108 Tattletale again.

I took a sip of the mega seed juice as I scanned the near empty lot.

It had taken five days but finally, everyone had had their surgery.

Or at least that bothered to show up.

It was understandable after all. Not everyone was going to just trust the alien from another reality to do the roght thing or even anything for that matter.

Obviously villains were by and large unwilling to give up their powers.

And if the villains won't do it, neither will the heroes, with the excuse of fighting super crime.

Some people, notable the Elite and their rogues might also consider the brain parasites an acceptable price to doing business.

That said, even without them, I had already gathered nearly 12000 shards already.

And more were on their way.

While I deliver the finishing touches here, Star, Riley and Paige were cutting into the heart of Cauldron, securing the corpse of Eden for me and extracting the shards from the Case 53s imprisoned within their secret base.

Not that I was going to leave any shards behind. No. Everyone is going to give me their shards, willing or otherwise.

But first, I might as well try the non violent solution.

"Thank you so much. It means the world to me!" A Case 53, or former Case 53 boy said, giving me a bear hug.

I patted his back cordially, and pulled away.

"You're welcome. Take portal number 5 to your home reality. It's two tents over. And have a good day." I smiled.

"I will!" He replied happy and walked away.

"For all your talk about good and evil, you're still a surprisingly decent person, hn?" Someone said beside me.

"Tattletale. What brings you to my humble abode today?"

"You know what." She replied.

"Yes. What I don't get is why? I thought you liked the way you are?"

"What? You give a me a pep talk and expect my life to be changed? What are you, 12? You being here shattered whatever I knew to be normal. And my power's still giving me hell about it.

I have enough money now, so I don't need it anymore.

What did the Case 53s say? I just want to be normal again.

This power, it hurts. And no amount of your bargain bin existentialism is going to save me from that."

"Uh huh?" I asked, skeptical still.

She noticed and sighed.

"And I know you'd have hunted me down either way." She shrugged.

"There we go. Wasn't so hard to admit, was it?" I laughed, gestured her into the tent.

She lay down on the bed, as I injected a vial of CodeRed into her arm.

"This won't hurt a bit so relax and-"

She twitched uneasily for a moment, scrunching her face.

"Sorry....powers....giving me another headache." She said, straining through the pain.

Immediately, I put a hand on her forehead and shut off her shard.

Tattletale fell back to the bed, and gasped in relief.

"Goodness. Thanks. That hurt like a bitch." She said, her eyes flickering.

"I can see that." I nodded, and put her under anesthesia.

Her eyes slowly drooped and she let out a breath she had been holding for a while, her chest falling relaxed.

I frowned, and lifted her domino mask to reveal dark bags under her eyes.

It is as I suspected then.

I might have something for that.

But first, the extraction.

Once the procedure was over and she was waking up, I opened a portal to the lab on the ship and pulled out a bottle of pills, handing them to her.

"Uhn? What's this for? Didn't see you handing these out to anyone else." She asked.

"You're not just anyone else, are you though?" I teased.

"Oh don't go sweet on me now. I might just fall for you~" She chuckled.

I smiled, and helped her out.

"Those are for your other problems." I added, "Take one after every meal. Thrice a day. They'll relax your nerves. Non-addictive too, so don't worry about it."

"I don't need them." She said, handing them back.

I didn't take them and pushed them back into her hands.

"How long since you last slept Lisa?"

She pursed her lips inwards and shrunk back.

"I don't need your charity."

"It's not charity. It's taking responsibility. I should have watched my words around you. Take that as an apology. And try to forget. It's for the best." I explained.

"How am I supposed to forget that? This..this..." She shook, grinding her teeth, as tears formed in her eyes.

Fuck. I really did destroy her world huh?

I sucked in a breath, and shifted awkwardly. What am I supposed to do about this?

If someone came to my reality and did this to me....I don't know what I would've done. Probably tried to kill them.

Tattletale.... she's a better person than me. Not by much, but still.

I don't want to unnecessarily hurt others. Not like Rick. I want to be better. A better man

A better father to Star, someone he can look up to, even if just a little.

No. Not when I have nothing to gain.

I recalled Offee. She took the revelation surprisingly well.

But not everyone is like her. She was complacent. Too much so.

And now...

I looked at Tattletale, and she noticed my gaze.

She sniffled, and tried to make a run for it.

In a flash decision, I caught her by the hand.

"I'm...sorry." I said.

"I know." She said, wiping her tears.

"I don't...I just don't want show this to anyone. I don't have anyone....." She muttered, hiccups punctuating her words.

Right. She was estranged from her family and now, because of me, the Undersiders, her only friends were scattered to the four winds.

Of course, she was lonely.

"Say, Lisa. Wanna go on a vacation with me?" I asked.

She looked up at me, as a look of absurdity and amusement flashed across her face.

"What sort of question is that?" She laughed, coughing.

"The yes or no kind?" I smiled.

She looked at me questioningly for a minute, confused.

"Trying to use your powers to judge my intentions?" I asked.

"Right.....I don't have my powers...anymore."

"Yes. So use your human brain to do it?" I suggested.

"What do YOU think my intentions are?"

"Guilt based ones maybe? Or perhaps more~" She said playfully, "I wouldn't mind.

"You know, I'm beginning to wonder if I'm in a fanfic too. Too many girls coming onto me. It's unrealistic!" I chuckled.

"Maybe you are!" She laughed along.

"So...?" I asked, as we settled down.

"Yes. I would like to come along on a vacation with you." She replied.

"It won't just be me. Paige's coming too. And Star."

"Of course. If you left Star behind I might actually kick you in the nuts." She said.

"You'll try." I said, "Retractable nuts. Body modded them myself for exactly this sort of a thing. And I have a groin cannon too, if you're thinking about surviving that."

She rolled her eyes.

"Tinkers and their bullshit."

"It's science baby!" I said.

"But you're definitely bringing Star along. He's too cute to be left behind!" She cooed.

"You definitely grew attached to him in that past two weeks didn't you?"

"Well if someone hadn't tried to use us as daycare, maybe I wouldn't have fallen for his cuteness!" She rebutted.

"Maybe." I nodded, opening up a portal.

"Alright. Out with you then. Let's pack this one up and in the meantime, why don't you take this portal and chill out at my place."

"But I need to pack my clothes and-"

"We'll get you new clothes on site. And you can wear some of my wife's clothes. Not like she's using them anyways."

"I won't kill myself, you know." She assured, realising my intent.

"Lisa, your eyes scream 'I wanna die.'

You didn't come here because you were afraid I'd kill you to get your shard, did you?

You just wanted to end it on your own terms, without the shard pushing you to it, didn't you?" I asked and she turned away.

"Yeah. Thought so. No way I'm leaving you unsupervised." I said, and grabbed her, slinging her over my shoudler like a sack of potatoes.

"Hey!" She protested, "At least use a princess carry!"

"Nope!" I replied, grinning and dumped her on a spare bed. She got up to leave, when I jumped in after her, and tickled her into the bed.

"Ahahhayahhhahahaha stohohohp! Noooohoho! Hyahahahahha! I'll peehehe!" She cried.

"Not until you promise me you'll stay here quietly." I said.

"Ohhohohokay fine! Fhine!" She gasped for breath, looking at me annoyed.

"Good girl." I said, getting off of her, and stood back up.

"Now stay there. Or else next time, I won't stop until you pee." I warned.

"Didn't think you'd be into niche fetishes like that but sure...." She replied, cheekily.

I rolled my eyes, and smiled.

"I'll be back in an hour or so. There's snacks in the drawer. Though they're rather dry."

Offee liked them that way. Reminded her of her childhood on Mirial. I never could palate them though. Too salty. Too chewy.

"Help yourself to them if you want."

With that I left again, back to the camp for one last deal.

And while I'm at it, maybe I'll invite Clockblocker too. I'm sure he'd like to visit a strange new world.