The Protagonist System

195 Evening Shade

We had all cuddled together long enough for me to absorb Amy's Biotinker powers and to give her back a truncated version that would only let her heal and not do modifications that could create monstrous capes or alter brains, just like she always claimed.

It had also taken away the endless compulsions that her power kept feeding her to do more than just healing, like changing people's genomes and adding different biological systems to improve them and make them better. With luck, the depression she felt from not doing more, should eventually fade away.

Surprisingly, I also received the notification that the attached soul pieces had been sold and I had accepted the Karma debt they had accumulated. It was both neat and saddening, because that meant I was back down to zero Karma again. I didn't try to do the same thing to Vicky, mostly because I didn't want to lose any positive Karma it would give me.

I nodded to Amy and Vicky when my mother was deep asleep and they let us out of their hugs. I picked my mother up and carried her up the stairs to the guest room, because I didn't want her waking up in their shared bedroom and seeing all the things that would remind her of the man she just lost. I put her to bed and tucked her in, kissed her forehead, and cast a sleep spell on her to make sure she stayed asleep.

I went back downstairs and Amy was the first to hug me. She let out a soft sigh as her fingers brushed against the skin of my arms and I knew it was her restored power confirming what a perfect body felt like. As far as I was concerned, her reacting like that was the best thing in the world, and I didn't mind becoming a reassuring touchstone for her when she needed it.

“Thanks again for coming over when you did.” I said and held her close. “I didn't realize I needed it until you were there.”

Amy's face was red, probably because she knew I was sincere. “It was the least we could do.”

I let her go and turned to Vicky and hugged her next. “And thank you for bringing her here and helping me, too. Hugging us from behind was a brilliant move.”

Vicky blushed as well from the praise. “You're the first boy Amy's expressed any interest in and you're her first boyfriend. You also joined the team, which means you're practically family already.” She said and hugged me back. “I also wasn't going to let Amy come all the way over here by herself.”

I leaned back and kept her in my arms. “I'm practically family?”

“Sure!” Vicky said with a bright smile. “New Wave has always been a family thing.”

I glanced at Amy for a second when I had an idea, then I looked back at Vicky. “How much do you want me to lean into that taboo?”

Vicky looked surprised for a second and then her bright smile changed to an evil grin. “That kinda sounds like fun and I wouldn't mind some playing and teasing about it.”

Amy sucked in a breath and managed to not shout with joy.

I chuckled and gave Vicky a matching evil grin to her own. “My dearest oldest sister, you are the most brilliant and beautiful sister a dork like me could ever have!”

“Damn right I am! Worship me more!” Vicky said and giggled.

Amy snorted and turned away to not laugh in our faces.

“You adore your family and take care of us when we need it, so I think your little brother needs to give you a reward for being so awesome.” I said and looked down at her lips.

Vicky didn't wait for me to make the first move and hopped up to kiss me and our mouths battled for dominance. I felt her nipples poke my chest and her legs wrapped around my waist to grind herself against me. My jogging pants and her bicycle shorts under her skirt were the only things between my growing erection and her growing dampness.

She bucked her hips a few times and Vicky's moan was quite loud, then we both heard Amy's soft whine. We broke the kiss and a little saliva kept our lips connected briefly, and we both looked at her.

“I think my other sister needs a little reward, too.” I said and Vicky let me go and floated away just enough for me to turn towards Amy and saw her overlarge Panacea robes drop to the floor. I picked her up and Amy moaned as I kissed her with some of Vicky's drool still on my lips.

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Amy was wearing jeans, so she easily wrapped her legs around my waist and ground herself right into the large wet spot Vicky had left on my jogging pants. I grabbed her ass and helped her, making her moan louder, and we made out like gangbusters.

“God, that's so hot.” Vicky whispered and started rubbing herself as she floated beside us.

I broke the kiss and Amy look so flushed and dizzy that she might pass out. “Having sisters like you is the best.”

“It really is.” Vicky said and kissed me again, her hand buried deep in her shorts.

Before we could do anything more, her cell phone rang.

Vicky loudly sighed and stopped playing with herself as she floated slightly away and took her phone out of the little pouch behind her belt with her clean hand. “It's mom.”

“Fuck.” Amy cursed and then sighed. “You better answer it, Vicky. We've been gone for a while.”

I gently put her down on her feet and let her surprisingly firm ass go.

“Yellow!” Vicky said into her phone. “Hi, mom! No we're not out roaming the streets.” She was quiet for a moment. “We're not at the hospital, either.”

Amy groaned after hearing that and I took her into a hug.

“Hey, don't feel guilty about that.” I whispered in her ear and she stiffened in my arms. “The officers that came here about my dad said you were healing the victims at the office building Lung wrecked, then you came here, so I knew you must have found my dad there.”

Amy nodded and relaxed into my embrace as Vicky talked to their mom about where they were.

“You responded to an emergency and you didn't have to, so thank you.” I said and gently kissed her. “If you want to blame anyone for missing a shift at the hospital, then you can blame me for stealing you away from your duty, just so I could fondle your very nice ass.”

Amy gave me wide eyes and looked at a loss about what to say in response.

“If anyone ends up dying at the hospital, you can say your ass killed them.” I joked with a completely straight face. “Panacea's ass was their panacea.”

Amy looked like she was fighting to not laugh. “That's not funny.”

I chuckled and gave her several quick kisses to help her not laugh.

“We'll be right home after we stop in at the emergency room.” Vicky said loud enough for us to hear. “Whatever. We'll be back later, mom. Duty calls!” She said and hung up and then turned it off.

“Good idea.” Amy said and took hers out and turned it off, too. She gave me a sad look after that. “We really do need to go, Greg. I have work to do.”

I gave Vicky my best shit-eating grin, which she returned, and I dropped to my knees as I severely overacted and waved my arms around. “My adorable sisters are leaving me! Nooooo!”

Vicky burst out laughing and Amy looked exasperated.

“Ohhh, shit. There's two of them now.” Amy groused.

I glomped onto Amy's waist and gave her my best puppy-dog eyes. “My dearest older sister...”

Amy slapped a hand over my eyes and sighed. “Dammit, Greg. We don't have time for this.”

Vicky was rolling over in the air near us and wheezing from laughing so hard.

“I'll m-m-m-miss you soooo much.” I stammered, making Amy groan.

Vicky tumbled over in the air upside down, her laughter dying off, and she pulled Amy away from me. She somehow righted herself a moment later and Amy was now carried in her arms like a bride being carried over the threshold.

“Nice one, Vicky. You have to teach me that move later.” I said with a normal voice and stood up. I walked over to her and gave her a kiss, then I turned and gave Amy a kiss as well, pretty much giving her another secondhand kiss from her sister. “Thanks again for being here, both of you. It meant a lot to me.”

Both of them looked pleased and nodded.

“Now get out and I'll call you tomorrow with the hope you both aren't grounded.” I said.

“It's a faint hope.” Amy said and Vicky nodded.

“Then I'll make it up to you with another food delivery tomorrow. How do tacos sound?”

“They sound delicious.” Amy answered and Vicky nodded again.

“Great.” I walked them out to the front door and opened it for them. “Vicky, make sure she doesn't stay too long and only let her handle the difficult injuries and not everything from a stubbed toe to a runny nose.”

“You got it.” Vicky said and floated out through the open door.

“But, those are the easiest ones.” Amy complained.

“They also take more time than you can spare right now.” I cautioned her and she sighed. “Do the emergency room and the worst ones in the waiting room, as long as they already gave their info to the hospital. That way, your power use is covered by the NEPA5 law as genuine volunteer work and not poaching hospital fees by healing non-registered patients.”

Both girls stared at me with shocked looks on their faces.

“Ah, I'm a previous cape geek and did lots of research.” I said as an explanation. Their looks changed to understanding ones and Amy waved as Vicky flew away with her in her arms.

I waited for them to disappear from sight before I went around the house and the yard and placed several different kinds of ward stones down, set protections against fire and damage, and checked for listening or video recording devices. My real actions were concealed by pretending to do yard work like weeding, trimming the hedges, and picking up around the yard.

When I was done, the house was as protected as it could be without giving anything away and I went back inside. I locked and secured the door with a barrier spell, then I did the same thing to all the windows in the house, including both the ground floor and the upstairs. Once the house was as safe as I could make it, I went into the guest room and sat on the bed.

I stared at my mother and wondered if I could get away with faking a trigger and giving her powers. Since I had already taken Amy's powers and gave a copy back to her, I could easily fake the small growths in her brain to simulate the Corona Pollentia and Gamma. I just had to decide what powers to give her, then I had a great idea and started to smile.

Amy Dallon, the famous healer known as Panacea, was about to receive a lot more help in her chosen profession and volunteer work, thanks to the newest healing cape to appear. I knew my mother hated fighting and would do everything she could to avoid it, so making her a support hero was the best thing for her.

I even knew a perfect cape name for her. Nostrum. It was defined as a medicine prepared by an unqualified person, which my mother was, and it fit the narrative that my mother triggered with Amy nearby. It would also bring our families closer together if they thought my mother gained her trigger powers from Amy... and I realized I could give her weaker powers to copy Vicky, too.

It would let me protect my mother from any other capes that thought they could come after us, especially if she decided to join New Wave as well. I wasn't going to pressure her into it, though. She had been against me joining any cape teams, because she didn't want me fighting. Unfortunately, like I told her, I didn't have a choice. Her? I was going to give her a choice.

I sat there with my hand on her arm and gave her the various powers and abilities she would need to protect herself and to survive. It would also allow her to stay near me if she wanted to and she wouldn't be in danger. Well, much danger, anyway. I would also suggest she give Amy a tune-up and make a few modifications to give her a similar body to my own. Being naturally strong and healthy was the best.

When I was done modifying my mother, I checked the time and nodded. It was fairly late at night and I was sure Miss Militia was going to be alone at the PRT headquarters. I left my mother asleep in the guest room and went downstairs to retrieve my cell phone from the coffee table. When I turned it on, I laughed, because Vicky had changed my background image to me on my knees in front of Amy.

“Well played, Vicky.” I said and saw my first contact in the list had changed to Glory Girl's number. I shook my head at that and took out Miss Militia's card.

I stopped myself before I entered the number as I had another neat idea. I equipped my costume and used a portal to appear far above the city and gave myself a mental image of the whole area. I would need an actual map to find out where to go to get places, then looked for the PRT building. Once I saw it, I used another portal and appeared on the roof.

My farseeing trick let me see five minutes into the future and I saw Miss Militia waving to me through her office window. I chuckled at the audacity I needed to pull that off, then planned for it. If anything, she should appreciate me already being nearby for her to bring into the building for the interview and to register my cape name with the PRT.

*

Miss Militia sat at her desk in her office in her civilian identity, Hannah Washington, and filled out all of the paperwork she had put off while she was out doing her patrol shift. The biggest amount came down to her encounter with the new cape, Atlas, and she had to suppress her emotions as she thought about the handsome young man that wore a cape costume that left almost nothing to the imagination.

She knew he was only 15; and yet, he was 6 feet tall and built like an Adonis. He was also personable, even in the midst of a battle, and he stayed calm and handled the whole fight with Lung, Oni Lee, and Skidmark like a professional that had been operating for years and not like the brand new wet-behind-the-ears rookie she knew he really was.

Greg Veder, aka Atlas, had only received his powers the day before and he had already dealt with Lung. Lung! The cape that had battled the Endbringer named Leviathan, a 30 foot tall water kinetic monster that sank part of Japan and all of Newfoundland, and fought it to a standstill. Lung was the leader of all the Asian gangs in the city and brought them together under his personal power.

He was now gone, as was his lieutenant Oni Lee, and the rest of the ABB Gang was now without a cape and could be dealt with by the normal police. It was a startling battle with how ruthless Oni Lee had been after his boss had died, and Hannah silently thanked whatever power was watching over her that Atlas had been there to handle it, because she had been out of her depth.

Skidmark returning to rescue his girlfriend had also thrown her off, mostly because he had time to set up a full field of effect and none of her normal ammunition could reach the cape or his minion, Mush. Hannah had set up and All Points Bulletin to find them, only she knew it was kind of useless.

When capes went to ground and hid in their civilian identities, they were extremely difficult to hunt down without breaking the unwritten rules. She was personally upset that they couldn't act on their identities, even if they were known, because of those same unwritten rules. They didn't commit crimes as civilians, so they weren't supposed to be arrested in those identities.

It was a stupid loophole that the villains used ruthlessly to hamstring the Protectorate heroes all the time and there was nothing that could legally be done about it.

Hannah finished the last form she had about repairing the patrol vehicle that Skidmark had damaged, covering up the fact that Atlas had bent the thing to keep Squealer inside. He had helped them keep the vehicle thinker prisoner, so she only felt a little bad about not including that detail in the expense report.

The desk phone rang and she glanced at the time, 11pm, and mentally nodded as she picked it up. She hadn't given many people her office number and only one person had been recently given permission to call her so late.

Hannah picked up the phone and placed it against her ear. “Miss Militia's office, Hannah Washington speaking.”

There was silence on the line for several seconds. “You're not even trying to keep your civilian identity secret, are you?”

Hannah chuckled. “I had a feeling you knew it already, Atlas.”

“I did.” He admitted. “I just figured I'd have to buy you dinner or something before you admitted the olive-skinned beauty wearing a scarf to hide her face was the same as the olive-skinned beauty that acted like Miss Militia's secretary.”

“It's not an act. I really am her secretary.” Hannah said and heard him laugh. “I assume you're calling to come down to the PRT to record your statement about the battles today?”

There was a knock on her office window and she turned away from her desk to look and saw him floating there with his cell phone against his ear. She waved to him and he waved back.

“I also want to register two cape names.” Atlas said.

“Two?” Hannah asked, slightly confused. “I'm sorry, we can only register one name per cape.”

“I know. I'm going to register my own and then another, because I doubt she would ever step inside the PRT building after how I was treated.” Atlas said.

Hannah gasped and stood up to stare at him. “Your mother?”

“She gained powers tonight after the officers reported my father was dead. Both Panacea and Glory Girl were visiting tonight as well, so I think things are going to be interesting in the morning when she wakes up.”

Hannah nodded in understanding. “Please land near the side of the building where the parking entrance is. I'll be down in a few minutes to walk you in.”

“Thank you for not suggesting I use the front door.” Atlas said and waved, then dropped out of sight. “That would send the wrong message with everything else that's going on.”

“Agreed.” Hannah said and walked to her office door. “I'll be right down.” She said and hung up. She would arrive in the garage in only a few minutes and she hoped he wouldn't be too confrontational with the on-duty officers in the garage after what had happened to him.