Author's note: So, I've officially decided to turn this into a full on story. Thank you to everyone who gave this story the time of day for a read, and special thanks to everyone who voted on the poll! The grammar will probably be pretty spotty for this chapter, but please bare with it for now. Also, for the sake of clarity, this chapter is not chronologically after the end of the preview. Instead, it starts of right after the following line.
"Oh Kassandra King, do I have a story for you."
***
"So, you expect me to believe you're my friend from the future who's here to prevent me from getting killed? Because I become a big time hero in the future and am needed for the stability of the planet?" Kassandra raised a disbelieving eyebrow.
Ivy shrugged helplessly, looking worn-out, eyes tired. "It's the truth, Kass… andra." Ivy mentally patted herself on the back for her expert acting skills. "Besides, believe me or not, are you really going to stop heroing because I'm here?" Ivy grinned. She didn't even have to make this one seem real.
Kassandra sighed. "I guess you're right. I should say thank you for saving my identity, then. But I'm keeping my eyes on you, missy." The superhero poked Ivy between the eyes.
Ivy almost chuckled at how cute that gesture was, coming from her arch-nemesis. Almost. Internally, she was cackling like a maniac.
'Mwuahahaha! This guillable little idiot will never know the truth! I will never reveal my true past, and I'll help her win over the public's adoration as the number one superhero team on the planet! And when I perform my coup, no one will even want to stop me! I'm such a genius for coming up with this plan on the verge of death!'
Let it not be said Ivy survived her deathly ordeal entirely sane. Not that she was ever entirely sane. It came with the territory.
"…donuts." Kassandra finished. Ivy blinked.
"Um, what? Sorry, I spaced out for a second." Ivy said, not sounding sorry at all.
Kassandra rolled her eyes. "I said, my team is preparing to quiz the hell out of you when I bring you back. I'm going to give them some time before I bring you to the base, so don't go anywhere while I grab some donuts," the fiery hero grumbled.
Ivy nodded. "Yep, sure, cross my heart and all, I'll stay right here." She crossed her legs. "Oh, get me a Boston creme, would you?"
Kassandra rolled her eyes again. "Fine. Just don't cause any trouble."
Ivy made her trip a bit, and winked playfully at the glare she got. God damn did getting away with being a menace feel nice. Watching Kassandra bite into her donut with a happy, innocent smile, and tasting the creamy and chocolaty taste of her own pastry, Ivy felt that this timeline was already off to a better start than the last one.
***
Ivy looked around the base. She'd seen it before when she wrecked it, of course, but it was jarring to see just how basic it was at this point in time. Where once dozens of normal support and rescue troops milled about and tech support populated the command center, at the moment, it was just a barren warehouse with a few PCs and a rag-tag group.
"Huh… not used to seeing the base so…" Ivy trailed off. Although she wanted to insult her nemesis, she didn't want Kassandra as an enemy this time around. The hero still winced, though.
"Yeah, it's not much, but it's the best I could do, given we want this place to be under the radar," Kassandra explained. "Shouldn't you already know that, though?" She glanced at Ivy suspiciously.
"Well, like I said, I'm not used to knowing you when your identity isn't blown wide open." Ivy shrugged, doing her best not to sound defensive. "Still, pretty good given how new you are to this game. I remember when I started out, all I had was a shady basement with sewage access a a shit ton of leather outfits. Not that I didn't rock those." Ivy winked. "But they didn't exactly scream 'super, you know? Speaking of, let me see what you got for a costume right now. I bet I can come up with some improvements."
Obviously, Ivy was going to add a darker, more mature touch to Ignatia's supersuit, but what the girl doesn't know won't hurt her. Or maybe it will. Didn't matter much as long as she doesn't know, right?
Kassandra blushed slightly. "Maybe later. For now, meet the team." She gestured at the four people standing awkwardly before them. "These are my friends, that's Levi, our tech support, Samantha, the scientist, Abby, the forensic scientist, and Alina, the doctor," Kassandra introduced.
The 4 returned a volley of greetings and head nods.
"Nice to meet you all!" Ivy waved. "So, in the interest of seeing Kassandra's embarrassing costume, I'm going to do… this!" She snapped her fingers, doing a small inversion of causality. The team was going to grill her in order to approve of her, but now, they approved of her because they were going to grill her.
"So, do I get the thumbs up?" Ivy asked, smirking and leaning back in her chair as the team groaned and stumbled under the confusing mental loops. Instantly, a burning blade of plasma was held at the ex-supervillain's throat.
"The fuck did you do to them?" Kassandra growled.
Ivy raised her hands. "Hey, hey, don't worry. I forgot you guys aren't used to this yet. I just implanted some knowledge into their heads, basic time-twisting stuff. They would have known those things about me later, but I wanted them to know now, so they do. They're adjusting to the mental load," she explained, propping her legs on the table.
Kassandra glanced at the team. "You guys ok?"
A groan sounded out from the tech support guy. "Yeah, we're good. Just a really bad dizzy spell."
Kassandra watched her friend for another few seconds before retracting the energy blade. "Don't do something suspicious like that again without telling me first," she said, shooting a glare at Ivy.
Ivy raised her hands. "You got it. Won't do that again. So, am I good?" she glanced at the team.
This time, their doctor, Alina, responded. "Yeah. From what we now know, yeah, I think you're clean. So, welcome to the team, I guess. But do that shit again and I'll give you a lobotomy."
Ivy flashed her a peace sign. "You'll get used to it, doc~ It's the most efficient debriefing method." Ivy took her legs off the table. "Now come on, Kassandra! Time to revamp your costume!"
Kassandra groaned. "God, this is going to be so embarrassing."
***
"Yeah… I know you're kinda new but this… is pretty shit." Ivy said, looking over the Ignatia suit with an appraising eye, stroking her chin. "The colour combo is off, the cape is too short, skirt is not the move for your look… but don't worry, fashionista extraordinaire Ivy has got your back!"
Kassandra glared. "Hey, it's not that bad! I don't exactly have a lot of resources to work with." The superhero crossed her arms and drooped slightly. "What about you? You don't even have a costume." Kassandra challenged.
Ivy smirked at her. "Says who?" She snapped her fingers, and a very well-practiced series of inversions later, she was dressed in her suit. Light armoured cauldrons, robe, and cape, in black, purple, and gold. "Eh? Eh? Pretty nice, right?" she asked, doing a little twirl.
"It's… professional looking," Kassandra admitted reluctantly.
Ivy preened. "Just say I look fabulous, Kassy~ Now come on. We're going shopping!" Before Kassandra could protest the nickname or the shopping, she was already being dragged out the door.
***
"I am not wearing that." Kassandra glared daggers at the metal bikini in Ivy's hands.
The villain chuckled. "Ha, the expression on your face…" Ivy snickered again. "Don't worry, this is just one… ingredient of your costume. I'll love the final product, promise!"
Kassandra tilted her head. "Don't you me I'll love it?" Ivy skipped off to the next store, humming a happy tune. "Ivy? Ivyyyyyy!"
***
Kassandra sagged into her seat, sighing explosively. "Ah… finally, I can sit down."
She leaned back and stretched her legs out. "So, how long will it take to make my new suit?"
Ivy grinned. "No time at all! Let me just picture it clearly… and…" She waved a hand.
Kassandra yelped as armour suddenly manifested over her body. Metal breastplate, pauldrons, and shin guards, a dark red and purple robe, with hints of blackened gold, and a blood red cape settled heavily behind her. A metal visor styled like wings covered her eyes. The symbol of a burning fire was engraved on her breastplate.
Ivy dragged a mirror in front of them. "Well? Do you like your new look?" The supervillain asked with a knowing smirk.
Kassandra stared. And stared some more. "Wow… this looks… amazing." Ivy nodded along.
"That you do. Now you look like a proper supervi-hero. Superhero. Pretty majestic, am I right?" Ivy covered up her slip-up with a laugh.
Luckily, Kassandra was too busy blushing from the compliment to notice. "Thank you," she whispered, checking herself out in the mirror again.
Ivy sighed in relief, glad that Kassandra didn't catch on. 'Heh, what a little dummy. She's so trusting. At least she admires my work. It's kind of cute, like a dog that got a new toy… what the fuck am I thinking? Ignatia is not cute. I must be going insane from the memory overload.' Ivy shook her head, chasing those thoughts out with a stick.
"When you're done admiring yourself, why don't we go out on a patrol? Let you adjust to your new suit," Ivy suggested, donning her costume.
Kassandra startled, snapping her gaze over to Ivy. "Sure! I want to see you in action. But… no mask?" Indeed, Ivy's face was bare, and beautifully so!
Ivy flipped her hair. "It would be a crime to hide my pretty face behind a mask. But I guess you have a point. It would be super obvious who you are if I hang out with you both as Ignatia and as Kassandra. Hmm…" Ivy thought about it. She's never worn a mask before, since she had no secret identity to speak of.
"I guess this will do." She picked out a simple white domino mask and put it on her face. "Although I think it would be a good idea to lose the mask sometime in the future. People trust a face they can relate to more than a mask that someone puts on, ya know?" It was true, too. Ivy studied psychology and read tons of books on power and influence. Although her goals when reading those were far from getting people to trust her.
Kassandra shook her head. "I'll think about it, but not anytime soon. I have friends who aren't part of all this. It wouldn't be right to endanger them. And I'll need to consult the team."
Ivy shrugged. "Just a suggestion." Although secretly, she was already plotting how to rope those "friends" into the superhero business and how to convince or otherwise dispose of Ivy's current teammates. She was snapped out of her thoughts when Kassandra started hovering off the ground.
"Anyways, let's get to the patrol! Time for a new hero to debut here in New York City!"
Ivy grinned widely as she followed after Ignatia. Yes, it was time to make her new debut and begin her ambitions anew! Her plans were coming along nicely indeed.