SV Chapter 30

If Tiff were to say she didn’t have any hesitation when entering the 24-Heaven, she’d be lying. She couldn’t do that, though, so she stayed quiet while she waited for her sisters and her friend to gather around into a ball so they could enter the store as a clump. Not only was that the perfect way to enter an establishment, grouped so closely together that it actively impeded other pedestrians and became hard to move through, but, in a slightly bizarre way, it took eyes off her. If people were too busy staring at Victoria, that was fewer people staring at her.

The first thing Tiff noticed (as soon as they’d pulled into the parking lot) was the fact that the store was open. While that might not be a huge issue for a 24-hour convenience store any other day of the year, it was something to consider when the shop in question had been practically obliterated just a couple of days previously. When the System said “8 hours remaining,” it meant exactly that. The entire facade had been repaired perfectly, and not just in a “We’ve patched this up” sort of way.

Through System shenanigans that Tiff couldn’t begin to understand, the front of the store was back to how it was before the fight broke out on Saturday. The same scratches, the same peeling stickers and paint, the same graffiti. Like the world went back in time to reverse the damages.

Even the stoners loitering out front were back…but Tiff was pretty sure they weren’t magically enforced to be there by the System.

…Hopefully.

The door slid open as they approached, complete with the same old stutter of the left panel that required people to walk slightly slower than usual or they’d run into it. The air kicked on, and thankfully, nothing about it had changed either. The 24-Heaven was one of the few places they could mill around in the blistering summer heat without getting scolded too much. For the price of a handful of quarters to sink into the arcade, they could claim to be legitimate customers and hang around for hours. Chances were good that they’d spend real money, too, and cave to buying snacks or a soda.

If Tiff didn’t know any better, she would have never guessed a Metahuman fight had gone down in this cramped space. Absolutely nothing was out of place; not the slightly uneven shelving racks, the sandwich and cold food bunker that wasn’t perfectly parallel to the rest of the hard lines in the store, or any of the tall, spindly magazine racks that creaked ominously whenever they spun.

And, most importantly, the entire back wall was whole. Not hole. The coolers were all intact, the brickwork wasn’t crumbling, the wires and pipes weren’t exposed, and there wasn’t even a chunk of cracked ground where Victoria had slammed that Meta’s head into the concrete.

The electronic bell even made its patented ding-ding as they stepped inside.

Amy immediately took up the entire entryway, spreading her arms wide and letting out a long, blissful ahhhhh as she soaked up all the air conditioning, making everybody else need to walk around her. Victoria rallied her eyes and bopped Amy on the head, but as she stepped fully into the shop, Tiff saw the clerk behind the counter do a double-take.

It was the same guy as always, and Tiff was starting to wonder if they only had a single employee…but then again, Tiff and Victoria did seem to come around at the same time every visit, so maybe they were simply traumatizing the same poor dude. For the sake of his mental health, maybe she could stagger any future encounters with rival idiots to different times.

Unlike the last time, when he stared at Tiff with a resigned look of weighty regret, this time the clerk looked conflicted. His eyes locked onto Tiff’s and he waved her over. Tiff glanced at Victoria, who shared a look, and approached the counter.

“Dark Queen Theophania, yeah?” He asked in a low voice. Tiff raised an eyebrow. She hadn’t exactly been subtle on their last visit, had she? She stuffed away a grimace and nodded. “Are you part of an insurance firm?”

Tiff drew her head back. Again she looked at Victoria, but her sister looked just as confused as Tiff felt.

“No?” Tiff answered, somewhat bewildered.

“Oh,” the man said, looking strangely relieved. “I, uh, I kinda thought you were joking when you were talking about full-service protection packages….”

So did Tiff. So did Tiff. She nodded serenely but elected to say nothing. Why he’d be more afraid of her if she was an insurance agent, Tiff didn’t dare guess, but she could kind of see where he was coming from.

“Did everything get put back in the right place?” She asked. She assumed he was talking about the speed of reconstruction for the destroyed shop, and he agreed with a quick nod.

“Your crew did a bang-up job,” he said, smiling for the first time. He reached below the counter, pulled out a small folder of papers, and slid it across the counter.

Tiff wasn’t sure exactly what she was looking at, but it gave off serious foreman vibes. Or at least an itemized listing of materials, parts and labor, and other various fees one might associate with construction.

At the bottom of the invoice was a total in dollars, which made Tiff’s head spin, since she hadn’t paid anything when she clicked the repair button. Next to several suspiciously squiggly (and completely illegible) signatures at the end of the document was an honest-to-goodness seal pressed in violet wax. It featured a multi-point crown and the letters “DQ”…and Tiff was certain it didn’t stand for Dairy Queen.

“It…looks in order?” Tiff shrugged. What was she supposed to say? She could barely handle school projects, let alone what looked like a joint venture between multiple independent contractors and possibly a builder’s union. So long as everyone hung got put back in place and she wasn’t actually responsible for footing an outrageous bill, Tiff didn’t really care.

Though now she needed to search her room to see if the TAS or the System gave her a legit seal-stamp.

“The only thing I don’t understand,” the clerk said, taking back the papers and scratching his head, “Was why they included a brand new soft-serve machine? I mean, sure, technically all this stuff is new, right, if they replaced it all…,” he added, looking around, before muttering under his breath, “…even if half of it looks exactly like it did before.”

He cleared his throat and looked back at Tiff.

“Except the soft-serve. I don’t get it. I mean, it’s paid for, so we’ll take it, but, uh, you’re not gonna charge us later for this, right?”

“Oh ho,” Tiff grinned. “No, there will be no charge. I’m glad this outcome has been…satisfactory?”

“Yes,” the man gulped, seeing the predatory look on Tiff’s face and getting the entirely wrong impression. She simply wanted to get some ice cream, not oppress him under her thumb. Seeing as her business here was concluded, Tiff turned without a word, took Candice by the elbow, and led her to the back corner of the shop.

“What…was that?” Candice asked, eyes wide. “What did you do to that guy?”

“Hm?” Tiff questioned. “I didn’t do anything?”

Candice narrowed her eyes.

“That was nothing? Is this why you never speak in class? Do you just naturally dominate everybody you talk to?”

Tiff glanced back at the clerk, who’d gone back to looking bored.

“I don’t think so?” She replied. Maybe Candice had felt some of that aura stuff? “Only on people who make me mad.”

Like Ryan.

“Or frustrated.”

Like she felt at Haxus’.

“Or try to hurt me?”

Technically, she wasn’t mad at the thugs who attacked Victoria…not directly. Tiff shook her head and Candice stared at her dubiously.

“What kind of crowds are you running with?”

“The wrong ones, apparently,” Tiff said wryly. “I suppose that’s where you come in?”

“Hey, I don’t want to be mad, frustrated, or hurt either,” Candice said, crossing her arms.

“Well, it’s a good thing you’re much better socially, then. You can talk us out of problems before they become fights.”

“This is not how I thought today would go,” Candice sighed. But as they reached the corner of the shop, she stopped dead, all other thoughts forgotten. “What is that?”

Tiff had to agree. What had they done to her precious soft-serve machine? Granted, it wasn’t destroyed, and it certainly looked brand new….

It also looked gaudy as hell!

While the old machine was a sleek, stainless steel unit that blended in perfectly with any other commercial-grade appliance, this one was…decidedly not. Blending in, that is.

The machine itself had a cool, black matte finish with violet trimmings. It featured a crisp, high-definition LCD display that meant nothing to Tiff but she assumed was important, as it listed things like internal capacity, reservoir space, a fullness meter, and a digital thermometer. It was also tricked out with an under-chassis RGB strip that constantly cycled through deep blue, violet, and crimson.

The unit was also approximately four times larger than the old machine and featured Tiff’s crown logo and "DQ" stamped next to the maker's mark.

When Tiff initially upgraded the machine to have 3 handles, she was a bit confused. Technically, it already had three handles. One for vanilla, one for chocolate, and one to mix the two.

Well, the new unit had three handles. It just had three sets of three handles. She could get 6 whole flavors! The possibilities were endless!

So long as “endless” could only count up to 9.

On top of looking cool, Tiff assumed it had all those other bells and whistles she ordered, but honestly, she didn’t care about any of them. Who could gush about self-cleaning nozzles when soft serve was right in front of them?!

“Ho ho,” Tiff preened. “You see, Candice, this is a soft-serve machine.”

Candice gave Tiff a flat stare.

“I’m not an idiot, you know.”

Tiff had the decency to blush.

“Well, let’s get the goods and get out.”

“Preferably before the place blows up,” Amy muttered from behind them. Next to her, Victoria nodded vehemently while reaching forward and filling up a cup with Dole Whip.

​

Back at home, Tiff re-introduced Candice to her parents. Much to Amy’s immeasurable disappointment, they did not tease Tiff mercilessly for bringing home a friend. In fact, they appeared like normal, everyday parents, greeting Candice kindly and graciously opening their home to her. Candice was once again starstruck at the sheer size of Melissa, who thankfully wasn’t wearing any t-shirts of questionable taste. For a few minutes, they let Tiff brag a little bit to her friend about how awesome they were and the super-important roles they served.

“That’s Mom, she’s a trucker.”

“That’s Dad, he’s IT for the [Troubleshooters].”

Okay, so she wasn’t doing a great job at it, but this was the first time she really had a friend to brag to. Rick chuckled softly while Melissa smiled fondly at Tiff. Amy simply stared up at the ceiling like a diva.

“I’m an A-class Might Meta,” Melissa helpfully explained in greater detail. “I’m also a registered Sidekick, callsign: Brickhouse. I mostly respond to emergencies or local problems. When you get to be my age, Hero work starts to take its toll.”

Candice nodded mindlessly. She was still laser-focused on Melissa’s bicep after she arm-curled the couch. With Rick sitting on it.

“I’m a Techie,” Rick said nonchalantly. “Sometimes, even Superheroes need to be told to turn it off and on again. Also a Sidekick.”

“I’m a bit darker on the scale,” Victoria piped up, leaning on the back of Amy’s armchair. “I was a Merc. Now I’m Tiff’s hench.”

“[Bodyguard]?” Candice asked.

“Close enough,” Victoria waggled her hand. “Does the same thing.”

“Yeah, but do [Bodyguards] get a cool transformation sequence?” Amy asked, looking straight up.

“Shoosh, you,” Victoria grinned, but Melissa raised an eyebrow.

“Transformation sequence? That’s the first I’m hearing of this.”

“It’s armor,” Victoria waved her off. She nodded to Candice and mouthed, “You’ve already seen it.”

Throughout Tiff’s entire life, she never really gave her family’s status or Affinities any thought. To her, they were completely normal, in a somewhat peculiar way. Yes, her mom was huge, and her dad was good with computers, but they still held somewhat ordinary jobs. Maybe being a professional trucker was a bit out there, but it wasn’t wearing a cape and leaping tall buildings in a single bound.

…though what, exactly, constituted a “tall” building? Tiff was reasonably certain her mom could bound quite high, and single doses were no exception.

But Candice was looking at them with starry eyes, and Tiff was reminded of the conversation they’d had the other day, where she realized having a pair of Meta parents might not be so normal. Eventually, when Candice finally came to her senses, she blushed furiously after she realized she’d been staring, narrowed her eyes at Tiff, and hissed.

“You didn’t say your parents were Capes!”

“I told you they were Metas,” Tiff tilted her head to the side. To her, those two terms were one and the same.

“That’s totally different!” Candice complained. “Your mom has a callsign! She’s official!”

“She also cooks a mean pasta,” Rick nodded, as if that helped. Candice looked like her soul was about to flee her body, so Tiff took pity on her. She changed the subject to cheerleading and let Candice talk herself hoarse. Only, Tiff miscalculated the lungs on a cheerleader and ended up spacing out entirely as Melissa asked engaging questions while Candice replied enthusiastically. After a time, Tiff seemed to notice a lull in the conversation, but it turned out they were actually asking for some input. She snapped out of her stupor, shook her head, and ran the last several moments back. Ah. It seemed they’d gotten onto the topic of what do you want to do with your life, which was a horribly unfair question for a multitude of reasons if you asked Tiff.

In fact, they did ask Tiff…in a manner of speaking. Candice had expressed her desire to go to Berkley and hoped she could someday pick up a Class that had something to do with math or science. Rick whistled in appreciation and wished her good luck, rattling off a plethora of sources that would be helpful with such an endeavor. But that was only one of Candice’s options…and the other depended on what she found out today about Tiff. It was to put on her best managerial face and try to sell the idea of being a Supervillain. Tiff stretched, got up, and…walked around the coffee table and sat down between her mom and dad, so she could be across from Candace.

The cheerleader glanced between the two adults and the two other sisters sitting on the armchair. Across from her, Tiff looked unperturbed.

“Is something wrong?” Tiff asked.

Candice gave her a sardonic smile.

“I don’t know, Tiff. For how secretive you usually are, I didn’t expect to see your whole family here. This kind of feels like an interview…was I supposed to bring a resume?”

“That won’t be necessary,” Tiff chuckled. “And I trust them.” She paused in consideration. “Do you want them gone?”

Candice laughed; this obviously wasn’t her typical family experience.

“Hey, if you say so, that’s cool. It’s your Class we’re talking about here.”

Right. So getting straight to it.

“So I’m a Supervillain.”

Candice nodded a few times, though halfway through the third nod, she locked up. Her eyes bulged and she looked frantically at the two Sidekicks flanking the Supervillain.

“Oh, they know.”

Candice spared Melissa (or more accurately, Melissa’s arms) a second look before shaking her head and focusing on Tiff.

“Okay.”

“There’s a good chance you’ll eventually start getting Quests that darken your Affinity.”

“I mean, if I’m working with a Supervillain, I’d be surprised if it didn’t.”

“Good,” Tiff nodded. “How do you feel about morally grey areas? I try my best to stay good, but the System seems bent on steering me down a dark path.”

“I…guess that’s fine?” Candice replied. She had just as much experience as Tiff did before all of this…which is to say: none.

“What would you do if you found yourself witnessing a robbery?” Tiff asked seriously. “And the only Quest the System gave you was to assist?”

Next to her, Rick shuffled as he raised an eyebrow, and Candace started to chuckle. But Tiff wasn’t laughing, and eventually, Candice realized she was being serious. She again looked everyone in the eye before giving Tiff a weak chuckle.

“Are you sure this isn’t an interview?” Candice asked.

“Maybe it’s a little bit of an interview,” Rick smirked, pinching his thumb and index finger.

“Do I get paid?” Candice sassed. “Or at least get intern credits?”

“We’re working on the whole pay thing,” Tiff said smoothly. But thinking about the quest she received for Amy…the System’s answer was probably no.

“We might be able to negotiate credits,” Rick said. Both Tiff and Candice looked at him, surprised. “It’s not unheard of. Young Justice does it. So long as you fill out the correct paperwork, there are plenty of businesses who’d love to get free labor in exchange for real-world experience.”

“Wait, you’re serious?” Candice said, her smile slipping as she realized she wasn’t being jerked around. “As in, you’re treating this like a real job? Damn it. I should have brought a resume!”

“What would it even say?” Victoria laughed. “Who goes around applying for henchman positions?”

“I don’t know,” Candice hissed. “What did yours say? Aren’t you Tiff’s [Bodyguard]?”

“Ah,” Victoria nodded. “Not quite. But you’ve got a point. I suppose we don’t do normal applications when hiring on support staff. I got my position via Quest. Technically, I’m not a [Bodyguard] anymore. I’m a [Core Guardian] now.”

“This whole thing started with a Quest,” Tiff said. “Candice, has yours changed at all?”

“No,” she shook her head with frustration.

“Hmm, then I guess the System might need more prompting from me.”

Unlike when Victoria became her guardian, there wasn’t an obvious role to fill. But that didn’t mean Tiff wasn’t in desperate need of assistance with her Class, and she’d gladly take anybody, so long as they worked well together. So far, Candice had shown great potential. Tiff didn’t think Candice would necessarily have any more experience than she did, but Tiff was willing to bet Candice’s starting point was miles ahead of hers. Especially in one regard that Tiff felt she was never going to improve greatly in: socials.

“Candice,” Tiff said while sitting up. She did feel rather formal, in a silly sort of way, but she ignored the funny feeling in her gut as she clasped her hands together and leaned forward. “What I really need is somebody to help me navigate dealing with the public. Some sort of advisor….”

Candice’s eyes widened as she stared open-mouthed at her Status. She blinked at it several times before eventually looking back at the people across the table from her.

“I’ve been given a new Quest,” she said shakingly. Once again Tiff was reminded that, for the average person, Quests were a rarity.

“Well, what’s it say?” Amy demanded. Maybe it was because she was the only person whose System was not online, and that made her antsy. But, she always was a bit impulsive. Candice ignored her and instead addressed…Rick.

“What’s a [Vizier]?”

“Ah,” he nodded. “Political. Though I’ll be honest, I don’t know what they actually did. It’s an ancient Class, if my history is correct. Middle Eastern? Maybe Arabic?”

“Egyptian,” Melissa cut in smoothly. “From ancient Egypt. They were also featured in Persian courts and the Ottoman Empire.”

The whole table turned to stare at Melissa. She simply grinned.

“What? I spend a lot of time on the open road. History podcasts are long and don’t tend to put me to sleep.”

“So,” Candice struggled to wrap her mind around what the System was offering her, “It’s a political Class? Why would a [Dungeon Master] need a political advisor?”

“Well,” Tiff said, remembering that they hadn’t actually talked a lot about her class. “According to the System, I’m the supreme authority in my Territory.”

Candice stared at her.

“Bullshit.”

“I think you’ll find she’s telling the truth,” Victoria grinned. “Tiff. Hit ‘er with the Quirk.”

“You’ve got a Quirk?” Candice scoffed in disbelief. Tiff rolled her eyes and flipped out a screen.

​

Quirk: Your Word Is Law. You cannot lie.

​

Tiff watched the girl rapidly read the rest of the description, and part of her wondered if she wasn’t being a touch too hasty in revealing such secret information. But she trusted Candice…she wanted to believe their budding friendship would grow stronger. As if to reward that faith, Candice looked up, her face laced with complicated emotions.

“Are you telling me you can’t lie?”

“No, I can’t.”

“Not at all?”

“To my knowledge, no. It’s not a cursed wish or monkey paw scenario, but no. If I don’t know something, I simply keep my mouth shut. Otherwise, it’s only the truth.”

“That’s balls,” Candice chuckled, and then grinned. “I’m so going to take advantage of that.”

Tiff gave her an unimpressed stare. After several seconds, Candice’s smile fell and she groaned.

“You have something to counter that, don’t you?”

“I do.”

“Well,” Candice sighed. “If I become your [Vizier] or whatever, what do you actually want me to do?”

“Be fair warned,” Tiff cautioned, “If you accept, I’m sure the System will rope you into top-tier nonsense. Are you sure you want to do this?”

“It’s a little late to back out now,” Candice sighed. “But either way…yes. I do.”

“Then how about we start as a Social Expert?”

“You’re on social media?” Candice balked.

“God no,” Tiff shook her head vehemently. “But we need to start somewhere. I was thinking a little closer to home…Homeroom, actually, and maybe keep an eye out if we somehow get forced into the news?”

“Wait, news?” Candice asked…but it was too late. She got hit with another System notification, and this time, Tiff was certain she knew what it was about.

​

[Class Quest: Establish Your Court]

​

Advisors Appointed:

Victoria VanDyne: Champion of Shadows, Unyielding Vanguard of the Dark Queen

Candice Peroski: Grand Vizier, Tabulator of Legumes and Recorder of Names

​

Ongoing

​

Candice was locked in…to a suitably cringeworthy title. Was the System trying to suggest that Candice was a bean counter? And “Recorder of Names”....

Candice did chew an awful amount of bubblegum…how was she in the butt-kicking department?

“Tabulator…?” Candice said out loud as she narrowed her eyes, trying to work out if she had just been insulted or not. Tiff shot to her feet  before Amy picked up on it and did more damage than was necessary.

“Well!” She said excitedly. “Welcome to the team! There’s just the three of us right now, but I’m sure that’ll grow. I think it’s time to show you what we’re working with!”

Tiff led the group into her room…and it hit her that, at some point, she really needed to relocate her setup. While it might not be possible to move the closet-core, and Tiff wasn’t really sure she wanted to move it anyway, it would be nice to get everything else out into the open. Or at the very least, into a spot that didn’t require people camping out in her room. What if, in the future, she really did need to rely on the TAS to help her run her Territory? And, if Candice was any indication, she needed a complete staff to do it? She didn’t want people traipsing around in her bedroom. The only reason she’d set up everything in there in the first place was that she didn’t have any other choice. She wanted to hide away from everything, including her mom and dad. Now that they were in on it, as a steady truce if not a strict alliance, she wanted some of her privacy back. If only she could go back to the days when all she had to worry about was Amy busting into her room to play her video games.

Tiff didn’t want to overwhelm the poor girl, but it was a little late for that. She started with the map, and before she could zoom it all the way out, Candice was looking a little pale.

“You’ve had to deal with all…of this?” She asked weakly.

“You see why I’ve been stressed out lately?” Tiff replied wryly. “Someday, I’m going to have to figure out how to use it all. But…for better or worse, I’m pretty sure this is the Class I’m stuck with. The System won’t let me change my Affinity; I’m fairly certain it won’t let me change the Class.”

“I don’t know what to do with half of this,” Candice sighed. “I’ve got my hands full struggling with the cheer team, let alone handling businesses, System emails, or monitoring Rifts. Why is that even on there? What can you do with it?”

“I’m not sure,” Tiff shook her head. “So far, there hasn’t been anything in the Rift menu. It’s just…there.”

“At the very least, this is really good information to have,” Melissa said, leaning forward. “A lot of people would love to know where active Rifts are. The real question is how to get that information out there without blowing your cover.”

“Or certain other cover,” Victoria said grimly, pointing at the Disneyland Rift. “I’m betting they don’t want anyone figuring out what they’re hiding.”

The group stared at the bright, revolving icon of a Rift in silence…until it turned 5 pm. Like clockwork, Melissa shot up.

“Well!” She said, rubbing her hands together. “Who’s up for dinner? Candice, you’ll be staying, of course. I’m making lasagna.”

“It’s homemade,” Amy waggled her eyebrows. “Not frozen.”

Candice had been opening her mouth to protest, but her stomach rumbled, answering for her.

“That settles it!” Melissa laughed. “Give your folks a call; we can give you a ride home later if need be.”