All of us had expected to die, on the end. Instead, only Eidolon and Alexandria had. Except Alexandria had died to Skitter. I felt a brief surge of anger at the teen lying not too far away from me. It died quickly. Alexandria had pushed the envelope. She'd always gone too fast, too hard with villains, and it had gotten her killed. I couldn't even really blame Skitter. She'd been trying to protect her friends.

Just like I had.

There was wetness, dripping from my eyes. It'd been a long time since I last cried. The Path— Contessa— never needed it. I was never in control long enough to do it myself.

David... Alex...

I didn't deserve to cry for them. I wasn't their friend. Contessa was, and she wasn't even a real person, just the steps along the Path. Even Doctor Mother, the psychotic woman, hadn't seen me— the real one, Fortuna— in years. Every moment they'd had with Contessa, every activity, was fake. A step my body took.

I wanted them to be happy. Instead, they're dead.

...I guess that crush on David was never going anywhere. Not like it could in the first place, though.

....That... Was enough. I had taken enough time to myself. Time when I was me just meant that Contessa wasn't following he Path, wasn't working towards the goal. It was selfish... And I just wanted to retreat, now.

I chose a Path.

Contessa rose easily, efficient wiping away the residue from the tears. She strode towards Khepri without hesitation, slinging her over her shoulder, and started working towards an unknown point on this empty planet. Presumably, the one that would get her off of it.

Fortuna sunk down into the quiet, lonely depths of her mind.

Game on CYOA

(Автор: NaughtyBanette)

Interesting Idea I had for what a totally amoral pervert could do with the CYOA style powers.

-Game On—

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" Taylor Hebert awoke with a start, suppressing a small panic attack at the confined space she found herself inside. It wasn't a locker, but the close confines and stuffy atmosphere made it almost as bad, in her opinion. The voice was loud, booming, and seemed to come from all over. "Welcome, to another edition of 'You Bet Your Ass!'"

Dread immediately pooled in the teenager's stomach, as she drew on her powers and found them absent. She'd heard about this game, everyone had. Some cape had shown up a few months ago with a variety of bullshit-tier powers and had proceeded to seriously fuck with the status-quo. The biggest aspect? Power altering.

Apparently the individual could grant, change, or remove powers entirely at will. But did he use this power for good? No. Instead he, or she, the individual had a habit of swapping genders like clothing, simply went out and did seemingly random things for its own amusement. This game being only one of them.

Taylor knew the rules, at least. A selection of people, usually girls, though occasionally a particularly heinous boy was selected and turned female, would be placed into a 'game' and streamed online for the world to see. Any attempts at bringing down the site failed miserably, and despite all efforts the game itself became quite popular to watch. There were people who even volunteered for the games, despite the risks of death or extreme humiliation, purely for the rewards.

Powers.

As part of the game, each contestant would be given powers. They started at low level, but could be 'bought up' with experience earned by completing tasks within the game. Some of the previous victors had escaped back into the real world with triumvirate-tier power sets, enough to make even existing capes drool. Of course, the vast majority failed miserably and were dumped shamed and broken back into their old lives.

Worse, a few villains had been selected and failed, and didn't even regain their old powers. They were rendered completely helpless when the Protectorate eventually tracked them down. It was enough to make Taylor shudder at the thought.

"Today we have a special treat for you! We've selected six beauties from the same city for a special teamwork based game! Will they be able to overcome their childish drama and face down the dreaded dungeon? Or will they meet a sticky, messy, sexy end? I can't wait to find out!" The voice was overly cheerful, like an announcer playing to a crowd. In fact, she could even hear the applause and cheering of those tuned in to watch the fireworks.

Taking a deep breath, Taylor remained calm and examined the menu before her. It was something similar to a character sheet from a table top game, though she'd only ever seen one from an outside perspective. Her circle of friends, back when she had a circle of friends, was never interested in things like that. Still, there were help icons and sundry other references that helped her figure things out.

Her stats seemed to be baseline for a human, though her constitution and dexterity were above average, and her mental stats, save charisma, were woefully depressing. Sure, looking back she'd made some unwise and just plain dumb decisions, but she didn't think she was stupid.

"Hey!" A familiar voice, one she was dimly certain she should recognize, shouted from somewhere out of sight. "Our powers are already chosen! How's that fair!"

"As I said, this will be a special game." The voice in charge lectured, and Taylor could almost hear the grin in his voice. "Cooperation is the name of the game, but you can pick a minor power to augment your abilities."

Sure enough, Taylor's power sheet already had a power selected, and it wasn't her precious bug control. Joke all you like about the power, she had grown quite fond of it over the past month or so. Instead, 'Complete Hydrokinesis: Rank 1' was selected. A quick inspection revealed her level of control and the amount of water she could manipulate were both limited, but it seemed like an incredibly versatile power.

She could work with that.

She passed over the Tinker powers. They were tempting, able to do truly bullshit things if given time to set up, but she'd heard in the past about all the failures that had quickly discovered what a lack of prep-time could do. Instead, she quickly flipped through the list of Thinker powers.

Battle Clarity stood out at the forefront of the options. It was just cheap enough for her to purchase, and should be quite effective in the coming battles. It worked similar to Lung's powers, an escalating level of thinking depending on the relative hazard of the situation. It was designed for those wishing to keep a level head in combat situations, and for those looking to maximize options on the fly.

Without even bothering to really look at the others, she selected and locked in the power. It would be another tool to help ensure she survived this nightmare unscathed. Then came the arduous process of waiting for whoever else was chosen to make their own choices.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen, looks like our team of heroines are ready to roll! Without further ado, allow me to introduce our lovely ladies!" A flash of light washed over Taylor's body as the pod opened, jettisoning her out into an awkward standing position. Her outfit changed in the flash, covering her in some sort of white and blue dress that flattered her gangly figure.

"I look like a magical girl." The unamused statement drew her attention to the left, and Taylor felt her heart lurch into her throat. Directly beside her stood Sophia Hess, bully of her nightmares, wearing a similar style dress in dark purple and black highlights. Hers had a long overcoat that stretched down to her ankles, complimenting the rather short skirt and tanktop that generously hugged her curves.

If Taylor's outfit was long and regal, with too many layers and ruffles, Sophia's was a seductive piece designed to coax drool from the masses. Keeping quiet, Taylor turned to regard the rest of the room and felt her stomach drop down to her feet.

On her right stood Madison, clad in a tunic and shorts done in light and dark green. A long green cloak flowed down her back, and her torso seemed almost covered with an excess of belts and ribbons that crisscrossed her form. A relatively simple affair, compared to Taylor's, but still well-crafted and easy to move in. It fit the girl's short and cute look to a tee, making her look even more youthful than she usually did.

To Sophia's left stood Emma herself, clad in, of all things, a set of metal-plated clothing in reds and oranges. The top, a shirt that flared out at the waist into some kind of overcoat, looked to be almost scaled with interlocking plates of durable metal. The skirt, in turn, fell down around the gorgeous girl's legs with only a single slit revealing her creamy thighs. Somehow, despite how effective it all looked, a generous amount of the girl's ample cleavage shone through the top and seemed to draw the eye even with the shiny metal bits clinging elsewhere.

The last two were familiar only from Taylor's previous experience as a villain. Directly across from Taylor, standing with all the confidence she could muster, Victoria Dallon gazed around the room herself. Her outfit was almost as regal as Taylor's herself, the dress was long at the back, like a cloak, and high and tight near the front to provide mobility. The top was narrow and nearly form-fitting to accentuate her ample breasts. The whites and golds seemed to shine with light, illuminating the room and drawing attention to her confident posture. Most importantly, the entire outfit seemed covered in thin metal plates designed to disperse impacts across it. It was, strangely enough, a dress designed for battle.

Last, and certainly not least, Amy Dallon stood near her sister. Unlike everyone else, her outfit seemed excessively plain. Browns and greens mixed in a seemingly natural harmony into a rather homely set of traditional robes. The long overcoat barely covered the simple tunic shirt and shorts beneath, giving her usually mousy look an almost boyish appearance.

A flash of light drew their attentions upwards, to writing that suddenly appeared over each of their heads. Immediately the room burst into a series of emotional sounds as each unwilling combatant took in the names and titles of their impromptu allies.

"Sophia Hess: The Anti-Anti-Anti-Hero!"

"Emma Barnes: The Chronically Backstabbing Beauty Queen!"

"Victoria Dallon: The Collateral Damage Barbie!"

"Amy Dallon: The Overworked Deviant!"

"Madison Clements: Ascended Fangirl Princess!"

"Taylor Hebert: Dominatrix Queen of Escalation!"

And then the shouting started.

* * *

-Game on—

"Oh great, dead weight-" "I have Powers!" "You alright to-" "What do you think-" "Can't believe he'd say something like that-" "-least we have a healer-" "-So cool!"

"Quiet!" Taylor snapped, her voice actually rising over the commotion and drawing attention to herself. "Uh... L-look," Her charisma was supposed to be good, wasn't it? Where was it now, speaking up in the face of all these people with a reason (as poor as it was for some) to hate her. "This is a team game right? We should try to get along."

Emma snorted, an actual puff of smoke wafting from her nose as she strode forwards. Her hips swayed, her metal scales jingled, and the 'crowd' seemed to go silent in appreciation. "You've got powers now, don't you?" Rather than seem scared, as Taylor would have expected, the beauty seemed... Amused. "I guess you're not the useless little prey anymore."

"Please." Sophia scoffed, striding up and leering dangerously at Taylor. "Even if she has power, she doesn't have the will to use it. That's why she never fought back."

"Fought back?" It was Victoria, of all people, who spoke up. She moved from her side of the room to interpose between herself and her sister, and her glare was anything but kind. Even without her ever present aura, the room's occupants couldn't help but cringe under her tone. "I know you, Sophia. I don't like you, but I think we can work together on this. If anything, your title suits you. You're not a hero, you've done some shady stuff, but I'm willing to overlook a bit of excessive force if it gets us out of here."

"You're one to talk." Sophia shot back, turning to glare at the blonde. "Excessive force? Wasn't there one time you hit a mugger with a dumpster? Your title suits you just fine."

"It's her, I'm concerned about." Vicky continued, ignoring the jibe and rounding on Emma. "What, exactly, did you do to earn something like that?"

"You want to go digging?" Emma snapped, rounding on the more athletic girl and positively radiating heat. "Why don't we bring up the 'deviant' behind you?"

Amy cringed, seeming to shrink even further in on herself at the attention. "She used to be my best friend." Taylor spoke up, spotting a chance to get a little sympathy and clear the air. Bank job or not, having Vicky, and by proxy, Amy, on her side would be a boon. "Then she became my worst enemy on a whim, and spent a few years bullying me with the other two."

"I was trying to toughen you up." Emma replied, huffing a cloud of smoke and waving off the accusation. "Life is tough, Taylor, the strong survive. Just like the strong are going to survive this little game."

"Enough about that, we've got powers!" Madison interrupted, practically springing into the middle of the group. "I mean, sure, some of you-" She shot Vicky and Amy an envious look, "may have had powers for years, but for some of us this is huge! What can you all do? I can control the wind!"

A gust picked up, ruffling through the clothing of those in the room and cooling heads a little bit. "I'm still working on it." The brunette added with a small blush. "That, and I took mass control. Watch!" With a graceful motion, the petite girl stepped forwards and smoothly lifted herself into a handstand on Emma's shoulders. "Tada! Who knew all those gymnastics lessons would pay off?"

"Air-head's got a point." Vicky pointed out, backing down begrudgingly. "What did everyone get given, and what did you pick to supplement it? I've got some kind of light control, maybe like Legend's if I work at it, and I took an aura that should make everyone around me a little bit stronger. It's not the same as my old aura..."

"Must be tragic, having to rely on actual personality to make people like you." Sophia snarked, turning her head to the side and crossing her arms.

"I," Amy stepped up, suddenly gaining confidence in defense of her sister. "Have a low-grade geokinesis. Earth, dirt, mud... Stones too, I think. I've been toying with it, but it's pretty clunky so far. Like Vicky said, I think it'll get stronger as we uh... Play. I took a low-grade healing power. They didn't have anything like my old one, but this one lets me draw nutrients from the ground through my feet, like a plant, and rapidly heal. It's self-only right now..."