Aisha's Amazing Night Adventure

Now keep in mind that the Aisha story is canon-adjacent. Nothing here will contradict orb weaver, but I reserve the right to go back and do rewrites if it turns out that there were conflicts, since some of these stories are gonna be bouncing back and forth.

Aisha sat in the boring, boring room. Bro was also restricted to the PRT HQ.

And she could really go for some food.

Good food. What was it about government and crappy food? Even Aradia wasn’t that good.

She glanced out the window. There was a place, just down the street. She bet her Numbers could get there.

But the Numbers couldn’t really taste. At least not like she could. And it wouldn’t do anything for her stomach.

Down the street was a deli. 24 hours.

Yeah…

Aisha put her hand on the cool glass of the window. You had to push just a little bit… and suddenly, Number 1 appeared on the ground.

She gave Aisha a thumbs-up and started running for the diner.

Okay, Gotta be sneaky. So…Aisha called up Number 2, and Number 2 got under the bed, pulled up the covers, and then Aisha turned the lights off. Number 1 was heading for the diner.

It was weird. Aisha could see and hear from her Numbers, and from herself. It was… Well, weird.

But fun. They weren’t just robots, but… not people, not like talking to her, but more than just things. They really were part of her Krewe.

And now it was time. She’d just teleport to…

Shit. That would make Number 2 vanish.

At the end of the road, Number 1 stopped.

And put her hands on her hips.

Yeah, well you didn’t warn me. Now, Number 1 was… Aisha just called her back into herself. So. New plan. Number 1 popped out again, only now she stopped at the base of the building. Then, Aisha closed her eyes, and there was a twisting sensation.

She was outside and on the floor, but there wasn’t anyone in her room.

No problem, because this time she was in range, and she popped Number 2 out.

Behind the glass, in her room. She gave herself a thumbs up and went back under the bed.

Now, Aisha popped out Number 1, 3, and 4, so that she could see around to make certain nobody was going to grab her.

Bro would freak, but man, she wanted a good sandwich.

She moved swiftly, dancing between the light and shadow. Then she was at the deli. She could smell the food. Aisha left her Numbers outside and strode in.

“May I help you?” The clerk said. The guy raised his eyebrows. “Do I know you?”

“Nah, I’m just like out here for a stroll. Got a good Ham on Rye?”

“Sure. Got money?”

Aisha grinned and slapped a twenty down. “Keep the change.”

“Big spender, eh?”

“Yep!” Aisha grabbed her treasure and a coke, waved, and went running out of the store.

Now for the final test. She held her sandwich and…. Twisted.

And then she was back in her room. With the sandwich.

She started eating, wondering if she should let Bro know how easy it was to get out, but nah, he’d get jealous of her totally cool power. He’d—

There was a knock on the door.

Shit! Aisha put the food in the desk drawer and ran to the door. “Wait a minute, I was just about to go to bed!”

At the door was a man. It wasn’t Brian.

“So, can I like help you?” She asked.

He grinned. “Figured you forgot your napkins. And change.”

Aisha blinked.

Shit.

*****

“It’s about the safest part of town, Ma’am.” Renick said.

“Which doesn’t change the fact that we just can’t have people wandering out…” Emily massaged her face. This was not the meeting she wanted first thing in the morning. They’d even pulled Aegis out of school for it.

“It’s a control issue,” Dr. Marsden said. He was a bit stuffy, didn’t have the same easy connection with Wards that some did, but he was on the rotation. “She was almost murdered, has to become a Ward, and worst of all, her mother still has a say.” He shrugged. “I can’t go in depth obviously, but she gave me permission to ‘tell everyone how she wasn’t gonna go Oni Lee.’” Everyone winced. “But before the meeting, she took a drink of water, and choked—I think it’s a reflex, but I offered to let her wait, and she cussed me out and then drank the whole glass, looking like she wanted to scream the whole way. But she finished it.”

“So why not let B—Tenebrae take over custody. He’s great.”

“We are working… Aegis,” Emily frowned. “Have you gone over Wards induction oversight yet?”

“Uh… Assault said I wouldn’t have to worry about it, because even after I graduate, that’s the team leader’s job.”

“Normally, I would agree, but things have changed. Take a look at them, but…”

“When the Ward’s program first began,” Armsmaster said. “There was a desire to move as many young parahumans into the Wards as possible… There were abuses.”

“And by abuses, we mean illegal collusion between CPS and several PRT departments, including in at least two cases, outright falsification of evidence of abuse,” Emily continued with a sour look on her face. “We couldn’t simply order CPS to move faster when Aisha was a non-parahuman because of jurisdiction reasons, and now that she is a parahuman, a number of legal requirements are coming into play.”

“But Ma’am—her mom is horrible--"

"But not," Renick told the teen, "actively abusive in a physical sense. No griddle plate patterns on burned hands, fractured skulls, or signs of sexual abuse. Neither Brian nor Aisha have claimed that her mother was physically abusive, and if the BB Child Services Department removed every child from neglectful households where drugs were involved... We'd have to rent out our barracks."

"And her age makes it worse," Dr. Marsden said. "The home that would endanger a five-year-old is less dangerous for a teenager."

"That's--that's fuc--messed up, Sorry Ma'am," Carlos said.

"It is, but the fact remains that we have to be very careful about anything that could be seen as undue pressure by the PRT. Aegis, make certain none of the Wards decide to engage in any unofficial help. If you think it you need it, I can bring them in for an unofficial talk. But remember that Aisha's home situation is still a matter of moral and legal privacy in terms of what we can say."

Aegis's expression was a study in neutrality. "Yes, Director."

Hopefully there won't be any other problems. Emily carefully didn't smile. After all the Protectorate and PRT couldn't get directly involved, but if New Wave and a new Rogue just happened to find enough information to convince a certain bottom-feeding lawyer to quit while he was behind and not keep dragging things out...

Well, that would just be good luck.

*****

"Hey Taylor!"

"Aisha."

"School working without me?"

"Nothing has burned down yet."

"Oh. I have a problem."

"Is it one for an open phone line?"

"Shit. Right. Okay. If you say, had a speech you might give, and you really hate a certain group... you know, your swim instructors?"

"Yes?"

"And you're not allowed to use bad language, or say what you mean... what would you do?"

"Aisha, have... you ever heard of Antony's Funeral Speech? It's in Julius Caesar."

"That's some dead guy, right?"

".... Yes. That's some dead guy. I'm going to send you a file. Read the speech and get back to me. When does your speech need to go?"

"About a week. I'll be back at school."

"Good, we can workshop it."

"What's it going to do?"

"Let's just say that there are ways to go after someone that don't involve bad language. We can't use it directly but... I have some ideas. We'll workshop it."

"Cool! How are you doing?"

"Fine, and yourself?"

"Everyone here is acting like I'm going to fall apart if someone shouts. I'm cool. Completely."

"That's great. If you ever need to talk, just you know, talk, I'm here."

"I won't, but cool. Cya!"

"Bye, Aisha."