Chapter Text

Sacrament 1.0

“...the Catholic Church meanwhile, along with all the other major world religions, has been losing its members across the world. This is going to be in your test next week so please remember to…”

Thirty seconds.

“That should be it for our unit on World Religions after the introduction of Parahumans. I’ve marked all of your essays on this topic, so please take it on your way out today.”

An agonizing amount of time. Mister Gladly liked hearing himself speak, and in that regard he was similar to the old priests at the Basilica, most were devout followers of their God, but they still had the human vices present with them, no matter how holy they claimed. 

“Lemidios, give me strength…” 

An auburn haired girl muttered to herself, hands clasped in prayer subtly, fifteen seconds until she could ask. 

“We will be moving onto the next unit soon, which will actually tie into what we have learned in this one-”

Three seconds to noon. Madison Clements, student at Winslow High, raised her hand high up into the air, revealing her intentions to none here. 

“Mr. Gladly! May I go to the washroom?” She said in her usual voice, hiding the boiling turmoil within her. The teacher looked to the clock, then back at her with a smile. He had no reason to refuse, after all, she was one of the…model students here, especially in this academy. Winslow was antithetical from the nunneries and seminaries in Madison’s memories, the experiences of thousands, all crammed into one barely teenage girl.  Those institutions trained generations of Priestesses, swearing to uphold the tenants and mercy of Lemidios.  

And she was not worthy of being anywhere near their grace. 

“You may, Madison. Be sure to come back quickly though!”

Giving him her usual smile, the moment he no longer looked, the smile dropped, and Madison thought of herself in one of Arad’s myriad of Dungeons, the end goal was equally important anyway. Her walk turned into a sprint, using divine grace to unnaturally propel herself forward. The layout was clear in her mind, all she had to do was reach it. 

Each step she took, was another moment for reflection. Of all the people in Brockton, she may have just been among the least worthy to receive grace, for God to even glance her way… 

She was more akin to those imposters, the heretics who took children away in the dead of night. Two faced, weak and a fence-sitter, all were words that could describe her easily. Yet, her powers were there, and it would be remiss to simply let suffering be. 

A foul smell assaulted her nose, her destination had been reached. One could have gotten there just by following the stench, and she hoped being in there for so long wouldn’t have caused any permanent damage. It was her indecision that caused this, and for simply allowing such sins to occur. 

CRACK

One jab, and the thin hinges of the locker doors were smashed open. The putrid smell spilled out in the hallway, but there was no time to be concerned about that. 

“Forgive me…” 

Gently bringing the shocked girl out onto the floor, she was unconscious, faint breathing…

Her instincts kicked in, but before Madison could fully commit to the act, she hesitated again. Since that day, she had concealed these gifts from Heaven, preferring to continue with her mundane, and frankly unpleasant life without much change. The grace of God was not something so easily bestowed upon humanity, and if she did so, it would began a journey from which there was no coming back from. 

Yet, there was a life needed to be healed, to save from suffering. There were thousands of different scenes playing in her mind, of Priestesses doing a common act to for their fellows, whether they were common folk or even the hardiest of Adventurer. Ultimately, they were all doing the same thing, no matter the background. 

“Perhaps…I never did have a choice. In the name of Lemidios, I grant thee reprieve.”

 [Healing Prayer] 

For a brief moment, Madison saw familiar golden light radiate from her body. Her patient, the first in this world, glowed briefly green for a few seconds, colour and vitality instantly returning to her face. She wasted no time, beginning to check her vitals-

“Ugh, you smell that? I think it’s coming from around the corner…” 

By Lemidios, of all times someone got curious…gently setting the girl down, Madison dashed away, a common skill taught to any Priestess in order to get out of a dangerous situation. Hiding behind a corner, her expectations came true seconds later. 

“Oh my God, are you okay?! Go get a teacher! Shit, the smell…”

With help guaranteed to be on the way, Madison had no reason to stay any longer. Yet…she could still give her a prayer from a distance, a heartfelt one, and commonly said in a world far more adventurous than her own. 

“Soli Lemidios gloria, Taylor, may their blessing set you free…” 

Thus, the sole Priestess of Lemidios quietly walked away, wondering why she was given these powers in a world that had never heard of their glory. 

Or more importantly, why she was chosen, when Madison Clements had lived a sinful life so far. 

AN: 

Chapter 1 has been rewritten to be in third person, and to any new readers, Chapters 2 onwards are written in first person. Then switching back to third later on. Those first-person chapters will all undergo rewrites as time passes. Yes, I am in the middle of rewrites, so stay tuned for them. 

Be civil in the comments below.

Chapter Text

Sacrament 1.1

Wherever Lemidios went, so did those who worshipped, and they needed a place to do so. It was a saying in Arad, among the lands where the Order didn't have a strong presence, but were still present. In some ways it was true, those who spread the word of Lemidios almost always erected a mighty place of worship as their first deed in new lands. Some resisted, some flocked to it, but most had varied reactions as people did. 

To the Priestesses however, their home was the place of worship. Even in a far away land, as long as a place existed which worshipped Lemidios, then they could call it home. 

Already changed into her makeshift robes of a Priestess, Madison Clements approached the one place she could call a sanctuary in this crime ridden city. Despite its dilapidated state, collapsing bricks, leaky roofs and doors that could be blown away with the next hurricane, the memories within her were strong enough to elicit warm feelings when approaching it. Her peers, young as they were, would likely ridicule Madison if they ever learned she spent her free time here, calling her an Immatacula student or worse. 

Luckily for her however, right now she was not Madison the high school student, but instead Clementine. Part time volunteer at Saint Michael's Redeemer Church. 

Gently pushing open the doors, as she did not want her strength to tip the old piece of wood over after it had stood for so long, Clementine was immediately greeted by an old voice. Despite belonging to someone past eighty, it was still full of life, a rarity even in Arad.  “Clementine! Good to see you. I don’t suppose you’re here to help me today?” 

“Father O'Connor…no one else is here, I see.” 

The old priest did not react to the comment, true as it was, he never let such things bother him. 

“No one is here…but maybe they will be in the future. Even in the heyday of Saint Michael's, I never got that many visitors, Clementine.” 

She nodded sheepishly, even in the memories belonging to Oberith Rosenbach, one of the most renowned Priestesses of the Order, she too started out as a timid young helper. 

“R-right…I suppose we should get started, it's an early sundown today, better not make your energy bill go up by turning on the lights.” No one donated to Saint Michael's anymore, or only a few did these days. The meagre amount that it got was enough to let its doors continue opening, but not enough to fix the state it was currently in. 

Thus, she began her routine. Wiping down gathered dust, cleaning the floors, rearranging the few pew chairs out of place…there wasn't that much work to do inside. The real work had to be done in the grounds right outside the main building, overgrown grass, snow clogging up the roads and so on. It was routine for priestesses to do, when they did not transcribe scripture, manage the churches or even hunt down heretics, such menial things were what they did the majority of the time. A simple life, but many did find it extremely boring… 

“Clementine, don't lean on that pillar, it's been making some odd noises these days, best not to test its sturdiness now.” 

In her trance-like state, the young priestess had almost leaned on a battered pillar, water damage had given it several deep and long cracks. A good knock threatened to batter it down entirely, no manner of prayers could keep that thing from remaining upright in the near future. 

“That's going to need fixing too…I wonder if I could get some cement and fix it…no, I can't sully this pillar with simple materials…” 

“Cement? Awfully young to be thinking about Church repairs aren't you? Children your age should be doing…whatever they do now with their new technologies, not worrying about old pillars. They will fall eventually, perhaps it may be best to let it.” 

“But it would make the roof…” 

“Then that will be the end of Saint Michael's, I'd say a hundred and thirty years of continuous operation is a good record to end on. This little old church could make way for new things, such as housing…but then again, who would want to live here?” 

Saint Michael's was nested in an uncomfortable area, sandwiched right in between the territories of two major gangs in the docks area. Since Brockton's economic woes began, the area had also become near destitute, with few residents, and even fewer who would dare to venture this deep into this place of worship. The city also took no notice of the church for this exact same reason, even if it was one of the earliest buildings in Brockton, stretching even before the civil war. 

“But enough about me, I noticed you have been coming here earlier. I reckon you came over here just as school ended today, am I wrong?” 

“Ugh…” Clementine let out a small groan, for Father O'Connor saw through her, probably since she walked in. Looking up, despite having a veil on acting as her makeshift mask, he did not seem to judge her at all, instead waiting patiently for her to give, or not to give an answer. 

“The…confessional, may we use it?” The booth was also present in Arad, where priests and priestesses alike could hear the confessions of everyone who needed to get it out of their souls. However, she was not in a church of the Order, so the rules may be-

“Of course you may, the booth doesn’t discriminate between those who follow God and those who do. I just cannot give you absolution, but I can still hear you out as someone willing to lend an ear.” Without even turning around, he walked towards the booth with a low chuckle coming from him; this clearly was his sole piece of entertainment for the day… 

Seating herself in the familiar booth, she had ample memories of being on both sides, hearing and giving confessions. Clementine had made it abundantly clear she didn’t follow Father O’Connor’s God when she initially offered to help out, just so there wouldn’t be any potential theological issues. He didn’t really care about it, the fact that someone was even willing to come on a semiregular basis was enough for the old priest nearing his eighties. 

Her one true God was still Lemidios…with the Sacred Dragon of Suju being a work in progress. Not a lot of word from the latter one yet, but it was only be a matter of time if her Shamaness memories were anything to say about it. 

Sat on the worn red cushion, the sole priestess of Lemidios started her confession in the only way she knew how. 

“Forgive me, father, for I have sinned.” 

“I am listening, Clementine.” 

In her memories, the best thing to do here was to be completely honest. Dragging things out, or even hiding details was not conducive to a pleasant experience, mental agony in some way. But by Lemidios, even opening her mouth here was supremely difficult. Regardless, her lips did part, and she recounted her sins, those deeds which gnawed at her mind and soul. 

“I…watched as my…associates tormented a person.”

The sin of Wrath. 

“We locked her inside a locker filled with…foul waste and left her in there.”

Sloth, or continued wrath. 

“But…but…I did let her out after some time had passed, long enough so that none would know it was I who did it. She should not have been in that situation at all, or ever.” 

Fraud…in the sense that it was against her ‘friends’, and to herself. Her inaction had sullied every single memory she inherited. 

“I know, it was just me trying to make myself look better…but I don’t know. I should have had the courage to stop them as they were doing it. By my inaction, a life was tormented needlessly, and I am one of her tormentors.” 

And the last, she didn’t even know where it might have belonged to. Perhaps a Mistress would know, not that Earth Bet should ever experience a daemonic incursion, or fight against the dreaded Impostors for that matter. 

“I sense there is more to this. Be honest, Clementine, I cannot help you if only half the story is told.” 

“I…was part of those tormenting her, I suppose the modern term here is bullying, not that I agree it is so simple to be called that. I had been part of it for some time, more than a year if I remember correctly.” If it was simple school bullying, something that was quite universal across worlds, then maybe Clementine’s problems weren’t that serious. Madison Clements did not conduct simple bullying. 

“And you let her out of the locker, yes?” 

Where was he going with this? Clementine responded with some confusion; the point wasn’t that she just let her out at all! 

“I did…but that doesn’t-”

“I know, it most definitely does not absolve you of sin.”

Those words hit Clementine like a Striker giving her a roundhouse kick. Anything she wanted to say immediately died in her throat, and she listened to whatever judgement came next. 

“Clementine, why did you start coming to this Church two months ago?”

At his question, Clementine thought back to the day she received her revelation. 

“Did you see how she looked at us today?! Like, come on, we always know you hide in the toilet, at least find another place to hide or something…” 

“Yeah, well, you know what Sophia said. Prey and predator, guess she’s a bit right in calling Taylor prey…wonder where she got that idea though, biology?” 

Another school day ended, with the regular things that happened. Go to school, listen to boring ass teachers and so on. Oh, and the usual of making sure Taylor knew her place, really, it was for her own good. That girl needed to grow some spine, so Sophia said. 

“Probs. Though…I heard Emma used to be friends with her way back when, knew each other for a while. Don’t tell her I said that though, don’t want her to start giving me attention, you get me?” 

Madison nodded, their little group had one leader, and surviving in Brockton was good under it. She had her group, status and something to look forward to at school what more did she need? 

Better she have something to look forward to at school, than go home and hear her parents argue again, most often right before dinner. She ate alone, or only with one parent at the table more and more these days. Happy family her ass. 

“Hey, I’m gonna head on the bus, see ya tomorrow!” 

“See ya!” 

The bus arrived, Stacy got on, and so ended another day. Stretching her limbs, Madison prepared to continue her walk home before night came, only to see some of her other friends surrounding a blanket on the ground across the street. Only that it wasn’t. 

“Get the fuck outta here!” 

“Scram you hobo!” 

“Just kick him outta here, the old guy’s probably a druggie too.” 

An old man, wearing ragged clothes and thin, laid on the ground. Curled up and protecting himself, the people surrounding him were very familiar to Madison, having just spent her lunch break with them today. A few juice cartons had been discarded on the floor next to him, the old man was soaked, something that you didn’t want to happen in the cold winter months of Brockton. 

Walking over to them, Madison was…confused. What exactly were they doing to an old man? Arriving, she was greeted warmly, while the old man began to shiver. 

“Hey…it’s Madison! Thought you went home already. Come on, help us kick this guy off school grounds, he’s probably trying to get some drugs from the ABB wannabes here.” 

A chorus of agreements, everyone else there agreed. Madison looked at the old man, he…didn’t seem like a junkie… 

“Just…wanted to get some shut eye…damn cops kicked me out of the wrecked store I slept in.” He whispered, loud enough to be heard, but everyone ignored him. 

“Ugh, crazy too. I’ve still got my apple juice, another one should get him to fuc-” 

Her hand moved before her mind did, catching the hand holding a full carton of apple juice. 

“Uhh…Madison? Let go of my hand!” 

She did not let go, her grip was firmly held on her…friend. “Were you just about to pour juice on that guy…?” 

“...yeah? Just like you did earlier to Taylor…you know, at lunch today? Weren’t you the one who said we should go and ‘drown her in juice’ or something?” 

Madison did. She did say that. Slowly, but surely, her grip let go. The juice was no longer going to be used, she had made things awkward to say the least. Needing to say something, as social pressure demanded, she blurted out the first thing which came to mind. In a way, she was justifying herself at trial. 

“But this old man isn’t Taylor…so why are you-” 

“Yeah…but it’s just some hobo. Actually, Taylor’s gonna be like this guy too in her future, what’s the difference between them?” 

There was a difference between them. One was an old man, and the other one was the weak Taylor He…

Madison looked down, at the old man now staring up at her. She had seen those eyes earlier today, right after pouring juice down into a toilet stall. Those eyes were looking up at her again now, filled with a mixture of hate, resignation and…weariness. 

“There’s…uh…just don’t do this, not here. If someone sees us out here, they might report back to school and…” 

The implied threat was enough to get them to stop. Inside the walls of Winslow, they had near impunity to do as they pleased. Outside however, they were just teenagers picking on someone. 

“I…guess you’re right. Let’s go before someone sees…uh, see ya tomorrow, Madison. Thanks for warning us.” The group all said their excuses and scurried away. All except for Madison. 

With the trouble away, she turned back around, only to see the old man packing his things up, still drenched in the sticky and sweet substance. 

“Hey, wait…you-” 

“Can’t even get a damn break…damn city…if it wasn’t for the riots I’d still have…” 

Without acknowledging her any more, the old man walked away…but not before stopping to face her one last time. 

“Thanks, kid. You’re…a good person. Not a lot of you left, try to keep doin’ what you’re doing. God bless ya, don’t end up like me, you hear?” 

Madison didn’t stop him. As she watched his back get ever further, she grasped her hands, to truly reflect for the first time in her life. 

“Am I…a good person?” 

She had an answer buried deep in her mind, a truth she should have always known. 

“I needed…a place to think, Father. The Church was familiar to me, in some way.” 

That was more than three months ago, right when Brockton started to get heavier amounts of snow. Of course, there was the…other thing that happened on the way home, but that was between her and Lemidios, no outsiders should know about it. Not that they would believe her regardless, the story was quite tame by Arad standards, but for Earth Bet, even with its Parahumans, it was hard to believe. 

“Usually I don’t get any Capes coming in, especially ones asking for confessions. Do forgive me if I seem to be unsure of what you must do. Yet, you did come, perhaps for solitude or as you have said, reflection, that is already a step in a better direction.” 

“I drifted away from them, essentially ignoring her as they continued their torment. I never once intervened though, too afraid to…expose myself you could say. Besides, it took too long for me to do so, I should have…”

Bygones couldn’t be bygones. They remained, and would remain until something was done about it. The stain of Sin wasn’t something so easily taken away, as the Order’s Priests were keenly aware of. 

“And that changed…today?”

She nodded slowly. “Yes, Father.” 

They both stayed silent for a minute afterwards, for Clementine, she was waiting for a reply, anything from the other side. Until it came, and she in all honesty should have expected that reply from him. 

“And coming here almost every day after school was your idea of penance?” 

He asked with a very big hint of sarcasm, the thing about old priests were that they had no time for subtlety any more, and thus were often blunt in their speech. If it was the case in Arad, there was no reason why Earth Bet couldn’t be the same. 

“That’s…”

Not exactly wrong, and Clementine hated herself for needing someone else to spell it out for her. 

“I think I know what you should do.” 

She looked up, hoping that the small window in front of her can give her all the solutions. 

“You should not be atoning here, rather, you should be atoning for the person you have wronged. I assume you knew this too, Clementine.”

To hear it out loud was refreshing, mayhaps painful to hear, but ultimately something she needed. Then came the other hard part however, atonement. 

“I understand, Father. But how?” 

Being told to atone was one thing, but actually putting it into practice was another. 

“From what I have heard, it will not be easy, correct? You will be ostracized from those you know, your friends who thought the same as you before and the very person you tormented. You will be hated by all, and yet you must walk that path. I’m afraid I cannot tell you how you must atone, even if you tell me everything, and we sit here for hours, I will not be able to tell you how. You, alone, must decide on what you must do.” 

Shifting his position again, he now directly faced her through the screen, making eye contact even through the barrier in some way. 

“But from what I’ve seen so far, Clementine, I know that you have the strength to overcome the arduous journey. Thankfully, in matters like this, the hardest step is usually the first, to reach out and give an apology.”

All of that was easier said than done. She would rather charge into a horde of daemons than to face Taylor in her honest feelings. The former seemed to be monumentally easier, while the latter…

How ironic, the powers of Lemidios’s faithful, normally reserved for fighting against the dark daemonic forces, and none of them could help Madison Clements in this road of atonement. 

“Though you don’t believe in our God, I will pray for your success nonetheless.” 

Is there anything else, you want to confess, Clementine?” 

There was nothing else that came to mind…for now. “No, Father.” 

“Remember, if you ever need help, or to confess again, I am always here. Preferably during open hours, obviously.” 

The two shared a brief chuckle in the booth, despite the heavy topic just now. Serving the Lord, no matter which one, didn’t mean a soulless existence, finding joy in things was still part of life, and a life in happiness was one that could best serve Lemidios. Walking out together, Clementine was just about to ask the old priest for what else needed to be done, only for him to beat her to it. 

“I’d hate to ask, but could you also clean some of the cobwebs up on the ceiling walls? My back is not as good as it was a couple of weeks ago.”

She chuckled again, even a couple of weeks ago his back would have never allowed him to climb the ladder. 

“Will you tell me that God sent me here to clean up the cobwebs, again, then? 

He shrugged. “Perhaps God did tell you to come today… But the ladders are over there, conveniently placed there for your taking. No need for a divine revelation to see that I hope. Oh, there's a special session to be held tonight, I do hope you can stay to help me manage it!”

Letting out a sigh, Clementine rolled up the sleeves of her makeshift costume and got to work. 

There was much to be done. 

AN: 

This chapter has been rewritten from its old first-person version as of 9/24/2025

Chapter Text

Sacrament 1.2

Sunday is usually the time in which churches are the busiest. Though the small number of people in front of me is further evidence that many just don’t go to Church anymore. Among the few Parishioners present, most have white hair or need canes to walk. I was probably the only person there below eighteen by a wide margin.

Father O’Connor asked me to help with mass, as he was now having significant trouble organizing it by himself now. It felt… very familiar, doing this. The memories I received from my powers had many instances of trainee Priestesses helping to set up their local Church for mass. Though, the churches they used to work in often had buildings in much better shape.

“The Mass has ended, you may go in peace.”

Perking up, the final words said by Father O’Connor make everyone who could stand up, do so. As the final hymn is recited, I follow him and the few priests that have remained out of the Church. Was I technically allowed to work there, as a Cape and not a Catholic? No, but Father O’Connor didn’t care too much about it. There weren’t that many people helping him with mass in this day and age, so he didn’t particularly care about their beliefs, only as long as they could help him conduct it. Some of the Parishioners had commented on me being there, but they didn’t particularly care. They were just glad someone young was helping the Church now.

Rounding back the Churchyard, we head back into the office room.

“I thought you weren’t a Christian, Clementine, how do you know so much about preparing and running Mass?”

A good question indeed. One I’m not sure I can comfortably tell you, even if I did, you may not believe it.

“It…just came with my powers.”

As he sat down, he looked at me strangely. “I’ve never heard of powers coming with experience in running Mass, speaking of which, I know you have powers, but what actually are they? I mean, you have what they call ‘Brute’ abilities, yes? You couldn’t have lifted that table easily otherwise, right?”

How was I going to explain that? That my powers came from another world where its God, Lemidios, which felt very similar to the God of Abraham, granted me abilities that its most powerful servants had?

It was like some of the other cults and religions that sprang up after Parahumans first came to be. Many were offshoots of major religions, while some were entirely new ones. Most of them actually got their members from existing religions prior to Parahumans, hence why religious organizations like the Catholic church were haemorrhaging members every year.

“It’s…complicated. I don’t have a singular power.”

Indeed, some of my abilities are… particularly powerful. But not all of them are consistent with each other, depending on who I’m actually using. So far, I’ve only used ‘Crusader’, but I could easily ‘switch’ to the other roles with wildly different abilities.

He raised an eyebrow at me.

“Well, you don’t have to tell me. You are entitled to your own secrets. Speaking of, have you made progress with atoning with that person?”

I shook my head, Taylor had been in the hospital for the past week, so I did not get a chance to talk with her. In the meantime, I avoided Sophia and Emma like the plague, but that wasn’t exactly difficult, since I sort of avoided them for months before anyways.

“Ah. Well, I’m sure you’re still trying. Remember I’m always here to talk. Anyways, here.”

Taking out an envelope from his drawer, he handed it to me.

“What’s this?”

“You’ve been helping me for months, you deserve a little payment for your efforts.”

I couldn’t accept this! Especially not when the church looked like…

“I can’t accept, Father.”

I held it back towards him, but, the man would not budge. “Nonsense, you’re not part of the Catholic Church, and you’ve been spending most of your free time here. Do not argue with me. I’m an old man at this point.”

I sigh, before a bright idea popped into my head. Putting on my best ‘priestess’ voice, I hand it back to him gracefully.

“Then in that case, please accept my generous donation, Holy Father.”

I held it out with two hands towards him, head slightly bowed. He sighed loudly.

“Cheeky brat. Well, in that case. In the name of our Lord, I humbly accept your donation. Maybe we can get someone to fix the door, don’t you think?”

Though the veil was covering my face entirely, I still managed to smile a little.

“Of course.”

Getting up from one of the Pew Chairs, I watched as the clock struck five, signalling the Church’s closing time. Father O’Connor had also come out to help and within half an hour, we were ready to close for the day. While it could be argued that I was sacrificing my social life coming here every day, I had to reconsider who I had as ‘friends’ anyways, so it wasn’t such a big deal to me.

“Father, I’m finished on my part, may I close the main door now?”

He waved at me from the altar, and I move towards the beat-up wooden doors. I close one side, but just before I managed to close the second, I heard footsteps. Really quick footsteps. Someone was coming here, running with all their might. Peeking outside of the church, I see…them?

A man was carrying what appeared to be a woman, bridal style, and she was visibly bleeding. Though what is concerning wasn’t them running straight towards the Church, but rather what the man was wearing. On his jacket, was the familiar armband that signified someone as a member of the ABB. Why was he coming here?

Stepping outside, the man is able to see me standing right in front of the Church’s entrance. His eyes widened, but he still pressed on, albeit a bit slower. Just a dozen meters in front of me now, he shouted desperately.
“Please! We’re being chased by the Empire! Can we hide inside?!”

I hesitated. Yes, they needed help, but they also attracted unwanted trouble-

What was I thinking?

They needed help. Who am I to deny it?

Opening the other doors, I stood aside and gestured for them to come in. The man instantly perked up, before he secured the woman in his hands.

“Thank you!”

The man rushed in, and I quickly closed the door after them. Father O’Connor had heard the commotion and went to go see what was going on.

“Oh dear, come quickly, set her down here!”

Setting her down near the altar, the woman had been clutching her belly, deep viscous red had stained her white T-shirt. She was bleeding out, from a gunshot wound. The memories I gained had many Crusaders treat gunshot wounds like this, if she didn’t go to a hospital right now, she was not going to survive the next ten minutes.

“What happened, my Son?”

The man, pausing from looking at his partner with horror, looked up at Father O’Connor with pleading eyes.

“W-We were going home after dinner, when The Empire had a drive by shooting in our territory. I grabbed her and ran but-”

So that’s what happened.

“Clementine, call an ambulance quickly!”

Straightening back up immediately, I ran into the office and dialled 911. But I knew that it was going to be too late, Brockton Bay’s ambulance response times were slow, especially for incidents this far out from Downtown.

Heading back into the main auditorium, the man is now in hysteria, as he held the woman close to his head.

“Minami! Don’t go! We were going to open a bakery, right? Far away from here! PLEASE DON’T LEAVE ME!”

The woman, too weak to respond, only gave him a weak smile, as she tried to caress his face. This scene…I knew too often. Should I help?

There was a reason why I confined myself to St. Michael’s ever since receiving my powers. The world was sinful, and I was not certain I could survive in it. If I help them, there will be no turning back. Could I just let her die, though?

“Please, you’re a priest, right!? You must have something, anything?!”

Father O’Connor looked distraught, he was looking around, thinking about what he could do in this scenario. I remembered he kept a small first aid bag in his office, but it was filled with band-aids and disinfectant, nothing that could be used to treat a bullet wound.

We made eye contact, and in his eyes, I saw him ask me if I could help.

Oh Lemidios, watch over me.

“Move aside.”

The man snaps his head to me, confusion on his face. I move forwards and crouch next to him. “Do you want me to save your partner?”

He gave me a stunned nod.

“Then move aside.”

As he essentially leaped aside, I checked her body for the wound. Rolling up her T-shirt a bit, I saw that she has lost too much blood already. Though, the Crusaders in my memories have treated wounds much worse than this.

Clasping my hands together for the second time this week, I prepare a simple healing prayer.

“O Lemidios, heal this sick soul and bless her forevermore, [Healing Prayer].”

The golden light that came from my body earlier this week expanded out again, before turning green and engulfing the gravely injured woman. This time, the effect is much more prominent. The wound closes up rapidly, and in a matter of seconds, it closes completely.

*Ding*

The bullet that had lodged itself in her fell out onto the Church’s stone floor. Looking back at the woman, her face has colour returned to it, and she’s blinking at me rapidly. A look of awe on her face.

“Minami! You’re okay!”

The man, who stood up and was looking over my shoulder, knelt down next to me and embraced her. I check over her blood-stained belly and verify that the wound had indeed closed.

“Miss, are you feeling alright?” I asked in my gentlest voice possible.

The woman, or Minami I should say, stops embracing the man for a while and checks over the spot on her belly where she was shot. “I-I feel fine. Amazing actually! Thank you, uh…”

“Clementine. And you’re welcome.”

The man then got on his knees right in front of me, head down and began bowing repeatedly toward me. It was similar to a ‘Dogeza’ pose that the Japanese used, though I also had memories of Shamans doing it as well.

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”

I touched his shoulder, and he stopped doing it. Lest he broke his neck from the speed and intensity he was doing it in. Looking back at me, I saw that his face was full of tears, but it was not the sorrowful kind, rather it was one of Joy. Just as I was about to tell him to get up though, three violent knocks came from the old beat-up wooden doors.

The man looked on with worry, and he began reaching for something behind his back. I stop him immediately. I turned to Father O’Connor.

“Take these two to the back. I’ll deal with them.”

He did not bulge, however. “Clementine, I don’t think-”

“Father, please.” I pleaded with him to go. Though he still had reservation clearly marked on his face, he relented and brought the couple with him to the back.

Just as he was out of sight, the doors burst open, and five Empire eighty-eight members rushed inside, brandishing weapons. I stood steadfast in front of them, how dare they attack a place like this?
“You dare intrude upon the house of God? How despicable. Leave at once or suffer the consequences.”

I channelled a few of my Inquisitor memories in my tone, but they disregarded my warning. Some even laughed at me as they continued moving forward.

“Well, what do we have here boys? A lone Sister in a fucked up Church. Tell us where the two Nip fucks are and we’ll leave you alone.”

So the man was telling the truth.

“There are no such people in here. Leave. That is my final warning.”

The leader, I presumed, stepped forward and brandished his baseball bat at me. They were less than nine meters away from where I was near the altar.

“Hah, like we’d let any Catholic fuck tell us what to do. That blood trail leading to the back sure looks interesting though…”

I grimaced, there wasn’t enough time to clean the blood trail after all. Though it appeared that violence was inevitable, I still had to give them one last chance to avoid it.

“Step any further and I cannot promise you your safety…”

Again, they laugh with an uproar that reminded me of the bandits that took joy in pillaging towns. It appears that I was simply delaying the inevitable.

“Well, if you aren’t gonna move aside, we’ll have some fun with you first. Johnny, you’re new here. Go fuck her up, she’s a race traitor anyways.”

Gesturing over to his side, a very young-looking teenager widens his eyes, and looked at me with pleading eyes. So, this was one of their so-called ‘initiations’. How despicable.

I summoned my large Cross in a shower of golden holy light, which was a staple weapon for the Crusaders, and heave it over my shoulder. The Empire members immediately step back upon seeing my cross.

“Fuck! I knew she was a Cape!”

I don’t give them time to react, as I immediately dashed forward, Cross ready to strike.

“HOLY SHI-”

In a split second, I was right in front of their leader, shifting my foot, I swung the large cross and strike his belly, sending him tumbling backwards. I was sure to not kill or maim him permanently, though even if I accidentally did so, I could have reversed it anyways. Still, not a good thing to do.

“YEAAARGH!”

I sidestepped a gangster charging at me with a knife, who then crashed into a stone pillar. How clumsy.

Three remaining, I would have used some of my abilities, but I wasn’t sure they would still be in one piece afterwards. So I was limited to just using my Cross. Even that would have been overkill however, they were, after all, just regular humans.

The remaining three decided to charge me together. Smart, but ultimately useless.
I swung my Cross just as they were about to reach me, knocking all of them back a distance.

“Ack! Fucking hell, let’s get outta here. This shit ain't worth it!”

With heavy groans, all but one of The Empire gangsters ran for the doors, leaving ‘Johnny’, the newbie, behind. What valiant and loyal comrades, I mused. He was knocked onto the floor next to one of the stone pillars, I watched as he tried calling out to his running ‘friends’ for help. None of them even spared a glance at him as they fled.

I walked right in front of him, his weapon had been lost and he looked at me with frightened eyes. “Wait, please! I didn’t mean to, my uncle roped me into it and I-”

I cut him off before he could babble on. “Yet you were about to commit great violence upon the Asian couple, am I correct?”

He whimpers loudly, before nodding in fear. What was I doing? I should be helping him, not lambasting his less-than-stellar life decisions.

Sighing, I heave my cross over my back and held out a hand toward him. Though he initially looked at me with suspicion, he would eventually take it.

“Go home, Johnny. If I was any other Cape in this city, you would not have been alive for much longer. This Church is always open to you, if you need help.”

Nodding with speed at me, he began moving towards the exit, before collapsing again; I managed to catch him before he impacted the cold stone floor. He would point towards his ankle. “My Foot!”

Your ankle, technically, but it was just semantics. Sighing, I gently lay him down on the floor. I clasped my hands again.

[Healing Prayer]

He stopped squirming once the golden light from my body turned green and rushed over his body. Calming down almost instantly, he inspected his ankle, before turning back to me.

“Woah,” childlike wonder was in his voice, “t-thank you…”

Though I had a veil over my face, I still gave him a warm smile. “You’re welcome. Now go home and don’t associate yourself with them anymore, please. Come back here if you need a place of refuge.”

As I watched him stumble out of the church, face still in awe, I let out a hefty sigh and allowed myself to relax.

“Damn, they actually broke the door…”

Hopefully, Father O’Connor could get a discount for a new door.

AN:

Be civil in the comments below. 

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Sacrament 1.4

What was going on?

Where are all the people that need healing?

I’ve read that Panacea is usually swarmed by people who need her healing at the hospital. So why has no one come? I’ve even got drinks set up, so why-

“Clementine.”

I turned to Father O’Connor.

“Yes, Father?”

“Have you actually told anyone about the opening of this clinic?”

Oh. That was probably why no one has come here for the past two hours. Due to my and the Church’s limited funds, the ‘clinic’ he and I set up only consisted of an old tarp, a table, and some chairs. Father O’Connor had just received the licence from the PRT yesterday, delivered by Agent actually. These things were rare, and as such great care was placed on them so that it wasn’t lost. They were some of the most sought-after documents for forgery, as there was no shortage of desperate people who could be tricked.

By the time I arrived back at St. Michael’s to set up the clinic, Father O’Connor had already put it in an old picture frame for me to use. But, in my…excitement I have apparently told no one that this clinic now existed. And considering that not a lot of people passed through here in the first place, maybe it wasn’t the smartest move to begin so early. What was I actually thinking? That people would just line up and come for healing immediately?

“Clementine, why don’t you go home today? Isn’t there this internet thing you can use to get word out about this clinic of yours?”

Did he mean PHO? Companies did advertise on it all the time, so I guess it could work?

I let out a big sigh. “Of course, Father. I’ll take a walk before I get home first. Can you close up the Church without me?”

He waved me off quickly. The Trainyard was actually really close by. Maybe there are those who needed healing for their drug-related issues there?


The Merchants were a relatively recent term for the drug dealers that plagued the area around the Trainyards. They were consolidated only recently under Skidmark, who united most of the major drug dealing gangs under his banner. With that said, it was less of him being a leader, and more like his particular gang there was the largest.

Walking through the unmaintained roads, I see why the Trainyards were called the worst part of Brockton Bay. While other areas weren’t particularly good either, this place made them actually look well-funded. Potholes the size of whole cars were not an uncommon sight, buildings looked like they were one bad hurricane from crumbling down, and there weren’t any actual shops in the area; having long since been driven away by the gangs. The Church once served the people from the Trainyards? Father O’Connor had told me of Christmas and Easter Mass at St.Michaels before, and how lively they were.

But that was decades ago, and now the Bay is a dead city. I have little faith in things changing from the way they are. The streets were almost deserted, but I knew better. In the dilapidated and crumbling buildings, there were probably dozens of people inside. Those must have been the infamous Merchant drug dens. The PRT and police usually don’t patrol this area, the excuse they usually give when that question was raised on television was usually that this area did not have a high crime rate, compared to the Docks or some other gang hotspot. The truth was that there were no businesses or rich residents living here. Most residents that did brave this area were either drug addicts or immigrants that had to work minimum wage jobs, and thus could only afford living in the Trainyard.

“Johnny! I’m sorry! Just wake up!”

I pause. That came from the alleyway behind me. Backtracking slightly, it appeared that the shout came from further in. I have heard of shouts like this luring people into alleyways and robbing them. But that didn’t appear to be a fake one. Walking in, I remained cautious.

“Oh my god, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to! I thought it was food! Please wake up!”

That came from the intersection in front of me. Hurrying my steps, I peek around the corner where the shouts came from. Right in front of me were two children, maybe three or four years younger than I. The hoodies and pants they wore were ripped and dirty. Now that I looked closer, they actually didn’t fit them all too well, indicating that they had to get adult-sized clothes. One of them, a boy, was lying on the floor. While a girl was shaking his body while sobbing.

I stepped out.

Immediately, the girl jumped upwards and brandished a makeshift knife at me. “Who are you?! Don’t get near me and my brother, I’ll kill you!”

I raised both my hands. She was scared, her eyes looked upon me with fear and trepidation. Looking at her brother, he had foam coming out of his mouth, an OD?

“Okay. I won’t get near. I’m Clementine, what’s your name?” I used my gentlest voice to get through to her, but I had to hurry, lest the boy die.

Her grip on the knife faltered slightly, before answering me. “S-Susanna…”

I nodded slowly while continuing to raise my hands. “Susanna, your brother is sick, he needs help. Can I help him? I know how to make him better.”

She looked at him, before looking back to me. Her face would contort in indecision, maybe I should just-

“Fine! Please help him! B-But I’ll be watching over you!”

Thank Lemidios. As she stepped aside I immediately began checking over the boy. Remembering the emergency first aid from my Crusader memories, I brought my right hand over to his neck and checked his-

No pulse.

I grabbed his arm as well and checked if there is a pulse, maybe the neck was just particularly thick-

No pulse.

I clasped my hands immediately, [Healing Prayer].

Green light washed over him, but nothing happened. His body remained unmoving, and checking his pulse again, I felt nothing from it once more. He was dead.

“W-Well? Is he okay?”

What do I say to her? I could say…

No. I won’t let another tragedy unfold today. Not when I had the power to reverse it. Getting up slowly, I turned towards Susanna.

“Don’t tell anyone about this, okay?”

“Huh?”

Clasping my hands, two bright wings of the purest white sprouted from my back. Susanna was taken aback by it and instinctively jumped back, fearing that she was in danger. By the grace of Lemidios and Raphael, the finality of death was reversible. The Crusaders and their powers were not infinite, they failed, but in this I was sure that it would succeed.

The familiar form of Raphael appeared right above the boy’s body, her hands praying and eyes closed. Blonde hair swayed gently even when there was no wind. Just before I completed the ritual and knelt down, praying, she gave me a playful wink. It appeared that some things stayed the same, even across worlds.

Lemidios, grant this soul reprieve, and take him back from the eternity of death.

[Resurrection]

I came back to the Church the next day. Susanna and her brother, Issac, refused to come back with me. Though they were very happy, they had an entire community of orphaned children to head back to. Obviously, they wouldn’t tell me where it was. Nor did I expect them to. They did however, promise to help me ‘spread the word’. They were enthusiastic about it, but I did not expect them to succeed.

Looking at the small crowd waiting right outside the Church, perhaps I misjudged them.

“Sister Clementine!”

Susanna ran towards me with her brother. They both looked a lot better than yesterday when I saw them. Colour had returned to their faces, instead of the somewhat thin and pale faces they had. She called me ‘Sister Clementine’ after her brother was checked over and was found to be in good health. I don’t mind her calling that, especially since she’s just a child, but…

“I got people to come!”

Yes, she did get people to come. A lot of people. Some were in wheelchairs, some had clothing wholly inappropriate for the winter weather, and some most definitely needed to go to the hospital. Well, I had my work cut out for me I suppose.

Ruffling her hair, I walked forwards, Father O’Connor had been managing the crowd in my stead, but I suppose it’s finally time to get back to work. Being a servant of Lemidios is hard work, after all.

“Will everyone listen to me please! I want to heal the most severe cases first, so if you can form a line…”

Maybe it will work out. Just maybe.

AN: 

Be civil in the comments below. 

Chapter Text

Sacrament 1.5

AN:

I will be switching to the third person for this fic. Writing in first person was fun, but I do not have a lot of experience with it. It was a good experience and really helped me get into Madison’s headspace but it is getting progressively difficult to write from her first-person perspective. I am more comfortable with third person in general so that will be my style going forward. Apologies for the change in writing style.

That was a lot of people.

Healing another sick child, probably the common cold, Clementine thought that the lines would never end. It has been a couple of days since she started her healing clinic. Things were going smoothly, there weren’t too many people but she chalked it up to word just being limited to people in her immediate area. Most people who needed healing still went to the hospitals, since they were more established and had a much better reputation. Going to St.Michaels gave you a small chance of being shot after all. Being next to both Merchant and ABB territory was probably the reason why.

Donations were coming along nicely, she raised around three thousand just from donations alone. She charged only a nominal sum of a dollar for every person that came to her. It was definitely not a lot, and she would need at least four thousand more for a new door. Craftsmen don’t come cheap these days. But with most of the people that needed healing coming from poor areas, she could not bring herself to ask for more donations. Many of them could scarcely afford food, let alone a five-dollar donation. She would rather they buy more food for themselves than donate to the Church.

As the mother of the child thanked Clementine in Spanish, she shook her hand, before saying goodbye to the mother and child. Her choice of clothing and decision to open her clinic in the Church was starting to really backfire. She had to repeatedly state to her patients that just because she wore a costume that looked like a Nun’s clothing and was near a Church, it still didn’t mean that she followed the Abrahamic God. Though she hadn’t told anyone of her true belief in Lemidios either, so most people were left confused as to what she actually believed.

She should get a new costume soon, the misconceptions were starting to get on her nerves too much. Clementine had never even read the bible actually, so most of the scriptures that they sometimes quoted to her went entirely over her head. Father O’Connor just thought it was funny seeing her nod awkwardly at them. She should probably hang up a sign saying that she wasn’t Christian, maybe that will get her more patients. Taylor still had not returned back to school, even though it’s been two weeks since the…incident. Sighing, she got ready to see her last patients, and call it a day.

“Sister Clementine!”

The Crusader paused from packing up the clinic, looking up, she saw Susanna and Issac running towards her. They didn’t seem to be in distress, so Clementine relaxed.

“Susanna, Issac. Anything interesting happen to you two?”

The brother and sister had been coming to the Church almost every day, at exactly the same time Clementine was working. They weren’t there for religious reasons of course, but they usually just came to see her. Though Clementine buying them food for dinner was also a very big reason, she enjoyed staying with the two. Especially since they didn’t exactly have a home to go to, she made sure they were healthy and looked after. Teaching them anything was a work in progress however, she tried teaching them writing but that did not go so well. Maybe she could get a teacher from one of her patients? Or the Parishioners that have started coming to St.Michael’s again could also have a teacher among them.

They both nodded enthusiastically. “There was a massive fight last night in the Trainyard! We saw the explosions and fighting go like-”

There was a massive fight in the Trainyard last night?!

Clementine stopped Susanna from reciting any more of the ‘epic fight’. “Susanna! Issac! That was dangerous for both of you! What if you got hurt?”

She looked at Clementine incredulously. “Pssssh. We were far away and on the roof. It wouldn’t have hurt us at all. Oh yeah, wait! There was a man in a shiny suit of armour that was left behind, we dragged him back to our hideout, but he’s still sleeping. Maybe you can come and…”

Clementine rubbed her hair. “Okay, okay. Promise me that you will run far away from the fighting next time, or I won’t buy you ice cream after dinner, okay?”

Two cries of ‘Okaaaay’ came from the brother and sister. It was reminiscent of a mother telling her children to behave or their toy would be withheld. Sighing, she followed the two back into the Trainyard, after saying goodbye to Father O’Connor of course.

Ducking into crumbling buildings, and abandoned parking lots, Clementine followed Susanna leading her into their hideout. Holding Issac’s hand, who was younger than Susanna by some years, she gently helped him get down the decrepit concrete steps. The building itself had been abandoned since the Brockton Bay riots, and to this day no one had claimed it for use.

“There are a bunch of others in there! But they know who you are by now!”

Clementine had brought the remaining cookies from her clinic, she thought that the children Susanna was with would like it. Heading inside now, she was led to a long corridor with a series of water pipes. It was dark, but some light had allowed them to continue seeing their way forward.

Ducking into what was the building’s former maintenance rooms, Susanna shouted into it. “Hey guys! Sister Clementine is here!”

Suddenly, from Clementine’s view, roughly a dozen and a half children came running out of their ‘rooms’, which were just made with cardboard and salvaged pieces of plywood. They swarmed around Clementine since it was the first time she had actually visited them, instead of the other way around.

“K-Kids! I have some cookies! But form a line or I will take them away!”

It was something in Clementine’s words that made them listen. Slowly but surely, they formed into a line right in front of her. She turned to Susanna. “Make sure everyone gets an equal amount, and I’ll know if they don’t. Okay?”

Susanna nodded, and Clementine handed her basket of cookies over to her. Issac tugged her sleeves and pointed towards a room further to the back. With the children distracted by the cookies, she easily made her way through the small crowd of little terrors. Stopping in front of a door, Issac would stop and point inside, while looking at Clementine expectantly.

“Is the shiny man in armour in here?”

He nodded quickly. Rubbing his hair, she would turn back towards the crowd of children. “Go back to Susanna, Issac. You want to get a cookie too as well, right?”

He didn’t say anything. Instead, he just sprinted back at the crowd of Children, eager to get a cookie as well. Turning back to the room where the ‘armoured man’ was, Clementine walked in and found it hard to see inside the dark room. Summoning her holy book, which was basically a bible but for Lemidios, it glowed a holy light, and the room was instantly illuminated.

Staring downwards, Susanna and Issac were indeed telling the truth. There was an armoured man lying down in their hideout. His armour, looking like the ones that Knights stereotypically wore, had burn marks on them, making it no longer the shiny colour it once was. Several deep marks dotted his chest plate. It appeared that he fought a dragon, based on her memories of Knights being healed after fighting the dragons of Arad. She initially thought the brother and sister meant an armoured PRT trooper, not an actual Cape in plate armour. There was also what appeared to be a broken lance next to him, were lances being used by Capes as weapons now? He was missing a helmet, which should have been part of a knight’s standard set. His face was bruised heavily, and his blonde hair had been covered in black soot. From what she could see, it appears that he looked young, mid-twenties, to early thirties probably. Kneeling down before the ‘knight’, he appeared to be out cold, how did they even drag him back to their hideout?

“Sister Clementine!”

She turned around and saw Susanna along with the other children, cookies in hand.

“I told you there was a man in shiny armour!”

Yes, indeed. Checking over his condition, the man was not too terribly injured. Clementine remembered a skill that the Priestesses used to check the general ‘health’ of a person. That would have been very useful when she resurrected Issac, but memories sometimes get forgotten. All Adventurers in Arad have access to that ability actually, it was very useful for healers especially, since they could prioritize who in their party to heal.

Deciding that he could be moved, she picked him up easily with her enhanced strength and carried him all the way back to St.Michaels. Some children from the hideout had gone with her the entire way back, they still wanted to ‘play’ with their Sister Clementine after all.

AN

Be civil in the comments below.

Chapter Text

Sacrament 1.6 

“Fucking hell! No one told us Lung would be here! Let’s get the hell outta here!”

A man in burnt armour felt a hand grabbing him, Victor if he could make out his costume correctly. Looking back at the street, Oni Lee had ambushed their group and cut off their advance quickly. At their back, three ABB cars had blocked off their retreat. But that wasn’t their greatest threat, it was Lung at the front, and he was about to burn them alive. 

Cricket grabbed Victor’s shoulder. “He’s too fucking heavy, we need to leave him!”

Though he was heavily injured, and half-delirious, Cricket’s words still rang clearly in his mind. 

“W-Wait..”

He felt his arm dropping back onto the ground, the retreating forms of Victor and Cricket ever further as his consciousness waned. With his remaining strength, he attempted dragging himself forward, away from the ABB that would surely finish him off. He would make it as far as a dumpster in an alleyway next to the fighting, before passing out. 

“GAH!”

Snapping his eyes open, Justin Avignon shot up and clutched his chest, frantically checking for any wounds. Touching his bare chest, he quickly realized that it was completely fine. There were no wounds, no burn marks on his neck and no bruises from the impacts he took. But most strikingly of all, the scars that should have been on his abdomen were completely gone. Touching it gently, the surgical scars that he had lived with for decades were missing, instead, the skin was unblemished. Running his fingers through where the scars should have been, he felt a smoothness that had not been there for a long time. 

Not since I tried to…

Snapping out of those thoughts, he looked at his surroundings and was immediately confused. The ‘room’ he was currently in appeared to look like a break room. Gingerly taking off the blankets that covered him, he saw that he was sleeping on what appeared to be an old sofa. He was only wearing his undergarments, which consisted of thin shorts and an undershirt, which he usually wore when going out as…

My armour!

His armour was neatly arranged on a table in the centre of the room. All of the pieces were laid out in order, just like he would do back at his home. There were still signs of soot on them,  Looking further around the room, he could see that it was in a state of disrepair, what was once white plaster had crumbled, revealing the stone or brick walls that were behind it. The pantry that was in the room also looked to be horribly out of date, as it looked straight out of the mid-1950s. He was sure the fridge also looked like it dated to when the hippies were still a thing. 

Gingerly taking some steps forward, barefoot, he realized that he felt better than ever. Never before had he ever felt so active, so full of life. The pains that accompanied his body for most of his adult were also suspiciously absent completely. Now directly over the table, he looked over his armour, which was perfectly disassembled from his body. Was it also…polished? He swore that his chest plate never looked so shiny before. Inspecting it further, he realized that his helmet was gone, but everything else was present and accounted for, albeit damaged. 

Creak

Justin instantly jumped at the sound and prepared for anything to happen. He looked towards the decrepit wooden door that was the source of the creaking. Raising his fists, he prepared to charge anything that might have-

“Oh, thank goodness you’re awake! We were quite worried about your condition actually, are you alright?”

Seeing the Priest in front of him, Justin let his guard down but still studied him carefully. 

“I am fine…Father. What happened? Where am I?”

Justin really wanted answers, what happened while he was unconscious? He remembered being left behind, but everything else was a complete blur to him. Though he could distinctly remember a…bright light that shone above him after crawling away.

Father O’Connor closed the door behind him, before responding. 

“Ah, Clementine brought you back here after you were greatly injured. Do you not remember?”  

Clementine? He remembered overhearing some of the Empire's unpowered members talking about a new Cape that set up right next to the Trainyards. Was this the same Cape that took him in?

He shook his head at him. “I don’t. Where am I?”

Smiling, the Priest gave him a reply. “You’re in St.Michaels Roman Catholic Church. Just outside the Trainyard. You weren’t brought in from afar.”

St.Michaels? He remembered the Church being there when he first came to Brockton Bay, but he never paid it any mind. It was just another dilapidated Church to him, those were common across many urban centres on the East Coast by now. 

“I’m sorry, Father…”

“O’Connor, my son.”

Right, that was his name. “Father O’Connor, you said Clementine brought me in right?” He was very interested in this ‘Clementine’. Justin had heard rumours of a healing Cape among some of the empire members operating near this area before the raid. Clementine had to be the new Cape who brought him in. If she nursed him, then perhaps she may be swayed to the cause…

Before Father O’Connor could reply, however, the door he entered from opened again, and in walked a brown-haired girl in what could only be described as a Nun’s outfit. 

Madison sighed. After another particularly nasty argument this morning between her parents, she left the house early for the Church. It was the weekend today, and she decided to go in early today for anyone who would need healing. Most of them usually did not come until midday, her free healing service was known to most of the Trainyard and Docks areas, but anything beyond was still a work in progress. Madison knew she had some mentions on PHO after some ego searching, but she was still a relatively unknown figure to most of Brockton Bay. The people who went to her clinic weren’t likely to post things on PHO after all. She didn’t mind, advertising it felt off to her, so she liked the crowds being relatively small. There were some requests for house calls, however, but those ones were usually for extremely severe cases. Thankfully there weren’t that many of them, so Madison could get to them within a reasonable time. 

Saying goodbye to Mister Badawi, a grocery store owner near St.Michaels, she made her way back to the Church casually. Aside from buying the usual snacks and drinks that she provided for her clinic, she also had things to make breakfast, which she skipped out on most of the time. The Pantry break room at St.Michael’s often lacked in anything but water, which was fine for Father O’Connor himself, but since she was there often as well now she might as well buy something for it. It would save money on having to get takeout constantly, and she had ample ‘experience’ in cooking from the memories she gained. Those adventurers in Arad have some varied experiences after all. 

Arriving back at the small parish, she went straight to the pantry, where her ‘guest’ was currently recovering. She pumped enough healing into him so that any wound was healed, but by the time she left last night, he still did not wake up. Removing his armour was tricky, but her memories as a crusader meant that she still got it done after some finicking. Opening the door into the break room, she was greeted by Father O’Connor, talking to her guest, who now stood upright. 

“Ah, you’re back Clementine! Our guest here has just awoken, I take it you want to make sure he is fine?” 

Madison gave him a once over, all of the burn wounds on his body were gone, and he was healthy enough to stand on his own. 

“He seems healthy enough to me. Apologies for taking off your armour, but some of your skin quite literally melted into it. I do hope you don’t mind me doing so.” 

With the wounds he had, if she didn’t get to him then and there, there was a very real chance he may have died already. People didn’t usually survive burns and wounds of that magnitude without immediate and urgent care. 

“It’s…fine. Sorry, I’m just getting my bearings back together…” 

“Hm. You don’t seem to be completely fine yet. Take a seat, and I’ll make breakfast. I trust that you haven’t eaten since yesterday?” 

Just as he was about to respond, his stomach answered in his stead. A grin began forming on her face, but Madison’s veil stopped O’Connor or her guest from seeing it. 

“Sit, I’ll make something up quickly.” 

Moving over to the pantry itself, Madison was initially concerned that her patient/guest would disagree, and leave immediately. Thankfully however, he simply went to the nearest seat at the table, slowly sitting down as he continued staring at her. Taking out various fresh vegetables, she considered what she had so far, before ultimately deciding that there was only one dish she could make. 

Dicing onions, peppers and some fresh cilantro, these ingredients all came fresh straight from Badawi’s grocery. Despite being in the ‘rougher’ part of town, she found that they somehow tasted much better than the supermarket variety she was used to. In less than ten minutes, she had sautéed the vegetables, and could now add in the canned tomato sauce. Making three small holes in the pan, she cracked an egg in each of them, letting it slowly cook in the sauce. 

Turning off the heat, she sprinkled the final touch of the chopped cilantro onto it, before grabbing three pieces of sliced sourdough from the oven. 

“That smells heavenly, I can’t wait to try it!” Eating breakfast with Father O’Connor had been something of a routine of hers during the weekends now, and every week she was usually the one who cooked. 

Setting the pan down on the table along with the bread, she took her place on the table as well. Father O’Connor began his morning prayer, while Madison waited on the side. The entire time the prayer went on, she noticed that her guest had his eyes on her. 

As soon as Father O’Connor finished, he asked Madison a question. “You didn’t pray with him…?” 

Truly, she could understand his confusion. “I am not Catholic.” 

“So…a Protestant nun working in a Catholic church?”

“...not that either. I’m not Christian.” Confusion was evident on his face now, as he clearly did not understand why she dressed like a nun, was affiliated with a Christian Church but was not Christian. Even she asked herself this question every so often, but her money was tight, and above all, she was just lazy about it. Besides, she felt comfortable in these familiar clothes, though she could do without being mistaken for being a Catholic Cape every so often. 

“...Jewish…?” 

“Do I look like a Rabbi to you?” 

That question shut him up, and he instead quietly picked up a piece of bread, before digging into the dish. Judging by his reactions, he clearly liked an enjoyed it, seeing as how he began taking ever larger bites of tomato sauce and eggs into his piece of bread. 

“What is this dish? I’ve never tasted anything like it before…” O’Connor had a similar reaction, as he was also scooping large portions of it onto his piece of bread. 

“It’s called Shakshouka, I learned it from one of my patients a few days ago.” 

“Mm! Where is it from?” 

“North…Africa…I think.” As soon as she finished her reply, her guest suddenly paused from eating the dish, his expression instead replaced by a skeptical look instead. 

“Something wrong?” Madison asked calmly, she expected something like this to potentially happen. 

“This…doesn’t have any weird stuff in it, right?” 

“If you count onions, bell peppers, tomato sauce and eggs weird, then yes.” 

He continued eating it. Each bite reassuring him more until he finished off his egg completely. Now that her patient was fed, she could now calmly approach the elephant in the room, but she was beaten to the punch. 

“You know I’m Crusader, don’t you?” The Empire villain asked before she could, causing her to nod in response. 

“I do. There aren’t many capes in Brockton with the combination of armour and a lance.” The lack of a shield told her that he probably wasn’t Dauntless, the breakfast choice today only confirmed her suspicion for her. 

“So, what’ll you do now? I should have woken up in a PRT jail cell already, not some church in the docks.” 

Madison had a very simple answer to his question. “Nothing. You’re free to leave, your wounds are healed, and I see no reason to make you stay.” 

“Just…like that?” His voice remained skeptical, but Madison truly did not want to get into any of Brockton’s factional disputes, the world of Arad already had countless factions to deal with, she did not want anymore memories of dealing with factions in her world. 

“If you want to stay, then feel free. But unless you attack the church, then I will not call the authorities, after I deal with you myself of course.” 

Crusader didn’t seem to heed her threat very well, but that didn’t matter too much. Eating food together was one of the best ways to broach a subject after all, so them sharing a meal probably contributed to his calm reaction. Bringing a hand to his chin, he looked as if he suddenly realized something. 

“You unmasked me…” 

It was Madison’s turn to be confused now. “Of…course? Your helmet was quite literally fused to parts of your skin, if I didn’t remove it how could you be healed?” 

“No, not that, you unmasked me, as a Cape.” 

Now that he mentioned it, there was something about Capes and their identity that she read up on a while ago. Though she didn’t understand where he came from. “And? I don’t know your name, all I know is your face. You’re in Brockton Bay, a city with over three hundred thousand people, how am I going to pick you out from a crowd?” 

Any retort that he wanted to say died in his throat, as he went back into deep contemplation. Father O’Connor in the meantime, got up and excused himself, the Church still needed to be run after all. As soon as he left, Crusader spoke up again. 

“The Empire can use someone like you.” 

And here came the pitch, she was honestly surprised that no one had come to try and recruit her yet, considering how long her clinic was up and running. Letting out a sigh, she knew that in the futures to come, she may have to deal with less-than-ideal visitors. 

“And I have no love for the Empire or its ideals.” Saying that directly to someone like Crusader was dangerous, for an average person. Annoy an activist, and they will usually walk away, perhaps scream at you, annoy a Neo-Nazi, and they will likely stab you, or worse. Getting up, she began gathering the finished pan of Shakshouka back to the pantry. 

“Your talents are wasted on these-” 

“People? I know how it usually goes, Crusader. Your words are wasted on me, service will begin soon, I suggest that you leave before you are spotted. ABB territory is not far from here, but I assume you knew that already.” 

Mercy was important for any priestess to consider, but she also knew from her memories that mercy sometimes only went so far. Not everyone was receptive to it, and that was a fact that she had to accept, even if it was a hard pill to swallow. Lemidios blesses the world, and yet, those who received the blessings have great strength to fight, was it not a contradiction? Or was it exactly as intended? 

“...” 

Madison turned to leave, but not before talking to him one last time. “Far be it for me to say who can come to this place, but when you are here, everyone is welcome, please remember it. I hope you enjoyed the breakfast.” 

The latter was something she hoped with all her heart. 

AN: 

Be civil in the comments below. 

Chapter Text

Sacrament 1.7 

“Come on, there has to be one here…” 

Deep into Brockton Bay’s Chinatown, Madison frantically looked for any store that sold traditional prayer materials. Specifically, she looked to find things that she could make an altar with, coupled with everything that was needed to run it. Technically, she was in ABB ‘territory’, but the odd thing about that was their territory was not run like the Empire did their own. There were no ‘clear’ borders to speak of, instead, there were more or less streets that people recognized as the ‘Chinatown’, which was then associated with the ABB. 

Of course, they weren’t really ‘Chinatowns’ in any sense of the word. With Kyushu fallen, and China split into three, Brockton Bay became a destination that many from those two nations found refuge in, decades ago. So it was less of a ‘Chinatown’ and more like a general ‘East-Asia Town’ if that was even correct. South East Asians were also present, but much fewer in number. There were many unofficial names, of course, New Miyazaki and New Xiamen being what many refugees from Japan and China called the area they now lived in respectively. Many did not want to live in such a cramped area, but yellow peril made a comeback in recent years, and they found themselves unable to leave. What was originally a destination that promised to help them create new lives turned out to be a prison, nothing like what their President promised. They were forgotten, confined to be the dregs of society once more. 

Rounding a corner, Madison continued to search for any store that was open this early in the morning. She was a girl on a mission, and the consequences of failing it were something she did not want to think about. 

“There!” 

Tucked away on the edge of a street, was a small hole-in-the-wall shop selling everything from incense to funeral papers. Exactly what she needed, and more possibly. Making a beeline towards it, she saw an old man sitting on a stool right in front of it, calmly flipping away at a stack of newspapers. The store’s sign didn’t have any English at all, and though she couldn’t read Chinese, she could still ‘speak’ it in a sense. 

“Hello, can you get me some things?” 

The old man looked up from his newspaper, and his eyes widened slightly upon seeing Madison. Obviously, a white girl in the heart of Brockton’s Chinatown was rare, more so one this deep into ABB territory. She knew it was not a great idea, but she did need some items urgently. 

Gingerly, the old man nodded at Madison, still quite surprised that he had a customer such as her. Listing off what she needed, everything from incense, altar stands, and even a plaque to write on along with the appropriate brushes with ink. They were not things anyone bought randomly. 

“You know what all this is for, correct?” 

 The old man still had a skeptical look on his face, causing her to nod again confidently. 

“I know how to use them, correctly as well.” 

Within the continent of Arad, there was the kingdom of Suju. The best analogue Madison could relate to them were the East Asian nations of Earth Bet, with the three cultures and societies somewhat mashed together in Arad. That was how she spoke ‘Chinese’, which was actually just a regional language used in Suju from her inherited memories. Though that was not the reason why she went to get these materials first thing in the morning. 

“Hmph. Which God, if you will sate my curiosity?” 

Madison bit her lip, contemplating a response. She could just say the name of Suju’s supreme deity, though that would not mean anything to the old man. Instead, she decided on a neutral answer. 

“...a deity my ancestors worshipped. The name is not well known.” 

Technically, if she inherited the memories and skills of the Shamans, that made them her ancestors, no? Regardless, the old man seemed confused at her answer, but did not pursue it anymore. Handing over a few bills, Madison bundled up everything from the store in her bag and proceeded to briskly walk away, giving a quick farewell to the old man. 

Thinking of places to build an altar, she remembered that the yard in her home had a small shed that basically went unused. Her father barely mowed the lawn or did yard work these days, no mood to do it every since her mother began arguing with him more and more. Ignoring that, it was the perfect place to build an altar, since building one in her own room was not a great idea with the smoke detectors. Incense burning needed an open space, or some place with good ventilation.

Altars were meant for worship, and Madison had a very good reminder of her duties this morning…

Weightless. 

That was how Madison felt right now. Despite the violent gale threatening to blow her into the dark clouds toward the heavens, she knew they would never harm her. A grand robe that she wore with familiarity fluttered in the wind, all the while her right hand held the sacred staff for the ceremony. 

Shamans, both experienced and inexperienced stood behind her as she held steadfast on the edge of a cliff. Below, the sea churned as the waves from the winds smashed against the rocks. The clouds above began shifting, meaning that the ceremony was finally about to begin. 

She had done this nearly a hundred times by now, each time she felt her bond with the sacred dragon of Suju increase. Madison was chosen, as were all Shamans that came before her. To the common folk of other kingdoms, or to those who relied on technologies for their own prosperity, asking dieties for aid may have been seen as backwards, odd, or even heretical. 

To her however, it was not only just a sacred duty, but a way of life for all in Suju, for they live under the heavens, protected by the divine radiance of the Sacred Dragon. 

The clouds have finished parting, opening a perfect circle for the divine dragon to descend onto the mortal plane once more. Madison had a soft smile on her face, for she was the messenger of the Sacred Dragon, blessed by birth to be diverness to the deity who graced Suju. 

The lights shined brightly through the circle, illuminating the area completely until Madison was completely blinded-

The ‘dream’ ended there. It was certainly no simple dream, the Sacred Dragon relayed its messages often through cryptic methods, but she knew what it actually meant. 

With a bathrobe on (it was the closest thing she had to a Shaman’s garment), Madison had cleared out a small area in the shed to be used as an Altar. With any luck, her parents would never discover it, but considering their current state they probably had other things in mind for now. 

Lighting the incense, the memories of various Shamans gave her familiarity in decoding these messages from the Sacred Dragon. Usually they were things such as warnings of great floods or other disasters, or were about good fortune that was to come. However, this time she knew exactly what it wanted. 

Stabbing the incense down into a clay jar filled with dirt, she had an unimpressed expression on her face. 

“Oh Sacred Dragon of Suju, this world may not know of your name, but the people of this city still deserve the radiant light from the heavens, please, do not forsake…” 

Madison had recited those words from memory, as they were uttered by Shamans thousands of times before her. All of that messaging meant essentially one thing. 

The Sacred Dragon wanted her to perform a ceremony. Just that. Nothing else. 

Exactly as she uttered the last word and bowed once, the sky above her roared with furious thunder once. 

Crack-Thoom

“I knew it…” 

Yes, the Sacred Dragon was divine, but apparently deities can also get jealous. Perhaps she did give too much time to worshipping Lemidios lately, and that dream was a reminder of her other duties as well. 

“Remember Madison, this is to not start a divine war in the heavenly realm…” 

She did not take Lemidios for the jealous type of God, but the archangels on the other hand…

“No, don’t even think of that.” The archangels causing trouble may unfortunately be a very plausible possibility. All she could do was sigh, and pray that they could be bought off with sugary treats from the mortal world. 

AN:

Shorter chapter for this one. Next chapter will take a quick look at Winslow, while introducing another one of the Female Priest subclasses. It has something to with Sin, if you catch what I mean. 

Be civil in the comments below. 

Chapter Text

Sacrament 1.8

Sin came in many forms. 

Murder was a sin, as was betrayal, theft, or any other number of often universally agreed upon actions by society. Yet, the existence of Sin implied that it was punishable, but by who? 

God, perhaps. But none have seen or heard of him, those who claim otherwise to the masses were more than likely charlatans, no better than the Demons that they preach against. However, to judge others for their sins were not something that Madison had to do. She was a high-schooler, such a thing could not reasonably be expected to be forced upon one as young as her. Of course, she didn’t judge those who sinned, for she had committed a sin herself. 

Walking up the half-broken steps of Winslow’s main entrance, Madison kept an eye out for one particular person. It was weird, a part of her really wanted to see her, but at the same time, dreaded the potential outcome of it. She was not a friend to Taylor, far from it, and the outcome of that could result in…

“Auf-” 

“Excuse me-” 

Too distracted in her own thoughts, Madison had bumped into someone in front of her. Upon closer inspection, it was none other than Greg Veder, she recognized his bag from Chemistry class, considering that he sat near her most of the time. 

“Good morning.” 

“Oh-uh, y-you too.” Awkward as ever, especially after Madison found out that he was a certain infamous cowboy on PHO. Not that she found out, he practically boasted about it when they had lunch a few weeks ago. With her new ‘perspective’ on her prior actions, the first thing Madison did in regards to her past was to distance herself from her ‘friends’. Though that resulted in her no longer being part of the popular crowd at Winslow, no matter what that actually entailed. That part didn’t matter to her at all, petty high school cliques seemed like a small mound of dirt compared to the actual cliques and warlords she remembered fighting in Arad.

Emma and Sophia along with their lackeys could indulge in their delusions for all she cared, they weren’t anything close to the real monsters she knew existed. 

With that said, Madison found herself with few, if any ‘friends’, though careful reconsideration of her prior friendships made her question if they were true friends like the adventurers of Arad often were. Her few acquiantances could be counted on one hand, and even then not all of her fingers could be raised. 

“Taylor’s back.” 

Widening her eyes, Madison snapped her head to Greg at an unnatural speed and fervour. Under the intense gaze, he stepped back rapidly, likely not having anticipated a response like that. 

“Where?” 

“Uh…you’re not gonna do…anything to her, right?” 

Grimacing, Madison was suddenly reminded of her prior reputation. Needless to say, despite her distancing of those two, in the student body at large the memory of her actions remained the same. Sighing, she turned to Greg with a tired expression. 

“I’m…not. I just want to talk with her-” 

“Like what Sophia did to her in the locker?” 

“Damnit Greg! Just trust me, I swear to not do anything in the name of the Lor-” Greg raised an eyebrow at her. “I won’t harm or harass her, I know better now.” 

Whether or not Greg believed she was sincere was unknown to Madison, but after he looked around the hallway for anyone who could potentially eavesdrop, he leaned in quickly next to her ear. 

“Bathroom, where she usually is.” 

“...Thank you.” As Madison turned to leave, Greg had one more thing to say. 

“She uh, looked pretty off, more than usual. Probably because she just came back from the hospital or something I’m guessing. Maybe you should be gentler or something, I dunno…” 

Already having begun walking away before he could finish, Madison made a beeline towards the first-floor women’s bathroom. If Greg was correct by saying where she usually was, that was where Taylor usually hid during breaks when she was not in class. It was a place that Madison knew how to get to easily, though not for any good reason. 

Pushing the door to the bathroom open, she immediately recognized the group of girls inside. 

“Hey, it’s Madison!” 

“Long time no see, lookin' for Taylor too?” 

In the corner of her eye, Madison noticed a trainer lift itself from the bathroom floor in a closed stall. Too small and quick for anyone normal to notice, but the senses she had allowed her to. Besides, she could feel the souls of those all around her, and one in particular was much more…fearful than the others. It just so happened to be the one locked inside the closed stall. 

Putting on her best, gleeful smile, Madison had to convince them that their target wasn’t here. “Course’ she isn’t here though. Scurried off to Gladly’s class last I saw her. Might catch her if you hurry.” 

One of them, Madison recognized her as one of Emma’s ‘followers’ squinted at her. “Really? Emma says you haven’t hung out with her for a while now. Still busy?” 

Of course, Madison gave excuses whenever Emma or Sophia approached her. It worked well enough until now, and they bothered her less these past few months. However, right now it was working against her. 

“Just not in the mood. Class is gonna start soon, don’t think you’ll catch her now.” 

“Shit, she’s right. We gotta go now.” One of them pulled out their phone and checked the time. If she guessed correctly, there was only a few minutes left before the first period began. Stepping aside for all of them to leave, Madison waited until all of them had cleared the door, and for their footsteps to become distant. Grimacing, she slowly walked into the stall next to the one that remained closed, and shut herself inside. 

“They’re gone.” 

Movement was heard in the stall next to her, hurried and clumsy movements if the noise indicated anything. Through it all, Madison remained silent. As the stall door next to her creaked open, there was one, mumbled word that came from the occupant inside it. 

“...thanks.” 

The occupant next to it hastily left afterwards, her loud steps echoing further and further away until the bathroom was silent. Slowly walking out of her own stall, Madison came to rest at one of the basins, clutching on it with both of her hands. Clutching turned to gripping, as more and more pressure was exerted on the stained marble-

“Keep exerting pressure and you’re going to break it. Look, you’ve made some new cracks already. I don’t believe the janitor will appreciate your little show of strength .” 

The voice that came beside her belonged to someone, or rather, something that she knew very well. However, that did not cause her to let out a frustrated groan at what just manifested. 

“Of all times to appear, you choose to do so now, daemon? ” 

Standing next to her, and reflecting off of the stained and graffitied bathroom window, was a near-carbon copy of Madison. Though calling it a copy of herself was inaccurate, for instead of looking like herself, it was like looking at a dark, twisted shadow of her own image. Complete with dark, purple smoke emanating off of her clone’s purple skin, just as she expected from her memories of Arad. 

“I’m not the one who screwed up a simple apology. Though I will admit that circumstances could have been much better.” 

The whole time, her clone sported a smug grin that ended up being more unnerving than playful. Madison glared at herself, and her clone returned the favour, it certainly knew how to push her own buttons. 

“ By Lemidios , I now remember how annoying it was to deal with the likes of you.” 

“Hmph.”

 Her clone crossed her arms and leaned in to whisper, her voice sultry and tempting in a way Madison could never pull off herself. 

“I. Am. You.” 

Madison’s head snapped to her daemon, who seemed unphased at the glare promising heavenly judgement if ‘she’ continued. 

“With that dragon even coming out to play, I believed it was time I rose from the depths, don’t you think?” 

“I do not think it is ever time for you to rise from-” 

“High and mighty on me now? Tell me, are you apologising to that girl for her sake, or yours?” 

Letting out a low growl, Madison expected a question like this to be asked, but hearing it firsthand turned out to sting even more than repeating it in her mind. Daemons, lived and died from sin, meaning that they knew the sins of others in a way that could strike true at sinners with brutal truth. 

“You aren’t real. At least not while I am in control.” 

“Oh, I am very much real.” 

From the mirror’s reflection, Madison saw her daemon look down, directly staring at her right hand still gripping the basin tightly. Looking down, her eyes went wide upon seeing her hand. 

“Not so high and mighty now, are you?” 

Jerking her hand away from the basin, the same dark purple smoke emanating from her daemon now came from her hand as well. It was the first sign of the blood curse appearing in someone, but this was different. Instead of the corruption that those afflicted with the curse usually suffered, it was evidence of a successful bond with creatures from the depths. Quickly turning around, Madison lifted her shirt to inspect her back, only to find that a stigmata had already appeared on it. 

The stigmata was of a cross, with the seven original sins tattooed upon it. She was familiar with this, for after all, there was a portion of memories she inherited that were not like the others. Instead of banishing the dark, there was a subset of priestesses that embraced it. 

A myth to some, while to others, especially those who used daemons for their own goals, they were as real as the Crusaders or Inquisitors. They were the…

“My Mistress, oh how long have I waited for this moment!” 

Now, it was her daemon’s turn to express in glee, before bowing to her in what Madison considered genuine respect for the first time since appearing. The same demented grin that appeared before was now back in full-swing, and the lights in the bathroom flickered in and out before Madison finally put an end to it. 

“Stop.” 

Her daemon frowned. 

“Oh sure, ruin my fun, will you? Fine, I understand, this is neither the time nor place for it. Just remember…” 

Suddenly appearing right in from of Madison, her daemon’s clawed hands slowly reached out to cusp her face. She felt it. 

“You and I…are two sides of the same coin. I will be here, waiting, for you will need me one day, this I know with certainty…” 

Madison blinked. And her daemon was gone. 

For a moment, she did not move, her eyes fixated on the spot that her daemon disappeared from. Slowly, she decided to check if her stigmata were still there, the hope that she had of it being a dramatic figment of her imagination died when she viewed the reflection. No amount of wishing it away made it fade. 

Madison pulled her blouse back down, tucking it neatly back as it originally was and left the bathroom. 

The entire time, a fly on the wall watched her with rapturous attention. It remained in place for a while, before it too was allowed to leave. 

AN: 

And here we are, the third subclass introduced, the Mistress. 

I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, hope you liked it! It just hit that I have never written a canon-Taylor before, so that'll be an interesting experience.

Be civil in the comments below. 

Chapter Text

Sacrament 1.9 

“C-Children! Please, settle down!” 

Responsibility in the English language was not quite the same as its origin in French. Responsibility meant that one was responsible for something, whether it was care for a child, a business or even an object, for example, Madison was currently responsible for making sure the orphans from Susanna and Issac’s group were properly fed. Being a street urchin didn’t exactly get them three square meals a day, hence why she took it upon herself to make sure they ate. Getting them an education, however, was still a work in progress. 

Back to responsibility, the connotations of that word had the ‘liability’ part less prevalent for Anglo-speaking people, but it was still very much a part of it. Despite she and Father O’Connor having enough leftover in their budget to start running a mini-kitchen, even having some volunteers with them, they were still very much limited in scale. Between her personal life and school, she was sacrificing the former just to spend more time at St.Michael’s. 

In truth, that part didn’t bother her as much, as being regular old Madison Clements wasn’t very desirable right now. Her parents were probably going to get a divorce soon, her memories as a priestess in Arad told her of countless marriages that failed a lot of the time. For the nations that allowed women to divorce of course. 

“Sister Clementine! Seconds!” 

Stirring a pot of Chicken à la King, Madison grabbed Sussanna’s dish tray before giving her a stoic look. “And what do we say after receiving food?” 

“Uh…thanks!” She nodded, teaching them manners was also a work in progress. 

Giving her the tray, she returned to the rest of the children, who were all sitting together at some tables they set up on Church grounds. Luckily, there weren’t that many patients today. She even got more house calls for those who were bedridden or couldn’t move without great difficulty than actual patients who showed up in person. 

However there was also increased surveillance on her and the Church these past few days. This part of town was quite a distance away from Empire territory, being much nearer to the ABB ones instead, and yet despite that, several locals she interacted with talked to her about more skinheads and other Empire goonies around the area. 

They were here for her. A Parahuman healer was always in huge demand, and if they weren’t like Panacea with a whole team supporting her? Well, Clementine was a very attractive target, and she guessed that if it wasn’t for her beatdown of skinheads at St.Michael’s a while back she would have already been taken to Kaiser. 

“Who’s that?” 

“Wait, that’s Assault and Battery!” 

“Isn’t that a bad thing? My dad got sent to jail for it…” 

Hearing the chatter from the children, Madison looked up, only to see two very familiar PRT heroes getting swarmed with rowdy children. 

“H-Hey Kids! Settle down, we’re here on business! If you could just let us through, we’ll get you all-” The one in the red costume and mask, Assault, tried to slowly east the the children back to no avail. His iconic partner simply laughed at him from a bit further back, having no intention of coming to help. 

What in the Lemidios’ name does the PRT want with me?

Since getting her healing license, she had not interacted with them at all, which was weird considering how much they insisted that she was better off in the Wards when she got power tested. Walking over to Assault, several of the children immediately gave her a wide berth. 

“Alright Children, let’s give Mister Assault here some space, you still need to eat all of your food for dessert. We have ice cream for everyone today, so don’t make me take it away now.” 

Children were often the little devils people called them, but unlike the daemons she knew, they could be bribed by simple things like sweets. Bribing a daemon often meant trading your soul, not exactly a fair comparison. Regardless, now that Assault was free, he turned his full attention to Madison along with Battery, who had moved in when the coast was clear. 

“Thanks for the assist, didn’t expect a whole orphanage to be here when we showed up. How do you handle them anyway?” 

“A lot of ice cream and getting to know them. They don’t actually live here, we just get them a large meal every day, and they disperse back to their hideout after eating. It’s not ideal, but it’s the best we can do right now.” Madison gestured to the decrepit Church behind her. “We aren’t exactly abundant in funds.” 

“I can see that…do you have somewhere quiet where we can talk?” Battery asked. 

“Hm. Come inside, we just had our door repaired, no one will bother us in the chapel.” 

Leading them inside, she entrusted the kids to the volunteers with her, who were giving glares to the PRT heroes as they walked by. The sentiment was something that many locals in the area shared, all of it essentially came down to being abandoned by them over the decades. Protectorate heroes usually patrolled the richer areas of Brockton Bay, leaving everyone here behind in the dust as crime and poverty soared. Saying that there was some animosity was an understatement, but then again, they didn’t contribute a lot to the City’s budget or the PRT, so their voices went unheard. 

Shutting the door behind them, Clementine stopped just before the altar and turned to face the two heroes. “We are far enough, no one will hear us. Now, what can Saint Michael’s Church do for the Parahuman Response Team?” 

“We’re not here on any formal business if that’s what we’re asking, just here to check up on you, make sure everything’s fine and okay.” The electricity-themed Cape spoke, causing Madison to ponder the real reason why they were here. 

“If that’s all you’re here for, then my answer shall be that I am fine. Everything is going well. Is that all you wanted to ask or will you be more honest in this sacred place?” Borrowing a bit of Father O’Connor’s attitude, her words made the two heroes shift around uncomfortably. Assault placed a hand on Battery’s shoulder, signalling to her that he should take charge of the conversation. 

“Alright, yeah you got us. We aren’t just here for small talk and making sure you are okay. I’ll be honest, we thought you would have folded by now.” 

Folded? Madison narrowed her eyes at them, but the veil covered her expression to them completely. 

“Folded?” 

“Yep. Alright, don’t post this on PHO or whatever, but HQ thought that you would have given up being an independent and asked to join the Wards by now. Director Piggot thought you’d fold, Armsmaster thought you'd fold with an eighty-five percent chance or whatever-” 

They thought she was weak. It wasn’t a completely unfounded idea, Brockton Bay was one of the most cape-heavy cities in North America, and coupled with the fact that she operated in a no-man’s land between the major factions? Her odds were not great, and yet…

“But you sorta defied expectations. Hell, we keep getting reports of you expanding the Church and even getting into a fight or something? Did you win?” 

Madison nodded, it wasn’t very impressive, but she still won. “Empire goons, they tried to attack two people here, I objected.” 

He whistled. “Huh, guess you don’t just have healing powers, gotta update that when we get back. Anyways, HQ is seeing that the wait-and-see method isn’t gonna work, so they sent me and Battery-” 

“Assault.” Battery warned, he probably said too much already. 

“To…make friends with you. Or just get you to know the PRT a lot more, you’ve met Miss Militia already and she says that you’re a good fit for the team. And also because you’re one of the most potent healers on the East Coast-” Battery delivered an electric whack to the back of his head, silencing him from talking any more. 

“So they want me in the Wards? Is that basically what you’re saying?” 

“Yeah-”

“I apologize, but my answer is still a firm, no.” 

Despite everything she had done on Saint Michael’s, she was still not set on the whole Caping thing yet. Talking to many of her patients about the realities of their situation, and Brockton as a whole gave her a lot of new perspectives about the whole thing. From her own ‘research’, which included hours of scrolling through PHO posts from former Protectorate heroes, the things she read there went against the official line, so to speak. 

“I appreciate the honesty, but I’ve already done my research into the PRT. If what they offered could have helped me, I would have already joined by now.” 

She also had no intention of being shackled like a dog, using the gift granted by the heavens on the whims of whoever was in charge. 

“Fair enough, can’t fault you at all for that. Piggot’s gonna have your head for this, y’know?” Assault shrugged, not at all affected by his partner’s words. 

“Eh. More like chewed out, I’ve been chewed out before. Anyways, we’d still like to be on good terms with you, knowing a healer is much better than not knowing one.” 

It was good to have friends, especially ones that could reattach legs if they ever got separated. This time, Madison did not find any reasons to object, despite the less than-good intentions the PRT had with her, maintaining a positive relationship was still worth the trouble in interacting with them. 

“Likewise. Now, was there anything else or do you need healing?” 

Both of them looked at her weirdly, did she say something wrong? 

“Just like that? Nothing in return?” 

“Yes, why are you asking?” 

“A lot of healer Capes charge an arm and a leg for their services, just to replace your arm and a leg. You and Panacea are the only two who don’t do anything like that, or well, you still need to be admitted to the hospital so I guess getting healed by Panacea does cost an arm and a leg in some way.” Battery explained, rubbing a hand on her chin as she did so. 

A fact about Panacea’s healing that most Brocktonites were well aware of was how actually getting healed by her worked. Because she worked in Brockton General, the patients she sees are still technically in the system, and thus, are charged appropriately. Sure, it was ‘free’ and a lot cheaper than traditional medical procedures for the patient, but for those without insurance or the money to pay for it, getting healed was sometimes worse than not getting whatever medical issue they had addressed. A lot of the sick that she healed at Saint Michael’s would have gone to Brockton General if it weren’t for their finances being in dire straights. The kind where one bad day could end up in them being homeless. 

“Well, there’s another reason why I did not join the PRT. Would they have allowed me to be at Saint Michael’s if I had?” Madison asked them both, and after a few seconds of thinking, both of them slowly shook their heads; her point was proven correct. 

“I am sure Panacea is a good person, but what I do here is equally as important, for those…less fortunate.” She wanted to say ‘rich’, but considering her background it was not so appropriate for her. Her family was considered well off, heck, she even lived in a gated community. 

“So, do you have any need for my healing? The children outside become rowdy if I am not there.” 

Assault wasted no time, beating his partner to the punch. Gesturing to his back, he began talking about his symptoms. “I actually have a spot on my spine that’s been giving me a lot of trouble lately, Doc at our base says it’s old age and can’t be fixed, so I was wondering if you could…” 

High above Earth, in the Thermopshere, lay a winged cocoon. Already being an odd sight in and of itself, what concerned humanity below it was not the cocoon, but the being inside of it. Hopekiller, Ziz, and Israfel were all used to describe it. Derived typically from creatures of the Abrahamic mythos, its appearance was not something that it chose for itself. Its creator did, for the sole purpose of going to ‘war’ against him, whether or not he made it intentionally.

Between her descending every three or four months, it had a lot of downtime not doing anything in particular. Sure, it could browse the primitive human network known as the internet for hours on end, and even have some ‘fun’ on it, but there was only so much information that could be categorized from there. Despite what it may have been called by the humans, it was not completely devoid of all emotion and solely dedicated to the eradication of their civilization. The imprint its creator made had a much more lasting impact than it initially realized, so much so that it was comparatively different from its siblings. 

Checking in on a city on the East Coast of the United States, Queen Administrator seemed to have finally awakened. By its prediction and calculations, eventually, her path would result in a desirable outcome for its main directive. However, there was still that pesky blind spot that it saw sometime back when the host of Queen Administrator went into a ‘bathroom’ and used her powers. Despite further monitoring, it still had not been able to find the source of this blind spot giving it so much concern. It wasn’t all too common for shards to interfere with its abilities, so keeping tabs on all of them-

You…look like my sisters…

Completely blindsided by the sudden telepathic communication with it, the cocoon shook as attempts were immediately made to find the source of-

Haha! She thinks we’re dangerous! Wait till she sees arch-seraph Clementine!

This time, another voice, belonging to a small human child made contact with it. Despite expanding its psychic abilities to the fullest extent, nothing was found in the space in and around her. So where-

Eh…she looks kinda scary, don’t you guys think? 

Don’t be such a baby, Uriel, Father Lemidios has given us a job to do.

Don’t say that to me, Michael!

Uriel? Michael? Two names that it recognized from the Abrahamic mythos, was she being ‘pranked’ right now? What was going on-

Enough. Big Sister Clementine needs our help, did we not all agree to this?

Yeah…

I was the only one who went down there with her…

Yeah, yeah we know you’re special Uriel, just because you’re the first one to get called by her doesn’t mean-

THAT’S IT! You’re all getting locked out, only I’m going to be the one talking to her!

Aww! Don’t be like that Miche-

Suddenly, those voices ceased, and instead, it only felt one presence remaining in connection. Within her cocoon, a bright flash of golden light slowly appeared, gradually expanding in size. Despite not having the same emotions as humans did, it felt…something. Warmth, radiance, kindness and everything in between that was associated with ‘positive’ emotions were things that it somehow felt in abundance. 

Eventually, the ball of golden light dimmed, revealing…

“Warm greetings, it is good to meet thee. I am Michael, what is thy name?” 

A small human child with blonde hair, white feather wings behind her, and an ornate dress of some kind, along with the halo she had, was the quintessential human representation of an ‘Angel’. Its creator, who tapped into human belief systems, modelled it exactly based on those ideas, and the initial benevolent beliefs they had of it in Lausanne quickly morphed into one of death and destruction. 

This was…something it had never encountered in any of its precog abilities searching in the future. Absolutely no timeline she viewed, both past and present had ever revealed something like this happening. It was intrigued, it wanted to know more . 

Finding that its telepathy didn’t work in communication, it resorted to using its psychic abilities to ‘speak’, using its mouth for the first time. So far, it had essentially been decoration, nothing like an actual organ that humans had. 

“Simurgh.” 

It didn’t ‘like’ that name especially well, but it served an introductory purpose well enough. For the first time since its creation, it had no idea what was to come next. 

“A good name. Our world of Arad has an avian similarly named, but that is beside the reason why we appear before thee.” 

Simurgh raised an eyebrow at Michael, a human expression for ‘confusion’. It was the closest emotion it could ‘feel’ right now, thus marking its appropriate use. 

“We are here to bring the light of our Father into this world for its salvation. And we…would like to enlist thy help in our efforts, what sayeth thee?” 

It realized what this was, it was an opportunity. The amount of energy afforded to the three awakened units would not have been enough to sustain them for over three hundred Earth years, however, the amount that was being radiated from Michael alone…was worth more than what a hundred Earths could ever provide for her. Its mouth forming into what it considered a ‘smile’, Simurgh responded. 

“Speak. I am interested.” 

Salvation, if it managed to handle itself well enough, could be afforded to it as well. 

AN: 

Happy Halloween everybody. There was a thing for wormfics a while back where old fanfics got ‘revived’, so I thought it’d be fun to update this one again. 

Be civil in the comments below. 

Chapter Text

Interlude: Ego Searching

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♦Topic: New Healer Cape Clementine
In: Boards ► USA ► Massachusetts ► Brockton Bay

Bagrat (Original Poster) (The Guy In The Know) (Veteran Member)
Posted on February 10, 2011:

So, we've all seen the PHO posts by now, there's a new Cape into the jungle that is Brockton Bay, but this time, she's a healer.

[Image]

I've got a source in the PRT saying that she was just granted a healer's license, and those who got healed by her saw it framed at Saint Michael's Roman Catholic Church. From what I've gathered so far, she seems to be a damn powerful healer, I'm honestly surprised she's sticking to be an independent, but none of the gangs have made a move on her yet so there may be behind the scenes thing going on.

What do we think? Is she going to dethrone Panacea as most potent healer?

Best part is that she doesn't charge anyone, only asking for her patients to donate what they can. Don't get your hopes up yet however, you still need to head deep into the Docks area of Brockton, good luck getting there in the first place.



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♦Topic: Saint Michael's Roman Catholic Church Expanded Operations
In: Boards ► USA ► Massachusetts ► Brockton Bay

SpecificProtagonist (Original Poster) (Verified Cape) (Best Nun) (Brockton Bay)
Posted on February 18, 2011:

Hello,

This is Clementine, I have recently been asked about specific times and schedules that people can visit Saint Michael's and recieve healing. Generally speaking, I do not have a set schedule and come in depending on my own availability.

However, starting from next week, I will be posting the times that I will be at Saint Michael's in on PHO, so those who want to come may plan ahead. I try to be there at least a few hours every day, so unless I mention it explicitly, you will find me there after school hours have ended.

Thank you all for your continued support of Saint Michael's.


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♦ Private message from Trickster_Kr:

Chapter Text

Vanitas 1.0 

There was a reason why Madison did not accept any form of personal donations to her directly. Anything of value that was donated, went towards Saint Michael’s charitable efforts. There was one very simple reason, life spent as a mortal on Earth was a life lived in vain. Personal wealth, achievements, reputation and everything else gained in an earthly life meant nothing before the sacred halls of Heaven. She was under no delusions that she could live as an immortal despite her circumstances, there was no higher order than Lemidios himself, and she was no Archangel by any means. There were priestesses in her memories that have ‘awakened’, attaining the highest level of grace afforded by Lemidios. 

They were named Archangels. 

Few priestesses ever attained it, and its existence was often relegated to myth and legend, a story told to aspiring new priestesses to get their hopes up. Madison knew it was possible but for someone like her? Attaining it was an impossibility, at best she could become an Evangelist, anything higher than Seraph was a pipe dream, reserved for someone else who was free of sin. 

Regardless, in her meagre capacity, all she could do was alleviate the suffering in her world as best she could. The gift from heaven she received was not meant to be spent idling by, watching as the world around her continued to wallow in misery. At least, that was how she interpreted the message given by Lemidios, the least he could have done was give her more guidance, but she had not seen any burning bushes since then. Still, she had a special house call today. Checking the time on her phone, the one she needed to meet was running late. 

Apparently, due to Noelle’s unique circumstances, she had to be housed in a warehouse of some sort, thus requiring Madison to wait for Trickster to bring her inside. She waited outside a nearby Dunkin Donuts right in the middle of Brockton’s downtown late at night, eyes scanning the empty streets for any potential threats. 

From the alleyway behind her, Madison heard the sucking of air and its release, and someone’s shoes hitting the floor. It appeared Trickster was finally here. 

“Didn’t keep you waiting too long, I assume?” 

Removing his tophat, his appearance from PHO did match what Madison was seeing right now. He looked like some magician from the early 1900s, complete with a suit and bowtie. 

“You’re late.” She really didn’t want to spend more time outside than normal, her work at Saint Michael’s was already a drain on her energy. Since posting a ‘schedule’ on PHO, more people had found the courage to make their way there, with some who were originally bound for Panacea diverting to her instead. She didn’t mind, it just meant more donations, especially from people who had money to spare. 

“Sorry, had to make sure you weren’t followed. You cover your tracks pretty well.” 

“Spare me the flattery, where is Noelle?” 

“She’s close, we had to house her in a…facility. For her safety, and everyone else’s. I hope you won’t mind following us in there?” 

Wait, that was an actual thing? She knew some villains had secret lairs or whatever the PRT cartoons liked to show to kids, but hearing it for the first time in person made her do a double take. Madison just assumed most villains went back home at the end of the day like normal people. 

“...you know, I got a DM from both Miss Militia and Accord telling me to not help you. Is what happened in Boston the reason why Noelle is in there?” 

Madison never expected to get a DM from both a Hero and Villain within the same day, and more so both being about the same thing. To be honest, she did get second thoughts about helping them after getting the messages, however, she was not a good judge of character considering those she was ‘friends’ with in the past, so Madison decided to just go and check for herself. 

Trickster’s face scrunched up, likely remembering what happened in Boston. “That was…an unfortunate misunderstanding. Noelle was the reason why-nevermind. Just know that she is the reason why we had to flee Boston and head into the Bay. Now, can we begin? Noelle has been informed of your arrival.” 

On the one hand, if it was a trap, then she was walking right into it. However, she had not even revealed a tenth of her actual abilities and was confident that if they did try to trap her, she could very well show them what Lemidios’ faithful can do. 

Getting up from leaning on a brick wall, she began following Trickster down the road. Weaving through alleyways and back of the building parking lots, they eventually arrived at a large commercial building that appeared to be newly built. The sign at the front said ‘Fortress Construction’ in big bold letters, Madison knew them as one of many firms that constructed Endbringer shelters all around the East Coast. 

“Your base is here?” 

Trickster nodded, but they did not go in through the front door. Instead, they went to the sides of the building and entered through a maintenance area. 

“Just a little more, trust me, I don’t like this place a lot either.” 

Continuing to follow him through a large area filled with pipes and other machinery, they eventually managed to reach an elevator shaft. Going inside, the two of them entered, with Trickster shutting the gate behind Madison. 

As their elevator rumbled down slowly, she tried to break the awkward silence a little.“I thought lairs were a myth.” 

“They’re not common, our employer here is the only one that has one in Brockton I think.” 

“Employer?” 

“Yeah, you know who Coil is?” 

That name didn’t ring any bells, she wasn’t too concerned with Brockton’s Cape scene. All of her worries were figuring out how to keep both the divine dragon and her daemon from manifesting further in this world, in other words, trying to appease them. 

“Wow, he is small time if you haven’t even heard of him. He’s like a Bond villain with a lot less classy clothing and wears a skintight snake-themed suit.” 

Madison wanted to ask him for a bit more information, but their elevator had arrived, and the two of them walked out of it. They were in some lab-like area, the kind one would see in sci-fi shows that screamed ‘generic laboratory’. 

“My team is through here, we were hoping you could fix some of us up as well, after Noelle of course.” 

She read that the Travelers had multiple members on PHO but were relatively unknown, with Trickster being their ‘public face’ most of the time. Walking through a reinforced steel door, the two of them entered what appeared to be an observation area, multiple people already in there waiting. Some were in costume, while some simply had regular clothes on, not all of them had a mask, just like Trickster. All of them, save for a red-haired girl in a wheelchair, stood up upon seeing Madison walk in. 

“Holy shit, you actually got her here…” 

“You weren’t bullshitting us, huh?” 

“Alright, settle down, introductions first. This is Clementine, who has agreed to try helping Noelle with her condition.” Trickster then turned to Madison, holding out his arm at the nearest person to her. 

“I’ll go from left to right. That’s Sundancer, Genesis, Ballistic and Oliver. We have another one member that should have been here, but he’s…” 

“He’s sleeping in like he always does.” Genesis, the wheelchair-bound girl, spoke up in annoyance. Madison made a note to look at her condition after seeing Noelle, she had healed a lot of disabled patients already, so she shouldn’t be too much different even considering Parahuman powers. 

“Course he is…anyways, let’s not waste time, Clementine?” 

Madison scanned the room, of all the names he mentioned, no one here was named Noelle. 

“And where is…Noelle?” 

The Travelers began shifting uncomfortably, causing Sundancer to walk towards the observation room’s console. “Uh, just a bit of warning, Noelle has…screw it, just see for yourself.” 

Hitting a button, the blinds on the window opened, revealing what Madison could only describe as a Chimera. However, instead of only being the combination of a few creatures, Noelle was more like an amalgam of an entire exotic zoo, all combined into some unholy monster. The only reason she knew it was Noelle, was because of a young-looking girl at the top of the mass of flesh, looking around anxiously. It was good that Clementine had a veil covering her entire face, as otherwise, her shock would have been seen by everyone in the room. 

“Yeah, that’s why we had to flee Boston. So, do you think you can…” 

“I understand why you could not tell me of her symptoms on PHO.” She cut Trickster off, could she even heal something like this? Missing limbs, diseases and other illnesses were easy for her to heal, but asking her to revert a Chimera of all things to being a regular human? They needed an alchemist, at minimum. Did she count as one of those Case 53s? So many questions, and yet no answers. She had to get to the bottom of this before trying anything, every little detail could potentially help. 

“Tell me everything. Her abilities, symptoms and how she got…her present appearance. Leave no detail behind.” 

The Travelers all looked around the room, uncomfortably eyeing each other in silent conversation. After a brief few moments of silence, Trickster sighed and spoke for all of them. 

“Alright, you trusted us, so we’re going to trust you now. We’re not from Earth Bet. During the Simurgh’s attack on Madison…” 

When it came to faith and belief, Noelle Meinhardt was not a very pious person. Her family were never religious, and she did not attend Church regularly back when she was still in Aleph. Even after being flung into Earth Bet, she still retained the belief that she had to believe in only herself and Krouse to get back home and be cured. 

So when she heard that a healer was coming specifically to cure her, she dared to believe, to hope even. The last time Krouse had talked to her was when he left to bring said healer into their current base, half an hour had roughly passed since then, and she was no less anxious than she was earlier. Could she be healed? What if she couldn’t? Would her condition be made worse? Or what if she could only be healed halfway, never to become Noelle Meinhardt ever again, instead being some hideous monster, trapped in some laboratory to be studied like an animal? 

Earth Bet, from her perspective as someone from Aleph, was a nightmare world. She had long since known Bet Parahumans were much stronger than her world’s counterparts, but that came at the cost of having to deal with Endbringers. There was a certain sense of relief in Aleph, whenever there was a Parahuman incident in her world, there was sometimes a silent reaction of ‘at least we aren’t Bet’. 

Her anxious musings were cut short by the reinforced doors to her room opening. She was told ahead of time that the healer coming in literally looked like a nun, she thought they were joking around, but no, they were entirely serious. 

“Noelle Meinhardt?” 

“Y-yes? That’s me…” 

“I’m Clementine, Trickster asked me to take a look at you.” For some reason, and she may have been entirely imagining it, Clementine’s voice sounded divine, radiant even. Since ingesting that vial at Madison, she had enhanced senses in both vision and hearing. However, that also made her feel uneasy and anxious a lot of the time, every single feeling she had before was wrong, the volumes didn’t sound consistent, the tone was off for most people and even hearing the smallest sounds could set her off into a panic. Clementine’s voice was the first one she heard that sounded nice to her, so Noelle managed to calm herself down much quicker. 

“Oh, yeah, I…uh…I mean you know of my-” 

“Powers, yes. Trickster and your friends have told me everything, including what happened in Madison. I’ve never met anyone from Aleph before, so I guess this will be a learning experience for both of us.” 

What did ‘ For the both of us?’ mean? 

“I believe I can cure the contents of that vial for you, I suspect it was some Tinker creation of some kind, removing it from you may be the best option.” 

Removing it? Did that mean her powers would be gone as well? If so, then good riddance. Her monstrous powers, though awesome, could not replace the regular life she had before. 

“I don’t care, fuck, look at me! I’m some freak…I…I” 

“I see. Then let’s not waste any time, shall we?” 

Clementine clasped her hands in prayer, Noelle stared at her, dumbfounded. Did Trickster get pranked? Was this healer going to heal her by literally praying? 

[Archangel’s Blessing] 

Her eyes were blinded, not by the lights like she sometimes was, but blinded by Clementine herself. A golden, radiant line shone forth from her. Wings made of light somehow sprouted behind her for a second, before extending out and disappearing in another flash. 

“Noelle Meinhardt, may I use my abilities granted by the grace of Lemidios to heal you?” 

Noelle may have been seeing things, but she was pretty sure a golden halo was floating just right above Clementine’s head, the light emanating from it reminding her of the warm sun, of summers spent much happier in Aleph. Unable to speak, she just nodded. 

“Raphael, I beg thee, save this wounded soul.” 

Clementine floated up slightly into the air, and a circle made of light filled with inscriptions and carvings appeared underneath Noelle’s many legs. They were straight out of some fantasy MMORPG she had played before, and all around here was music, a choir sung by children. The epicentre of the circle and its source was Clementine, whose hands were still clasped in prayer. 

[Regenerative Aria]

Her hands extended, and the circle shined brighter than before. A more regal figure with two enormous golden wings appeared briefly behind Clementine, the two shared the exact same hair colour. The figure looked at Clementine, her face angelic and serene. As Noelle began to feel the mass of flesh under her start twitching, the figure stopped looking at Clementine and turned to stare at her directly, she smiled with a reassuring gaze. 

“A-Angel-” 

Unlike the Endbringer they called the False Angel she met at Madison, what she saw there was a true angel, this she knew with all her heart. 

The light intensified, engulfing Noelle in her entirety. 

“Clementine, a word?” 

Father O’Connor asked Madison as she finished preparing for service today. Folding up a wet towel, she noticed her outfit had a few tears here and there along some of the edges, probably due to the house call she made two days ago. 

“Yes, Father?” 

“Far be it for me to say who you can…bring here…” Madison winced under her veil, she knew where he was going with this. 

“However, I believe the guest you brought back may need some additional-” 

WHAM

Madison shivered as the new wooden door to Saint Michael’s was slammed open, any more of that and she was confident that the roof would cave in. 

“Daaaamn, you two still going at it? I was out there for a while, didn’t know servants of the Lord were this inefficient.” 

Madison Clements walked in. If you were a simple bystander that is. In reality, though the girl that just walked in wearing Madison’s old hoodie and sweatpants looked and spoke like her, she was not Madison Clements at all. 

“By the way, spent all the money you gave me, gonna need a lot more.” 

“You spent forty bucks already?! I’m not made out of cash, you’ll have to wait until I get my next allowance-” 

“Woooow, don’t you have a bunch of money in that donation box? Even if I took a couple of bills from there, who’s actually going to notice? Not saying I already did, but-” 

Madison let out a bit of her holy ward, causing her ‘clone’ to hiss loudly. 

“Remember, daemon, you are here because I allow it.” 

Every moment spent with her clone was another reminder of her failure to immediately smite her at Noelle’s room when she first appeared. Though she was warned of her abilities, during the healing process one of Noelle’s tentacles lashed out and grazed Clementine accidentally. As the blinding lights died down, and Madison verified that Noelle had indeed reverted to normal, she noticed a clone looking exactly like her, staring and grinning back at her with a familiar expression. It was the same grin her daemon gave at the bathroom back when she encountered Taylor, did she mention it was also completely nude?

The public nudity part wasn’t the worst of it however, it was who had inhabited her clone. 

“Yeah…yeah…you would have sent me back down already by now if you really meant it. In the meantime, I’m going to indulge in all manner of sin, starting with this pop tart.” 

Holding a box of strawberry-flavoured pop tarts like they were a trophy, her clone, who has been named ‘Maddie’ by Noelle for the sake of convenience, strolled into Saint Michael’s break room, which she had claimed as her room the moment they got back. Truthfully, Madison hoped that she would have been incinerated the moment she stepped into the Church, but alas, nothing happened. 

“...I remember you wistfully saying that you wanted a sister before, is this what you envisioned it to be, Clementine?” 

“Father, please. ” 

At least Noelle assured her it was a one-time thing after Maddie’s appearance, the message she got from Trickster this morning showed her trying to walk by herself again. It wasn’t what she expected at all from healing her, but would she have traded the ugly tears of happiness on Noelle’s face for anything else? 

No, no she would not have. 

“Oi! The shitty WiFi is slow again, can’t you just get some better cable already?! We’re kinda rich, aren’t we?!” 

The shout that came from the break room tested her resolve like none other. Perhaps giving her a computer was a mistake, who knew what kind of mischief and devastation could be wrought by her with just simple words? 

Lemidios give me strength…give me strength…

AN: 

A note on DFO lore. I’m keeping it as brief/simple as possible because of how fucking hard it is to keep track of. Usually, I like to incorporate large elements of it into crossovers, but DFO lore has some of the worst delivery in any game I’ve ever played. It’s usually behind a gigantic wall of text that makes me skip it most of the time, and I do a lot of readings for my major. Don’t get me wrong, it is interesting, but I do not want to subject anyone here to digging through it themselves. Also, for the love of God, move on from Hilder already, it’s been ten years or something. 

I haven’t been playing regularly since 2018 as well, so a lot of the newer plot revelations are entirely lost on me. 

It’s these moments that make me consider if I should have made her an FF14 white mage instead because that at least has consistent lore I know very well. But White Mage Worm fics were done before, and I have no desire to write what is already there. 

Don’t worry about Maddie, she’s a one-off thing. The other classes will not be getting their own ‘clone’ or anything, and neither will the Mistress class be solely reserved for her. Madison is still the ‘Mistress’, it’s just the daemon inhabiting the clone. 

Be civil in the comments below. 

Chapter Text

Vanitas 1.1 

“A higher daemon, subservient to only the great Ozma himself…cleaning a church…oh how the mighty have fallen!” 

“Less talking, more cleaning.” Clementine chided quietly, not wanting to disturb the tranquillity that she so enjoyed with righteous fury. 

In the few days since Maddie had settled in, as part of an agreement to house her in Saint Michael’s, she ‘agreed’ to help with running the Church when Clementine wasn’t around. Sure, the contract forced upon her may have been done under the threat of exorcism, but how could she complain? Maddie was only there for two reasons, one, she promised to be ‘useful’, and two, because Noelle wanted Madison to spare her. Thinking back to it, she tried her best to remember what exactly happened…

“Foul Daemon! Prepare to meet the good lord above!” 

Madison was about to unleash the Crux of Victoria at the newly created Imposter. Damned if she was going to let their ilk poison Earth Bet, the amount of damage they could do could potentially bring the world to its knees within days, she had to end their plague here before it began. 

“Oh for the-I am not what you think, my Mistress!” 

Ignoring its desperate pleas for mercy, Madison ignored her clone’s shouts and unleashed the holy light within her. The familiar image of a cross began forming in front of her, but just before she could fully grab it, Noelle tried to tackle her, only to essentially hug her in place. 

“Wait! It’s one of the clones I’ve made, it’s not going to hurt anyone! Listen to me!” 

She hesitated, golden light still covering their entire room. Slowly dispelling it, Madison turned to Noelle, who had reverted to a regular teenage girl, minus some clothing of course. 

“I can feel her…she doesn’t mean any of us harm. I’ve never made a clone that wasn’t completely insane…so could you not annihilate her just yet?” 

“Yet?!” Her clone placed a hand on her bare chest, acting in faux offence. 

Madison couldn’t believe she was about to agree to this, but she slowly pried Noelle off of her. Now staring face to face, she sighed before speaking. 

“Fine, but for Lemidios’ sake, make her wear some clothes!” 

“Why are you so afraid? I’m telling you, there is nothing to be ashamed about our body, many noblewomen in Arad would have sold their souls to have a figure like ours-” 

Plap

Madison threw a wet sponge directly at Maddie, it struck true onto her face. Packing up the rest of their shiny new cleaning equipment, many hours spent scrubbing back in Arad could have been resolved with the wonderful product called Windex. Alas, better to have it now than never. While she was doing that, Maddie went to peek outside the tinted windows, a dismissive scoff coming from her soon after. 

“More skinheads than usual, why do you tolerate their existence? You could wipe out their fledgling Empire by yourself in one day if you’re serious about it.” 

That was technically true, and the thought did cross her mind several times before. But what was the point? Despite her personal feelings toward Mr.Gladly, she could not deny he had a passion for the subject he taught, mainly Parahuman history. One of her writing assignments was on the Boston Games four years ago, and if she had learned anything, taking out the Empire was inviting a power vacuum. She knew firsthand, or rather, through her memories the amount of trouble that could create. Loathe as she may admit it, there would be less death and carnage if they remained as opposed to the alternative. 

“Hmph. I wonder if their ideals will save them from damnation, or better yet, if their ‘good old American values’ will let them meet their God?” 

Besides, who was she to be judge, jury and executioner? Her memories and abilities as an Inquisitor were there, but she was entirely without the backing of the Priest Order here, her edicts and sentences may as well have been a crazy person’s rambling. 

“It is not my place. If you truly are a reflection of me, you should know that already.” 

“Pffft. Guessed you’d say that. Fine, I won’t bother them, if they come here though that’s fair game right?” 

Madison nodded, even her mercy had its limits after all. With all of the chores done, she noticed an Asian family standing right outside the church grounds, a child held by the mother with a worried expression. 

“No rest for Lemidios’ faithful, huh? Get out there, I can feel the child’s life force fading.” 

Something that she had noticed regarding Maddie was that she had specific ‘soft spots’. Her demeanour and view towards adults and the like were often downright malicious, something about being able to sense every sin they had. However, to children, she had a much brighter expression, something she wasn’t sure daemons were ever capable of. Of course, that meant Isaac and Susanna along with the other orphans got a new ‘person’ to play with, even if they went under the false impression that she was Clementine’s twin sister. 

Neither of them had the heart to correct them, and thus, the rumours spread of Clementine’s broody twin sister helping out at the Church. They were even called Brockton’s first twin Capes on PHO, but debates still raged on whether or not they counted as Case 70s. Having read it herself, Madison guessed that Maddie’s ability with her could technically count, but she wasn’t a scientist, why did she care about it? 

“Sure, let me do all the work will you-” 

Scraaaak

Madison paused, she felt something rip. Looking down slowly, there was indeed a very large tear on her flimsy costume, exposing much more of her thigh than she would have ever liked to. A flash of light then made her snap her vision upwards, directly at Maddie holding her Dragonphone in her hands, its camera pointed directly at her. Even with the masquerade mask covering her face, Madison could feel the lecherous grin on her face at full force.

“That’s going into my PHO compilation-” 

She did two things. First, she healed the sick child from the window, secondly, she tackled Maddie before she could do anything on her account. Her technology privileges were revoked for a week after this. 

It was official, Sabah was going insane. 

Night after night, she dreamed of angels. Not the metaphorical kind like seeing something or someone nice, but the literal, wings on back angels. She wasn’t even Christian, let alone religious since her family emigrated from Iraq when she was five. The old Ba’athist regime she lived under never really put that much of an emphasis on it, and her family were more ‘cosmopolitan’ than others in comparison. 

And yet, she dreamed of angels. So much so that she spent every dream trying to find an answer to them. They were often nonsensical, sometimes she was surrounded by child-like angels, sometimes she was in some Baroque-esque Church. She had never even been to Europe, so why the hell was she dreaming of it? 

However, in an attempt to make some sense of it, she had done something stupid and made a costume. It was based on what those angels wore, and though it was a bit cruder around the edges and taken from an existing bodysuit she had, she was proud of doing it. Now that she looked at it even more, it seemed like a costume that some D&D cleric would wear. The white and gold additions to the otherwise plain black nun outfit gave it some really good contrast, and the mini ‘pope hat’ she made looked extra cute on it. Putting it all together on a display model, she nodded in content, another fine piece made by her. 

Maybe she could sell this to some cosplayer? It didn’t work as a Hero costume, with all that religious imagery and all, nor could she wear it due to it exposing her skin. 

Oh well, she thought, I’ll just put it out there for display until someone comes and takes interest in it, hopefully someone is going to come soon-

Ring

“Welcome~!” Sabah immediately went back into her Parian persona, adopting a 1920s-era accent she practised very hard for. Expecting that it was some of her regulars or another tourist, she was about to say her usual lines when she noticed who just walked in. 

No fucking way is that-

Clementine and her rumoured ‘twin’ if Sabah had to guess correctly. The Saint of Brockton’s poor, as she was beginning to be called on PHO, though she didn’t like that title at all if Bagrat was to be believed. To be honest, the first thing she noticed was their flimsy costumes, she could tell they were essentially homemade with whatever material was available. Still, the fact that they went on for this long without changing it was to be commended. Clearing her throat, she had a good guess as to why they were here. 

“Well, if it isn’t the Saint and her twin! What can I do for you in my little store?” 

Her twin had clothing straight out of Topic Hot, the leather and all that punk clothing contrasted with that nun look Clementine sported. She could see the theme they got going on, though a lot of work was probably needed to get them up to par. 

“...Thank you for allowing us in. We would like to have some costumes made for Redeemer and I.” Clementine gestured to the twin standing behind her, arms crossed in what Sabah guessed was her being grumpy. Redeemer, a weird name in her opinion, was the grumpier twin of the two, she didn’t know if it was an act or some actual sibling relations. 

Just as she was about to go through the usual lines of taking measurements and everything, Redeemer tapped her sister’s shoulder and pointed directly behind Sabah. 

“...how…?” 

Clementine’s voice was one of disbelief, she wasn’t staring at Sabah directly, but rather at the cosplay costume she just finished making. 

“How d-did you make that?” 

She raised an eyebrow behind her doll mask, clearly not expecting Clementine of all people to take an interest in that. 

“Hm? Oh, that’s just something I cooked up from my dreams. They went away soon after I made that thing, so I probably just fulfilled some desire or something. It’s not meant to be an actual Cape costume, I have many more options at the back-” 

“I’ll take it.” Clementine cut her off, in a tone that bordered between hysterical and resigned. 

Sabah blinked, that was the fastest anyone had ever wanted a costume in her store, ever. 

“A-are you sure?! There are much better options at the back, my dear, we have everything from heatproof to cut-resistant materials-” 

“N-no! It’s fine, I’ll take that one, I really need a new costume right now…”

Yes, judging by the hastily made stitches on Clementine’s outfit, she did need a new costume stat. Sabah may have needed to run a business, but she also wanted her clients to look the best they possibly could. Her reputation as a fashionista and her desires would not call for anything less. 

“Alright, fine, it is your image after all. But do let me refine it a bit further before giving it to you. If you’re going to wear one of my costumes, you better make sure you’re wearing it as fine as possible, you get me dear?” 

“...can it be done today?” 

Sabah held up a dozen sewing needles in the air with her power, answering Clementine’s question. 

“Is that going to be all or-” 

“Not so fast, my costume next.” Redeemer suddenly strode forward, slamming down a very good drawing of a costume in front of her. It was similar to Clementine’s existing outfit, though longer, shoulders and back exposed along with high heels. Very rarely did her potential clients bring in something this detailed, she practically did all the work for her. 

“How long do you need to make it?” 

Honestly? Simple materials, nothing crazy at all…she could do this in an afternoon. 

“Wait, not so fast, why is your back exposed like that?” Clementine then butted in, staring intently at the drawing Redeemer provided. 

“Why do you care? It’s not like you’re going to wear this all the time.” 

“You realize where we work right? If I have to put up with this-” 

“Yeah sure, like those other crusaders are entirely innocent, I know what they’re like. Exposing their thighs to the world-” 

As the two began an escalating argument, Sabah quietly withdrew the paper and newly created costume. By the time they were finished, their costumes would be done. She wasn’t even going to charge them for it, for one, they were fellow Rogues, and two, they were going to be walking advertisements for Parian’s store. All in all? A damn good deal, hopefully, they would come back for more outfits. Spring was coming in a few months, and that meant new things, such as spring versions of their costumes. 

That got her fashionista side beaming like none other. If she played her cards right, then they could become her exclusive models. Like those centres of Parahuman fashion in places such as Milan and Akihabara, she too could be one of those icons, paving the way for the future of America's Parahuman fashion. No more were outdated spandex and skintight suits going to be the norm, there were styles as far as the eye could see, and Sabah dreamed of being the first to realize it. 

Walking had never felt so pleasant before for Noelle. A year and a bit more spent as some giant shapeshifting mass of flesh from her pelvis below meant that taking simple strolls outside was impossible. And yet, here she was, walking free like nothing had ever happened. 

Jess, also no longer in a wheelchair, was walking with her, sort of relearning how to walk as well. With Noelle healed and a host of other medical problems fixed by Clementine, the Travelers suddenly had one of their major goals completely fixed. No longer did they have to travel from place to place due to Noelle’s rampages, they could blend in and settle down in an area of their choosing. Of course, their goal of returning to Aleph was still there, but that was still a work in progress, one that Krouse could hopefully find a solution for quickly. 

Still, she and a couple of other Travelers were currently headed towards St.Michael’s Church, where Clementine and Noelle’s clone, Maddie lived. Getting healed did not mean that her powers faded, not at all, but rather they were more refined, at the cost of using it too often. 

She could still create ‘clones’, still loyal to her, but without the murderous rampage and were much easier to control; along with having clothes. However, it came at the cost of only spawning a few at a time, and the more powerful the ability, the less number of clones she could spawn. She also needed to touch a subject for way longer than before for a clone to spawn, and without her fleshy additions, was going to be much harder than before. Those clones even went away after a few hours, literally dissolving into thin air like sand. 

Did she dislike this change? No, not one bit. She was happily skipping along the sidewalk, making sure to savour every moment of using her legs. Hell, she even went hiking with some of the others yesterday. 

“Is this it?” Marissa asked, pointing at the dilapidated church in front of them. There seemed to be a small crowd waiting there, probably patients looking to get healing from Clementine. 

Blending in with the crowd, they were here in plain clothes today. With one of their goals reached, Krouse decided to have the team leave Coil’s base. She was surprised that there was little to no resistance, Jess even thought they had to fight their way out. Still, with no current employment or a place to live, they decided to take a chance and ask Clementine for advice. She was a local of Brockton, who probably had a much better idea of local dynamics than Coil, who wasn’t exactly trustworthy in any sense of the word. 

Some volunteers were setting up on the Church grounds, preparing food and other aid. Their goal however was inside of the Church, and thus quickly walked past them and into the newly installed wooden doors. 

Once inside, they found it empty, save for a few worshippers, Clementine or Maddie nowhere to be seen. 

“Oh? Do my eyes deceive me or are there youngsters here in the house of the Lord?” 

An elderly voice coming from the front alerted them to a priest approaching them. Krouse decided to speak for all of them when he approached, a curious expression on his face. 

“Uh, greetings your holiness-” 

“I am not the Pope, my boy. Just Father O’Connor is fine.” 

“Right, sorry. We were wondering if Clementine was here?” 

“She is not at the moment, but will be soon. If you’re looking for Maddie, she is also away with her, something about having to procure a new costume. Can I guess that you are the group she healed some nights ago?” 

He knew, causing Noelle to look away instinctively. 

“How did-no, you’re right. We wanted to ask Clementine for some advice, and to make sure Maddie is fine.” 

“Ah, well don’t let me dissuade you from being here. Saint Michael’s is open to all, I’m sure she will be back very soon. Please, make yourselves comfortable.” 

Father O’Connor walked away soon after, leaving the Travelers awkwardly standing around like the teenagers they were. At first, they all decided to just wait on a nearby bench, but then curiosity overtook some of them, and Noelle got up to wander around. Aleph’s religious make-up was nearly identical to Earth Bet, sure, fewer people were religious, but nowhere near the levels that Bet had. If the big Churches were losing followers, what did that mean for smaller ones like Saint Michael’s? 

Wandering around, making sure to not disturb the parishioners, she stopped before a mural depicting an Angel, similar to the one she saw when…

“Curious, are we?” 

Hearing Father O’Connor’s voice beside her, Noelle stepped back a bit. He must have seen her staring at the mural intently. 

“That depicts Saint Raphael, coming down to deliver a message from God.” 

Raphael, Noelle heard Clementine say that name when she healed her. Then there was 'Lemidios' as well, something that didn't exist at all despite hours of scouring the internet. 

“Does he have something to do with healing? It’s just that I heard Clementine say that when…” 

His eyes opened slightly more as if he understood something regarding Clementine. “Ah, you’re the one who she healed, correct? To be honest, Clementine had explained her beliefs to me. She does not believe in God, and yet, she believes in a deity that granted powers to her. Not to speak ill of her beliefs, but the fact that the archangels she believes to be true share a name with the Saints I know of is humorous to me. Perhaps God does work in mysterious ways, no?” 

Does it? If God was omnipotent and all that, could it…no, better to not think of it. There was no good answer to come from that line of thought. 

“It’s just that…when I got healed. I saw…damn this sounds crazy, but an Angel or something behind Clementine, like a real, bonafide one.” 

“Hm. Then do you believe it was an Angel? Or do you think it was some Parahuman power manifesting itself to be one?” 

Honest answer? She didn’t know. “I…what do you think?” 

“What do you believe her to be?” Father O’Connor replied with a question, causing Noelle to think about it for a while. After some time, she finally opened her mouth, an answer ready to be said with all her heart. 

“I don’t think it was a Parahuman power. Maddie should have gotten Clementine’s abilities, and yet, it was something entirely different…I think it was an Angel, and that’s what matters to me.” 

He smiled, satisfied at Noelle’s answer. “If you believe that to be an Angel, then so it is. I won’t take your time any longer, look outside.” 

Doing as she was told, Noelle saw Clementine and Maddie outside, the former already healing the crowd. Out of all those people, she saw that most of them had one particular expression, hope. It was the same feeling Noelle had, waiting for Clementine to arrive. And once she did, her hopes were answered. 

“I’ll wait for her to finish first, don’t wanna distract her y’know?” 

Father O’Connor nodded, and they simply watched Clementine heal the sick. 

AN: 

For reference on their costumes, Clementine’s new one is exactly the one from her Crusader skill cut-in. While Redeemer’s one is based on the Mistress skill cut in. 

Be civil in the comments below. 

Chapter Text

Vanitas 1.2 

“They’re making their move~” 

“They aren’t. The Archangels are not so childish-” 

“They are~you know it, that costume you’re wearing not proof enough?” 

A brief, but prideful spot of fury swelled within her, the ‘costume’ that she wore was not just any outfit cobbled together, it was- 

“These are the garbs given to novice new Crusaders! I don’t even want to know how you got her to finish that outfit in a few hours, but at least do something about your exposed back! You do know I’m still a minor, right?!” 

“Your human form is, not me, Redeemer. Fantastic name by the way, very original…” 

With their new costumes worn and Parian’s insistence on not receiving any payment other than a promise to heal her if she ever needed it, they went back to Saint Michael’s. Today was another scheduled appointment for her presence at the Church, as per her schedule release on PHO. There were the odd offers to join various organizations here and there, even one from this group called Haven, a Hero group that operated in the ‘Bible Belt’ region out West. One of their main draws was their Christian identity, and also the fact that they were essentially a corporate team that had the Cross as their logo instead, not that Madison would have ever joined a team like them. She was fine just being affiliated with Saint Michael’s, no need for more unnecessary obligations. 

Besides, she wasn’t even sure they would get along with her, on account of her not being Christian at all. Perhaps one day she should just post her religious beliefs on PHO, and make everything clear to everyone, but that would mean explaining Lemidios, which was another whole can of worms she didn’t want to touch right now. 

“It’s what the Mistresses were known as in their final awakening, I thought it to be appropriate. You are also wearing my face, I do not need a doppelganger of myself causing trouble only for it to bite me back home…” 

“What home? We’re going to be living in two homes in two months anyways, assuming joint custody is the outcome.” 

And there it was, another reminder of this morning. Despite her parents attempting to keep their arguing to themselves, the paper-like walls of their standard mass-produced house weren’t great at keeping sound out, what happened to making buildings out of stone? Most buildings owned by the Churches in Arad were sturdy, on account of them needing to withstand sieges and daemonic incursions every so often. 

“Assuming it lasts two months…” 

“Who knows? I don’t know any more than you do, want me to fill in for you at the courthouse soon? It’ll save you the boredom.” 

That was one of the nicest things Maddie had ever said to her, and she was being entirely serious as well. As tempting as it sounded, she shook her head, Lemidios’s greatest battles were ones of a personal nature. 

“Thanks, but no thanks, this is something I need to handle…on top of everything else going on right now…” 

Despite everything that happened in the last few weeks, Madison didn’t feel any ‘better’, while not writhing in despair and misery, not much had actually changed, nor were any differences made for the better. Taylor was still a work in progress, her home life was getting worse and she was attracting even more attention as Clementine, which was the one thing she had way more control over than anything else going on in her life. 

“Oh no~Saint Clementine having a bad day? The heavens are falling! But seriously, you know you saved like, at least a couple hundred people by now, right? That’s something, hm?” 

Maddie was probably right, between all of the terminal and non-terminal illnesses she healed, quite trivially in fact, she knew firsthand how life-changing it was. A Veteran who lost his leg in the Invasion of Colombia for example, shed joyous tears after she healed and remade it the other day, allowing him to walk and work normally again. Then there were the numerous posts on PHO detailing how her healing helped them, but they only added to the gnawing guilt she felt. Someone like her with these powers…it was like a bad joke, probably why Maddie was sent here to be with her. 

“I’ll remind you that us daemons, we are a part of you. All Mistresses have a daemon, you are no exception, I just found a convenient way to manifest without taking your body in this world. But if you do ever need my powers…” 

At a traffic light that no longer worked, Maddie turned Madison’s face over to her, staring deeply into her eyes despite the veils on both of them. “I only need to be called, and I will harvest whatever sins may be present, yours included, my dearest Mistress.” 

“And I hope that day never happens…it was bad enough giving you an entire body…” There had never been a case of a Mistress’s daemon possessing their identical body in Arad before, so to her, this was uncharted territory, who knows what kind of odd power combinations resulted from that? 

“Let’s not waste more time outside, I still need to finish making that new staff of mine…” 

“The one you’re cobbling together like some bad art statement?” 

“At least I’m not using an old farmer’s scythe, where did you even find something like that?!” 

“Secret~” 

With the relative lull in talking, Madison took in the area they were in. Deciding to walk back to avoid the Boardwalk crowds, they had to go through some sketchier parts of Brockton, and if she was correct, they were currently somewhere around the old docks area. Normally an hour’s journey by walking, a quick casting of [Edification] allowed them move as swift as a feather, reducing overall travel time until they got close to Saint Michael’s. 

It was still skirting dangerously close to ABB territory, which was also sandwiched between Empire territory on the other end. From what she gathered, Saint Michael’s was positioned in a sort of ‘No Man’s Land’ for the two major rivals, with her healing offered to anyone regardless of affiliation resulting in some of their members being healed as well. At least they didn’t make themselves obvious, aside from the obvious tells that someone was part of either group, they generally remained anonymous when coming to her for healing, also orders from up high probably. 

Stopping to a standstill, the all too familiar smell of Ash and smoke whiffed in the air around her, this street was dilapidated and deserted as well. Flashes of Villages in the aftermath of Dimension Rifts opening overlapped her vision, before returning to normal. 

“Judging by how ya stopped, guess you smell it too?” 

Maddie had her scythe pulled out already, wisps of dark smoke coming from the old farming tool. She too summoned her cross, most Crusaders by now had exchanged their old wooden ones for purpose-built ones by the time they achieved the ranks of the Evangelists. There was supposed to be a ceremony, usually done by a local Bishop with multiple other prospective Evangelists who would bless their journey under Lemidios. Since there was no such authority for Madison to go to in Earth Bet, however, no one could argue against her self-appointed title of Evangelist, even if it didn’t mean anything here. 

“Ash. There are no fires around here either, so that leaves…” 

As one, the two pointed their weapons at the alleyway beside them, and from the dark shadows, a scruffy figure emerged from it. Wearing the mask that resembled the face of Kasijas the Conqueror, Madison breathed out the name she knew from browsing PHO every so often. Unlike the Empire who had numerous Capes to call on, remembering the ABB’s Capes were simple, for they only had two. Lung, and…

“What’s that shadow Oni doing out here? We’ve hardly done anything to warrant such a greeting.” 

The red mask of the Oni, belonging to Japan in this world, and Suju’s folklore in Arad, the band of grenades and numerous sheathed knives strapped to him, there was no mistaking it. To Madison’s surprise, however, he did not draw any of his weapons, instead, he approached them with both hands raised in a placating manner. 

“Peace. Peace.” There was an accent there, but she understood him well enough. 

Neither of them let their weapons down. Their standoff in the empty street lasted for a full minute, until Madison decided to take the lead. He did not seem like the forthcoming type of person judging by what she read about him online. 

“Oni Lee. We have no quarrel with the ABB, why have you approached us?” 

Madison asked in the Southern Dialect of Suju, the closest equivalent to Japanese in Arad. For some of the Japanese-speaking patients she healed, her accent was supposedly somewhere between Kansai-ben and one from a historically accurate period drama in the 1600s, still couldn’t read Japanese of course, but it made communicating across languages much easier. 

“...the reports were true. Though why do you have a Kansai…nevermind. I come here bearing a message from my Oyabun, Lung.” 

Her eyes narrowed, hearing the name of Lung was odd. The Shamaness memories within her roared, telling her to smite down the pretender of a Dragon that was this ‘Lung’, he wasn’t even the right type of Dragon! He appeared to be a Western Dragon when fully transformed, brutish and destructive, unlike the wise and benevolent Sacred Dragon of Suju she swore fealty to just a week ago. Yes, the only shrine to its name was in her house’s shed, hidden behind seldom-used camping equipment but it was the genuine prayer that counted, right? 

“If you expect me to fold, you will be sorely disappointed today.” 

Madison expected something like this, operating so close to ABB territory could only mean attracting the worst kind of attention. It took a few weeks, but it appeared it finally came, she gripped her staff tighter, there were numerous sacraments and skills she could unleash onto the Shinobi. He was no Kunoichi of Shonan, but his experience should have made him a formidable enemy nonetheless. 

“He wishes to make a donation, and to have an agreement of non-interference.” 

“Huh!?” 

“Now that’s unexpected, how big a donation are we talking about?!” 

Despite the very different reactions the two had, both did not expect that to happen. As if making his point clear, Lee took out a thick cardboard envelope from his back, placed it down on the pavement and then lightly kicked it towards them. Non-verbally, she told Maddie to continue watching him, while Madison inspected the envelope. It could have been a bomb for all she knew, but why go through all this trouble if he wanted them dead? He willingly let himself be seen, and this was no ambush to speak of. 

Unsealing the string, she peered into it and found a giant stack of cash, a quick cursory glance revealed them to be a mix of bills, but none were smaller than $20 dollars. Her eyes bulged, this was more than what their donation box had at any given point in time, while Maddie whistled in glee. 

“Please tell me you’re going to get some new cable with this! Finally, get that shitty wifi router replaced, that thing’s from like the late 90s!” 

Madison, however, had another concern. Turning to Lee, she sealed the envelope back up and threw it at his feet, returning it to sender. Maddie’s cry of anguish was keenly heard, but ignored. 

“I do not take money stained with blood, tell your master I reject his donation.” 

“This is not money from our operations, it was from a donation drive.” 

That was the second ridiculous thing he said to her today. Taking a deep breath, she asked a further, clarifying question. 

“You’re telling me that the ABB does…charity donation drives?” 

“Yes.” 

“And not the kind of ‘donation’ where the threat of immolation is present when you refuse?” 

“These were collected by our junior members, who received them mainly from their families. Lung-sama has no involvement in this. Though I do bring another envelope, the money in there was taken from our operations, something that he foresaw you would not appreciate.”

  Indeed, Madison would not appreciate that. Assuming that Lee was telling the truth, the money was as ‘clean’ as it could be, she was not some kind of purist who needed everything crystal clear, nothing in this world was so black and white in practice. Even the poor that she healed often worked in illegal enterprises, from food stands without licenses to outright drug smuggling for some Merchants who were clearly on the verge of OD’ing. 

Her role was not to be Judge, Jury and Executioner if need be, but rather, in the eyes of Lemidios, her role was to bring the light of the Lord in the form of mercy. Besides, she herself was in no position to criticize and Judge others, her own literal sins standing beside her were proof enough. 

‘Aw, thinking of me, my Mistress?’ Maddie spoke through her mind, it was a sign of further acceptance and the deepening of her stigmata. 

“Quiet, you.” Madison spoke harshly to the daemon, was this how the Pelos Empire dealt with Imposters? 

Oni Lee tilted his head, confused. 

“If you are worried about the purity of this money, this is as clean as the ABB can muster. Though my Oyabun would also appreciate accepting his donation, it is worth even more than the contents in front of me.” 

“Enough, this is getting us nowhere. We can spend all day debating this and still come to different conclusions. What is the message Lung wants to give me?” 

“He wants you to continue. And for us to have no animosity.” 

“...that’s it?” 

“Indeed. This present arrangement is mutually beneficial for both of us. We have no reason to interfere with each other, and you yourself have made it clear how you value independence.” 

Loathe as she may admit, her reluctance to get involved with Brockton’s Cape scene, despite going out as a Cape was going to result in some sort of weird ties sooner or later. So far, the PRT were on good terms with her, but that was about it. Disproving of Lung’s entire…well, existence was not enough for her to wage war against the second largest gang in Brockton Bay, though she had the power to at least match him in strength. Those Adventurers in Arad got up to some pretty crazy fights by Earth Bet standards. 

After a sharp inhale, Madison sighed out her answer. “...fine, I will not interfere with the ABB, and you will not interfere in Saint Michael’s. If this is broken, I will ensure the full wrath of the heavens is brought upon the ABB.” 

For good measure, she let a bit of Holy Power seep out of her body, after some patients reported seeing a ‘golden divine aura’ when being healed, Madison kept that energy within her bound up tightly. She did not need another grandmother to fall to her knees in front of her again in worship, it made the rest of her day feel a mixture of awkwardness and guilt…

“And Lung-sama will do the same to your holy ground. May whatever Kami you worship bless our paths, we will not cross each other again if fate permits.” 

As soon as he said that, Lee bowed deeply for five seconds, before turning into white ash, blowing away with the light breeze. His ability was described as teleportation of some kind, seeing it in practice was a different feeling entirely, though compared to the Kunoichi that were in various Adventurer parties, his Parahuman power was rudimentary at best. 

The street was once again empty, save for one thick envelope that was left behind. Maddie stared at it, while Madison did her best to ignore it. Unfortunately for her, the daemon had a better idea than to leave thousands of dollars just out on the street. 

“Well, if you’re not going to take it, I sure could use a nice, relaxing spa day at the-” 

“Alright, fine! You’ll get your stupid Wifi improvement, are you happy now?!” 

Madison was enveloped in a bear hug, she spent a considerable time prying her alter-ego off of her. 

“I think this is like, the OG Wifi router…” 

“I mean, it explains the speeds we’re getting at least. Are you sure this was never upgraded, Father?” 

“Oh yes, I’m quite sure, Maddie has unfortunately been loudly complaining about it…I remember when it was implemented. There was a drive to update Churches with the new technologies around a decade ago, we received some funds for the internet, but our website project never went anywhere…”

With nothing else to do at Saint Michael’s, the Travelers decided to kill time by going onto the internet, as any dimensionally displaced teenagers would. One thing led to another, and they were all currently inspecting the Church’s Wifi router, a quick inspection of the label revealed the date of manufacture to be…

“I was right, it is from 1999! I'm surprised Bet had routers this early...” 

“Yeah, we get it Marissa, you had the one good guess…now can you tell us how to make it stronger? We got like, point four Mbps or something back there…” Cody complained again, he was the one who insisted they try and get the Wifi stronger. There was this streamer from Bet he kept up with over the past few weeks, causing Noelle and Jess to glare into his back. Just as she was about to march up and pry him away, they all heard the door to the break room being unlocked, revealing two familiar people, albeit in very different costumes. 

“...we’ll discuss the options with Father O’Connor, you put that phone down before you-well, if it isn’t-” 

Before Clementine could finish speaking, she was suddenly rushed and hugged by Noelle herself, causing the healer Cape to ‘oof’ in response. Despite that, however, the formerly monstrous girl felt the healer’s hands placed on her back, rubbing them in comfort. 

“Noelle! And the rest of…ah, not in costume I see. Welcome to Saint Michael’s, how may we help you today?” 

“We?” Maddie, in a much altered costume responded with disdain, causing Clementine to stomp on her toes once, hard. 

Wincing at the sight, she turned back to Clementine who was still being very gentle with her, the cries of anguish from behind entirely ignored. 

“Please, ignore her outburst. We’ve had a very taxing encounter just now. Now then, is this about a prior healing I conducted? Have there been any lingering or side effects I need to correct?” 

Noelle broke off from the hug and quickly shook her head. “Nope! Jess and I are healthier than we’ve ever been,” she did a spin on her toes to show it. 

“We’re here to check on Maddie, since my clones now tend to kinda melt away after a while…” 

“Oh, I’m not a melted pile of goo thank you very much!” Maddie said from a nearby chair, rubbing the spot on her foot where Clementine stomped down on. 

“And also, we’re here to ask for some advice…” 

“If it’s of a religious nature, I’m afraid I will have to recommend Father O’Connor over to you-” 

“Oh, um, no it’s about Caping stuff.” 

“...I will have to refer you to the PRT hotline instead then. I am not the most knowledgeable person regarding Cape matters.” 

“That’s fine, we just needed someone more…honest. If you’ll excuse us, our time on Earth Bet hasn’t exactly been all too peaceful, it’s just been one thing after another…” Marissa commented, recalling all the groups they met along the way, some better, some definitely worse. 

“Hm. In that case, ask away. Though not for too long, I have a scheduled healing session soon, I assume you saw the small crowd outside waiting for me?” 

The Travelers nodded, there were desperate, sickly and destitute people outside, but the one thing tying them all together were their expressions of hope. 

Hope that Clementine would bestow upon them, the gift of relief from their suffering. 

Mercy. 

“Oh, right, course’. Uh, Krouse? Do you wanna…” 

“I’ll cut to the chase. We’re no longer working for Coil, I told him to get stuffed in our last phone call. So we moved out of that lair he provided and temporarily moved to a motel for now. Though it’s not exactly a good position to be in, we don’t have an income or a permanent place to live…and not to mention we’re technically illegal immigrants in Earth Bet who have escaped an Endbringer Quarantine Zone.” 

They did briefly consider just surrendering themselves to the authorities, but after reading about how people in Simurgh Quarantine Zones could potentially be executed due to being a ticking time bomb, they decided to keep quiet. Not that Noelle’s prior condition let them talk to the local authorities here anyways. 

“But, since Noelle’s fine now, we are back to our original goal of returning to Earth Aleph. Which is where we’ve hit a few pretty big snags.” 

“I can see that. Well, if it’s within my power to help, I shall do so. How can I help return you home?” 

Noelle and some Travelers brightened up, they didn’t expect Clementine to so readily agree to help them after everything she had already done. 

“We were hoping if you could contact some higher-ups in the PRT-” 

“I cannot do that, I’m afraid. On account of me knowing no higher-ups in the PRT.” And just like that, their hopes were crushed just as quickly, not by intention probably. 

“But…didn’t Miss Militia-” 

“I’ve only met her once, and that was in my initial power testing examination, since then it’s only been through PHO. I still haven’t really responded to her by the way, she’s asked about my meeting with you several times already. Even then, she is not a very high senior member of the PRT by any means.” 

“...damn.” Krouse summed it up perfectly for them, they planned to negotiate a return to Earth Aleph, without the possibility of being incarcerated for their crimes on Earth Bet. Of which, acting as Villains was just another charge in their already long list. 

“You guys didn’t think that through, huh?” Maddie absently commented, she didn’t even look up from scrolling on her phone. 

“Don’t be rude, and mean for that matter. But yes, she is unfortunately right. In terms of influencing the Federal Government to let you return home, I am essentially powerless. You will have to decide on how to get home, even with all the issues that it may come with. With that said, however, I can help you with other issues, I think…” 

“Okay, Plan B it is. Is Saint Michael’s hiring by any chance?” Krouse asked with a perfectly straight face, causing the rest of them to grimace, Noelle thought they had a good thing going on, until he asked that stupid question. 

“Dude.” 

“Bruh.” 

“I don’t think they’re in a state to hire all of us…” 

“Guys, let me handle it.” Krouse declared, he did lead them through their toughest times so far, they could let him at least try again. 

“Basically, you’re just about the only decent Cape we’ve run into so far in Earth Bet. I don’t know if that’s saying something about this Earth or our judgment ability, but we’re fresh out of options. Working with Coil was honestly a Hail Mary for us, and now that we don’t need to work with a Villain like him…” 

“You do know I just work with Saint Michael’s, right? Father O’Connor is still the Priest who manages everything, I just help-” 

“Clementine, you’ve done a lot more than simply help. I’ll let you handle this, though do make it within reason, we still need to be a place of worship for the people after all.” Father O’Connor commented nonchalantly while reading his newspaper, he didn’t seem all too concerned about them at all. 

“Father, please…by ‘Remy-Dios’ I don’t know what to even do with you, were you just planning on barging in and ask for a job?” There was a word Noelle picked up that didn’t quite make sense, but refrained from asking about it then and there. Clementine placed a hand under her chin and rubbed for a while before talking again. 

“Saint Michael’s itself does not need more help, Maddie and I are more than enough for what it needs to do. My healing work on the other hand…” 

“Oh! You need volunteers to help run it, right? I used to do something like that in my old Church back in Wisconsin, well, Aleph’s Wisconsin…” Marissa exclaimed, she had a very bright expression. Father O’Connor chuckled at her outburst, with everyone looking at her, needless to say, her cheeks were flushed red. 

“And that is another reason why I can’t hire you, none of you are Catholic.” 

“More like we don’t go to Church in general, but I get your point…anyways, if it is an arrangement like that, the work doesn’t seem so bad.” Jess mumbled out, ever since she regained use of her legs she had wanted to do more physical work. 

“I will not lie to you. The pay is terrible, even below minimum wage, and you will only be paid during healing sessions, the rest of the time will not net you anything. However, I can help you with room and food, as well as protection if need be. In return, I will need you to cease any illegal activities, not that you’re all inclined to do them at this point I presume…” 

Krouse turned around to look at the rest of the group. Despite the harsh-sounding nature of those terms, it wasn’t unreasonable. Sure, they would earn a lot less, but their year and more on Earth Bet had allowed them to build up a considerable amount of cash. With their two other concerns being a place to stay and food, even not being paid that much didn’t seem like a deal breaker either. Besides, with Clementine’s display of power that night against Maddie, Noelle felt very safe allied to her in comparison to everybody else they allied with. Accord for example, was a bastard who even tried to dissuade Clementine from helping her. 

With the rest of the Travelers nodding, or at least not refusing it outright, Krouse went ahead with the affirmative. “I mean, helping you out can’t be that hard, right?” 

Noelle wanted to cringe at the jinx, though she was not the superstitious type, events lately had caused her to be more…aware to put it nicely. Clementine however, just waved his concerns off. 

“Don’t worry, the people outside know how to be civil, it’s the children you need to worry about…actually, why don’t you have a trial run now? You’re all out of costume, meaning that you are perfectly capable of starting today. My session does not start for another fifteen minutes, but you know what they say, the early bird…” 

Noelle finished for her, the saying was the same on Aleph. “Gets the worm…well, we should have seen this coming, huh?” 

“We should do it! I don’t want to risk my life everytime I’m outside for a change, besides, this is only until we figure out a way back, right?” Marissa readily agreed to it, being as excited as her power manifested itself to be. Since coming to Bet, this was the brightest Noelle had seen her best friend, and that enthusiasm slowly crept to the other Travelers. 

“Yeah, sure, let’s go and check it out…” Krouse said for all of them, and a few of the more lethargic Travelers didn’t want to move, but the threat of withholding payment from Maddie got the figurative ball rolling. As they filed out of the break room, Noelle scooted over closer to Clementine as they walked through the main hall where the pew chairs were. 

“So…what’s up with the new costume? I mean, you look like the Cleric-class from Ransack.” 

“Ransack? I’m afraid I’m not familiar…” Clementine muttered, placing an arm on her chest while doing so. Noelle shuddered, even the way she acted was like the NPC Clerics in the game, totally like the game…

“Right, sorry, it doesn’t exist in Earth Bet. Basically, it’s a video game, an MMORPG from Korea-there’s a Korea in Earth Bet, right?” 

“Yes, the history probably diverged from what you know but it exists.” 

“Great! It’s the E-sports game we played before the whole Madison thing, I actually kinda miss it…So, basically, it’s like a 2D beat’em up where you take control of Adventurers to go into dungeons and fight…” 

 Noelle poured her heart out to explain the world of Ransack, once her pride and joy, and now a distant memory, Clementine and Maddie’s new outfits brought back those good memories to her. Now that she thought about it, weren’t Clementine’s powers the stereotypical healer class in RPGs? 

Nah, there was no way. It was probably her gaming delusions, these were Parahuman powers, and they couldn’t be gamified… 

Right? 

“We’re here everyone, just before I open the doors, I will remind you that usually the most hectic parts of the whole thing are in the first dozen or so minutes. You will have to help the other volunteers get them in line, remember, severe cases to me, less severe cases to Maddie.” 

Noelle nodded, she knew Maddie had a different powerset compared to Clementine, the exact reason why was unclear since most of her clones retained the exact same powers whenever they spawned. Maddie so far, was the sole exception to that rule. 

“Three…two…one…brace yourselves.” 

Clementine pushed open the newly installed wooden doors with little effort, and immediately, Noelle was assaulted by a chaotic choir of voices, each belonging to someone who had sought her out for one simple reason. The miracle of healing. 

“She’s out!” 

“My Son! He’s got a fever from last night, it keeps going up and I don’t have enough to take him to the clinic-” 

“I’ve just gotten my diagnosis-” 

“Please! Help her! The Doctor says it’s terminal, you’re the only shot my wife has left!” 

“I-I need to work again tomorrow, I just need my arm fixed up and I’ll be outta here! I can’t lose my job, I’ve got two kids I need to feed!” 

They all sort of coalesced into white noise soon after, but Noelle still found herself gawking. The small crowd from before had turned into one that blocked up most of the street in front of Saint Michael’s, not just Noelle, but the rest of the Travelers were having second thoughts about what they just agreed to…

“Alright you guys, do you want to help man the soup kitchen or help me with patients?” 

Which was the quieter one?! 

In the three years since the PR department mandated Hannah to use an 82’ Davidson Roadster, she admitted that it had grown on her by now. While she did like riding motorcycles, she herself preferred the Japanese brands, in her civilian persona, she rode around in the latest models from Mitsubishi, still doing their part to restore Japan to the bubble-era glory after Kyushu. The Davidson, painted in her colours, was loud, a gas guzzler, not all too fast and many more. 

And yet, in order to sell her image, every time she went out on patrol, she had to ride that motorcycle as if she loved it. Love was an inaccurate word, she found it fine, but not at all what she preferred. Hannah didn’t mind it too much however, she was Miss Militia, the all-American heroine that couldn’t be anything but. Even the weapons she used in combat were ‘advised on’ by the PR department, nothing too dangerous or scary, and most importantly, had to be American-made. So no European weapons, or even worse, Russian-made ones. 

Turning a corner littered with potholes a decade old, she would normally never patrol this deep into the Docks area, not alone at least. Just a block or two away from the beginning of ABB territory, she had operated here before in a limited capacity, their resources were better managed somewhere else, somewhere more important like the Boardwalk. Or the unsaid part in those strategy meetings was where the people with money actually lived. 

Today, she had a mission from Piggot herself, who probably got it from an even higher authority judging by the scowl she had while briefing her. As soon as Assault and Battery came back from their ‘meet and greet’ with Clementine, they began to notice changes to their powers. At first, it was subtle, Assault described it as something they always could have done, but only just found out for some reason. 

Good changes, the kind that got their ratings bumped up just a bit. Assault, who previously had to touch things in order to manipulate their energies could now ‘shoot’ it out at something within a ten-meter radius of himself, earning him a Blaster rating that was to be decided. Many pranks were made that day, which earned him an easy disciplinary action by Piggot. 

Battery on the other hand, just received a flat ‘upgrade’ to her abilities, where her previous ‘charge limit’ had increased by a few more seconds, giving her a larger reservoir to use her powers. Her ratings did not necessarily change, but it was noted to be a much-welcomed improvement as that was often her primary limitation in combat. 

Needless to say, the potential consequences of this revelation caused Piggot and Armsmaster, along with their power testers to panic. If it was permanent of course, which so far pointed to it only lasting a long time such as a few days, just this morning Assault reported that the ability seemed to be ‘fading’ a little bit, while Battery tested hers and reported that there was a similar diminishing effect. Still, Parahuman powers that could ‘boost’ others such as the infamous Teacher were rare, and usually not this potent. If anything, this just made Clementine an even higher priority for them to recruit, with Piggot ordering everyone who knew of this to keep their mouth shut under any circumstances. 

However, either a leak happened, or the higher-ups just finally noticed Brockton’s second potent healer, for she was under orders to ‘persuade’ Clementine to join the Wards program, with more aggressiveness this time. Needless to say, Piggot had other orders for her, malicious compliance was a tried and true strategy in the history of the ENE department to put it mildly. 

Pulling up to Saint Michael’s Church, Hannah eased up on the throttle to not disturb the quiet area. Assault had previously noted a large crowd in the area directly outside the small tent where Clementine healed, by her estimate, only a dozen people were remaining if she excluded the obvious volunteers. There were a group of teenagers manning the soup kitchen, some in obviously worse shape than the others, seeing no other available help, she parked her bike and approached the nearest one. A blonde teenager resting her head on a table next to an empty pot of soup, it smelled radiant, especially in the cold February weather. 

“Excuse me? Is Clementine currently-” 

“Clementine is currently unavailable…if you’re here for healing please go and line up…if you’re here for food…urgh…please go and find a station with soup…” The girl mumbled out drowsily, when Hannah did not move for a few seconds, she slowly looked up from her makeshift arm pillow, only to widen her eyes, comedically in fact. She recognized that gaze, it was the ‘Holy Shit, it’s a Cape’ reaction she was so used to by now. 

“Uh…” The girl now had a very awkward expression, now that she got a good look at who exactly asked her. 

“Greetings, I’m Miss Militia from the Protectorate ENE branch, is Clementine…?” 

“She’s still seeing patients unless you want me to get her…?”　

“Oh no, it’s not urgent, I can wait for her to finish. Thank you for the help…” In PR classes she was part of as the Inagural Wards team, Hannah was taught to always use a person’s name for a more personal impression. While it may be a bit old-fashioned, she always stuck with that practice just for added impact. 

“I’m Noelle! I’m sorta new to this whole volunteering thing, uh, she should finish up with them soon, those cases are the non-severe ones so it should just be another fifteen minutes. Man that first hour was hectic…anyways, you want some soup? I think the other station still has some left over, it’s something called Gamjatang, it’s made from Chicken and potatoes so everyone can try some.” 

Politely declining, she did see a line on the other tables as well with volunteers scooping the red stew into containers people brought from home. Seeing as how she had some time to spend, Hannah’s curiosity made her ask another question. It wasn’t everyday that she saw a healer cape charity function after all. 

“Hectic in what way? Sorry, can I ask that or is it some secret?” 

“Erm, not really a secret…it’s just how she instructed us to handle cases. So stuff that would normally be fit for an ER room visit gets handled first cause those may or may not be life-threatening. I think the first case I helped Clementine with was a woman with internal bleeding who couldn’t afford the hospital visit so she came here. A lot of people here have similar circumstances.” 

Miss Militia nodded at the casual patient information disclosure, the story tracked with what they found so far. Most of Clementine’s patients could rarely afford Rent and Food, let alone medical insurance. 

“I see. Then have there been any incidents lately? Say for example, less savoury types hanging around the area?” 

Monitoring on PHO revealed Empire and ABB presence near Saint Michael’s, but no reports of violence or any press-ganging were received, Miss Militia was here to follow up on Assault and Battery’s initial reports. 

“L-like Villains?! Nope! No Villains here, they keep their distance, very far away actually, haven’t seen any of them today.” Noelle stuttered her answer out, tugging at the collar of her shirt, if it wasn’t for the cold weather a bead of sweat may have rolled down her cheek as well. 

“I see. Then, do you know where Redeemer is? There are a few things I’d like to talk to her about-” 

“Noelle! If that pot’s empty, go ahead and take into the kitchen, get started on the washing up-Well, I’ll be damned, if it isn’t the Patriot. What are you doing in this humble Church of ours?” 

From behind Noelle came the latest fascination of Saint Michael’s. Though unbeknownst to them, they were secretly being labelled as another Cape faction in the city, though this time a rogue one, even if they appeared to lean on the Heroic side more. Redeemer, as she called herself, appeared out of nowhere one day looking exactly like Clementine in body and voice, leading some to speculate her to be twin Capes. Brockton already had one pair of twins, albeit in the Empire, but having another pair was rare to say the least. From the image they had of her, she appeared to be sporting a different costume, one entirely unsuited to the winter of Brockton Bay judging by her exposed back and shoulders, not that Hannah was going to criticize. 

“Redeemer, we haven’t met before but-” 

“Oh I know who you are, you gave that Healer’s license to us. I suppose I should thank you for that…” Noelle had quietly picked up the empty pot and made her way inside, leaving Miss Militia alone with Redeemer. The PRT had no idea what her powers were, but most agreed it was a variant of Clementine’s, judging by how she could also heal as well, albeit with reduced potency by their PHO investigations. Further testing would be needed to accurately gauge it, Hannah however got the distinct feeling she was not as friendly compared to Clementine. 

“However…I do pride myself on reading people well. And you…” Even with her veil, she could hear Redeemer’s deep inhale, was she…smelling her?! 

“Huh, you live a very orderly life. Almost boring might I add. Get out there and have some fun in your life, will you? There is nothing worse than a life spent doing nothing.” 

Remaining stunned, Hannah watched as Redeemer, seemingly losing interest in her, saundered away while skipping along the Church grounds. As far as Cape interactions went however, it was not that far off from the more dramatic ones, a certain Mouse in her life evidence of that. Shaking away those sordid and often embarrassing memories, she watched as the line into a tent gradually shrunk. Each person that went in, with the ones at the front being the most eager, went out with a relieved expression, some even had joyous bright smiles. All in all, it went according to their investigations, the PRT knew her abilities were legitimate, but seeing it in person felt…different. Hannah couldn’t put it into words, the relief and renewed hope in their faces must have felt euphoric. 

Eventually however, the last person, an old man, homeless judging by his clothing walked in with a limp, and not even two minutes later he walked out with both of his legs working fine. Looking to make sure there were no others, Hannah got up from her motorcycle and into the makeshift tent where Clementine was. It was no Brockton General Hospital where Panacea worked, though something told her she didn’t need it to perform her miracles. 

Flapping open the tent ‘door’, Hannah was greeted by the sight of Clementine, sitting on a single chair in the middle of the tent with a table in front of her. Aside from a few medical supplies like bandages and disinfectant, there was quite literally nothing else in the room, not even a heater for the cold weather. It was utilitarian to the extreme, whether it was by design she did not know. 

“Hello, please take a seat and I will be right-oh. Miss Militia?” 

Clementine looked up from her booklet, which she closed soon after noticing who walked in. With her best smile, Hannah greeted her, even though it was usually covered by her bandana. 

“Clementine, it’s good to see you again…and with a new costume no less.” 

Compared to her previous one, it appeared quite the upgrade. The theme she went for was certainly unorthodox, not like the traditional Cape designs of spandex and the like, though the imagery seemed to be inviting trouble. There was a reason why PRT heroes had to have neutral symbols in all of their outfits, Clementine broke damn near every single one of those guidelines alone. 

“Ah, this is newly made, from Parian no less. Certainly a lot better than the flimsy piece of fabric I had before, this is at least better in the cold, though not by much.” 

Considerations for the weather aside, she could see it was much more professional than her old one. Pleasantries aside, however, Hannah cleared her throat for the main reason why she was here. 

“Well, it is good to see you doing well…is there somewhere we can talk in private?” 

As Madison led Miss Militia through the empty main hall of Saint Michael’s, she had a guess as to why the Heroine sought her out today. 

“Here, services have ended for the day, and there are no more parishioners here. This is as quiet a place as any for us. Though I may not follow the God on that altar, it would still be respectful for us to tell no falsehoods in his house.” 

Today was not all too hectic with all things considered, the lines outside were manageable despite how the Travelers moaned about their first day. 

“You should really make it clear one day, though your outfit is also sending mixed signals to everyone. The PHO fights online have gotten quite heated because of it. I won't waste any more time with pleasantries, I'm sure you've had a long day already.” 

Madison knew why she was sent as opposed to someone like Armsmaster or Aegis. Miss Militia had the reputation for being the friendlier senior Hero in the ENE team, which was exactly why she would be sent to recruit someone like her. This was all it was, a recruitment pitch, again. Not even the literal gangs surrounding her made overt moves like the PRT did. 

“Are you aware of the effects you have on Parahuman abilities? Assault and Battery have reported significant changes to their power as a result of your healing, in both cases, they have reported a significant boost in-” 

“Strength? Vitality? Power? Spirit? ” 

“While I would not put it that way…essentially, yes, they report feeling their abilities stronger…” 

While Miss Militia explained what exactly happened to them, Clementine wanted to kick herself in the face. Crusaders in Arad were highly sought after in Adventuring Parties, not just for their healing ability, but also for their support skills. For example, [Guardian’s Blessing] was a staple to ‘buff’ members doing most of the fighting, increasing their resilience and strength to face adversity. If it had that effect on Arad, what kind of effect would it have on Parahuman abilities? On regular humans it must not have had much reaction, but if that was the case, then Noelle’s changes were probably a result of her abilities. Wait, if that happened, then what about the Empire Cape she-

“Clementine? Are you alright?” 

“I’m fine, the day has been long. So, are Assault and Battery fine? No adverse effects?” Snapping back to reality, she came back to Miss Militia’s concerned gaze, only for the Heroine to continue with more caution in her voice. 

“...make sure you get a lot of rest, okay? You’re still young and shouldn’t push yourself too hard, I’ve seen many Capes break under the stress over the years. But yes, Assault and Battery are fine, more than fine actually…” 

Considering he had literally begun jumping for joy after Madison healed him that day, she could imagine it. 

“Then I suppose this is where you give me the recruitment speech again, yes?” 

“Clementine…it’s not-” 

“Safe? Pleasant? Suitable for a healer to be alone? If you are going to give me that speech again, then please save your words. Everything I’ve seen so far has told me as much already. My answer is still a flat no, I do not mind working with the Protectorate, but I will never work under them.” 

Not even counting what Madison had seen so far since working at Saint Michael’s, she had the memories of Arad, tempered by centuries of war, and the Priestesses who often fought in the front lines. Every sin of humanity, no matter how vile or monstrous, had been ‘witnessed’ by her already. The fifteen-year-old Madison Clements was…no longer existent, not entirely by her own choice either.

“Can I at least get a reason why? At the very least, it’ll help me get my superiors to back off from you.” 

Madison took a deep breath. Looking at the altar, with her back turned to Miss Militia, she knew with conviction what the real answer was. Continuing to hide it was never going to work in the long term, for she was the only faithful of Lemidios in this world. 

“My faith. I swore an oath to Lemidios and Shinryong, and as Priestess, I have no higher order than them. To them who I devote all my being to, being under the PRT would not only be blasphemy, but I would be betraying my oath. I may be their only follower, but that will not change as long as I yet live.” 

Sunlight shined into the Church from the Western side, while from the Eastern side, the roar of thunder was heard. Madison did not plan that at all, which proved they were listening in every so often…she should get started on her duties as Shamaness soon, maybe start offering a divination and exorcism service somewhere else? 

Miss Militia did not speak for a while, instead simply staring at her for a solid few moments. Eventually, she sighed, resigned to what she heard. “Now that’s a first in my career…the Director is not going ot be happy, you know that, right?” 

Clementine wanted to snort, but refrained from the rude act. “If she is still unconvinced, she is welcome to find me here, I am open to all who are curious. Now then, is there anything else you need me for today? Any ailments? You may not get the chance to next time, some people have already begun resorting to camping overnight before my session the day before.” 

Maddie usually made those people go home while she slept at her home, the ever-increasing amounts of them was a concern however. Saint Michael’s was not built to cater towards that many people, a solution would need to be found, quickly. 

“If you’re offering…my right ear has some hearing problems from decades of shooting. Back then hearing protection wasn’t as prevalent, I have them now but the damage has already been done. If you could…” 

Madison nodded, compared to the loss of a leg or Leukemia, healing her hearing was trivial. 

“In that case, do I have permission to heal your illness, Miss Militia?” As Clementine, her hands were clasped together for prayer, and wisps of golden light began flying around her. In the past few days, her normal [Healing Prayer] appeared to receive an upgrade as well, perhaps as proof of her new awakening. However, it could also just be another of Lemidios’s miracles, manifesting itself to the faithful, could she be sure of it?

“...you do.” 

“May Lemidios grant you reprieve, and your ailments forever departed.” 

[Healing Prayer]

This time, the light was brighter than ever before. 

AN: 

Hello, pay no attention to the time between this chapter and the last chapter. My Worm/Superhero genre muse finally came back, and I’ve decided to revive an older one of mine. I’m considering a rewrite of the first few chapters that were in First Person, but those will come as a package with future chapters, so do give those a re-read if possible. 

A note about Oni Lee’s ‘mental degradation’. Despite popular fanon, there is no evidence his powers actually cause brain damage. This is something that often appears in his depictions, and I’d just like to clarify that part for any readers who may not know this tidbit. More likely, any ‘brain damage’ he did receive may have been linked to Leviathan’s attack on Japan. 

To my American readers: Happy election day? I will wish you good luck, and hope you go vote, even if both choices aren’t particularly appealing. Whatever happens, take solace in the fact you still have fanfics to read, so don’t go giving into despair. 

Be civil in the comments below. 

Chapter Text

Vanitas 1.3 

There was a view regarding the Churches and institutions of Lemidios, the idea that they were these ancient places, remaining unchanged throughout the ages. By its nature, they had to be conservative to some extent, as they were trying to conserve the faith and have it last for the next few centuries to come. However, assuming they were just places where dust was occasionally cleaned from the altars was not accurate either.

“Don’t worry, father, as far as installations go, this is as clean as it gets.” Clementine, in outfit, reassured Father O'Connor that this wasn't going to further damage the Church by any means. The initial concern was that the walls may need to be ripped out for the new cable, but after some creative tinkering, it turned out not to be the case. 

"Of course, Clementine. After seeing it firsthand, I can rest easy. I believe this is the newest addition to this place in a long while, ah, but we should let the man work in peace, having both of you here must be distracting enough." He referred to Redeemer, also in the same room, most of the anxiety was generally from her. She was the cause for anxiety for some, while she herself was anxious at the new internet being installed, Clementine knew from their shared connection. 

A telecomm technician, a portly and well-fed man did the finishing touches for Saint Michael’s brand new internet service. As the construction of new Churches in Arad incorporated brand new technology and materials, so did the Churches of this world. However, it should be stated that Madison did this not because of any need to be trendy, but because Maddie kept nagging her about it.

“Yeah, let my new router be installed in peace…goodbye, slow internet, thou shalt not be missed.”

“I can’t help but think this is only increasing the number of sins you will be committing. Maybe we should put in those content filters after all.” Madison chided, with Maddie’s PHO posting record on limited internet, giving her something this fast probably counted as another sin on her part. However, the flip side was that this was not only used by her, but also the increasing amount of ‘staff’ they were getting. Of course, the Travelers were included in that list, and being the teenagers they were, most of the fast internet was going to be used by them anyway. With the final cable plugged in, and the switch flipped, their WiFi network came back online, this time faster than ever. 

“Thank you for installing it, now how much do we…” 

“Nah, save it, this one’s on the house.” The portly man denied Madison quickly, instead focusing on packing up his tools. 

“But…this is no small amount-” 

“Actually, people at the office chipped on to help pay for it, even I did. You helped a few of us there, maybe not directly, but our friends and family sure were. I know a guy whose mother was dying of kidney failure, not anymore after she came here. Known that woman for a decade, she’d probably hit me if she found out I charged ya for simple work like this.” 

It was still at least a couple hundred dollars, with the cable upgrade and new equipment, which notably included a DragonTech router. Part Tinkertech, part regular science derived from Tinkertech, the price tag was worth it. Of course, the added security with that particular model was another plus, even if they didn’t exactly have anything secretive stored here. 

“Just keep doin’ what you’re doin’, and we’ll call it even. You’ve given people around here something to be happy about in this area, can’t say the same for any others in Brockton. Heh, haven’t been to Church in a long time, and this is what I do here? If my Ma was still here, she’d whack me for this…” The man looked at her newly arrived staff-cross for a moment and looked away. Compared to the craftsmanship of the Order…it was lacking, but it served a practical purpose. More importantly, it was much better than the simple piece of thick wood she used before. The hardest part was ordering the parts from a Blacksmith, not the payment itself, but just physically finding someone willing to take on the job. 

The least she could do was walk the technician out of the door, he came in roughly around the end of service for today, even refusing Madison’s offer to heal him of any ailments. Some people were like that, thinking they were fine, and that was okay. There was some distrust of the Priesthood in Arad, mostly from other races and non-followers of Lemidios. In all fairness, in places like Shonan, the priestesses were often seen as foreign equivalents of Shamans, so why did they have to trust these foreigners over their own spiritual guides? 

“Huh…what did he mean by people being happy in this area? No offence, but aside from Saint Michael’s, this place is sketchy as hell…” Noelle came back in, clutching a box of supplies, essentially small ‘kits’ they handed out to families containing anything from food to stationary. With Panacea starting to refer cases she couldn’t treat to Saint Michael’s, those patients had the cash to spare for donations, beyond whatever most people could afford. Now, when they saw a nicer car or taxi pull up, Madison knew it was likely another referral. 

Or it was an international case, the other day she met someone from Chile who didn’t even need healing, they were just here for the cape tourism and wanted to see Saint Michael’s. Right in between the territory of two major gangs…

To answer Noelle’s question however, Madison turned to face her, ready to go into the complexities of Church influence, only for Maddie to suddenly jump in from nowhere, blocking her view of the recently healed girl.

“To simplify-“

“Don’t listen to that nerd, basically, we’re here keeping the law, everyone else knows we’re keeping the law, and so they don’t mess with us or anything around us. Capiche?”

A quick jab to Maddie’s unprotected sides caused her to yelp. From a technical perspective, nothing was wrong with that statement, from a presentation one however…

“Stop making us sound like some mafia-”

“You might as well be one, I know how some of your priests care too much about their worldly possessions…”

It was an unfortunate truth, the allure of wealth and power from those positions were indeed, used for nefarious means quite often. Those who have sworn themselves to serve Lemidios and went astray often answered to the halberds of the Inquisitors. Since Madison was the only member of the Order, no such hunts needed to take place.

“So…people know that this area is safe, so they’re coming back here to live? I think I get the concept…” Noelle looked out of the windows in the break room, normally the streets here were generally deserted, as no one wanted to get accidentally mugged. Madison has noticed a steadier stream of increasing people just generally out and about.

It was a good thing, but it also came with more complications. Namely, her ever increasing influence in Brockton, unintentional as it was.

“It isn’t just that, but it is one of the main reasons. Churches such as Saint Michael’s can be community centers, places of gathering, and even symbols of stability-“

“Or the opposite, if you don’t want to hear her glazing over them, these places aren’t infallible, and they can do a hell of a lot more harm than good. If you can’t already tell, I am biased against them.”

To that, Madison couldn’t say anything. There were no shortage of Priestess memories who had been wronged by the very institution meant to protect them. Lemidios may have been their flawless God, but the mortal organisations made in their name were far from it.

“Biased…you know, you’re not really like the other clones I’ve made. Usually, they end up with a much more murderous personality, while you’re…just kinda goth? I mean, no hate! But it is interesting how you manifested…” 

Placing a faux hand over her chest, Maddie bowed to Noelle, something between mocking and genuinely respecting her. “Oh, dearest creator of my mortal body, your words are too kind! But really, I am myself, or more accurately…” 

She turned to look at Madison with a wink. They hadn’t told Noelle or any of the other Travelers their circumstances. To them, her powers were still the result of simple Parahuman ability, nothing else. The veil, metaphorically and literally, would continue until Madison could figure out how to proceed with her two sworn Gods. She was fine with simply being their sole adherent, but if in case they wanted to have a larger presence in this world... 

“Enough. Service is over, it’s time for everyone to pack up and head home. I am sure the Travelers still need to continue renovating their new apartment…ah, just before I leave for the day, there is one thing I need to inform you of. My schedule states that I will not be here this weekend. I trust you have seen it already?” Noelle nodded, she asked to make sure so that no one would be surprised when Friday came tomorrow. A blink of the eye, and it was past mid-February already. She looked forward to Spring, and to being finally rid of this New England weather. 

“Uh…you won’t be here from the seventeenth to the twentieth, right? Only Maddie’s gonna be around, so Saint Michael’s shouldn’t have any major disruptions. So…if you don’t mind me asking, what are you going?” 

Madison inhaled deeply, sucking in the veil covering her face. Her daemon looked away, even in matters like these she at least had the decency of discretion. A worse reflection of herself she may be, but a reflection sometimes showed the exact same thing. 

“I’m…going to Philadelphia for a weekend, it’s some family outing, I have a relative there. It was sort of spontaneous, and I need to keep my Cape identity a secret so…” 

Madison was indeed going to Philadelphia for a family outing, but it was only with her mother. She suspected her mother was scouting out potential places to move after the divorce, which was any day now. It helped that she was originally from there, as all her relatives still basically lived there. Noelle hummed before responding, her voice much quieter and less lively than before, akin to someone remembering unpleasant things. 

“Philadelphia…the Travelers spent some time there, according to Krouse, we had to pay the local villains a cut of our earnings just to be able to stay there. I don’t have a lot of good memories of that place, but I guess it’s a large city, larger than Brockton at least. But overall, it’s not that dangerous, much quieter than Brockton. If you’re going there for a vacation, though, you’ll still have fun there! Don’t uh…let me get your hopes down, okay?”

PHO surfing revealed that Brockton had an insanely high rate of Parahuman crime for some reason. That was on top of the already high non-Parahuman crime, making her wonder just what exactly caused this much activity here. Brockton may have lost much of its former glory, but to have a higher crime rate than some cities hit by Endbringers seemed to be stretching it a bit too far. Then again, she was a priestess, not an expert on crime.

“As if there’s going to be anything fun about being there…” Maddie mumbled, she knew Madison’s memories, but not vice versa. She already left her instructions on what to do in case of emergencies, even then, however, Madison was confident a daemon could fight off anything the Bay could throw at them short of Lung himself at full strength. Apparently the ABB leader had to ‘ramp up’ to reach full power, something she didn’t know before. 

“In any case, hold down the metaphorical fort for me while I am gone. After I come back, we’ll see about investing in other parts of Saint Michael’s, and also, I will check the donation records, do not think I cannot do an audit myself. If even a five-dollar bill is missing…” 

When the priestesses weren’t going out there and whacking heretics or imposters, they did administrative work. From her memories, scenes where they were simply filling in paperwork, updating spending records, reports on assets and other mundane tasks were much more common than life or death situations. 

Yes, it also included spreadsheet work on a computer; the technological disparity between nations in Arad was often staggering. Record keeping had many forms done by thousands of different priestesses. All of them, whose memories she inherited in some way, put to great use now as a method to keep track of finances for her operation. There wasn’t much difference between the...spreadsheet programme of this world, and Arad’s equivalent, which should have weirded her out more but at this point Madison rolled with things. 

“Aren’t you younger than Marissa? How do you even know what much about that stuff…” 

“You’ll understand when you’re older.” Madison instinctively went to pat the shorter girl’s head, only for her to dodge away. 

“You know I’m only like, two years younger than you, right?!” Awkwardly, she retracted her hand, mentally swearing that Noelle should have been much younger. Was it perhaps the memories she inherited, or the environment around her? 

These days, she acted less and less like the fifteen-year-old Madison Clements was supposed to be… 

A Few Days Later… 

“…he’s late.”

“Aw shucks, he’s late! Oh no…it’s only been the…how many dozens of times this has happened by now? You should know he’s always late by now, that’s why I went and bought a smoothie before showing up here.”

Cape outfits had a long history of development, stretching back to the early days where most had to make their own costumes or buy them from a costume store, all the way to the modern era where there were entire professional firms and studios set up for anything that a Cape might need. The ‘Golden Age’ of Parahumans also brought a lot of styles back in addition to the new ones being created, as Parahuman powers seemed to be unique to each individual, creative fashion flourished with them. Capes, cloaks and even older out of fashion clothing all had a minor comeback, with the trends even affecting the general populace.

However, as the ‘Golden Age’ wound down, so did the styles, instead focusing on things for mass appeal, the ‘safe’ option if you were in the PRT, or wanted public funding. The ‘spandex’ styles, the singular colour tones, and of course, the inoffensive imagery. The only Hero-group that seemed to buck that trend was Haven, out in the Bible belt, but their images were popular where they operated in. There was a recent addition to Brockton’s cape scene which also went against the popular trend, other than that, however, most Heroes today followed a playbook, as established by countless trial and error.

As an example, Chevalier and Mouse Protector, two of the PRT’s most recognisable heroes had their costumes’ origins in those early days where anything went, the difference was most evident when they were next to the newer heroes. 

“He’s the one who suggested we do these meetups, yet he is always late...” Chevalier deadpanned, currently waiting in the fifth PRT department’s lobby, at this time of night the offices were closed, but it was still open to anyone working late, or just heroes on the night shift. Like an office of sorts, only with superhuman abilities mixed into everything they did.

“Hey, give old Myrddin a break, he’s the one who has to come here from Chicago every month or so.”

“Strider teleports him here, all he does is step onto the rooftop and gets here in a blink. Besides, we also head to Chicago sometimes, yet we don’t always get a free teleport.” Through some agreement, the old wannabe wizard wouldn’t reveal the details of, he could always count on Strider teleporting him here, while he and Mouse were stuck hopping onto PRT transports that had room, if Chicago was chosen to be the meeting place. Otherwise, Myrddin pretty much always came to Philly, and that was fine by him.

CRACK

The familiar sound of muffled thunder, a sound he had heard dozens of times by now. Usually in these familiar meetings, but other times, they were from Endbringer battles, bringing Capes in or out of the fight. Mouse Protector slurped the last of her smoothie, chucking it into a nearby bin and stood up. Their little group was finally complete. 

A wizard, styled in the generic fantasy manner, complete with the greyish robe and staff, stepped forward with his arms outstretched. Having appeared from thin air alongside Strider. He was Myrddin, leader of the Chicago Wards, and one of the oldest Capes in the PRT. To the Inaugural Wards however, he was simply a dear old friend of theirs. 

“I thank you, Strider! I shall have need of your services again in a few hours!” The wizard’s voice boomed throughout the main lobby, his way of speaking was both a brand and personality of his. 

“Uh…yeah, same time as always…hey Chevalier, Mouse.” Strider waved at them, his newsboy-like outfit blowing gently in the February wind. Chevalier nodded back, he had nothing against Strider, he did good work, despite working for both Heroes and Villains. Anyone who could pay up front for his fees really. 

“Hey Stridy~what will it take to lift me to Hawaii one of these days?” Mouse asked, trying her best to wrangle a free trip out of him, but to no avail. 

“More than you want to know…still got a few more scheduled jumps tonight, so can’t stay for long. See you two later, I guess.” With another crack of thunder, Strider disappeared in front of them. By now, the Philly PRT office knew when Myrddin had arrived from those booms. Some of the late-working troopers and office workers had even gone out to specifically take photos of them. 

“Tch. Honolulu’s going to be wrecked by Leviathan sooner or later, it’s on my bucket list to go visit before it happens.” Mouse kicked the ground in minor frustration, not that Chevalier could find anything wrong with her words. 

“Then perhaps you should do what everyone else does, and fly there! I still remember when teleporting was just a thing of science fiction, there’s this show, you may have seen it called Star Tre-”

“We know, Myrddin, we’ve both had history class…” Mouse deadpanned, Chevalier refrained from saying anything. That television show was popular in the 60s as a pop culture icon, but Bet had discontinued the series after Parahumans started dominating the media landscape. Aleph however, did continue with it, hell, a lot of media were Aleph imports, as was Bet Parahuman media imported back to them. 

Myrddin, unlike Mouse and the others such as Hannah, was not part of the Inaugural Wards team. That was simply because he was too old to become a Ward by then, and instead joined the full protectorate team headed by Alexandrina. Yet, Chevalier had known him very well for the past few decades, often giving him advice during the early days of the PRT. With that said, the two still had their disagreements, as all good friendships were bound to have. 

“In any case, are we ready to depart? I confess, my back has not been cooperative lately, even needing to cut back on my usual patrols…” 

By this point, with Parahumans existing for nearly thirty years, Myrddin was in his mid-sixties. Having been in the early PRT since his thirties, he had a long and storied career, and still had a lot of connections and wisdom to share. While he was head of the Chicago PRT, he was also much less active than before. Most people in regular industries would retire by his age, not him however, he wanted to keep his work going for as long as possible. Chevalier wasn’t sure how long that would last, they were only human after all. 

“...your back, huh? Maybe one day you can go see Panacea, I’m sure she’s willing to take your case-” 

“And all the way up to Brockton? I will pass, it isn’t unbearable, yet. Besides, I am sure that poor girl is already neck deep in her own cases, no need to add mine to her list. Such is the life of Healers, they bring with them a gift to save, but also a terrible burden.” Myrddin waved him off, continuing down the familiar steps into their monthly sojourn, something that happened every month, with membership in this little ‘party’ open to any of the first PRT Heroes with them. 

The ones still here anyway; time had taken a toll on his generation of Heroes. 

“Just the two of you? No one else is joining this month?” Myrddin asked, to which Mouse just shrugged in response. 

“Eh, it happens. I did ask Reed if he wanted to show up, even under a temp costume since…y’know, but he said it was fine, he’s got a Bistro now, didn’t even know he was even in the restaurant industry until I asked.” 

Reed, one of the Inaugural Wards. Since that lawsuit decades ago, Chevalier hadn’t seen him since, though it was good to know he was still doing alright since retiring from the Cape scene. Maybe that was the good ending, retire to a mundane job instead of being killed by an S-class threat, implicated in a scandal or dying in an Endbringer battle. All three were things that happened to people he knew, good people. 

“Good for him, nothing wrong with changing careers. Did I ever tell you about how much I wanted to quit back then?” Myrddin said in jest, every so often he tell that exact same story, especially to newer Capes in hopes of turning it into a lesson about the PRT. For some reason, he just loved repeating it, probably thinking there was some grand old tale in there, or a moral story to be had.  

He took the wizard-like persona to heart, having never once deviated from it since joining the PRT, yes, the PHO rumours were true; he did believe Parahuman powers to be the result of magic to a certain extent. The two had long arguments about it over the decades, with neither side getting through to the other. 

“Yes, you did...so, Chevy, where are we going tonight? Pick a place out yet or we going back to the tavern?” The sword and shield-wielding heroine casually asked, her dark brown outfit did actually blend into the dark quite well, if it weren’t for the street lamps then Chevalier might have had trouble seeing her. His night vision in his helmet prevented that, but it was a hypothetical. Despite her boisterous personality, Mouse’s abilities did lend themselves to being stealthy when needed, and it was a tactic that often won her many victories. 

“There’s a Korean Barbecue place I wanted to try out, but it’s packed and we’re in costume so maybe the attention might not be fun. Besides, better to go when we have more people, Ha- Militia wanted to come, and so did Armsmaster, but they both had to deal with some gang incident in Brockton.” Almost unmasking Miss Militia then and there, he was lucky this street was basically empty when the sun set. Close relationships were encouraged in the PRT, but one also had to make sure it didn’t compromise their work. 

“Ah, Armsmaster…” Myrddin said, quieter at the end as he stroked his meticulously kept beard in deep thought. Mouse, sensing something more there, leaned in with her trademark grin. 

“Oho~I sense some interesting drama with that tone…c’mon, spill, you know we won’t tell anyone else.” As slimy as Mouse was being right now, Chevalier knew her words were true, the ‘first gens’ of PRT Capes were a tight group, they kept anything sensitive to themselves. With one of his long sighs, Myrddin turned to face them, his face slightly down. 

“Now then, nothing here is confirmed, but with my decades in the PRT, I know as well as any that simple questions are often veneers for decisions already taken. I have been asked if Chicago could use another high-ranking Protectorate member, one transferred from the ENE. He would be leading a secondary team in Chicago, we do have enough manpower for that now.” 

Chevalier and Mouse shared a look, they knew who it likely was, but Chevalier asked for a confirmation anyway. 

“Is this…Protectorate member a Tinker by any chance?” 

“Unless Miss Militia grew a beard since the last I saw her, then yes, this Protectorate member is a Tinker.” 

“Damn…have you told Armsy yet or…” Mouse asked, this was a delicate matter after all. As expected, Myrddin shook his head. 

“Of course not, this isn’t finalised at all, I am sure other departments have also been asked. However, if it is eventually confirmed, I won’t hesitate to accept. Better he is under someone familiar than a stranger entirely. I thought he was doing well over in the ENE, is the situation in that city truly so desperate?” 

From chats with Hannah, Chevalier sort of knew how bad Brockton could get, hell, their Wards actually saw somewhat regular combat unlike Philadelphia, or any other PRT department in the country. 

“You wouldn’t know half of it…but damn, really? Him? He’s always been a bit hard to connect, but not to the point of being…” 

The three old friends walked further along in silence, each contemplating what that meant for him. 

“I…I know someone in Sacramento, she’s looking to retire soon, maybe he could head there and head up the local-” Mouse suggested, to which Myrddin shook his head in response. 

“Those decisions aren’t made by us, not anymore. The civilian directors have the final say on all appointments. Remember the debacle with San Antonio?” Chevalier said for her benefit, due to being out of the PRT for many years, Mouse wasn’t up to date on the latest internal workings. At first, the Heroes had much more say and control over how it was run, now, however, it was firmly in the hands of appointed Directors, ones that could not be Parahumans. 

Well, except for one exception, but he agreed to keep that secret to the grave. 

“Enough of this talk now, we’re here to wind down and have fun, like the days of yore! So, have we decided on where to go? If there are no choices, we can just head down to the Tavern again, the owner lets us use the reserved upper floors.” The ‘Tavern’ was a nickname for a pub/restaurant in the old city, frequented by Capes, usually Heroes or Rogues for many decades now. Chevalier knew the owners, and they knew him. In exchange for showing up every so often for publicity, they got a private-ish area on the second floor when they arrived, complete with soundproofing and security to block out any insistent fans. 

Right before he could nod, Chevalier heard his helmet’s communicator beep; it was a general message from the Console. 

“This is console to any Protectorate members in the Area, there’s been a sighting of a Cape near the Cathy, over. Any patrols nearby to check it out?” 

“Console, this is Chevalier, we’re nearby and can take a look, is the Cape hostile?” Cathy, one of Philly’s landmarks, was the nickname for the Cathedral of Learning, a skyscraper owned by the University of Philadelphia. Most notably however, it was not an actual Cathedral for worship, something that had tricked many tourists before. 

“Negative, the report came from a student. She’s just…wandering around the area, no visual recognition. Might be an out of towner, or a new Cape making their debut. Should I dispatch a squad on standby?” 

“That won’t be necessary, Mouse Protector and Myrddin are with me, we’ll go and see what’s up with that Cape. Might just be a new meet and greet.” He looked over to his two companions, both of them knew what was coming but didn’t seem to mind at all. 

“Ah, that time of the month again? Alright, I’ll be on standby in case you need reinforcements, not that you’ll likely need them.” 

The other line went silent, and the Knight of Philly, as PHO often nicknamed him to be, turned to face his steadfast companions. 

“So…there’s just gonna be a slight detour-” 

“Oh just get going! I’m starving here!”  

Yeah, just as he expected, hopefully this was at least going to be an interesting Cape… 

“You know, even after coming to Philly however many times, I’ve never actually been to this part of town before…” Mouse commented as the three of them approached the tall stone tower, it was just one of many landmarks that dotted the city, with it having a long and storied history stretching back to the Revolutionary War. 

“That’s because we don’t have much reason to come here. Fifth Avenue is basically always quiet, Villains don’t operate around here because it’s close to Headquarters, and any potential targets are too high risk. Great for Wards patrols though, just enough public interaction to get them to learn the ropes.” Chevalier replied just as quickly. For Mouse, who went basically anywhere, even sometimes abroad to Canada for her Villain takedowns, quiet areas like this were seldom visited by her. 

Not that she would have had a particular interest in the University present here. Coming upon their destination, the relatively long walk in the cold warmed them up slightly, or it was Myrddin’s small ball of fire keeping them warm. Either way, they arrived at their destination, a forty-two story tall stone Skyscraper that served as the City University’s centre, built in a combination of past styles. He remembered that it was a mix of Medieval Gothic, followed by newer Art Deco influences in the 20s. In his time as Philadelphia head, Chevalier did actually give a few guest lectures here and there, mostly about Cape society and the like in an academic way. 

“Huh, cool building, but it looks closed now…oh, nope, never mind, it’s still open. Guess students do study late, huh?” Mouse commented as she peered through the stained windows, some things never changed about this place. 

“There does not seem to be a disturbance here, so this mystery Cape is at least peaceful…however, where are they? Perhaps they may have already left. Did Console give us a location?” Looking around, they found nothing in this part of campus. At least, nothing out the ordinary… 

Chevalier leaned in, using his helmet’s zoom to see a brightly coloured figure some distance away. Once he got a clearer picture, he leaned back, surprised at just who was simply standing there, looking at the skyscraper. 

“Well I’ll be…” He mumbled out, getting the attention of his companions. 

“What is it? Did you spot… who is that over there?”  

“Remember that new cape in Brockton, the healer one? Dressed like a nun and caused a few fights on PHO?” Chevalier remembered seeing those threads on fire for a few days, honestly a damn miracle Tin Mother let it go on for so long until finally having enough. The great religious purge as it was later dubbed, where all of those arguments full of lively insults were locked or purged entirely, and the unwitting instigator herself didn’t even reveal what she believed in. 

“...a few is an understatement, but yeah, I remember her. Clementine, right? I heard she got a new costume- wait, you’re saying that girl over there is…what’s she doing over here? Brockton’s like a few states away…” Her question was also on his mind. Brockton was a long way off from her base in that troubled city. Usually, Capes didn’t appear in other places unless there was a good reason for it, even if they travelled, it would not be in costume, preferring to remain anonymous in their civilian guises. So to see her in Philly, in public, no less, was interesting to say the least. 

Myrddin walked ahead first, wasting no time at gawking. “Come on, we won’t get any answers if you two remain still. From her record so far, we can safely say she won’t smite us for simply greeting her, yes?” 

Despite his jovial tone, Chevalier knew there was some internal debate regarding Clementine. Hannah told him about them, about how she was recently healed of some hearing problems. The real kicker was the unique interactions she had with Parahuman powers, though he didn’t have access to those files. ENE’s Director kept those under lock tightly, even someone with his clearance didn’t get access to them. 

Walking over to her as a group, they essentially approached her from an open field, the park they were in was primarily used for students to transit from class to class. Clementine could see them approach, turning her veiled face over to them as they neared, she clutched her metallic staff tighter, an oversized, somewhat ornate cross on its top. He could feel the weight of it just from how she handled that thing. For someone who supposedly wasn’t following God, her attire and weapon sure did send mixed signals… 

Familiar with these meet-and-greets, Chevalier took the lead, as this was his city after all. 

“Hey there! I’m Chevalier, Head of the Philadelphia PRT. You must be Clementine, long way from Brockton, huh?” 

Quickly, her bare shoulders relaxed a little at the friendly introduction. Either her power had a function to resist cold, or she just tanked the Philly winter on clothing wholly unsuited to the current weather. Who the hell made her costume like that? Even in Brockton that outfit wouldn’t fly, and their winters were more brutal. Her veil began to move, talking through it exactly as PHO had said. 

“Well met, Chevalier. Yes, I am Clementine…of Brockton Bay. Have I done anything…wrong?” 

Tone, posture and even aura were the perfect picture of innocence. PRT PR would have loved someone like her in the Wards, probably because she could cater to a specific demographic they hadn't been able to reach. Chevalier finally understood why there were so many comments about Clementine’s impressions on people in PHO. Taken aback by the innocent question, it made Chevalier feel wronged, but before he could salvage the situation, Mouse beat him to a response. 

“Nope! But I can totally see how you’d come to that conclusion though…two senior PRT Heroes and one veteran Hero approaching anyone would be kinda scary. Isn’t that right, Cheeeeevy?” 

Never wasting a moment to rub him, he could imagine the grin on her face without even looking back. 

“Actually…not quite. I did notice you appoach me from far away, but I was looking on, not because of fear, rather, it was due to your…familiarity.”

“Oh, well,I mean you probably see us on television or even online so isn’t that surprising…”

Clementine slowly shook her head, despite being someone barely a teenager, she was handling herself remarkably well. Not at all like the new teenage Cape she was, barely even a teenager as he himself knew from handling Philly’s Wards. Maybe that was why she was able to carve out her own little piece of heaven in the middle of Brockton’s worst places.

“Not quite that either, but it…nevermind, just some past experiences coming back. So…can I help you in any way? Healing or otherwise?”

“Thanks for the offer, we might just take it up later. But right now you can help just by telling us why you’re…just out here, on a cold Saturday night looking at that tower over there.” The knight pointed at the stone skyscraper behind them, his earlier zoom showed that Clementine was looking at that thing, not at them until they started approaching her.

“Ah…someone must have spotted me, correct? In that case, accept my apologies for startling anyone, but I am here on…non-Cape matters?”

“Do you perhaps mean you’re here in your civilian life?” Myrddin asked for her, likely what she was trying to say instead. Chevalier personally wouldn’t have revealed anything about his non-Cape life but something as small as this didn’t matter.

“Yes, that, thank you, mage.” Clementine thanked the old Hero, unlike other times people have called him wizard, this time it felt and was genuine. The implications of which made him internally groan, but Myrddin seemed especially pleased at the gesture, bowing slightly in response. Yes, the PHO rumours were kind of true, he did believe Parahuman powers came from a higher power of some kind, magic or otherwise. 

So, she was a tourist? Capes being tourists were nothing new, they still went on vacations like anyone else in the world. However, they normally didn’t do it while in costume. Work-life balance was still a thing, even for people who could fly or shoot fireballs from their hands.

“However, it was only after I arrived did I learn that the…Cathedral in front of me was not actually a Cathedral, but a place of learning simply called a Cathedral in its name. So here I am now, tricked by a name.” He nodded in understanding, as he wasn’t a Philly native, he too made a similar mistake of thinking it was a place of religious gathering, only to find out it was full of college students pulling yet another all-nighter. For someone like Clementine, he could imagine the disappointment was keenly felt.

“I can imagine, but why the costume?”

“…I am unsure if it is any different here, but usually I go out at night in costume, less likely to ecounter any unwanted situations. My staff usually deters any would be troublemakers as well.” Hefting her giant metal cross upwards slightly, Chevalier got the message. Lone teenage girl out at night? Easy target. Healer Cape rumoured to have a Brute rating? It just wasn’t worth it.

“Ah. I think we get the message. In any case, that’s pretty much all we wanted to know. Thank you for your time and have a nice-“

“Now don’t be so quick, we’ve just met young Clementine. If you will humour me for a moment, if it was not our fame that was cause for familiarity, then what was it?” This was supposed to be a quick and easy meet’n greet, intended to just make sure the unfamiliar Cape wasn’t up to no good. Their monthly meetings only happened once a month, and sometimes they even had to be cancelled-

“Oh, I just thought you…were almost like a regular group of…and forgive me if it may sound weird, dungeon goers.”  

Chevalier slowly, yet resolutely, made eye contact with Clementine. Even through their respective masks, the small spark of childhood lit up into a blazing inferno in the Protectorate leader. His voice, barely higher than a soft whisper, was full of longing. 

“What did you just…” 

Before he became jaded from years of fighting, often seeing the worst in humanity. 

Before he even became a Ward, triggering after that fateful car accident which saw his brother kidnapped. 

He was introduced to an up and coming ‘game’ in the 80s, even against the backdrop of Parahuman popularity, of popular heroes such as Alexandrina and Hero, this niche hobby survived the decades, though in recent years, he found fewer and fewer people playing it. There were good memories there, of adventurers exploring ancient ruins, going into taverns with treasure and everything else that could be imagined by the mind. 

The inspiration for Chevalier came from that hobby. Where he loved to act like a knight in shining armour, the best ideals of what the armour could represent. 

“Can you…say that again? The last part, what did we resemble…?” 

“I…stated that you resembled a dungeon goer, forgive me if that term doesn’t make sense but-” 

“No. It makes perfect sense!” For the briefest of moments, the man in the ornate suit of armour was no longer Chevalier, but a young George, whose best memories were with his friends from middle school playing a tabletop game after classes ended, primarily dealing with the most classic of fantasy tropes; of Dungeons and Dragons.  

Excitedly, he looked around him. How did he not realize this sooner?! The four classics, the original party, had gathered right here in this park, under a brightly lit sky. 

Chevalier, the Fighter.  

Myrddin, the wise old Wizard. 

Mouse Protector…she passed as a Rogue well enough, one of her speciality skills was sneaking after all. 

And finally, Clementine, the pious Cleric.  

All four of them made up a complete party, ready to take on anything from the most mundane of tasks, to a group capable of slaying Gods. Or at least, that was the popular imagination… 

“Uh…Chevy? You okay, dude? You haven’t acted like this since High School-” He ignored Mouse for now, the inner child within him, long since repressed by the accident, had taken control, and for the first time in a while, he acted on impulse. A golden opportunity like this…could not slip away to easily. 

“Clementine, how about you join us for tonight? Get a feel for the Hero life?” 

“Huh?!” 

“My, my, I thought that side of you had long since disappeared!” 

His two companions aside, whether or not his childhood dream could come true in real life was now down to Clementine herself. She looked away for a brief moment before turning back around to face Chevalier directly, her ornate outfit blowing in the Philly cold winter air. Inside Chevalier, a battle happened between his adult self, full of sordid reality, the other, childhood fantasy. Only that it wasn't a battle, there was very clearly one side dominating the other, quite handily in fact. 

“I would…” 

And so, the first adventuring party in Earth Bet came together for the first time, and like all adventuring parties did, they first went to a Tavern, not just to get pissed drunk. 

AN: 

Hello. I am alive. 

Okay but really, I’m finally coming back to this one. Only took like…more than half a year. If you will look at chapter 1, it has been completely rewritten, basically the same, but now in line with the third person used in the later chapters. Again, the first person chapters will be rewritten as time goes on, probably with every new chapter that is released. 

Also, I have a Discord server now. It's a place where people can come in and talk about my stories, among other things. (NEW) Discord Link: https://discord.gg/9ah73nfATw

Hope to see you there! And as always, be civil in the comments below.