2.2
I waited in the briefing room numbly, replaying the events of my disastrous reveal in my head. Had there been some way to stop the man without him dying, I wondered? What had made him willing to die to kill me, willing to have a bomb put in his head? Had he been willing at all?
What could make a man willing to die like that? I remembered something I'd thought about, what I'd do if the Empire threatened my Dad to get me to work for them. A shiver ran down my spine, and I think I understood then that whoever had sent that man was utterly ruthless or utterly mad.
"You okay, Khepri?" Aegis asked as he walked into the briefing room. We were the only two people already there. He put a hand on my shoulder, and I hated how comforting that felt.
"I'm fine," I said. It was a lie, obviously - I had just seen a man die, a man who killed himself to try and kill me. Aegis only nodded, and I was more grateful for that than I could have ever told him.
"Alright. You did well, back there. If that bomb had gone off on stage, or in the crowd..."
"I know," I said, and I didn't feel like it.
More people started to filter in - the rest of the Wards, Armsmaster, the Director, a tall, gaunt dark-skinned man I didn't recognise in a suit. He wore a badge that identified him as a consultant.
"Khepri, your report on what happened," the Director ordered, with no trace of emotion in her voice.
"I asked the... the man in the pink tie if he had a question. When he got up, I felt something. Like a warning," I said.
"A new ability?" Armsmaster asked, and I shook my head.
"A discovered one, I think. It didn't feel like the one I showed you earlier. Um, then he started to run towards the stage, leapt up for it, and I tackled him away from everyone else. Then I felt a second warning, and activated my shield," I said.
"And you were unhurt when the bomb detonated?" Armsmaster asked.
"I - I was. Even before it went off, I just... knew my shield would hold," I said. I hadn't had any logical reasoning - or even an expectation of what was bout to happen - but I'd known my shield would be good enough.
"Your actions weren't perfect, but you contained the situation without anyone else getting hurt. Armsmaster, what have you recovered from the crater?" the Director said, switching her cold gaze to Armsmaster.
"Residue indicating that it was some kind of plasma-based microbomb. It's definitely tinkertech, ma'am," he said, and Piggot nodded.
"If I may, Director?" the consultant asked, and Piggot nodded.
"If whoever made this was able to implant it and trigger it remotely it is highly likely that they have already established a substantial deadman's switch. We may be dealing with an effective hostage situation," he said.
"That had crossed my mind, Mr Calvert. This matter cannot go without a response, and we have only one viable suspect for an attempt on Khepri's life. The ABB has stepped out of line, and we will put them back into it," Piggot said.
"Tensions are high in the city, ma'am. We have solid intelligence that the Empire and ABB are both massing their forces after Purity's death. Some sort of internal conflict has delayed the start of the Empire's planned offensive, but it will-" Armsmaster said, but stopped mid-sentence. His expression turned into a grimace, and it seemed as though he'd heard something through the coms system in his helmet. He muttered a few commands, and then the screen facing us came to life.
It showed grainy body-cam footage of an explosion of white light coming out of a window near the top of a large building. The Medhall building, I thought - it was fairly distinctive. Then a glowing figure emerged from the shattered window. It was a woman who seemed to be made from harsh white light, only for her form to be edged with inky darkness. The advanced body camera automatically adjusted for the light, though the woman's features were still obscured.
Not that it mattered, because it was obvious who it was. Purity was alive and on her forehead was a dark symbol exactly like the stylized sun that appeared on mine whenever I used my secondary power too much. Everyone in the room seemed to turn to look at me. I could only stare at the symbol and feel bile rising in my throat.
It was wrong, some primitive instinct in my mind shouted. It was a corruption, a thing of evil. It was utterly, inherently, wrong. My power raged within me, my well turning from a mirror-flat finish to a whirling tempest. I clenched my fists and made myself turn my gaze away from the screen.
"I - I don't know how she's alive," I said, which was true. Armsmaster nodded to Piggot.
"I think it's clear we understand very little of these second powers. Did Tattletail display a variant of that symbol?" Piggot asked, not looking at me, I was glad she wasn't, because I don't think I could have met her gaze.
"She had a different symbol, but in gold... an empty circle. I don't like looking at Purity's," I said.
"The Empire has begun their attack on the ABB's territory. Purity seems to be leading the assault, no sign of Kaiser so far," Armsmaster relayed, presumably from the patrolling adult heroes.
"It seems whatever internal issues were delaying them have been resolved," Calvert said.
"Draw up deployment plans to limit the damage, Armsmaster. Aegis, work with him. The rest of you, get ready to go out," Piggot said, and we all rose from our chairs. "Not you, Khepri," she said.
"Ma'am?" I asked, trying to be polite.
"Go home and tell your father you're fine," Piggot said. It felt like a slap in the face.
"But I'm cleared for fieldwork - why rush that if you don't need me out there?" I asked, raising my voice.
"What I need from you, Khepri, is more than one night of patrolling before your father pulls you from the program. This won't be over in one night. Go home, show him how fine you are, and I will be more than happy to deploy you tomorrow. But not tonight," Piggot said, her voice firm. I knew I wasn't going to win the argument, but I fumed.
My city was exploding around me, and I was expected to sit on the sidelines? I was expected to just... go home and wait?
"Yes, ma'am," I said, my anger leaking into my voice. Piggot turned away from me and started to issue more specific orders. I got up, headed towards the Wards changing rooms, and screamed. It was bitterly, awfully unfair. I was ready - I knew I was ready - and they were making me go home?
I was still angry as I sat on the bus home, changed out of my costume and back into my baggy, unremarkable clothes. I was still angry when I opened the door to my house, and I was still angry when my Dad rushed towards me.
"Taylor, are - are you okay? The PRT called and said you weren't hurt, but-" He asked, and I felt my anger shatter as I saw his face. Saw a look I'd seen before on his face. Of course, he'd been watching my reveal on the local news.
"I'm fine. Not even a scratch," I said.
"Taylor, you know you can talk to me..." he said.
"I said I'm fine," I snapped, and I felt awful. I couldn't tell my dad that what I wanted was to be out there, in the fighting, instead of being stuck at home consoling him.
"Alright," he said, but we both knew that was a lie. "There are some leftovers in the fridge if you're hungry," he continued.
"I'm not. I - I'm just gonna go to bed," I said, and I walked up the stairs.
A shower didn't really make me feel better, so I collapsed into my bed and concentrated on my swarm. There was a calming effect to it, as I made houseflies buzz angrily and bees swerve in wild directions. I punched my pillow a bit.
None of it really helped. I considered the costume in my wardrobe, but... but I'd be caught. I'd be caught and probably kicked out of the Wards, and now I knew there were people gunning for me. People willing to put bombs in people's heads.
I pulled out the obnoxiously blue flip-phone I'd bought with some of Lisa's money, and texted one of the two numbers on it.
Taylor: Can we talk?
Lisa: A little busy rn but yes
Taylor: Maybe tomorrow morning? I have school and apparently patrols if Piggot isn't gonna bench me again.
Lisa: Sure. there's an ok breakfast place near the midway of your morning run
the one by the park
my treat, tomorrow morning.
I closed the phone and sighed. Lisa knew where I lived, so it probably wasn't too surprising that she knew where I ran in the mornings. It made me kind of uneasy, but then I was also nervous that I'd show up to breakfast with her and she'd be all pretty and composed and I'd be -
I shut that thought off with violent prejudice. Lisa was probably not my enemy, but she was a villain. Getting all... like that over her was a bad idea. It would probably end up worse than Emma. Maybe, once her boss pulled off the Undersider's rebranding, I could...
It wasn't like she was the only person I was interested in. Carlos had been so kind to me ever since I'd joined the Wards - and he was handsome, of course. Intimidatingly handsome, to be honest. But he was kind to everyone. I was just a subordinate - maybe a friend in time, but nothing more.
I pulled a well-red paperback out from my bookshelf, curled up in bed, and tried not to listen to the sounds of distant gunfire.
In the end, I gave in and wore something slightly nicer on my morning run. I was surprised how easy I found it, now. I'd been a decent runner before, but now what had been a challenging run had become almost leisurely. I wasn't even sweating by the halfway point, as I saw the diner opposite the shitty park that Lisa had mentioned. The park was full of broken play equipment, graffitied shelters, and weeds.
The diner looked about as kitsch as you could imagine, but it was untagged and clean looking. The owners must have paid their protection money, then. I wondered who they paid it to - this was edging close to Coil's territory. He was the third major criminal power in Brockton Bay, after the Empire and the ABB. Nobody really knew much about him, and some posters on PHO espoused a theory that he didn't actually have any powers other than being rich.
Lisa was waiting for me, in a booth by the back. The sound of bland Americana played over awful speakers, and I sat down across from her. She already had some food, and I was soon served my order.
"Kind of a shit night, huh?" Lisa asked.
"You could say that," I said, trying not to stare too hard.
"If I had known it was going to happen, I would have warned you. It was revenge for attacking Lung to save my team," Lisa said, and I felt uncomfortable. I wanted to believe she was telling the truth - I did think she was - but there was a part of my brain that whispered I couldn't trust her.
"I don't know what to do. Purity apparently came back from the dead with powers like us, except goth. Piggot had my Wards training rushed and then benched me,"
"I don't know why Purity has the same symbol as you if that's what you're wondering about. I do have a few guesses," Lisa said, softly. "I don't think, whatever our glowy bullshit is, that it's the same thing as regular powers. I took a long while for my power to start to make guesses about it, but I could enhance it with my new power right away," Lisa said.
"So what are they, then? I mean, I know some capes believe in magic, and there's that whole elemental conspiracy theory - but none of that stuff is true," I said, sounding significantly less sure of that than I once had been.
"I don't know. But you saw what happened to Everest on the news?" she asked.
"Yeah. Is that related?" I replied.
"My power has no idea. Just slides off whatever was in the mountain and gives me an awful headache. But it is pretty interesting that it happened ninety seconds before you started to glow," she said, and I went still.
"And now a neo-nazi has, what, an evil version of our powers?' I asked. I didn't actually know if Purity's new powers were evil, but something about even seeing them unsettled me.
"Worse. According to my boss, she's taken command of the Empire. Kaiser's dead," Lisa said.
"Lisa, I know how powerful my own new powers are; and all I could do before was control bugs. If someone as powerful as Purity has them..."
"Taylor, your power is not weak. Perfect control and awareness of all insects in a multi-block radius? You would have been a terror without being able to do all your new tricks," Lisa said, and I blushed faintly.
"Is your boss still going ahead with the rebrand?" I asked, hoping I didn't sound quite so desperate as I did in my head.
"He is. We're hitting a bunch of Empire targets tonight. Taylor... do you want to be a Ward?" she asked.
"No. I - some of them are nice, and I like having the support. Last night they made me sit at home while everyone else fought," I said.
"Do you want to be a hero?" she asked, then took a sip from her strong smelling coffee.
"I do. Do you?"
"Not really. But then, I don't really want to be a villain, either. Oh, don't get me wrong - I like being a cape. But what side of cops and robbers I'm on doesn't really concern me. I don't like hurting people, and what the gangs do is awful, but I'm not nearly so heroic as you, Taylor," Lisa said.
"You saved me, that night. You could have run and not risked it," I said.
"I could have. Everyone else wanted to. I'm glad I didn't," she said, smiling a little. I'm glad you're alive, she said. You matter, she said. I took off my glass and rubbed my eyes, looking away from her. It was stupid, of course, because she would know anyway.
"So am I," I said, trying to play it off.
"Stay safe, Taylor. And you're buying breakfast, next time," she said, and I blinked.
"Next time?" I asked.
"Unless you don't want to chat with your favourite nefarious psychic again?" Lisa said.
"You're not psychic," I replied, and she smiled.
"No, I'm not. But I am your favourite pretend psychic," Lisa said, leaving a crisp fifty-dollar bill on the table as she got up.
