Flames (Worm AU)

[Fencer]

I had followed the Yakuza wannabe for the past three blocks, making sure to stay well back and out of sight. I trailed him with an illusionary bat and watched him through its eyes. He didn't seem to be up to anything worth getting involved with, but he had been moving with a purpose when I first saw him and the three others he had joined up with him since then reassured me that I had made the correct choice. With any luck they would lead me straight to a distribution center I could rob. Though I hoped they wouldn't lead me to a whore house. I'd probably have to call in the 'heroes' if that happened, and that would make it difficult to take off with all the cash.

My bat's sharp ears caught more voices from farther up the road. With a thought I ordered it to fly ahead of the group it was following even as I moved down a side ally to circle around from farther away. The closer I was the less energy I would need to expand to maintain my illusions, but if I was going to fight them I didn't want to be on the same street as my targets.

I was in luck there was a fire escape leading to the next building over from where the group had gathered. Slowly I worked my way up, taking my time to minimize noise. Then, just as my boots touched the gravel covered roof of the building I heard words through the bats ears that made me freeze.

"The children, if you see them, just shoot."

For a moment I froze. I wasn't out to be a hero. I was out to make as much cash as quickly as I could. But I had morals, I had standards. Children were not acceptable targets. I blew out a long slow breath and let the bat fade out. Immediately I started to conjure up a swarm of insect illusions. All around me little sparks of the indigo fire burst into being swirling around me and losing their light as they took up the shape of a swarm of insects. These particular insects were my own creation, not something that could be found in nature. Each was an inch and a half long and jet black with iridescent wings. The bodies were shaped like wasps but rather than a normal stinger each had a scorpion's tail. When I stopped conjuring them the swarm must have numbered close to a thousand. It was a bit of a strain but I could likely hold this many for an hour.

I'd grown much more skilled at using my power since I had triggered. This would have completely exhausted me when I first started to practice. I wasn't certain if my reserves of whatever energy I used had grown, or if my control had improved and I wasn't wasting as much as I used to. Perhaps both?

I took a careful breath and focused inward. The purple fire did not come so easily as the indigo, or red fire, but I could use it if I had time to focus. I pulsed the purple fire out and the number of illusionary insects doubled, tripled, quadrupled, then stuttered to a stop. I shook of the fatigue and light sense of emptiness. I still needed to practice more with the purple fire if that was enough to empty my reserves of it. Still, my swarm now numbered more than four thousand and I still had indigo and red fire to burn if I needed. This was the better method tactically speaking.

With a thought the swarm dispersed on silent wings to come at the group from every angle. They were illusions, they wouldn't make any noise unless I wanted them to. Once they were all in position that changed. The noise of a million wing beats filled the air around the group of ABB coming from all directions. I'd gotten the noise from watching videos online of locust swarms and thought it would be fitting. Back when I thought all I could do was create illusions I had thrown myself into researching every aspect I could think of in order to make the most of my power. Even now that I knew I could do more those plans would still be useful.

Now I just had to make myself and my intentions known.

"Go home. This is my city and I won't allow you to simply do as you please." The voice was deep and disembodied seemingly coming from everywhere and as it spoke the pitch of the swarms wing beats changed with it as if the swarm itself was speaking. Despite the kick ass sound effects I cursed myself for using such a cheesy heroic line.

Several of the group seemed to whimper, but at least one voice snarled something in a language I didn't recognize. Then a blast of fire shot from the group into the swarm and my blood ran cold. The ABB only had one pyrokinetic, Lung. I was in way over my head, but it was too late to back out now. Worst case scenario my attack would fail and I'd just have to sit tight under an illusion until the group moved on.

The same voice that snarled broke out into a harsh laugh.

"You would challenge me with nothing but illusions? Fool, real insects would have burned. This is no threat." He barked an order, again the language I didn't recognize and the others of the group fell in behind him.

Well… there went the peaceful intimidation angle. Plan B; get rid of the weapons.

The swarm descended still sounding like a plague, because there was no reason to give up my intimidation factor. Seeing through the swarm's eyes was, well, impossible. I could manage one or two extra sets of senses if I closed my real eye and focused, but seeing through thousands of eyes at once? Nope. Not a chance in hell. Luckily, I could give my illusions simple instructions. In this case I ordered them to search for guns, knives, and baseball bats. It didn't cover all of the possibilities but it was the best I could do and would take care of the most common types of weapons.

There was a lot of shouting and what sounded like a girlish scream before another shouted order got them reluctantly moving again. I gave things a twenty count before I moved on to the next part of the plan. I fed a bit of the red flame into my illusions. I couldn't see it from here but I knew from my practice sessions that the stingers would now all be glowing an ominous red. I gave the ones who had found a weapon the order to sting.

The surprised shouts sounded like music to my ears. With a thought I summoned an owl and closed my eye to focus on its senses. I made it take wing over the swarm below. I grinned at the site of weapons dissolving as the red flames ate away at them and the panicking gangsters. Once again, I let the swarm speak.

"Just because they are illusions doesn't mean they have no bite. Go back to your homes. Leave my city in peace." Uh where was I getting this cheesy crap? If someone winds up calling me the Plague Paladin or something equally stupid for this there would be hell to pay. Lung snarled and started to grow as I watched through the owl's eyes. Everything about his posture screamed defiance. And he remained silent. The swarm sighed. "So be it."

The swarm attacked. I gave each gang member a few stings, just to get them moving. It would eat away a bit of them, but I wasn't feeding each insect much of the red flames, so they should be fine given a bit of time to heal. Lung on the other Hand was a regenerator who grew stronger as he fought. I was far less inclined to hold back against him. Most of my swarm descended on him.

Lung lashed out with bursts of fire but it had no effect on my illusions. They settled all over his body and deployed their share of the red fire stinging him and taking off to make room for others. Even as they took wing I started to feed them more of the red fire in preparation for their next run. The owl had difficulty seeing the effect between Lungs fire and the cloud of insects circling him, but even so I caught glimpses of flesh disintegrating leaving behind pits in his skin and muscle. Lung was growing faster now, but he was also screaming in pain as I kept up my attack. Still, I didn't want to underestimate him and give away the advantage.

A pair of snakes ten feet long and as thick as my arm both a deep purple, snapped into reality at Lungs feet. I fed them a good deal of my red flames and their fangs glowed accordingly. In a blink each buried their fangs into a leg injecting the disintegrating fire into Lungs veins. The man howled in agony and toppled to the ground. My snakes pulled back and I charged them for one more attack. I could feel my reserves of the red fire starting to dwindle but I had enough for the snakes to bite again and keep the swarm going for a few minutes more.

Lung was still growing, but it was in patches. Silver scales bloomed across what flesh my insects hadn't marked and his arms seemed to grow larger but his legs only appeared to wither away.

I ordered the snakes back in and they each took an arm in their fangs. I let the snakes fade but kept the swarm on the attack letting each insect spend its charge. Lung howled in agony before he trailed off with a whimper and started to shrink. I pulled my swarm back before they could kill him and dismissed the illusions which had already spent their supply of the red fire. I kept the remainder circling. With the demands on my focus now reduced I opened my real eyes, only keeping enough focus on my owl to be aware if Lung started to grow again.

I smiled. My first night out and I had beaten Lung. The man was arguably the strongest cape on the eastern seaboard, his only real challenge for the title being Legend, and I had beaten him soundly on my first night out. I turned towards the fire escape planning to find a payphone to call this in on when a group of monstrous looking beasts with riders landed between myself and the fire escape. Four people sat on the backs of the three creatures.

I slid back a step and into a combat stance. My illusionary purple cloak shifted as my feet moved, rather than hiding my body from view as it had been it retracted and flowed so as to only cover my back and leave my arms their full range of motion, though the hood remained and so to did the illusion of deep shadows that hid all but my mouth. Beneath my cloak was a simple outfit of black combat boots, jeans, and a long sleeved black shirt. With a thought purple fire sparked between my hands forming a partisan spear. I leveled my weapon towards the new group and fed my red fire into the blade making it glow and angry red. As an extra precaution I pulled the remaining insects up to the edge of the roof and made them wait out of sight.

"Easy there, we don't want to fight." The girl who spoke wore a skintight purple costume and a predatory grin.

"She's right." The deep voice came from a guy in biker leather who wore a bike helmet painted to look like a skull. "We just wanted to thank you for the save. When he heard Lung was after us… well our best plan was to hit him fast and hard and hope for the best."

"Wait, after you? He said they were going to kill kids…" I shifted my spear into a less confrontational position, but did not dismiss it. Fucking hell, I'd jumped into a fight that wasn't my problem at all, and I wasn't even going to get any cash out of it!

"Ah- ha yeah that was us." The girl in purple answered even as she dismounted and walked around me to the edge of the building making my paranoia ratchet higher and causing me to back farther away so as to keep them all in my line of sight. The girl whistled low and impressed. "Man, you really did a number on him, you know that?" The others dismounted at her comment and made their way to the edge of the roof. The beasts they rode in on settled on their haunches like dogs that had been told to sit.

The large muscular girl in the fur lined jacket gave a grunt and a nod at the sight of the downed Lung before moving back to the creatures. The pretty boy in the puffy shirt who carried a scepter grinned at the site and offered me a thumbs up. The one in motorcycle leathers nodded thoughtfully and glanced at the blonde in purple. The girl in response raised a hand and gave it a back and forth tilt as if to say, so so. Skull helmet turned to face me fully as if in response.

"I'm Grue. That's Tattletale, Regent, and Bitch." He gestured to the blonde, the pretty boy and muscular girl in turn. "We're the Undersiders."

"Morganna." I replied giving only my cape name. I had heard of the Undersiders when researching the local capes. They were small time, smash and grab or heist specialists. Rumor had at least half of their jobs being against the cities more prominent gangs.

"Oh, clever. Morganna was one of Morgan le Fay's less modernized names, fits with the cloak look too. Hmm oh good you're not one of those Myrddin types, just playing up a theme, that's good." Tattletale rattled off quickly. I raised an eyebrow before realizing they couldn't see my face.

"Correct." Tattletale pouted, possibly at my bland reaction. She opened her mouth to say more but paused and looked over her shoulder down the road.

"Crap, Grue, time to go, Protectorate is coming." The group quickly remounted, but before leaving Grue looked back towards me.

"Do you want a lift out of here? We owe you one after all." I considered the offer. I could stay and meet one of the cities heroes, well assuming the girl in purple was correct. But I wasn't interested in hearing them give me the Wards pitch. And so far, the Undersiders seemed alright.

"Sure." I took the offered hand and climbed on behind Grue. Then we were off.

 

[Fencer]

The monsters took us about six blocks northwest before coming to a stop on the top of a parking garage. The Undersiders dismounted and I followed their lead. Grue and Tattletale shared a glance before Grue waved her forward. Bitch on the other hand huffed and looked away. Regent just idly twirled his scepter.

Tattletale gave me a smug smirk as she stepped in front of the rest of the group. I'd allowed my insects and spear to fade during the ride and my cloak was back to being a full length wrap around that hid everything but my shoes and mouth from view. I cocked my head to the side curious what the girl might have to say.

"So," She started cheerfully. "You're not trying to be a hero, not with a cape name like Morganna and passing up a chance to meet one of the pros for a ride with us. But you were willing to go up against Lung for kids you'd never even met before? What's your deal?" I opened my mouth to answer but she cut me off before I could.

"No, no. Don't tell me. Let me see…" She hummed thoughtfully. "Definitely not a hero, but not willing to look the other way either in some cases? Strong morals? Kind of, lines you're not willing to cross, or look away from. Didn't realize Lung was there at first? Yeah that fits. But you kept a level head and hammered him until he went down, which is really impressive not gonna lie."

I wasn't sure if I found Tattletale's word vomit to be amusing or annoying. Perhaps a bit of both.

"So, then what's got you out here following ABB in the first place… Cash? You're trying to make money." I considered not answering for a moment but then I remembered the girl pouting at my one word responses before.

"Correct." I answered blandly my mouth curving up into a small smirk. Once again, I was rewarded with Tattletale's pout. Idly I wondered if I could get her to stamp her foot like a child if I kept it up. Grue chose that moment to step forward and interrupt his teammates before she could launch into another rant.

"If you're just looking to make some cash, we could certainly use another heavy hitter. Bitch's Dogs are great for transport and they're not bad for dealing a lot of damage, but the city has a lot of heavy hitters they don't match up to well against. Whatever you did to Lung proves you've got firepower."

I couldn't help but snort. Firepower, that was certainly an accurate description

"It's more than that." Tattletale cut in. "She managed to pull that off without any of them even knowing where to look for her. That kind of sneakiness will fit right in with how we do things." Grue just nodded accepting the comment but not taking his attention off of me.

"It's also worth mentioning that our boss pays us two grand a month as a retainer. Whatever we manage to make on jobs gets split evenly between us." He mentioned as further incentive.

That was decent money just to be a part of their team. And if their jobs pulled in a decent amount of cash on top of that… I could build up a nice little nest egg fairly quickly if things went well. I honestly was liking the idea a fair amount. I hummed thoughtfully before I started to speak.

"I don't really have a problem with stealing, or fighting for that matter. But I'm not going to kill unless I have no other choice. It might be necessary someday, but I'd rather avoid that for as long as I can." I answered slowly, choosing my words with care. "I'm not a fan of the drug trade or prostitution... but those wouldn't necessarily be deal breakers for me. So long as no one is being forced into anything it's not really any of my business how they choose to live… but those aren't really things your group deals with, are they?" Grue shook his head.

"We're thieves. We specialize in hit and run." He shrugged. "Honestly, we don't have the power or the numbers to hold territory, so none of that's really an option for us. Also, we try to keep injuries to a minimum on all sides. It makes us a lower priority for the heroes if we don't rock the boat too much." I nodded happy I wouldn't need to turn a blind eye to anything, and that they were sensible enough about their rules of engagement.

Robbing the gangs on my own had so far been, inconsistent. I'd managed a few small successes in the past three weeks, but mostly I'd just been getting the drop on a handful of dealers at the end of their night. It was cash, sure, but all told I'd only managed to get about a thousand dollars. With practice and a bit of luck I might actually be able to find a distribution center now and then and make off with more. But this was a promise of steady income and a group to make finding more, and better, targets easier. Grudgingly I had to admit that having people I could really talk to for the first time in more than a year was probably the most appealing aspect of the offer.

I had other options. Faultline's crew would likely be happy to have me. I'd bet there were all kinds of tricks Labyrinth and I could pull mixing real changes in among illusions. But they operated primarily out of town. Much as I might want to, I could not simply vanish from school for a week or more at a time whenever they got a new job. I might not be under watch by the PRT, but my civilian name was all but guaranteed to be in their system somewhere.

The gangs themselves were right out for the simple fact that I couldn't stomach or conform to any of their ideologies. I could make a go of it as an independent. I'd just have to keep nipping at their heels when I saw an opportunity. Tonight had confirmed that when pushed I could fight and hold my own against even some of the strongest.

Then again, the partially empty feeling I'd come to associate with my reserves reminded me that I'd exhausted my store of purple fire, and burned through fully half the red and indigo all to take out a single cape. The Empire might not have anyone on the same level as Lung, but they had numbers. If it came down to it they could wear me out through attrition. Not only that, but for all that my powers were strong there were some capes who would prove very difficult for me to take on my own. I'd also been fighting from cover tonight. I wasn't entirely sure how well I'd have done if Lung had managed to target me personally.

As I ran through it all in my head I started to nod. This wasn't ideal. The Undersiders for all that I'm sure they made decent money were relatively small time. The reward would be less than I wanted, but the risks were significantly less than I'd been afraid I'd have to take. It was a good deal, probably the best I'd find. With one last nod to myself I brought my attention back to the four teens.

"It sounds like a good deal." I said frankly spreading my arms slightly causing my cloak to ripple. "I'm not going to lie, I'm interested, but I do need to get home. This night has already run longer than I planned. I'd like to sleep on it and get back to you, if that's alright?"

Grue nodded, and Tattletale gave a smirk before offering me a note card on which she scribbled her PHO address. With a wave from the blonde the group left.

{}{}{}{}

School had been boring and dull as was the new norm. No one tried to talk to me, and I did my best to ignore the fact there were other people in the building. It was a state of affairs I was still exulting in even after three months. The only interesting part had been when I'd messaged Tattletale over PHO and we had agreed to meet up on the boardwalk outside of our work clothes. Honestly, I was a bit leery about meeting them out of costume, but if we were going to work together a degree of trust would be necessary. I'd told her what to look for so she could recognize me. So, after ditching my school bag at home I headed out.

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I walked down the boardwalk keeping a slow even pace and made a show of scanning the crowd even though I doubted I would be able to spot the other group first. I had no idea what Grue looked like other than muscled, and there were far too many blonde girls and pretty boys out to narrow things down. Still, I was playing the part of someone looking for their friends, I might a s well do the job properly.

Fifteen minutes of aimless wandering and people watching later I was finally waved down by a blonde perhaps a year older than me. Taking a moment to look her over I was honestly impressed. The domino mask she wore had completely hidden her freckles and somehow changed my perception of the shape of her face. I'd have to look into that later, it might come in handy for an illusion at some point.

"So, I have to ask, is that why you wore a hood." Tattletale asked as she lead me to the table where two boys waited. She was hinting more at the shadows that concealed my face rather than the hood itself. I hummed thoughtfully at the question.

"That's part of it." I admitted with a casual shrug even as I slid into the open seat next to the muscular black teen I assumed to be Grue. Tattletale claimed the seat across from me next to Regent.

"Yo, dork." Regent gave a bit of a wave. "First a witch and now a pirate? Do you just have a thing for playing dress up?" Tattletale cursed and smacked the pretty boy's shoulder while Grue facepalmed.

I just snorted. If these two thought that was going to be enough to piss me off then they were greatly mistaken. With a smirk I reached up and shifted my eye patch to the side revealing the gaping pit that used to contain my left eye. Tattletale turned slightly green at the sight, but Regent's only response was a low whistle. Satisfied I slid the eyepatch back into place before turning so that I could see Grue's response. He seemed slightly unnerved by the display but not nearly so much as Tattletale.

"Right, so introductions." Grue unsubtly changed the topic. "I'm Brian, that's Lisa and Alec. Rachel and crowds don't mix so she gave this a miss."

"Nice to meet you all. My name is Taylor." I nodded politely to the group. "Sorry if that put any of you off of your appetites, but I've found that seems to be the least annoying way to deal with the potential jokes." Alec chuckled so apparently it hadn't been too off putting for him even if the other two grimaced.

"It's fine." Brian deflected. "Have you had enough time to considered our offer by any chance?"

"I have. Your group is the best fit for me in the city, and I doubt I would find much better even if I could chase down opportunities farther afield. I'd be happy to join your group." I answered with a slight smile. Grue's answering smile was unexpectedly warm, and I felt my own smile grow slightly in response.

"Sweet." Alec commented from behind the menu he must have picked up as soon as I answered. "So, let's get some food, and then get out of here so you all can do the boring strategy planning thing. I've got a game I've almost beaten waiting for me."

Lisa and Brian both groaned clearly exasperated with Alec. Maybe in time I would get fed up with his attitude as well but for now it was such an unusual change of pace that I couldn't quite fight off the amused twitch of my lips.

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An hour later found us standing in a comfortable furnished loft in a rundown part of tow. I gave the space an appreciative nod as I looked around. "It's nice." I said honestly.

"It's not quite what most people would expect." Lisa responded as she slipped past me to the kitchen where she secured a soda. Popping the top, she turned her full attention back to me. "But then most people are idiots and it works for us."

I nodded again. She wasn't exactly wrong. A bond villain lair might sound dramatic but what kind of idiot would actually want to live in some subterranean, whitewashed, pseudo military base. No color or sunlight all the time would have any sane person climbing the walls after a while. Besides facilities like that would cost a small fortune and could still be compromised just as easily as anywhere else. No, something modest and functional like this which could be replaced at a fraction of the cost was the smarter choice.

"So!" Lisa cheered. "How does your power work? Tell me!" She pleaded dramatically. I opened my mouth as if to respond before remembering her earlier reactions. With a small grin I decided to try and make her pout again.

"I'm a pyrokinetic." I answered with a face splitting grin as I summoned a ball of indigo fire into being above my hand.

Lisa actually froze as she looked at the fire in my hand. For at least half a minute she stood there silently. Finally, with a growl she stomped her foot and pointed the hand holding her soda at me. "That's not funny." She scowled. I just laughed as I let the fire fade. Brian coughed lightly drawing my attention.

"Pyrokinetic, really?"

"Well, sort of." I shrugged, letting the joke go. I held out my right hand palm up and formed an indigo flame above my pointer, a red flame above my middle finger, and after a moment managed to manifest a fluctuating purple flame above my thumb. "Each color has its own properties, I don't think any of them actually burn at all." I shrugged and shook my hand letting the fire dissipate as I did so.

"Indigo is the one I have the most of and the one I'm best with. It's for illusions. There's more to it than that though. I can borrow my illusions senses but too many and I get overwhelmed. If I sink enough power into an illusion it can actually become solid, for a while, but I need to practice more to really master that. The red fire is the most straightforward. It just disintegrates things. That's what I did to Lung last night. I channeled the disintegration effect through my illusions to attack him. The purple fire is the weirdest honestly." I glared down at my hand where a candle sized purple flame now flickered.

"Why's that." Brian asked.

"Because it multiplies things. You have one nail, but need three? Saturate the damn thing with purple fire, congratulations you now have three nails. They won't last for too long, but you'll still have them. Want to punch someone but you don't think you're strong enough to really put them down? Bit of purple fire to your muscles and bones and you multiply your strength, or focus it at the point of impact and just multiply the impact force. And that's just what I've managed to work out in the past two weeks since I managed to start using it. It's bullshit." I glared down at the dancing purple flame before dismissing it with a huff.

"That's..." Brian trailed off not sure what to say. Alec and Lisa had no such problems.

"Your power is bullshit!" The two called out from opposite sides of the loft in near stereo. Though with dramatically different tones of voice. I couldn't help laughing a little bit at the response.

"I know." I grinned.

From there I got a rundown on their powers and we talked. Topics stayed fairly light. Even when Rachel got back. She may have glared a bit, but she seemed to accept my presence in the end, albeit grudgingly. It was a nice to spend an afternoon just hanging out. I hadn't done anything like this in a long time.

Even after leaving for home and facing another awkward dinner with Dad the experience kept a smile on my face as I fell into bed that night.

 

[Fencer]

Sprawled out on the Undersiders couch I was at least nominally practicing my solid illusions. More realistically I was using them to create bouncy balls I tossed into the air and tried to catch with my screwed up depth perception. Rachel's dogs seemed to enjoy chasing after all the ones I missed. It was a way to practice compensating for my lost depth perception, and my solid projections. It was also a way to kill boredom and annoy Alec by distracting him from his game.

"You know, if all you wanted to do was toss balls up and down you could have done that at home." Alec snarked as he mashed buttons.

"Well I could have. But now I can do it here and make you suffer at the same time. Win, win."

"That is not how that works."

"Sure it is. I'm winning twice over." Alec scowled lightly as another fist sized bouncy ball sailed in front of the tv with Angelica racing after it.

"Can't you just conjure up an eyeball or something so you can actually catch them?" I sat up and blinked. Then I smacked my forehead and started to curse. "Wait, seriously? You've had your powers for months and you never thought to try that?"

"Shut up! I only learned to see through Illusions, like, six weeks ago! I was already used to the idea of only having one eye." I grumbled and started shaping the illusion in my eye socket even as I reached up to pull away my eye patch.

Depth perception is a subtle, insidious thing. Close one eye and look around. It all looks the same doesn't it? Reach out and pick something up. That wasn't very hard right? Maybe you had to reach a bit farther than you expected but that's not such a big deal, yeah? Now pick up something small and toss it into the air. Try to catch it. Maybe give it a few tries, don't just bounce it a few inches above your palm, really toss it. Starting to get the idea, now aren't you? And that's just half the issue, you're range of vision gets killed by only having one eye.

Sure, I'd been seeing through my illusions on and off since I worked out the effect, but that's a whole different brand of disturbing. Watching through an owl's eyes as it flies just feet above the rooftops while my body is standing still can be seriously vertigo inducing. Having two eyes set in my own head after three months of doing without? There really wasn't any way to properly describe just how good that felt.

"Hah! Oh, that's fantastic why didn't I think of this?!"

"Ughh, dork? Not to rain on your parade too much, but was it meant to be glowing like that?" Alec asked, cutting off my celebration.

"What?" I looked at Alec for a moment not understanding before rushing to the bathroom in search of a mirror. Sure enough, my new eye had a glowing indigo iris. "Oh, come on!"

A half hour of testing later I finally conceded temporary defeat. For whatever reason my eye just insisted on glowing. I wouldn't be able to use it out of costume but the intimidation factor of having a single glowing eye beneath the shadows that hid my face in costume would be great for intimidation, so it wasn't a complete loss.

"Taylor, you in there? We need to talk the boss just called about a new job!" Lisa called from the kitchen area.

"Yeah, coming." I called back and put action to words. "So, what's up?" I asked sliding into the only open seat around the kitchen table.

"Ugh, Taylor, what's up with the glowing eyeball?" Brian asked.

"It was Alec's idea. No more depth perception issues. Only problem is I can't get it to stop glowing. For now it's only good when I go out in costume." I explained with a shrug.

"Huh, cool." Lisa murmured as she leaned in to get a better look. Then she shook her head and tapped at the table. "Right, so, the boss thinks it's high time we make ourselves a bit more high profile. He wants us to pull something big."

"How big?" Brian leaned forward.

"Front page, if we can manage it. He didn't really have any preferences beyond that. Now normally I wouldn't have recommended this, but I haggled with the boss a bit and he promised to triple our haul if we rob Bay Central in the early afternoon this Thursday." Lisa's grin was downright smug.

Alec whistled long and low and Brian leaned back in his seat looking contemplative.

"OK, that makes this at least interesting, but that's going to bring some serious heat down on our heads. No way the Protectorate won't respond in force. Decent money is good, but only if we get away to spend it." Brian gave Lisa a pointed look.

"Ah, that's actually why the boss is pushing for Thursday. Turns out the Protectorate have a PR event out of town. That immediately cuts the city's hero response down to the Wards and New Wave, plus Bay Central is firmly in the Wards jurisdiction. If we hit it in the middle of the day most of them will be stuck at school. Now they won't just let us get away with robbing a bank so they'll pull some of the Wards out of class to come stop us. Luckily, they shouldn't be able to pull them all, so we should only have to deal with three or four of them." Brian nodded thoughtfully.

"Much better odds than I was expecting… What do you really think we'll be looking at for individual takes?" Lisa hummed thoughtfully.

"Well, it is the biggest bank in the city, and serves as a distribution point for most of the city and a few places outside of it. Then with the boss matching us… ten to fifteen thousand each, I would think. Maybe a bit more if we get lucky."

"I'm in." I was sold on this idea. Ten K for an afternoons work. Sure, it wasn't even close to what I really needed for my plans, but it was a hell of a start. Bitch gave an affirmative grunt and Alec threw out a thumbs up.

Brian took longer but eventually nodded. "Alright but were planning this out in exact detail. I don't want to leave any room for screw ups with something this big."

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The rental van rumbled lightly as we headed to the bank. Lisa was driving, her costume on under her regular clothes while the rest of us and Bitch's dogs were seated in the back already in costume hidden by tinted windows.

"So Tay, sorry Morganna, you are in costume after all. I never did ask, or get around to working it out. Why do you need cash so bad?"

"Really, Tattletale, you're doing this now?" Grue asked, his voice a touch distorted by the darkness starting to seep out of his helmet.

"Eh, I'm curious. Not a lot of teenagers genuinely decide that robbing banks is a good career choice. I could work it out but why strain my power when I could just ask, besides were still halfway across town. We've got time."

"It's fine, it's not like it's a big secret or anything." I took a moment to gather my thoughts. "When I first got my powers I was all set to go out and do the hero thing, right? Every little kids' dream and all that. So, I jumped into researching everything cape. One of the first things that comes to my attention though? Shadow Stalker got transferred out of the city to a punishment detail at one of the Ziz containment zones. That was only a few days after I named the girls who cost me my eye. No explanation given, and no records of what happened to one the girls but she vanished at the same time. Oh, and about a fifth of the faculty at my school got canned."

Alec, bless his black and shriveled heart actually chuckled. "So, a psycho Ward cuts out your eye and the PRT covered it up? Then you decided to say 'fuck it' and go villain?" I shrugged.

"Lost the eye to an infection actually, but it was her fault. There were a bunch of other little things that clued me in, and when I built up a timeline a lot of other things started to make sense. That put me off working with the Protectorate, ever, but it was the other stuff I figured out that convinced me to go villain."

"Oh, do tell?" Lisa asked sounding genuinely curious.

"Well… How much do you know about the Fallen?"

"Endbringer cultists, crazy morons who use their powers to hurt people as part of their pseudo religion." Lisa rattled off. I nodded. She wasn't wrong after all.

"Right, they're all off their rockers, no doubt about that. But when I was looking into them something about their whole ideology got me thinking. Not," I rushed to clarify, "The whole hairbrained concept that the Endbringers are Gods or servants of God or whatever. Just, the idea that they are here to end the world and bring about the apocalypse."

I fidgeted nervously. If asked most people would no doubt believe that our odds of outright killing an Endbringer any time soon were slim to none. At the same time there was a contradictory belief that humanity had cobbled together out of old monster movies and a refusal to give up; that if we held out long enough someone, somewhere, would trigger with the power to kill the damn things. Or that some tinker would magic up a device to destroy them. We all knew we were dying inch by painful inch, but not many people were willing to admit it or think about just what the long term consequences actually were.

"...What do you mean?" Brian was the one to finally break the awkward tense silence.

"The average Endbringer attack costs the government somewhere between the costs to repair after a major natural disaster and the estimated aftermath of a nuclear attack." I answered sticking to the blunt truth. "Every three months some country has to handle that. And that's on top of the costs of damages from regular cape fights that happen everywhere. That's not a small amount when it all gets added up annually either. Sooner or later we're going to lose too much infrastructure and the whole world is going to collapse into smaller chunks of civilization. Or some country is going to try and prop itself up by invading a neighbor and kicking off World War III, with the added bonus of cape soldiers. Think about a war with some of the more destructive powers out there?" I shook my head. "Even if everyone holds off on the possible world ending options it'll be a war like nothing anyone has ever seen. I had to dig to find information on it, but there have been a few hushed up estimates, ten years, maybe twenty, before things really go to hell." I shrugged. There wasn't much else to say honestly.

"Fuck." Lisa breathed out. "You actually believe that, but can you prove-"

"No." I cut her off. "I can't prove any of it. But it makes sense. Brockton Bay might have it worse than other parts of the country, but we're practically divided up into fiefdoms here already. Sooner or later the rest of the world is going to end up like Africa. As far as I'm concerned, I need to find a hole where I can ride out the end of the world. But that's going to take cash to buy and to get it set up with the essentials for it to be self sustaining and defensible. So, the plan is to do research, make cash, and work out the rest as I go."

"...Lisa?" Brian asked leadingly.

"I don't know. I'm trying not to think about it too hard right now. I don't want to give myself a migraine before we even get to the bank." Lisa grit out. Her grip on the steering wheel was white knuckled. "It's definitely worth looking into later. If she's right…" She trailed off and shook her head.

"Way to kill the mood, dork." Alec grumbled.

We were all silent for the rest of the ride. I did regret that it came up now of all times, but I had wanted to get the idea circulating in their heads. No matter how I had phrased it I wasn't going to be a one woman nation. I would need other people's help. They might not be ideal but they were a start, and we still had plenty of time to learn valuable skills.

{}{}{}{}

Our entrance into the main lobby was led off with a wave of darkness that settled over doors and windows from Grue and followed closely by Bitch's dogs, we humans brought up the rear. Grue and Bitch's large builds radiated strength and intimidation. Regent and Tattletale followed on their heels the very picture of cavalier indifference; smirking and favoring our captive audience with little waves. Finally, I entered, my cloak the same indigo as my illusion flames, hid my body from view. The hood of my cloak cast a shadow over my face, hiding all but my mouth and my new glowing eye.

Then Grue launched into his short, prepared speech on proper hostage etiquette and how we would be gone shortly. That was my cue. Showtime.

Stretching out my right hand parted my cloak. The observant might have caught a brief glimpse of my new kevlar vest before the cloak settled once more. Indigo fire blossomed in my outstretched hand growing into a thin vertical pillar of flame. I raised my hand slightly and brought the pillar down on the floor with an audible clack. Instantly the fire burst into small flames revealing my six foot partisan spear. Taking the weapon in both hands I raised it a bit and moved the blade in a small circle over my head keeping the staff vertical. The globes of fire launched by the summoning of my spear started to circle me in a tornado of small flames following the motion of the spear head. Then the small flames grew and started to take shape. The small tornado of fire became a small flock of ravens the birds were mostly illusion but with a bit of focus I supplied enough flame to make their beaks and talons real and sharp. I doubted they would need them, but it did not hurt to be prepared.

My impromptu flock, on near silent wings, circled above our crowd of captives just as Grue's speech ended. Though I kept a single raven back to settle on my shoulder. I had chosen to style myself after the mythical sorceress, I might as well play up the motif further with a raven familiar.

"Regent and Morganna," He gestured towards us each in turn. "Will be keeping an eye on all of you. Quite a few eyes in fact." He gestured to the circling birds. Obligingly I cracked my spear against the floor again and each bird's left eye glowed to match my own. I allowed myself a cruel little smirk I had learned from some of my former tormentors. Sure, I couldn't actually see through all those birds simultaneously, but they had no way of knowing that. In a fit of whimsy I reached up and stroked the head of the bird resting on my shoulder. Its pleased caw causing some of my audience to wince and making my smirk grow.

I couldn't quite deny that at least part of me was enjoying being in a position of power for once. I'd have to watch out for that, or it might become a habit.

Alec and I both kept a careful watch on our captives. I made a habit of cycling through the eyes of my birds. So far no one had tried anything but I figured it was only a matter of time. Maybe a minute later Lisa came and replaced Alec sending him off to help load cash onto the dogs.

Lisa and I noticed the girl at almost the same time. She was a mousy thing about our age with short brown hair. The crow who's eyes I had used to spot the girl settled right in front of her face where she was sprawled out on the floor and cawed. A small application of my power made the sound stretch on for almost ten seconds and amplified the noise to the point that our captives slapped their hands over their ears. Another crow swooped down and laid a clawed foot on the now abandoned cell phone. Gripping it tightly the bird took wing and flew to me dropping the phone into my outstretched hand. A quick glance showed the girl had yet to send her text so I tossed the phone aside.

"None of that now." I gently chided the girl. "Honestly, the less trouble we have escaping the safer everyone here will be. The middle of a cape fight is no place for civilians after all. I can understand wanting to play the hero, but it's not really fair to everyone else her who just want to get out of this safely."

"Ahh, but Morganna, she's not just playing." Tattletale said, eyes locked firmly on the girl. "Amy Dallon, truly an honor to meet the famous Panacea." Tattletale bowed dramatically to the girl. My head snapped back around to focus on the girl.

"Ah, you're right, Tattletale. I didn't recognize her with the new hairstyle." I tilted my head a bit to the left as I considered the girl. "But, shouldn't she be in class?" It was only noon after all. I'd been called out sick the past couple of days to cover my tracks. But here she was in the middle of the day at a bank of all places.

"Glory Girl dragged her out. Which means our escape may have just gotten a bit more complicated."

"Between Grue and I it shouldn't be a problem." Tattletale hummed noncommittally, which I ignored. It wouldn't be easy per say but frankly Glory Girl was a blunt object. A bit of the more subtle style of illusions would take care of her nicely. After all, affecting an individual's senses was more delicate than my projections, but it was arguably a superior way of controlling an enemy. And I wasn't certain this would even require that from me.

Maybe ten minutes later Tattletale groaned as she did one of her periodic checks out the windows.

"Honestly how they get here so fast… I mean sure the police can mobilize whenever and be somewhere in minutes, but the Wards? If they didn't have Vista we could have been gone before they ever got here." She complained.

Not taking my eyes off our hostages I landed a crow on Tattletales shoulder and borrowed its sight. Sure enough, arrayed outside the bank were the Wards. All the Wards.

"Tattletale, that is not four people. That is the entire Wards team." Lisa winced.

"I'm pretty sure Glory Girl is on the roof as well."

"Lovely. Go tell Grue. I'll keep watch while you come up with a plan."

{}{}{}{}

Once we were ready the doors of the bank were blasted open. Grue's Darkness creating false shadows hid the banks interior from view, and slowly seeped out of the doorway spilling languidly into the street like a fog bank of night. I couldn't help but grin. I only wished we weren't pulling this in the middle of the day pulling it at night would have made the whole thing so much more dramatic.

I gave it a count of five before my flock of illusions burst out of the bank cawing loudly, their beaks and talons, and right eyes alight with red fire leaving glowing tracers of sparks in their wake. The flock numbered close to a hundred birds and as they circled the Wards I moved in for the kill. A massive raven large enough to rival bitch's dogs stuck its head out of the shadowed entrance eyes the size of bowling balls alight in indigo and red. Red fire trailed out of its beak in little breaths of flame. As it stepped fully out of the bank it's talons which also glowed red sunk ever so slightly into the concrete as the flames ate away at it. Then it spread its wings and let loose a cry which shook the nearby windows before taking flight to circle above the main flock. Only then did we exit the bank already on the back of Bitch's dogs.

There were a few cries from the Wards about stopping us, but we were already moving. Alec made sure to distract Vista by causing one of her legs to go out from under her. I made the smaller birds a general nuisance diving into the Wards faces and leaving shallow cuts on legs and arms. Gallant got off a few blasts of emotion, that all went wide before I could set the birds on his power armor.

The Wards only two fliers took to the air at that moment. Aegis and Kid Win blew through my flock ignoring their small injuries. In response I let disintegration effect fade from my monster raven and had it pluck them from the air with its talons and slam them into the street.

Glancing back, I was just in time to notice Glory Girl come flying out of the bank, presumably having finished checking on her sister only for her and all of our surroundings to disappear in a wave of Grue's darkness.

I kept the birds harassing the Wards for about thirty seconds more before letting all my illusions start to fade. Especially the monster bird which was draining my reserves faster than I was entirely happy with. I did keep one solid for a bit longer. I landed the final bird in front of Aegis and had it make a repetitive warbling caw that was the nearest any bird came to laughing before it to dissolved into indigo fire.

 

[Fencer]

Friday, we had dropped off our stolen cash to be laundered and my new bank account had jumped to sixteen thousand dollars. I had been surprised considering my take should have only been fifteen. Tattletale had fairly cackled when she explained it was a bonus from the boss. Apparently, whoever they were appreciated my showmanship.

Our mysterious employer wasn't the only one either. PHO had exploded with posters heckling the Wards for being defeated so easily, and people praising our dramatic escape. My performance in particular got rave reviews, well terrified, but still. I now had a thread dedicated to myself which had drawn a respectable amount of interest. It was mostly full of the usual PHO drivel though it exploded into activity for a short time when Myrddin the 'wizard' cape launched into a short rant about how I was his arch nemesis and he would not allow me to follow in the path of my namesake.

I wasn't sure how to respond to that but it had certainly been amusing. In the end I had settled for pointing out that he wasn't stationed anywhere near close enough to actually follow through on his declaration. Then I asked the mods why the heroes were allowed to make threats against villains, but not the other way around. That lovely bit of trolling launched a three page debate that ended with the mods handing out warnings like Halloween candy. Including to Myrddin. Especially to Myrddin.

Saturday had been fun. I'd hung out a with Lisa, Alec, and Brian. We had hit up the boardwalk. It had been… nice, normal even. Lisa had tried to lock herself away to do research into my theory about the world ending but Brian and surprisingly Alec had vetoed it and dragged her away and me with them. Brian had done it because she'd been at it all day Friday and he didn't want her to burn out. Alec's stated reason was that celebrating victory was important and the potential end of the world could wait a day.

Sunday was proving to be a lazy day. Brian had things to do at his apartment Lisa had already declared that she was going to hole up in her room and get back to digging into the conspiracy theories. Alec would be Alec. Which meant video games and junk food. And Rachel would most likely just go off and do whatever it was she actually did with her free time. Something dog related probably. So, with the options being to either distract Alec from his games until he made me slap myself, and goofing around the house I'd chosen to goof around the house. I was really enjoying being a nuisance by posting on Myrddin's PHO thread. Honestly the man started ranting at me at the drop of a hat.

"Taylor, could you come down here for a minute?" Dad called from downstairs.

"Sure thing, Dad." I called, leaving the computer running as I headed down the stairs. "What's up?" I asked as I walked into the kitchen. Though once I saw who was seated at the table the answer became rather self explanatory. Miss Militia, Assault and Battery. All seated around my kitchen table. Dad was standing by the counter waiting on the burbling coffee pot. I won't lie, I froze up for a few seconds when I saw them sitting there. They should NOT have been there. The unwritten rules might be more guidelines than rules, but for the heroes to break them so brazenly was… unexpected.

"Ahh, Miss Hebert, a pleasure to meet you." Miss Militia greeted me calmly not moving from her seat. Assault waved and gave me a goofy grin, Battery settled for a serious nod.

"Ah, yeah, same." I answered a bit numbly. "Though uh, why are you here?" None of the heroes chose to answer right away. Instead the slowly building awkward silence was broken by Dad.

"They are here because they claim you robbed a bank on Thursday." Dad's tone was flat and cold. I had heard him like that a few times. He only sounded like that when he was really angry and fighting to keep from shouting.

"Oh, they do, do they?" I mumbled and moved to lean against one of the kitchen walls where I could keep all three capes and Dad in my sight. "That's a very serious claim to make. You come to my home, in force and in full costume, possibly drawing the attention of the gangs to my father and I just to make an insubstantial accusation?" With every few words my voice grew a little bit colder and my glare a little bit harsher.

"Well, I wouldn't have put it quite like that." Assault shifted awkwardly in his chair as he tried to deflect my accusation with a half hearted grin.

"No, of course you wouldn't, that would be inconvenient for you. Luckily, I'm a realist and have no reason whatsoever to pull my punches with any of you. After all, if grown adults running around in Halloween costumes can't handle a bit of the truth then really I don't see-"

"Taylor!" Dad cut me off no doubt shocked at my verbal jabs. I huffed and looked away. I wouldn't apologize. I might not be one of those catty girls who could rip someone apart with a few choice sentences, but I'd been on the receiving end of enough such attacks to learn the basics. If the Protectorate wanted to attack me in my home by turning Dad against me then I damn well wasn't going to play nice!

"You haven't denied that you were part of the bank robbery." Battery calmly pointed out. The woman leaned back slightly in her chair. I shrugged deciding to play along, for now.

"I was home sick, have been for most of the week."

"Funny that just means you were out of school with no one keeping an eye on you." She countered.

"Which is an absence of proof, not proof of anything."

"It's hardly our only evidence."

"Yet despite this so called evidence you don't seem to have a warrant." No one said anything. I shrugged. "If you don't have a warrant then you don't have evidence. What you have are suspicions and what you are doing here is trying to wring a confession out of someone who you've caught off balance."

"Oh, do you have something you feel the need to confess?"

I gave her my best deadpan stare. "If there was something I felt the need to confess, I'd be more likely to go looking for religion and a priest than talk to any of you worthless government lap dogs." I said coldly.

Battery actually froze for a moment and the lines of her costume started to glow faintly before Assault burst into the conversation. Miss Militia I noticed had shifted position at my declaration but otherwise hadn't responded.

"Hey now, no reason to get mean, kid. We're Superheroes! We just want to help, just want to make sure a good kid like you doesn't end up going down the wrong path. We're not, geez don't think anyone has ever called me a government lap dog before."

"The wrong path." I deadpanned. "What are you? A high school anti drug lecture?"

"Taylor!" Dad snapped. "What has gotten into you?!" I ignored the question.

"How's Shadow Stalker doing?" All three heroes froze. "Yeah, you weren't all that subtle. Only took me about three days after I got off all the pain meds and antibiotics that were making it hard to think straight. Seriously though, punishment detail? She should have gone to juvie."

"Taylor!" Dad shouted. Guess I couldn't keep him entirely out of the loop… then again, they turned him against me first. Turnabout is fair play, right?

"Shadow Stalker was the one to physically put me in the locker. She scratched my eye with her fingernail when she shoved me in which is how the infection got so dug in." I said gesturing to my eye patch. Assault and Battery winced. Miss Militia tried to match my glare for a moment and then looked away. "They hushed it up and transferred her to one of the containment zones. Then shuffled her family out of town. Witness protection or something." Dad went still.

"Taylor, are you sure?"

"I'm sure." I said still glaring at the heroes. "I just don't have any proof."

No one said anything for a moment. And the silence grew a bit oppressive.

I had not denied anything, but then neither had they. Sure, I was a villain, but they couldn't prove it. And I was never going to work for them because one of their own was responsible for a year and a half long bullying campaign, that culminated in me being trapped in the most horrid, rancid, pile of filth I had ever heard of, and losing an eye. I don't know how they planned to hide that from me if they had managed to maneuver me into the Wards, but now they knew it wasn't even an option. Finally, Miss Militia sighed.

"Miss Hebert, I'm afraid that revealing the civilian identity of a Ward is considered a federal crime."

"Good thing I never revealed her name then."

"Be that as it may, I can't comment on a Ward's identity. That being said the Wards program is the best place for young Parahumans to learn to use their powers responsibly."

I crossed my arms over my chest and started drumming my fingers against my left arm. I took my time to think through exactly how to phrase my response to that particular load of bullshit.

"As government capes," I began in a conversational tone. "You do realize that you'll be the first ones drafted when World War Three finally kicks off."

"Wait, what?" Assault asked sounding completely lost. I couldn't blame him I'd just ditched the entire previous conversation with that segue, and it was going to take me a bit to come back around to my point.

"What? You thought what's happening in Africa can't happen here?" I snorted. "They were just the first region to fall apart because they were barely being held together in the first place. The Middle East was a pot ready to boil over before capes. They've just been on a low simmer since the Endbringers first showed up. I doubt it would take much, just one crazy with a destructive enough power to set off a war there. But really? Smart money is on China kicking things off. There are already rumors of the Yangban abducting capes. Once they think they're strong enough who's to say they won't try to take land too?"

Miss Militia was starting to look pretty pale under her scarf.

"Ok, so maybe someone decides to go to war." Assault burst in. "We are not military. That has nothing to do with us. And even if it did, that's the other side of the world. None of our business, at all!"

"None of our business. Right. Like World War one, or two, or Korea, or Vietnam." Assault slouched a little at each listed conflict. "It would be our problem, because sooner or later they would make it our problem. Not only that, a military cape organization that could draw from all of Asia, backed by who knows how many thousands of soldiers is too large a threat to be allowed to form in the first place. And the only way to fight the number of capes China must have at their disposal even now is with other capes."

The whole kitchen was silent.

"You'll be drafted, run through some slapped together mixture of boot camp, and probably officers' training, or at the very least classes on military tactics. Then you will be thrown straight into the fight against the only army in the world that has been planning and training in cape and counter cape tactics. You'll have little to no idea what any of the enemy are capable of and they'll have complete files and all of you and your abilities just by flipping through PHO. And if our government can get their hands on any villains? Well, they'll probably do the same and throw those poor bastards at all the most dangerous missions hoping they don't make it back."

Miss Militia looked positively green and Battery was shaking now. I couldn't tell if it was fear or anger though.

"While all that's happening, the villains will still be here, mostly unopposed, and able to dig in like never before. At that point whether the Wards will start taking over your duties or the government will just give up all pretenses and start putting them through boot camp is anyone's guess." I shrugged as if the whole thing was unimportant.

"You don't know that that will happen." Miss Militia said quietly. "You can't know that that will happen."

"... The Endbringers are destroying resources and infrastructure left right and center. Natural resources like heavy metals and gemstones and who knows what else no longer come out of Africa, it's just too unstable. A significant portion of the oil fields in the middle east burned thanks to Behemoth. Groups like the Nine, the Fallen, and others are actively working to spread chaos and tension. Something has to give sooner or later and when it does history says there is only one outcome we can expect." I let that sink in for a few moments.

"You came here to accuse me of something you can't prove, and if I had to bet the only reason you even know I exist is because of what Shadow Stalker did to me. You attempted to turn my only living family against me as leverage to force me into joining a group that included the girl responsible for me losing my eye. And then you have the gall to tell me it's the best place for young capes when the reality is that anyone who joins guarantees that the government knows who to look for when the time comes to start press ganging super soldiers. All of which is based on the assumption that I'm a super villain. You can take your offer, and your supposed moral superiority, and your ideals, and you can shove them all up your collective asses. The world's falling apart at the seams and anyone with an ounce of sense should be planning for the worst. Me, my Dad, my friends. Those are my priorities. The city, the country, the whole damn world is going to burn sooner or later. I can't stop any of that, but I can try and hold onto what matters to me. If you have any sense at all you'll do the same."

"You can't believe that." Battery almost shouted. I guess that was anger making her shake after all. "You can't expect us to sit here and listen to you belittle everything we do and stand for on some crazy end of the world conspiracy theory!"

"If you don't want to sit and listen then you can get the hell out! Because I sure didn't ask for you to be here!" I shouted right back finally pushing myself away from the wall. Battery stood up from her chair with enough force to almost topple it so she could look me straight in the eye.

"You're a child trying to justify your crimes with the excuse that it's all worth it because the world's falling apart anyway. A self absorbed brat, deluding herself into thinking it's all ok as long as everything falls apart eventually. You're no better than the gangs if you really think that." Condescension dripped off of her every word.

"Oh, is that so. Then what does that make a psycho like Shadow Stalker? After all she hurt a lot of people, didn't she? But it's fine because she's on your side, right? Face facts, your entire organization is a joke. You don't actually make the world any better, you just try to hold all the pieces together and cover up the cracks. All the while you play dress up, and make believe, and hope that if you hide from it long enough reality will just go away and leave you to your delusions!" I snarled.

"Enough!" Miss Militia shouted. "Enough." She repeated more quietly. "Miss Hebert, it is my duty to inform you that you are a prime suspect in the bank robbery that took place this past Thursday and are the suspected civilian identity of the villain known as Morganna. Without conclusive evidence it isn't something we can act on, but should it prove to be true it is in your best interest to turn yourself in. Willingness to reform is always looked on favorably."

"Get out of my house." I growled.

With one more sigh and a nod she got up and led the other two capes out. With a groan I dropped into one of the vacated chairs and buried my head in my hands.

Things weren't supposed to go like this. They weren't supposed to come knocking on villains' doors. They weren't supposed to try and alienate us from our families and the definitely were not supposed to try and recruit me immediately after I pulled off a major crime! Slamming my fists down on the table I stood up in a rush and started to pace only to came to a crashing halt when Dad stepped in front of me.

"Taylor, I think you have some explaining to do." He told me flatly.

Inwardly I swore I would make the Protectorate pay for this.

 

[Fencer]

"What happened?" The director asked flatly. "This was supposed to be simple. Go in, inform her father of our suspicions and use that to get a confession out of her. From there all you had to do was lean on her until she flipped on the Undersiders and we could have had her out of the city under witness protection before she could stumble across anything incriminating!"

"She already knew about Stalker, boss." Assault offered as he rubbed his temples. His helmet rested on the table in front of him leaving his face visible. He looked tired. Normally Assault was energetic and goofy seeing him like this was a bit unnerving. "She never admitted to jack shit. Just danced around it then threw what Stalker did to her back in our faces to get her Dad back on her side. Or at least to be neutral? He didn't really say anything after that. Just let her go about verbally spanking us."

"Ethan!" Battery, no, Sam, she wasn't wearing her visor either hissed at her husband.

"Sam." That drew a lot of looks. Ethan always referred to Sam by her pet name. "She called us out categorically on our bullshit, then she gave a well thought out argument on why anyone with sense should be running from the Protectorate, PRT, and Wards. On why people should do anything except join." With a huff he leaned fully back in his chair before glancing at his wife. "Hell, I can't even say she's wrong."

Sam looked completely lost for a moment. Then she and about half the others in the conference started shouting at Ethan all at once.

"Enough!" The Director cut through the shouting. She was glaring firmly at Assault who merely shrugged, completely unrepentant. Then her eyes turned back to me. "Miss Militia, normally I would settle for a summary but in this case, I think I'd like to hear the entire conversation, verbatim."

I nodded and started to recite the conversation at the Hebert household word for word. We couldn't legally record the conversation without a warrant or announcing that we would be recording the conversation. Perfect memory made for a good workaround even if it didn't hold up in a court of law.

When I finished Director Piggot's perpetual frown had grown into almost a snarl. Glancing around the room showed a great number of conflicted expressions. Honestly, I was just glad that the Wards were being excluded from anything involving miss Hebert's civilian identity. They were all upset enough about what Shadow Stalker had done. Miss Hebert's train of thought and beliefs had more grains of truth to them then I was really happy with. I wasn't honestly sure how they would react, or how their parents might react if the idea spread. Even just here among only a few adult capes the idea was having a visible impact.

I had heard of people who were convinced the world was coming to an end before.

They weren't exactly uncommon, but they were usually adults with vague fears or delusions and no plan. This was a not even sixteen year old who had done her research, at least in broad terms, and claimed to see the writing on the wall. She had historic and modern day examples she could point to as proof which made her arguments all the more damning.

Worse though, at least in my mind, was her apparent pragmatism. She had mapped out what she expected to happen and then gone about deciding what she could realistically do and how best to see to her interests. Lung was a so far unexplained outlier. But the rest? The Undersiders were close to her age, relatively small time, and more interested in money than fights. She fit with them and whatever Taylor might be planning she would need the cash a group of thieves could pull in to make it happen. She might have been able to make more money through a real gang but only if she rose through the ranks which could easily take years, cape or not.

She had also waited three months before going out as a cape. She had taken the time to learn about her powers and likely to get into better shape as well. Everything the girl did screamed practicality and drive. She wasn't playing the villain on a lark. This was not just some teenage rebellion, though there was probably some of that involved as well given her demonstrated opinion of heroes. This was a young woman who firmly believed that her ends justified her means. Someone who had chosen their path and would see it through without looking back.

The girl was going to be trouble.

"She's being too optimistic. About the training we would get that is." Robin spoke up first.

"What? She insults everything we do and stand for, then spins some conspiracy theory and that's all you have to say?" Battery growled.

"Honestly? The kid makes sense. We spend all our time looking at the local problems, we lost track of the big picture." He shrugged. "And like I said she's wrong about the training we'd get. They'd have to run us through some kind of accelerated basic to get us out there faster, but I doubt they would bother with tactics or officers' training. Much simpler to just put us under someone else's command."

"That bad huh?" Ethan asked.

"Probably, yeah."

"Perhaps not." Colin of all people cut into the conversation. "If the fighting occurs in Asia then they may try to buy our capes time to train or clean up our cities prior to deployment by using whatever local capes that are willing to fight first. It would also give them a chance to learn enemy tactics and test a few counters before deploying American capes."

Robin hummed thoughtfully before nodding his concession.

"Armsmaster, you can't seriously be buying this conspiracy theory?" Sam pleaded.

"It's not a conspiracy theory." He countered. "There is no belief of a cover up or group manipulating things. Her theory is grounded in human nature and history. It's a plausible series of events but I noticed she didn't include any sort of timeframe. Leaving that open ended significantly increases the odds that she is correct."

"So this could be forty or fifty years down the line then?" Rory sounded relieved.

"Or it could happen in five or ten." Robin countered. "Which from her point of view is probably all the more reason to start preparing now. If it happens in the next few years she'll have time to get at least something worked out. If it takes longer? Well that's just more time to prepare."

"Are you all quite finished?" Director Piggot asked in her most cutting tone.

"Hardly, but the rest will keep until the end of the meeting." Ethan flippantly replied. The Director's glare, as usual, failed to impress him.

"Regardless of her justifications, and assuming that we are correct and Miss Hebert is in fact Morganna, something which seems all but certain at this point, she is a criminal. That makes it our job to capture her." She paused to glare at everyone.

"She took down Lung for her first appearance, and ran circles around most if not all of the Wards on her second. That's no longer speculation, the damage she inflicted matches. I understand there is always an edge for new capes before their powers are understood, but this is more than that. She's powerful. Up until now the Undersiders' firepower was limited to Hellhound's dogs, which they couldn't risk without potentially stranding themselves without an exit strategy. Morganna changes that. We need to be on the lookout for any changes in their methods or behavior. Armsmaster, I understand the Think Tank actually got back to us for once?" Colin nodded.

"The obvious still holds true, the ravens were all projections, and the red glow parts of her projections displayed is what allows them to disintegrate things. Worryingly the disintegration is not Manton limited. Comparing the injuries the Wards received to Lung's injuries shows that she can control the power of the disintegration effect. The Wards injuries were more in line with what you would expect from large scratches or small cuts whereas Lung was missing chunks." Colin stopped to take a sip of water before continuing.

"What we failed to pick up on is that direct hits don't disrupt the projections because they are not solid. Or at least not entirely. Judging by the footage we sent them the Think Tank have concluded that only the claws and beaks were solid. They suspect that it was a deliberate choice Morganna made to maximize the projections effectiveness. Of course, that also suggests that she could make them entirely illusionary or fully solid as well. They also believe the ravens were a thematic choice only. Though they are uncertain about what exactly that means for the range of projections she can produce. Finally, while they believe she can in fact see through the eyes of her projections, and agree that the glowing eye under her hood is a projection, they think she's limited to only one or two extra sets of senses at a time."

The Director gave a sharp nod. "Her threat ratings?"

"Master 5 for now with a note that it's likely to go up. Blaster 4 for her ability to channel the disintegration effect through her projections. Thinker 2 for being able to borrow her projections' senses. Provisional Shaker 3 assuming she can project stationary obstacles. And a provisional Striker 4 assuming that she can use the disintegration directly."

"It's an impressive spread." Robin idly chipped in.

"Hard to deal with too." I added. "If she's even half as clever as she seems to be she can leverage that in a lot of ways." The Director only grumbled.

"Moving on. Lung is scheduled to be moved out of the city in two days. Dragon will be supplying transport directly to the Birdcage. We aren't risking taking him over land now that we finally have him locked up. The Empire haven't made a push yet but it's only a matter of time until they start fighting with the ABB so we will be doubling patrols along the ABB's border. For the time being prioritize capturing members of the Empire. Without Lung the ABB won't hold out for long and it's in the city's best interest to weaken the other gangs as best we can. Otherwise we may just lose the city once they don't have to fight amongst themselves anymore."

"Any questions?" No one said anything. "Then check your emails for your assignments, dismissed."

{}{}{}{} 10 minutes later in the break room

"What I don't get is why she seems to think World War three would be the end of the world." Rory grumbled as he sipped a bottle of water. "I mean I know it would be terrible and all, but we've had two world wars already and the planet is still here. And I know Scion went smash happy on all the world's nukes so those aren't on the table anymore."

"Please, we don't need nukes to cause mass destruction anymore. Every other tinker could probably whip up a WMD." Ethan countered.

"More like every fifth or sixth." Colin stated dryly. "Though that's still more than enough to reshape a lot of land in a very short amount of time."

"And that's not taking into account how much damage some of the stronger capes out there can do all on their own." Robin added. "Imagine how much damage Eidolon could do if he was actively aiming to kill."

"That kind of fighting… We'd be swimming in fresh triggers." I murmured.

"Who would all get swept up and thrown right into the fight with minimal training." Ethan growled.

"Ok, ok. I get it. It'd be bad, really bad." Rory said as he started to pace. "But that still doesn't explain why she's thinking of it as the end of the world."

"Because, assuming the war was fought on foreign soil, and that we won, we would still be pulling all kinds of resources away from America in order to fight it. We just wouldn't be able to fund a war of that scale and the PRT simultaneously. We would be coming back to cities run entirely by the gangs." Armsmaster sighed. "On top of all that the Endbringers would still be out there. Cities, infrastructure, resources would all be getting slowly wiped out. We might buy a few years that way but other countries or groups will still be desperate. More wars will crop up and eventually…"

"Can't believe this, you all honestly think she's right?" Sam growled.

"Not morally right. Even if it does play out the way she thinks, that doesn't justify breaking the law." I said gently. "However, unless something major changes in the next decade or so it very well might play out the way she believes."

Sam sagged and Ethan pulled her into a hug. The whole room settled into a tense silence.

I didn't want to go to war. For all that I'd spent my whole life fighting, I'd barely survived my first war. Back then I'd only been a noncombatant trying to get out.

I don't know if I could handle another one.

{}{}{}{} Danny Hebert, Hebert family kitchen

Taylor fidgeted for a moment but I had to give her credit, she didn't break eye contact. Finally she blew out a long breath and sank back into a chair. I followed her lead and sat across from her.

"Did they mention how they figured out it was me?"

"Mmm. The glowing left eye when the only things of yours that they had seen glow were your projections. There aren't a lot of girls your height in their teens who are missing their left eye." I grimaced a bit at having to remind her of the fact. She didn't even flinch at it though.

"Damn it. I was so excited about having my normal range of vision back. Didn't even think of that." She glared off to the side.

I had to admit if nothing else I was at least glad she wasn't trying to lie to me about it after all that. I'd have preferred if she had told me from the beginning but then I suppose 'Dad I've decided to become a super villain' wasn't the easiest conversation to have.

"Taylor, I need you to be honest with me. Everything you just said. How much of it was true?" She sucked in a deep breath and glanced away.

"Shadow Stalker, especially going by their reactions. The rest… it's a theory. One I've been piecing together based on history, rumors about foreign cape organizations, and a few predictions from people in the government that got lost in all the noise that happens online, or were actively buried. I had to hunt through a lot of crap to find any real info. I still don't have a timeline. There are just too many variables, probably a bunch I haven't even thought of. Our team has a thinker though, a high end one. She's already digging into the question trying to work things out."

I leaned back and sighed. My daughter was convinced that the world as I knew it was going to end.

"You must think my job is pretty pointless?"

"No, not really." I glanced at her raising one eyebrow. "It's…" she huffed. "What I'm doing is illegal. I won't lie to myself about that. If anything, what I'm doing is putting more strain on the system, making things worse. The reason I'm doing it doesn't change that. It just means that to me it's worth it."

She waved a hand towards me and smiled lightly.

"You are a bit like the PRT and Protectorate. Your job is to try and hold together a few bits of the system for as long as you can. That's not pointless. It's just… it's just not going to be enough in the end. But for now? It helps people. It keeps the roof over our heads, and food on the table, and the lights on and that's all important. I can't do that." She said earnestly.

I couldn't help but smile a little. Maybe it's a tad shallow but every parent wants to know that their kids needed them. Hearing it directly from your own kid though? That's a rare treat, especially with teenagers.

"So, what is your grand plan, oh dastardly villain?" Taylor snorted and gave me a light glare. The twitch of her lips betrayed. Her though.

"I need to make cash, obviously. Everything we might need is going to cost money, probably a lot of it. Beyond that?" She shrugged looking uncomfortable. "I need to find a hole we can pull in after us, and enough like minded people for a small settlement. Better would be a way to Aleph or another alternate earth. Right now, I'm trying to look up what kinds of environments are best for what kinds of crops."

I let out a long slow breath. She wasn't just half assing this. She knew she had a lot to learn and she was actively working to fix that problem. She might not have an actual plan yet, but she had at least the foundations of one. If what she said about her team having a thinker was true she was also actively working to recruit people who could help. That thought made me blink and reevaluate the conversation. She wasn't hiding anything from me. She was laying it all out for me to judge on my own. I couldn't help but laugh as I realized my daughter was recruiting me. Taylor gave me an odd look but I just waved it off as my chuckles subsided.

"How can I help." I asked with a warm smile.

Taylor's mouth dropped open into a small 'o' before she beamed at me and stood to give me a hug. I might not like what she was doing, but a part of me couldn't be prouder. How could I not be? She was working to save everything she could, the only way she could. After years of trying to save the docks and restore the ferry how could I not respect that? No, I would help my daughter to save as much as we could.

 

[Fencer]

Dad and I had ended up talking late into the night. Or rather early into the morning. Once I had come clean with him it was like the floodgates building for more than a year and a half had crashed open.

I'd told him about the early days of the bullying, and Emma's sudden betrayal. I had raged about the way the school staff had turned a blind eye, until I eventually gave up hope. I explained how I'd realized who Shadow Stalker was and shown him the more compelling evidence and arguments I had dug up.

Then it stopped being a monologue and Dad started to actively contribute to the conversation. He pointed out things I missed, both for and against my theory. He pitched questions and gave broad advice on what might be needed for a long term settlement. We bounced ideas back and forth for everything from parahumans with useful powers for construction to how to set up mines and provide medical care without access to pharmaceuticals.

Then Dad asked about my powers. I showed him every trick I had, every training exercise I practiced with, and talked through what tactics I had thought up. It had impressed him a lot. He hugged me and told me how proud he was that I took things so seriously. And then he made suggestions and we ran through hypothetical scenarios and he pushed me to accomplish more and more precise tricks with my powers.

We didn't even notice the time until the sun came streaming through the kitchen windows. Dad had sort of blinked numbly at the clock for a while until he gave a jaw cracking yawn and told me to go catch a few hours of sleep and that he was calling us both out sick.

{}{}{}{}

With a jaw cracking yawn, I pushed a small pile of scrambled eggs around the frypan. Dad was fiddling with the coffee pot and despite my feelings about the bitter black sludge even I was looking forward to a cup this morning. After I saturated it with a sufficient amount of milk and sugar at least. Honestly how some people could actually drink the shit straight, heathens. Still four hours of sleep just wasn't going to be overcome by even the strongest cup of black tea, and needs must.

Even without food and caffeine I was already building up a mental list of what I needed to do today. First on that list was talking to the team. I was going to have to be at least somewhat careful in case the PRT decided to try trailing me back to the loft. I wouldn't be able to casually hang out with the others in public without risking their identities anymore. Both of those facts were seriously pissing me off. Sure, I could wrap an illusion around myself and dodge the PRT's bullshit by just looking like some random blonde, but it was the principle of the matter!

With an angry huff I transferred the eggs onto a plate and set about making toast. I closed my eye and leaned back against the counter idly drumming my fingers against the counter. I was going to have to prep a bug out bag and come up with a few escape plans just in case the PRT decided to ignore the rules rather than just bending them. Dad would need a place to go to ground in case they tried sticking him with some bull shit charge like aiding and abetting or something.

Dad tapped me on the arm drawing me out of my thoughts for a moment as he passed me a cup of coffee that had already been properly diluted with cream and the sugar bowl. Three scoops and one sip later my mind finally started to fire on all cylinders.

The Protectorate were very close to breaking the unwritten rules but they had not quite taken the plunge. They hadn't pushed to bring me in. Part of that was probably the fact that I caught them off guard and didn't just fold like wet cardboard. Idiots. Still, they had definitely dropped a problem into my lap. Three heroes, almost half of the Protectorate's current roster, just dropping by my house for shits and giggles? Oh no, that was going to draw attention. Someone would have seen them, or their van, or something. I'd lay better than even odds it had made its way back to one of the gangs by now. That was dangerous. Sure, the rules were supposed to apply to everyone, but if the heroes were going to ignore them to such an extent what did that suggest about the villains?

With a growl I threw the toast onto another plate and placed it on the table next to the eggs. With a few deft movements I piled one onto the other and bit into my egg sandwich.

I wanted to get Dad out of the house for a month or so to let interest die down, but that was hardly a realistic option. It would also convince people that the Protectorate did in fact have a reason for bothering us. A show of force against the Protectorate right now would essentially be confirmation for what they already knew. It would also be a statement not to fuck with me. Still, how effective a deterrent might that actually be against a group of Nazis' who believed their own propaganda, or a pissed off teleporting kamikaze? Any implicit threat would need to be huge.

For a brief moment I entertained the idea of summoning the Kraken to drag the rig to the bottom of the bay. I snorted lightly at the mental image before dismissing the idea. Multiple homicide against the only people keeping this city from outright imploding wouldn't end well for anyone. Especially for me when the retaliatory task force inevitably showed up. I did not need a kill order. Besides it's not as if I could actually…. Well, ok, maybe I could pull it off if I burned through all of my reserves. Make the illusion as large as I could while still being solid, then multiply its size and strength, then use the disintegration to put holes in the hull so that it would fill with water and rob their base of its buoyancy.

Shit, that might actually work. Clearly this should all be blamed on the coffee. The moment I abandoned my wonderful tea for this witch's brew I started plotting how to most impressively murder my enemies. No wonder America used to win all the wars, before the Endbrings put most of that on hold, if we were being fueled by this hell spawned concoction.

I was just spooning up eggs for a second sandwich when the phone started to ring. Groaning, I abandoned my stillborn sandwich in favor of hanging up on whatever asshole telemarketer was out to ruin my morning.

"Hello?"

"Taylor!"

"Gah! Lisa, what the hell?! You almost blew out my ear!"

"Guys she's ok." Lisa's voice echoed through the phone slightly quieter. "Taylor, you scared the hell out of us! Why weren't you answering your phone?"

"What? My phone? I have no idea. I only woke up, maybe twenty minutes ago."

"Twenty? The hell are you doing sleeping in so late on a school day? It's Eleven!"

"Yes, thank you, Lisa. I wasn't aware of the time, or day of the week. Clearly your thinker rating is well deserved." I deadpanned. I just did not have enough sleep to play nice right now. "I had three heroes drop by last night and tell Dad they suspected I was Morganna. We were up till dawn after they left talking. He called us both out sick and then we crashed."

"Oh shit, that's…" she trailed off probably questioning how much to say over what was clearly an unsecured line. "Are you doing ok?"

"Dad and I talked. We're good." I admitted with a smile. "Now what the hell had you so worried about me?"

"Oni Lee is dead. He pulled some kind of insane solo attack on the rig. He had some kind of tinker bombs with him but something went wrong. All he managed to do was turn a chunk of metal to glass and leave behind a trio of stone statues of himself."

"Ooook. Well it's nice to know he won't be busting Lung out but I don't see"

"Taylor," she cut me off. "It was sabotage. The ABB picked up a bomb tinker awhile back, but she has apparently decided she wants to be the one in charge. But with Lung and Lee out of the way she needed to make a name for herself and fast or the other gangs will roll right over her. She's been bombing Empire and Merchant holdings all morning."

Just like that a trickle of adrenaline started to pump through me.

"Lisa," I stopped talking and took a moment to just think. "Lisa, with what the Protectorate pulled yesterday, are my Dad and I in danger here?" The real question that went unasked; was she going to come after the girl who got her now ex boss locked up?

"I don't think so. Normally I'd be worried about the gangs taking an interest, but right now? They all have much bigger problems to deal with."

I could physically feel my muscles starting to relax. Bad as a tinker bomber might be, if it was going to keep the pressure off of me I could at least be grateful for that much. I closed my eyes and let my mind cycle back through my most pressing issues. I still needed to find a way to hit back at the Protectorate for their bullshit last night. That said, taking any kind of direct action while the city was being bombed and a gang war seemed inevitable would send the wrong message. If I wanted to hit at them I would need something more, indirect.

I pushed that thought aside to think more on later. Revenge could wait, for the moment. Dad and I were not in any immediate danger so long as we stayed in, or at least away from the fighting. That was good and removed my biggest worries. With the current situation I doubted the PRT had resources they could devote to tailing me back to the Undersiders. So that was settled for the time being at least. My earlier solution of going in disguise when we went civilian was still good too.

"For now, everyone is just going to lay low I assume?" I wanted to ask more, demand details, but there was no way I trusted the phone line right now.

"Yeah, everyone is just going to stay home and stay safe right now. If you have to go out avoid Empire or ABB territory like the plague. Merchants to but that shouldn't be quite as dangerous. I'll text you later and we can talk more than alright?"

"You got it, Lisa. Talk to you soon."

"Later, Tay."

"Taylor? Was that one of your teammates?" Dad asked looking concerned. I guess he must have heard some of my side of the conversation.

"Yeah, Dad. That was Tattletale. Good news is that no one is even going to remember we had the Protectorate drop by yesterday. The bad news is it's because the ABB have a bomb tinker who just took over the ABB. She is attacking Empire and Merchant territory to secure her position." I retook my seat at the table and nibbled at my sandwich as I thought.

"That's not good. But you and your friends are staying out of it right?" Dad asked worriedly.

"Yeah. I don't think any of us want to get wrapped up in the middle of that. The Empire is bad enough but a tinker who makes bombs? No thank you. Who knows what kind of crazy stuff she's got. As long as they stick to killing each other it's none of my business." Dad gave me a weak smile.

"Maybe it's selfish of me, but I'm happy you won't be in the middle of that." I smiled back.

"Nothing wrong with being selfish every now and then."

"No, no I suppose not." Dad agreed with a chuckle.

 

[Fencer]

"Lisa, I've got a bit of an odd request for you." I spoke into my phone as I flipped through a few articles on soil quality online.

"Oh?"

"Nothing pressing or anything, just personal curiosity."

"Well… I could use a break from the first project you dropped in my lap. The more I dig the more questions I seem to come up with. Something simple would actually be a good chance for me to step back for a bit. What did you have in mind?"

"Stalker wasn't the only person behind my, current situation. One of the other girls involved, one of the ringleaders in fact, used to be my best friend. I never found out what the hell happened to make her change so much. I didn't really think I ever would, but now I just might be able to."

"Oh, color me intrigued, if only slightly. How can I help pull apart the mystery of the turncoat bestie?" I could all but hear her grin through the phone.

"That would make a horrible book title." The key to talking with Lisa is to let a little air out of her ego every now and then. Too much and she'll get defensive. Not enough and she'll get worse.

"Shush, you. No, wait, unshush and answer the question." I chuckled lightly before answering.

"Her name's Emma Barnes. Aside from being expelled from Winslow and a criminal record she's been court ordered to see a psychiatrist. I'm not clear on any details past that. I know her family moved out of the Bay pretty quickly after that, so I don't know where she ended up. I'm hoping you can get me copies of her therapists' notes… I, I'd like to know what actually happened to make her change."

"Damn, Tay. I mean, as long as they keep their notes on their computer it shouldn't be too hard. Still, I wasn't really expecting that kind of request."

"Yeah, I know. It won't change anything. I'm just… I dunno, I'm looking for some closure I guess."

"... Yeah. Yeah I can understand looking for closure." That sounded like a story but I decided not to press. She could tell me if she felt like it. "Give me some time. I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you, Lisa. This means a lot to me."

"No problem, Tay. What's a few favors between friends?" She chuckled lightly. "Talk to you later, Tay. Stay safe."

"You to, Lisa. Later."

{}{}{}{} Day two.

Dad and I sat across from each other at the kitchen table in front of me was a large stack of slightly stale Oreos. In front of Dad was a much smaller stack of the same. In the middle of the table was a third small pile that constituted the bets. Dad and I glared at one another over our cards.

"There is no way you should be this good at poker. I know I'm rusty, and my luck was never anything to write home about, but there is no way you should be beating me this badly."

"Youth and enthusiasm for Oreo cookies beats age and the knowledge that so much sugar is bad for you." I deflected.

Dad snorted before giving me a light hearted glare. "Thing is I'm familiar with most of the usual tricks people use to cheat." He continued as if I hadn't said a word. "And you haven't pulled any of them, which makes me wonder…" Quick as a flash Dad ripped one of his cards in half. I tried, oh how I tried, but I wasn't quite fast enough to hide the wisps of indigo flame emanating from the ragged edges of my solid illusion.

Dad grinned at me triumphantly. While I only stared back shocked. My mind blurred with plans as I tried to find a way to save my cookies. In a blink I messed with Dad's sight casting an illusion on him rather than our surroundings. To Dad it was as if the entire kitchen was suddenly buried in Grue's darkness. Quick as a flash I scooped up my winnings and the tall glass of milk sitting off to my side and dashed for my room. Dad's startled shouting about cheaters followed me until I had my door locked and my spoils laid out on my desk.

Victory tasted sweet, and only slightly stale. Thankfully sufficient application of milk mostly hid the later.

{}{}{}{} Day three

"Taylor, you are not going out in costume to go grocery shopping."

"Obviously." I rolled my eye. "If I'm going in costume I'm not shopping. Just grabbing what we need and booking it out of there."

"Taylor, it's only groceries." Dad sighed. "It's not like I don't buy them every week. There's no reason to steal them."

"Sure there is. I can be in and out with five times what we need in a third of the time. Then I meet up with you and we drive home. Easy."

"Oh, so you know where in the store everything we need is? Even though you've rarely been. You know how much we can fit in the fridge? You know how long all the different foods will last?" Dad's lips were quirked up in a little smirk. And he had one eyebrow raised.

I very much wanted to say that of course I knew all of that. But I didn't know any of it, and I really should learn about managing food and how fast things went bad. I needed to learn about how to make food last sooner or later. Might as well start now.

"Alright, we'll both go. And you'll teach me." I said walking to the door without giving Dad a chance to argue about leaving me behind 'for my safety.' As if I would let him out of my sight with the state the city was in right now.

Dad's sputtering was music to my ears.

{}{}{}{}

It had taken a few hours to get groceries while navigating around the dangerous areas of the city. Luckily with a decent chunk of the city bunkered up at home traffic hadn't been to bad. So that was something. The trip had been at least a bit educational. Mostly I'd learned just how much of a bitch it was going to be getting used to food that wasn't mass produced or butchered for me. I needed to learn so much more.

I was about to start looking up hunting courses online when my phone rang.

"Yo, Tay, I got those files you asked me to dig for." Lisa's oddly subdued voice greeted me. The words sent a tiny thrill of anticipation through me immediately followed by a rush of anxiety. I'd been wondering what happened to Emma for close to two years now. I wasn't sure what I was going to find but I was determined to see this through.

"Thanks, Lisa. I didn't expect to hear back from you about it so quickly." I really hadn't. This was low priority for everyone involved I'd figured a week or two maybe not the next day.

"Yeah well, tracking her down only took me a half hour. Breaking through her shrink's garbage cyber security was even easier, honestly." I hummed a quiet acknowledgment as I pulled up my email and found the files Lisa had sent me. "Look, Taylor, I know you asked me to find them and you're only looking for some closure, but I don't think you're going to like what's in there."

As Lisa's words registered my hand stilled, the cursor resting over the file I had just finished downloading. For Lisa to worn me about it, it couldn't be anything good. Then again had I actually expected it to be anything good? Not really. And after all this time I needed to know. Not knowing would eat me alive especially now that it was at my fingertips. I doubt it would make me happy, but it had to be better than always wondering.

"I appreciate the warning, Lisa. But I really do need to know."

Lisa's only answer was to sigh. "Yeah I get it. Feel free to call me up if you need to talk, alright?"

A small warm smile spread across my face. "I will, Lisa. Thanks again really, this means a lot to me."

"Later, Tay."

{}{}{}{}

Laying back on my bed I glared at my boring ceiling. With a flicker of thought and the barest touch of my power color blossomed into being along the ceiling swirling in patterns and shapes at the behest of my will. Black and dark blues swirled in a vortex. Red bolts of lightning flashed into being amidst the maelstrom before fading away in an instant.

PTSD and a messed world view she latched onto because of Stalker. And Stalker had probably picked up the world view after something fucked her up too. That's what it all boiled down to. A large serving of trauma, and a fucked up worldview, creating a need to prove to herself that she was strong by hurting others. It was all so freaking pathetic. All the suffering she must have caused, and not just to me for all that I was her favorite chew toy I knew there were others, all for such a stupid reason.

I let the red lightning stay, then branch out like the most jagged tree in existence spawning out of the center of the whirlpool of dark colors. Slowly the vortex calmed down to a deep purple that only had light ripples of dark blue moving steadily about. Blobs of random colored bloomed from my red lightning tree like insane fruit.

This is what hurting children lead too. Broken husks that didn't know how to go about putting themselves back together. Was that true for adults as well or did they have a stronger foundation they could build back up more easily? Looking back on how Dad had handled Mom's death made me question that idea… But then again for all that Dad had been less than all there he hadn't warped and twisted, just sort of faded out, and even now he was pulling himself back together, reaching out again. But then I'd responded the same way to Mom's death. Did grief and loss just not cause the same responses as more violent trauma?

With a thought I wiped the ceiling clear. Now figures composed of bright colors danced across the ceiling to an unheard waltz. It didn't distract me half as much as I had hoped but it was an interesting exercise in control.

How different was I now, after my trigger, after what the bitches had put me through? I wasn't normal anymore. Normal people my age do not commit themselves to a life of crime in order to amass resources for the collapse of society. They didn't throw themselves into a fight against unknown strangers just because they were planning to hurt kids.

My ceiling dancers separated based on their color and formed ranks of soldiers armed with spears and shields. They marched on one another in a silent display of military might.

I was changed. No denying that. The idea of letting any kid be hurt after being ignored by so many people… How could I look away from that knowing what happened to me was only possible because no one was willing to intervene?

The green army won, if two wounded survivors could be considered a victory. With a growl I let the illusion fade and rolled over onto my stomach.

I knew that if I was right kids were going to die right alongside the adults. Disease, starvation, accidents, conscripted into fighting, the list of ways they would die went on and on. They would die by the thousands when the world came crashing down. They would suffer and struggle and die. I couldn't stop that. I couldn't prevent that any more than I could prevent the collapse of society. I hated it, but I couldn't deny it either. Still, I had already put my life on the line once to protect nameless children when a threat to them all but fell into my lap. I would do what I could, save who I could.

And I would do my best not to think about those I couldn't.

{}{}{}{} Day four

The news droned on as Dad and I finished off breakfast.

Most of what they talked about was, what else, the ongoing gang war. So far, the tally was Alabaster trapped in a bubble of distorted time, and Stormtiger incinerated. There were also unconfirmed rumors of several severe injuries that would keep the Empire's healer busy. Even the Protectorate had gotten in on the action managing to bring in Rune. Though most people were betting on the girl breaking herself out sooner or later.

Whether or not that would be in time to contribute any more to the current fight was debatable. There was also the more unlikely possibility of her splitting off from the E88 after her escape. Things like that happened from time to time but were fairly uncommon.

Also of note, though less talked about, or even cared about, was the fact that both gangs were losing normals at a rate they couldn't sustain for long. The death toll for gang members was estimated to be in the sixties or seventies now, with more injured. Even if the casualties were an even split that was a not insignificant chunk of each groups unpowered membership.

Honestly the most surprising thing about the entire mess was that somehow Bakuda was holding. Details on how exactly she was managing that were anyone's guess. But she was managing, for now. But that wasn't what would decide things. No right now the ball was firmly in Empire hands. What happened in the coming weeks would all come down to Kaiser.

Three capes down Kaiser had a choice. He could back off, or keep pushing. Backing off could be seen as wisdom or cowardice and it was anyone's guess which way that wind would blow. But if he kept pushing and wore Bakuda down? He might just be able to finally tear down the ABB. Of course, if he chose to do so it was anyone's guess just how many people he might lose. If the Empire lost too many capes they might find themselves at the mercy of the heroes. Then they might be in serious trouble.

Bakuda on the other hand, despite apparently having a rather large stockpile had to run out of bombs or material sooner or later. No matter how good she might be she wasn't going to be able to build bombs out of nothing but chewing gum and shoelaces. If the Empire could exhaust her reserves she would be just one more normal person.

Further complicating things was that Kaiser might not be able to back down at all without damaging his position among the E88 hardliners. For years the ABB had held against the E88 because of one cape. That the one cape had fought an Endbringer solo and done better than anyone else to date was the only reason their racist dogma still held any ground. Admitting that two separate capes of Asian descent were both capable of stopping his Empire cold might be too much for some of them. I doubt it would be too big of a hit to his control of the group, but even a small blow would be felt at a time like this.

Amazingly civilian casualties had so far stayed low. Higher than anyone liked but still lower than expected. Though there were also a lot of concerning reports about a spike in missing person cases. If those missing persons were casualties then things got a lot more complicated. Frankly it wasn't my job to sort things out… but, at least a few were just kids.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I couldn't stop the gang war. Well… OK, I could. Anyone could really. All it would take to end this was for someone to take out Bakuda. But I wasn't about to hand the city over to the Nazi's just to end the fighting early. The more they bled each other out the better it was for the rest of the Bay… So long as they stuck to hitting each other at any rate. More to the point jumping in now when I had nothing to gain might be seen as siding with the Empire. I wasn't about to tie my name to their cause even tangentially. No, for all that I wanted the fighting to stop this wasn't my problem.

My phone ringing broke me from my thoughts.

"What's up, Lisa."

"Hey, Tay. Empire called for a meeting at neutral ground tonight. They invited everyone, including Bakuda. No clue if she'll actually show up but we need to put in an appearance. Even if only to tell everyone to fuck off because we're staying out of it."

I cast a glance at Dad. I didn't want to worry him but this was… well I wasn't sure what this was.

"How safe will we be there, Lisa. Not to infringe on the Empire's honor but I don't want to have to fight our way out when we tell them to fuck off as politely as we can manage."

"Nah, no need to worry about that. Neutral ground is serious business. Think small scale Endbringer truce. You fuck with people at neutral ground you're just asking to die."

I only hummed thoughtfully in response. "All right, where and when?"

"Somer's Rock, at ten."

"Alright, see you there." I answered already moving to hang up as I heard her muffled goodbye. I guess I knew what I was doing with my evening at least. Maybe it would be fun to watch Kaiser beg for help without looking like he was begging?

 

[Fencer]

The place was a dump. I had seen a dive bar or two over the years eating out with Dad and the other dock workers, but this place took the cake. I half expected to see rats scurrying along the floor. The actual deaf waitress was an… interesting choice. It could almost have made sense if we were all mafia and talking about clearly illegal shit like when we were moving shipments of drugs or guns… but we weren't. We were here to listen to Kaiser try and convince us to throw in with the Empire against the ABB.

It wasn't really legal, but the details wouldn't be worked out here anyway. Any details would likely be hashed out by burner phones and throw away email accounts. Nothing she might overhear could do anyone any good in the first place. Beyond that this was the twenty first century. Wiretaps and listening devices had been a thing for decades. Even a deaf waitress could be hooked up to a microphone and a recorder. It was just so pointless.

Tattletale, as always seemed to know exactly what I was thinking and simply grinned at me. I decided to pass the time and distract myself from her smugness by practicing some simple illusions.

That is to say, I conjured up a cigarette in one of those long mini pipes you see woman in old movies use… and proceeded to blow indigo smoke rings into Tattletale's face. Her coughing and glare told me I had won that round. Making ever more elaborate smoke creations act out tiny skits proved to be a fun way to pass the time. It also got me several chuckles from the bar's other occupants along with a free drink compliments of Newter. Apparently he liked my act.

Maybe I could look into inviting myself to participate in one of Parian's shows? Ham it up like an evil Mouse Protector for the kids and let Parian run me off? Could be fun just for confusing the adults and making the kids laugh. Of course, it might not be the best for my reputation. Then again, having a reputation of being good with kids might not be so bad, as long as everyone knew that when I wasn't amusing them I was all business… tricky. That could be a hard balance to strike.

With only three minutes left before the meeting was set to begin, and every gang in the city except the ABB in attendance the doors opened one last time.

It wasn't Bakuda.

Instead three people walked in. Two Asian men who looked to be in their late thirties and a child wearing a full face helmet.

I went tense. Like a bow string ready to fire. There shouldn't be anyone that young in the ABB. There shouldn't be anyone that pale in the ABB either. I didn't have enough pieces to work out what was going on just yet but warning bells were going off in my head like an Endbringer siren.

"What is the meaning of this?" Kaiser spoke, his voice was cultured but there was an undercurrent of malice.

One of the two men smacked the back of the child's helmeted head causing them to stumble forward. I was out of my seat in an instant red fire burning brightly across my knuckles as I glared at the man. He cowered, back but before I could say anything Grue dragged me back down to my seat.

"A-ah, B-bakuda sends her regards but r-regrets that she is unable to m-make it." The child, a young girl if I was judging the voice correctly stammered out. She was shaking like a leaf. "Bakuda d-didn't trust neutral ground to be enough t-to stop someone from taking advantage when h-her gang has no other capes."

"I see. That is a rather grave insult to our honor, but that is neither here nor there. Who are you child, and what are you doing here?"

"Ba-Bakuda needed someone to come and deliver her message to the meeting. B-but most of her liut- lui, officers don't speak very go-good English. She, she said she needed someone that you were all sure t-to understand."

My blood boiled. My heart beat like a war drum. I could feel my fire surging in all its familiar forms. And just out of reach like a light in the distance I could almost sense something similar, but new. A fourth kind of fire? What would it do, and why now of all times? And why in the hell was it just out of reach?

Then the moments distraction faded into the background as I glared at the two Asian men. This was unacceptable. Not showing up would have been understandable. Sending a representative would have been understandable. Kidnapping some random kid off the street and turning them into a messenger was in no way acceptable.

"She's listening, right? Feeding you lines, telling you what to say?" Tattletale asked her voice hard.

"Yes." The girl seemed to shrink inward.

"Well then, Bakuda, you have to know this is going to piss people off. Kidnapping some random kid to play messenger? You could have just sent some thugs with a phone and a speaker." The girl stayed silent for a moment.

"Bakuda's message isn't j-just words. I-I'm part of the me-message." I dearly wanted to let the fire flow out of me and show the bitch exactly how little I thought of her, but that would only scare the kid, and she was terrified enough already. "M-my Uncle, Steve, he, he works for the Empire."

Just like that the whole atmosphere changed. The Merchent's seemed torn between laughing their asses off and running. I guess they didn't really have any family to target, and they didn't have the morality God gave to animals. I was pretty sure the only thing on their minds was how far away they would need to be to enjoy the show safely when the Empire went on the attack.

Coil was utterly silent, not giving anything away. Faultline and her crew looked tense but otherwise kept their mouths shut. This wasn't their fight after all, no one was paying them. No matter how distasteful they might find it they couldn't set a precedent of working for free.

Our table was a bit of a mix. Alec and Rachel didn't seem to care all that much, but Brian had tensed up and Lisa looked sick. So at least I knew I wasn't the only one in our group who had issues with this.

The Empire though was where all eyes finally drifted. It was just Kaiser, the twins, and Hookwolf here. All four looked like they were ready to commit murder.

Shakily the girl reached up and turned a small knob on the side of her helmet. Synthesized laughter echoed out of it. "Heh, bet I've got your attention now, don't I, fuckers. I'll be blunt since I don't think too many of you would understand if I put this subtly. Stay the fuck out of my territory. I got all kinds of little toys I can attach to all kinds of people before sending them back home to deliver a few presents."

Kaiser's fist slammed down into the table. "How dare you." His voice hissed out of his helmet. "Do you think we can just let this slide? That you can threaten our families and friends and we will simply let you get away with it?!"

Bakuda only cackled more. "I think you don't have any choice, tin man. I'm holding off your whole fucking Empire all on my lonesome. But I'm getting tired of playing with all your little tin soldiers, and it isn't doing business any favors either."

"There are rules, Bakuda. A code we all follow to keep things from boiling over, and you are stomping all over it." Kaiser's voice was an enraged hiss.

"Fuck the rules! You're coming at the ABB to kill me and you get bent out of shape that I'm better at killing back? The only reason I don't bomb this place sky high is I knew you'd be too smart to bring your whole entourage along with you. I don't need you turning into a martyr and leaving me to deal the rest of your little boot lickers."

I spun to look at Lisa. We needed to know if she was being honest about that or not. I was not dying to some bullshit tinker bomb as collateral damage. Tattletale only waved me off and kept her focus on the girl. Well, that was something at least.

"She's not even a member of the Empire!" Kaiser finally lost his cool shouting as he rose out of his seat to slam the table top again with his fist.

"And?" Bakuda voice, even heavily synthesized was filled with clear dark amusement. "You're people like to fuck up anyone who isn't white don't they? I got reports and stories of pregnant woman getting beat so bad they lost their babies because of you Nazi fucks. You telling me you don't like it when someone applies the same rules to your race?" She chuckled. "Kid, put the helmet on the table. Then get out. You to, boys. Get out of there before someone decides you make nice targets."

The gangers booked it without a second thought. The kid though was trembling and shaking as she walked up to the table in the middle of the room. She fumbled a bit and nearly dropped it setting it down, but she got the helmet off. Bright blue eyes and blonde hair. The Arian ideal. But what should have been an adorable little twelve or thirteen year old face was instead a mess of tear tracks and red puffy eyes.

I wanted to swoop down and comfort the poor thing right then and there but Grue kept a firm grip on my wrist holding me in place. As soon as the helmet touched the table she was running out of the bar and into the night.

"This is just a taste Kaiser." Bakuda spoke up sounding smug. "Take the hint and stay the fuck out of my territory."

And then there was a sound from a little way down the road. The high sweet note of a bell only impossibly loud. Like the whole world was ringing.

I was the first one out the door even as the sound of Bakuda's cackling started to echo in the bar. Thirty feet down the road, maybe less, was a five foot circle where everything but the air seemed to have been turned to glass. Right at the center, caught mid stride was the little girl. Now a perfect glass sculpture.

This time I didn't hold myself back. My flames exploded out of me in a small corona of fire swirling about my feet all the way up to my waist. My cloak snapped and cracked like a flag in a windstorm. I could see the flames blurring and merging and spiking out. Indigo and purple flowed together so as to be all but indecipherable. Red spiked through the blend, and I could swear I saw sparks of green floating away from the rest.

All the while Bakuda's insane laughter echoed from the bar behind me. I flexed my power making a raven within the bar. I borrowed its eyes and flew it down to the table top. The raven grew and its beak glowed red. It breathed out fire and slagged the helmet where it rested.

I was vaguely aware of people talking. I recognized some of the voices, but not others. Right then I was just too damn angry to properly care what they might be saying. All that mattered was the drumbeat of my heart calling for fire, and screams, and slow, agonizing death.

Then my anger cooled ever so slightly and I started to plot. Death was too good for her. I needed something worse. Slowly, ever so slowly my temper came back under control and I was able to think more clearly. With clarity came a plan. It wasn't a nice plan. It was the kind of plan that would have someone begging for death.

It was perfect.

 

[Fencer]

AN: I'd just like to preface that the likely biggest reason I didn't actually get to dealing with Bakuda is got caught up in all the talk about flame types and the logic behind them... and I started reading Russian Roulette: Reloaded....... Anyway enjoy! Also fuck, I forgot SV doubles up the line breaks when I copy paste from word.... fuck.

{}{}{}{} Undersider's Loft

Looking through the eyes of an owl as it swoops over the city at night is an interesting experience. I'm sitting still not moving a single muscle and yet at the same time I'm flying three stories up scanning the streets looking for anyone or anything that seemed out of place. All the while my reserves slowly dwindled. Distance made things harder, but with all the practice I had been getting the past three nights I'd gotten pretty good at mitigating that cost. It was… an odd sort of trick. Normally when I made a construct I powered it constantly. The farther away the construct the more power it took to maintain. Now I'd figured out a workaround. I wasn't sure if it would be more cost effective for fighting up close but it was definitely better for long range.

The trick was to make the construct with its own reserve of energy, to supercharge it and set it up to feed off of that energy to maintain itself. Then I only needed to keep a small trickle of power flowing to the construct, a connection, if I wanted to control it directly or borrow its senses. If I didn't need to do either of those I could simply let it act out according to my orders. Granted those orders could only be so complex before I started running into issues, but that was just one more thing for me to train and practice.

I was starting to think I hadn't properly understood my indigo fire. When I had started out right after getting out of the hospital I had called it illusions because all I'd been able to do was cast illusions on people's senses. The illusions that everyone could see, the ones that weren't directly projected onto a person's senses had come later, and then the ability to make them solid had taken longer still. But this? I was essentially making fire and forget minions. Constructs seemed like a much more accurate term. And now… Now talking with Lisa, I was starting to think I would need to redefine the damn flames abilities a third time.

"Taylor," Lisa's voice had a hint of warning to it. "Answer the question. "How is your owl flying around, barely flapping its wings I might add, with a seven pound camera strapped to its chest."

"I'm trying to work that out myself to be honest." I responded quietly. I didn't open my eyes to look at Lisa I was distracted enough by controlling my construct and borrowing its senses that trying to pick apart exactly what it was I was doing was hard enough already.

It had to be something along the lines of how the owl's night vision just worked. I knew that owls have great night vision, I needed my construct to have the same so it did, simple as that. I needed my construct to be able to fly so it did, easy peasy. But Lisa was right. I wasn't having it flap its wings terribly often. Only when I wanted it to fly a bit higher if I was being realistic, the rest of the time it was just gliding. Which was impossible because it meant most of the time my bird wasn't actually generating any lift at all. So then what the hell was I actually doing, and how the hell was I doing it?!

To my senses the construct was a shell filled with power and a thin connection between us. But there was something about the shell, something I had never paid attention to before. With an idle thought I summoned up a dog between Lisa and I. I brought the owl above a building and told it to circle before cutting off the connection to its senses. Without any distractions I focused on the differences between the two constructs. Both were solid shells imitating the creature they represented, both had a reserve of power they drew from to sustain themselves and both had a connection to me, but the owl was consuming power faster than the dog. Like the difference between a tap only open enough to allow a trickle of water and one open a quarter of the way. Neither was a huge drain but it was markedly more. It wasn't the distance, it was some aspect of the constructs shell, something about the two was different.

With a subtle mental twist, I copied the difference from the bird to the dog. Immediately the dog started to drain energy even faster than the owl. I frowned. That didn't make sense, unless.... I shrunk the dog down to the size of the Owl and the drain evened out. Alright so size, or possibly weight, mattered with what I was doing. Now, I just had to test it. I opened my eyes and directed the dog to jump. It sailed clear across the room and bounced off a wall, then kept going. With a mental flex I took control of it the same way I controlled the owl only a few moments earlier. And the dog started flying around the room acting like it was running on solid ground.

"I, uh… I seem to be telling gravity that it doesn't work on my constructs."

Lisa said nothing only continuing to follow the dog with her eyes. A moment of thought later and I was floating a few inches off of the floor as I applied the same trick to myself. I giggled lightly over the fact that yes, I was in fact flying. But grimaced at just how fast doing so burned energy. I was a lot bigger than my constructs, and I had actual weight, or maybe mass is what mattered? It made sense, but still. I would have to play with this more when there weren't more important things to do. Maybe I could use some of the other flames to augment the effect? Or at the very least spread the cost around so I wouldn't risk depleting my most versatile flame?

Paying attention to my constructs once more I realized that the owl's reserve of energy was starting to run low. Glancing at the clock I growled that it was already three. If we hadn't found any leads by now it was probably time to call it a night. Another mental command called the owl back to the loft and I dismissed my connection to the bird entirely even as I dissolved the dog construct.

Lisa finally shook off her stupor long enough to glare at me. "Every time I turn around your power just gets more and more bullshit, you realize that, don't you?"

"Believe me Lisa, I'm just as surprised as you are." I responded as I rubbed tiredly at my eyes. "Three months I've spent trying to get a handle on just what the ever loving fuck it is that my powers actually do, and every single time I think I've finally got a handle on them there's something new. Some new ability I didn't know they were capable of, some way I can be more efficient with them, some weird off the wall trick I can combine them for that by all rights just shouldn't fucking work but…" I trailed off. There was no frigging way what I was thinking could actually work.

I made myself float again, just a few inches off the floor. It was draining, something I wouldn't be comfortable holding for more than a dozen minutes or so. Then I fed the red fire into that subtle twist that told gravity to fuck off… The energy requirements dropped like a stone, and just like that I was sure I could hold this for at least an hour. Yes, I was in fact disintegrating the effect of gravity. Groaning in abject frustration I let go of the effect and sprawled out on the floor cursing my insane nonsensical abilities under my breath the entire time. I'd bet it would be even easier once I multiplied the effects.

I was going to fly. And that was so insanely cool, but I just did not understand how the fuck any of what I was doing worked in the first place!

Lisa must have noticed the owl's camera feed was heading for home because she shut the laptop the thing was connected to and sprawled out on the couch. It had taken a lot of persuasion and a declaration that I would do this on my own if I had to, but Lisa had finally agreed to help me. The others were less onboard. Rachel and Alec just didn't care the way I did. Brian wasn't willing to get in between the clearly insane bomb tinker and the Empire no matter how distasteful he found Bakuda's methods. Truthfully neither was Lisa, but she was at least willing to help me search. That was fine though. I'd been on my own for almost two years. I didn't like it, but I could handle this on my own.

But I had to move fast. The whole damn city was on a deadline. Everyone knew it. Just waiting for the fireworks to kick off. The Empire had declared what Bakuda had done online, and Spitfire from Faultline's crew had confirmed it. Everyone knew no one was safe now. The Empire had a deluge of new recruits who signed up chasing the illusion of security that being in the Empire and getting their hands on a gun would give them. The PRT were trying to lock down the tinker's location and making a show of having lots of visible patrols just to keep the masses from rioting about how they weren't doing their jobs. And while the Empire rushed to arm and train and organize their new recruits before making their inevitable attack on the ABB... Bakuda had bought herself time to work.

Time for her to work meant more bombs for her grunts, more people abducted, and more unwilling suicide bombers. Brockton Bay had often been called a powder keg in the past but it had never been so apparent as it was now. The city could burn for all I cared, that wasn't my issue. After all it's just a place. The inevitable deaths would be horrible, but that was only part of my issue, the gang bangers could rot and everyone else was living on borrowed time anyway. No, my real issue was what Bakuda had done to a perfectly innocent little girl, what she was doubtlessly already doing to who knows how many more kids and bystanders in preparation. Every time I thought about it I could only see one acceptable course of action. I would protect those kids. I would send a message for the whole world to see that what Bakuda had done would not be tolerated.

I couldn't stop things like this. But I would remind all those who did similar or worse that even among criminals there were standards. I would show them that those who ignored said standards had a great deal more to fear than just what the law would do when they were discovered.

I would take this on myself so no one else would have to.

My power spiked within me like an answer to my thoughts. I growled again. That was another aspect of my powers that I was starting to consider more complicated than I originally thought.

Red always responded to the urge to attack or fight. Just the idea of it agitated that aspect of my power. It was destruction, plain and simple.

The purple fire was more finicky but it seemed to like the idea of handling things on my own. The old adage of 'if you want something done right, do it yourself' fit the purple fire to a t. Having to handle this on my own seemed to make it burn all the brighter.

The green fire was harder to lock down… I didn't have as much experience to draw on for it. But I was starting to get a handle on it. It liked the idea of, gah how to phrase it properly? It liked the idea of keeping others out of danger. If that meant I had to take some risk so be it, so long as I kept what I cared about safe, Dad, the Undersiders but more than anything the thought of protecting kids seemed to kick it into gear. It made sense. I knew Dad and the others could handle themselves but kids? They needed to be protected.

Still I couldn't get much out of the green fire, not yet. My reserves were growing but for now I could barely call up enough for a handful. That was fine though. I'd been through this before after all. All it would take was time and practice.

My final flame, my first flame was an odd duck. It was all for fighting but it seemed to love coming at problems from odd angles. Deception, misdirection, tricks, that was what made it respond most strongly. I was fine with that though, I liked working that way after all.

There was nothing quite so satisfying as thinking on my plan and feeling all four flames hum in sync with one another. All aspects of my power agreed with my course of action. Now if only I could find the damn woman!

With a light snarl I stood and began to pace. Tattletale had narrowed the search down to only a portion of the ABB's territory. That helped. Unfortunately, the area she narrowed the search down to was still almost a third of the ABB's territory. Searching with my projections had narrowed it down to perhaps a quarter of their territory, but the ABB were being exceptionally cautious. This slap dash observation method just wasn't cutting it. I needed to stop banging my head against the wall and think. Just because I had access to a thinker who could infer information from near nothing was no excuse to stop thinking for myself!

Now, Bakuda needed materials and space to work. Space should only be a minor issue. Any basement or apartment would likely be enough for a small lab. Materials though were trickier. Electronics, metals, chemicals, tools. And she would need lots of the first three. But if she was being constantly resupplied the protectorate would have caught on already.

She needed some place that would already be full of materials to set up shop or somewhere that new materials coming in wouldn't raise any extra attention. Someplace people could go for normal reasons to pick up her bombs for distribution as well. There weren't any junk yards in ABB territory… But I was willing to bet there were a few electronics and pawn shops. Maybe even a hobby shop?

I grabbed Lisa's laptop and pulled up her map of ABB territory. I highlighted the area we had narrowed down and ran a search for the kind of places I suspected. That got me seven hits. Now those were numbers I could work with.

{}{}{}{}

Yawning I glanced at the clock. It was five AM, but at least I'd finally found the bitch. She had chosen hobby shop with a massive basement as her lab. Variety over quantity I guess. She was keeping her hostages above the shop along with what looked like a slap dash operating room. I didn't think the place was rigged to blow, but who knew how small her explosives could be?

I wanted to move on her right then and there. But I was tired, and I'd burned through more than half of my indigo fire confirming her location. Much as I hated to give the woman more prep time I needed to rest before I pulled what I was planning. I'd hit her in the afternoon then. Possibly the early evening if Lisa was convinced the fighting would hold off that long.

I grinned toothily into my pillow as I imagined Bakuda pointlessly begging for mercy. It was a wonderful thought to fall asleep to.

 

[Fencer]

AN: Right this shouldn't need to be said given all my foreshadowing… but this is going to be a very nasty chapter. Trigger warnings apply, no I won't specify what trigger warnings, that would ruin the suspense. Taylor is going to make her stance on a number of things painfully clear in very short order and she is not going to be remotely nice about it. You have been warned. I do not own Worm or KHR.

{}{}{}{}

Standing on a rooftop a good way down the street from the hobby shop in the early evening I nibbled lightly at my lower lip. I could go about this any number of ways. Really, I had a few simple ways I could imagine handling this safely, but Bakuda was dancing with insanity. What might a cornered crazy person do? Worse what might they not do?

My best guess was not positive.

Much better to play it safe. I wanted this to be dramatic and eye catching, I really did. That way it could serve as the message not to fuck with me I had been contemplating sending to the rest of the city, before this shit kicked off. I did still need to make that clear after all, but that was what part two was for. I would get to it. I just needed to be patient. Until then I would play this safe and smart. Besides, if I could abduct a tinker right out of her lab with no one the wiser as to how? Now that would send a message.

With a deep breath I closed my eyes and folded my legs beneath me to sit on the roof. Ready or not Bakuda, here I come.

I decided to go with bugs again. They had been almost enough to deal with Lung they should be more than enough to deal with Bakuda. More than that they were small, and if I moved them carefully they would be difficult to see moving into place. Laying an ambush in what should be a safe place? Oh yes, Bakuda was in for a nasty surprise.

These insects were different from the ones I had used against Lung rather than the previous horror movie mashup of wasp and scorpion these looked like someone thinned out a spider and gave it hornet wings and a dragonfly's head. Rather than black I went with a grey that would blend in with the walls and floor of the hobby shop and made them only three quarters of an inch. If I needed them to be larger I could make that adjustment later. About two hundred seemed plenty.

I spread them out and staggered their approaches, sending them towards the hobby shop as individuals and in waves. I didn't rush it. Five full minutes later my troops were finally assembled on the roof. Borrowing one's eyes I found the corner of the roof and with careful channeling of the red fire to my constructs mouth and front limbs started to dig through. I took it nice and slow. A flash of red at the wrong moment might just draw attention, and I really did not need that. When my construct saw the first pinprick of light I cut off the disintegration and had it scrape the remainder by, er, limb.

Poking its head in I got my second look at Bakuda's operating theater…. She had a little boy no older than ten strapped down on her table as she soaked surgical tools in rubbing alcohol. The kid was bruised and crying, silently. Everything in me screamed. But I tamped it down. I would handle it. I was handling it! I had a plan, I would follow it, and Bakuda would suffer.

I moved my troops in through the new hole I had made moving them along the ceiling and walls Bakuda had her back to I wasn't taking any chances. Not now. Not here. Not with a kid on that fucking table! I breathed out a snarl as the woman started to monologue. The words were unimportant and hard to focus on. I needed to work on bugs with better hearing. Something about one of her bombs and where the boy wanted it? Finally, I was ready. I wanted to swarm her. But not yet. I would do this as safely as I could.

Three of my constructs flew down to the woman landing feather light on her back. I broke them down to their raw flames. It wasn't a lot but it should be plenty for just this. The first use of my powers. Illusions. The ability to alter a person's senses and impose on them whatever I wanted. I had spent almost a full month thinking that was all my powers could do before my other abilities started to develop. I had let this skill fall a bit to the wayside because I had to focus a lot of attention to just hold up an illusion against one target. The insubstantial projections were just easier to make work against multiple targets. But here and now with only one person to deal with? Here they would work. Oh, I still had to deal with a handful of mooks she kept around, but really? One look at my swarm of monstrosities ought to have them running.

The flames soaked into the woman at my direction forming a direct link to her senses that I could play like a master musician at the piano. It had been awhile since I had practiced this particular skill, not counting saving my Oreos from Dad. That was fine though, I'm sure Bakuda would love to help me shake some of the rust of. My smile was all teeth.

"Now then let's just," She started to say turning to face the kid. Only she couldn't see any kid. Instead I was seated, legs crossed, on her little operating table. My crossed leg bounced. My eye glowed and enough of the shadows hiding my face pulled away to show a deep frown. Bakuda's scream, even through her voice modulator, was very satisfying. Like a fancy appetizer before an exquisite meal. I just wanted more and more.

"You know I was perfectly content to let you and the Empire slug things out, and then you just had to drag children into things." I said conversationally. My insects started to swarm around her dropping lines of silk as they went and then they began to pull. Inside the illusion plants started to sprout from the floor and pull at Bakudas arms and legs. Naturally she started to struggle which pulled the silk tighter and reinforced the idea that the illusion she was being subjected to was real. She started to blink rapidly which caused some kind of display to pop up in her vision. Then it was gone again just as quickly as I stripped it from her sight.

"Now, now, none of that." The image of myself chastised. "You're not going to get out of this that easy after all.

"Bitch, I will kill you!" She snarled, still struggling. Pounding footsteps running up the stairs? Nope, can't let her hear any of that. Think I'll just kill her sense of hearing except for my words. Much simpler than trying to scrub out what noise I don't want. Ten of my creations broke off from what they had been doing and I filled them to the brim with the disintegration effect before placing them in front of the door.

"Such a filthy mouth." I mocked. "Can't you even tell that you've already lost?" The plants which held her snapped her arms to her sides and I set my constructs to binding them in the real world. "Let me help you with that." For her it was like someone forced her to gargle with soap. The taste and sensation of thick suds filled water in her mouth caused the woman to sputter and spit ineffectually into her own mask.

Her men burst through the door of the operating theater and I let my focus shift from Bakuda slightly. Then I gave my orders. The insects went for knees and elbows. If they missed a bit on the first pass because the bastards were moving? Well, I needed to make sure they wouldn't get be able to get away, didn't I? A few extra passes for accuracy were fine. Not like people helping with this deserved things like limbs anyway.

I let the sensation of a mouthful of soap fade. The physical sensation, she got to keep the taste. As she spluttered I set a some of my constructs to disintegrating a patch of outer wall about a foot from the window. I wasn't sure if the bitch would be crazy enough to boobytrap her own building, but I wasn't going to test the theory on a slightly obvious entrance like a window when I could just make a new one out of a bare patch of wall.

"You're going to regret this." She snarled. My image hopped off the bed and walked forward to pat the woman on her gas mask covered cheek.

"If I didn't absolutely loathe you, that might almost be adorable… like a wet kitten trying to hiss at the person bathing it." My image pushed, knocking her to the floor. Plants and insects bound her legs then set to braiding a thick rope leading to the forming hole in the wall.

To be fair, had I not taken her by surprise this would be a very different situation. But why the hell should I bother with fighting fair?

"I'm going to-" Having enough of her winning I decided she could do with a gag. A ball gag. If I was going to do the thing I should do it properly after all.

"Hush." For the first time since hijacking her senses I dropped the mocking tone of voice one uses when talking down to small children and let my true feelings bleed into my voice. "You and the Empire could have slaughtered each other and I wouldn't have cared. Some civilians caught in the crossfire would have made me upset, but it's to be expected. I'd have ignored that. But you went and sprinted right over the line when you weaponized children." The lights dimmed, shadows lengthened, the smell of blood filled the room and my eye glowed so much brighter. Shadows seemed to flex and my cloak rustled in an unseen wind. "You are done. The ABB will soon collapse. And you, you are going to beg for death. Maybe, if you're lucky, someone will even take pity and grant it quickly… I wouldn't really bet on it though."

The wall gave way. I moved my attention back to my body and summoned something I'd been wanting to try for a good long while now. Thirty feet long, with scales that gleamed like my indigo fire when I let it burn formlessly. Claws, four sets, gleaming bright like ivory knives and a mouth full of teeth to match. Eyes that burned a blistering, ruby red, and leathery wings of rich royal purple.

My dragon roared my victory for all of the city to hear.

With quick steps I pulled myself onto its back. I took off winging down the street, just above the rooftops. The rope connected to Bakuda floated out of the hole in her operating theater and my dragon took it in its mouth, ready to drag her out. What was left of the insects pulled together in two groups one for the boy strapped to the table and one for the hostages in the other room. Both took on the form of my covered and shadowed face.

"I am Morganna. Bakuda is done, but I can't deal with tinker tech safely. Stay here, and stay calm. The Protectorate will come for you." Message delivered I dissolved the constructs, reclaiming their energy. Another thought and I was off, Bakuda suspended below me as we flew. I kept her immobilized and didn't let her see whatever her mask was displaying but otherwise I let her see the city passing by below us. Idly I pulled out my phone and called Tattletale.

"Morganna? How'd it go? You alright?"

"Not a scratch." I shouted to be heard over the wind. "I'm going to need that address now though."

"Intersection of Montgomery and Third St. Morganna, are you sure you-" I hung up on her. This was my plan, and I would see it through. My dragon moved higher before angling towards the given location.

{}{}{}{}

The news crew filming some kind of generic piece about the expected gang fighting out at the edge of ABB territory certainly wasn't expecting me to set down a gang leader on camera for them. Or for me to do so on a dragon. Still they kept the screaming and swearing to the absolute bare minimum. Very professional.

I let my dragon go up in flames and floated to the ground amidst the fading construct. When the indigo fire faded away it left only me standing over my still bound hostage. With a negligent wave of my hand I conjured up a hand that looked like it came off of Mickey Mouse. With gentle shoves and some shooing gestures, I moved the woman with the microphone out from in front of the camera. She protested a bit, but not too much. The hand making gimme gestures confused her momentarily but then reluctantly she handed over her microphone. Obediently my construct floated it back to me.

"This is live, right?" I directed the question at the now sidelined reporter. The woman hesitantly nodded conformation. Nodding once in recognition I turned back to face the camera and raised the microphone up to my face.

"My name is Morganna. I am a villain." I said flatly but with steel in my voice. "I am a member of the Undersiders and until recently I was more than willing to let the Empire and the ABB go about murdering one another, even if it did mean a few people got caught in the crossfire. I am not a nice person. I gave up a good chunk of my morals when I chose this lifestyle, and I did so willingly. That being said, I do not, I cannot, abide those who would hurt or kill children!" I snarled.

"Bakuda has been weaponizing children. Implanting them with bombs." I shook my head and took a breath to get myself back under control. "The rest of her hostages can be found on the second floor of the Lang Hobby Shop and Toy store on Lawrence St. I'm not qualified to deal with a tinker's workshop, or her victims. The Protectorate will have to get off their asses and at least do that much of their job themselves." I drawled the last. I did still owe them a few digs and I might as well get all my shots in at once.

"Now, I am turning her in. Given what she has done, I fully expect she will go to the birdcage." I stomped on Bakuda's wriggling form to get her to be still, and because I felt like it.

"If anyone's got kids watching this at home, shut off the damn tv or get them the hell out of the room. You, camera guy, keep that piece of crap running and focused on this or you and I are going to have words."

I summoned up more hands and wrenched Bakuda up onto her knees facing away from the camera. I took my time about it. I wanted to give the folks at home time to follow my instructions after all. This next bit was going to require every ounce of control I had but I could manage it. She might be a tiny bit singed when all was said and done, but probably no worse than a sunburn.

Red disintegrating fire burst into being starting with the bottom of her boots. I frowned a bit at the toe rings doing so exposed but burned them off as well. Socks and pants went quickly. I left her with her underwear and kept going burning off her jacket and shirt leaving only her bra. Last but not least to go was her mask. I didn't look to see her face, and the camera wouldn't be able to see it either, it didn't matter anyway. Bakuda tried to struggle loose, but a half dozen cartoon hands were more than enough to keep her down, and with her hands held behind her back. I willed a pair of handcuffs around her wrists and ankles, and a sack hood over her head.

"From what I understand there are tv's in the birdcage. If that's true I hope that at least some of those there will see this. If anyone in there is watching this I'm sending you a present." Fiery words burst into being a few inches from Bakuda's back. Then pressed themselves into her back, branding her.

Child
Murdering
Cunt​

Her scream wasn't quite as cathartic as I had hoped. I wasn't going to change my mind about this. But it still made a part of me rebel. I squashed it down. I wanted a message to everyone that kids were off limits in Brockton Bay, and that I was not to be messed with. Bakuda brought this on herself, and I would not back down from what I came here to do.

"Do remember," I spoke far more calmly than I was feeling. "Presents are meant to be used."

My piece said I tossed the microphone back to the very pale reporter and applied my new flight trick. Then I flew off into the night.