2.3 Ice-cream on the Boardwalk

Or Something new about mind-merging and something old about bullies

Everything was much worse than I expected.

The USA is totally ruined for me now, really. It's like if you start your russian touristic experience not from Saint-Petersburg or Moscow but from Magnitogorsk. The place where Europe and Asia meet, indeed, but you don't go there to make a first impression of Russia. They make steel there, not good impression on tourist hordes. And lots of air pollution, really.

Well, Brockton Bay is the cape capital for tourists, so if not for the cape scene it would've been a really sorrowful sight. The flying Rig of the Protectorate seemed not so far from the Boardwalk, but I knew it would take more than an hour if we decided to travel there. And the damn ferry would've been nice, because the Boardwalk and the Downtown must be connected with something more than roads.

The amount of traffic happening here is awful, I gathered that much when we ended up staying on the same corner of the same street in a bus, filled like there no other transport at all. Not squeezed but that would be a possibility if it wasn't a weekend morning. And the amount of city transport is awful as well, not only the human mass inside of it.

The problem is fools and roads, as always… Why does it smell like home? And why the hell those bureaucrats don't approve Danny Hebert idea to reopen the ferry is definitely beyond my imagination.

"We'll need to look into it. It might be the Empire. Or others."

Hess stated it like it was something beyond any arguments. First I thought that she's talking to someone else - I wasn't paying attention while she was feeding the ice cream to the kid. This little girl was as adorable as any child could be, and I was looking where Sophia was looking and that was little Lori's face.

She wasn't talking about Laura's face, was she?

"Sopi, gimme moar!"

Little one was demanding and pretty much talkative for a two year old.

While we took the bus from home and then walked her to the cafe, I've gathered one quite important thing. Laura adored Scooby Doo, so she was considered another one kindred spirit in the Hess family.

The first one was hurting-nazis Sophia, even if I don't think I could've done the same in my own reality. Don't know about this one, it's pretty gruesome, and I'm not a fan of guns, violence and all that shit I would've known a lot about if I was fit for the Army. Funny thing about that, I've scheduled my eyes surgery two days after my 27th birthday. No reason to hold onto something that made me unfit if they were able to make me join only if it's for some war so they'd have to mobilize everyone. Anti-militarist approach won't get me anywhere in the world like this one, I bet.

Nazis make all the difference, really.

It reminded me of Russian nationalists. Those were easily provoked by gastarbeiter part of non-russian society in the Federation, but it was never as bad as here. And they seemed to be the unnecessary evil some of the government figures were ready to support for making the political move of divide et impera, to rule them all by letting them burn their steam in the wrong direction. I wonder, if it was the same shit here when they just started… Better they hurt each other for stupid reasons than they unite in one fist and fuck the acting authority with that same fist.

"Thoughtful much." - murmured Sophia and I felt her eyes lose focus, and her fingers squeeze the spoon with ice cream and I felt those fingers. - "I went deeper than I thought. Your thoughts are stupid!"

"I don't think so. And we're not letting the kid to come in vicinity of some real Great Dane dogs, are we? Even if she asks, just don't do it without proper guidance. Those are pretty scary until you outgrow them. My neighbour had one when I was kindergarten, name's Oscar. I love dogs, I really do, but not the big ones, even if the idea seemed good just before I met Oscar. No, it was like Oscar's the one who met me, and I was shitting my pants trying to ignore him out of fear."

"Gimme!"

The girl was so happy and unaware, I was… or maybe Sophia was, I don't quite get the difference right now, very much jealous. Lori wasn't aware of her sister's creepy crap in the head but, well, I was here too, so it wasn't crap anymore.

"Little tyrant you are," - Sophia giggled and obeyed her sister.

"The one and only superior force you have upon you until you slip. Again."

"Shut it," - she exhaled and stopped smiling.

"Why should I? You genuinely seem to think that bully Taylor is as good option as any and even better - you won't have to lose your chewing toy. You can't be sure that whatever your little pack would think of won't make her trigger wrong and go Carrie on every-fuckin-one. It's Queen Administrator we're talking about, not your fucking dog of a power. We need to go to the PRT and…"

"That would put me on their leash!" - she hissed. - "And you do understand that I'm talking to myself instead of simply thinking whatever you need to know of my opinion. And it feels like you would hear all my thoughts only if we merge. You want it as much as I do. And I really don't. Like, at all."

"We can't help it, Sophia. It's already butterflied. It's unnecessary for you, inefficient even, to proceed with whatever Emma thinks right. Relax a bit. Study. Have fun. I can even help you with algebra and studying music instruments for fuck's sake! We all might die the next day because someone would say something wrong to that golden offspring. And just get on with it! Just stop yourself when you have that urge to enjoy someone's weakness. You know that's not the only thing to enjoy in life…"

"I don't really care about Hebert. But I really care about my own well-being. And you didn't tell me I'd die. You told me about Alexandria and Eidolon. That info is as important as the info about my probable death. You would've told me, right?"

She managed to say it very slow and controlled, but I felt that she's doing it for her sister's sake. Her anger might frighten the kid. Not only anger? But fear.

"What did you think I was saying?" - I asked because I felt it was somehow uncalled for. She had the same level of fear when I told her about the Triumvirate.

"You said, we might die. Why did that thought even come to your mind if not for some reason…"

"The Slaughterhouse Nine would be in the city after Leviathan hits. And Leviathan hits because there are those guys who come into the city because of Coil who wants to use them and those guys have one girl on a team… Clone spawning fucking eldritch horror and power error girl. Smurfed clone spawning fucking eldritch horror power error girl, if I might add."

"And by smurfed you mean…"

"Just like the guy who controls Siberian and the Mannequin, whose dream of tinker-heaven on the Moon was destroyed by Simmy and then he was fucked in the head…"

She started coughing out her sprite - such a wrong move to accidentally drink anything while mindfully listening to the voice in your head, who's uncovering the best conspiracy ever.

"Guy who… cough… Siberian? What the fu… gly."

She looked at her sister who was eating by herself now… meh, she was trying to at least. Sophia scoffed and started to wipe Lori's face with clean paper tissue.

"Forget about bugging Hebert..."

I would've laughed if I could when I understood that it was her method of hiding the "fuck" word not some knowledge of Taylor's future powers. It wasn't quite a laughing matter when she continued and I grasped what she said.

"How do we kill Eidolon?"
2.4 Balancing carrots and sticks

Or
When surprises never end

"Well, apparently, we can manage it, despite whatever I said about… Well, it being just a mere fantasy."

"What do you mean by…"

She stopped in her tracks, seemed taken aback. She's seen it already, but somehow she was too wrapped in her mind to let it appear more important than her thoughts. I pointed it out, so not only I would be as freaked out as I am now, but she as well.

"What's that box doing here? It wasn't here when we left the room!"

"Don't even think of calling PRT. You did for a moment here. What's wrong with your spirit of adventure, kid? The box is for saxophone and I think I know who did it."

How could I not get the message, I wonder? It's quite easy to put two and two together, when there was a clear memorabilia of who put it on Sophia's bed.

"It's a hat."

Shadow Stalker pointed her slightly trembling finger at the black fedora. This case was actually quite worn and common. Why did Contessa bother herself with delivering someone's old sax just to make us feel intimidated, I think, I'll never know, but I did feel what she wanted me to, and so did Sophia.

"It's Contessa's fedora, and I think that's our carrot and stick both. But… I don't get one thing."

"What don't you get, it's a fucking threat, what's not to get here?! That Contessa you were thinking about, she's a teleporter, or what? Why saxophone? Why did she leave nothing but a hat and this case? Answer my goddamn questions! My brother was home all the time. He could've…"

"Her power is the Path to Victory. Always winning, never having fun. Duh, you can't have fun if you know that you gonna win. Just joking, because I'm fucking frightened, really. And, Sophia, you do understand that anytime I'm telling you that something might happen, that probably just means the thing I told you won't happen the way it happened."

"So, she's a precog level "fuck me sideways". And now what? Even if I might be able to ambush the Triumvirate somewhere in the future with the knowledge of Eidolon being the reason of motherfuckin' Endbringers appearing out of thin air, just like you suggested, and I still think that it's stupid and we won't live it through the hole they'll put me in. Even if it's a possibility, Kabaev, that's not getting us anywhere near the reason why she decided to send a message."

Her conclusion about Contessa's rating was quite accurate but I felt that I was missing something. Also, it was quite annoying, when Sophia showed me the depth of her ability to see my thoughts like I saw her's.

"Wow, you know my surname. That's creepy." - I decided to ask why she chose my surname specifically, it was quite important for understanding the real depth of what she knows. - "And what about name?"

"Not even try to make me learn how to properly say it! I know you don't even like it yourself. It's quite traditional and hard to shorten. It'd be better if I found you an alias anyway. Would be easier to pretend that I'm not a nutjob..."

Her depth of knowledge was more annoying than ever, really. She seems to be able to do the same shit I do to her - following thoughts until she can reach what she needed at the first place. I needed some retaliation.

"You said it yourself, Sophia! You have to pretend. So you do know you're nutjob. I was so worried, Sophie. So worried."

She started swearing, calling me all the things she could think of, and I really wanted to laugh at that, oh, only if I could, and she was clearly feeling all the mirth I was feeling, it kinda worked both ways right now. When she stopped her cussing at me her speech became more structured and she finally got to think on what that meant. She wasn't quiet, but I felt she needs it.

"So, when we were fantasizing about how one might destroy Triumvirate with this Eidolon thing, one of those ideas made sense to her powers, I assume. It probably isn't the one where you suggested asking Alexandria her opinion on our information and watching the result. I don't believe she'll believe and it won't end good for my well being, as I already said. And how would that precog know what we were thinking? And… how about Simmy and the fact that she's going to attack this winter? That Madison attack that's oh so important, you said, and if it gets screwed up in a good way so be it, it can't be worse, you said! Well, it can be! We're on the radar! And the whole bullshit didn't even start!"

"Stop shouting, fucktard!" - she was too loud for these walls of paper and I don't think her family would get it right if they hear her shouting things about cape bullshit. - "Your brother is in the house! And she's not just a precog. She's kind of mastered by her power, as well as I remember all those… Let's say, in a way all of you, parahumans, are mastered by your powers, Sophie, it's in your brain, after all. Why do you think your little nagging bitch haven't bothered you yet? You feel it, don't you? You're less spiteful, more collected, logically thinking for fucks sake! Yes, like when you're on one of your hunts but… somehow better because the promise of conflict isn't required and you didn't even think of going on patrol. It's because of your power being concentrated on nagging both you and me, so I feel it's attention even if I don't know how and you're quite used to it, so it's lacking… the bite?"

"Okay, dude, that's good that you vented and I'll try to stay calm...er, but I wasn't asking you what you said! My power works just fine, and if I feel good when you don't, it's beneficial for both of us, because my survival is in my hands, not yours, thank you very much!"

Sophia sat down on the bed, watching the case like she was thinking it'll nuke the neighborhood. Then she took the fedora in her hands and started absentmindedly playing with it like she didn't know what to do with her frustration when she couldn't shout or hit something. I answered her accusations and tried to explain why I was as useless as I was.

"Well, I got carried away, you know, I'm thinking here! And I don't fucking know whatever you asked. I wasn't going to write that damned fanfiction, wasn't making any notes or memorising timelines! I just read some shit about that goddamn Choose Your Own Adventure and thought that would be funny to write the chart..."

"Boring adult you are," - she smirked, I felt this mischievous attitude on our connection, and then she repeated what she said less than two hours ago, and that was a really good pun, considering the circumstances. - "With all those charts. Got something good out of them, I gather?"

"You think you're funny, huh?" - I asked her, while feeling her self-complacent mood when she looked in the small round mirror on her table.

She put the fedora on her head, adjusted the ponytail and some loose strands of hair that were out of place. No make-up, but I don't see if she even needs it. Pretty and sporty, dark eyes with some undeniable intensity in them, like she knew she shouldn't look that wrought-up but she wasn't able to stop it.

I'll have to get used to seeing anything but my pale dark haired muzzle on any reflective surfaces. It would be quite horrible when she'll have her periods. I heard some stories... Well, in the morning we established that peeing is okay. Why won't it be? I lived with women, so there's nothing I've never seen and I can't really embarrass myself with any possible inappropriate comments, because I'm thirty, not twelve, and I know when you shut it and do not mention again.

I was for a minute in my thoughts, so when she started talking to the mirror looking right into her eyes, I felt that she spooked me and looked me in the eyes, like, for real.

"If she doesn't want me to act on your knowledge, we'd have to stick to your initial plan, Kabaev. Or maybe I should call you the Creep while I'm in costume? It'll support the cape theme, and after all, you're gonna be stalking me like a creep for any foreseeable future…"

It turns out we were thinking about the same shit. How creepy that situation is and why the whole thing feels like it should've been somehow otherwise? Like, we shouldn't be talking and bonding, and I should be feeling the body like my own, adjusting to it's oddities, thinking to myself but not to someone who's in control, writing my goddamn charts about everything I remember and, finally, not joking around with the teenager that bullied Taylor Hebert and made her life hell with help of two others?

"If you start calling me that, I'll start calling you shadow bitch. And we'll be the best team ever. Till the death parts our ways," - I finally tried to joke back but suddenly it wasn't funny and her mirth vanished like it was never present.

"What do we do now?" - she asked and her tone was serious, dark and edgy.

"I don't fucking know. I think, we should just sleep on it."

"You're useless, you know it?" - she sighed and wondered back to the case. - "At least show me how to play it."

She opened the lock and I would be really glad if I could just take over the body and laugh like I laughed when Putin changed Constitution to make the term of his rule from four-year to six-year.

It was the one that's been called "Nenibredni" in the photo-review when I saw it first time. It was the actual tenor sax of B&S brand that had two engravings on it. One was, as is obvious, nenibredni. And the second one was Ahnenerbe. Ancestral heritage if you translate it from German. And the Nazi think tank, the SchutzStaffel appendage that was covering the justification of all the shit the nazis did. Nazis did play music as well.

I don't exactly want this saxophone anymore.

"It would be too loud, Sophia. It's a tenor sax, and you cannot play yet, so you'd be just producing loud noises for the first few weeks. Leave it be."

"We're going out then."

She closed the saxophone case and got her crossbow case from under the bed.

"I have to clean and oil it after each use,"- she provided me an explanation. - "Yesterday I was too tired to do it."

Crossbows do need maintenance as much as saxophones do, I gathered. So, it's case was even better than the saxophone one. Synthetic materials, no dirt on it, no Ahnenerbe engravements on what's inside…

"I think, I need some nazis to shoot as well, Shadow Stalker. And I also can play piano, flute and clarinet. So, find me one and we'll see what you can do with them. You don't learn how to play just one instrument if you're in it since you're four years old. By the way, do you have any music schools where you can study anything fundamental? Like, local ones?"

"They ain't free, you idiot. Be glad that the lady you're so afraid of took pity on you and gifted you the saxophone for your silence. It'd better be money but…"

Sophia readjusted her bag on the shoulder. Our secondhand fedora moved onto her eyes and when she couldn't make a catch, it fell down. Sophia followed it with her eyes while started feeling annoyed,but she couldn't drop her quite costly for her finances equipment. She gripped the bag tightly when her initial response was to go for a hat while losing the case, but that won't do. Apparently, you may hit someone with it, but some parts are fragile. So, she just followed the hat with her eyes and was rewarded. Fortuna was bullshit.

The silver and black piece of paper was hidden in the inside lining of the fedora.

It wasn't money.

It was a business card.