Vicky first. I’m not sure if it’s worth the risk of losing the power just to save some time on things, but I suppose the current pull is the lesser option…”

He honestly didn’t see himself needing to worry about cosmic reality warpers or time travelers any time soon. As far as he knew, the Endbringers couldn’t do either of those things and they were basically the biggest threat in the world, right?

Still, the fact that it was being offered, and for only two hundred points at that, did make Jason kind of want to get it all the same. After all, he wouldn’t have thought demons or Hell was real before he got his powers either. Better safe than sorry.

Taylor hums for a moment before pulling out a notebook.

“Alright, you keep working on Vicky and I’ll go over the list I’ve created so far to find one that might just do the trick and get you a Feat. If you feel the power slipping away though, you should just take it… i-if you want it, that is.”

He did want it, so Jason nods again before turning back to Vicky.

“I guess we’re going to find out if a pull can expire once I already have something in my bank slot…”

With a rueful shrug, Jason picks up the brush and goes back to painting runes onto Vicky’s skin in demonic blood. The blonde switches between enjoying his touch and watching Taylor as the dark-haired young woman leans over her notebook, muttering furiously to herself the entire time.

Finally, the last set of runes glows bright and then disappears from Vicky’s flesh. The blonde gasps and straightens up for a moment.

“Oh! That’s… a decidedly odd feeling.”

Jason can’t help but be curious, even with the pull from earlier still hovering in his vision even now. After all, between him and Taylor, both of their empowerments had been visibly apparent right off the bat. But Vicky’s empowerment was more ephemeral than all of that.

“Yeah? Noticing a difference already?”

“I am… I can split my thought processes way more now, think about like half a dozen things at a time. That’s… wow. This is amazing.”

Before Jason can ask more, Taylor interjects.

“Great. I’m happy for you Vicky, but now that that’s done, let’s focus on this. I think… well, I think I have an idea, Jason. Just to make sure though, you’ve never gotten a Feat from sexual activity, right?”

God, he wished. If only Jason were so lucky. Getting additional power from sex would make everything SO much easier. Even ‘have sex with your first cape’ would have been nice, but it hadn’t happened yet. All of his Feats had been from things outside of sex so far.

“I haven’t, no.”

Taylor frowns and nods, before looking down at her notebook one last time.

“… Most of my ideas so far have to do with going out and doing Cape Things. And since we don’t have costumes yet, nor do we know how long we have, I think all of those are right out. But… I do have one thing that might get you a Feat. Actually, I’m almost certain it will get you a Feat. It’s just… kind of iffy?”

Jason raises an eyebrow at that.

“Iffy? In what way?”

Taylor blows out a harsh breath and then bites the bullet.

“I think the fastest way to get you the extra hundred points would be to have you introduce yourself on PHO. If you made an account and got Verified Cape status and then made a quick post telling everyone who you are, then it would almost certainly give you a Feat, right? After all, your very first Feat was just for finding yourself on the radar of other parahumans.”

That was… a solid point. Yeah, Taylor was right. That had to be a Feat worthy act. But at the same time…

“It’d be dangerous.”

Vicky takes the words right out of Jason’s head. The blonde has her arms crossed over her chest again, this time in thought as she ponders Taylor’s suggestion. Seeing the other woman pout a little in response, Vicky is quick to clarify.

“I’m not saying it’s a bad idea, necessarily. You’re totally right Taylor, PHO is like Cape Central on the internet. Getting Verified Cape status and introducing yourself there is big news, especially for independents. If that wouldn’t give Jason a Feat, I don’t know what will. And the PHO moderators are practically inhuman with their reaction speed, so it would probably be fast enough to get him the Feat tonight too. But… it has to be said, it puts a huge target on Jason’s back. Not as Jason, but as Potent… or is it Portent?”

Right, he’d never outright said had he?

“I kind of liked Amelia’s mistake so much I think I’m going with Portent.”

Vicky nods, smirking slightly.

“Yeah, Amy has good taste, even when she doesn’t know it heh. Good choice. Anyways, right now the only people who even have a whiff of Jason’s existence as a cape are either in this room, over at the Lavere Clinic, or Armsmaster. And the information that Armsmaster and the PRT have is practically next to nothing.”

Huffing, Vicky continues her lecture, even though Jason suspects she doesn’t realize she’s started giving one.

“Of course, the PRT leaks information like an open sieve. You can trust that by now, the major gangs in Brockton already all know about the sighting of a new cape. But I don’t think Armsmaster ever managed to track down that prostitute, and the broken jaw guy didn’t get a good look at you I don’t think. So basically… nobody has any idea what to hunt for.”

Stabbing a finger in Jason’s direction, Vicky snorts.

“If you introduce yourself on PHO as Portent, suddenly they do know what to hunt for. They might not have anything more than a name, you could keep the information pretty low key, but it’s still a risky proposition anyways. Not that that makes it a bad call. There’s risk in everything we do in the end.”

… Well damn, Jason could see that Vicky was already putting her empowerment to work, hah. Taylor, meanwhile, drops into a contemplative silence for a long moment, turning Vicky’s words over in her head before finally formulating her response.

“Would it increase or decrease the risk if we had him announce both of us at the same time? Not just Portent… but Portent and Weaver. I could also get Verified on PHO maybe?”

Vicky lifts an eyebrow at that.

“It would definitely increase the risk to you, Taylor. As for if it would increase or decrease the risk over all… well, it would probably depend. On the one hand, there is always more strength in numbers. A cape duo introducing themselves as independent heroes is definitely going to come across as stronger than just one cape. You’ve got plenty of examples all over the country of independent cape duos surviving on their own. Here in Brockton, the most infamous example is Uber and Leet, of course.”

Jason winces at that, not liking the comparison but understanding where Vicky is coming from. He also winces at the mention of those two because, like many teenage guys, he’d watched some of their stuff back in the day during his edgy phase. He was glad to say that he’d dropped their content even before their truly awful ‘GTA’ episode, but still, they were an embarrassing stain to have in his hobby history.

That said, they were also a great example of a team of two who regularly thumbed their noses to both law enforcement and the gangs and had yet to be imprisoned or conscripted even after all these years. The only thing was, did Jason himself want to risk Taylor in such a way?

“To be fair, you guys will be going public eventually anyways. Ames is paying you under the table right now, but there’s no doubt in my mind she’s going to officially sponsor you when this trial period is up. So setting yourselves up beforehand isn’t necessarily a bad idea, or anymore of a risk than you’re already planning to take in a few short weeks anyways.”

And now Vicky was in full support of the idea from the sound of things. As both she and Taylor look at him expectantly, Jason realizes that the ball is in his court again. But did he really want to announce himself to the world via PHO for a measly hundred points?

-x-X-x-

A/N: Will try to keep this up to date at the end of every chapter, get on me if I forget please. Though if it gets too out of hand, might have to change it at some point.

Jason's current banked points:

500 Celestial Points

Jason's current banked power:

• Focus (600 Point Cost)

Jason's current powers:

• Flash Air (Gained in Chapter 1)

• Transformation Pendant (Gained in Chapter 4)

• Keen Eye (Gained in Chapter 4)

• Blood, Death, and Demons (Gained in Chapter 6)

• Alchemical Prodigy (Gained in Chapter 8)

• Staff of Magnus (Gained in Chapter 13)

• Bind and Seal (Gained in Chapter 17)

• Hero of A Hundred Faces: Everyone’s Leader (Gained in Chapter 20)

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

A/N: In which we find out a bit more about Sabah and Lily's dynamic...

-x-X-x-

As Lily watches Sabah negotiate with Portent and Weaver, she can’t help but be more than a little proud. After all, just a few short months ago, Sabah hadn’t even been willing to leave her apartment, let alone meet anyone face to face who wasn’t Lily. But then, could she really blame her? After what the Elite had tried to pull…

Even now, just thinking about it makes Lily’s blood boil. Sabah had been doing her absolute best for years. She’d made things work within the strict confines of the PRT and the United States’ laws regarding commercialization of parahuman powers. Parian wasn’t a household name or anything like that, but she had managed to build herself up as a fixture of Brockton Bay, and that was certainly impressive in a city that regularly chewed capes up with a fifty-fifty chance of whether it would spit them back out again.

Being a Rogue was hard. Being a Rogue in Brockton Bay was even harder. And then those asswipes had dared to try and take Sabah and make her something she wasn’t. They’d dared to try and take her away from Lily.

… If Lily weren’t a Protectorate Hero with an incredibly well-known and blatantly obvious power, she would have happily put a three-foot long needle from her arbalest straight through Bastard Son’s head.

But alas, she was in fact a Protectorate Hero, and thus beholden to the laws. Most of the time, Lily considered this a good thing to be fair. Laws were important. Laws were the only thing keeping their straining society from crumbling altogether. However, when it came to Sabah… laws stopped mattering quite so much. In the end, all that Lily really cared about was Sabah’s happiness.

“Let’s get the measurements done now and then we’ll reconvene in two days when Weaver has the Spider Silk ready, yes?”

Sabah’s words pull Lily out of her thoughts even as they cause her to blink in surprise. She’s grateful for the tinted one-way visor of her costume in this moment, because it hides most of her shocked reaction. It seems that her girlfriend really was starting to come out of her shell again here because taking measurements was… well, it was pretty invasive.

Lily watches on as Portent and Weaver ultimately agree with Sabah’s plan. Fortunately, there’s side rooms so they can get changed into tighter fitting clothing that Sabah has for precisely this purpose. While they’re gone, Sabah shoots Lily a look and despite the fact that the Rogue is wearing a mask, Lily can tell her girlfriend is nervous and worried that Lily is upset with her.

Striding over, Lily presses her masked forehead against Sabah’s.

“Hey. I’ve got your back. Don’t falter, alright? Trust yourself. Believe in the me that believes in you.”

Lily’s cheesiness is rewarded with a little giggle from Sabah. Unfortunately, they aren’t able to talk much more before Portent and Weaver come back. As Lily retakes her place on the wall, she can’t help eyeing the two independents. They’re still masked up of course, and they’re by no means naked… but damn if she isn’t getting far more of an eyeful now.

Much to her own surprise, Lily’s eyes linger on the man more than the woman. Maybe part of that was Weaver’s personality. To be fair to the bug controller, she was clearly just very protective of Portent… but it did make her a bit caustic and hard to like if Lily was being honest.

Portent on the other hand… she could appreciate confidence like his, regardless of the package it came in. And truthfully? The package wasn’t half-bad to look at either. Licking her lips beneath her mask, Lily notices that Sabah feels the same way, because while she’s careful not to be too obvious about it… to someone who has seen Sabah work before, it’s incredibly obvious she’s lingering. Only for fractions of a second maybe, but still, it takes a full thirty seconds longer for her to get Portent’s measurements than it does for her to get Weaver’s.

Could it be? Hm. Now there was an idea. Lily watches quietly as Sabah finishes up the session and takes a step back, having written down the last of the measurements in an old-fashioned notebook.

“A-Alright… I should be good to go. This way, if you’re both too busy, you can just drop off the Spider Silk at the park and I can get to work right away. Of course, there might need to be more fittings as we go on.”

Portent and Weave exchange a look at that, even as Lily tenses up. They might have been chill so far, but if they were going to reveal their true colors and turn out to be entitled or impatient, now would definitely be the time.

“… That should be fine, yeah. How long do you expect it all to take? How many fittings until we’ve got costumes?”

Sabah’s hands twitch at her sides in an aborted motion Lily knows involves her pressing her fingers together nervously. But of course, her girlfriend and lover is a professional so she manages to hold back the nervous tic. For a brief moment, she calculates the time in her head as Portent and Weaver wait for a response. Finally…

“With my powers and such interesting material to work with, s-so long as you’re both willing to make yourselves fully available to me, I should be able to complete everything by the end of the week. In other words, three days after Weaver gets me the silk.”

Portent and Weaver exchange another glance at that, before Portent slowly nods.

“That should be fine. Can’t promise we’ll always be available though… but if that means it takes longer than three days, well that will be on us, won’t it?”

Confident. Handsome. And now reasonable?! Lily resists the urge to shake her head ruefully. This guy… she got why Weaver was so protective of him. But were they in a relationship? That was the real question she had to figure out…

“R-Right. Then… thank you for this opportunity. I look forward to working together.”

Portent just chuckles.

“No, thank you Parian. We appreciate you being willing to meet with us in the first place. We’ll talk again soon for sure.”

With that, the two independent heroes take their leave. As the door shuts behind them, there’s the telltale click of it locking, keeping anyone else from entering the building. This location might be on the Boardwalk, but it wasn’t a conventional shop by any stretch of the imagination. Instead, it was a space specifically set aside for Parahumans to make deals. And not just Rogues either…

Still, as soon as Portent and Weaver are gone, Lily pushes off the wall and walks over to Sabah, removing her visor and face-concealing mask as she goes. Still staring after the two of them, Sabah doesn’t see her coming until she’s pretty much right on top of her… at which point, Lily has already hooked her fingers under Sabah’s porcelain doll mask while her other hand rests on the back of Sabah’s neck.

Gently but firmly, she pulls Sabah’s mask off before the other woman can react, exposing her lover’s face… and the bright red blush that she’s currently sporting after her meeting with the two independents.

“L-Lil-mmph!”

Lily doesn’t give Sabah the chance to say her name before grabbing her girlfriend by the cheeks and leaning down to kiss her firmly on the lips.

It’s funny. Back when Lily had first come to Brockton Bay, she hadn’t been sure about this place. Not in the slightest. As a Protectorate Hero, she technically had far more of a say in where she was stationed than the Wards did. But only technically. Brockton Bay needed the support and Lily had been voluntold that she would be that support.

Still, she could have spent a couple months here and then put in a transfer out and likely been approved on account of her power and capabilities. After all, she DID have that standing offer from Narwhal to join the Guild in the event that the Protectorate ever pissed away their goodwill with her. Leverage.

And yet, before Lily could truly get sick of this city, she’d met Sabah. And Sabah… Sabah made everything better. Lily had never clicked with someone like she did the Middle Eastern Woman. She’d never felt more like a puzzle piece who had finally found her match. They went together so well, and in the end Lily had stayed in Brockton Bay, not because the city still needed her (though it did) but because of Sabah.

That said, despite Sabah being the older of the two of them, they had a very specific dynamic. One where Lily was decidedly in charge. That’s why, when she suddenly starts making out with Sabah, her girlfriend rapidly melts into Lily’s grasp, moaning softly into her domme’s lips. They kiss for what feels like an eternity, but eventually have to come up for air.

After sucking in a few lungfuls of oxygen, Sabah looks at Lily with wide eyes and an even greater blush than before.

“L-Lily… we shouldn’t do this h-here…”

Shouldn’t? Maybe. Couldn’t? Now that was up for debate. This place was private enough. It was secure. The owners had to run a tight ship or else they would never make money off of the location. On top of that, Lily herself had done a search of the building when they’d first arrived hours ago to make sure it was completely clean.

With that said, Lily’s eyes smolder as she looks down at Sabah.

“I’m so proud of you, Sabah.”

Sabah perks up at that, and then squeaks as Lily grabs her by her hips and lifts her up into the air, walking her over and sitting her down on the edge of a nearby table. Hauling that tinkertech arbalest around wasn’t easy. Under her costume, Lily had muscles for days, her arms in particular being chiseled as fuck… to say nothing of her abs.

When Lily reaches down and pushes Sabah’s legs apart, the Rogue doesn’t resist or try to stop her. When she goes in for another kiss, Sabah lifts her lips up to meet her. The two makeout for several more seconds before Lily finally dips a hand down under the skirt of Sabah’s costume, making the other woman squeak in response.

“Lily…”

Letting out a half-growl, half-purr, Lily locks eyes with her girlfriend again.

“That’s Mistress to you, pet.”

Shuddering, Sabah mewls.

“Y-Yes… M-Mistress. Are you sure we should be doing this, M-Mistress? What if… what if they come b-back or something?”

Lily hums, even as her fingers trace up Sabah’s thigh, reaching her crotch in short order. Under her costume’s dress, the Rogue wears tight leggings, so she can’t just delve right into her sex or anything like that. Instead, Lily settles for pressing her fingers through Sabah’s undergarments, causing her to arch her back and moan in response as she presses herself against her Mistress’ digits.

“We’ll hear them if they decide to come back, Sabah. They can’t just walk in; they’ll have to knock if they want to enter again. But… I doubt they’re coming back. They’ve got Spider Silk to produce after all. Lots of work to do.”

Sabah bites her lower lip at Lily’s words. The barest flash of disappointment appears in her eyes, causing Lily to grin a little bit. Her previous theory is starting to hold more and more weight. Time to confirm it once and for all.

“… Of course… only Weaver actually needs to get started on that. Maybe Portent will come back by himself with more… questions. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

Sabah freezes as Lily grinds the heel of her palm into her lover’s sex. The Rogue Cape’s eyes are wide as she stares at Lily, all but confirming what the Protectorate Heroine had already come to suspect.

“I-I… I…”

Lily softens her smile, making sure Sabah can see that she isn’t angry with her. Then, she pulls Sabah off of the table at the same time that she takes a seat at it, tugging the smaller woman right into her lap then and there. Her fingers continue to quest under her dress, even as Lily hugs Sabah close.

“We’ve talked about this, Sabah. You don’t need to feel ashamed of it. Not around me. Nor embarrassed. Nor humiliated. I want you to be honest with yourself. I want you to be honest with me, as much as possible.”

Sabah shudders but slowly relaxes into Lily’s grasp all the same. She doesn’t speak for a time, nor does she look up at Lily. Instead she just sits there, squirming and mewling as her Mistress plays with her body. But finally, after several minutes of this, Sabah lifts her head.

“I think… maybe?”

Lily hums at that, continuing to hold Sabah close and caress her flesh. There was no judgment here. This was, categorically, a judgment free zone. Lily loved her submissive girlfriend with all her heart. She wanted Sabah to be happy, no matter what. Even if it meant giving her a pass just once.

Only… when they’d talked about this a month ago, with Lily extricating Sabah’s darkest sexual fantasy through a rather intense and deep session between the two of them, she honestly hadn’t ever thought they’d find someone so compatible. Though maybe Lily was getting ahead of herself. Who knew if Portent would even go for something like that?

“I… d-do you hate me?”

Blinking, Lily looks down at Sabah’s worried expression and scoffs.

“I could never hate you, Sabah. I love you, now and forever. And like I told you a month ago… if you’ve found someone, then I’m willing to give it a shot. I mean, I’ve never really been that confused about my sexuality… I’m bisexual. Always have been. It’s you who we’re trying to figure out together, right?”

Sabah hesitantly nods at that, still looking uncertain.

“Y-Yeah. But what if… what if he says no?”

“Then he says no.”

“B-But what if it ruins everything?!”

That… admittedly brings Lily pause and she has to take a moment to think. See, Sabah had what most would consider a pretty weird sexual fantasy. Namely, she had this fantasy where Lily… fucked a guy in front of her. Now, Lily wasn’t against it so long as it was what Sabah wanted. Like she’d just said, she was bisexual and had had relationships with guys in the past.

This would be different though obviously. They would need to find the right guy. Still, so far Portent had definitely caught Sabah… and Lily’s attention. Maybe he was the right guy. Maybe he wasn’t. The problem was, Sabah kind of needed this deal to work out. So maybe it wasn’t worth risking.

Lily presses her lips into a thin line for a moment, considering the issue from all angles. Admittedly, it was a complex situation. Maybe introducing sex into things wasn’t the right call…

-x-X-x-

A/N: Will try to keep this up to date at the end of every chapter, get on me if I forget please. Though if it gets too out of hand, might have to change it at some point.

Jason's current banked points:

400 Celestial Points

Jason's current banked power:

• Focus (600 Point Cost)

Jason's current powers:

• Flash Air (Gained in Chapter 1)

• Transformation Pendant (Gained in Chapter 4)

• Keen Eye (Gained in Chapter 4)

• Blood, Death, and Demons (Gained in Chapter 6)

• Alchemical Prodigy (Gained in Chapter 8)

• Staff of Magnus (Gained in Chapter 13)

• Bind and Seal (Gained in Chapter 17)

• Hero of A Hundred Faces: Everyone’s Leader (Gained in Chapter 20)

• Minor Regeneration through Blood Empowerment Ritual (Gained in Chapter 23)

• Restraining Order (Gained in Chapter 25)

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

A/N: Please check out my newest daily updating project The Age of Chaos (Original Fantasy) if you have a moment!

Jason makes a call.

-x-X-x-

No. While there were perhaps decent reasons for holding back his true strength, the truth was… they weren’t good enough to risk it. Jason had an opportunity to end this fight before it even began without risking Taylor or Fletchette’s lives. Not taking it would be foolhardy.

With that said, Jason points the Staff of Magnus down at Hookwolf. The transforming villain’s focus is entirely on Fletchette, but he has enough awareness to notice the movement out of the corner of his eye. His head whips in Jason’s direction… but it’s already too late.

“Seal.”

A beam of light falls from the sky onto Hookwolf before the Cape can even hope to react. It’s a tight beam; one meant only for the man and about half a foot around him in every direction. Jason had made it a cylinder, though technically he could have made any number of shapes.

Either way, the effects of the beam are just as instantaneous as the beam itself. Hookwolf freezes in place mid-transformation, the E88 Cape going unnaturally still as the beam of sealing magic tightens up until it’s wrapped itself around his body tightly.

Jason lets out a breath as he feels the spell take hold in the back of his mind. He also gets an idea of how long it will last even if he doesn’t pour more power from the Staff of Magnus into it. They’re… fine.

Of course, Fletchette is altogether gobsmacked by the sudden display of power.

“What… what was that?”

Jason, still focused on Hookwolf and making sure there’s no way for him to break free, responds almost absently and without much thought.

“Sealing spell.”

It’s only after as he feels Fletchette’s uncertainty while she shifts from foot to foot that Jason realizes how he sounds. Capes didn’t have spells. Nor magic. Even when it looked like magic, it was just another parahuman power. At least, that’s what PHO claimed about certain Capes like Myrddin over in Chicago. The Protectorate Hero was somewhat infamous for refusing to drop the magic act and acknowledge that his abilities were parahuman in origin.

Only… Jason felt like his magic actually WAS magic. He didn’t really know what was going on with Myrddin or anything like that, but his power was pretty explicit that the things he was gaining access to were spells, and the energy he was drawing from his Staff of Magnus with was ‘magicka’ or mana.

Still, he wasn’t a Protectorate Hero with a reputation to hide his eccentricities behind like Myrddin. Obviously, Fletchette didn’t know what to make of his claim. Fortunately, in the end, she decides to gloss right over it and move on to more pertinent questions.

“How long will it last?”

Here, Jason hesitates. Studying Hookwolf for a moment, he glances over at Fletchette.

“You told Hookwolf that Armsmaster was three minutes out. How far away is he really?”

Fletchette winces.

“More like six… though I’m sure if I report that we have Hookwolf in custody, it’ll speed things up rapidly. Can you hold him for minutes though?”

Jason simply nods.

“I can.”

He doesn’t say anything more than that. He doesn’t want to give anything more away than he already has. Fletchette, no doubt realizing that her position as a member of the Protectorate keeps him recalcitrant, just nods in response and quickly turns away to report this new development.

Fortunately the Sealing spell he’s used is good enough that he doesn’t have to actually feed it more energy before the telltale sound of Armsmaster’s motorcycle fills the air. Right behind the leader of Brockton Bay’s Protectorate team come the sight of police cars with sirens blaring… and big black trucks with PRT stamped on the side of them.

Jason can’t help but tense up a little bit and he feels Taylor doing the same at his side. Perhaps they should have left while they could, but unfortunately by sealing Hookwolf like he had, Jason had effectively forced himself to stay. After all, he was the only one who could unseal Hookwolf now. He had effectively taken responsibility for the villainous cape.

Following Fletchette’s lead, he and Taylor descend from the rooftop to meet Armsmaster down on the ground. The Protectorate Hero is studying Hookwolf intently, or more likely studying the sealing spell that Jason has him under.

“Armsmaster, sir. These are the Independent Heroes, Portent and Weaver. This is their first night out, but they’ve both comported themselves quite well so far.”

Finally tearing his eyes off of Hookwolf, the Tinker takes half a second to look at the two of them before giving them a single nod.

“Well met. Which of you is responsible for Hookwolf’s current state?”

Jason hides his swallow, even as he steps forward with his head held high.

“That would be me. Portent.”

He very almost adds ‘sir’ to the end of that… but no. While it IS somewhat exciting to meet Armsmaster in the flesh, Jason has to remember who he is right now and what’s happening. Portent and Weaver were independents. That meant so long as they broke no laws they were not beholden to the Protectorate or the PRT.

Armsmaster slowly nods, his gaze seeming to sweep over Jason’s armored costume with a bit more focus for a moment. But, inevitably and almost inexorably, his eyes can’t help being drawn back to Hookwolf.

“What did you do to him, exactly? Is he currently aware in this state?”

This time around, Jason is far more careful with his words.

“I effectively put him in stasis. I can end it at any time if you want. He’s not aware though, so his first act upon being unfrozen will probably be to attack.”

Armsmaster processes this and then shakes his head.

“Please don’t. How long will it last without your interference?”

Jason hesitates for only a second before giving an opaque answer.

“Long enough.”

He wasn’t one of Armsmaster’s subordinates. He didn’t need to tell the Protectorate everything there was to know about his powers.

There’s another pause and Jason gets the impression that Armsmaster’s eyes are narrowing beneath his helmet… if the slight clenching of his visible jaw is any indication.

“… I see. Then I must ask you to accompany us to the PRT Headquarters downtown.”

Wait, what? Jason blinks, wondering what he’d done wrong. Beside him, Taylor has much the same reaction, bristling as she steps forward aggressively.

“Why? On what grounds are you trying to detain us? We know our rights.”

Armsmaster tenses up, looking over to Taylor for a long moment before speaking.

“Weaver, I presume. I am not currently attempting to detain either of you. If I was, I assure you that you would know. The request to accompany us to HQ was just that… a request. Put simply, it would be far safer for everyone involved if we could transport Hookwolf in this current state to a cell capable of containing his power and wait until he was safely locked away before having Portent release him from stasis.”

Oh. Well damn, that was… altogether too reasonable by half. Jason shares a glance with Taylor, neither of them all that happy about being somewhat outplayed. After all, while both of them were probably of the same mind on this… meaning they both wanted to reject Armsmaster’s request out of hand, the truth was, doing so would only reflect poorly on them.

How could he call himself a hero, independent or otherwise, if he put his own selfish desires ahead of something as simple as public safety?

The unpowered gangsters were already being pulled out of the Containment Foam by police and PRT troopers working in concert, and those with knife wounds were receiving treatment before being handcuffed and put in the back of squad cars or the PRT trucks that had arrived on scene. However, there was one PRT truck left empty, and the intentions of exactly who would end up in it were obvious.

… Jason refused to let his fear rule him, in the end. He was strong enough that even if the Protectorate did try something, he was confident he could get him and Taylor out of the situation intact. Silently checking in with Taylor herself shows that she’s tense but still willing to go along with his decisions, whatever they might be. With those two things in mind, he finally gives Armsmaster a nod.

“Fine. But just so we’re on the same page, neither Weaver nor I are looking to fill out paperwork of any sort tonight. We’re independent heroes, whether we’re registered with you lot or not. We’ll come with you to the PRT Headquarters as a favor and to make sure Hookwolf actually gets into a cell, but beyond that, we’re not staying. Understood?”

There’s a brief pause as his words wash over the Protectorate Leader standing in front of him. Jason doubts Armsmaster is used to being talked to like this, but he feels the need to lay down the law all the same. He’s willing to work with the Protectorate conditionally, like how he and Taylor patrolled with Fletchette, but he’s not going to let them know everything he’s capable of, nor is he about to let them pressgang him and Taylor into joining their ranks.

Better to come across as rude but get the point across from the beginning instead of pussy footing around the issue until it blew up in his face. Or at least, that’s how Jason saw it.

Fortunately, Armsmaster doesn’t bristle or get aggressive or anything like that. In fact, after that brief pause ends, the Protectorate Hero inclines his head in acknowledgment.

“Understood. Please, right this way.”

As expected, Jason and Taylor stand by as the Sealed half-transformed Hookwolf is loaded into the back of the last remaining PRT Truck. Then, the two of them climb in as well alongside half a dozen PRT troopers… and Fletchette. Jason is grateful for Fletchette’s presence, admittedly. While he still doesn’t fully trust her, she’s more of a known quantity than anything else he and Taylor are currently dealing with.

As they drive, Taylor’s hand crawls over into his lap searching for his own. Once she finds it, she interlocks their fingers together, squeezing down hard. Jason makes sure to squeeze back, letting her know that no matter what, he’s ready for whatever happens next. Of course, he also has his eyes closed beneath his mask, using Focus to check and make sure they’re not about to get ambushed… by either side.

Fortunately, while there ARE red dots spread all throughout Brockton Bay, denoting their enemies, there aren’t any converging on the truck they’re in. There are a handful of red dots in the PRT Headquarters themselves, however, which is more than a little worrying.

But nothing like the ambush he’s searching for. They’re spread throughout the building, making Jason wonder just what they signify. Spies, maybe? It wouldn’t surprise him if the major gangs all had infiltrators in the PRT, actually. It would even go a long way to explaining why Brockton Bay was the shit heap that it was.

Finally, they arrive, pulling down into a parking garage beneath the PRT HQ. Jason opens his eyes after checking one last time that they’re not going to open the truck’s back doors to an ambush of any sort. Focus really is paying dividends so far, he has to admit. While it might not be the flashiest of his abilities, it was hands down one of the most useful ones.

The truck doors open to reveal Armsmaster already off his bike and waiting for them. Hookwolf-in-Stasis is unloaded from the back of the truck and Jason and Taylor follow along as they all move the villain to the PRT Holding Cells. Fortunately, they really do look heavy duty, Jason notes. Easily strong enough to contain even a Cape of Hookwolf’s caliber. And probably more than enough to contain Jason as he is right now as well.

… But that’s just paranoia talking. Nobody tries to force him or Taylor into a holding cell or anything like that. Instead, once Hookwolf is in the middle of one of the cells, they seal it up nice and tight and Armsmaster gives Jason a nod.

Reaching out with his mind, Jason undoes the Sealing spell he cast on Hookwolf, dispelling the magic and releasing the villainous Cape from the binding.

Immediately on the other side of the wall, the sound of metal grinding against metal can be heard as Hookwolf finishes his transformation with a snarl.

“Wha- the HELL?! What is this?! What did you do?! WHAT DID YOU DO?!”

“The Prisoner will cease expression of their Parahuman Abilities. The Prisoner will refrain from any hostile actions or will continue to find themselves restrained with Containment Foam.”

“FUCK YOU-MMPH!”

Laughter breaks out among the PRT troopers still nearby as Hookwolf’s aggression is apparently immediately curtailed by the holding cell’s automated defense systems. The slightly robotic female voice that spouts out instructions only seems to add insult to injury, really.

Armsmaster, meanwhile, turns to him and offers his hand.

“Good work. Independent or otherwise, we need more heroes like you and your partner in this city.”

Just as Jason is slowly taking Armsmaster’s hand, he suddenly gets… a lot of notifications. Almost like his power had been waiting for Hookwolf to truly be contained.

Feat Achieved: Defeat your first Cape! 100 Points Earned!

Feat Achieved: Complete a Patrol with Other Capes! 100 Points Earned!

Feat Achieved: Defeat an enemy in a humiliating fashion! 100 Points Earned!

Feat Achieved: Cement your status as a Hero Cape! 100 Points Earned!

Feat Achieved: Be acknowledged as a Hero by the Protectorate! 100 Points Earned!

Feat Achieved: Draw the ire of multiple Villain Gangs! 200 Points Earned!

Jason tries his best not to show how the sudden barrage of Feats has him reeling, even as he almost absently shakes Armsmaster’s hand.

That was… a lot. Almost too much, because it’s only on his second read through that Jason notices the last Feat gave him 200 points. Why? Unless… it was a hundred points per gang, maybe? Considering he’d just broken up a fight between the E88 and the ABB, that Feat seemed to be warning him that it wouldn’t just be the E88 gunning for him going forward.

As his and Armsmaster’s handshake comes to an end, Jason swallows thickly, not quite sure what to say or do next. He and Taylor should probably get going, right?

“As you said previously, there will be no paperwork tonight. Though we hope at some point in the future you two will take the time to register with us officially. For now, you are in our system as provisional independent heroes and will be treated as such should we run into you out on patrol. That said, the Director of the PRT ENE has asked me to extend a request for a quick conversation to the both of you, if you have the time for it.”

Jason pauses at that. His instinct is to say no, of course. That wasn’t part of the deal. But at the same time, he recognizes Armsmaster is making an honest request and not trying to browbeat him and Taylor into anything they don’t want to do.

And also… Jason currently has nine hundred points saved up after that barrage of Feats. One hundred off from being able to buy his current Banked Power. He noticed he’d been acknowledged as a hero by the Protectorate… but not by the PRT. It was possible he might be able to swing one last Feat tonight if he said yes to this meeting.

A glance at Taylor shows she’s still ready for whatever he decides. But even then… is it really worth it?

-x-X-x-

A/N: Will try to keep this up to date at the end of every chapter, get on me if I forget please. Though if it gets too out of hand, might have to change it at some point.

Jason's current banked points:

900 Celestial Points

Jason's current banked power:

= Chaos Magic (1000 Points)

Jason's current powers:

= Flash Air (Gained in Chapter 1

= Transformation Pendant (Gained in Chapter 4)

= Keen Eye (Gained in Chapter 4)

= Blood, Death, and Demons (Gained in Chapter 6)

= Alchemical Prodigy (Gained in Chapter 8)

= Staff of Magnus (Gained in Chapter 13)

= Bind and Seal (Gained in Chapter 17)

= Hero of a Hundred Faces: Everyone's Leader (Gained in Chapter 20)

= Minor Regeneration via Blood Empowerment Ritual (Gained in Chapter 23)

= Restraining Order (Gained in Chapter 25)

= Focus (Gained in Chapter 28)

= Scarborough Fair (Gained in Chapter 30)

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

A/N: Please check out my newest daily updating project The Age of Chaos (Original Fantasy) if you have a moment!

Amelia POV!

-x-X-x-

“But that-!”

“Wait, you-!”

“Are you sure?”

It catches Amelia off guard when Victoria and Taylor both pause at her soft spoken words. Even now, it’s hard to accept that she actually has any authority in this situation… but just because it’s hard to swallow doesn’t make it any less true. As the owner of the Lavere Clinic and their hidden sponsor, Amelia has a lot more authority than she ever had in the past. It feels kind of weird though, even now.

Jason looks to her and solemnly nods.

“I’m sure. This power of mine… it hasn’t been wrong yet with the secrets it’s managed to uncover.”

She believes him. Frankly, Amelia wishes she had even a fraction of the confidence and charisma that Jason exudes. In some ways, she felt like she barely knew the man. In other ways, she felt like she could trust him with her life. At the very least, she was trusting him with Vicky’s life.

Frowning most severely, Victoria leans forward.

“The whole point of the PRT is to provide oversight. I may not always like that oversight, but I get why it exists. To have a parahuman in the position of Director… it ruins the entire point of the organization. This could be a huge scandal if it got out…”

She’s right, of course. Amelia finds herself thinking back on the current PRT Director’s tenure. Thomas Calvert… he was better than Emily Piggot had been, but that wasn’t exactly a high bar to reach. Director Piggot had been a bigot who hated Capes and she really didn’t do a very good job of concealing that hatred.

Even Amelia, who had spent so much of her early life trying to be good and trying to help people at her own expense… hadn’t been good enough in Piggot’s eyes. The handful of times they’d met, she got the impression that Piggot had suspicions about the true nature of Amelia’s powers. And sure, those suspicions weren’t far off the mark… but it still hurt to be so thoroughly distrusted when she was trying her damnedest to be a hero.

Indeed, that distrust had been rooted so deeply that instead of just having Amelia heal her, Piggot had worked herself to the point of being removed from her position for medical reasons. Amelia had expected to be called in then, but instead the former PRT Director had simply faded into the background entirely, replaced by the current Director… Thomas Calvert.

Now Amelia finds herself wondering if the transition of power was as peaceful and… copacetic as it seemed. Did Piggot really step down voluntarily because of her health? Or had she been forcibly replaced by Calvert? But then, who was pulling Calvert’s strings? Who was he working for?

“Do you know anything more about his powers, Jason?”

That question comes from Taylor, but it still causes all eyes to fall on Jason again as they await his answer. In response, he frowns and shakes his head.

“I don’t. It doesn’t seem like my ability goes that far. It tells me what someone is hiding, but when it comes to something as crazy as parahuman abilities, it stops at giving me a full description of their powers I suppose. Honestly, I wouldn’t have looked so closely at him if he didn’t show up as red to my senses. He’s an enemy of mine for some reason, whether he knows it or not.”

That was… a relief to hear. Amelia had secrets of her own that she was keeping from everyone, including the people in this room. Secrets that had to do with her powers. But from the sound of things, Jason not only had little reason to peer too closely at her (she wasn’t his enemy after all) he also couldn’t look any more closely at what someone’s powers actually did. Thank fucking God.

Ever since she’d broken away from New Wave and the Dallons, Amelia had… been experimenting a bit more with her abilities. It was like a pressure valve. She’d ignored it for years and nearly exploded in the process, but she managed to work something out before things could get… apocalyptic. Her power wanted to be used for more than just healing people. So Amelia had started doing exactly that. But nobody could know… if they did, they would think she was the next Nilbog or Bonesaw or something.

“I did get something else though, besides just the fact that he was an enemy and had a hidden parahuman ability.”

Amelia jolts as Jason suddenly looks to her. For a second she fears the worst, but then she realizes… it’s because he’s telling her something that Taylor and Victoria already know.

“My core power has started encouraging me to go out and do parahuman activities by providing me with extra points to buy more powers whenever I do something noteworthy. These extra points come in the form of ‘Feats’.”

Nodding to show she understands, Amelia relaxes when Jason turns his attention back to the rest of the group. There was just something so intense about being singled out by the man.

“Anyways, I got a lot of Feats at once last night for our successful patrol and capturing Hookwolf. Stuff like defeating my first cape, doing my first patrol with other capes, being acknowledged as a Hero by the Protectorate, and even drawing the ire of the gangs down on my head. I was close to purchasing my next power, so when Armsmaster said the Director of the PRT wanted to meet with me, I said yes… mostly because I hoped I would get some sort of Feat like being acknowledged as a Hero by the PRT or something.”

So far, Amelia was tracking with what he was saying. Taylor and Vicky are both nodding along as well. But then Jason grimaces.

“I got a Feat, but it wasn’t that one. Instead, I got a Feat for ‘uncovering my first Parahuman Conspiracy’.”

Amelia’s eyes widen along with the others at that bombshell.

“Damn. So Calvert isn’t just a hidden parahuman, but involved in a larger conspiracy of some kind? Heh, is it still tinfoil hat time if the conspiracy is power-acknowledged and they really are out to get ya?”

Vicky’s joke falls somewhat flat, but based on her macabre tone, she wasn’t expecting it to land. Silence reigns in the living room for a long moment as they all consider what this could potentially mean. Amelia has to admit… she doesn’t like the implications. Calvert might have SEEMED like a better Director than Piggot, but knowing what she knew now, she almost wanted the bigoted bitch back. At least Piggot was upfront about her distaste for parahumans.

“What do we do?”

Jason shrugs at Taylor’s question, looking uncertain.

“I honestly don’t know. I mean, we don’t even know what his parahuman ability is. What if it’s a Master Power? What if he’s ensnared the Brockton Bay Protectorate and PRT with it and that’s why he hasn’t been caught? I mean, they have to have some sort of testing in place to prevent this kind of thing from happening, right? Somehow, he slipped past their protocols. Maybe it was incompetence, but maybe it was something else… something darker.”

A shiver runs down Amelia’s spine at that. The thought of the Protectorate being under the control of a Master Cape was a frightening one. They might not be able to dislodge the bigger gangs in Brockton Bay, but they were still a powerful force in their own rights. If a Master had them, they could do a lot of damage.

“Well… he hasn’t done much yet if that is the case, right? If anything, Brockton Bay has been a little bit safer under Calvert than Piggot. Not by much, but at least a little bit. Whatever his plan is, it seems to involve running the PRT as good if not better than his predecessor at least?”

Vicky’s tone makes it clear even she’s not entirely convinced of that. Just playing devil’s advocate, probably.

Taylor, meanwhile, crosses her arms over her chest.

“That’s cold comfort when you consider that most of Jason’s would-be enemies should be gang members. Calvert might be doing his job well for now, but he’s almost certainly doing it at the behest of one of the gangs in preparation for an eventual takeover of the entire city.”

Leaning forward, Taylor taps the coffee table pointedly.

“That’s how we figure out who he’s working for. We do some research and look into the change in attitude from the PRT towards the gangs since Piggot stepped down and Calvert took over. I bet you, even if its subtle, the PRT and Protectorate have been giving special treatment to at least one of the gangs since the transfer of power. Whoever that is… that’s who Calvert is working for.”

Not a bad idea. Though Amelia did have one question she felt needed to be asked.

“… And then what? If we figure that out, what do we do then?”

Taylor frowns, considering the question for a moment before biting her lower lip and looking to Jason.

“We… could try and deal with it ourselves? If we go after the gang, maybe we can find legitimate evidence connecting Calvert to them from their end?”

Jason hums, crossing his own arms in response to that.

“Could work. It’s a bit of an escalation from patrolling though isn’t it? Going after one gang in particular… I’d say we might not want the heat, but admittedly our actions tonight have already gotten lots of heat on us. Still, who exactly do we think Calvert could be working for here? The Empire? He's black so that seems unlikely. The ABB? I mean, he’s definitely not Asian so maybe not the ABB, but who else even is there?”

They all fall into a contemplative silence for a moment. Some groups come to mind like the Merchants, but Amelia doesn’t think they would be capable of this sort of thing for even a second. And neither does anyone else seeing as the name doesn’t pass from any of their lips. Although…

“There’s Coil. He barely holds territory, but he still exists.”

Vicky’s eyes light up and she snaps her fingers.

“Coil! Holy shit I totally forgot about him! He’s like… super mysterious and weird isn’t he? I mean, everyone assumes he’s a cape, but nobody has ever seen him in a cape battle. And he doesn’t seem to have any capes working for him either, but his mercenaries are like special forces and all equipped with tinkertech! Calvert could totally be working for Coil on the downlow! A big ole conspiracy sounds like it’s right up his alley!”

Amelia finds herself nodding along and Taylor looks intrigued. But Jason is wise enough to burst their bubble.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. Maybe Calvert is working for Coil, maybe he’s working for someone else. Just because he isn’t Asian doesn’t mean he can’t be an ABB plant, for instance. We’ll do our due diligence and look into things like Taylor suggested, see if there’s any discrepancies that crop up. I don’t want us to just go in guns blazing off of an assumption, no matter how educated of a guess it is alright?”

Deflating slightly, Victoria reluctantly nods.

“You’re right, of course. Besides, even if it does turn out to be Coil… I have no idea how we would even go about attacking him from the villain side of thing. He has territory, but nobody knows anything about the guy or where his actual bases are located…”

Then, Vicky perks up.

“Oh! But you know what we CAN do to prepare? We can do more Blood Magic!”

Wait, what? Amelia blinks owlishly, even as Jason and Taylor both glance at her the moment the words leave Victoria’s mouth. That… didn’t sound like something Amelia should have heard. And yet, Vicky is unapologetic, making it clear that her spilling the beans wasn’t an accident.

“Oh, it’s not a big deal if Ames knows. She’s chill. Besides, we should consider getting her a couple of enhancements too, especially now that we know the PRT has been infiltrated at the highest levels. She’s basically the most valuable cape in the city… at least that they’re aware of. If Calvert really is preparing Brockton Bay for some sort of gang takeover, then they’re going to want to get her at some point too.”

Oh. Amelia honestly hadn’t thought about that. She’d long been sort of protected by her reputation. The amount of healing she did at Endbringer Battles, not to mention she was usually willing to help out the Protectorate both with themselves AND with the villains they wound up injuring during capture, had given her a lot of goodwill in Brockton Bay.

Likewise, she’d made a deal at Somer’s Rock with all the big name villains to have the Lavere Clinic declared neutral grounds on the understanding that she wouldn’t STOP healing them during Endbringer Battles or after capture by the Protectorate and PRT. She also turned a blind eye when someone with an active Corona Pollentia showed up in their civvies to her clinic as well. So long as they paid well and didn’t start anything, Amelia didn’t start anything either.

And yet… Vicky was right. If someone was trying to take over the entire city, her neutrality was probably in danger. Still… what was this about Blood Magic?

Letting out a sigh and giving Vicky a long-suffering look, Jason turns to her with a grimace, causing Amelia to raise an eyebrow in response.

“Right, so… you remember when I passed out and Vicky had to call you in a while back? That was because I got a power that downloaded several years of knowledge into my brain… knowledge on how to perform certain types of magic. Basically, we’ve been summoning demons from Hell, torturing them until they willingly gave us their blood, and then using that blood to perform Empowerment Rituals to improve ourselves in varying ways.”

He blurts all of that stuff out at the end in such a rush that Amelia has to take a second to parse what he’s saying. Demon Summoning? Torture? Blood Magic? Her mouth opens and closes soundlessly for a moment as she stares at him wide-eyed. Just who the hell had she been talked into sponsoring here?!

-x-X-x-

A/N: Will try to keep this up to date at the end of every chapter, get on me if I forget please. Though if it gets too out of hand, might have to change it at some point.

Jason's current banked points:

100 Celestial Points

Jason's current banked power:

= A Collection of Magic Rings (300 Points)

Jason's current powers:

= Flash Air (Gained in Chapter 1

= Transformation Pendant (Gained in Chapter 4)

= Keen Eye (Gained in Chapter 4)

= Blood, Death, and Demons (Gained in Chapter 6)

= Alchemical Prodigy (Gained in Chapter 8)

= Staff of Magnus (Gained in Chapter 13)

= Bind and Seal (Gained in Chapter 17)

= Hero of a Hundred Faces: Everyone's Leader (Gained in Chapter 20)

= Minor Regeneration via Blood Empowerment Ritual (Gained in Chapter 23)

= Restraining Order (Gained in Chapter 25)

= Focus (Gained in Chapter 28)

= Scarborough Fair (Gained in Chapter 30)

= Chaos Magic (Gained in Chapter 36)

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

A/N: Jason finally gets together with Parian and Fletchette.

Who he's sure have very normal and reasonable fantasies.

-x-X-x-

Despite receiving her message, it's not until they meet face to face that Jason is able to properly question Taylor.

"… So what exactly does 'I'm coming but you should go alone' mean, Taylor? It's kind of contradictory…"

Blushing a little bit, Taylor shakes her head.

"Sorry I was a little rushed when I sent that message. I meant that I'll be your back up, but that you should meet with Parian and Fletchette alone… at least this time."

Jason frowns at that, prompting Taylor to sigh.

"Jason, the Director of the PRT is not only a secret parahuman likely working for someone like Coil, but we also don't know exactly what his power does and we're on his radar now. And Fletchette is a member of the Protectorate. Now… I think we both have an idea of why Parian and Fletchette want to see you…"

That gets a slow nod from Jason. He's certainly not… unobservant on that front. But he's starting to pick up what Taylor is putting down all the same.

"You're saying we need to be careful and be ready in the slim off-chance that it's a trap."

Taylor smiles and nods.

"Exactly. Even if we don't think it is, you can never be too cautious. It's not paranoia if they really are out to get you, after all."

That was true. And Jason had power-backed evidence that Thomas Calvert, whoever he really was, was definitely out to get him. Even if Calvert himself didn't know it yet, they were enemies as far as Jason's power was concerned. And Fletchette WAS technically one of Calvert's subordinates.

Letting out a sigh, Jason nods.

"Alright. You'll be my back up then. Just in case. Though we could probably also swing having you join us if you still wanted to…"

Taylor gives him an exasperated look.

"That would sort of ruin the purpose of having me as hidden backup Jason. Besides… if all goes well, this first time should be with just you and the two of them. Oh and Jason… do try to keep an open mind."

Jason furrows his brow in confusion. What was that supposed to mean, exactly?

-x-X-x-

"… You want me to what?"

This meeting isn't in the same neutral location as last time, but instead in Parian's workshop. Jason had initially taken that as a sign he knew what this was about, because obviously those neutral locations on the Boardwalk weren't really meant for sexual hookups. Not to mention, they were expensive to rent.

Now though, having talked to Taylor, Jason had wondered if it was a red flag and he wouldn't have some special forces unit barge in at some point to kidnap him. But so far so good on that front. Between his own power and Taylor's surveillance, there hadn't been any build up of his enemies anywhere nearby. There wasn't anyone who wanted to do him wrong for a mile out, in fact.

And neither Parian nor Fletchette were registering as red either even now, so Jason had felt pretty comfortable coming into this meeting. That is, until Fletchette had explained what exactly they wanted from him.

Jason had known Parian was hiding rope bondage under her costume, and he'd been willing to play around with her when it was obvious she was receptive to his and Taylor's advances… but this? This was a bit outside of the realm of his expectations. Only, now he understands why Taylor had told him to keep an open mind. Somehow, she'd known the sordid details of the female cape couple's dark fantasies.

Glancing to Parian, who squirms in embarrassment, Fletchette looks back to him after a moment and repeats herself.

"We want you to fuck me Portent… and to roleplay that it's part of the deal that you and Parian made with one another. Basically pretend that one of your requirements was I had to give up my body and let you use me to your heart's content."

Wow. That was… did it make Jason a bad person that the idea was kind of turning him on a little bit? Fletchette didn't look bad by any means. Her skintight deep purple costume shows off an athletic body and the tinted one-way visor she has on leaves most of her head exposed, revealing plump lips and gorgeous black hair.

Parian was a bit more of an anomaly, except thanks to his power he could sort of see the figure hiding under her costume, at least when she'd done herself up on rope bondage anyways. She was definitely a cutesy sort of sexy compared to Fletchette's athletic sort of sexy. Still…

"And you both want this?"

He looks to Parian meaningfully as he says this. It's not that Jason doesn't doubt they're both on board, but he still has to make sure. Squeaking at his attention, Parian quickly recovers and delivers a rapid nod.

"Y-Yes… please…"

From that, he can tell they're probably doing this for her. This was Parian's fantasy, wasn't it? But was it Fletchette's? He looks to the Protectorate Heroine meaningfully, prompting her cheeks to redden a little bit.

"Yes. We both want this, Portent."

The confidence Fletchette inserts into her voice might be a little forced, but Jason doesn't detect any deception or reluctance. She's telling the truth, she does in fact want this, even if she just really wants to make Parian happy.

For a long moment, Jason tries to figure out if HE wants this… before deciding that he's certainly not opposed to it. It's just roleplaying after all. He could do roleplaying. Hell, he was already wearing a mask and going by a different name. In the end being a cape was itself one great big roleplay, albeit with much higher stakes.

Straightening up, Jason thinks for a second before deciding to just jump right into things. Looking at Parian, he tries to add some intensity to his posture, even as he gestures to Fletchette.

"I'm willing to make this deal with you Parian, but there's one more thing I want in return. Her."

Parian freezes in place and Jason doesn't think she's acting at first. They probably weren't expecting him to just start it up like that without warning. Even still, she finally recovers.

"H-Her? I don't… know what you mean."

Humming, Jason tries on an evil smirk for size.

"You don't know what I mean? I can tell you two are together and not just friends. You want this deal? Then your cape girlfriend is going to let me fuck her, plain and simple."

The words feel more than a little sleazy rolling off his tongue, but Jason can tell from Keen Eye that they're working for Parian. She's never been more turned on, even as she does her best to play along with the fantasy.

"I-I couldn't… she's not…"

"I'll do it."

That's when Fletchette interjects before Parian can explain she can't ask the other woman to do that for her. Stepping forward, the Protectorate Heroine stares Jason down.

"You bastard. You know how desperate we are, don't you Portent? Tch… fine. If it'll make this deal go through, I'll do it. If you want me on my knees sucking your cock… just say the word."

Let it not be said that Jason couldn't follow along with what was an obvious if masterful bit of direction. Chuckling, he reaches down and begins the process of freeing his cock from the confines of his costume.

"That sounds like a lovely start, sweetheart. Kneel."

Fletchette doesn't hesitate. She drops to her knees in front of him, even as Jason's cock is finally revealed, already half hard. Wrapping her gloved hands around his dick, she stares up at him, clearly glaring behind her one-way visor while jerking him off. If someone had told Jason that this was how today would go, he would have laughed in their face. He'd thought maybe it would be him and Fletchette double-teaming Parian together. Or even just him fucking Parian while Fletchette watched.

But no, instead… this was happening. And frankly, he wasn't really complaining. Reaching up, Jason runs a hand through Fletchette's silken black locks, gliding his fingers across her scalp in a way that makes her twitch at his feet.

"… Just don't touch the visor…"

Jason hums and nods. He's not sure whether that was part of the roleplay or an actual stipulation, but it doesn't matter because he's not intending to try and expose Fletchette's civilian identity anyways. They're not there yet, especially not after Jason learned that the PRT had been infiltrated at the highest level. Still, he should probably respond to Fletchette's words in some way.

"I'm not seeing a lot of sucking, bitch."

Fletchette jolts at his words, her cheeks going redder. Still, she leans forward and takes him in her mouth, beginning to suck his cock right then and there. Jason groans in enjoyment that goes beyond the roleplay. She's not very experienced at this, but it's more than made up for by the circumstances. Her, a Protectorate Heroine, kneeling down and debasing herself by sucking his cock. Even if it's all roleplay, it's still unbelievably hot.

Meanwhile, over on the other side of the room, Parian is standing there trembling… her hands twitching with a need to try and touch herself. She wants to masturbate to this scene, but she can't. Her costume looks like it would get in the way. Hmmm… what to do about that? Well, Jason didn't need to see her face, did he?

Even as he gathers Fletchette's hair into a makeshift ponytail to better guide her up and down his cock, Jason lifts his other hand up and points in Parian's direction, causing the parahuman tailor to freeze in place.

"You. I want to see your body. I want to see you touch yourself while I fuck your girlfriend's face."

Parian remains still for only a moment before rushing to obey. He was basically giving her permission to do exactly what she wanted to do after all. The mask she's wearing will stay on, but the dress and everything else begins to come off even as Fletchette pulls back off of his cock, sputtering a bit.

"H-Hey… that wasn't part of the deal. It was me you wanted!"

He can tell this time that Fletchette is just continuing the roleplay, overacting her part in the process. He can also tell she's getting more and more turned on by all of this too. This whole fantasy might be Parian's, but Fletchette wasn't just humoring her girlfriend… she was enjoying herself as well.

Staring down at her, Jason snorts derisively.

"I've altered the deal. Pray I don't alter it further."

Admittedly, Star Wars hadn't had quite the success here on Earth Bet as it did over on Earth Aleph thanks to the advent of parahuman powers showing up five years after the first one came out. But he thinks Fletchette recognizes the quote anyways based on how she jolts at his words.

Meanwhile, Parian has basically fully exposed herself below the neck at this point, revealing two things. One, Jason had already known… that being she was done up in rope bondage again, just like last time. Binding off her tits, sliding down between her slick pussy folds, the rope crisscrosses over her body in a very aesthetically pleasing manner.

The other thing that's revealed by her stripping off everything below neck is her skin color. She's not Caucasian as her whole costume and hair color had implied, but something a bit browner. Latin or Middle Eastern, maybe. Not that Jason cares about that sort of thing. Nor does he want to draw attention to it. Instead, he snorts derisively, focusing on Parian's current bound state.

"Kinky little thing, aren't you?"

Looking down into Fletchette's visor as she continues to dutifully suck his cock, Jason grins.

"Did you do her up like that? The two of you have an interesting relationship going on, don't you? On the one hand, you clearly wear the pants in your relationship with her. But on the other hand, here you are, submissively sucking a man's cock just to help her out."

Fletchette's cheeks burn all the redder at his words, but the way her tongue works along his shaft makes it clear she's pretty happy with how he's going about this. Meanwhile, Parian is touching herself by this point. She's so eager to follow his earlier order that he doesn't even have to tell it to her again.

Jason grunts as he watches Parian pinch one of her dark nipples while her fingers move down along her rope-bound slit. He watches as she tilts her masked head back and softly moans, clearly enjoying herself more than she was supposed to let on.

All the while, Fletchette continues sucking him off on her knees, the Protectorate Heroine doing her best damn effort to please him with her mouth. And to be honest… her best damn effort is more than good enough.

Jason considers not warning her that he's cumming beforehand, but in the end it feels like some things should transcend this roleplay that they're doing.

"Fuck… here it comes, bitch."

Doesn't mean he has to be nice about it though. Still, thanks to his warning, Fletchette is prepared when he finally starts to cum in her mouth. She swallows his load without even being told to, guzzling down his seed before it can overwhelm her. Jason groans all the while, enjoying the harsh suction combined with the sight of Parian debasing herself across the room.

Finally it's done… but rather than simply pull away, Fletchette keeps sucking him off, causing Jason a small amount of confusion. He realizes what she's doing when she finally does pull back off of his cock after a moment however, looking between him and his hard dick meaningfully.

"Tch… still hard… I guess that means you'll want to fuck me now, won't you? A bastard like you is never satisfied."

Well… that definitely sounded like a request to Jason. Grinning, he inclines his head.

"If you insist, my dear."

Fletchette blushes profusely in response to his retort, pretending to scowl even though there's clearly not heat to it. Jason should have guessed that they wouldn't stop at just a blowjob. Heh, he just hoped Taylor was enjoying the show.

-x-X-x-

A/N: Will try to keep this up to date at the end of every chapter, get on me if I forget please. Though if it gets too out of hand, might have to change it at some point.

Jason's current banked points:

200 Celestial Points

Jason's current banked power:

= A Collection of Magic Rings (300 Points)

Jason's current powers:

= Flash Air (Gained in Chapter 1

= Transformation Pendant (Gained in Chapter 4)

= Keen Eye (Gained in Chapter 4)

= Blood, Death, and Demons (Gained in Chapter 6)

= Alchemical Prodigy (Gained in Chapter 8)

= Staff of Magnus (Gained in Chapter 13)

= Bind and Seal (Gained in Chapter 17)

= Hero of a Hundred Faces: Everyone's Leader (Gained in Chapter 20)

= Minor Regeneration via Blood Empowerment Ritual (Gained in Chapter 23)
(Taylor got Major Agility, Vicky got Major Intelligence)

= Restraining Order (Gained in Chapter 25)

= Focus (Gained in Chapter 28)

= Scarborough Fair (Gained in Chapter 30)

= Chaos Magic (Gained in Chapter 36)

= Major Regeneration via Blood Empowerment Ritual (Gained in Chapter 40)
(Taylor, Vicky, and Amy all got Minor Regeneration)

Chapter Text

A/N: Sabah is having the time of her life. But to be fair, so is Lily~

-x-X-x-

This was so fucking hot. As Sabah watches her girlfriend sacrifice for her, she's never been more turned on. It's a shameful, embarrassing sort of pleasure to be experiencing, especially when she's just so damn aroused, but this… this was everything she'd hoped it would be.

"Strip."

Portent's single word command sends a jolt through Lily, now that they've confirmed that he's going to fuck her. For a second, Sabah's girlfriend and domineering lover glances over at Sabah herself, causing her to freeze in place.

She must look quite the sight at the moment. Deep down, Sabah knew she shouldn't have been so eager to strip everything below the neck. There was a reason that she wore the costume she wore, one with gloves and long-sleeves and a floor-length dress, capped off by her porcelain mask and a blonde wig.

It was so she could hide her true identity, especially her ethnicity. In a city like Brockton Bay with gangs like the Empire and the ABB, one did not want one's true skin color known by anyone, especially if one was neither white nor Asian. And Sabah obviously wasn't. Her and her family were immigrants from Basra and of distinctly Middle Eastern descent.

Right now, her dark skin was fully on display, bound up in the red rope that Lily loved to use on her in the mornings before they started their days. Everything below the neck is exposed, even as her hands have been dancing across her flesh, tugging at her nipples, flicking away at her clit.

If any of this were actually real, if Portent was actually the monster they were having him portray… then maybe Sabah and Lily both would have protested his order to strip down a bit more strongly. After all, while they were technically still wearing masks, removing every other stitch of their costumes was revealing an awful lot about their bodies and therefore their true identities.

… But Sabah trusted Portent. And Lily did too. They wouldn't have propositioned him for this scenario if they didn't, after all. So in the end, Lily offers up little in the way of resistance as she begins to strip out of her skintight, purple costume.

Admittedly, Sabah always thought Lily looked incredibly sexy when she was completely done up as Fletchette. More than once they'd played bedroom games where Sabah was a villainess 'captured' by the brave heroine and 'punished' for her actions.

But that wasn't happening now, was it? Instead, Sabah was watching her brave girlfriend, who was normally so domineering and in charge, strip naked for a man. A man who had already fucked Lily's mouth… and was now going to do so much more.

Sabah's breathing is already uneven, but it gets even more so when Lily finally stands before Portent wearing nothing but her one-way visor. Stepping forward, he reaches out almost casually, with just a hint of hesitation betraying his true thoughts as he feigns nonchalance while cupping and squeezing one of Lily's breasts.

Sabah blushes as Lily bites her lower lip, having to press her mouth shut to hold in the moan that threatens to spill forth. Her own cunt clenches around the rope slid between her lower lips while she watches her girlfriend shiver and shudder at Portent's touch.

His other hand comes down to between Lily's thighs, taking advantage of the Japanese American woman's above-average height and long legs to reach for her pussy without having to lean down whatsoever. He cups her cunt right then and there without so much as a 'by your leave' and begins to finger her, gently at first but with increasingly vigor.

Lily's hand comes up and grabs his arm as he toys with her, though she doesn't push him away. She does squirm and gasp and grunt, playing her role to perfection as she grits her teeth and half-heartedly glares at Portent.

"J-Just fuck me already, you bastard…"

Portent chuckles and shakes his head.

"I thought you were willing to do anything for your lovely girlfriend over there. Now you're trying to give me orders?"

Lily flushes but ultimately ducks her head submissively. Portent doesn't let things go though, even as he continues to finger her down below.

"Apologize."

"… s-sorry."

"Sorry… what?"

Lily whimpers and a small moan escapes her lips as she answers him.

"Sorry… sir."

Sabah can scarcely believe her eyes. On the one hand, she'd known that Lily was willing to do this for her. She'd also known that Lily didn't consider it any great hardship. Her girlfriend had flat out told Sabah that she was a switch as well as bisexual, so 'surrendering' to a man in front of Sabah wouldn't compromise any of her values or identity or anything like that.

But hearing it from her domineering girlfriend's mouth was one thing. Seeing was something else entirely. As people liked to say, 'seeing was believing'. Lily is clearly enjoying herself despite her words. Her hips are gyrating and her crotch is humping away at Portent's fingers.

The more he fingers her, the more Lily is incapable of hiding how much she's enjoying herself. That, combined with him toying with her nipples… well, it's no wonder that she's soon letting out a strangled cry, bucking her hips hard against his digits while he brings her to climax with just his hands.

Sabah cums at the same time, managing to bite her tongue to strangle most of her moans in her throat, but not able to stop from squirting a little bit past the rope pulled taut between her pussy lips. Holy fuck. Portent was a natural at this. He was like a god, coming down to share his abilities with mere mortals like her and Lily.

Pulling his messy fingers away from Lily's drooling cunt, Portent looks them over for a moment before glancing in Sabah's direction. In a flash, Sabah realizes that if she didn't have her mask on still, or if said mask had an opening for her mouth… he would definitely have her suck his fingers clean of her girlfriend's juices.

As things stand however, they're all still technically strangers to one another. None of them knows the other's secret identity right now and as much as Sabah wishes she could suck Lily's pussy fluids off of his digits, that's probably still for the best.

In the end, Portent just does the next best thing and brings his messy fingers to Lily's exposed mouth instead.

"Clean them off."

Whimpering, clearly enjoying herself a bit too much to hide behind the roleplay anymore, Lily does as she's told, sucking his fingers while staring at Portent from behind her tinted visor. Once she's done, he pulls back and nods.

"Now I'll fuck you."

Grabbing Lily by her hips, he turns her… so she's facing Parian directly. Their eyes lock even behind their masks as Portent bends Lily over right there in front of her. The abnormally tall heroine's legs are forced to bend at the knee even as he hooks an arm through the inside of her elbows, pulling her arms back behind her in the process.

His free hand grabs hold of his cock and though Sabah can't quite see it from here… she can certainly see Lily's mouth drop open as Portent fills her girlfriend's dripping wet pussy from behind, sliding into her without hesitation or mercy.

"Fuuuuck~"

That's a truly wanton and altogether organic moan that erupts from Lily's mouth as Portent stretches her with his throbbing mast. The heroine has the good grace to look mortified a moment later, but by then it's already too late. Portent chuckles an evil chuckle and brings his free hand down on Lily's ass, even as he begins to fuck her hard enough that her tits bounce and her entire body is jiggling and jolting right in front of Sabah's eyes.

"Man, I'm starting to think you both are enjoying this, ladies. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were getting off on getting cucked… and that you were enjoying being fucked in front of your girlfriend."

Sabah whimpers, playing with her own rope-clad body even harder at his knowing words. She can't deny it at this point, even for the sake of the roleplay that at this point is beginning to morph into something truly real. Lily, meanwhile, grunts and groans, huffing and panting as she's fucked. She might have tried to say something… but she can't get the words out. She's enjoying herself too much just like Portent accused her of.

Finally, he reaches out and grabs Lily by her ponytail, yanking her head backwards from where it'd fallen forward the more he fucked her. As Sabah finds herself once again looking at her girlfriend's tinted visor, Portent grunts.

"Tell her. Tell her how much you love my cock, Fletchette. Tell her how good it feels, getting fucked by a real man."

Sabah nearly cums again right there on the spot. Just the idea of Lily doing that has her teetering on the edge. Of course… the anticipation holds her back long enough for Lily to pretend to 'break'.

"Oh god… oh fuck, h-he's right Parian! I, nnngh, l-love his cock! I love how good it feels! I love being f-fucked by a real man!"

The acting is straight out of a porno, but then Sabah's feverish aroused brain is way too hazy at this point to care. Hearing those words from Lily's lips as she watches the other woman get fucked from behind… Sabah tips over the edge, cumming even harder than she did previously and squirting all over the floor in front of her as her legs quake before finally giving out.

As she slides to her knees, Sabah watches Portent reach around from behind and grab Lily by the tits, pulling her further back against his chest as he slams upwards into her harder and harder. It takes her a second to realize that he's walking them both forward with each thrust, pushing Lily closer to where Sabah is kneeling until finally… they're practically on top of her.

Sabah stares up at the sight of her girlfriend's cunt stretched wide by Portent's big fat cock, watching his heavy balls smack up against her sex with every deep, penetrating thrust he makes. And then she watches as Lily lets out a loud, wanton squeal, cumming HARD on Portent's cock and squirting all over her porcelain mask as a result.

A moment later and Portent pulls out, his cock sliding down from Lily's sopping wet cunt and bouncing for a moment before it springs upwards… right in Sabah's face.

He begins to cum a moment later, covering Sabah's mask and chest in his seed. From the blonde locks of her wig to the porcelain doll mask hiding her identity, all the way down to her rope-bound brown breasts. He cums for what feels like an eternity, coating her in his jizz as the final 'finish' to a truly spectacular experience.

Needless to say, Sabah experiences one last orgasm as well as the sticky, hot substance drools down her body. Fuck… it was all just so perfect.

Of course, now that they're done, Portent changes his tone quite quickly. Holding Lily a bit more gently so she doesn't collapse on top of Sabah with how her legs are currently trembling and shaking, he clears his throat.

"… How was that? Sorry, I didn't want to risk anything by cumming inside so I sort of… improvised the ending."

Panting heavily, still catching her breath, Lily leans into Portent for support even as she looks down at Sabah.

"It was… fine. I'm on the pill, so it would have been okay… but from the look of things, Parian enjoyed the finisher all the same."

Sabah blushes but nods in agreement.

"Y-Yes… thank you for doing this for us, Portent."

Portent smiles warmly, causing butterflies in Sabah's stomach as he inclines his head.

"Sure. Any time."

Her girlfriend giggles and runs her fingers down Portent's chest.

"Well, we might just take you up on that offer. Though I would say both Parian and I need a shower after that. Mm, you could join us… but we'd all have to unmask to one another."

Sabah pauses, a little caught off guard by Lily being the one to suggest it. But then, she would have to be. Sabah wasn't going to do it, and Portent clearly didn't want to push. Still, it was kind of the inevitable next step wasn't it? They'd already done so much together…

-x-X-x-

Jason hesitates in the face of Fletchette's words. On the one hand, this had been… quite enjoyable. Plus, it did feel like they'd already done enough together that unmasking to each other at this point was almost a formality.

… On the other hand, Fletchette's boss was apparently a supervillain involved in some grand conspiracy that Jason and the others hadn't even begun to scratch the surface of. He didn't think Fletchette was necessarily under a Master Effect, nor did he think she would just give up his true identity even if her superiors asked her to. But at the same time, did he really want to risk it?

Part of him is tempted to spill the beans about Calvert just to see how Fletchette reacts. Another part of him is extremely tempted to just take the two very beautiful women up on their offer of that shower while staying quiet about the PRT Director. And still a third part of him says he should probably end things here for now and keep some sort of distance between him and the cape couple.

In the end… Jason makes his choice.

-x-X-x-

A/N: Will try to keep this up to date at the end of every chapter, get on me if I forget please. Though if it gets too out of hand, might have to change it at some point.

Jason's current banked points:

200 Celestial Points

Jason's current banked power:

= A Collection of Magic Rings (300 Points)

Jason's current powers:

= Flash Air (Gained in Chapter 1
= Transformation Pendant (Gained in Chapter 4)
= Keen Eye (Gained in Chapter 4)
= Blood, Death, and Demons (Gained in Chapter 6)
= Alchemical Prodigy (Gained in Chapter 8)
= Staff of Magnus (Gained in Chapter 13)
= Bind and Seal (Gained in Chapter 17)
= Hero of a Hundred Faces: Everyone's Leader (Gained in Chapter 20)
= Minor Regeneration via Blood Empowerment Ritual (Gained in Chapter 23)
(Taylor got Major Agility, Vicky got Major Intelligence)
= Restraining Order (Gained in Chapter 25)
= Focus (Gained in Chapter 28)
= Scarborough Fair (Gained in Chapter 30)
= Chaos Magic (Gained in Chapter 36)
= Major Regeneration via Blood Empowerment Ritual (Gained in Chapter 40)
(Taylor, Vicky, and Amy all got Minor Regeneration)

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

A/N: "We were so over, but now we are SO back" – Lisa, probably

-x-X-x-

Her finger is broken, as her power so helpfully tries to inform her in grotesque detail every time she so much looks down at her hand. And yet… Lisa doesn't care. Yes, her finger might be broken, but fuck was it worth it if it meant that fucking bastard got what was coming to him.

His shock, his confusion, his rage… all of it is so damn delicious. Lisa can't help the giggles that spill forth from her lips, the cocktail of medication swimming through her leaving her unable to really control her reactions. Dinah is the same way, the two of them both just giggling helplessly in the face of their captor's impotent fury.

When Coil had first gotten his hands on her, Lisa had immediately begun making plans to try and get out from under his thumb. Unfortunately, they hadn't worked out in her favor. He'd caught her, no doubt through use of his own parahuman power, and Lisa had quickly discovered what little leash she'd had could vanish with a snap of the bastard's fingers.

Dinah had it both better and worse. The Mayor's Niece had triggered from the stress of her first few months at University, only to be picked up by Coil and sequestered down here shortly after Lisa's plans had fallen through and she'd found herself imprisoned.

Together, they formed the reluctant backbone of Coil's operations. Through them, he'd managed to gain much more of a foothold in the city than he would have otherwise, up to and including taking control of the PRT Directorship.

At first, Lisa had hoped that Coil overstepped when he took Dinah. After all, Lisa was nobody. A stray. A runaway from out of state that nobody in Brockton Bay would miss. But Dinah? Dinah Alcott was related to the city's Mayor. She was a beautiful young adult woman who had been publicly attending Brockton Bay University before she was taken.

Surely they would be hunting for her. Surely there would be a boatload of resources put towards tracking Dinah down at all costs… right?

When Lisa's power had 'helpfully' informed her of that particular achievement after gaining enough context clues from Coil's questions to realize WHY he was asking some of the things he'd asked, her hopes of rescue had plummeted.

If Coil was able to somehow subvert the massive amount of testing that every PRT Director was subject to in order to avoid precisely this possibility, then what chance of rescue did they have? If he was the head of the very organization that should have been looking for them and in turn saving them from HIS clutches… then they were doomed.

Until now. Until tonight. Lisa almost hadn't noticed it. Staring up at the ceiling blankly, she'd simply been existing. Really, she'd been waiting for the next time that Coil came to demand questions and already anticipating the headaches that he would push on both her and Dinah to get what he wanted from them.

But then she'd seen it… a bug moving along the ceiling. That wasn't entirely unusual. Coil ran a tight ship, but they were underground and insects were always around. Lisa had seen plenty of bugs in her time as Coil's prisoner, using them to amuse herself and pass the time.

This bug though… was strange. It was like watching someone trying to pretend to be normal. The movements were just slightly off. Eventually, Lisa's powers had helpfully informed her that the bug was acting so weird because it was in fact being controlled by a parahuman. A parahuman doing reconnaissance on Coil's base. A parahuman that she'd been given the dossier for just a few days ago. Weaver, the Independent Hero.

Immediately, Lisa's hopes had begun to rise. After all, if Weaver was here… then maybe Portent was too. And if Portent were here, then Coil could be potentially rendered helpless. That would mean he could be taken down and she and Dinah could be rescued.

When her powers had then informed her that Weaver and Portent were only here to scout things out however, Lisa had grown a little panicked. Sure, maybe they would come back eventually, but what if they didn't? What if something happened to them? What if Coil caught wind of their snooping and moved her and Dinah somewhere else entirely?

That couldn't be allowed to happen. Lisa couldn't allow that to happen. Fortunately, she'd been able to find one of Weaver's bugs on the floor and send the Independent Hero a message. And fortunately, there were still good people left in this shithole of a city, because Weaver and Portent had listened. They'd come.

Lisa knows that Portent's presence gives Coil debilitating headaches because he shuts down the snake-themed villain's active ability. Likewise, asking Dinah any questions about Portent caused the young woman serious damage. But for Lisa… for Lisa, it was just blissful, blessed silence.

Looking at Portent now, he is the most amazing thing she'd ever seen. Not just because he was here to save them, not just because he and Weaver had come for her… but because the little voice in her head that would have told her every nasty, terrible thing about him is completely and utterly quiet.

Slowly, Coil begins to raise his hands.

"Very well. I can see when I'm beat. I surrender."

Lisa's giggling ceases and she starts to pout. She would much rather have had them cave in the bastard's face when he tried to resist in some way. Unfortunately, he's making the right call. Given the whole base is shaking from Glory Girl on a rampage above their heads and Coil's guards here in the room are both frozen in a form of stasis by Portent's powers, there's really nothing Coil can do.

But that's not good enough for Lisa. That's not- oh. Lisa's eyes widen as she finds herself looking at Weaver's body language and picking up some interesting information. She might not be able to get anything from Portent, but Weaver was a different story. The other woman was an open book to Lisa's power.

Her bugs surge forward, surrounding Coil and even climbing up his legs as he stiffens in response.

"Insurance, Calvert. Stay where you are and I won't need to do anything else to you."

That causes Coil to go even more still, and Lisa's smile to grow even wider. Ohoho! They already know! Somehow, Portent and Weaver already know about Coil and his secret identity! No wonder they'd done what they'd done. This… this was perfect.

"… I'm not sure what you're talking about. I understand the two of you are rather new to the cape scene, however. And someone like Glory Girl wouldn't explain it properly. There are these things called the Unwritten Rules, you see, and-!"

"Fuck that!"

All eyes turn towards her at that outburst. Lisa snarls as she points her incredibly puffy, very broken index finger in Coil's direction.

"Unwritten Rules don't cover infiltrating the position of PRT Director, asshole! And don't give me that look either, they already know exactly who you are Thomas Calvert! Why do you think they called in Legend?!"

Lisa's smile by the time she's done talking is positively maniacal. Weaver was who her power had picked up that information from. Legend was coming. Her power was certain of it. Weaver and Portent had contacted Fletchette, who had in fact been a Ward back in New York under Legend before she'd eventually moved to Brockton Bay upon moving up to the Protectorate.

Fletchette would call Legend and Legend would come. Lisa was sure of it. And Coil… Coil studies her for a moment and clearly manages to read that smug certainty from her face, his entire body language shifting in an instant in a way that has Lisa's eyes widening.

"DON'T LET HIM SPEAK!"

To their credit, they have incredibly reaction times for newbie Independent Heroes. Or at least, Portent does. Weaver reacts far slower to Lisa's words, but Portent flicks out his staff and Coil winds up in the same sort of stasis as his guards before the man can even get a word out.

Lisa breathes a sigh of relief and collapses back onto the bed. Of course, Portent and Weaver are looking at her now, probably expecting an explanation of some sort.

"He… didn't like the idea of Legend showing up. Guessing he had some sort of contingency plan in case he found himself in the custody of the local PRT, but it didn't account for one of the Triumvirate being the one to make the arrest."

Groaning, Lisa stares up at the ceiling for a long moment.

"Fuuuck my finger really hurts. Hope Legend isn't too far away…"

If this were a fictional story of some sort, that would have been the perfect moment for Legend to show up, Lisa figured. It would have even made sense, given Legend's powers made him very, VERY fast. But… no. Silence reigns for a moment before Weaver suddenly jolts and moves forward.

"Sorry I… I have some basic supplies here."

Lisa blinks as Weaver's bugs carry a small bag to her and the independent cape starts taking out first aid supplies. Nothing that can really do a LOT for a crushed finger, but she nevertheless begins trying to splint and wrap up Lisa's digit.

Hissing, Lisa squeezes her eyes shut in agony, which prompts Portent to speak up.

"If you'd rather not deal with the pain, I can Seal you like I did Coil. You're not aware while you're Sealed, so we can keep you like that until we reach a hospital."

Eyes snapping open, Lisa shakes her head vehemently.

"N-No… no, don't. You might still need me. I can handle a little pain, so long as it ensures Dinah and I get out of here intact."

The other female Thinker just whimpers from over on her bed. Her giggling has stopped and her eyes are currently shut. Maybe she's trying to avoid her power inadvertently interacting with Portent in any way. Lisa gets it, sort of. She certainly hadn't liked seeing Dinah with her eyes rolled back and blood pouring from her nose the last time Coil had tried to get an answer about Portent out of her.

"Understood. You don't have to worry though. We're not going to let Coil get away, let alone keep you. You're safe now."

She believes him. Or at least, she trusts his sincerity. Funny how the one man her power doesn't work on is able to gain her complete trust so quickly. However, just because she can feel in her bones that he's telling the truth as he sees it… doesn't mean she believes his claim.

"… Coil isn't the only one who would love to get their hands on us. This might be the end of his little empire, but that doesn't mean we're truly safe."

Portent frowns at that, his gaze flicking between the 'Sealed' Coil, her, and Dinah. He opens his mouth, only to close it again a moment later in thought. Finally, Weaver finishes splinting and wrapping Lisa's broken finger as best as she possibly can with her level of inexperience.

Pulling back, the female parahuman looks Lisa in the eye.

"We won't let them have you either. We'll protect you from anyone who wants to use you like Coil did. You have our word."

She means it too, Lisa's power oh so helpfully informs her. Weaver is someone who has had a rough life. She's the kind of person who has suffered horrible things at the hands of others. And yet, it didn't break her. She came out the other side stronger… but also incredibly reliant on Portent and his approval in the process.

From the way Portent smiles and straightens up, Weaver has said precisely what he wanted to hear from her. Weaver in turn straightens up a little bit as well, pleased that she's made him happy.

"Weaver is right. We won't let anyone hurt you ever again, Lisa."

Lisa smiles crookedly at that and tilts her head to the side.

"… Not even the PRT? The Protectorate?"

Portent opens his mouth to reply, but before he can the actual door to the room suddenly opens up, causing him and Weaver to both whip around. Lisa isn't surprised like they are however. She'd noticed a minute ago how the fighting above their heads had died down and silence had filled the space.

There, standing in the doorway with Glory Girl just behind him… is an eminently recognizable man. Wavy brown hair and a square jaw. Handsome features hidden behind a blue and white mask. A tall, lean yet muscular physique that's accentuated by his skintight sky blue costume with lightning bolts to complete the aesthetic.

Slowly, he steps into the room, taking in his surroundings. From the frozen guards to a frozen Coil with frozen bugs massing on his legs. Then onwards, to Portent and Weaver as well as Lisa and Dinah on the bed. Lisa notes how he even takes note of her finger, her power helpfully informing her of a small burst of guilt from the man that he hadn't been able to prevent the injury.

"Apologies. I came as soon as I could."

This is the leader of the Protectorate, and one of the Triumvirate. This is Legend.

-x-X-x-

A/N: Will try to keep this up to date at the end of every chapter, get on me if I forget please. Though if it gets too out of hand, might have to change it at some point.

Jason's current banked points:

100 Celestial Points

Jason's current banked power:

= Lucky Charm (200 Points)

Jason's current powers:

= Flash Air (Gained in Chapter 1
= Transformation Pendant (Gained in Chapter 4)
= Keen Eye (Gained in Chapter 4)
= Blood, Death, and Demons (Gained in Chapter 6)
= Alchemical Prodigy (Gained in Chapter 8)
= Staff of Magnus (Gained in Chapter 13)
= Bind and Seal (Gained in Chapter 17)
= Hero of a Hundred Faces: Everyone's Leader (Gained in Chapter 20)
= Minor Regeneration via Blood Empowerment Ritual (Gained in Chapter 23)
(Taylor got Major Agility, Vicky got Major Intelligence)
= Restraining Order (Gained in Chapter 25)
= Focus (Gained in Chapter 28)
= Scarborough Fair (Gained in Chapter 30)
= Chaos Magic (Gained in Chapter 36)
= Major Regeneration via Blood Empowerment Ritual (Gained in Chapter 40)
(Taylor, Vicky, and Amy all got Minor Regeneration)
= A Collection of Magic Rings (x6 Cursed Rings, x12 Drawback Rings, x6 Buff Rings) (Gained Chapter 44)
= Jason: T3 Armor Ring + Blue Ring, Taylor: T3 Armor Ring + Expert's Ring, Vicky: Red Ring + T2 Heart Ring, Amelia: T3 Armor Ring + T2 Heart Ring (Handed out Chapter 46)

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text