For a moment, the catgirl found herself in that quiet place between asleep and awake, staring up at the ceiling, idly noting that the poster she'd stuck
up there was coming loose. For a moment, there was a sense of peace, as her mind focused on nothing in particular. Then it passed, and she was wide awake,
remembering how she'd ended up back here, and what had happened.
Carefully, she climbed out of the bed, taking care not to wake Neko, who had been cuddled up against her stomach. That was somewhat unusual. Neko tended to
prefer her basket and it nice, comfortable cushions. But given the state Alive had been in earlier, it wasn't all that surprising.
She wants to make sure she's still got her puppet, a bitter voice in the back of her head noted. Alice paused, wondering where that idea had
come from, then sighed and left the room. That didn't make any sense. Still, her mind lingered on the subject for a moment, coming up with a rather
unnerving mental image of her throwing herself into battle, time and time again, while Neko merely watched.
She scowled, shaking her head in frustration. "Talk about stupid," she muttered to herself. Thinking that about Neko of all people. Cats.
Whatever. Neko was there with her, helping her, guiding her. Alice sighed, putting it down to a very strange mood swing. She trusted Neko.
Like you trusted Inyme? the voice asked. Alice paused at the door to the bathroom, the thought stopping her cold. Inyme. A Rikti spy. She'd
trusted her too. And look how that turned out, the troublesome part of her mind noted. You didn't just trust her, you loved her. You let your
guard down and she played you perfectly. She tried not to think about it as she stepped into the bathroom. Hell, she didn't just play you, did
she?
"Shut up," she scowled, going to the sink and turning on the tap. Cupping her hands under the water stream, she splashed herself in the face,
rubbing at her aching eyes for a moment.
"Why? Pointing out something you don't want to admit?" her voice replied. Startled, she looked up, staring at the mirror. Her reflection
glared at her, resting her hands on the sink. "You've been ignoring this for too long Alice," she sneered. "Well, you can't do that
anymore."
"What the hell does that mean?" Alice growled, tail lashing back and forth.
"You've been playing at being one of the capes, playing at being someone else." The reflection rolled her eyes. "The real world get too
hard for you little kitty?" she asked.
"I haven't been playing," Alice shot back. "I'm a hero, and I've made something of myself-"
"No!" the mirror snapped. "You've made Purrfect Archer, a fancy little fake life where you're safe and happy! You went and forgot
everything you learned, and look what happened." she leaned forward, nearly touching the glass, and smirked. "You ended up a Riktis
fucktoy."
"Shut up," Alice whispered.
"Not happening kiddo," the image said, shifting to a smaller form, losing the fur, the ears, the purple hair. "Remember this? You never wear
it, but it's your face. Back when you used that brain, you'd have realised this. But you were oh-so-eager to be loved, to be safe, you tossed it aside.
You tossed aside the most important rule, the one that kept you alive, kept you safe. Don't. Trust. Anyone."
"I said, shut up."
"You learned it a long time ago," she taunted. "Everyone will try to use you. I don't care what kind of act they put on. Neko, Ifrit,
Nene, Sammy... all with their own goals-"
"SHUT UP!" Alice yelled, eyes glowing with power. Her reflection backed up as telekinetic energies cracked the glass. "You're full of
it,"she growled. "Inyme may have tricked me, she may have lied to me, but that doesn't mean the others have. It doesn't mean that my mommas
have, or Sammy!"
"How can you be sure?" the image taunted. "Even that telepathy of yours clearly isn't perfect."
Alice leaned in closer, a smirk visible behind the glow of her eyes. "No, it's not. But it doesn't need to be. Something I've worked out
since I was you. I don't need to know everything to trust, and I don't need your paranoia."
"You don't need me?!" the image managed. "I am you! The real you, not that stupid cat!"
"No, you're the parts I outgrew," Alice said calmly. "Even as bad as things may be, I don't need you anymore." The glow in her
eyes intensified, and the reflection screamed as the mirror shattered.
***
For a moment, the catgirl found herself in that quiet place between asleep and awake, staring up at the ceiling, idly noting that the poster she'd stuck
up there was coming loose. For a moment, there was a sense of peace, as her mind focused on nothing in particular. Then it passed, and she was wide awake,
remembering how she'd ended up back here, and what had happened.
Alice sat up quickly, knocking Neko awake with the sudden motion. The cat shook her head and looked up. "Alice?" she asked quietly.
"I... I'm okay," she replied, reaching down and scratching the cats ears. "Just a weird dream," she sighed. She noted that if her
mind was coming up with dreams like that, she was really out of it. Arguing with herself in a mirror? Weird.. The catgirl ran a hand through her hair and stood
up, grabbing a shirt. Her issues about Inyme, Nemesis and the mess of her love life could wait. She was starving.
***
Sammy had been fidgeting for hours, ever since Ifrit had explained the situation to her. She'd sat down, swapped chairs, paced, lay down on the couch,
and had gone up to the door of Alices room half a dozen times.
It didn't surprise Nene. Hell, she was in much the same state, although she'd distracted herself by fetching a laptop from her office and logging
into the PSIs computers to make sure that Inyme hadn't compromised them. She honestly doubted it, given her own theory about the girl, but it was her job
to be somewhat paranoid.
Ifrit was distracting herself with various chores, using them to try and pull her mind from the thought of what her kitten must be going through right now.
As Nene looked up, she saw the fey going through the washing, holding up one item of clothing at a time and focusing her powers on drying them out. It was a
clever way to fine tune her control, but right now, her temper was leaving some items more then a little singed. Nene took another look, and noticed that her
lover had swapped to towels and other non-important items. A slight smile flickered over her face at that.
A moment later, Alice emerged from her bedroom, drawing the instant attention of the other three women. Nenes expression tighted as the awful look on her
daughters face. Tear stained fur, black rimmed eyes, and an expression somewhere between exhaustion and misery. She put the laptop aside and started to stand
up, but Sammy was well ahead of her. The smaller catgirl had launched across the room and tackle-hugged her sister. Alices eyes widened, a little caught off
guard, before a weak smile appeared and she returned the hug. "Thanks," she whispered, holding the hug for a moment, then heading for the
kitchen.
As the purple haired girl started grabbing food at random, she caught Nenes eyes and smiled weakly at the concern her mother was practically radiating.
"Did you want to talk about it?" the redhead asked softly.
"Not yet," Alice admitted. "I need to clear my head a bit first." Nene nodded as the girl ate. The catgirl paused for a moment, looking
up at Ifrit, who was trying to restrain herself from physically fretting over her daughter. "It's okay mum," she said with a slight smile.
"I'm... okay, I'm not fine, but I'm alright for now.
Blushing slightly, the fey rubbed an ear nervously. "Should I take that to mean I'm worrying too much?" she asked.
The question got a slightly larger smile. "Not this time, but it's one of the things I love about you." Alice looked around. "Um, I know
I need to talk about it, but... later, please? I just want to try and calm down first." All three women (and one cat) looked at each other in
understanding and nodded.
***
A few hours later, as she walked down a street in Atlas, Alice found herself reconsidering the wisdom of that statement. Oh sure, it seemed like a good
idea. Don't stress out over the issue, let her mind clear itself for the moment. It wasn't like she'd be able to do much about it anyway. Inyme was
probably locked up in Vanguards RWZ base, or one of their other, more secret facilities, and it was almost certain that Alices own access to the Rikti War Zone
had been cut off. (A part of her wondered why Vanguard or Longbow hadn't come to arrest her as a possible Rikti sympathizer yet)
So, if she couldn't talk to Inyme, she might as well try and wait, to tackle the problem with a refreshed mind. Besides, she didn't really want to
talk to Inyme anyway. The womans betrayal was still ringing in her mind, and she most likely wouldn't be able to deal with her right now without having a
massive freakout.
The catgirl paused, adjusted the hat that kept her from standing out too much, then sighed. What was there to deal with? Inyme was an alien spy, using her
to get cozy with the hero community, and... She growled slightly, forcing the subject out of her brain with a meditation technique (That she very deliberately
did not remember Inyme taught to her), before deciding on food. With that, she turned and headed down an alleyway, intent on the nearby Up n' Away.
A moment later, she had the curious experience of several Hellions emerging from behind a dumpster, two more coming up behind her. The sheer oddity of it
actually made Alice stop in surprise for a moment. One of the gangers in front of her took it as the usual fear of a civilian and grinned at her. "Heya
legs," he said, leering at her and making her regret wearing the tight jeans.
For a moment, Alice wondered just what the hell these goons were thinking, trying to attack a Hero of the City. Then she caught a flicker of thought from a
Hellion and realised that, in street clothes with her tail hidden in her oversized jacket and ears covered by her hat, they didn't recognise her.
A dangerous smile formed, making the Hellions in front of her pause. Then her eyes began to glow with a purple fire that reached out from her eye sockets
and obscured her upper face. "Christ, it's a cape!" one of the Hellions yelped, raising his bat. The one next to him had a look of terrified
recognition on his face and turned to run. He got half a step before Alice held out a hand and a wave of telekinetic force hit him from behind, picking him up
and throwing him. The other Hellions stared as he was thrown down the alley, over the street, eventually landing with a painful looking crash in the park
around city hall.
"What the fuck..." one of the Hellions managed, before Alice merely looked at him and sent a wave of pain through his body, knocking him out cold.
The rest of the Hellions lasted maybe three seconds, the common street thugs no match for a Hero of the City.
As the last of them landed in a dumpster, the smile faded from Alices face. "So much for stress relief... You guys suck!" she growled. " I
didn't even summon my bow... Good God, and I used to be afraid of you jerks?" That statement made her pause for a moment, considering. "I used to
be afraid of you," she repeated, as if only realising how much her world had changed.
Near her feet, one of the Hellions rolled over and looked up at her with an expression that was an odd mixture of confusion and a growing concussion.
"Wha?" the street thug managed.
"I used to be scared of you. Terrified even," the catgirl replied, starting to babble slightly, as Catgirls did on ocassion (And the Hyperkitteh
did at virtually all times). "Back in the old days when I was out here on the streets, hiding from the Lost, praying the Skulls didn't want to do some
death ritual, hoping that I hadn't found some piece of junk the Clockwork wanted. Just another scared little homeless girl." She reached down and
picked him up, magically enhanced muscles easily hoisting the taller man up off the ground. "You know, I remember why I was scared of you. I was weaker,
you were stronger. You had knives and baseball bats and guns. You liked to gang up on us."
Growling, she slammed the man against the alley wall, drawing a pained gasp from him. "You think you're hot shit, don't you asshole?" she
snapped, eyes beginning to glow again. "Strutting around, stealing purses, cutting people just because you can... but you don't like to think about
the truth," she sneered. She leaned forward. "I was a weak little homeless girl... and you're even more pathetic then I was."
"Fuck you," he shot back, only to wince as an unknown force pinned him to the wall as Alice released her grip on his tattered vest.
"You like to pretend you're so tough, that you're the big tough guys, but you run and hide from everyone else. Heroes, Trolls, Skulls, Council,
even the fucking Clockwork," she sneered. "No one would rent out a place to a Hellion, so you're... what, living out of the warehouses you used
to chase me out of?" she wondered, her sneer growing as he flinched. "So, you're just like the rest of us were." Archer looked him up and
down, the mystical glow in her eyes intensifying with loathing, before the light blinked out and the Hellion slumped to the ground. "And you always will
be."
There wasn't a reply for a long moment, the ganger trying to get his bearings as Alice turned and walked towards the alleyway exit. "You say yer a
street kid!" he taunted. "Those clothes are new, yer hairs clean... Yer not one of us!"
Archer paused, and the Hellion paled as he considered how badly she could hurt him, then she turned back. "I was never one of 'you'
Hellion," she said softly. "I was one of your victims. Now, I'm something more. If I ever catch you again, you'll be going to the Zigs
ER." For some reason, the look on her face (was that pity?) left him unable to speak as she walked away and vanished around the corner. He stood there for
a long time, looking at where she'd vanished and thinking.
Meanwhile, Alice was unable to keep a smile off her face as she walked along. That bit of stress relief had turned out even better then expected. Funny how
she'd never even noticed how things had changed. When had the Hellions stopped being so terrifying, and just another group of scum to beat down and stop
from hurting people? If she had to guess, it must have been around the time she pulled a team together to stop the Thorns from capturing the Cavern of
Transcendence. Probably sooner, given how they never dared to go much deeper into the Hollows then Cherry Hills.
She smiled, leaping up into the air, flipping and landing on a rooftop two stories up without a second thought. So much of her life had changed around that
time. One night she'd crashed in a quiet alleyway, hiding behind a pile of half crushed boxes to hide her form, the next morning she found herself with
purple hair, ears and a tail. Then she'd pulled a bow out of nowhere, found she had what should have been a frightening level of skill with it, and seen a
chance to fight back.
Standing on the rooftop, she looked over at the massive statue of Atlas, standing before City Hall, and watched the dozens of heroes that gathered under the
giants feet. Not for the first time, she found herself grateful that the city would hand out superhero licences to almost anyone, even a grumpy little catgirl
in dirty, third-hand clothes and a sudden rush of bravado that saw her mouth off to the lady behind the desk and stick herself with the name 'Just Another
Archer'.
"Changed more then I guessed," she realised with a tone of soft wonder. "A home, parents, Sammy, Neko... Inyme," she said, a touch of
misery returning for a moment before she shook it off. "And a lot of women in power armour that made for an interesting family," she added in a
louder tone.
There was a soft chuckle from behind her, and the metal figure of Edge Sabre stepped up to the edge of the rooftop. "How long did you know I was
there?" she wondered.
"Since about halfway through my Hellion beatdown," she said with a shrug, tapping the side of her forehead for explanation. "I was wondering
if you were going to join in."
The comment got an amused snort. "The day you need help with a bunch of fourth-rate goons like that is the day you'd turn in your bow and
tights," she replied, a laugh in her voice. Alice grinned again, nodding in agreement.
"So... what're you doing here?" she wondered.
Edge shrugged, radiating a slight sense of embarrassment. "Anthy had a hunch you might need a hand...and I suspect she just cdfalls them hunches
because she's modest." The catgirl snickered at that one, her mood improving as she stepped back from the roof edge. Tail waving in amusement, she sat
on top of the air conditioner intake, looking at her, before taking on a more serious expression.
"So, did Anthy tell you what her hunch was related to?" Edge slid up her visor to reveal a young womans face with wide, curious blue eyes and a
few locks of pink hair that made it past her helmets seals.
"No, but from the way she was talking, I'd say it was pretty damn important," she shrugged.
The catgirl sighed, her ears drooping. "It turns out that Inyme is a Rikti spy." The direct comment got a surprised exclamation from Edge, which
brought a faint smile to Alices face for a heartbeat. "It's... kind of a long story," she said.
Edge looked at her for a moment, then sat down next to her, the air vent making a creaking noise under her armors weight. "You ready to talk about
it?" she asked gently.
"...yeah, a bit," Alice said, beginning to talk about the mission she'd been running for the Dark Watcher, the dark truth about the war, the
fight against a fake Positron... and the moment her world lost all reason. "I still don't want to believe it," she whispered, Edges arm over her
shoulder. "That maybe I'm dreaming, or crazy, but... I could see her mind, like I always could. I could see it all, the truth of what she was telling
me."
Her eyes flickered with an angry glow for a moment. "For once," she added with a snarl in her voice. "We're linked, I can see what
she's thinking, and likewise. She's shown me glimpses of her world, her past... she was an orphan like me, and I knew her world was different... she
was so adorably confused by music," the catgirl commented, looking slightly sad. "When I asked, she let me see memories of her music back
'home'... it's like ours, but different. They're telepaths, so much of it is with senses that I still don't really understand. When they
sing, their artists leading hundreds, thousands, in ballads of history and fiction, tales of love and growth... Inyme was stunned at the thought of one person
singing alone, or bands... but she liked it. Said we sang in our own way, conveying emotions, concepts in notes, tunes and words, guitars and drums and
violins... I took her to one of Priss's concerts once," she admitted with a smile that, for now, wasn't tainted by the revelation. "When she
started on Hurricane, she was stunned. Just stood there wide-eyed, listening to Priss, the Replicants... the crowd." She giggled. "It was so alien to
her, but she learnt to understand it."
In the pause that followed, Edge could see the moment of peace fade and bitterness return. "It was all there, right in front of me. What I knew about
her world, her powers, her people... and I couldn't see it. How could she... I couldn't put the pieces together, because I was so sure I knew
her..."
The emotions were ripping through her, and she could almost taste Edges, the woman was radiating that strongly. The shock, the horror, concern for Alice and
others, and... regretful understanding? Blinking the tears away, Alice looked up at her. "There's... I don't mean to pry, but there's
something you know, something important."
Royal-blue eyes met her own in a sad gaze as Edge nodded. "Yeah... There is," she admitted. "From what I can see, Inyme is a woman that
thought she knew how the world worked, but just found out that one of the most important facts is wrong." The catgirl frowned as she continued. "She
'knew' that our world attacked first. She 'knew' our world was the enemy, and given Nemesis framed the Freedom Phalanx, she would naturally
think that the heroes were the true enemy-" She held up a hand at Alices angry growl. "Hear me out, I'm not saying she was right, I'm saying
what her entire people knew to be the absolute truth from the moment Nemesis attacked all those years ago. The man is twisted and evil and insane, but he's
a genius. He knew the Rikti were telepaths, he knew he'd have to make his automations so advanced that anyone would be fooled." She sighed, shaking
her head. "Damn terrifying actually," she said softly.
Alice looked up at her, eyes radiating a growing understanding. "She thought that we..."
"Attacked her world," Edge said gently. "That we did to them what they did back to us. I'm not saying it was right," she said
quickly as Alices eyes flashed. "But it's all a matter of perspective. She had a certain point of view on this world, one she sure as heck
couldn't share with us." Looking over Atlas, she sighed. "She probably even thought the Freedom Phalanx and co were lying to us, keeping their
crimes hidden. Who knows... she might have thought she was trying to save us."
There was a long silence, before Alice spoke again. "How can you know this?" she asked. "How can you be so confident about her? I... I was in
her mind, I could feel her all the time, it was a natural and right as breathing... and she still tricked me," she whispered.
For a long moment, Edge Sabre didn't reply. The telepath could feel guilt coming up from deep inside the armoured heroine, an old, painful guilt.
"Because before I escaped Crey, I was the same way," she admitted at last. "I believed what they told me. They were my creators, why would they
lie? Crey could be trusted. So, I fought for them. Not for long, thank God, but I still did damage. I hurt people, good people, maybe even killed some... and I
rescued Anthy from Nemesis, only to turn her over to Creys' 'qualified doctors,'" she whispered. "If I hadn't heard them talking as I
left..." she shuddered slightly, remembering the moment she'd turned on her creators and saved the woman she'd fall in love with, simply because
she knew what she defined as right and wrong.
"Utena..." the catgirl whispered, stunned.
Closing her eyes, Edge took a deep breath. "Afterwards, I found out the truth, and it nearly broke me. If it wasn't for Anthy and your Aunt Sylia,
I doubt I would have made it." She opened her eyes and looked at Alice again. "I'm not forgiving what she did. Hell, I don't know her well
enough to. But you..." She shrugged, looking for the right words. "I don't know. That's something you need to work out kid."
The words seemed to make Alice shrink in on herself somewhat. "I'd need to talk to her," she said softly, ears drooping. "I can't
sense her like I always could... Maybe she doesn't want me to talk to me... or they've got her somewhere that I can't hear her... I could ask to
see her," she thought, then chuckled. "Yeah, that'll happen. They've probably cut off my warzone access already, maybe even sent people to
arrest me as a possible collaborator..." she paused, sitting up straighter and frowning.
After a long moment, Edge spoke. "Alice? What is it?"
"There's something else I need to do, now," she said. "I can't go through the Vanguard base. More trouble then it's worth now.
But... there's something I need to do in the RWZ. I've been putting it off for a long time, but if Vanguard tries to cut me off, I'll never get to
do it." She looked up at the older woman. "Can you help me get through the Legendary teleporter?"
Utena nodded instantly. "Of course I can," she replied. "But I'm coming with you, just in case."
***
There was a crash as Street Sabre vented her frustrations on a chair in the Legendarys cafeteria. While sturdy, the chairs there were never designed to
handle a power-armour clad leg kicking it with all the strength it could muster, and it came apart in a shower of splinters that went sailing across the room.
Several heroes in that direction dived for cover under the tables, then rose to sent Street a series of annoyed glares that the woman ignored, instead opting
to pace back and forward and swear a lot.
"Well, she's in a calm, rational mood," Quicksilver Nano observed.
"For her, yes," Valles replied with a wry tone, plucking a splinter out of Twilit Blades hair.
"I say we go there, drag the alien bitch out and get some answers out of her the old way!" Street snapped. "Whatever she did to Alice, we
need to know!" she growled, slamming one gauntleted fist into the other.
"They wouldn't even let you in," Twilit snorted. "You'd be stuck at the front door. Hardly the way to get answers out of a
traitor." Streets head jerked towards her, but the hidden glare behind the helmet had little effect on the Warshade. Before the Sabre could move towards
her, the sleeker form of Silicon Sabre moved up behind her and placed an hand on the womans bicep. Street turned to look at her, then relaxed after a moment,
the emotions passing between the two obvious, even if any words they'd shared had been kept to a private channel on their suit comm.
"Brightsky ran off to do something like that anyway," Mag grumbled, looking uncomfortable. "Probably something worse really. The girl
wasn't in a reasoning mood." Next to him, Pooky snorted and tried to light a cigar again, only to have the tanker freeze the end of it again. "We
really should have sent more people after her," he frowned. "Mood she's in, it probably won't just be Inyme that gets hurt."
"We've got the right people after her," Emerald Blast said, absently scratching Mr Whiskers. "Besides, she's in the RWZ. The Vanguard
base there is big, but it's not a safe place to keep a high priority prisoner like her. The moment they know it's secure, they'll move her to a
more secure, more hidden facility to properly debrief her." She paused, looking down to her stuffed toy as several newer heroes that had been lurking
around the conversation looked at her oddly, not expecting such a statement from one of the teams officially crazy personnel. "Mister Whiskers thinks that
might be the best thing to do," she added. "Let Vanguard get the answers out of her whatever it takes. They'd do a better job of it then us,
after all."
Street snorted as space rippled over near the door, and the blue-haired form of Dark Glass appeared. "Well boss, you'll be happy to know that all
the system links between here and our base are all secure," she reported. Silicon nodded, taking what satisfaction she could at the moment. "In
fact," she added as Lora'lai walked in behind her, "I've found no evidence of tampering at all. I've been rechecking all the logs,
including the logs that monitor the main logs for alterations, and the ones that monitor those..." she shrugged. "Everything comes up
clean."
"She's been accessing a lot of files," Lora'lai added. "But frankly, nothing suspicious there. Intel reports from Longbow, the PPD
and Vanguard on various criminal group activities, local law texts, information from informants... Looking at it, I'd just say she was a
workaholic."
Silicon tilted her head to the side, looking at the Legendary leader. "I've always thought of her that way," she admitted with a wry tone in
her voice. "There were times that it seemed that Alice was the only person that could pull her away from that." There were a few weak chuckles at
that.
Whatever Lora was about to say was interrupted by a beeping from her coat pocket. Frowning, she pulled out a PDA and looked at it. "Alice is
here," she noted, slightly surprised. "I thought she'd still be at home." Dark Glass blinked, then teleported again, jumping across the base
towards the entry area, reappearing in time to see Alice walking into the teleporter bay. She frowned and followed, calling the catgirls name.
Purrfect Archer turned back towards her as she and Edge Sabre stepped onto one of the teleporter pads. "Sorry auntie Mir," she said with a shrug.
"Just need to take care of something." Behind her, Bill pressed several of the buttons and they vanished in a shower of light.
The Warshade frowned, then saw as she saw the teleporters beacon control monitor inform her that the teleport had safely arrived in the Rikti War Zone.
"Oh no," she groaned, hitting a button on her wrist gauntlet. "Bosslady, we've got a problem!"
***
Nothing seemed to have changed in the Rikti War Zone, even with the recent revelations of Nemesis and the wars origin. Vanguard soldiers and tanks clashed
with Rikti forces, Crey security officers were trying to steal whatever they could, Arachnos made trouble for everyone... It was oddly depressing.
Aside from stopping to save a Vanguard squad in an ambush, none of whom seemed to know how to deal with the Catgirl before she bounced off again, the two
heroines didn't really slow down as they travelled across the ruined zone. Utena checked her mental map, and decided that they were heading more or less
directly to wherever Alice had in mind, and that it wasn't near the Vanguard base at all, and was more on the eastern side of the giant crater that housed
the downed mothership.
Alice landed on a rooftop, then paused and looked around, before leaping down the side of the crumbling apartment block and landing at the front door. Utena
followed her inside, somewhat on edge... as was Purrfect Archer actually, who was moving along carefully with her bow out. Just because this was a building
that would be listed as condemned anywhere else in the city, and was in a region that had been completely abandoned of all civilians, didn't mean that
there weren't heavily armed villains in there. It was a fact of life in Paragon.
They went up several floors, Alice pausing on occasion, appearing to be mentally rechecking their path. After about five minutes, the catgirl came to a stop
in front of a locked door. Looking rather pleased at that, she knelt down and looked at the lock. Her eyes flashed for a moment, and the doors lock glowed a
similar purple, then the cylinder turned and clicked.
"Do your mothers know you can do that?" Utena wondered with a chuckle.
Alice turned the door handle and pushed the door open slightly, letting the glow fade. "Momma Nene does," she smiled back. "She notes that
pin cylinders make it easy." Then, the smile faded and she pushed the door open, stepping inside.
The home inside looked like a hundred others that both women had seen since becoming heroes and walking in the broken areas of Paragon (Well, for Edge.
Alice had been actually living in such areas for years, before Ifrit and Nene had taken her in). The carpet on the floor had rotted away, exposing cracked
plaster floorboards underneath. A couch up against one faded wall was in a similar condition, probably made worse from an old moisture stain in the roof above
it. An old television stood in the corner, dead and forgotten.
Edge could see a kitchen past the living area, and not for the first time, she noted with amusement that the old images of scavenger animals picking over
mans wastes wasn't really accurate. Even more so then any other dead zone in Paragon, there was nothing for the rats here. They'd eaten everything of
value a long time ago and learned that remaining would give them nothing but starvation.
"What is this place?" she asked softly. Alice didn't respond immediately, walking over to where a picture frame had fallen off the wall.
Picking it up and brushing off the old glass, she looked at it for a long moment, an odd expression on her face.
Then, with a soft, miserable noise in her voice, she replied, "It was my home." Edge blinked, then moved to take a look at the picture the cat
held. It was a family photo, one of the kind that every family had done when their childrens school had a decent photographer handling school photos. A little
girl, maybe eight years old, wearing a properly done up school uniform and sitting in front of her parents, both of whom were wearing clothes that weren't
overly fancy, but respectable.
The Sabres attention was on the girl. A school uniform she didn't recognise, probably destroyed in the war, but it indicated that her parents had put
her in a private school as compared to Paragons less formal public system. The mousey brown hair was unfamiliar, not to mention the braid it'd been put in,
and the eyes were the wrong colour, but the face looked like a softer, rounder Alice.
"Even after Ouroboros, I wasn't sure," she said softly. "I found the younger me by luck and a scrying spell actually," she admitted.
"From there, I found... my name, my address, even pictures from a court appearance he made," she added, tapping the mans picture. "This is my
father, Victor Hancock." She smiled slightly at Edges mental pause. "Yeah, I know. My name before I was adopted was Alice Baker. I made it up. I
didn't remember my real name. Hadn't used it forever..." The catgirl chuckled, standing up. "Alice... well, I think Sammy named me actually,
back when I was still too scared to say anything."
She looked around the room, then stepped down a slight hallway and opened a door. Frowning at the sight of an old bathroom, she picked another door and
stopped, looking into what had once been her bedroom. Edge moved up behind her as she stepped inside, over a set of drawers that had likely been knocked over
in the quake from the mothership crash. She knelt down next to the bed, looking at the handful of dolls and old, stuffed toys. "... I don't
remember," Alice admitted. "I guess these meant something to me, once upon a time... but I don't remember it." Picking up a Miss Liberty
plushie, she looked at it curiously.
"... Do you remember much?" Edge asked gently.
Alice shook her head. "Nothing solid really. Inyme helped me try and focus, but one of the first things I really remember is Sammy deciding I needed a
name." She giggled. "I thought she was so cool, and brave and smart..." There was a pause as she wiped at her eyes. "She looked after me,
kept me safe, taught me how to get food and what I shouldn't eat. She was always so much better at grabbing food from stores." She dropped the doll
back on the bed. "I never could figure out why she was always wearing baggy clothes. I thought that maybe she didn't want anyone to know she was a
girl, but her voice gave that away... Never imagined she wasn't entirely human. Not that it would have mattered. Not with my big sister... she'd always
keep me safe... Then she was in the Hollows when it all fell apart..." she slumped slightly at the miserable memory, the end of the 'better days'
on the streets.
"You found her again," Utena told her softly, placing an armoured hand on her shoulder. "You saved her from the Trolls, got her back in your
life..."
There was a soft laugh, amusement muted somewhat by the darker emotions. "And now she thinks I'm the cool one," she said. "I don't
think she realises I'm only alive because of her."
"She saved you, you saved her," Utena said, hugging her gently. "That's what family does."
It was a simple statement of fact, but it got the result the Sabre was after. Alices miserable mood faded somewhat as she leaned back against Utena, ears
twitching occasionally. After a moment, she broke the embrace. "Help me search, will you? I need to find the important stuff. The photo albums, any family
videos or diaries... my past."
Edge Sabre nodded. "Gladly."
***
up there was coming loose. For a moment, there was a sense of peace, as her mind focused on nothing in particular. Then it passed, and she was wide awake,
remembering how she'd ended up back here, and what had happened.
Carefully, she climbed out of the bed, taking care not to wake Neko, who had been cuddled up against her stomach. That was somewhat unusual. Neko tended to
prefer her basket and it nice, comfortable cushions. But given the state Alive had been in earlier, it wasn't all that surprising.
She wants to make sure she's still got her puppet, a bitter voice in the back of her head noted. Alice paused, wondering where that idea had
come from, then sighed and left the room. That didn't make any sense. Still, her mind lingered on the subject for a moment, coming up with a rather
unnerving mental image of her throwing herself into battle, time and time again, while Neko merely watched.
She scowled, shaking her head in frustration. "Talk about stupid," she muttered to herself. Thinking that about Neko of all people. Cats.
Whatever. Neko was there with her, helping her, guiding her. Alice sighed, putting it down to a very strange mood swing. She trusted Neko.
Like you trusted Inyme? the voice asked. Alice paused at the door to the bathroom, the thought stopping her cold. Inyme. A Rikti spy. She'd
trusted her too. And look how that turned out, the troublesome part of her mind noted. You didn't just trust her, you loved her. You let your
guard down and she played you perfectly. She tried not to think about it as she stepped into the bathroom. Hell, she didn't just play you, did
she?
"Shut up," she scowled, going to the sink and turning on the tap. Cupping her hands under the water stream, she splashed herself in the face,
rubbing at her aching eyes for a moment.
"Why? Pointing out something you don't want to admit?" her voice replied. Startled, she looked up, staring at the mirror. Her reflection
glared at her, resting her hands on the sink. "You've been ignoring this for too long Alice," she sneered. "Well, you can't do that
anymore."
"What the hell does that mean?" Alice growled, tail lashing back and forth.
"You've been playing at being one of the capes, playing at being someone else." The reflection rolled her eyes. "The real world get too
hard for you little kitty?" she asked.
"I haven't been playing," Alice shot back. "I'm a hero, and I've made something of myself-"
"No!" the mirror snapped. "You've made Purrfect Archer, a fancy little fake life where you're safe and happy! You went and forgot
everything you learned, and look what happened." she leaned forward, nearly touching the glass, and smirked. "You ended up a Riktis
fucktoy."
"Shut up," Alice whispered.
"Not happening kiddo," the image said, shifting to a smaller form, losing the fur, the ears, the purple hair. "Remember this? You never wear
it, but it's your face. Back when you used that brain, you'd have realised this. But you were oh-so-eager to be loved, to be safe, you tossed it aside.
You tossed aside the most important rule, the one that kept you alive, kept you safe. Don't. Trust. Anyone."
"I said, shut up."
"You learned it a long time ago," she taunted. "Everyone will try to use you. I don't care what kind of act they put on. Neko, Ifrit,
Nene, Sammy... all with their own goals-"
"SHUT UP!" Alice yelled, eyes glowing with power. Her reflection backed up as telekinetic energies cracked the glass. "You're full of
it,"she growled. "Inyme may have tricked me, she may have lied to me, but that doesn't mean the others have. It doesn't mean that my mommas
have, or Sammy!"
"How can you be sure?" the image taunted. "Even that telepathy of yours clearly isn't perfect."
Alice leaned in closer, a smirk visible behind the glow of her eyes. "No, it's not. But it doesn't need to be. Something I've worked out
since I was you. I don't need to know everything to trust, and I don't need your paranoia."
"You don't need me?!" the image managed. "I am you! The real you, not that stupid cat!"
"No, you're the parts I outgrew," Alice said calmly. "Even as bad as things may be, I don't need you anymore." The glow in her
eyes intensified, and the reflection screamed as the mirror shattered.
***
For a moment, the catgirl found herself in that quiet place between asleep and awake, staring up at the ceiling, idly noting that the poster she'd stuck
up there was coming loose. For a moment, there was a sense of peace, as her mind focused on nothing in particular. Then it passed, and she was wide awake,
remembering how she'd ended up back here, and what had happened.
Alice sat up quickly, knocking Neko awake with the sudden motion. The cat shook her head and looked up. "Alice?" she asked quietly.
"I... I'm okay," she replied, reaching down and scratching the cats ears. "Just a weird dream," she sighed. She noted that if her
mind was coming up with dreams like that, she was really out of it. Arguing with herself in a mirror? Weird.. The catgirl ran a hand through her hair and stood
up, grabbing a shirt. Her issues about Inyme, Nemesis and the mess of her love life could wait. She was starving.
***
Sammy had been fidgeting for hours, ever since Ifrit had explained the situation to her. She'd sat down, swapped chairs, paced, lay down on the couch,
and had gone up to the door of Alices room half a dozen times.
It didn't surprise Nene. Hell, she was in much the same state, although she'd distracted herself by fetching a laptop from her office and logging
into the PSIs computers to make sure that Inyme hadn't compromised them. She honestly doubted it, given her own theory about the girl, but it was her job
to be somewhat paranoid.
Ifrit was distracting herself with various chores, using them to try and pull her mind from the thought of what her kitten must be going through right now.
As Nene looked up, she saw the fey going through the washing, holding up one item of clothing at a time and focusing her powers on drying them out. It was a
clever way to fine tune her control, but right now, her temper was leaving some items more then a little singed. Nene took another look, and noticed that her
lover had swapped to towels and other non-important items. A slight smile flickered over her face at that.
A moment later, Alice emerged from her bedroom, drawing the instant attention of the other three women. Nenes expression tighted as the awful look on her
daughters face. Tear stained fur, black rimmed eyes, and an expression somewhere between exhaustion and misery. She put the laptop aside and started to stand
up, but Sammy was well ahead of her. The smaller catgirl had launched across the room and tackle-hugged her sister. Alices eyes widened, a little caught off
guard, before a weak smile appeared and she returned the hug. "Thanks," she whispered, holding the hug for a moment, then heading for the
kitchen.
As the purple haired girl started grabbing food at random, she caught Nenes eyes and smiled weakly at the concern her mother was practically radiating.
"Did you want to talk about it?" the redhead asked softly.
"Not yet," Alice admitted. "I need to clear my head a bit first." Nene nodded as the girl ate. The catgirl paused for a moment, looking
up at Ifrit, who was trying to restrain herself from physically fretting over her daughter. "It's okay mum," she said with a slight smile.
"I'm... okay, I'm not fine, but I'm alright for now.
Blushing slightly, the fey rubbed an ear nervously. "Should I take that to mean I'm worrying too much?" she asked.
The question got a slightly larger smile. "Not this time, but it's one of the things I love about you." Alice looked around. "Um, I know
I need to talk about it, but... later, please? I just want to try and calm down first." All three women (and one cat) looked at each other in
understanding and nodded.
***
A few hours later, as she walked down a street in Atlas, Alice found herself reconsidering the wisdom of that statement. Oh sure, it seemed like a good
idea. Don't stress out over the issue, let her mind clear itself for the moment. It wasn't like she'd be able to do much about it anyway. Inyme was
probably locked up in Vanguards RWZ base, or one of their other, more secret facilities, and it was almost certain that Alices own access to the Rikti War Zone
had been cut off. (A part of her wondered why Vanguard or Longbow hadn't come to arrest her as a possible Rikti sympathizer yet)
So, if she couldn't talk to Inyme, she might as well try and wait, to tackle the problem with a refreshed mind. Besides, she didn't really want to
talk to Inyme anyway. The womans betrayal was still ringing in her mind, and she most likely wouldn't be able to deal with her right now without having a
massive freakout.
The catgirl paused, adjusted the hat that kept her from standing out too much, then sighed. What was there to deal with? Inyme was an alien spy, using her
to get cozy with the hero community, and... She growled slightly, forcing the subject out of her brain with a meditation technique (That she very deliberately
did not remember Inyme taught to her), before deciding on food. With that, she turned and headed down an alleyway, intent on the nearby Up n' Away.
A moment later, she had the curious experience of several Hellions emerging from behind a dumpster, two more coming up behind her. The sheer oddity of it
actually made Alice stop in surprise for a moment. One of the gangers in front of her took it as the usual fear of a civilian and grinned at her. "Heya
legs," he said, leering at her and making her regret wearing the tight jeans.
For a moment, Alice wondered just what the hell these goons were thinking, trying to attack a Hero of the City. Then she caught a flicker of thought from a
Hellion and realised that, in street clothes with her tail hidden in her oversized jacket and ears covered by her hat, they didn't recognise her.
A dangerous smile formed, making the Hellions in front of her pause. Then her eyes began to glow with a purple fire that reached out from her eye sockets
and obscured her upper face. "Christ, it's a cape!" one of the Hellions yelped, raising his bat. The one next to him had a look of terrified
recognition on his face and turned to run. He got half a step before Alice held out a hand and a wave of telekinetic force hit him from behind, picking him up
and throwing him. The other Hellions stared as he was thrown down the alley, over the street, eventually landing with a painful looking crash in the park
around city hall.
"What the fuck..." one of the Hellions managed, before Alice merely looked at him and sent a wave of pain through his body, knocking him out cold.
The rest of the Hellions lasted maybe three seconds, the common street thugs no match for a Hero of the City.
As the last of them landed in a dumpster, the smile faded from Alices face. "So much for stress relief... You guys suck!" she growled. " I
didn't even summon my bow... Good God, and I used to be afraid of you jerks?" That statement made her pause for a moment, considering. "I used to
be afraid of you," she repeated, as if only realising how much her world had changed.
Near her feet, one of the Hellions rolled over and looked up at her with an expression that was an odd mixture of confusion and a growing concussion.
"Wha?" the street thug managed.
"I used to be scared of you. Terrified even," the catgirl replied, starting to babble slightly, as Catgirls did on ocassion (And the Hyperkitteh
did at virtually all times). "Back in the old days when I was out here on the streets, hiding from the Lost, praying the Skulls didn't want to do some
death ritual, hoping that I hadn't found some piece of junk the Clockwork wanted. Just another scared little homeless girl." She reached down and
picked him up, magically enhanced muscles easily hoisting the taller man up off the ground. "You know, I remember why I was scared of you. I was weaker,
you were stronger. You had knives and baseball bats and guns. You liked to gang up on us."
Growling, she slammed the man against the alley wall, drawing a pained gasp from him. "You think you're hot shit, don't you asshole?" she
snapped, eyes beginning to glow again. "Strutting around, stealing purses, cutting people just because you can... but you don't like to think about
the truth," she sneered. She leaned forward. "I was a weak little homeless girl... and you're even more pathetic then I was."
"Fuck you," he shot back, only to wince as an unknown force pinned him to the wall as Alice released her grip on his tattered vest.
"You like to pretend you're so tough, that you're the big tough guys, but you run and hide from everyone else. Heroes, Trolls, Skulls, Council,
even the fucking Clockwork," she sneered. "No one would rent out a place to a Hellion, so you're... what, living out of the warehouses you used
to chase me out of?" she wondered, her sneer growing as he flinched. "So, you're just like the rest of us were." Archer looked him up and
down, the mystical glow in her eyes intensifying with loathing, before the light blinked out and the Hellion slumped to the ground. "And you always will
be."
There wasn't a reply for a long moment, the ganger trying to get his bearings as Alice turned and walked towards the alleyway exit. "You say yer a
street kid!" he taunted. "Those clothes are new, yer hairs clean... Yer not one of us!"
Archer paused, and the Hellion paled as he considered how badly she could hurt him, then she turned back. "I was never one of 'you'
Hellion," she said softly. "I was one of your victims. Now, I'm something more. If I ever catch you again, you'll be going to the Zigs
ER." For some reason, the look on her face (was that pity?) left him unable to speak as she walked away and vanished around the corner. He stood there for
a long time, looking at where she'd vanished and thinking.
Meanwhile, Alice was unable to keep a smile off her face as she walked along. That bit of stress relief had turned out even better then expected. Funny how
she'd never even noticed how things had changed. When had the Hellions stopped being so terrifying, and just another group of scum to beat down and stop
from hurting people? If she had to guess, it must have been around the time she pulled a team together to stop the Thorns from capturing the Cavern of
Transcendence. Probably sooner, given how they never dared to go much deeper into the Hollows then Cherry Hills.
She smiled, leaping up into the air, flipping and landing on a rooftop two stories up without a second thought. So much of her life had changed around that
time. One night she'd crashed in a quiet alleyway, hiding behind a pile of half crushed boxes to hide her form, the next morning she found herself with
purple hair, ears and a tail. Then she'd pulled a bow out of nowhere, found she had what should have been a frightening level of skill with it, and seen a
chance to fight back.
Standing on the rooftop, she looked over at the massive statue of Atlas, standing before City Hall, and watched the dozens of heroes that gathered under the
giants feet. Not for the first time, she found herself grateful that the city would hand out superhero licences to almost anyone, even a grumpy little catgirl
in dirty, third-hand clothes and a sudden rush of bravado that saw her mouth off to the lady behind the desk and stick herself with the name 'Just Another
Archer'.
"Changed more then I guessed," she realised with a tone of soft wonder. "A home, parents, Sammy, Neko... Inyme," she said, a touch of
misery returning for a moment before she shook it off. "And a lot of women in power armour that made for an interesting family," she added in a
louder tone.
There was a soft chuckle from behind her, and the metal figure of Edge Sabre stepped up to the edge of the rooftop. "How long did you know I was
there?" she wondered.
"Since about halfway through my Hellion beatdown," she said with a shrug, tapping the side of her forehead for explanation. "I was wondering
if you were going to join in."
The comment got an amused snort. "The day you need help with a bunch of fourth-rate goons like that is the day you'd turn in your bow and
tights," she replied, a laugh in her voice. Alice grinned again, nodding in agreement.
"So... what're you doing here?" she wondered.
Edge shrugged, radiating a slight sense of embarrassment. "Anthy had a hunch you might need a hand...and I suspect she just cdfalls them hunches
because she's modest." The catgirl snickered at that one, her mood improving as she stepped back from the roof edge. Tail waving in amusement, she sat
on top of the air conditioner intake, looking at her, before taking on a more serious expression.
"So, did Anthy tell you what her hunch was related to?" Edge slid up her visor to reveal a young womans face with wide, curious blue eyes and a
few locks of pink hair that made it past her helmets seals.
"No, but from the way she was talking, I'd say it was pretty damn important," she shrugged.
The catgirl sighed, her ears drooping. "It turns out that Inyme is a Rikti spy." The direct comment got a surprised exclamation from Edge, which
brought a faint smile to Alices face for a heartbeat. "It's... kind of a long story," she said.
Edge looked at her for a moment, then sat down next to her, the air vent making a creaking noise under her armors weight. "You ready to talk about
it?" she asked gently.
"...yeah, a bit," Alice said, beginning to talk about the mission she'd been running for the Dark Watcher, the dark truth about the war, the
fight against a fake Positron... and the moment her world lost all reason. "I still don't want to believe it," she whispered, Edges arm over her
shoulder. "That maybe I'm dreaming, or crazy, but... I could see her mind, like I always could. I could see it all, the truth of what she was telling
me."
Her eyes flickered with an angry glow for a moment. "For once," she added with a snarl in her voice. "We're linked, I can see what
she's thinking, and likewise. She's shown me glimpses of her world, her past... she was an orphan like me, and I knew her world was different... she
was so adorably confused by music," the catgirl commented, looking slightly sad. "When I asked, she let me see memories of her music back
'home'... it's like ours, but different. They're telepaths, so much of it is with senses that I still don't really understand. When they
sing, their artists leading hundreds, thousands, in ballads of history and fiction, tales of love and growth... Inyme was stunned at the thought of one person
singing alone, or bands... but she liked it. Said we sang in our own way, conveying emotions, concepts in notes, tunes and words, guitars and drums and
violins... I took her to one of Priss's concerts once," she admitted with a smile that, for now, wasn't tainted by the revelation. "When she
started on Hurricane, she was stunned. Just stood there wide-eyed, listening to Priss, the Replicants... the crowd." She giggled. "It was so alien to
her, but she learnt to understand it."
In the pause that followed, Edge could see the moment of peace fade and bitterness return. "It was all there, right in front of me. What I knew about
her world, her powers, her people... and I couldn't see it. How could she... I couldn't put the pieces together, because I was so sure I knew
her..."
The emotions were ripping through her, and she could almost taste Edges, the woman was radiating that strongly. The shock, the horror, concern for Alice and
others, and... regretful understanding? Blinking the tears away, Alice looked up at her. "There's... I don't mean to pry, but there's
something you know, something important."
Royal-blue eyes met her own in a sad gaze as Edge nodded. "Yeah... There is," she admitted. "From what I can see, Inyme is a woman that
thought she knew how the world worked, but just found out that one of the most important facts is wrong." The catgirl frowned as she continued. "She
'knew' that our world attacked first. She 'knew' our world was the enemy, and given Nemesis framed the Freedom Phalanx, she would naturally
think that the heroes were the true enemy-" She held up a hand at Alices angry growl. "Hear me out, I'm not saying she was right, I'm saying
what her entire people knew to be the absolute truth from the moment Nemesis attacked all those years ago. The man is twisted and evil and insane, but he's
a genius. He knew the Rikti were telepaths, he knew he'd have to make his automations so advanced that anyone would be fooled." She sighed, shaking
her head. "Damn terrifying actually," she said softly.
Alice looked up at her, eyes radiating a growing understanding. "She thought that we..."
"Attacked her world," Edge said gently. "That we did to them what they did back to us. I'm not saying it was right," she said
quickly as Alices eyes flashed. "But it's all a matter of perspective. She had a certain point of view on this world, one she sure as heck
couldn't share with us." Looking over Atlas, she sighed. "She probably even thought the Freedom Phalanx and co were lying to us, keeping their
crimes hidden. Who knows... she might have thought she was trying to save us."
There was a long silence, before Alice spoke again. "How can you know this?" she asked. "How can you be so confident about her? I... I was in
her mind, I could feel her all the time, it was a natural and right as breathing... and she still tricked me," she whispered.
For a long moment, Edge Sabre didn't reply. The telepath could feel guilt coming up from deep inside the armoured heroine, an old, painful guilt.
"Because before I escaped Crey, I was the same way," she admitted at last. "I believed what they told me. They were my creators, why would they
lie? Crey could be trusted. So, I fought for them. Not for long, thank God, but I still did damage. I hurt people, good people, maybe even killed some... and I
rescued Anthy from Nemesis, only to turn her over to Creys' 'qualified doctors,'" she whispered. "If I hadn't heard them talking as I
left..." she shuddered slightly, remembering the moment she'd turned on her creators and saved the woman she'd fall in love with, simply because
she knew what she defined as right and wrong.
"Utena..." the catgirl whispered, stunned.
Closing her eyes, Edge took a deep breath. "Afterwards, I found out the truth, and it nearly broke me. If it wasn't for Anthy and your Aunt Sylia,
I doubt I would have made it." She opened her eyes and looked at Alice again. "I'm not forgiving what she did. Hell, I don't know her well
enough to. But you..." She shrugged, looking for the right words. "I don't know. That's something you need to work out kid."
The words seemed to make Alice shrink in on herself somewhat. "I'd need to talk to her," she said softly, ears drooping. "I can't
sense her like I always could... Maybe she doesn't want me to talk to me... or they've got her somewhere that I can't hear her... I could ask to
see her," she thought, then chuckled. "Yeah, that'll happen. They've probably cut off my warzone access already, maybe even sent people to
arrest me as a possible collaborator..." she paused, sitting up straighter and frowning.
After a long moment, Edge spoke. "Alice? What is it?"
"There's something else I need to do, now," she said. "I can't go through the Vanguard base. More trouble then it's worth now.
But... there's something I need to do in the RWZ. I've been putting it off for a long time, but if Vanguard tries to cut me off, I'll never get to
do it." She looked up at the older woman. "Can you help me get through the Legendary teleporter?"
Utena nodded instantly. "Of course I can," she replied. "But I'm coming with you, just in case."
***
There was a crash as Street Sabre vented her frustrations on a chair in the Legendarys cafeteria. While sturdy, the chairs there were never designed to
handle a power-armour clad leg kicking it with all the strength it could muster, and it came apart in a shower of splinters that went sailing across the room.
Several heroes in that direction dived for cover under the tables, then rose to sent Street a series of annoyed glares that the woman ignored, instead opting
to pace back and forward and swear a lot.
"Well, she's in a calm, rational mood," Quicksilver Nano observed.
"For her, yes," Valles replied with a wry tone, plucking a splinter out of Twilit Blades hair.
"I say we go there, drag the alien bitch out and get some answers out of her the old way!" Street snapped. "Whatever she did to Alice, we
need to know!" she growled, slamming one gauntleted fist into the other.
"They wouldn't even let you in," Twilit snorted. "You'd be stuck at the front door. Hardly the way to get answers out of a
traitor." Streets head jerked towards her, but the hidden glare behind the helmet had little effect on the Warshade. Before the Sabre could move towards
her, the sleeker form of Silicon Sabre moved up behind her and placed an hand on the womans bicep. Street turned to look at her, then relaxed after a moment,
the emotions passing between the two obvious, even if any words they'd shared had been kept to a private channel on their suit comm.
"Brightsky ran off to do something like that anyway," Mag grumbled, looking uncomfortable. "Probably something worse really. The girl
wasn't in a reasoning mood." Next to him, Pooky snorted and tried to light a cigar again, only to have the tanker freeze the end of it again. "We
really should have sent more people after her," he frowned. "Mood she's in, it probably won't just be Inyme that gets hurt."
"We've got the right people after her," Emerald Blast said, absently scratching Mr Whiskers. "Besides, she's in the RWZ. The Vanguard
base there is big, but it's not a safe place to keep a high priority prisoner like her. The moment they know it's secure, they'll move her to a
more secure, more hidden facility to properly debrief her." She paused, looking down to her stuffed toy as several newer heroes that had been lurking
around the conversation looked at her oddly, not expecting such a statement from one of the teams officially crazy personnel. "Mister Whiskers thinks that
might be the best thing to do," she added. "Let Vanguard get the answers out of her whatever it takes. They'd do a better job of it then us,
after all."
Street snorted as space rippled over near the door, and the blue-haired form of Dark Glass appeared. "Well boss, you'll be happy to know that all
the system links between here and our base are all secure," she reported. Silicon nodded, taking what satisfaction she could at the moment. "In
fact," she added as Lora'lai walked in behind her, "I've found no evidence of tampering at all. I've been rechecking all the logs,
including the logs that monitor the main logs for alterations, and the ones that monitor those..." she shrugged. "Everything comes up
clean."
"She's been accessing a lot of files," Lora'lai added. "But frankly, nothing suspicious there. Intel reports from Longbow, the PPD
and Vanguard on various criminal group activities, local law texts, information from informants... Looking at it, I'd just say she was a
workaholic."
Silicon tilted her head to the side, looking at the Legendary leader. "I've always thought of her that way," she admitted with a wry tone in
her voice. "There were times that it seemed that Alice was the only person that could pull her away from that." There were a few weak chuckles at
that.
Whatever Lora was about to say was interrupted by a beeping from her coat pocket. Frowning, she pulled out a PDA and looked at it. "Alice is
here," she noted, slightly surprised. "I thought she'd still be at home." Dark Glass blinked, then teleported again, jumping across the base
towards the entry area, reappearing in time to see Alice walking into the teleporter bay. She frowned and followed, calling the catgirls name.
Purrfect Archer turned back towards her as she and Edge Sabre stepped onto one of the teleporter pads. "Sorry auntie Mir," she said with a shrug.
"Just need to take care of something." Behind her, Bill pressed several of the buttons and they vanished in a shower of light.
The Warshade frowned, then saw as she saw the teleporters beacon control monitor inform her that the teleport had safely arrived in the Rikti War Zone.
"Oh no," she groaned, hitting a button on her wrist gauntlet. "Bosslady, we've got a problem!"
***
Nothing seemed to have changed in the Rikti War Zone, even with the recent revelations of Nemesis and the wars origin. Vanguard soldiers and tanks clashed
with Rikti forces, Crey security officers were trying to steal whatever they could, Arachnos made trouble for everyone... It was oddly depressing.
Aside from stopping to save a Vanguard squad in an ambush, none of whom seemed to know how to deal with the Catgirl before she bounced off again, the two
heroines didn't really slow down as they travelled across the ruined zone. Utena checked her mental map, and decided that they were heading more or less
directly to wherever Alice had in mind, and that it wasn't near the Vanguard base at all, and was more on the eastern side of the giant crater that housed
the downed mothership.
Alice landed on a rooftop, then paused and looked around, before leaping down the side of the crumbling apartment block and landing at the front door. Utena
followed her inside, somewhat on edge... as was Purrfect Archer actually, who was moving along carefully with her bow out. Just because this was a building
that would be listed as condemned anywhere else in the city, and was in a region that had been completely abandoned of all civilians, didn't mean that
there weren't heavily armed villains in there. It was a fact of life in Paragon.
They went up several floors, Alice pausing on occasion, appearing to be mentally rechecking their path. After about five minutes, the catgirl came to a stop
in front of a locked door. Looking rather pleased at that, she knelt down and looked at the lock. Her eyes flashed for a moment, and the doors lock glowed a
similar purple, then the cylinder turned and clicked.
"Do your mothers know you can do that?" Utena wondered with a chuckle.
Alice turned the door handle and pushed the door open slightly, letting the glow fade. "Momma Nene does," she smiled back. "She notes that
pin cylinders make it easy." Then, the smile faded and she pushed the door open, stepping inside.
The home inside looked like a hundred others that both women had seen since becoming heroes and walking in the broken areas of Paragon (Well, for Edge.
Alice had been actually living in such areas for years, before Ifrit and Nene had taken her in). The carpet on the floor had rotted away, exposing cracked
plaster floorboards underneath. A couch up against one faded wall was in a similar condition, probably made worse from an old moisture stain in the roof above
it. An old television stood in the corner, dead and forgotten.
Edge could see a kitchen past the living area, and not for the first time, she noted with amusement that the old images of scavenger animals picking over
mans wastes wasn't really accurate. Even more so then any other dead zone in Paragon, there was nothing for the rats here. They'd eaten everything of
value a long time ago and learned that remaining would give them nothing but starvation.
"What is this place?" she asked softly. Alice didn't respond immediately, walking over to where a picture frame had fallen off the wall.
Picking it up and brushing off the old glass, she looked at it for a long moment, an odd expression on her face.
Then, with a soft, miserable noise in her voice, she replied, "It was my home." Edge blinked, then moved to take a look at the picture the cat
held. It was a family photo, one of the kind that every family had done when their childrens school had a decent photographer handling school photos. A little
girl, maybe eight years old, wearing a properly done up school uniform and sitting in front of her parents, both of whom were wearing clothes that weren't
overly fancy, but respectable.
The Sabres attention was on the girl. A school uniform she didn't recognise, probably destroyed in the war, but it indicated that her parents had put
her in a private school as compared to Paragons less formal public system. The mousey brown hair was unfamiliar, not to mention the braid it'd been put in,
and the eyes were the wrong colour, but the face looked like a softer, rounder Alice.
"Even after Ouroboros, I wasn't sure," she said softly. "I found the younger me by luck and a scrying spell actually," she admitted.
"From there, I found... my name, my address, even pictures from a court appearance he made," she added, tapping the mans picture. "This is my
father, Victor Hancock." She smiled slightly at Edges mental pause. "Yeah, I know. My name before I was adopted was Alice Baker. I made it up. I
didn't remember my real name. Hadn't used it forever..." The catgirl chuckled, standing up. "Alice... well, I think Sammy named me actually,
back when I was still too scared to say anything."
She looked around the room, then stepped down a slight hallway and opened a door. Frowning at the sight of an old bathroom, she picked another door and
stopped, looking into what had once been her bedroom. Edge moved up behind her as she stepped inside, over a set of drawers that had likely been knocked over
in the quake from the mothership crash. She knelt down next to the bed, looking at the handful of dolls and old, stuffed toys. "... I don't
remember," Alice admitted. "I guess these meant something to me, once upon a time... but I don't remember it." Picking up a Miss Liberty
plushie, she looked at it curiously.
"... Do you remember much?" Edge asked gently.
Alice shook her head. "Nothing solid really. Inyme helped me try and focus, but one of the first things I really remember is Sammy deciding I needed a
name." She giggled. "I thought she was so cool, and brave and smart..." There was a pause as she wiped at her eyes. "She looked after me,
kept me safe, taught me how to get food and what I shouldn't eat. She was always so much better at grabbing food from stores." She dropped the doll
back on the bed. "I never could figure out why she was always wearing baggy clothes. I thought that maybe she didn't want anyone to know she was a
girl, but her voice gave that away... Never imagined she wasn't entirely human. Not that it would have mattered. Not with my big sister... she'd always
keep me safe... Then she was in the Hollows when it all fell apart..." she slumped slightly at the miserable memory, the end of the 'better days'
on the streets.
"You found her again," Utena told her softly, placing an armoured hand on her shoulder. "You saved her from the Trolls, got her back in your
life..."
There was a soft laugh, amusement muted somewhat by the darker emotions. "And now she thinks I'm the cool one," she said. "I don't
think she realises I'm only alive because of her."
"She saved you, you saved her," Utena said, hugging her gently. "That's what family does."
It was a simple statement of fact, but it got the result the Sabre was after. Alices miserable mood faded somewhat as she leaned back against Utena, ears
twitching occasionally. After a moment, she broke the embrace. "Help me search, will you? I need to find the important stuff. The photo albums, any family
videos or diaries... my past."
Edge Sabre nodded. "Gladly."
***