Fate/In Glory Of (Worm)

[Jefardi]

[X] Stand and glare, she can say her piece now.


Fear.

Fear ripped through Taylor as she stared into the lens of the second-in-command of one of the city's biggest gangs.

The kind of terror where you can feel the grip of fight-or-flight cause a rush of heat up your core and through your blood, but the icy grip of fear has made that heat seem like a wayward flickering ember as it's crushed underfoot.

She had been found out.

Who had known how long Kage had been following her? From the first night?

Taylor was in arms reach of the villain.

Did they have her dad? Did something happen to her dad? Joanna? Nikki?

Her mouth opened. Nothing came out. Her tongue felt thick in her mouth, unable to move, unable to speak.

What could she do?

Nothing!

She was frozen.

Taylor was certain that if she tried to move, to flee, she would have fallen face first on the floor.

The brainworm that seemed to go through the corners of her mind gave her the answer.

An ephemeral muscle tensed.

A shadow convalesced over her.

The mounting horror dimmed, muffled, in a kind of surety that she would live through this.

The giant would protect her. Taylor knew that. She didn't need to fear this.

"What do you want Kage?" her voice wasn't hard like she wished but it wasn't wobbling either. Taylor counted that as a success.

Slowly Kage reached up, and with a slow motion, pulled her mask off of her face.

An older woman, of some manner of east-Asian descent, with dark, sharp eyes watched Taylor with a calculating look. "I come seeking the Master behind the K- the giant projection that those online have deemed 'Madlad'."

"I seek you under the rules of Truce that are recognized by capes in America." She reached down, her sword still in its sheath was plucked from her hip and very gently set on the table.

"I don't believe you." Taylor stated flatly.

"I offer my mask and my weapon." Kage slowly motioned to the two items that sat on the table. "I only wish to speak with you. There will be no aggression from I."

"You're like Armsmaster. You're a tinker. You could shoot laserbeams out your elbow or something."

A delicate, well-plucked eyebrow rose. "I'm afraid it's nothing so… technological. My specialty is far more… thematic than his."

She lifted her arms in the air, splaying her fingers out. "You may pat me down if you wish. You will find nothing on my person."

Taylor stared at her for a long moment, thoughts filtering through her. The most important thing however...

"Did you touch my dad?"

"I have left your father unharmed. I have only the desire to speak with you." Kage answered, arms still held aloft.

"What do you want?" The million dollar question.

"Last night your projection fought Lung, and won. But he lives, still injured but he lives." Kage's eyes narrowed. "But his wounds are not healing correctly, they turn to scars instead of unblemished flesh. Why."

Taylor's mouth opened-

She had no idea. As far as she knew when the giant hit stuff, it was like getting hit by a really strong-thing. But normal-not esoteric effects. She had no idea why it was turning into scars- wasn't that what wounds normally were like?

-and closed.

"Why what?"

"Why not kill him." Kage asked. "You had his life in the palm of your hand. All you needed to do was close your fist." For the first time since Taylor had met the cape, Kage's voice rose sharply, tinged with emotion.

"All that fight. The fury. The destruction you left in that projection's wake and you didn't kill him." Kage drew herself up, taking a deep breath and letting it go. "Why?"

Because I didn't want to run out of the giant's time limit.

The giant hadn't gotten hurt as far as she could tell by Lung but he was actively fighting for quite a while; Lung might not be an Endbringer, but whenever the giant fought, his total time he could be manifested dropped quickly. Lung would just not go down. Not long enough for him to be handed off to the heroes. After the giant had knocked Lung into the Bay, Taylor had decided to de-manifest the giant and see if it would stop the fight. It did.

She didn't know if there was a hard-limit to the giant's strength but she knew that eventually Lung would just outlast him if nothing else. It had been pragmatic.

Except that would be admitting to a supervillain that the giant had a 'weakness'. Besides the fact she had been sussed out as the giant's 'master'.

For some reason the word oddly resonated with her, a faint hum to it.

Taylor…

[] ...told the truth. Admit a weakness to a villain.
[] ...took the moral high ground. Heroes don't kill.
[] ...said nothing and did not answer.
[] ...lied. She tried to make up some other reason up.

---

Author's Note: This is important, more so than you might think.

I generally go to votes for certain reasons, and if its in the middle of a situation, its because I feel the readers/questers/voters should get a say in it. In this instance, this is also about Taylor's personality. Taylor!FIGO has not addressed anything like this in the past hence it coming up as a vote.

Please consider for longer than a few seconds, is all I'm saying.

Please vote and discuss. Thank you for all the votes/discussions from last chapter!

 

[Jefardi]

[X] ...told the truth. Admit a weakness to a villain.


"The giant has… limits. I can only keep him around for so long."

In the end, Taylor decided to tell a truth.

"You are limited by time." Kage regarded Taylor slowly. "But surely you could have killed him before such time was over? Can the giant only exert so much strength? Did he not fight an Endbringer?"

"Maybe?" Even saying that, she was pretty sure he could. A half truth. "He was already pretty big when he appeared." She paused as she considered. Then again, Kage knew who she was and where she lived. "Do you know what happened when the giant fought the Simurgh?"

"Not much. Going to a fight such as hers is frowned upon when you are a Tinker such as I." Kage answered.

"I ended up in a coma with... Every kind of organ failure." Taylor shifted on her feet.

"I...see." Kage stared at her. "You seem… healthy now. Does your power come with some sort of healing ability?"

"Panacea was around and bored."

Kage stared at Taylor, the silence stretching onwards until the Tinker finally broke it. Gently, she pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "I see." She let her hand drop. "May we sit? My intention was to have a conversation instead of a stand-off."

"No." Taylor didn't want this woman in her house.

"Very well." Kage shook her head. "Do you have a cape name you wish to be called by?"

"No. Because I didn't want to get caught. It's harder to be a known cape if you don't have a name, right?"

"You are not incorrect. However you have overlooked an issue. Without a name or costume, people will consider you an open target if you are discovered." Kage warned.

Taylor's brow creased. "As opposed to, what, a named target?"

"Yes." Kage replied. "I, of all people, will not dismiss your idea of obscuring your existence. It's actually very clever, and I applaud your foresight on the matter." Kage dipped her head by an inch.

"But without a prepared costume or name, you lack a sort of 'soft protection' such things give you." Kage explained. "And you end up in situations such as this, where you have no cape identity for me to speak to, and I am forced to break taboos."

Taylor couldn't help but let out a short sigh.

Knew I should have made an account for the giant on PHO…

It had been on Taylor's to-do list for some time.

"Alright, well, what do you want?"

"I think it has been obvious." Kage leaned forwards, almost looming despite the table between them. "I want you to use the giant to kill Lung."

The villain hadn't exactly made her intentions hidden, to be fair.

"Why can't you do it?"

"Because Lung is not an idiot. He has... someone important to me, under threat if anything points to me being the one to kill him." Kage offered.

"And… given you are a stranger, you can kill in stealth, right? How would they even trace it to you?" That was a mildly alarming thing to consider- couldn't Kage just start assassinating people right and left?

"With my blade, yes. A blade is an obvious choice and immediately makes me suspect. Much akin to how people blamed me for Alabaster's death," Kage lied.

"You're a tinker. You can make other things than swords."

The look Kage gave her was a mix of exasperation and soft derision. "That is not how a tinker works. I cannot create anything outside of my specialty and it's fairly strict. I cannot branch as one like Armsmaster can."

Taylor didn't believe that to be a fact. "Okay. But your specialty isn't just swords?"

"No. It's more... thematic. Blades and Stealth." Kage admitted. "The simple reality is that I cannot kill Lung myself. He is far too wary of me. He ruled with fear, and now it's turned to hatred."

"So you want me to kill him, and, then, what?" Taylor looked at Kage in doubt, "You take over and rule parts of the city without a boss. Or anything stopping you from just sneaking into people's houses and doing… whatever it is you do?"

"The ABB must survive, for now." Because of course the one to gain the most would justify it. "Only because the Empire still lives as well, otherwise I would be all too glad to watch it dissolve." Kage shook her head. Taylor didn't believe her. "Think of killing Lung as insuring your safety. He is...well I will be honest. I have never seen him at such a state of seething hate for someone, that being your giant and if he found out about you..."

A soft sigh escaped the older woman "Do not mistake this for a threat. I would wish what Lung desires to do to the Giant on very few people. If he does somehow discover your identity- well I'll warn you now. He has already started searching for anything that could render a power mute. Your giant would not save you if such a thing were to befall you."

A sound much like a child laughing at something ridiculous echoed on the edges of hearing.

Kage shifted, discomfort written across her face. "I would slip you poison, if such a thing were to happen. You'd... be better off."

Taylor couldn't help but bite out, "Thanks for the vote of confidence."

Couched in the terms that Kage had presented, it did seem like the best option… but it crossed a line. A line that Taylor had yet to approach.

She knew there was a... non-zero chance someone might have died during the fights the giant had been in. But there was a marked difference between a villain or a henchman dying in a fight as opposed to using the giant to assassinate someone.

Non-traditional assassination, mind you, but that's what Kage was… asking? No, threatening? Not quite that either, though there was a threat there…

The problem was it seemed to be the best option.

Taylor knew enough from watching her father work that whatever was presented was rarely the truth. Or rather, it was a truth. The truth most convenient for whomever was presenting it.

Which this definitely was for Kage.

Taylor…

[] ...accepted Kage's offer. Taylor will have the giant try to assassinate Lung.
[] ...declined Kage's offer. Taylor will not be used as a tool of gang assassinations.

---

Author's Note: Well, this only took a month to come out. It wasn't particularly difficult to write, I just got side tracked with my new quest. My bad.

Taylor, much like Kage, is telling a truth, it just is not the whole truth or an objective truth.

As always, please vote and discuss!

 

[Jefardi]

[X] ...accepted Kage's offer. Taylor will have the giant try to assassinate Lung.


"Fine. Fine!"

Taylor all but spat the words out.

She didn't have a choice.

Kage could find her at any time, find her dad or Nikki or Joanna.

She didn't want to be used as a vehicle for assassination but… weighing the lives of those close to her against Lung and possibly Kage…

A low breath escaped Kage. She bowed to Taylor deeply. Once she straightened up, she produced a cheap flip-phone from somewhere and set it on the table, gently sliding it towards Taylor's side of the table.

Taylor thought her 'I can only do swords' was even more bullshit. For all that she knew, Kage had teleportation tinkertech and just dismissed it as too minor.

"I will be in contact when the time is right." She grabbed her sword from the table and settled it on her hip. The mask was slipped over her head and her hair tucked into her costume.

"If there is nothing else to discuss, I must leave." Kage intoned.

"Get out." She couldn't keep herself from sounding hostile in the slightest.

Kage bowed once more, then headed to the back door. She slipped pass the door silent as a snake.

When Taylor rushed to the window, she was already gone.

Taylor stared out across the yard for ten seconds before the enormity of what had just happened kicked in.

"What the heck am I going to do…?"

The giant gave no answers.

He merely stared at her with something she could almost imagine as… pity? No, that was her anthropomorphizing him. Then again, she was pretty sure he had some personality, the experimen-

"Dad!"

Her feet pounded up the stairs.

The door slammed when she pulled it open.

He was laying on his bed, snoring softly.

He was… fine.

Then why hadn't he woken up at his normal time? Which should have been several hours ago! Her dad didn't sleep in like this. Never.

There was a blue post-it note above the headboard of the bed.

'I have made sure that your father would not awaken during our confrontation. He has not been harmed, and will awaken within three hours. You may shake him awake if you wish to hasten his awakening.'

She grabbed the note and crumpled it into her pocket.

A new type of fervor came to her motions as she started to try and wake up her dad. Mostly by shaking him as if he was made out of glass.

"Hey, dad, wake up."

He mumbled something and turned.

She shook him more insistently.

"Dad wake up!"

"Muh… Taylor?" His voice was thick with sleep.

Some of the tension seeped from her.

"Hey dad."

He blinked. "Not that I don't appreciate being woken up at…" he blinked as he looked at the light streaming in from the windows. Then he twisted to look at the clock on the nightstand. "Huh, that's why I feel great, I guess."

Good. Her dad was okay. Good, good, good.

She let go of him and took a step back.

"Taylor is everything okay? Did something happen?"

"No… no, everything's fine."

"Bad dream?" He asked gently.

"No, it's fine."

"If you're sure…" he did believe her, clearly, but didn't press her on it.

No she wasn't.

"Yes."

---

Taylor feels not great. How is Taylor going to spend her day?

[] Spend time with Dad.
[] Ask Joanna to hang out.
[] Text Nikki. She'll respond whenever she gets to Boston.
[] Screw this. Go do caping things.

---

Author's Note: I swear I'm not dead!

Sorry about the lack of updates in the past two months. I'm getting back to it. I had some stuff distracting me IRL and was working on my other quest.

I'll get back to my two week minimal update rate now~

Thank you for reading, please vote and discuss as always!

 

[Jefardi]

[X] Spend time with Dad.


The girl stared at her father.

Her gaze hadn't left him for more than moments since the Assassin's visit.

The shadow merely observed as the girl didn't touch her communication rectangle, only studying him to a degree that unnerved him.

He asked what was wrong.

She said it was nothing.

All three knew it was a lie.

Even as a shadow of a shadow, the girl's protector knew it was a falsehood.

When Helios had reached his apex, they left the dwelling, leaving in the transportation box.

The voyage they undertook was tense and full of choppy phrases.

None of which involved the shadow bringing death to anyone and as such, it persisted as an unseen third member of the duo.

A massive concrete field, enough to fill with ten thousand men was the final destination of their transportation box. The girl and her father left it behind before venturing into an enclosed marketplace. Though that was inaccurate. It was not a marketplace but a number of shops within the same enclosed building. Certainly there were a few stalls within the walkways but that was the closest it got to a marketplace.

Guards stood, several in armour, many not. There were a few of the 'capes' that the girl talked much about, their attire strange and abnormal compared to everyone around them. Many flocked to them.

None threatened or even looked strangely at the girl and therefore none were brought to destruction and ruin.

And so the shadow followed her.

They went to a bibliothḗkē, filled with stack after stack of written works.

The girl had several within her personal room. A collection that grew when they left with several more.

Several stores were visited with nothing to show for it.

Helios crept towards the horizon.

New acquisitions accumulated.

A writing utensil was obtained.

Cotton footwear.

A travel bag.

The shadow merely followed.

Whatever purchasing they had done seemed to be done as they sat down at a table in a cavernous room filled with many other similar tables, butchers and food vendors lining the walls.

The girl had received a congealed slab of cheese and fruit paste, dotted with desiccated pig fat and her father had a far-too-long-dead fish sandwich.

Between bites, they talked.

"Didn't think the mall would be open."

The father shrugged. "It's not like we don't have this happen every half a year or so. It used to be worse."

"Used to be?"

"Mm-hmm. It was… ten, fifteen years ago? Right when the parahuman gangs really started to take off."

The girl's head tilted slightly. "Weren't there gangs before?"

"Yup. But they maybe had one or two supervillains tops. Not like now. You'd hear about some guy shooting a laser beam and it would be the only thing on the news for weeks even if all that happened was a trashcan got torched."

"Oh." The girl glanced at her father then back at her food then her father then food before taking a bite.

She had been doing it the entire time since he had awoken.

Though the frequency had lessened slightly.

The father noticed but did not comment.

She had yet to notice that he had.

"How was it worse?"

"Less heroes." The father snorted. "We didn't get our own Protectorate team until after you were born I think."

"The heroes made it better?"

"Not… really. Toned down against each other, maybe? When we first got them there was a few times Brockton felt more like a war-zone then a place to live."

"But it's better now?"

"Sure." He looked down at his food. "Or maybe we just got used to it."

The girl stared at the shadow for a few long seconds, her eyes meeting it's before returning to the congealed cheese slab.

"I-

Boxes on the ceiling emitted noise that was not a threat. It did not cause a stampede in the throngs of people. It did cause them to speed up whatever they were doing.

Therefore it was irrelevant to the shadow.

Not so to the girl and her father as they made their way out of the enclosed market with haste.

---

[Average days patrolled: 4/11: 36%, Goal 50%]​

---

It is Monday, March 14th, day twelve of the current gang conflict.

Taylor had a slow day with her dad and bought some new books at the mall. And made sure Kage didn't poison him… well, not with anything fast acting. Slow acting… she doesn't know.

What will she do after school?

[] Patrol – Go search for trouble in a gang war! [+1, QA: ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ]
[] Research Local – Find out what's going on with the gang war!
[] Power experimentation – Taylor is going to mess around with her power/prep for exciting part of cape life – Taylor is only sort of feeling this now.
[] Preparations – Taylor doing prep work for the boring part of being a cape!
[] Cape social – Talk to Kage

---

Author's Note: SURPRISE I DID DO IT WITHIN FOURTEEN CALENDAR DAYS!

Taylor is uhhh…

Yeah.

Not much to say. Danny was happy to spend some time with Taylor even if she was being weird.

Hopefully I'll be returning more to my previous output. Writing anything with Danny is like staring at an infohazard for me. Dunno why.

Please vote and discuss! Not that there's much to discuss...