"My name is Adriana. The oldest of three sisters. Chiara, the youngest, and Beatrice. We were living together after our parents passed away, killed by… Leviathan. We were scraping by, mostly thanks to Beatrice's connections. I was a jobless mess, deep in a debt that my sisters didn't know about, and slowly sinking in the mires of depression."That's when Cariddi changed our lives. Attacked the small town we had transferred to."We almost escaped, found shelter. But Cariddi was cruel and sadistic, he tore down the walls and cut his way through the crowd of people that were desperately fleeing for their lives. Most died within the first second. I was grievously wounded in the initial attack."Beatrice and Chiara - my sisters - stood by me even as I began to bleed out."That's when we triggered."Two beings making their way to a planet. To Earth. Discussing. Communicating. Deciding on their destination and their approach. Futures considered and discarded. More futures simulated and adjusted. The two kept floating in the endless void of space.Then the vision ended.Cariddi took a step back, reeling from the vision of the trigger event. Chiara and Beatrice were on the ground, recovering from small spasms. Only Adriana had fully recovered from whatever that was."I remember my trigger. What I saw. But all of it fell away as I glanced at my sisters and understood that Cariddi was going to kill them if I didn't get them out of there."Adriana dashed towards her sisters, moving with uncanny speed and grace. She felt a weird sort of prickly energy pumping along her veins. The cuts and scrapes she'd gotten didn't hurt. She didn't even understand that they were supposed to hurt.Slinging Beatrice and Chiara over her shoulders, Adriana glanced back just in time to see Cariddi shaking his head, finally recovering from the trigger vision. He raised his hand, pointing his palm towards Adriana."At that moment I froze. Falling into panic. But as Cariddi woke up, so did my sisters."Chiara raised her hand in tandem with Cariddi and a pitch black mass of petrol-like metal appeared all around, forming a solid wall between the sisters and Cariddi. Adriana still heard the whistling of the pressurized water cutting through the air and hitting the dark metal. But it didn't give way. It resisted the combined pressure of water jets that had easily carved through reinforced steel.Adriana didn't stop to stare in wonder, instead finally realizing she'd almost died. So she moved. The brittle, wet concrete under her feet cracked under her sudden burst of strength. The sensation in her veins kept escalating, turning into full blown pain as she began to jump from debris to debris, avoiding the flooded parts of the streets.By the time she turned back, Cariddi was nowhere in sight.She'd escaped.They all had escaped.Adriana crumpled on the ground right there and then, letting Beatrice and Chiara fall from her shoulders. Chiara looked stunned, unable to make sense of what had just happened.Beatrice looked pensive. She stood up and loomed over Adriana, before widening her eyes."Ada… Your legs."Adriana looked down at where her legs were.The legs she clearly remembered having lost during Cariddi's first strike on the bank.They had regrown and turned pitch black. The same black as the metal Chiara had summoned to protect them from Cariddi.Adriana didn't get much time to glance down at her newly grown legs, instead she glanced worriedly at Chiara, who now was suddenly covered in the same black metal, though hers looked more brittle. Fragile. It appeared without any notice, and no matter how much Chiara focused, the metal remained around her.On the other hand, Beatrice rubbed her thumb along her index finger, and Adriana watched as she manifested the same black metal once again, then controlled it to move around her finger, twisting and slithering like a thread.The three sisters were now parahumans.
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"We're the only survivors." Beatrice confirmed as she walked back from the bank. They had decided to take a look at it again after they'd confirmed Cariddi had moved on."Fuck…" Chiara swore to herself. Among the people in that crowd were those she had considered friends.Adriana could not bring herself to be sad, though. Her younger sisters were safe. And that was all that mattered to her."It also means no one witnessed our triggers..." Adriana muttered but neither sister decided to comment."What now?" Chiara asked."We get out of this doomed city. Look," Adriana pointed in the distance, where water sometimes appeared in the air and slammed against flying figures, "the heroes are still fighting. We can't help them, not now. We get out of this shithole, maybe get some supplies, then we'll see from there."Beatrice stared towards the fighting."Shouldn't we help?" She asked. "I think I've figured out enough with my powers that-""No!" Adriana shouted, "...no." She repeated, more calmly, "they'll manage. They stopped Leviathan from sinking the whole peninsula, and this time they're only dealing with a single parahuman. Besides, we're amateurs. We'd only get in their way.""Mh…" Beatrice hummed thoughtfully, but did not protest. Chiara still looked too shell-shocked to comment on what to do, so she merely followed along."Sometimes I wonder… I wonder if my decision that day caused it all. I wonder if it would have turned out differently if I had chosen differently. Chosen to help against Cariddi.""You would have died. Everyone else did, people that I considered friends. Comrades. Only I remained in the end, and I too failed. You did the right thing.""We would have died..? Maybe…Maybe that would have been for the best."
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"After we left the broken town behind we kept a low profile. We went south, away from the authorities. Joined the refugees that were trying to rebuild Naples."My sisters didn't know why I was so keen to disappear, but they stayed by my side nonetheless. We tested our powers in abandoned buildings, away from prying eyes."No matter how much Adriana focused, she couldn't conjure the metal as her sisters did. Instead, her power was more internal. That prickly feeling was a sort of 'enhancer', making her faster and stronger, while also healing her wounds.When she focused she could change the shape of her now-metal legs. It became easier as she practiced.Chiara found out that she simply could not dismiss the metal mass. It always stuck around her, and if she got too far it would reappear by her side. She had full control over the metal, able to make it move against the laws of physics and change its shape to anything she could envision in her mind. She also couldn't summon more than a certain limit."I don't know…" Chiara complained. "It feels like I'm missing something. There is something else about my power that I'm not getting.""Give it time." Adriana tried to console her, finally able to take on the role of elder sister."Well, she didn't need time."At the other end of the room, floating due to the metal that she controlled all around her, was Beatrice. To neither of her sister's surprise, Beatrice had immediately clicked with her power.She had always been the most hardworking of the three.Beatrice looked in wonder as she manifested tons upon tons of that black metal, making it move following her thoughts. The tendrils moved with unerring coordination, split into multiple tasks: some of them were testing out their own resilience against each other, taking the shape of shields and drills, while others were carefully folding a thin paper sheet to make some origami.Unlike Adriana and Chiara, Beatrice had no limit to how much of the metal she could conjure. Furthermore, hers didn't disappear, sticking around. She couldn't control it farther from a certain range, but if she ever came close again then it would fall back under her power once again.All three of the sisters could 'feel' from their own metal, like an extension of their skin. Beatrice used this to create a careful network of alarms and traps to make sure nobody saw them practicing, and to keep each safe. It helped that Adriana didn't need to sleep anymore, a side-effect that sometimes appeared in parahumans."Mh? What's up?" Beatrice noticed her sisters' glances."Nothing, just admiring your control." Chiara sighed. "Do you think it's the same?""The same metal you mean? Or whether we control things in the same way?""No, no. The metal.""I don't think it is." Adriana said. "It looks the same, but they're subtly different. My metal always has a sort of 'malleable' surface, like flesh, which makes it easier to walk and move it. I have to focus to shape it into something sharp."Meanwhile yours, Chiara, seems to be more 'liquid' when you're not fully controlling it. Like petrol?""Yeah. It's also sort of 'sticky'. Petrol is a really good analogy.""While mine," Beatrice continued, "naturally takes the shape of filaments. Threads. To create bigger shapes I need to 'imagine' knitting the threads together.""Like how Mom taught us to make scarves?" Chiara said, a sad smile in her voice."Yep." There was a hint of melancholy in Beatrice's voice, even as she smiled.Adriana grit her teeth and closed her eyes. Thinking of their parents made Adriana think of Leviathan. Of Cariddi. Of the monsters that were out there
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The man let out a groan of pain as he hit the concrete pavement. Adriana landed with her foot on his chest, as it made a nasty sound."Stay out of our turf, you cultists." She spat between words. Behind her Chiara and Beatrice had already finished up, using their metal to restrain and chain down the other Fallen that had come to create trouble."It was a frequent event, during those years. Eventually the government gave up on restoring Naples, and more and more Fallen began coming from all over the world. I call them 'Fallen', but few of them were actually part of the American gang. They were cultists, mostly."Adriana raised her foot and kicked the man in the head, knocking him out. She walked over to her sisters. The three of them had adopted a very 'basic' costume, basically only a surgical mask and some sunglasses."This can't go on." Adriana complained. "There were parahumans among them. There will be more next time. We have to leave.""But we promised those people our protection." Chiara protested, while Beatrice hummed quietly. "Without us they have nowhere to stay, and none of them have powers as we do.""They knew it wasn't going to last. And even with powers we're still human. We have limits. And we're reaching them. We need to leave this city, find somewhere else to lay low.""Lay low…" Beatrice repeated to herself."I don't understand, Ada… Why can't we go back home? Or at least contact people we knew." Chiara continued to complain.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.Adriana glanced at the youngest sister, raising an eyebrow. Where was that coming from?"I took a peek at the casualties from Latina." Chiara admitted, "I stole the phone off of one of the cultists that attacked us last week. Our names are among the dead, Ada… Please tell me why you made us run away all those years ago.""It was the debt." Beatrice answered in her stead, surprising Chiara and Adriana both. "She never told us. But I found out.""What? What is she saying, Ada? What happened?"Adriana bit her lip, then began to explain:"I got in with the wrong people. Took a loan I couldn't repay. They kept hounding me for months, until I went back to Mom and Dad, trying to hide. When Leviathan attacked I hoped it would get wiped clean. They found me, eventually, and I just barely escaped that time.""That's why she wouldn't get a job." Beatrice explained. "I talked with some of the people that interviewed you, Ada. You intentionally sabotaged yourself each time. So that you wouldn't be tracked down.""So that I wouldn't be tracked down…" Adriana repeated, mumbling."And you didn't tell me." Chiara looked wide eyed at her sisters. "Neither of you.""It wasn't mine to reveal.""That's no excuse!" Chiara snapped back, before turning back to Adriana, "Ada… Why? You could have told us. We're strong now, we can deal with anyone!""They've got parahumans too! Capes that have been in the game since the beginning. I couldn't…" Risk your life again, went unsaid."You should have told me. I would have understood… I…"Chiara looked down, trying to clear her head. Beatrice, on the other side, placed a hand on her younger sister's shoulder but did not say anything. Nor did she look upset."I later found out that Mom had told Beatrice. To ask her for help."Eventually, Chiara spoke up again:"You're right. We need to leave. But I'm not going to leave the people we promised to protect alone. I'll bring them along.""Chiara, it's-""Don't. Please? Just don't. I-I need time to think."Maybe it would be better if we split up for a while."
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"After that each of us went our own way. Chiara went to Rome, joining the heroes under the name 'Malacoda', while Beatrice disappeared. I went back into hiding. We did not have any way to talk between us, but Chiara and Beatrice kept in contact somehow."For a year I was alone. Wandering Europe, in search of meaning. Then I started helping people. Small things, volunteering, charity. At some point I realized that my powers were helping me cope with my traumas, somehow dumping the right brain chemistry to make me feel 'not like shit'. I did not like this realization."But thanks to that I did not die when the Simurgh attacked London. I wasn't on the frontline, no, but I was there, helping evacuate. I think that was the second most significant event in my life. Her singing was… Beautiful, in a harrowing sort of way. At one point I could swear that she glanced towards me and looked surprised. Like she couldn't see me, but could see what I was doing."It scared me. It made me think of my sisters. So I came back. Got into contact with Chiara, and through her got into contact with Beatrice."Part of me wants to blame the Simurgh for what happened next. Wants to think that it was she that controlled my sisters to act in the way they did… But deep down I know that she couldn't have. That what happened started a year before the Simurgh first appeared in Lausanne."
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"Malacoda…" Adriana chuckled while pouring a drink. "Like the devil?"Chiara shrugged as she reached over and took the glass from her hand."It fit. My power is a sort of 'bad tail', if you don't think too much about it." She pointed at the black mass that was now sitting in the corner of her apartment, floating in the form of a cube."A lot of people you took from Naples became parahuman, right? I swear I recognize some of your 'Blackbranch'.""Yeah…" She looked to the side, ashamed of something. But Adriana did not want to push her. Already Chiara looked a bit uncomfortable with Adriana's presence here. "So, what have you been up to?""Seeing Europe. Finding odd jobs here and there.""And the…""The debt. It's not a problem anymore. I saw the man that had loaned me the money…" A villain that had joined the heroes during the Simurgh attack on London. Adriana had met him by chance, as he was running away, heavily injured. "I cleared things up."Maybe that was the Simurgh trying to push her towards a certain path. Maybe it had been luck. Adriana couldn't bring herself to care, she was free of that weight that she had been carrying for years."Great." Chiara let out a sigh of relief."You were right, you know?""What?""About fighting back. I think we would have managed. Even two years ago, when we were still new to the cape scene.""Oh. Well. Yeah… Thank you." Chiara continued to look very uncomfortable."Is everything okay? You look like you've been wanting to say something ever since I entered the apartment.""Maybe, if I didn't ask that question, everything would have turned out fine. But I did ask it. And Chiara answered.""Beatrice…" Chiara sighed again, trying to gather up the courage to talk. "Beatrice doesn't think I should tell you. But I trust you. You've always done everything to protect us."That was when Adriana started to get worried."What is it?""Beatrice discovered something. It's…"
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The old wooden door burst into splinters as Adriana kicked with her full strength, rushing forward and ignoring the Swiss Guards that glanced her way. None of them even bothered to raise their guns, seemingly unphased by the parahuman that had just broken into the Vatican."Hold on, I have a visitor." Beatrice removed out her earphones, connected to the laptop.Beatrice waited for Adriana in the Pope's office, sitting behind his desk, laptop open, while the Pontiff was staring into nothingness in the corner, head leaning against the wall. Adriana immediately picked up that something was wrong, and recognized that the Pope was being controlled."Ada." Beatrice began to speak with a strained smile on her face. "I missed you.""Bea. What the FUCK?"A moment later another figure entered the room, flying in on a mass of black metal. Chiara, Malacoda."I told you she wouldn't react well.""I-I know Bea, it's just that…""No. 'I wouldn't react well'? What the hell are you saying Bea? This is…"Adriana pointed at the Pope. Pointed at the guards that stood outside, immobile and unresponsive.This is Simurgh-level fuckery. Was what she wanted to say."...this is messed up." Was what Adriana said, unable to convince herself to think of her younger sister in the same way as the blasted angel."I was given an opportunity." Beatrice began to explain, looking at the laptop. "I took it."And as she spoke, three shadows appeared in the window behind her. Three pale women of flawless skin, faces covered by masks. Each adorned with red gems that took the shape of an expression. Frowning. Snarling. Smiling.Adriana recognized them.The Three Blasphemies."Holy shit. Holy fucking shit Bea.""It wasn't easy," Beatrice sighed, "it required preparation, and a lot of time. Getting them into my service has been… very expensive.""Expensive?" Adriana felt a chill run down her spine. "Bea, you did not…""It required some assurances from some 'investors' up in Berlin."Adriana glanced back at Chiara. At 'Malacoda'. Leader of the Blackbranch. A hero group wearing black military uniforms.The name. The costumes. The rumors online."FASCISTS?!?" Adriana screamed at the top of her lungs. "Beatrice, fucking FASCISTS?!?""Someone needed to take control of the Blasphemies. They are monsters like the Endbringers, like Cariddi. Under my service at least I can control their murderous impulses. At least this way they don't end up in the wrong hands." Once again she glanced at the laptop, implying something that Adriana could not pick up on."Fascists are the wrong hand, Bea. Please, please get out of this shit. Sell the Blasphemies to someone else, if it's possible. Or better yet, just give them to some hero team. Please."Beatrice froze for a moment at Adriana's words."That's when I realized her decision. When I realized how much my little sister had changed… Or maybe, how little I knew her.""No." She simply answered back, closing her eyes.Adriana took a step back, feeling a headache beginning to form because of the stress. Which, with her power, meant a lot of stress."You aren't going to use them to help anyone." Adriana realized. "You're going to use them for your own ends. Not even for Endbringers attacks. You could save thousands by ordering the Blasphemies! Do not do this!""Like we were helped when Leviathan flooded our home? Or when Cariddi cut your legs off?" Beatrice scoffed, finally truthful after so many years. "No. I've paid the price, and so did you. We should get our due. We will get our due.""I can't accept that." Adriana took a step forward, aggressively. "If you aren't going to be reasonable, then I have no choice.""Neither do I." Beatrice sighed.Adriana felt a needle piercing the back of her head, right between the neck and the spine. Pain spread out as she felt the coldness of metal, but still she could move. Jumping to the side, Adriana glanced back at Chiara who had attacked her from the back. Chiara looked surprised, even aghast as Adriana seemingly was unaffected by whatever it is that she wanted to do."It doesn't work on her!" Chiara shouted in a panic."A consequence of our triggers, I believe. Then-""Bea, don't do this." Adriana pleaded, getting ready to fight her own sisters."Please restrain her." Beatrice ordered the blasphemies.They were fast. Not so fast that Adriana couldn't react in time, but still faster than her, and there were three of them. At the same time Beatrice began to weave black metal in the air, creating threads that were moments away from restraining her sister.Adriana never had a chance.The Blasphemies grabbed her by the shoulder and arms, slamming her against the ground and keeping her face flat against the floor. More black threads appeared in the air, slowly covering Adriana's body.Beatrice picked up the earphones once again and began speaking into the laptop."Yes. I'm dealing with it. I will not go back on my words, I'll send them over to London soon." She pressed something on the laptop then closed it, stood up, and walked over to Adriana.Crouching down, Beatrice looked into Adriana's eyes. There was grief on the middle sister's face. The black threads continued to move around Adriana, slowly enveloping her in a cocoon."I'm sorry Ada. I can only promise that I will take care of you. And when the time comes, when finally the world is a safe place for all three of us, I will come back and free you."The last of the threads began to cover her face.After that, Adriana did not see anything but darkness for five years.