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A Mage's Guide to the Multiverse (Celestial Grimoire SI, Worm Start) by Throwaway1971

Books » Private Rated: M, English, Romance, Words: 202k+, Favs: 160, Follows: 196, Published: Jan 17, 2024 Updated: Mar 20, 2024

25Chapter 17 - Ships & Chips

I felt like R. Kelly in Trapped in the Closet, minus the cornrows and midgets.

Cassie was staring up at the hovering Pod, I was staring at Cassie - or, I guess, Chen Zhenyi, and Sabah didn't know where to look. It was a pretty fucking awkward situation all around, and after my initial vocal blunder, I knew I had to be the one to break the awkwardness and save face…because who the fuck was Chen Zhenyi, if not my mysterious and bratty Asian girlfriend who'd never given me her last name? Whatever her reasons for keeping it under wraps, I didn't necessarily care or mind. Melodrama was one of my least favorite things in the world.

"Right. Fuck the suspenseful reveal for now, let's take a step back," I intervened, pushing myself up straight with a tired grunt. Sleep was beckoning, but there truly was no rest for the wicked. "No dropping private bombshells about my girlfriend, lil' buddy - at least not in front of her. Shit's not cool."

The robot's entire body shifted towards me at the mention of its name, and the light on its head flashed a cheerful green. "This Pod's default designation is Tactical Support Unit Pod 084, not 'Little Buddy'. However, as you are my sole -"

If it had plans to say anything else, Cassie's mental recovery quickly laid that to rest. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously, taking a step forward and interrupting the machine by tapping it lightly on the front of its smooth metal chassis. It faltered in its mechanical words, some sort of inner servo whirring as it turned again to silently regard the petite hacker.

"Hold on a minute," she demanded, her nose wrinkling in adorable frustration as she squared off with the equally adorable robot. "I wanna know how you got that info, tin can. You come from Jay's ridiculously versatile Trump ability, right? Shouldn't you know as much as he does?"

Now that the cat was already out of the bag and splayed out in front of the whole crew, Cassie's previously ashen face was beginning to regain some of its color. That didn't lessen the scrunching of her eyebrows or the annoyed curiosity in her gaze.

Truthfully, it was probably difficult to stay panicked over something as boring as a birth name. Unless you were related to some super infamous killer. I'd probably be a bit skeevy if I was white and my surname was 'Dahmer'. Still, I couldn't think of any villain or criminal from Earth Bet with the last name 'Zhenyi', no matter how hard I thought about it. There were some Asian villains with names that weren't revealed in canon, but what were the fucking odds?

The Pod hovered there quietly for a moment, as if debating internally whether or not it wanted to answer the scowling girl. Hidden Intuition was itching at the back of my brain, subtly pointing me in the direction of where to go if I wanted things to go smoothly, and I didn't try to fight back or refuse the autonomous insight. I knew next to nothing about NieR or Drakengard, but it was obvious that this Pod was some sort of high-tech AI and that I was, for all intents and purposes, its owner.

I simply had to act like it.

"Pod," I frowned, causing both Cassie and the robot to turn in my direction, "Answer any question she asks you."

Its response, in contrast to the silence given to Cass, was immediate. "Affirmative. Inquiry: Are you sure you want me to answer every question? Confirmation is needed." The inflection in its robotic, monotonous voice didn't change, but even then, I could practically hear the warning in its tone. Literally - Hidden Intuition worked in very subtle, mysterious ways, and actual fucking 'warning bells' were going off in the back of my mind.

I still stuck to my guns.

"Why not?" I shrugged, a lazy smirk on my face. "If she asks something weird like 'would Jason still fuck me if I was a worm', just plead the fifth and keep it pushin'."

The Pod stared blankly.

"Mating with an invertebrate is physically impossible, and attempting to would most likely crush its body. Proposal: Do not mate with a worm." Its voice was completely serious. It was completely serious. That was fucking hilarious.

"Pfft!" Sabah sputtered off to the side, only to softly gasp and cover her mouth when my eyes shot over to her. A small, sheepish smile was on her lips when she brought her hands back down. "Sorry, that one got me. Continue."

"It wasn't funny," Cassie sniffed, shooting Sabah a reproachful glare - but any and all heat or negativity was sapped out of the gesture due to the twitching lips threatening to split her face into an amused grin. Desperate to deny me the pleasure, she returned her gaze stubbornly to the floating robot. "And you - answer my question. Did you outhack the hacker? Because them's fighting words, buddy! Or, actions…ugh, you get what I mean."

A considering look took over her narrow-eyed stare, and Cassie added, hesitantly. "And why'd you call me a 'humanoid' instead of a human?"

The Pod, who I decided to start referring to as '084' in my head, began floating around Cassie's body as it responded. "Your technology is unfamiliar, but close enough to what is currently in my data banks for me to access confidently. As I am a Support Unit Pod assigned to the one designated as 'Master', I am equipped to perform a wide variety of tasks, including but not limited to hacking, combat analysis, firing support, and informational correspondence."

Sabah blinked, slowly. "So…you outhacked the hacker?" She sounded genuinely impressed.

If a Pod could preen with pride, I liked to think that 084 did in that moment - but, in boring reality, the robot simply bobbed its body forward and back in an affirmative gesture. "Yes, this Pod is equipped with both technological and biological scanners. I detected your 'NuTek 8' and obtained your information from your saved billing information."

It looked back to the frowning Cass and finished, "Proposal: Strengthen your defenses."

I winced under my breath. "Damn."

Cassie's face turned scarlet in embarrassment. She was a girl who prided herself in her abilities, especially after my little pep-talk a while back, and I could tell that the AI's 'proposal' bothered her. To my surprise and pride, however, she bit back whatever snide remark she had building in her head and cut straight to the next question. "And the 'humanoid' part?"

"My biometrics picked up anomalous data during its scan. Without the assimilation of more information regarding this world, I am unable to infer what is 'normal' and 'abnormal' here."

Cassie raised an eyebrow. "'This world'?"

I slowly nodded my head, understanding dawning on my face. I very specifically ignored the hacker's confused mutter. "Makes sense. You probably noticed the Corona Pollentia - it's a formation on the brain that sorta 'marks' you for a power-up. You're still a human, just…with the potential to gain superpowers - a lot of people got 'em. By the way, chill on the scanning as well…unless I tell you to. Some capes can probably pick up on that."

The knowledge was easy to rouse from the part of my brain that had hyper-fixated on Worm lore for a few weeks back in my former life - the way that Shards worked, and how annoying their entire existence was to the common man lacking in interdimensional expertise.

084 bobbed along to my words, probably storing everything that I was saying into some hyper futuristic memory card. "Administrative input accepted. This Pod will cease its biological scanning functionality until further commanded. I will stay here. Hovering."

Was that a trace of sarcasm I detected? Huh, maybe the little robot was interesting after all. "No need to be a smartass about it, Pod."

"Comment acknowledged. Rebuttal: I lack human anatomy, but I am indeed 'smart'."

I snorted.

Meanwhile, Sabah and Cassie were both staring at me like I was some sort of alien - which was funny, considering I probably was? I came from a different version of Earth unrelated to Worm entirely, so maybe in some strange way I was an alien lifeform. I definitely lacked the little fleshy addition in between my brain chunks.

"You never told me that you were a cape nerd," Cassie smirked, turning her gaze to meet mine. Judging by the sudden glow of intrigue on her face, that little factoid definitely won me some brownie points for later on. I wouldn't go as far as to say that I was a 'cape nerd' specifically - I actually disliked most of the capes in this fucked up world - but I'd be damned before I purposefully refused brownie points from a hottie.

"Yeah, well…the inner machinations of my mind are an enigma." I quoted flawlessly, offering a smug little smile.

Sabah giggled, covering her mouth with a gloved hand. The upturn in her eyes was obvious. "That's one way to phrase it…"

I shrugged easily. "I'm just built different."

Cassie rolled her eyes, her smirk widening into a fond grin. "You said that a week ago, and it still sounds as stupid as it did then. Now hush, let me finish my interrogation!"

"Yes ma'am."

Sabah quickly cut in before Cassie could continue her questions. "I don't want to interrupt - trust me, this is the most fun I've had with friends in a very long time, but…" she glanced up at the grandfather clock and winced a little, a disappointed frown pulling at her lips. "I have to get back to my dorm. It's getting late, and I have an eight AM class in the morning."

The frown momentarily pulled up into a joyless, thin smile. "University. Fun times."

I glanced up at the time as well. Sure enough, it was starting to push into 'very late' territory - the hands were reading 11 PM on the dot. "Damn, time kinda flew by."

"It did. Stupid frickin' adult responsibilities," Cassie pouted, brushing past my knees to wrap Sabah in a goodbye hug. "Stay safe on your way back, okay?"

The affectionate and touchy gesture clearly surprised the brown-skinned woman, but it did not stop her from smiling a more genuine smile and wrapping her arms around Cassie in turn. Side by side like that, I could see that they were roughly around the same height - Sabah probably being shorter by just a smidge.

When Sabah pulled away from the physically affectionate girl, there was a teasing glint in her eyes. "I will. Do not worry about me of all people, Cassie. I am not the one being punished." Amusement purred at the back of her calm, dulcet tone - something that Cass clearly picked up on, judging by the flash of heat that pooled in her face.

"Y-yeah, well the punishment is over and my butt isn't even bruised or anything, so…" She trailed off, turning to give me a 'subtle' challenging look, but I was already watching her with a crooked grin on my face. My eyes flashed down, raking her pert, hoodie-clad body from head to toe, before I returned my lidded gaze up to stare her straight in the eye. I didn't have to say anything - the intensity in that one look was all that was needed. Our night was far from over. Dramatic name drops and robotic overlords wouldn't stop this particular reckoning - a reckoning of the sweaty, sexual variety.

If she wanted a bruised ass, I would give her a bruise ass.

Cassie swallowed thickly.

"Mhm, sure." Sabah murmured dryly, raising a brow as she glanced between the two of us. "I will leave you two-, er, three to it, then. I hope to see you both again soon, preferably under less extenuating circumstances..." She stood, grabbing her mask from where it had been tossed on the couch. The little scratch from my clawed gauntlets embedded in the porcelain was the only evidence of the night's events.

I broke eye contact with Cassie first, standing quickly to my feet. "While I can appreciate the confidence, it really isn't safe. Let me give you a ride at least." I didn't have to explain my reasoning - Hookwolf was captured, and Downtown was probably crawling with Empire goons looking for Avalon and Parian.

Cass seemed to pull herself out of her own thoughts, shaking her head before frowning at Parian. "Right - let Jay take you home! I'm not too familiar with how the Empire works, but I doubt they're gonna just let you off now…"

Parian's eyes squinted, a telltale sign that she was frowning. "You may be right. My cape appearance isn't exactly common or subtle." She looked down at the blonde wig and porcelain mask, silent for a few beats. "It isn't that I do not want to take you up on your offer - the flying was fun. I just feel…bad, taking up so much of your time. I do not want to be a-"

"Damsel?" Cassie guessed, cutting her off. At Parian's bewildered glance, she let out a loud snort. "Jay has a tendency to make you feel that way. Don't try to fight it - let the big, strong man help if he wants to help. It's less demeaning that way."

"Aye yo," I cut in, affronted. Since when did I become Captain Save a Ho? "I'm all for women equality! If it makes you feel better, I can chase you around a lil' bit before sweepin' you up and flying you back to your dorm. Make it seem like you got kidnapped instead of saved. You can add in a few screams and shit, make it a whole thing."

Parian's stare turned blank. "Jason, what are you-...Ah, right, I sometimes forget how your sense of humor works." A deep, bemused sigh escaped her chest.

"That a yes?"

She sighed, but gratitude coated her words. "Yes. Um, not to the 'kidnapping' thing, j-just to the 'taking me home' portion. I would feel safer having you there."

Cassie clapped her hands quickly, an abrupt excitement to her movement and voice that was definitely not there before. "Great! Babe, show her a good time. I'm talking aerial 360s, the scenic route, heh - maybe even stop for a bite to eat. Preferably not Downtown."

"Ah, are you sure? I know that Jason has a…peculiar personality, but I do not want to make anything, hm, weird between us. I am-"

"I know you're, like, super gay. He's not the only one with a gaydar, and mine's even more souped up since I'm bi. Trust me, I don't mind-"

I zoned out the girls' conversation as I observed Cassie, focusing entirely on her body language. My enhanced perception easily picked apart the hacker's odd behavior, noting the dilated pupils, the 'sneaky' glances towards the silently hovering Pod that was simply observing the conversation, all combined with her obsession with programming, hacking, and anything technology-based. Cassie wanted to mess around with my new robot, maybe grill it for some tips and tricks like a 2016 Youtube video, figure out what made it tick. That…actually worked out pretty well, considering I'd been planning to have it supplement her as my intel and espionage support.

Considering her Tinker specialty, I couldn't even begin to imagine the things they could manage. Hell, 084 could probably make Dragon of all…things? People? Sweat a little bit. Regardless, having them think-tanking together when Operation 'Cull the Nazis' was coming to a head would only be good for me. I give her sneaky little meddling a ten outta ten.

Not wanting to tip her off that I was aware of her plans, I refocused back on the yapping chicks and clicked my teeth loudly.

They immediately quietened, Cassie doing so with a frown - probably due to me rudely interrupting her mid-sentence.

"My bad." I apologized, offering her an unapologetic smile.

She snorted, the frown twitching. "Dick."

"Soon. Now, before ya'll get tied down by another random ass subject…"

It was Parian's turn to frown at me. "We were discussing 'gaydars' and if they're actually real."

"Exactly - random. Before you end up spending the night and missing your morning class, we should head out - we can stop by a bodega on the way, grab some chips or something."

I made my way around the couch, grabbing the outer-coat of my costume and tossing it over my shoulders like a cloak. Everything was magically absorbed into my body whenever I transformed anyway, but I still strapped my mask to the upper left part of my face. The light weight was familiar and comforting, in spite of me only having had the costume for a few hours now.

"Oh yeah!" Cassie's eyes lit up, and she chanced another glance up at the Pod. "Stay safe and hurry back. But not too fast - I have, er…a bad tummy ache. I might be pregnant. Brrr."

She was actually a truly, truly horrible liar. I would've been disgusted by the pure lack of talent if she hadn't already captured my heart and made me fall in the span of seven days.

"Riiight," I commented drily, gesturing to the door and eyeing Parian. "Let's go."

"Okay. I'll see you later, Cassie - and congratulations on the baby!"

"Uh, yeah, totally. Thanks."

"Don't enable her."

Parian giggled quietly. "Sorry."

And as we swept out of the room, heading out into the darkness of Brockton Bay, I could see through my Second Sight - because of course she'd forgotten about that little ability - Cassie instantly getting right into 084's personal bubble and barraging him with whispered inquiries. I couldn't hear what was being said, but as the door closed behind me I could see her trying - and failing - to yank him towards the stairs.

I chuckled to myself.

"You do realize that she's going to hyperfixate on that thing all night, right?" Parian asked me, amused, as I was shutting the large, heavy steel door that sealed the Sanctum to the outside world.

"Yep."

"You're not worried about the nosy hacker pulling apart some hyper advanced robot from another world?"

"...Nope."

My transformation came through more subtly now, in the silent stillness of the night. Within moments, a twelve foot long serpent with feathers as black as the sky above was slithering around Parian's petite form.

The woman watched me, curiosity and a tempered, more patient frustration burning in her gaze.

"The inner machinations of your mind, right?" she murmured, smiling softly before sliding her mask and wig back on. Whether or not she was expecting a response was moot, considering I couldn't do anything but hiss and trill in my quetzalcoatl form. Fortunately she seemed to understand, as she immediately swung around to slide along my back - right between the massive wings that marked me as a decidedly unnatural creature.

Her masked face buried itself in my back, and her gloved hands gripped my plumage tightly. Like before, I could feel one long, writhing string of silk tighten around my body and hers, pressing her form securely against mine. We were ready for take-off.

I let out a low, warbling whistle as the powerful and slender muscles in my serpentine body began wiggling, shooting me into the sky at what had to be at least sixty miles per hour. As graceful and womanly as she attempted to appear, not even the roaring winds of the sky could hide her childlike whoop of joy and fear as I upped my speed, quickly approaching the dark, fluffy gray clouds above.

"Wooooo!"

First stop? The bodega on King's Street. May God have mercy on any nazi who decides to interrupt my midnight snacking time, because I sure as hell won't.

Twenty Minutes Later…

Chen Zhenyi, or 'Cassie' as she preferred to go by nowadays, shot a heated glare at the annoying, artificially intelligent robot hovering beside her workspace. She knew, logically, that being frustrated with a creation that was literally created to be smarter than her for being smarter than her was ridiculous, but she couldn't help it! Pride ran in her veins, much deeper than blood ever did, and although she wasn't as smart or accomplished as some people in her dysfunctional family was, she still had her moments.

She just could not figure out how it was doing the things it was doing. Coding, like Jason said before, was sorta like a real world's equivalent to magic, but this Pod…it made it actually seem like real fucking magic. It wasn't making any sense to her, and that was what pissed her off. Already, it had broken through the five different firewalls and IDS that she'd personally set up for her computer system - at her request, of course.

"See, look at this one right here. How would you avoid being found out, burned out, and backtraced when they're using fucking modified Saturn v6 software for their firewall? I've been trying to crack it for days." she frowned, biting her lip as she twisted her fourth monitor and pointing at the amalgamation of green code crawling down the screen at a breakneck pace.

That was the thing about her specific type of hacking - even though she couldn't possibly keep up with the amount of data that came with breaking through more secure net defenses, her programs could. Already, her Ice Pick app was doing its best to autonomously feel along the more 'structured' protections, deadening whistles and defensive switches and highlighting vulnerabilities that she could and would take advantage of remotely, all in the joint effort to invade and access the desired data network.

The problem was, there were so many fucking bugs and traps littered around the subnet that whenever she managed to squeeze in even slightly, her app blared warnings at her and she had to retreat and start all over again.

Fuck Coil and his ridiculous net security. Maybe she shouldn't have bothered taking that shady job to crack and bug his local area network. At this point, it didn't even matter that Cassie's client had somehow found a way to slip her personally tinkered little phishing chips into one of the villain's wifi-powered appliances - getting a foothold in the network itself was next to impossible!

It wasn't as if she was unused to infiltrating criminals, either. Ali Baba, the anonymous hacker forum she used to take small jobs, often had her playing the role of 'network vigilante'; it was why she was so ready and eager to help Jason out with his own vigilantism.

Hacking a supervillain, though? And one of the biggest ones in Brockton Bay? It had been something accepted on a whim, while she was still coasting along on the high of having someone as amazing as her boyfriend believing in her ability as a Tinker. Already, she was regretting it…but her pride was burning with fervor.

Cassie only hoped that the 'tactical support unit' Pod could help her out, even if it was only a little. Twenty five grand would go far with gathering resources to take out the Empire permanently. She knew from personal experience that simple brute force wasn't enough to root out a large gang completely and utterly, and that there would always be more hurt if you simply left it at that. She was hoping that Jason saw it the same way she did before stomping at the hornet's nest again.

They had to plan, if not tonight then tomorrow, before shit really kicked off.

"Master has given me orders to only answer your questions and hover. This Pod has answered all of your questions so far. However, my understanding of this world's network defenses is insufficient to instruct you efficiently." The Pod's tinny voice suddenly rang out from where it had been silently observing the sprawling code.

Cassie blinked. "There's that terminology again - 'this world'. Do you come from one of the other Earths or something?" Her eyes widened, and she glared suspiciously. "Did Jay pull you from your creator?"

The light on its head flashed a bright, firetruck red. "Negative. This Pod was created to assist the human designated as 'Master' with all goals, no matter the scale. Master is my creator." Despite the emotionless inflection in its words, the Pod seemed oddly stalwart about its role.

"So what do you mean by 'this world'?"

"...Further information is inaccessible. This is Tactical Support Unit Pod 084. Control is assigned to the human designated as 'Master'."

Cassie tilted her head. "Huh, a loop. Guess whatever bullshit Trump power that decided to create you don't want super cool girls asking too many questions."

"Master is my creator."

She waved him off, curiosity abated for now. "Uh-huh. Screw it, then - help me figure out this asshole's defense system."

"My understanding of this world's network defenses is insufficient to assist you efficiently."

Cassie snorted. "You hacked through all of my stuff pretty damn efficiently, tin can, and my firewalls are leagues ahead of what he's working with."

"Acknowledged. Query: Why do you not do it yourself?"

"Ugh, because I can't! At least, not without exposing my involvement and possibly getting a supervillain on my ass. I'm a programmer first and foremost, hacking's just…a side gig. It's fun."

"Proposal: You should give this Pod access to more data relating to this world's network infrastructure and 'villainous capes'. This way, I can instruct and assist more efficiently."

She blinked. Why hadn't she thought of that before? If the Pod was running on basically no data about Earth Bet entirely, not even knowing what a parahuman was, then giving it access to the fucking internet would be like giving the notes of 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' to a grandmaster pianist! Her specialty wasn't on AI - or, at least, she'd never…tried to create or program one or anything, but how much harder could teaching one be?

Cassie swiveled in her chair, excitement speeding up her movements as she opened another compiling application. Her mind was abuzz with code, guiding her fingers perfectly from one key to the next. She generally liked to make apps on her phone, but there was no veritable difference between utilizing a computer and her mobile device. In this case, she needed a bigger canvas.

"Alright!" she grinned, the eerie glow of her widescreen monitor reflecting off of her irises, "One 'Earth Bet Kitchen Sink' program coming right up! You have an, uh…interfacing port or something, right? It would help me parse the raw data into something you can process more quickly."

The Pod hovered quietly. "Affirmative. However, you lack the authority to access my mainframe."

She clicked her teeth. "Of course. Well, I'm sure you have enough RAM installed in that big, adorable head of yours to absorb enough data to help me out with my little hacking problem, even without interfacing directly with my computer. Let's see…yeah, let's start with PHO. They have way too much information on parahumans…"

Fortunately, creating a program as simple as this one was almost laughably easy. A few minutes later, and the Kitchen Sink was already filtering through and collecting every bit of information from PHO - minus any private data that she would've had to butt heads against Tin_Mother for. That chick was almost definitely a hacking Tinker, herself, or just ridiculously talented.

084 hovered closer to the monitor, the whirring inside of its metal body becoming almost imperceptibly louder. Clearly it was already starting to filter through the sprawling pages of cape information and news. Thousands upon thousands of words scrolled down one of the other monitors, leaving the screen with the compiler free. A good thing, considering she was already moving onto another source to pull into the kitchen sink. Maybe the PRT's stuffy website? "Hm…"

"...Query: What is 'shipping'?"

Cassie, preoccupied with her work, offered a noncommittal grunt. "Cringy stuff that I definitely don't do. Why?"

"Because it is happening to Master. Footage of his battle at the mall was revealed on the forums, and 'Avalon x Purity' is trending."

…

Her fingers stopped their tap dancing along her pink keyboard, and Cassie swung her neck around so fast that whiplash almost sent her down on her ass. "What?!"

084 bobbed its little body back and forth, almost distractedly. "This Pod will repeat its previous observation: Footage of his battle at the mall was-"

"D-damn it, I heard you the first time! Why Purity?!"

"Unknown. This Pod is not familiar with the term 'raceplay'."

"...HUH?!"

Cassie almost chipped a nail in her haste to traverse back to PHO, scrolling rapidly to the depths of the Brockton Bay subforums to find the mucky, plague-ridden, downvoted threads that housed the internet's weirdest subgroup.

Sure enough, one of the first entries she found was labeled 'Pavalon: Star-Crossed Lovers?'. She cracked her knuckles, a resolute light shining in her eyes.

"The work of the Coolest Moderator is never over."

And it was then, in the midst of filling an Artificial Intelligence with droves of data of questionable content, that 'ScriptKitty69' forcibly unsuspended herself from PHO in order to assist Tin_Mother in doggedly banning and suspending the weirdos who were already making obscene, racially-motivated comments, threads, and fanart about the new handsome black hero with a clear bone to pick with the white supremacists of the Bay.

At some point, she was actually banned after being discovered…and 084 erased the ban as if it had never happened, after multiple requests from Cassie that was definitely not begging.

For those online, who witnessed the very odd and uncomfortable PHO Shipping War of 2011, it was a very…confusing night.

Meanwhile, in Sabah's Dorm Room…

"Shit, these chips are actually hittin'. The name sounded so nasty, too…'Keebler's Crunch'. Bleh."

Sabah nodded her head sleepily, a half-eaten bag of chips lying on the nightstand beside her bed. She was already in her night clothes, a full body black gown that clung to her shapely curves and sizable chest, but like the gentleman that she knew he wasn't, Jason hadn't gawked at her once. He sat on the windowsill, the cool night breeze ruffling his hair and providing a nice, distant ambience of cars and machinery, just the way she liked it.

Now, if only he would leave and let her get some sleep! They'd been lucky enough that her roommate was apparently not on campus tonight, otherwise their dynamic window entrance would've been a lot more dramatic.

"They're alright," she yawned, snuggling deeper into her ridiculously soft blanket. "Shouldn't you be heading home?"

He glanced down at his wrist, as if checking an invisible watch. "...Nah, I'll give 'em a little bit more time. I can dip if you want me to, though - go check out the rest of campus."

The thought of him wandering, in full costume, around Brockton Bay University at midnight was just funny enough to have her giggle half-deliriously. Exhaustion was pulling at her eyelids. "No, it's okay. Just…" Yawn. "Behave, please. And stay silent."

It helped that his presence genuinely made her feel safer. And warm. There was a reason why she opted for a roommate, even though there'd been singles available.

She couldn't see his face when he responded, considering the darkness of the room and the fact that her eyes were fluttering closed, but the amusement coloring his deep voice was evident. "Sure, I can do that."

…

Sabah sighed. Exhaustion beckoned, but sleep refused to take hold.

Jason chuckled. "Want me to read you a bedtime story?" The slightly babyfied tone in his voice would've been grating to anyone else, but Sabah wasn't as simpleminded - she was fairly insightful, and she knew that the little vestiges of jackassery he did was an instinctive ploy to get a reaction. It wasn't for the sake of attention, he just…found it amusing.

So she went against the grain.

"Yes, I'd love one."

Another pause; a pregnant one, this time. Sabah took that as a win.

He cleared his throat.

"'Ight, cool. This is a story my ma used to tell me to put me to sleep. It goes like this…"

Sabah closed her eyes again, prepared to be lulled to sleep by her new friend's chocolate-like voice.

"The cats nestle close to their kittens now.

The lambs have laid down with the sheep.

You're cozy and warm in your bed, my dear.

Please go the fuck to sleep."

She resisted the urge to sigh, laugh, and cry - all at the same time. Maybe it was a loss after all.

[Perks Rolled]

Roll One: Not Enough CP.

Roll Two: Not Enough CP.

350 CP remaining.

If you spot the little hint about Cassie's family here, cheerios to you!

Next chapter is already posted on the ! I'll see you all Friday for the next release! As always, hit me with your comments, reviews, thoughts, all of that. Things start to escalate a bit more very soon.

Chapter 84 - 21