Worth the Price Ch. 11 (Worm AU)

(Every character depicted in the story below is a consenting legal adult over the age of 18)

A/N: Catalyst makes her debut~

-x-X-x-

“Legend, there’s something you need to see.”

Legend blinks and turns, a smile spreading across his face initially when he sees Chevalier approaching him. However, that smile fades away when he sees how serious and intense his second in command is currently acting, as well as the fact that he’s accompanied by a wide eyed Jouster, one of the younger members of the New York Protectorate.

Putting his own game face on, Legend plants his hands on his hips, his eyes darting down to the phone in Chevalier’s hands for a moment.

“Yes?”

Chevalier responds by holding out said phone, prompting Legend to take it. There’s a video already playing when he does and it takes the Triumvirate member a few moments to fully process what he’s seeing. A figure wearing an all-white trenchcoat is bent over a device they have on the ground… in front of what Legend belatedly realizes is a Gray Boy Bubble.

He should have recognized it sooner, truth be told. After all it’s one of his Gray Boy Bubbles. One of the ones just outside of New York, one of the ones he’s had as a constant reminder all these years of his own fallibility and limitations.

“… What is this?”

“You’ll see, she’s already done one at this point.”

Legend blinks, only just then realizing that he’s not watching a video already in play… he’s watching a livestream. His mouth opens, but before he can say anything else the woman straightens up and turns to face the camera, revealing she has a gas mask on to conceal her identity. Stalking forward, she crouches down right in front of the camera and lets out a throaty chuckle.

“Alright folks. Don’t have to talk it up this time, do I? More than proved myself already. At this point… I’m just doing this for the love of the game.”

Then, lifting up a detonator of all things, she thumbs the activation switch with a vicious sort of glee. Legend’s entire body jolts, expecting an explosion… and he does get one. Only, it’s muffled… contained. What was she doing?

He finds out a moment later when the woman, probably a parahuman at this point, pulls back to let the camera see what’s happening. Legend’s eyes widen as he sees the Gray Boy Bubble… actually shaking, whatever she’d blown it up with actually having an effect when dozens upon dozens of powers and tinkertech devices tested over the years had done nothing.

Then, to Legend’s absolute amazement… the loop within the Gray Boy Bubble begins to go backwards. The person trapped in it, a young boy with a stab wound in his gut delivered by Gray Boy himself over a decade prior, shakes and trembles as the stab wound disappears… and this time, doesn’t reappear.

Finally, the entire ‘bubble’ pops, the loop coming to an end… but not just ending… reversing. Legend watches as the young boy drops to his knees and looks confused for a moment before staring up at the gas mask wearing woman all in white.

“Um… who are you? Where’s my mommy?”

Planting her hands on her hips, the female parahuman chuckles throatily.

“I’m Catalyst, kid. Couldn’t tell you where your mom is… that sounds like a job for the Protectorate or the PRT. Frankly, the fact that they aren’t already here is… well, I expected a faster reaction time.”

She’s right. Legend jerks, feeling personally reprimanded just a little bit. Still… they need to be there. Immediately.

“Assemble the team and move out. I’ll go ahead.”

“Yes sir!”

Legend waits just long enough to hand back the phone and for Chevalier to signal his agreement before he disappears in a flash of light. The location of each and every Gray Boy Loop within the greater Tri-State Area is seared into Legend’s mind like a psychic scar that will never fully heal, so ultimately it takes him all of half a second to orient himself in the correct direction once he’s in the air.

From there, he appears in front of ‘Catalyst’ and the young boy a second later, her words about the Protectorate and PRT’s reaction times still hanging in the air. Both of them turn to stare at him, with the boy’s eyes going as wide as saucers.

“L-Legend!”

Meanwhile, Catalyst tenses for half a second before crossing her arms over her chest and chuckling.

“Hah… speak of the devil and he shall appear.”

Legend arches a brow at that, prompting a slightly nervous chuckle and a handwave from the female parahuman.

“Not that you’re the devil of course. Big fan, actually.”

Looking to the starstruck boy she’s saved and then back to her, Legend can’t help himself. He smiles.

“Catalyst right? From what I’ve seen so far… I’d say the feeling is mutual.”

Just this once, just today… things were going to be good. Legend could feel it in his bones. Even as PRT sirens start to approach in the distance, making the boy flinch and Catalyst twitch, Legend just keeps smiling.

Everything was going to be alright.

-x-X-x-

Everything was not going to be alright. Alexandria, currently in her civilian identity as Chief Director Rebecca Costa-Brown, narrows her eyes thoughtfully as she rewatches the clip of Legend and Catalyst meeting for about the fifth time.

Tch… this was a bit of a mess, wasn’t it? The whole situation had blown up out of their control before she could even be informed that there was something to be managed. Things should have been handled much differently… but now here they were, stuck with what they had.

If only this Catalyst had come in beforehand, they could have brought her into the Protectorate and been a lot quieter when it came to her abilities. Instead, they found themselves on the backfoot because she just had to be one of the majority of parahumans who started with an ego and only let it get bigger the longer they stayed on top.

There was a small silver lining in that Legend had been able to extract some information from her. A ‘bomb tinker’ who decided to blow up Gray Boy Loops and reverse time for those stuck inside of them instead of just blowing up people…

On the one hand, her heroic tendencies were a breath of fresh air, Alexandria supposed. So many parahumans went villain these days. That this ‘Catalyst’ hadn’t and had instead decided to be a hero was nice… but that was about all it was. On the other hand, she’d just painted a huge target on her back... and the backs of every single victim she’d spent the day saving.

After all, as soon as Legend heard that Catalyst had enough of her time reversal bombs to free every Gray Boy Victim on the East Coast, he’d decided to help her make that a reality. And all she’d demanded was that they bring her camera with them to keep the livestream going… so of course, Legend had agreed.

All these hours later, Alexandria was left bemoaning her friend and fellow Triumvirate member’s poor decision making. He should have known better. They should have kept this quiet.

Now… half the world knew what Catalyst had done. It was all over the news and being talked about in every office of power in America, on top of dozens of other places. If her first bomb could annihilate an esoteric power effect that had been impossible to do anything about for a decade, then what could her next bombs do?

Everyone was going to want a piece of her… and Legend had foolishly offered her a position at the Protectorate while on camera. Alexandria switches to that video clip, watching it with an outward calm that she definitely doesn’t feel.

“You’re doing a lot of good, Catalyst. You could do even more good with the Protectorate.”

“I appreciate the offer, Legend… but I can’t say yes to anything right now. I’m weighing my options. Maybe the Protectorate really is the best place for me… or maybe its Toybox. Or the Guild. I need to see who decides they have a spot for me first and then figure out where to go from there.”

“Of course, that makes sense. Shall we continue?”

“Heh, indeed, we shall.”

A short, seemingly innocuous exchange… except of course that Catalyst was right in that she was officially the belle of the ball. There would be offers from the Guild, from Toybox, and from literally everyone else. She would have her pick of where she wanted to set down roots.

To Alexandria, it was obvious that this was why Catalyst had decided to start her journey of reversing Gray Boy Loops so close to New York City. She wanted Legend to be the first hero to respond to what she was doing. The Tinker had planned it out from the start.

It was clever, Alexandria was forced to begrudgingly admit. She was using Legend’s good nature as a shield against the larger establishment. There were plenty of other people in the Protectorate and PRT who would have done everything in their power to secure Catalyst… even if they had to use force.

But not Legend. No, Legend was too kindhearted, too good natured, and altogether too much of a moral soul. There was a reason that he wasn’t privy to most of the details of what Cauldron really got up to, after all. By making sure he was the first on scene, Catalyst had effectively guaranteed her independence. Legend himself would fight to keep the very organization he’d helped found from recruiting her if she didn’t want to join.

Of course… that didn’t even address the real problem with all of this. The Slaughterhouse Nine. As soon as they heard about this, as soon as the likes of Jack Slash found out that Gray Boy’s loops were being destroyed and the effects were being reversed all across the Eastern Seaboard… they were going to have an even bigger mess on their hands.

He wouldn’t stand for it. More than that, the likes of Mannequin wouldn’t stand for it. Once known by the name ‘Sphere’, Mannequin had been one of the good ones… key word there being ‘had’. He’d been a Tinker just like Catalyst, one who wanted to make the world a better place.

Of course, then the Simurgh got to him, killing his wife and children in an attack on his build site. Physically, Sphere survived the attack. Mentally, he’d broken, either driven mad by the Simurgh herself or simply driven mad by the deaths of his family. He’d become Mannequin, a serial killer who predominantly hunted down other Tinkers who were ‘trying to make the world a better place’.

Put bluntly, Catalyst’s actions would press Jack Slash’s buttons when it came to the memory of his ‘good friend’ Gray Boy, while also pressing Mannequin’s buttons when it came to a Tinker attempting to do good. One way or another, the Slaughterhouse Nine WAS going to be heading for the East Coast as soon as they heard about all of this, leaving death, destruction, and horror in their wake.

They would be doing everything in their power to get their hands on Catalyst… and Alexandria wasn’t sure the Protectorate could protect her. Not without risking losing someone like Legend.

Perhaps… perhaps it was better to let Toybox or the Guild poach Catalyst at this point. Let them draw the inevitable heat from the Nine. The PRT and the Protectorate had enough on their plate as is without having to deal with another Tinker who’s ego could fill a stadium.

Letting out a sigh, Alexandria shakes her head and gets back to work.

What a damn mess…

-x-X-x-

Watching Alice’s livestream as she works her way through Gray Boy’s efforts with Legend providing transport, Lucas just smiles. It was wonderful to see something he’d had a significant hand in already making the world a better place.

Sitting on the couch, he has Sveta pressed into his side. His free hand brushes across her tendrils as she nuzzles against him. The both of them have been enjoying the show, honestly… it’s been amazing, watching Alice freeing all those people.

Not just freeing them either… but giving them a second chance at life. Certainly, the world has passed them by in a lot of cases… but with Legend and the New York Protectorate helping, Lucas has to believe that things will be alright. Hell, they can’t be worse than what those poor victims experienced trapped in the Gray Boy Loops, could they?

Of course, now that all is said and done and Alice is making a name for herself as Catalyst… Lucas can finally turn his attention inward and focus on himself for a bit. Namely, he needs to decide what he wants to do with the unrealized power he’d gained from his deal with Alice.

Does he give himself another ability like the first one, this one dedicated to helping him find the right people in need of his deals? Does he boost his current power to be even more untouchable and unnoticeable, so that nobody comes after him before he’s ready? Or does he boost his physical attributes so he can BE ready when people do finally come after him?

The first option would allow him to grow the fastest by pointing him towards the best deals, hopefully. But part of Lucas does worry he might somehow already be on someone’s radar in spite of his initial choice. And if he is, then taking the first option would leave him terribly vulnerable and weak if anything did happen…

-x-X-x-

A/N: Remember to Vote, leave a Like, and let me know what you think!

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Google Doc Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wOBwv-N6cs5vqA-ojX8bv82GnTW0edGS9zQ1k6Zm4gQ/edit?tab=t.0