After Ana had calmed Tiffany down, a slight amount not completely, she demanded Ana call Megumi over and wouldn't stop pacing the apartment and refused to say a word to Ana until she got there. After about twenty minutes, there was a soft knock at the door, to which Ana dashed to answer as she wasn't sure what state Tiffany was in currently.
"Hey," Ana said tensely as she opened the door.
Megumi, in her typical nonchalant nature, looked unconcerned with Ana's constipated expression.
"Hey." She said flatly. Ana stepped aside so Megumi could enter but before she could give Megumi the rundown of what was about to happen-
"YOU'RE A FUCKING SUPER VILLIAN?! YOU?!"
Megumi merely blinked in response. She turned her head slightly to Ana. "I see you finally got around to telling her." She observed calmly. "Ha ha, yeah…" Ana meekly replied. Megumi looked back at Tiffany. "I'm sure you gathered I'm not exactly on Margret's side."
"WHO?!" Tiffany shouted. Ana winced. "Zalic." She told her. Tiffany stepped closer to Megumi. "And why should I believe-" "Oh please spare me, I already went through this with Ana for a full three hours and honestly, if I was as evil as the media makes me seem I would've killed both you and Ana, especially since I know just how powerful the amplifier that's in her is."
Tiffany huffed; she was still clearly furious but didn't have a counter argument to Megumi's point.
"So let me guess, Zalic is as awful of a person that the media made her out to be and you want revenge or something?" Tiffany gripped, throwing her arms in the air. Megumi looked slightly relieved at this, presumably because she didn't have to repeat her trauma story. She nodded. "Yeah pretty much." Tiffany looked over to Ana. "And you're helping her?" She asked. Ana nodded.
Tiffany's gaze softened from that of anger to concern.
"Ana do you have any idea how dangerous that is? I mean, you were the one going on and on about how terrified you were of her and now you're just rallying yourself to go against her? Are you crazy?!" Ana shifted on her feet. "I know it seems like a suicide mission, but Megumi says she's after something. And if she gets that thing then it's really over for everyone. Like, more than it already is."
This seemed to make Tiffany more concerned. "What the hell could she be after that would fuck us all over for real?" "The element that killed Dr. Basil. It turned her into a creature that science at the time couldn't comprehend, and that her body couldn't sustain. She wants that." Tiffany shifted in her seat. "But that things like, uber dangerous- after her death the government put out a statement saying that living things shouldn't be exposed to it!" Megumi gave her a flat look, flatter than usual."
"Do you really think they'll honor that? All it's going to take is one soulless person to come into power and find it…" Megumi trailed off.
"Who's to say there isn't already a soulless person in office who's just waiting for it to be rediscovered." Ana added. "The bounty on the person that stole it.." Megumi trailed off. "I have to find it before either of them do, it's crucial that nobody gets it. Even if a majority of people have good intentions for it, there's always going to be people who will do anything for power."
Tiffany raised her eyes at Megumi.
"And what are you going to do with it if you get it?" She asked. Megumi's gaze hardened. "I'm going to destroy it." Tiffany rolled her eyes. "Pfft, yeah right! As if you wouldn't be dying for that kinda power as well!" She scoffed. Ana bristled, "Tiffany.." Megumi stood her ground. "I can assure you I'm destroying that thing. It doesn't belong in this world. It was in outer space for a reason."
"And it also came to Earth for a reason, how do you know this couldn't potentially be a good thing?" Ana shrugged.
Tiffany and Megumi stared at her.
Tiffany held up her hand. "Ana, please, the adults are talking." She said before turning back to Megumi. "Oh come on you guys!" Ana whined. Megumi sighed. "It doesn't matter why it's here. Sure it's for a reason, but that reason doesn't have to be anything more than a quick visit." Ana deflated a bit. She didn't know why she was fighting for this element so hard, for all she knew this thing could kill her instantly, so frankly she didn't want anything to do with it.
"So how are you planning to find this thing before the government or Zalic does? You're one person and the government is full of thousands of people who won't rest until it's found, and Zalic has an ever-growing army of super soldiers, which you know better than anyone." Tiffany asked.
"The most I have now is my resources." Megumi told her. "And while I can't do much about government interference, I can keep Zalic running a wild goose chase because she thinks my ability to detect other supers can find this element. I don't know if that's true but I'll keep her believing it as long as I can."
Tiffany huffed.
"Do you have any leads now then?" Ana asked. Megumi sighed. "All I know now is the element was stolen, and I have access to evidence that it in fact was. The person's identity is a complete mystery however, I know that whoever this person was, had complete access to the facility. I've managed to get an internship in that same facility, I start next term, I can see whatever information I can get." Megumi told them. "I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to get some information out of them, I mean, it was the biggest heist of the century. An element powerful enough to destroy worlds stolen amidst the chaos of the collapsing building." Ana said to herself more than the other two.
Megumi huffed. "We can't focus on that for now, even if it's important. What we're focusing on now is putting pressure on Zalic via an opposing force." Tiffany jerked. "And what does that mean?" She asked. Megumi and Ana looked at each other. Tiffany's eyes widened in realization. "You're seriously going to go against her Ana?" Tiffany asked.
Ana looked to Tiffany and nodded.
"There's no heroes though," Tiffany said, standing up. "And there's dozens of villains, aren't you worried about them coming after you?" "That's sort of where I come in." Megumi interjected. "I'm the closest to Zalic and I can influence her decisions. Ana's going to make herself known to the public and I'm going to act along with the others as if I'm surprised or enraged, and I can use the excuse that number fourteen was harder to track-" "What the hell is number fourteen?" Tiffany cut. Ana held up her wrist and showed the rings again, the heat making Tiffany hiss and jump back.
"Zalic might not even know that number fourteen is missing, and the shock of seeing it might distract her from that little tidbit and maybe make her overlook the fact that I was able to detect everything so far." "And then what?" Tiffany asked. "What happens after Ana makes herself a target?" "Hey I can ask questions…too.." Ana faltered at Tiffany's glare.
Megumi didn't look put off by this. "We do what all those roided up wrestlers do." Megumi smirked. Tiffany and Ana had identical expressions of confusion.
"We act."
--
After Tiffany had calmed down from her initial shock and let it sink in that her best friend, and new acquaintance (though she didn't want to admit that) were supers, she began to focus on the slightly more exciting aspects of Ana's new super career. She was back on the couch, Megumi was sitting across from her at the coffee table, and Ana was seated in between the two of them on the floor.
"So you're really just going to go out there like a hot-shot wrestler and declare that Zalic is going down?" Tiffany asked.
Ana shrugged.
"That reminds me, have you thought of an alternate identity yet? My mind was so occupied with how we were going to thwart Margret that I completely overlooked that." Megumi asked.
"Well…" Ana trailed off and stood up from the floor, walking over to her bag. Megumi and Tiffany tilted their heads at her curiously. Ana searched through her backpack and pulled out the notebook she had shown Sanchi and Rob. She walked back over to her spot on the floor and flipped through the notebook's pages, sitting down and putting her bag in her lap.
Megumi and Tiffany silently waited as Ana flipped through the pages until she came across what she was looking for.
"It… hasn't been developed yet or anything," Ana said as she handed off the notebook to Tiffany. Megumi leaned in to get a closer look. Ana twiddled her hair around her finger and bit her lip nervously while she waited for their feedback.
After what felt like an eternity, Tiffany handed the notebook back to Ana.
"I like it!" She exclaimed, much more cheerful now than she was earlier. Megumi huffed. "What you don't think it's good?!" Tiffany rounded on her. "That's not it," Megumi brushed her off. "I just didn't realize how much you were into the eighties aesthetic that's all." She said. Ana snorted. "I mean, have you seen me? I work in an eighty's disco diner for hells sake."
Megumi rolled her eyes. "Well yeah, but just because you work there doesn't make me think you live for the aesthetic!"
Tiffany scooted over to Ana and put her arm around her. "Well as her best friend I did know that!" Tiffay boasted. Megumi rolled her eyes again. "Okay, good for you." Ana stood up, much to Tiffany's protest. "You guys like it? You seriously think its good?" Ana asked ecstatically.
"Yeah Ana! It suits you!" Tiffany told her. Ana looked to Megumi. Megumi nodded. "It's better than Magnetron's outfit I'll tell you that much." Ana smiled as she looked down at her design. "It's best you get it as soon as you can so you can get used to wearing it in public and using your powers though," Megumi told her. "I didn't know a thing about that which made some rather… unfortunate things happen." Ana stifled a giggle as she knew exactly what Megumi was talking about, but decided not to say anything.
She was fairly confident in her design now and how to make it, she had a theatre past in her high school and was pretty good at making durable costumes. Durable against her own and other supers' powers not so much… but durable nonetheless. All she needed now was the more technical parts…..