Chapter Text
“No,” I said as firmly as I could. “That’s not happening.”
“Amy,” Sarah said politely. “Be reasonable.”
“I’m being reasonable,” I said back with a grimace. “It’s my cape identity.“
We stared each other down from across the table. Spread out all across it were printouts. Many, many printouts. On each one was a variation of a costume, my costume, rough sketches done by the costume designer that New Wave used. White and red were everywhere, obviously, and they varied massively.
Sarah hadn’t mentioned that she was going to be getting these.
“These aren’t final versions,” She began again in a placating tone. “These are just ideas. We need to have something decided for the press conference tomorrow. If we’re actually going through with this.”
As she spoke the last line, she glanced over at Carol.
She had made it very clear that she wasn’t a fan of this. It was too soon, too much at once; they needed more time to prepare for something like this- that was her argument. When I had questioned her about how much time she thought it would take, she hadn’t been able to give a solid answer.
Carol leaned onto the other side of the table, silently sorting through the printouts. She didn’t face Sarah; her eyes were focused on what she was doing. One hand remained firmly grounded while she used the other to shift around the papers to get a look at each. I could see one of her feet raised slightly off the ground, bouncing on the tip of her toe.
“I designed the costume,” I said as I looked back at Sarah. “I could design a new one myself. If you’re not going to let me just wear that one.”
Sarah frowned a little at that. Carol eventually looked up and over at me. Her eyebrows knitted a little, and she pursed her lips, the bounce of her foot slowing.
“Whatever costume is used, it will have to work with your powers.” She said after a pause. “It’s too useful an advantage to abandon. Your previous costume was well designed, and it did work with your powers.”
I felt myself smile a little.
“However,” She said, and my smile dropped. “It fundamentally does not match New Wave’s aesthetics. Nor does it have any follow-up from your previous identity. Both of these things need to be taken into consideration. If nothing else, so people recognize you as you.”
Sarah’s frown evened back out to neutral as I grumbled. After a moment, I let out a sigh and nodded.
“So we’ll have to meet somewhere in the middle,” Carol said before returning to the printouts. “None of these seem to do that.”
“This would be much easier if you just wore your robes over top of this new suit and armor,” Sarah added with a sigh.
“If I’m doing this, I’m not gonna go halfway,” I said, crossing my arms. “New me, new costume… I might keep the scarf though.”
“The scarf is a good focal point.” Carol agreed. “We’ll have to remove the red cross. They won’t allow it on any fighting cape. The robes would get in the way…”
“So we go back to basics,” Sarah said, tapping a specific paper. “Like this. He based it on Mark’s costume, replaced the grenade elements with tree-themed ones.“
It did look a lot like Mark’s, and not a lot like me. Also, bright red wood looked ridiculous. Besides, there was an even bigger problem I could see.
“Not enough material available,” I said and pushed the paper away. “In case of emergencies, I need to have extra mass to pull from. Besides, I’m not a blaster like he is. I’m going to need to get up close and fight people, and that means I’ll have to take hits.“
“Carol doesn’t wear armor, and she gets into melee,” Sarah said as if it proved anything. “She manages.”
“I can have an invulnerable alternate form I can change into at will,” Carol said with a frown. “And I can create a shield instantly. Amy cannot, and I’m not allowing her out into the field without proper protection. Besides, the point about material is valid.”
“That’s fair,” Sarah said and glanced at me. “Well, what would you do?”
I paused for a moment. If I had it my way, I’d have just worn the armor I made myself, entirely unaltered. The point still stood. After thinking about it for a moment, I turned.
“Be back, grabbing something!” I called as I hurried back up to my room.
I almost went for the art kit they had bought me for Christmas before I had a better idea. The ball was right there in its place of honor on my desk. Sculpting would be easier than drawing anyway.
They were discussing ideas about my new logo when I got back to the table. Ignoring them, I set the ball on the table and sat down. I got to work with my hands and power to reshape it into the proper shape.
The human body was something I was intimately familiar with at this point, as well as my armor. The figurine formed under my fingers, a perfect recreation as far as I could tell. A coating of white wax proteins leaked out of the wood in specific spots to paint it, as I added some into the wood itself to lighten the hue from its standard dark red.
Figuring out how to do the bright red scarf took me a moment. Fabric, actual fabric, was entirely made of non-living material. For this, it was easier just to make it a type of leaf and manipulate the properties of the cells to make it less glossy. I moved it into the right position with my fingers, though.
As an afterthought, I decided to hollow it out and throw in a staff and shield.
I leaned back slightly after I finished, grinning. Sitting in front of me was a figurine of Sequoia. The bodysuit was pure white, with the armor closer to the color of actual sequoia trees.
The room was silent. Carol was staring at the figurine, squinting lightly, brow knitted. Sarah was staring at me, one eyebrow raised. I blushed a little and motioned to it.
“Well, we have an actual model to use,” I said as I tapped it. “This is what I would want.”
“There’s not a lot of white visible…” Sarah said as she looked at it. “The dominant color’s that brown. Maybe if we make the wood white and the undersuit…. no, that’d look out of place too…”
Carol stepped over and moved to pick up the figure. I instinctively moved it away slightly. She looked over at me and winced before cocking her head towards the figurine. I stalled for a moment before nodding.
She picked it up, inspecting it gently, twisting it one way and then another. One of her fingers ran lightly along the armor joints on the arm.
“We can optimize this.” She finally said. “Keep a similar degree of armor and material, while making it look less armored. Less hard plates on the arms, legs, and stomach. Add more padding. It’d help with mobility, and it’d increase the amount of white in the costume. I’ll help you figure out a design that’ll redistribute weight to make it easier to carry.”
Some part of me chafed at the idea that my own design wasn’t good enough, but I forced myself to stay calm. She wasn’t attacking me; she was genuinely trying to help, and probably had some good advice.
She held out the figurine to me, and I took it back. Making the changes she suggested was quick. The breastplate was pulled back around the stomach, leaving it sitting about where my ribs end. I cut the pauldrons, vambraces, and cuisses entirely. Leaving the gauntlets and greaves untouched resulted in a sleeker look, even with the padding I added in place of the missing plates. It also looked a lot more like it belonged in New Wave, well, except for the helm-
“You’re gonna have to change the helmet,” Sarah said, interrupting my train of thought. “Being able to see your face is important for public perception and representing New Wave.”
I rolled my eyes at that, but did as she asked. It was something I knew was going to have to go regardless of anything else. Even if part of me knew I was gonna remake the mask if I ever wound up in a fight. Still, the figurine looked odd with a bare nub of a head. I could add my hair, but my hair didn’t really seem that heroic.
“A hood,” Carol said to the side. “White, like your current one. Alongside the scarf, it’ll create a good sense of continuity. Everything below the neck is different, but anyone who has seen you will be able to recognize you. Plus, it could be padded as well to offer protection.”
After a moment’s thought, I nodded and added it—another leaf in a strange shape, right over the nub head. After fixing the scarf, it clicked into place. It did look right, a proper fusion of Sequoia and Panacea, something that I felt like I would be happy with wearing.
“Hm.” Sarah hummed and tapped her chin. “What if we added a skirt to the design?”
Though that might not last if Sarah had her way.
This press conference was going to suck.