I can't wait to see her try to claim the leg as a trophy and come to verbal blows with the PRT/Protectorate cuz I can just bet there's laws preventing capes from claiming Endbringer parts as spoils if war...
I doubt she will. She doesn't like the Protectorate/PRT, but she's not so hostile that she doesn't recognize a mutual interest in opposing the Endbringers. And they have labs and Tinkers and Thinkers and so forth that she doesn't have.

If it was important to her sure she'd snag it and carry it off under their noses; as it is however they have far more use for it than she has. She couldn't do much with it besides stick it in a warehouse somewhere.
 
Personal headcanon of mine is that when Fortuna "killed" Eden, and Eden reached out and limited the Path to Victory (put in the blindspots), she also essentially overwrote Fortuna with Entity programming. So while Contessa was supposedly working to prevent Scion from destroying all the worlds, she was in actuality introducing conflict into the worlds and, in her own way, working to achieve the Entities goals.
As a way to handle The Plotcancer, that works better than most.
 
I don't want to do an S9 arc. - Because they suck and I don't want to invest that much time on murder hobos.


My response to this?

You don't want to then don't bother. It's easy to handwave: Kill them off offscreen (maybe by a normal who becomes important later, or like Taylor Varga did where the guy who killed them was only barely important, whose only real contribution to the story was dying to kill Jack Slash) or say they were halfway across the country, like in LA or Washington State - or heck, maybe Canada even, or Alaska, and thus have no ability to make things worse.

And if you want to include them, even if you don't do it now, then make them better.

They suck in Canon because they're horrible, awful people whose only purpose at first was to take a terrible situation and punch the readers IN THE FEELS. While giving Taylor more slippery slope to slip on.

Maybe here they have a point, a moral high ground or a twisting of the truth similar to Taylor's but sufficiently opposite to give her some difficulty in rationalizing it - Jack is a sociopath and master manipulator, and this very point comes up in Yesterday Upon The Stair (Izuku Midoriya sees dead people, especially the murdered) [from Chapter 35 to the end of the Kamino Arc], so it might work well - Or maybe pull something from The Cost of Unity, a Megaman fanfic where each of the area bosses has a point like in Assassin's Creed, each of which challenges X mentally and emotionally.

Or maybe they're a hero team, unironically. Or maybe they're a PRT Black Ops team like in Mauling Snarks, if they're already established in story as the canon murderhobos (I forget).

Or maybe they're a persistent mass hallucination and never existed in the first place! (...that's an interesting concept that I bet nobody's played with. And with Taylor' Illusions, she might see right through it and end up having to fight an invisible, untouchable enemy manipulating the entire town into random murder hobo -ing until she can break that illusion. Story idea to put into the main idea thread, I suppose)

Heck, maybe even just a last-minute change of plans or sudden idea on Jack's end, and things happen that may or may not affect the story at all.

TL; DR:

You don't want them? Don't bring them in.
Do want them but don't like them? Change them. Make them better or make them an actual challenge for her - what is the difficulty? Mental? Emotional? |Broadcast| reading Taylor's Mind and therefore Jack already has perfect counters to her plans through gut feelings and experience? Religious? - and then what does she do to overcome those challenges?

That's what we're here for.

This isn't Wildbow's fanfic, this is Flames, as written by @Fencer. I don't see his name anywhere but the Copyright, so you don't need to justify jack shit to make a good story.
 
To be fair, Protectorate is almost guaranteed to break the rules and try to grab her now. She's got a big boost on a "is a target to recruit no matter what" list
While this is probably true, she also dropped off the bottom of the list for most potential "recruitment" attempts. Between her reaction to Kaiser and the fact her power make her impossible to hold there wouldn't be any point in the PRT or really anyone else I can think of except for possibly Heartbreaker trying to grab her.
And we have the canon example of Lung who stood up to Leviathan himself; and the Protectorate didn't make any effort to recruit him, coercively or otherwise. And Lung's a lot easier to handle, given how narrow and brute force his powers are.

They'd likely be happy enough to try to bribe her into joining; but that's off the table thanks to Shadow Stalker and them covering for her.
 
And we have the canon example of Lung who stood up to Leviathan himself; and the Protectorate didn't make any effort to recruit him, coercively or otherwise. And Lung's a lot easier to handle, given how narrow and brute force his powers are.
They tried to recruit him after Kyushu. Repeatedly. He told them that he wasn't interested, and then he went to China with his mom and got himself captured by the Yangban.
 
and the Protectorate didn't make any effort to recruit him, coercively or otherwise.
Ehh...we don't SEE any attempts to recruit him, but I feel confident there were at least some, even if Lung's personality would ensure they're futile and not even the canon PRT are stupid enough to try forcibly recruiting a Brute/Blaster who scales to meet the threat.
 
Status Update!
Hello amazing readers! For the past 8 to 10 months my update schedule has been a very slow, burning, dump truck full of also burning garbage. The reason being that I lost my reasonable welding job and started working on a road crew that didn't believe in free time for their employees. You've all been pretty amazing and patient while I did my best to bring you updates when I could. The fact I've been getting mobbed by plot bunnies certainly hasn't helped anything. (The plot bunnies are only posted on ff.net if anyone is wondering.)

I'm here to inform you that, with a little elbow grease that should be changing shortly. I've left my road crew job and started a new welding job. Oh forty hour work weeks how I've missed you so! Now I need to get back in the habit of regular writing, and even the mindset to an extent, but I've come back from flat out 6 month periods of not writing when I first got into this hobby before. So I'm not worried about that, it's just a matter of time before I find my groove again.

Now even when I do find said groove again I'm currently writing three fics, not counting distracting enticing plot bunnies. The order of my writing rotation is; Archer, UFME, Flames. So keep an eye out and please just a little more patience as I settle into this new schedule.
 
Last edited:
Awesome! Very much looking forward to your further triumphant return! Congrats on the better job and I hope you get to keep enjoying exercising your muse all over the place.

Flames remains one of the most awesome Villain!Taylor fics and I really can't wait to see where it goes next!
 
Hell yeah! Welcome back! And congratulations on finding a better/less stressful job!
 
Congrats on the job!

We'll be here! Flames is my favourite, and I've missed this Taylor and her Ravens. :D
 
Her flames aren't actually "hot" or "warm" they just disintegrate anything they touch, not burn it to ashes.
So the temperature of the blades he generates doesn't really matter here.
Storm Flames are one hell of a thing, and incredibly useful to deal with evidence.

Good work on the Purity, Night, and Fog thing too. That will keep Purity out of it.
The way to keep Purity uninvolved is to mention Aster and she will not come back. Since Kaiser is going to stop being a problem due to Morgana then Purity doesn't have anything to fear about retaliation and can laugh off Kaiser's attempts at using her by exploiting Aster. Also I hope Kayden kidnaps Theo.


New Wave, she was a villain, but was mostly targeting other villains (E88 in particular) and now E88 attacked her in her home and her unpowered/not-involved-in-cape-life family.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure they all are having Fleur flashbacks.
also Tay's civ ID was an open secret already. Between her new injury really giving it away, just being generally fed up, and being able to put her time to better use not in school... well she's had it and is ready to put her all into her chosen profession.
ok.....so when is she going to break out the Armani suits? You can't have a Familia and not expect their top members and Donna to not be dressed to the Nines and ready to throw down. Besides the Bay already has a James Bond type villain, why not a mafia?

The PRT is incompetent as hell, if they can't keep Uber and Leet in jail, I'm not holding them to be able to keep the peace, take credit for it yes. But they've been remarkably ineffectual in their actions so far.
Ok, I'm going to play Devils Advocate here. To be fair, the PRT is riddled with Spies from the Gangs and Coil is a consultant for the place, meaning he has access to schedules, the routes and the decoys. He can leak the info to the gangs so they can stage the break out to destabilize Piggot's position, which is what he wants, making the organization seem incompetent until he sweeps in as the new director.
On the other hand the ENE branch is understaffed, doesn't recieve the same budget as other branches, and petitions of protectorate capes to be transfered are either denied or they transfer a ward. This is due to the Parahuman Feudalism experiment that Cauldron is conducting. So basically Costa Brown herself is leaving the ENE as hands off and to sink or swim by itself.

Also Uber and Leet may be Villains but they are so small time that they get sent to either small or medium security prisons, which are easy to break out off because Tinker and Combat Thinker.

Idea if Taylor faces Uber and Leet:
"Chickens? Seriously?"
"Oh? I would have thought that the self-proclaimed 'gamer duo' would recognize Cucoos when they saw some."
"Cucoos? ...Oh fuck..."
"That's just cruel."
I agree with Über that is just cruel.....Extremely hilarious though.

slut tattoo onto her back on live tv and told the Birdcage
a Firebrand that says Child Murdering Cunt counts as a slut tattoo? Wow.


It's been ages and she hasn't done one thing with them yet
I mean, there is not much you can do with Lightning Flames unless you get creative. Hardening is an interesting propriety.

please give us a heads up when her eyes are healed so that I can push through the chapters that she has no eyes until the part where she gets them back. the story is really good so I am definitely willing to skim those chapters for a chance of a continued story
I guess you never read or watched Katekyo Hitman Reborn, because there is a worse case there, her name is Chrome Dokuro and almost all her organs are Mist flame projections that Mukuro Rokudo is keeping existing, same way that Taylor is using a pair of mist constructed eyes to see, thing about Mists is that if they are powerful enough they can almost make reality their bitch.

I don't want to do an S9 arc.
You do realize that you could simply have Taylor Slaughter them right? Make it a curbstomp. Flames are a manifestation of the soul, and powers don't know how to counteract them, and since she is not a parahuman then Jack, technically Broadcast, won't see her coming. Send her as a mist clone and proceed to wreck their shit. Storm Flames will counter all of the 9, except the Siberian. I mean there are no viruses capable of survive having their atoms destroyed so...

Bonesaw? Storm Flames....or maybe a mafia redemption? Could be interesting, specially if the Dying Will Flames begin extending in the world, but no Taylor already has a Rain Guardian, and I think the Sun Guardian is going to be Panacea.

Crawler? won't be able to adapt to Storm Flames and if he, by some unholy miracle, does actually manage to slow down the destruction of atoms in his body then simply trap his mind in an illusion, or if Taylor unlocks Rain Flames use them to chill him so much he will simply give up living.

Shatterbird? a giant Mist projected cloud saturated with Storm Flames.

Mannequin? Storm Flames, same trick as Shatterbird.......or maybe do a bit of research and trap him in an Illusion of his family, he may be a monster but The Third was the one who set him on that path, so give him a few minutes of peace before Storm Flames.

Cherish.....Basically anything you want, heck use Lightning Flames to "harden" Taylor against Master influences and then capture her for Jean-Paul to decide what to do with her sister. If not? Storm Flames.

Hatchet Face? Did you know that Storm Flames are very useful and convenient? Just like Fireball in D&D, solves so many problems.

Siberian? Since Manton has to have his senses connected to his projection best bet would be using Mist Flames to rob it of its senses and it may end up affecting him so his van crashes and falls down into the water of the docks, not a pair of Cement Shoes but hey, sometimes you don't have the time to honor the classics.

And finally, Jack....well Morgana should first monologue a bit, mock all he has done, say that there is no legacy for him and no one would remember him once he is dead, he would be just a footnote in history....then Mist Illusions and Storm Flames.

This would net Morgana an S Class designation in her Threat Ratings and considering she did what no hero, or villain, has been capable of doing for years then there is no way anyone sort of the Triumvirate is ever going to try to Tango with her....that or they are stupid and or suicidal. Also have her give Alexandria a bouquet of flowers to put in Hero's resting place, a sincere token and offer her condolences.

Personal headcanon of mine is that when Fortuna "killed" Eden, and Eden reached out and limited the Path to Victory (put in the blindspots), she also essentially overwrote Fortuna with Entity programming. So while Contessa was supposedly working to prevent Scion from destroying all the worlds, she was in actuality introducing conflict into the worlds and, in her own way, working to achieve the Entities goals.
Yeah but thing is Eden only did the Restrictions part, The Eye or PtV was already preparing the board for a new hub and creating a new entity if Zion died. Its the whole reason Ward is such a fucking mess and the Titans exist.

So Earth Flames counterpart when?
the Dying Will Flames of the Earth ARE the counterpart the the Dying Will Flames of the Sky, which Taylor possess...but yeah it would be interesting to find Taylor's other side of the coin.

*I take out a Chart that would make Datcord proud and I proceed to write MorganaXposible male inheritor of DWF of the Earth* Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to have some scotch, and snuggle with my boy
 
Last edited:
Hello amazing readers! For the past 8 to 10 months my update schedule has been a very slow, burning, dump truck full of also burning garbage. The reason being that I lost my reasonable welding job and started working on a road crew that didn't believe in free time for their employees. You've all been pretty amazing and patient while I did my best to bring you updates when I could. The fact I've been getting mobbed by plot bunnies certainly hasn't helped anything. (The plot bunnies are only posted on ff.net if anyone is wondering.)

I'm here to inform you that, with a little elbow grease that should be changing shortly. I've left my road crew job and started a new welding job. Oh forty hour work weeks how I've missed you so! Now I need to get back in the habit of regular writing, and even the mindset to an extent, but I've come back from flat out 6 month periods of not writing when I first got into this hobby before. So I'm not worried about that, it's just a matter of time before I find my groove again.

Now even when I do find said groove again I'm currently writing three fics, not counting distracting enticing plot bunnies. The order of my writing rotation is; Archer, UFME, Flames. So keep an eye out and please just a little more patience as I settle into this new schedule.

Hurrah for getting a new job you like better. Good luck. Fortunately, I read enough different stories that one or two updating slowly doesn't drive me away, thanks to that handy notification that the OP has Spoken.
 
A different KHR Worm Cross.
AN: Yo, so I meant to get to work on Flames today. That did not happen. And I felt a little bad about that but... eh? My jobs been throwing overtime at me which is good for my wallet, but not great for the muse. I've started working on the next update but in the meantime I thought you guys might like this. It's from my FF.net snippet thread and is a different take on a Worm X KHR cross.

Everything was frozen in a moment of perfect clarity. Dad's lifeless body tied to a chair not ten feet away, red slowly dripping from the two bullet holes in his chest forming an expanding pool around him. The smell of copper hung sharply in the air from the blood, it mixed with pungent cigarette smoke, and just a hint of sulfur from the gunshots. The man standing in front of me was dressed in khaki slacks and a black button down dress shirt, blond haired with a cigarette half burned down and glowing cherry red where it hung between his lips. But most prominently of all was the pistol being pointed at my chest. Fleetingly I was almost disappointed that Hollywood lied and there wasn't a wisp of smoke from the just fired gun. More than anything though, in that moment I knew down to my bones that in spite of everything… I wanted to live. Even in the face of death, especially in the face of death, I had a will to live.

Something in the back of my mind seemed to click into place. Energy and heat surged just under my skin, racing out from my heart to fill my entire body. My body held it in for a moment but there was too much energy moving too quickly. A heartbeat later it burst free.

The abandoned warehouse, the hitman, Dad. They all disappeared in a maelstrom of orange flame.

{}{}{}{} Max Anders

"What do you mean Victor is dead?" I bit out. "It was supposed to be a simple hit. Take out Hebert and his daughter, cow the rest of the dockworkers into submission. How did two civilians manage to kill a moderately powerful Rain?"

Brad shrugged and went back to cleaning his nails with a knife.

"One of them went active. Sky flames, strong ones too."

"... even then, a fresh active killed Victor?"

"Firestorm, Max. The whole place went up like it was soaked in gasoline."

"Damn… it's been so long since the Bay had any Skies. I'd forgotten just how ridiculous they can be."

"Not since the vigilante's managed to off Lavere." Brad tapped the flat of his blade against his palm. "This is going to get messy, boss. Triad won't like her running around loose. Not with Kenta running the show, well, not if the rumors about why he's so far from China are true. The vigilantes are going to scramble to get her under their thumb. No idea what the snake, or the mercs will do. But if we try to bring the newbie on board sooner or later there's going to be blood between them and Vic's wife. Not sure even a Sky is worth our only Sun with the control for healing."

I closed my eyes and thought carefully about what I knew about each group and Skies in general.

"Your right, and that's assuming the new Sky wouldn't realize Victor was one of ours, possible but unlikely given he was white and didn't dress like one of the snakes men. It's all too likely they're already against us."

"So, hunt em down and kill em?"

"... No." I tapped a finger against the arm of my chair. "Not yet at least."

"Oh?"

"There's been some very quiet studies done over the decades, starting with a Russian Cloud during the cold war. Even an inactive sky can cause a citywide increase in flame activation rates. Something about their flames reaching out for harmony brings them to the surface in others. Like a mating dance drawing out potential partners. An active Sky has a much more pronounced effect. Even a few fresh recruits of middling flame strength would be valuable. The longer she stays alive the more potential recruits she'll set loose on the city. Even if we're competing with the rest for them the chaos alone could be beneficial so long as we are prepared."

Brad made a thoughtful noise in the back of his throat and nodded slightly.

"Besides, they're alone and untrained, it would take years, decades really, for them to become a credible threat to our organization as a whole. We'll simply have to monitor the situation and step in before they grow too powerful. With a little luck they'll find an inoffensive niche to fill and we'll be able to ignore their existence entirely and just reap the benefits of their presence."

"Well, that's boring, but I guess it works for now. Though I'll be surprised if they last more than a few weeks."

"Perhaps. If they have even the general awareness of one used to the rougher parts of town, that and a Sky's vaunted intuition might be enough to keep them alive until they find their feet."

"I'll believe that when I see them alive and thriving." Brad dismissed airily. With a grunt he left his seat to wander off.

{}{}{}{} Kenta

"A Sky?" I gave the pitifully weak Storm my full attention. "You are sure of this?"

"Yes, sir." They answered promptly without raising their head. "I've only met the one Sky when I left the city with you last year but… I could never forget that feeling."

I leaned back fully in my chair. A Sky. In my city. The Flames roiled under and over my skin casting a purple glow on all around me. Not as annoying as most Mists on a personal level, but infinitely more vexing to contend with. Always pushing and questing and testing and never strong enough to bind me. What few Skies I'd met that might come close were inevitably incompatible. Truly coming so far from Triad controlled territory and staking my own claim where no Skies held dominion was the best decision I'd ever made. If the baby Sky decided to try my patience as so many had before I would kill them. But if they could behave...

The pitiful excuse for a Storm was one of the few active Flame members I could lay claim too. And while Lee was skilled, he had never fully recovered from a head injury in our youth, and that left him singularly disadvantaged compared to most Mists. This was an opportunity. A risky, annoying opportunity, but one I might not be able to let pass.

Perhaps…

"Do we know the allegiance of this Sky?"

"No one has claimed them yet."

Not a guarantee, they could just be staying silent. But if they were not aligned with an enemy...

"Tell the men to stay alert for any news of this new Sky. If they wander into our territory… We will send them to the mercenaries. With any luck they will click and the Sky will be out of the city as often as they are in it. If they trespass a second time I will see them dead."

The man simply nodded acknowledging his orders.

"Now, tell me, why has the protection money came up a thousand dollars short this month?"

{}{}{}{} Colin Wallis

I glared down at the work bench, more specifically my heavily modified flame reactive halberd. Making it carry a charge from my Lightning flames was child's play, a metal baton could have done that much. Getting it to multiply the effect of my Flames so I could expand less Flames was significantly more difficult.

"Colin."

"Hannah." I didn't bother looking up from my project.

"The warehouse fire was one of us, someone new."

That was interesting enough to give her my full attention.

"You didn't recognize the Flame signature?"

"Didn't even need to get close enough to check it. They were Sky flames, Colin."

"... Damn it. Do we know who? Are they one of the gangs?"

"No way to tell just yet. We'll have to be on the lookout."

"Damn, as if things weren't bad enough, already. I'll have to pass word along."

"Do you think they'll send more support?"

"...No. Much as we might not like it this city isn't as important on the national level. But we might be able to recruit more locally soon."

She hummed noncommittal and started to strip her pistol.

A Sky. Damn it all to hell. If one of the gangs got their hands on a Sky… Or worse if this Sky decided to form a new gang. We really would need to be on our guard in the coming weeks. The city might not be as volatile as Chicago, or Vegas, but things were tense enough. A Sky might be enough to start a gang war just by existing.

But if we could draw them into our cause… I took a deep breath and forced my muscles to loosen up. It would be good to recruit a Sky. It would. They wouldn't be ready to join the fight any time soon, they wouldn't be taking over command from me. The leaders would likely pull them out of Brockton Bay and send them elsewhere for training regardless. This was my command. No wet behind the ears Sky would change that.

Now… If we could just convince the Pelham's to come out of retirement to help contain this. Not that it was likely. Their son and niece were still in high school and dependent on their parents after all, their daughter being a college freshman wasn't much better. Though with a Sky lose in the city, and given their parents history… How likely were they to go active? Well, if nothing else that might get me in the door long enough to try convincing them again.

{}{}{}{} Aisha Laborn

"Come on, Lisa. Can you find them or not?" I glanced around, last thing we needed was some skin head shit heal getting the drop on us. Yeah we had flames, but there were enough Nazi shits who could light up in technicolor that it wasn't a guarantee of safety. No matter how lazy and quiet the dumb shits were most of the time.

"Don't rush me. This isn't exactly something I have a lot of practice with." The blonde snarked back. "Though they are making it easier with just how much they are leaking their flames." She closed her eyes at the next corner then decisively turned down a back alley. "You know your brother is going to have a fit about this don't you?"

"What doesn't he throw a fit over? But this is a Sky!"

"Don't get your hopes up, girl. You have any idea how unlikely a Guardian Bond is?"

I waved that off.

"You don't win the lottery if you don't play. And if we don't click? We still might get a Sky in our corner. That would be huge! Like, no more bottom of the barrel snatch and grab shit, we could actually move up in the world!"

The Misty cynic just hummed doubtfully. This, this was the problem with this city. No one had any freaking ambition. Not the big gangs, not the regular people, and not even the people I hung out with. 'Always keep your head down, stay under the radar, forget the big leagues, just focus on staying alive.'

Yeah, staying alive was important, but it didn't do a hell of a lot of good if you weren't really living. Right now, all we were doing was surviving on scraps. That just wasn't good enough for me. I didn't really want to be one of those dicks enabling people like Mom. But I sure as shit didn't want to spend the rest of my life squatting in abandoned warehouses and barely having enough to stay fed and warm.

Sure, this was a long shot, and it wouldn't turn things around overnight even if it did work out perfectly. But looking into it couldn't make things worse, and having a Sky on call? Yeah, that could definitely make things better. It was better than just waiting for things to get better on their own.

Surreptitiously I spiked my flames internally. Brian was stuck on the obvious uses of Hardening, but that was because he was boring. I wanted to be hard to notice, and I'd bend common sense over a table to make it happen. This wasn't a part of town where I could just wander around.

"I wish you wouldn't do that. It's always a pain trying to remember that you're here."

"You want to deal with the headache or you want to deal with a couple pissed off Storms and a Cloud?"

"Fiiine. This is less annoying than running for our lives. But if we don't find this Sky soon, we're going to have to bug out anyway. We're just lucky there only passing through the edge of Empire territory."

"Man, they better not be a skinhead, or I might as well just convince Brian we'd be better off moving."

Lisa chuckled but she didn't sound amused.

"Probably, yeah. Shame all the nearby cities are more likely to just kill outsiders."

"I get it, I get it. Shits fucked all over and we've only got crap options."

"That's the only reason I'm even entertaining this goose chase. Either this falls in our favor or we're going to need a real plan. Not just our next minor score. I'm talking some major haul and then tearing out of here as fast as we can with a real destination in mind."

"... I didn't realize things were that bad." I really hadn't. Sure, we were only just getting by. But we were small enough that the big dogs weren't interested in rooting us out.

"That fucking snake is poking around trying to find us. No one knows what exactly his deal is, but last time he went poking around after a small time flame active, they disappeared. I can think of at least a half dozen reasons for them to disappear like that. I don't like any of them."

I shivered and it had nothing to do with the weather.

"Yeah, point. So, we make this work or we get the hell out of here?"

"Honestly? I'm all for making this work and getting the hell out of here anyway."

"Think you could convince everyone else?"

"... Maybe. Brain's going to be the sticking point. And maybe this Sky if we can win them over. Beyond that? I just don't know what we could actually hit that would bring a big enough pay off. Not without taking a massive risk."

I bit my lip. This wasn't really my thing. Stealing wallets, and some snatch and grab, sure. Figuring out how to pull in enough cash to get six teens out of the city to who knows where? Lisa was right we would need to hit something big for that kind of cash.

"You and Brian will figure something out."

She shot me a cheeky grin, but it seemed just a bit hollow. Then her head swung to the left. I felt it too. A small burst of unfamiliar flames that sent a shiver down my spine. They felt warm and soft and inviting. Like a promise of hot chocolate on a cold day. If that wasn't the Sky we were looking for I was a freaking Cloud. Three quick back streets later we found her leaned against a chain link fence.

A lean girl, maybe sixteen with long wavy black hair and eyes that glowed bright orange.

She was powerful. Just being this close to her was enough to drive that point home. Lisa and I weren't weak. In terms of just power we were on the same level of the Empire's better fighters, just with a hell of a lot less experience. This girl though… I'd seen Kenta fight once, at a distance. She wasn't quite that strong, but she wasn't far off from it either. And there was no telling just how much power she'd burned going active and stumbling across the city leaking flames like Mom's sink.

This really might be the opportunity we needed. This girl might just turn everything around for us.

I purged my flames. I didn't need her fighting them to pay attention to me.

"Yo," her head whipped around to stare at us as she forced herself into a shaky as hell fighting stance, "easy, easy. We're not looking for a fight. Though we were looking for you."

She rocked on her feet not lowering her fists and not saying a word. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Lisa open her mouth. I cut her off before she could fuck this up.

"Look I know this whole deal is crazy and you're probably freaking out. Never mind whatever kind of shit show you must have been through to bring your flames out without training. Believe me, we both know just how much that sucks." The girl glanced between us and seemed to hesitate.

"But listen, you think things are bad now? You keep leaking flames like that you're going to be in even more trouble."

"She's right." Lisa cut in. "Anyone close enough with active flames can feel yours right now. If they're as good as me they can even track you while you're letting them off like you are. This is Empire territory. Sooner or later someone will notice. Then their flame active members are going to come looking. No offense, but you don't really look like a fighter. Not yet anyway."

"I…" The girl started then hesitated, her fists came down a little and her stance eased up a bit. "I don't have anywhere to go. I can't, I can't control this." She waved her hands and small licks of flame flickered between her fingers filling the alley with more of the wonderful feeling of Harmony.

Lisa nodded thoughtfully and took a couple slow steps forward.

"That's pretty common for someone who just went active, but we can't afford to wait for you to exhaust yourself. Listen, that fire? It's called Flames of Dying Will. It answers to your willpower. You're confused, you don't have a goal in mind, but your emotions are probably still all over the place from whatever made you go active. The flames are just acting up without a goal, but they answer to your will. You need to want them to calm down. Take a few deep breaths and just," She glanced my way and grinned, "just focus on staying hidden."

I rolled my eyes. Getting the new girl to try my trick should be copyright or something. But if it kept us under the radar… Whatever, I could work with it.

She closed her eyes and almost slipped into a trance.

I nearly missed it. One moment there was an upset Sky standing in front of me and the next it was like she blurred into the background. Like she was a part of the city instead of a person. It wasn't the same as my trick, it might, might, be even better.

"Sky's are bullshit." I muttered to Lisa. Girl just snorted and stepped up to take the Sky's hands in her own.

"Ok that's good. Keep doing that. Now, I know you don't know us, but you can crash with us for now. With any luck we can all help each other out."

The girl's eyes snapped open and stared at Lisa like she could look clear through all her bullshit. Hell, Sky, she might just be able to. Finally, she nodded to herself.

"...Ok. I'm Taylor."

I grinned and slung an arm around Lisa's shoulders.

"Aisha, and this is Lisa. Girl, I'm betting you feel like shit right now but I promise, this is gonna be the start of a beautiful friendship!"

AN: This one is actually really tempting for me. No Endbringers, No Scion, No Cauldron. It's a full crossover, but given the setting is so far removed from Japan or Italy it isn't immediately relevant, which means the first few story arcs can be dedicated to Taylor finding her feet and some of the major changes made. Then I've worked out a great plot to follow on the setting up stages which leads to Tay getting roped into the larger criminal world which KHR established, comes complete with Reborn shenanigans and lots of fight scenes, assassinations, etc. Also cooking. I don't know why but my muse latched onto the idea of Taylor and company running a restaurant that sets itself apart by imbuing effects into the food through Flames. I know it's weird, but it's amusing me. This fic is up for adoption.
 
I too must admit that I liked that a lot. Not just the fic-snippet itself, but the world building that it suggests.
 
i loved this, how much? let me put it this way



I appreciate your enthusiasm, really I do, but I've got three fics going and you should all know by now that it makes my updates slow even when I am on the ball. I am not starting a forth. Fics up for adoption I've got a vague plot outline someone could build on and some ideas and notes but I just can't juggle more than I already am.


I too must admit that I liked that a lot. Not just the fic-snippet itself, but the world building that it suggests.
I definitely have some background plotting done for this fic and world building is part of that good eye.
 
She closed her eyes and almost slipped into a trance.

I nearly missed it. One moment there was an upset Sky standing in front of me and the next it was like she blurred into the background. Like she was a part of the city instead of a person. It wasn't the same as my trick, it might, might, be even better.

"Sky's are bullshit." I muttered to Lisa. Girl just snorted and stepped up to take the Sky's hands in her own.

"Ok that's good. Keep doing that. Now, I know you don't know us, but you can crash with us for now. With any luck we can all help each other out."

The girl's eyes snapped open and stared at Lisa like she could look clear through all her bullshit. Hell, Sky, she might just be able to. Finally, she nodded to herself.

"...Ok. I'm Taylor."

I grinned and slung an arm around Lisa's shoulders.

"Aisha, and this is Lisa. Girl, I'm betting you feel like shit right now but I promise, this is gonna be the start of a beautiful friendship!"

...Is Taylor in Hyper Dying Will mode here? Or Ultimate Dying Will mode? Because from how it's described her will to live was so strong that she shot straight into Ultimate Dying Will Mode.

Hell, with how strong her flames are on the outset will she even be able to actually get out of Dying Will mode? Because it seems like she's still running with it on, but went into a form of the Minus State to hide herself.

Either way, interesting idea and the concept behind it seems fun.
 
I'd say if in the future one your fics are done and no ones adopted it, start it yourself. That was awesome and I barely know anything about KHR. Just half remembered wiki dives to learn what the Flames are.

Funnily enough, I think it was stumbling across this story on FF.net that introduced me to you despite never knowing anything about KHR before, so I have you to thank for introducing me to the series. It's on my ever growing "to watch" list.
 
...Is Taylor in Hyper Dying Will mode here? Or Ultimate Dying Will mode? Because from how it's described her will to live was so strong that she shot straight into Ultimate Dying Will Mode.

Hell, with how strong her flames are on the outset will she even be able to actually get out of Dying Will mode? Because it seems like she's still running with it on, but went into a form of the Minus State to hide herself.

Either way, interesting idea and the concept behind it seems fun.
honestly I don't remember what ultimate dying will mode is. Sorry. I actually took the basics of the opening from a handful of KHR fics I've enjoyed in the past.

don't remember the name of the fic but fem Tsuna got abducted went flame active and burned a yakuza boss to death thus gaining control of a gang years before Reborn shows up. Think that's been used in a few fics actually. I just adjusted things to make it work for brockton bay and worm.
I'd say if in the future one your fics are done and no ones adopted it, start it yourself. That was awesome and I barely know anything about KHR. Just half remembered wiki dives to learn what the Flames are.

Funnily enough, I think it was stumbling across this story on FF.net that introduced me to you despite never knowing anything about KHR before, so I have you to thank for introducing me to the series. It's on my ever growing "to watch" list.
It's on the short list... granted the short list isn't really that short but yeah this one has a great deal of potential. Then again so do the avatar the last Airbender, one piece, young justice and there were a few other worm snips too. Taylor's Tulpa's has insane potential, like holly fuck levels of potential though it needs some refinement. I've got too many ideas. Maybe I need to work on condensing some of my writing.
 
Last edited:
honestly I don't remember what ultimate dying will mode is. Sorry. I actually took the basics of the opening from a handful of KHR fics I've enjoyed in the past.

Well, from how you described it with Taylor's eyes glowing with the flames, and her body emitting enough flames to be equivalent to a firestorm, it seems like she went so far into dying will mode that jumped past Hyper and straight into Ultimate. Which is...both interesting and concerning, because she's throwing around a lot of power and has the super intuition that comes with it, but I'm not sure if her body can actually handle it.

Honestly, it seems like a case of her flames actually being too strong for her to handle. Which would make it interesting if she receives some form of super intense backlash after her flames die down.
 
Honestly, it seems like a case of her flames actually being too strong for her to handle. Which would make it interesting if she receives some form of super intense backlash after her flames die down.

Just how much of a backlash do you think we're talking about here? Mumei going to sleep after a heavy battle or Deku using One For All at 100%?
 
Back
Top