Chapter 157: All Aboard!

Chapter 157: All Aboard!

‘Mom’ was such a loaded word for Heather.

Heather’s mom either ran away from Dad when she was young...or Dad killed her. Neither would be surprising. He violently refused to talk about her, and so the concept of ‘mom’ had grown to become a nebulous void that was as terrifying as death itself.

Heather glanced away from Nat and Perry driving off in the beat-up sedan to go fight crime, idly holding her belly.

So why did she choose to keep the baby?

Aside from blessing the world with more of her two favorite people, there was also the idea of having a family. Finally being a part of something bigger than herself...That and pure spite.

She chose to be a mom because while the concept of ‘Mom’ was a terrifying unknown, in her mind it was the opposite of being like her dad. And she’d rather die than be like her dad.

That wasn’t to say she didn’t have any role models. Perry’s mom was bubbly and sweet, capable of nuking entire blocks, while Nat’s was an uptight manipulative bitch with little actual power. There was a lot of variation out there, and Heather pictured herself as more of a cool, badass mom. Whatever that looked like.

Heather winced as one of the little bastards kicked her in the bladder, nearly making her wet herself.

“That’s enough of that,” Heather muttered. Nat and Perry weren’t home, so there was no reason to keep up appearances.

Heather split her leg bones, expanded her ribcage, modified her hips and shifted her organs out of the way, adopting a spider-like form that allowed the babies to rest snugly in center-mass, weight comfortably distributed inside the cradle made of her modified quad-hips.

Ah, that’s better.

Heather let out a sigh of relief and got back to work, diving headfirst into getting the new place up to snuff. She’d just about forgotten the Manitian maids when she heard the doorbell ringing.

She scuttled over to the door and opened it with one of her eight limbs, looming above the doorframe.

“Good morning, Miss AAAHHHHGH!” The manitian head maid shrieked and flinched backwards into the waiting host of servants at the sight of ‘spider-Heather’.nôvel binz was the first platform to present this chapter.

“It’s the only way I’m comfortable. Deal with it.” Heather said, motioning them to follow.

“Of course...miss Skinner.” The servants exchanged worried glances.

“Skinner was my dad. Just call me Heather, or miss.” Heather said, shaking the woman’s hand with one of her four smaller ones. “Don’t stand around there, we got a lotta work to do.”

“Y-yes,” The head maid nodded.

“...fits right in with the rest of ‘em...” Heather heard one of the servants in the back whisper to his neighbor.

Heather grinned.

***

“Paradox, good to see you again, you’re taller than I remember,” Conductor Walthers said, taking in Perry’s height before shaking his hand. The conductor had been inspecting the outside of the Inter-city Train, a train roughly the size and shape of a skyscraper laying on its side.

The inter-city train was serious business, nearly a military operation in and of itself, being the only (non-superpowered) way for large amounts of vital supplies to be exchanged between Washington and Franklin.

The option of using Portal Man as the crux of intercity trade was dismissed when it was pointed out that one bullet could bring aforementioned trade to a complete halt.

The train rested on steel rails the width of king-sized beds, stretching out into the horizon, where glimmers of the morning light reflected off of them. The sheer amount of steel used on the rail was nearly unfathomable, but it was worth it for the added protection from megafauna.

“You did good last time. I’m just hoping your arrival isn’t a sign that things are going to get interesting again. No offense.”

“None taken, sir.” Perry said, carefully matching the swarthy conductor’s grip before releasing his hand. People were getting more and more...squishy as he leveled up.

Paradox Zauberer (Perry Z.)

Class: Garage Tinker

Level 12

HP: 13

Body: 30

Stability: 52

Nerve: 34

Attunement: 52

“You mean he’s one of these people?” Perry asked, motioning to the angry androids staring at them.

“Dunno,” Chemestro said with a shrug. “It’s a shame you couldn’t bring Breaker. His power would’ve been ideal for your mission to make the headhunters look foolish.”

“Alas, Nexus has a tendency to tell you to dig a hole with a wrench,” Perry muttered. “So what are you guys doing here?”

“We’re here to support you. Sin-eater has buffs and debuffs, I’ll dismantle anything that gets out of hand, and Role will provide support in the form of an ‘inside man’ upon arriving in Washington. He’s become quite the chameleon.”

“Either that or he’s just not here,” Perry muttered, scanning the crowd before returning his gaze to Chemestro.

“So I’m your boss for this job?”

“Yep.”

“That doesn’t bother you at all, does it?” Perry asked.

“Nope.” Chemestro said.

That bothers me, Perry thought, before shrugging it off.

Perry was about to hash out a game plan when a young voice interrupted his thoughts, drawing the attention of himself and Chemestro.

“Are you two the supers in charge of kidnapping us to your death camps?” Stacy Watt-Powers asked, hands on her hips, scowling at them. She stood at the front of a pack of androids, acting as their voice. They probably didn’t even understand why.

The ‘death camp’ assumption made sense from Stacy’s point of view, since she lacked direct input from Solaris about the plan.

“No death camps, we’re just going to Washington.” Perry said.

“I’ll believe it when I see it.” Stacy said with suspicion, eyeing him up and down with her big brown eyes.

“Thanks again for saving my parents Paradox,” she said, expression softening as she came to sit next to them. “I’m hoping that’s a sign I can trust your word.”

“Speaking of your parents, why aren’t you with them? You can’t be any older than...” Chemestro glanced up at Perry, who shook his head.

“Twelve...” Chemestro frowned at Perry’s expression.

“I’m fourteen, thank you very much,” the little girl said, raising her nose in the picture of teen overcompensation. “As much as I love them, my parents aren’t the best at...money. And food.”

“Want mine?” Chemestro asked, offering her his bowl of gruel.

“Gee willackers, thanks, mister!” Stacy said, taking the bowl and diving into it, devouring the meal like she had a hollow leg with a hole in it.

‘Willackers?’ Chemestro mouthed at Perry. Perry shook his head and gave Chemestro two hand signals with his right hand, outside of Stacy’s line of sight.

V.I.P.

Do Not Engage.

Chemestro nodded.

They had a nice pleasant chat with ‘Stacy Watt-Powers’, the young face of the android rights movement whose speech patterns were riddled with outdated idioms (by about sixty years), then went about their day. It was a long, slow day, although Perry got the feeling there was more danger coming from the fellow passengers watching him with anger, fear and desperation than the hypothetical headhunters hypothetically waiting in ambush somewhere along the track.

Hours after the sun went down, the massive lump of steel was still chugging along, and Perry settled in to sleep for the night in his bunk room with the two angry young men.

Stab stab stab.

HP: 12

HP: 11

HP: 10

Perry opened an eye to see one of the two androids perched over him, staring at his bent shiv like it had betrayed him.

“Ya’ll got about five seconds to get lost before I shove that shiv up your ass,” Perry muttered, rolling over.

His attacker was just a normal guy who wholeheartedly believed he was being transported to a separate location for ‘orderly disposal’. In a darker situation, his actions would’ve been heroic. So Perry gave him a pass, as long as he didn’t try it again.

He didn’t try it again.