Spirit Detective Taylor (Worm x Yu Yu Hakusho)

Before the Storm! Overcoming Sorrow 5.1
February 22nd, 2011

I was ejected from my bed forcefully as a shrill scream pierced the fog of my fading dream. Sheets tangled around me while I struggled to make sense of the world. I was in my room at home, the person in my bed ceased their screaming only to shift to wailing sobs. Amy was in my bed, she was crying. She had another nightmare.

I was back on my feet and crawling back onto my bed in an instant, pulling the disheveled brunette into a tight hug as her crying seemed to only grow worse.

"Shh, it's okay Amy, I'm right here." I whispered into her ear, while tracing soothing circles along her back. "Nobody will hurt you here, you are safe."

The girl in my arm shivered. "I keep seeing their faces. Their eyes…" Amy said between her wailing. "I unmade them. I ended their existence."

"Yes, you did." I answered. "Because of you they can't hurt anyone else ever again."

"How can you just say it like that? My power should be a Panacea yet I used it to kill. Thirty seven people Tay, three of which were children."

"Heartbreaker's children." I reminded her. "All of them were powerful Masters in their own right. You did the right thing, Amy. None of your friends will hold it against you."

"What if I hold it against me?" I held her tightly as she spoke. "Carol was right about me. I should just turn myself over to the Birdcage before I do something to someone I care about, something that I can't take back."

"If you did that, I'd break you out." I said as she sucked in a sharp breath. "I told you, I'm not going to give up on you. You mean far too much to me, and I wouldn't stand around doing nothing while one of my most important people was sent to a literal hell on earth."

"I don't deserve to have you in my life."

"Face it, you're stuck with me Ames." I glanced at my alarm clock and saw just how close it was to going off regardless. "Wanna surprise Dad with breakfast?"

I was grateful to see the ghost of a smile across her face.

I let Amy use the restroom first while I got started on breakfast. It wasn't anything fancy, but thanks to our training we tended to eat a lot. Scrambled eggs with sausage links and toast. Two dozen eggs met our mixer and were set to sizzling.

Amy came down and took over the prep work while I headed back upstairs to take care of my own needs. The cooked eggs and sausage were covered with cheese in a casserole dish and tossed into the oven, then it was off for our morning run and spar. We were keeping it light in the mornings where school would get in the way, so there was no spectacle and no Vicky. Genkai had her on a special program now that she was starting to tap into her own latent Spirit Energy.

I did not envy her.

The snakes on the other hand? Maybe a little.

We mixed up our routes, mostly to avoid the paparazzi that were having a field day that Amy had moved out of the Dallon home and into mine. Add in Carol's mandated therapy after being Mastered by Cherish? The media circus was a bit much, which is why I shouldn't have been surprised that they were getting creative with stalking us.

One person was jogging along the path we were on, and just as we came up alongside him, grabbed my arm. "Ms. Hebert, care to make a state—"

I slammed him to the ground and pinned his arm behind him until I heard it dislocate.

Let it be known, I hated vultures.

"Quit your bitching." I hissed. "You chose to attack an out cape in public, you can fucking deal with the consequences."

He looked up at Amy, hope sparkling in his eyes.

"I'm not healing you."

We left him there and continued our jog, placing a call to the police as we did.

I really hated Mondays.



It said something that the police were content to take a verbal statement rather than ask us to come in. Amy had put enough of them back together after gang attacks to earn more than a bit of good will, not to mention everyone knew she had stopped Heartbreaker. The Guild was even in the process of paying Amy his considerable bounty.

That didn't erase the trauma Amy endured thanks to him. Seriously, fuck Heartbreaker. If he wasn't already doomed to what amounted to eternal torment, I would ask for him to be brought back from the depths of hell and send him back myself. Slowly, and in pieces.

He deserved nothing less.

It was almost surreal that after all that, Amy wanted to return to school to finish out her year, but I understood the resolve she was showing. She refused to be seen as weak, she didn't want anyone to take her choices away from her like that stain on humanity had tried to do. It was her choice to kill him, and she accepted that it had to be done. She had killed people just as I had, we were both killers now no matter how we justified it.

We both knew that made the next time easier, we'd crossed the line once, doing it again would be simpler reasoning. Humanity was a fragile thing, something easy to lose sight of when you stood above others, or had something worth sacrificing for. We could justify anything in the name of an ideal or goal, and we'd crossed a line we could never take back.

Genkai was helping us as she could, between her council and history lessons. Her love, Toguro, was a bastard, but he did what he felt was necessary to never be weak again. Yusuke had been his challenge to that way of thinking, to see which path was right. In the end, Toguro accepted he had been wrong, he learned that lesson, that might doesn't always make right, even if it cost him his soul to learn that lesson. He did it so others might learn from him, and Yusuke had. I wanted to count myself among that number, others learned the hard lessons through experience, it was only right that those to come after heeded the lessons of those who walked before us.

Arcadia put Winslow to shame. I already knew this from my visits over the last month to meet up with Amy and Vicky, but there were clean halls, no obvious gang activity, hell, not even a clandestine drug deal in the bathroom according to my senses. The teachers were on point when things went bad, which was a rare thing. If homeschooling wasn't working out so well for me, I might have considered putting in a request to enroll next year.

It didn't matter, Amy was a senior and I was testing out for my GED in June, high school was a fleeting thing for both of us. I'd follow her to Brockton U if she wanted to attend, otherwise we would forge our own path.

It still surprised me that Arcadia didn't object to my shadowing Amy in the wake of Heartbreaker's attack on the school. The alternative was to pull her from school, and Arcadia likely didn't want to lose the clout of having one of the biggest names in Capes attending. That she often healed students when injured, especially on the sports teams? Yeah, they would be fools to let her go.

The teachers didn't even bother me as I did my own class work, my phone was granted access to the repeaters at all times in a similar way most of New Wave's was, Vicky had lost the privilege long before all the drama went down. It beat having to explain how my phone was seemingly Tinkertech for how it could bypass the faraday cage over the school. Still, I had a laptop paired to my phone and was blitzing through my schooling.

"Kinda jealous you're getting to graduate after only two years of high school."

I glanced over at Amy beside me, she was writing a short essay on the One Hundred Year War. "Says the girl that skipped second grade."

"High School is so awkward when you are normal, add powers onto that?"

I winced. Amy had triggered in public during her freshman year, when Vicky was almost killed in an attack by some two bit group. Add in her family already being unmasked, it would make things incredibly awkward.

"Not sure you want to go through what I did to escape high school." I said, softly.

Memories of the locker weren't pleasant, spending two days slowly being eaten while dying of hypothermia and dehydration? Absolute hell was one word for it. Arcadia wasn't that school, but it was close enough to dredge up the memories.

Amy fell silent, her essay forgotten as what she said hit her. I hated it, but we were both broken girls with heaps of trauma to work through. Hiding from it wouldn't do either of us any favors in the long run.

Still, Amy's trauma was fresher, raw. I'd tried to talk her into taking it easy for at least another week, but she wasn't having any of it. The nightmares hadn't stopped, but they weren't as frequent. All I could do was be there for her as she handled it in her own way.

"Vicky's picking up pizza." I said, attempting to lighten the mood. "Pity it takes so much energy to fly."

"Yeah…" She agreed, wistfully. "We'll get there eventually."

That we would. Genkai's training was never easy, but the results spoke for themselves. Two months and I could bench press a bus and survive massive explosions. Even less time and Amy was able to spawn forests at will. Castiel lacked our raw power but he could hold his own thanks to fine control of his energy in conjunction with his power. Vicky was able to see Genkai in her spirit form now at least, but she still hadn't managed anything resembling external control of her Spirit Energy. Sophia…

Well, Cas was putting her through the ringer if the recent picture of her broken nose was any indication. A simple message accompanied the photo.

'I warned her.'

It had been a good laugh before school, something that we both needed. Sophia was a monster, she had a hand in killing me. It irritated me to no end that not one of the trio had been brought to justice. Madison skirted out by latching onto Insight, Emma's dad claimed a psychotic break and got her into a psych ward instead, and Sophia had gone to ground until shit hit the fan and bizarrely ended up being one of the few to stand with me.

Sophia helped me get Amy back. Even if she might not have been needed in the end, she hadn't backed down in the face of Heartbreaker. Amy had saved herself, but she hadn't been in any condition to do much else. Who knows how far she might have slipped if we hadn't found her, or how far Heartbreaker's scheme might have gone if Sophia hadn't helped bring Uber down.

I didn't like it, but Sophia had stepped up when it counted. It didn't absolve her of what she did, but it was still something. Enough at least that I wasn't planning on chasing her down again to put in prison. That her association with Cas kept her close enough to keep an eye on her only helped, even if they were nominally in Insight's camp.

Something about her didn't sit well with me, and Cas agreed. She had her hands in too much, something told me Insight would be willing to do a great many things to accomplish her goals. Hiring my bullies was among them for whatever reason. She had to know that would only serve to push me away, so why bring them onboard if I was one of her recruitment targets?

I was missing something and it irritated me to no end.

"You're overthinking things again." Amy said, just as the lunch bell sounded. "Come on, greasy pizza will do us both some good."

"You can't unclog your own arteries." I teased, pinching her side.

"Nope." She said with a faint smile as she swatted my hand away. "What I can do is make a super plant that does it for me, and tastes like chocolate."

I froze in place. "No way."

She turned back and smiled. "Be good and I might even share."

I shook my head, chuckling to myself. "You are a cruel woman, you know that?"

She grimaced. "I know, but I don't want to be."

I flinched and pulled her into a hug. "You be whoever the fuck you want to be."

"And if I wanted to subjugate the world?" She whispered.

"Then I would be right by your side, helping you." I said, firmly, to her surprise. "If you felt it necessary, the world obviously deserves it. Now chin up, we have pizza to conquer first."

Her smile broke through again, "Sure thing, Tay."

I would do whatever was necessary to protect that smile.



Vicky swooped in with an armful of boxes loaded with cheesy goodness, the table cheered as she set down and began to distribute them. More than a few curious looks were directed at Amy and I as we took our seats.

More than that, I could sense other Parahumans at the table. Dean wasn't among them either, which meant other Wards were sitting with us. I recognized Dennis and Chris from prior visits to Arcadia, but the buff guy two seats down from them, Aegis, wasn't familiar otherwise.

Were they really that obvious about their identities and friendships? It was a wonder any identities remained secret in this city. I knew Amy could sense them too, whatever mental blocks had been restraining her powers were gone, blown away in her weakest moment. She could freely manipulate plants without burrowing them into her flesh, she could even fire her Spirit Energy.

Amy was one of the most dangerous people in the world, no question. She could end countries with a thought, fight back armies with her own power. I doubted even the Triumvirate could bring her down without casualties.

I knew I couldn't stop her if it came to that. I just didn't have it in me to hurt someone I cared so much about. She was there for me, prickly as she could be, a rock in the storm that was my life even as her own soul was adrift in turmoil. I would do everything in my power to protect her, even from herself.

Dean was watching Vicky from a few tables over, and seemed to be glowering at the rest of the Wards that had elected to sit at our table today. It was hard to turn down free pizza, and this was Amy's first day back since the Heartbreaker incident. They were worried about her, I could practically feel the concern wafting off their auras.

Dennis wasted no time digging into the pizza, practically cramming the entire slice into his mouth. We all sat there, watching with a bit of morbid curiosity if he would end up choking on the damn thing.

"What?" He asked, his mouth still stuffed.

"If you choke, I'm making Vicky Heimlich you and I won't heal you after." Amy said dryly, taking a few slices of cheese pizza as she did.

Whatever he tried to say was lost in an indecipherable mess of grunts that earned him no shortage of derision from the rest of the table. I couldn't deny that there wasn't a certain amount of macabre entertainment to the display. I did have to bite my tongue on a joke that might have outed him as a Ward though. There were a few of Vicky's friends at the table that weren't parahumans and I didn't want to risk it. There was far too much faith being left to the 'unwritten' rules for my tastes.

"As amusing as this is, I have to second the sentiment. Amy's still on a break and I'd rather not have to do the first aid necessary to keep someone alive after Vicky crushed their rib cage."

"Taylor, right?" Chris asked.

I nodded. "I also go by Esprit when I'm playing hero."

Aegis snorted. "Isn't your costume just a green domino mask?"

I grinned. "Basically. Ever since the fucking Empire outed me I just didn't see the point of having a proper costume, so I just grabbed a pack of green masks and called it a day. Besides, normal clothes are cheaper to replace than a costume."

Chris laughed. "It's kind of hilarious that PHO still hands out bans for posting your civilian name when you're so open about it."

"Not by choice." I grumbled. "I just don't see the point of trying to downplay it."

"The Empire is a blight on our city." Aegis said. "My family hasn't had an easy time of things."

"They won't be around much longer, Carlos." Vicky said. I was grateful for her saying his name because thinking of him as Aegis was likely to see me slipping up on his name. "With everything they've pulled over the years, they can't hide behind the rules for much longer."

"Easy for you to say." Dennis interjected now that his mouth wasn't stuffed more than the crust. "Say you manage to get rid of the Empire, all that does is invite Lung to take over, or someone else comes in. What's to prevent that?"

"The Protectorate." I said, coldly. "Kinda their job."

"Dennis may act the fool, but he has a point." Carlos said. "A gang war would be a disaster."

"So, you put them down." Amy said with surprising vehemence. "They chose to be villains, so treat them like fucking villains."

"You sound like you want the heroes to kill them." Chris muttered.

"Because I am." Amy snapped. "Groups like the Empire should have never been allowed to become entrenched. The Empire should have died the same day Fleur did."

"It isn't that simple." Dennis tried to say, but I cut him off.

"Why isn't it? The Empire attacked me with the intention of turning me into a sex slave. Look what happened with Rune when they failed. The rules only protect those with power, the villains, all because we need them to show up if an Endbringer attacks."

"That's a rather pessimistic outlook." Dennis said.

"Doesn't make it any less true though." Vicky said. "Just look at the Nine. You can't tell me that a sniper from a mile away couldn't have ended Jack Slash by now."

"Crawler and the Siberian both laugh off bullets." Dennis countered. "Hell, just last week the air force attempted an airstrike against them. The Siberian shrugged it off."

"Where did you hear about that?" I asked with a smirk.

Beside me, Amy was typing out a message to Insight, which I wasn't happy about, but the know it all had been helpful, so I was willing to play nice for now. He had likely seen some classified PRT file at a debriefing and I intended to have some fun at his expense.

A laughing emoji was followed by a 1 sec on Amy's phone before the video popped up. Before Dennis could find his words, Amy had the video playing.

"Huh, she can apply her invulnerability to those she touches." I said, watching the tinker tech recorded video.

We watched as Jack Slash was all smiles, dusting off Bonesaw's ruffled skirt when Amy abruptly stood, leaving her phone on the table as she hurried off. I grabbed it and moved to follow, reassuring Vicky as I did. Something had spooked her, it was obvious with how rigid her movements were as she hurried outside. Amy was barely two steps out the door before she threw up. I was at her side in an instant, a pale blue wafting off me as I traced gentle circles across her back.

"I'm just like her."

The words were a ghost of a whisper between retching sobs and dry heaves, but I heard them all the same. My arms were around her in what I hoped was a comforting hug, holding her tight as she descended into further fits and cried into my shoulder.

We stayed like that well after the bell sounded, the only noises were her sniffles and the occasional sob. I'd handed her a tissue and set her in my lap. Another bell sounded before she finally spoke.

"Carol once told me how Bonesaw could have been one of the greatest healers to walk the earth, but her selfishness drove her to become a monster. Carol made sure all I ever did was heal, and guilted me each and every time I tried to branch out." A choked chuckle followed at the pun, I let myself smile because it was a little humorous. "Early on, she always asked me if I was sure that I hadn't missed anything, that I hadn't made any mistakes… I couldn't take time to rest or relax, the guilt was always too much thanks to her."

"Oh Amy." I pulled her in tighter, tears now dripping off my own cheeks. "Carol was such an ass."

Amy snorted and I didn't even care that she shot snot all over me, I'd managed to get a laugh out of her.

"She really was."



Author's Notes:

Okay, so I originally said I wasn't going to restart this until I had Canberra finished... Well, I'm not that patient. Arc 5 is short, 4 chapters with all four clocking in around the length of a longer Inheritance chapter. (Which remains my primary focus) Also, whoops, forgot to toss this up over here.
 
Glad this is back! So it looks like Amy didn't Second Trigger, her power still can't affect herself and still seems to be limited to touch, but she finally broke past the mental barrier to freely manipulate Spirit Energy past her body. That's good, it being restricted was not exactly the most logical thing since Parahuman powers don't really understand or interact well with Spirit things. This was a great chapter, as always. I do hope my suggestion on AO3 was as helpful as you thought a while back @Pendragoon, but if you need someone to bounce ideas off of feel free to PM me. I won't always respond immediately, but I should do so within 24 hours barring an emergency.
 
Glad this is back! So it looks like Amy didn't Second Trigger, her power still can't affect herself and still seems to be limited to touch, but she finally broke past the mental barrier to freely manipulate Spirit Energy past her body. That's good, it being restricted was not exactly the most logical thing since Parahuman powers don't really understand or interact well with Spirit things. This was a great chapter, as always. I do hope my suggestion on AO3 was as helpful as you thought a while back @Pendragoon, but if you need someone to bounce ideas off of feel free to PM me. I won't always respond immediately, but I should do so within 24 hours barring an emergency.
It was! That idea actually shows up in the next chapter!
 
Before the Storm! Overcoming Sorrow 5.2
February 22nd, 2011

Once Amy had finally calmed down, we elected to head home rather than attend Amy's last class of the day. I'd been keeping both Vicky and the principal apprised of Amy's status to avoid any potential panic. The last thing we needed was for someone to call another manhunt, just because Amy needed some fresh air.

"Bus or scenic route?" I asked, as we made it to the street.

"Scenic route. I need to feel the wind in my hair."

Her Spirit Energy surged and before I could say anything, she was already in motion. My own energy answered and I joined her in the air. Racing across rooftops wasn't as freeing as flight, but it brought many of the same thrills. I let Amy set the pace and take the lead as we angled in the general direction of my home. We were barely a street away when Amy's aura flared hard and she accelerated in a burst of speed.

I didn't have time to adjust my own pace before I was landing in the front yard and looking up at a grinning Amy, who was seated on my porch and picking at her nails.

"What took you?" Amy asked casually, while I chuckled and shook my head. "You should know better than to keep a girl waiting."

I swept her off her feet into a hug as she let out an adorable squeak, I had to stamp down on the urge to kiss the girl in my arms. I couldn't help but think the feeling was mutual, given the way her eyes flicked down to my lips but I couldn't give into temptation. She sighed and pulled away, I let her.

I did my best to not let my disappointment show.

"You have a key." I said after a moment.

She patted her pocket as she turned back towards the door. "So I do."

We entered the house in a mutual melancholy, putting things away almost robotically as we went. I broke away from Amy to set up a veritable blanket fortress on the couch and put Princess Bride on for us to watch. Amy joined me a moment later with two heaping bowls of ice cream. We settled in and it didn't take long after the ice cream was depleted for the snuggle pile to claim Amy as its first victim.

She always seemed to be at peace when sleeping, none of her burdens there to weigh her down. The girl truly did have the weight of the world on her shoulders, and the power to cast the world into ruin on a whim. It made moments like this all the more precious.

I sat there, just enjoying the warmth of Amy's company while Wesley battled on the cliffside, content in the moment. I let my eyes drift closed for but a moment when I felt a gentle nudge on my shoulder. Dad was standing over me with a finger to his lips and a quick glance at the TV showed the movie had long since ended. Amy had both her arms coiled around my waist and was snoring gently.

"I brought pizza, but didn't want to wake either of you. I'm heading to bed, so I just wanted to say goodnight before I did."

I nodded vaguely and snuggled back up with Amy. "Thanks dad, have a good night."

He smiled. "You as well, both of you."



Surging Spirit Energy woke me from my slumber, my blanket falling aside as I jumped to my feet. My finger was glowing as I swept the room, looking for a threat. The last dregs of my sleep addled state were shaken off as I recognized the energy, Amy. I let out a sigh and relaxed, the sun was up and she was likely getting started on her meditations.

That was when I saw Dad in his recliner, staring at me with wide eyes.

"Sorry," I said sheepishly, "still a bit jumpy."

Dad's answering smile was almost painful to witness, the raw pity looking back at me hurt to see. It made sense though, even without Genkai's counsel I would have recognized that Amy and I both had severe PTSD from the Valentine's Day incident.

"I wish you girls didn't have such burdens to bear."

I sighed, a pained smile on my lips. "It comes with the territory, unfortunately."

A couple of stretches caused half my joints to pop as I tried to work through the awkward silence that fell over the room, then I retreated to the kitchen where half a pot of Amy's frankly ambrosial coffee was still steaming. I might have preferred tea personally, but this stuff was almost good enough to make a convert out of me.

Dad could never know how expensive it was, because he would refuse to drink another cup. I stepped out into the backyard which had been transformed into an alien jungle filled with exotic looking plants not found in nature. For anyone else, it was a nightmarish hellscape. For me, it was a comfort.

I found Amy in the center of the storm of calm, controlled Spirit Energy, which manifested as a gentle breeze to those without the senses to perceive it. I sat down across from her, adopting a lotus pose and keeping my own energy suppressed to avoid disturbing the grumpy bio-kinetic.

I nursed my coffee as Amy manipulated the jungle of plants around her. By now our neighbors were quite familiar with the sight, but those first few days had been rather entertaining as the neighbors called in reports of a rogue parahuman attacking the neighborhood. Miss Militia had taken to answering each call personally, if for no other reason than to talk with Amy and let her vent if needed.

Though, I was starting to get the impression that she had alternative motivations, given how often she pulled my dad into private conversations away from our prying eyes. I got the impression they knew each other from way back in the day, but I wasn't sure how I felt about it all. Dad likely knew her civilian identity, which Miss Militia hadn't revealed to either of us yet.

Given the PRT was fully aware that I could sense parahumans, I was honestly surprised we weren't being pressured to join the Wards by Calvert. Militia could have been an olive branch of sorts, but it didn't feel like that, something else was at play but all I could do was sit back and observe, until they felt comfortable telling Amy and I more.

Eventually, Amy's eyes fluttered open and I greeted her with a warm smile. "Good morning, beautiful. Coffee?" I held her favorite mug out to her and grinned as a vine snaked over to gingerly take it from me before passing it to her waiting hand.

"Delicious." She said, after taking a sip.

I took her contentment as a sign to begin my own morning meditation and I dug deep into the reserves at my disposal. Cobalt flared to life around me, dancing like flames in a storm, as I went far beyond the energy necessary to move freely in my Spirit Cuffs. It was like working with any muscle, really. A person's energy would stagnate and decay if not regularly exercised, and it needed to be carefully managed to avoid accidental injury from over-channeling through stagnant pathways.

Even a single night's sleep could be enough to cause issues if pushed too hard, too fast, something I learned the hard way early in my training. Morning meditations had quickly become an important part of my daily routine.

"Hey Tay," Amy asked, hesitantly. I let my aura relax and pulled it back into myself. "Can we blow off school today? I don't think I'm up for dealing with social shit today."

I chuckled at the bluntness of her statement. "That sounds lovely, anything in particular in mind?"

"Something away from the city and people would be preferable." She said, softly. "At least for the daylight hours."

"We could make a camping trip of it." I suggested. "Invite Vicky and Cas out for s'mores if you feel up to hanging out with our friends."

Amy sat in silence for a moment as she turned the idea around in her head. "Would Sophia also be invited?"

My Spirit Energy surged before I managed to clamp it down hard. "Do we have to?"

"No, but Cas is getting attached, and she was one of the few that stood beside you. She was one of a handful that even tried to lift a finger to help me… I don't want to write her off completely, even if she was a monster to you." Amy slammed her hand into the ground. "Fuck, I feel horrible for even suggesting this. The bitch fucking murdered you in cold blood, and yet…"

I pulled her into a hug as she trembled.

After a few moments Amy had calmed down, so I leaned back, letting myself fall onto a bed of moss. Amy chuckled as I pulled her down with me. She then sent a pulse of energy through the soil, causing it to pulsate in a massaging motion that felt amazing on my joints and muscles. Amy had a way of setting me at ease, even when I wanted to be righteously indignant.

It wasn't a pleasant subject to contemplate either, and it was something I had been avoiding dwelling on. Why had Sophia chosen to stand with us? She had every opportunity to slip away, to be anywhere else after I freed her. Why didn't she run?

Amy wasn't anything to her, and aside from some minor injuries after a skirmish with the Empire, Amy hadn't healed Sophia. No favors would have bound her by honor to help Amy, not that Sophia possessed any honor. In a school full of E88 and ABB, Sophia had seen me as an acceptable target.

Even with all of that, the bitch still thought herself a hero. There was no explaining that leap in logic. She was a bully and a thug, she had killed me, and yet… Sophia to me should be an enemy, but as Yusuke demonstrated with Hiei, sometimes an enemy can become one of your greatest friends. I didn't know if Sophia would ever become someone who could be a friend, and frankly I didn't want her to be, but I couldn't just dismiss the fact that she had been there for us.

This is why I hated people, we were so damn complicated.

"Let me call Koenma and see if I can get that chat with Yusuke moved up a bit before I give you an answer?"

She smiled softly. "Of course, Taylor."



"Taylor? I wasn't expecting your call until tomorrow evening." Koenma said, stamping away at a pile of documents on his desk. "As you can see, you caught me at a rather busy time."

"Sorry about that." I said, rubbing the back of my neck. "I was actually hoping to speak with Yusuke about something personal, but I don't have a direct line to him."

He paused in his stamping and regarded me. "You know these communications are risky, if whatever entity is threatening our realities happens to notice…"

"I am aware, I just… I'm at a loss on how to handle this, and I know for a fact that Yusuke was once in a similar predicament regarding Hiei."

"Ah, you speak of Miss Hess…" Koenma said, his paperwork now completely put aside. "Wise of you to seek counsel on this rather than simply react. It seems my approaching you was well warranted."

Koenma pulled a keyboard over to himself, typed for a few moments, and then my Spirit Phone pinged. Looking it over, I found my contact list had been updated with multiple new entries. "You're in luck, Yusuke is currently visiting his wife and daughter in the human world and actually has proper reception for once. Much of Demon World is still a reception dead zone, so many of the people you may wish to reach won't always be available."

"I'll be sure to text first." I said with a smile. "Thank you for your assistance."

Koenma shook his head. "No, thank you for not being a pain in my backside."

The call disconnected so I thumbed out a quick message to Yusuke's number and sent it off. I hadn't been expecting a reply for some time, so naturally I was surprised when my phone began to ring almost immediately.

I swiped the green icon and held the phone to my ear. "Hello?"

"Yo, is this Taylor?" Yusuke asked, his voice barely changed from the archives.

I couldn't help but chuckle at his enthusiasm, it was quite contagious. "You've got her."

"Sweet! I've been hoping to talk with Genkai's newest pupil ever since I heard about you from Koenma."

"Uh, the feeling's mutual?" I said, pausing awkwardly while I tried to think of what to say. "Sorry, not exactly a social butterfly here with new people and you've been a bit of a role model for me after seeing the archives."

"Aw hell, I wasn't exactly the best of role models back then." He said sheepishly.

"Still aren't." A woman's voice yelled from a distance.

"Dammit Keiko, no fair!"

"All is fair in love and war, Yusuke." She answered back.

His chuckling grew closer as he returned to the call. "Women, I will never understand what goes on in their heads."

I couldn't help but smirk. "Why? Because you lack the intelligence to form a coherent understanding of basic logic."

A sharp bark of feminine laughter could be heard in the distance as Yusuke groaned. "I deserved that. You mentioned you had something important you needed to talk to me about? If you're looking for a way to get Genkai to go easy on your training, I don't have much in the way of good news there."

It was my turn to laugh. "She's a drill sergeant from hell, but I wouldn't trade her instruction for the world. No, I had some questions about how you came to regard Hiei as a friend."

"Huh, gotta say, this wasn't the conversation I was expecting."

"I know, but I've got a similar situation on my hands and I needed someone to talk with about it."

"No, I get it, I just never expected to be regarded as the wise mentor type. Genkai would give me so much shit."

I glanced across the room at Amy, who had taken up occupancy on Dad's usual chair. Her legs draped over the armrest while her head bobbed to the beat of whatever song she was listening to. I sent a silent prayer that she couldn't hear me before I spoke.

"If it helps, I could send you pictures of the cougar she chose to possess while my gi— my friend Amy is giving her belly rubs."

"Sold! Ask away."

I was thankful he hadn't noticed my near slip, or if he had, that he elected to ignore it.

So, I explained the last few years of my life, from my mom's death, to Emma's sudden betrayal and Sophia's role in it. I told him of my first death, and judging by how quiet he had become and the lack of joking answers, he wasn't amused. Then I explained Sophia's flight from justice and allying with the shadow broker of Brockton Bay. Finally, I arrived at the day I had finally captured the bitch.

"I expected her to run at the first opportunity, but she didn't. She stayed with us, fought against those that threatened the city, then came with us when nobody else would to help us find Amy." I took a breath to steady myself. "I know it isn't quite the same but you've turned enemies into allies on numerous occasions, do you think I could do the same with Sophia or is it not worth the risk?"

The other end of the call was silent for long moments, the only indication I had that Yusuke was still there was his steady breathing. "What's your gut telling you?" He finally asked.

"Aside from wanting to immolate her in a torrent of raw Spirit Energy?" I countered. A snort was his answer, but he let me continue after gathering my thoughts. "Maybe it's my lack of a social circle, but for some asinine reason I want to give her a chance in the face of all logic."

"Then trust your gut and if it proves wrong, option one is always there." He said, matter of factly as if he wasn't talking about casually executing someone. "I'm all for giving someone a second chance, but there are points where that ship sails. Give her the one if you feel you should, but don't feel bad if she falls back on old ways. Sometimes it is better to keep your enemies closer after all."

"I was afraid you would say that." I said with a grumble, sliding back onto the couch. "Alright, one chance, that's all she gets."

"Hey, trust is never easy, especially when you've lived the life you have. I won't pretend to understand what that must have been like. In the end, it's up to her how she handles any opportunity you give her."

"Thanks Yusuke, I'm glad I called."

"Anytime Taylor. Tell grandma I said hi will ya?"

"Sure thing." I said with a grin. "You do the same for our favorite toddler next time you see him."

He laughed. "Will do, though I don't visit Spirit World nearly as often as Kurama. You take care, there's a battle coming and I want to see you alive and ready to fight at our side when the time comes."

"I plan to be there, and make no mistake, once the dust settles I want a spar with the legendary Yusuke Urameshi."

"You'll have it!" He declared. "See ya around."

The line went silent and I let myself melt into the cushions of the couch. It was the answer I had anticipated, but it still felt good to hear another opinion from someone who had lived through similar circumstances.

Amy finally noticed that I had finished my call and removed her headphones, the sound of heavy metal was loud enough that I doubted she heard a word I had said. At least that prayer had been answered.

"One chance." I muttered.

Amy nodded slowly. "You're going to invite her, then?"

"Yeah, she's earned that much." I said softly. "Tell Cas he can bring his girlfriend along."

Amy barked out a laugh before covering her mouth to muffle her continued giggles. "They would both try to flay you for that and you know it."

"Yup, which is why I intend to tease them endlessly. If I have to put up with Sophia, I'm not going to make it easy for her, and I'm going to enjoy every last second."

"Fair point," Amy said, "worst comes to worst, I can always use her to figure out the sinning tree."

I sat up and looked at Amy, her face had turned pale and I could see her hands trembling while her eyes grew distant. I was off the couch and pulling her into a tight hug in an instant. The dam broke and she wailed into my shoulder. We all responded to trauma differently, and her's was still fresh.

Not that I didn't have my own to deal with, I was using Amy's trauma as a way to put off dealing with my own which was hardly healthy. I could still remember in perfect clarity the expression on Cherish's face when Cas and I had vacated her head and chest of everything that mattered. She had looked me dead in the eye the instant before I fired my Spirit Gun.

The raw terror I had seen would likely stay with me for the rest of my life.

I was perfectly okay with that.

My friends and family were alive because I chose to act, nothing would make me regret my actions that day. If Amy hadn't killed Heartbreaker and his bastards, I would have done it in her stead. Their fates were sealed the moment they came to my city to threaten those I loved.

Genkai had come through for us both, offering closure in a way that no mortal could. She'd given us a recording of Heartbreaker's sentencing with Koenma as well as his being cast into hell itself for the next five thousand years. It had been satisfying to say the least, and I hoped that we would get the same opportunity when it was Kaiser's turn.

My phone began to ring, forcing me to untangle myself from Amy's vice grip to check the caller ID. Huh, why was dad calling before lunch? I swiped the icon and put it on speaker.

"Hey Dad, everything alright?"

A weary sigh was his answer. "Unfortunately not. We have a bit of a situation here and I was hoping you could swing by if for nothing else than to give the DWU a bit more weight with the local heroes."

I felt a chill run down my spine. "What happened?"

"A Medhall shipment was broken into when a small group of the remaining Merchants attacked. They didn't find what they expected."

Amy and I shared a look before she asked. "And what did they find, mister Hebert?"

"Guns." Dad said. "Enough for a small army."

'Or an Empire' was left unsaid.



Author's Note:

Tay has a chat with Yusuke about anime tropes involving redeeming villains and Danny has a problem.
 
Last edited:
Fun chapter as always, and hearing from Yusuke is nice. Genkai is going to make Taylor pay for giving Yusuke blackmail material though.
 
Before the Storm! Overcoming Sorrow 5.3
February 23rd, 2011

Amy and I landed in the dockyards less than ten minutes later. A five minute mile was once considered impressive, we had just cleared eight miles in the same time while barely drawing on our own reserves of Spirit Energy. We were growing in leaps and bounds, and yet I knew that we would have gotten our asses handed to us even against the Saint Beasts.

Even on the outskirts I could sense dozens of people gathered in a small area, and Amy must have sensed them too because she took off towards them without prompting. The scene we arrived at was a disaster, someone had dropped a shipping container all right, but that wasn't an insignificant amount of firearms spilled across the dockyards.

Sensing my dad, I leapt towards him. Skipping across two buildings, I launched myself into a series of flips, before landing two stories below in a classic three point landing that didn't even disturb the pebbles around me. Amy set herself down beside me two heartbeats later.

Several of the officers on site jumped and one even pulled their gun, but we kept our calm. The whispers spreading at the sight of Amy displaying Brute abilities had some wondering if she could still heal. The rumors on PHO were bad enough and it seemed the general population were picking up on them too. I wanted to smack each and every one of those fools for being more concerned that the local healer could still heal rather than worrying if she was alright.

About fifty yards away, Miss Militia was looking over at us, shaking her head. Whatever she had been doing was forgotten in her haste to deal with our arrival. She wasn't the only Cape in the area however, Flechette was with her as was another unfamiliar cape that I could sense in the distance, but didn't have a visual on just yet.

No sooner than Miss Militia had gotten within speaking distance, there was a pop and that distant energy was now right in front of us. Mouse Protector stood proud with her Roman styled armor and helm adorned with mouse ears. The sword at her side had seen combat too. For as cutesy as she liked to present herself, she was a formidable warrior.

"Taylor, we weren't expecting you." Miss Militia said.

"That would be my fault." Dad said, scooting past someone. "I called her to be safe, it wouldn't be the first time the Empire targeted her."

"We aren't sure this was the Empire." Miss Militia said, causing Amy to snort.

"Oh, it's definitely them, all right. I've seen enough of their shitty German guns turned into pretzels by Vicky to know them on sight."

Now that she mentioned it, they did look similar to the guns those who tried to kidnap me carried, but I was hardly an expert. Not that it mattered, Castiel had confirmed for us that the Empire and Medhall were one and the same. We just hadn't told Dad about that discovery… Whoops.

Well, we couldn't fix that right now, not with so many witnesses at least.

Acting on that information before we could decisively crush the Empire would be a fool's victory at best. Half of them would slip through the cracks and make their way back to their European allies to regroup. No, any action taken would only be done when I was sure we could crush them all in one fell stroke.

Castiel had the biggest grudge against them, and I would never dream to deny him his vengeance. Genkai had him training just as hard as the rest of us, and I wouldn't be surprised if she just rolled our training all together in the coming weeks.

Sophia was likely the reason she hadn't already done so. Cas insisted on helping the bitch train, which if the PHO rumors were anything to go on, he had a crush on the girl. Their little stunt in the ice cream shop hadn't been subtle and Genkai was evaluating her to see if the potential was there.

I was sincerely hoping she had none, because at present she couldn't hurt me and we both knew it. If that changed, she would probably go right back to her old ways and while I could fight now, it didn't stop those old fears from rearing their ugly heads.

My breath left me with the sharp impact of an elbow to my ribs. I turned my best glare upon the mousy brunette who returned it with a level stare. Oh, dad and Militia were both looking at me as well, had I been spacing out that badly? Based on Mouse's giggling, I probably was.

"Sorry," I muttered, "it's been a long week."

"That it has." Miss Militia answered. Her eyes seemed to portray sadness but that wouldn't be the first time I had noticed how expressive they could be. PR had to have grilled her on being photogenic since she had her mouth covered, making smiling for the camera a bit tricky. "Would I be correct in assuming you know something but are unable to act on it?"

"That would be an understatement." I said with a wince. "I know multiple Empire Capes' civilian identities thanks to an aspect of my powers."

Dad pulled back in surprise but Miss Militia gave me a look of solemn resignation.

"Well, that sounds like spoiled cheese smells." Mouse Protector said. "You must be itching to go after those vile fiends."

I couldn't help but chuckle. "They deserve death."

"Nobody deserves to die, Taylor." Miss Militia said, mournfully.

"Death comes for everyone, deserving or no." I countered. "Those who kill should be prepared to be killed and the Empire are killers."

"The rules are so damn stupid." Amy forcefully interjected. "They didn't protect Jess and they sure as hell haven't protected you, yet they shelter Kaiser."

"The situation isn't so cut and dry." Miss Militia stated.

"And why the hell not?" She snapped, her aura flaring enough to be felt but not seen. "The Empire only respects the rules for their own. I say it's time they learned the same lesson New Wave did when they stole me from Marquis."

Panic flared in the heroes present as well as my father. That fact wasn't common knowledge and Amy only knew of it thanks to Insight. I remained outwardly calm, but inside I was in full agreement. It was past time for this particular Empire to fall. The challenge was doing it in a way that didn't scare the piss out of everyone in the city.

Sadly that meant I couldn't punt Mr. Anders out of his highrise on national TV like we had daydreamed, cathartic as that might have been.

I looked around the dockyard at all the scattered weapons, Kaiser was directly involving his Empire in my family's livelihood. This had to stop soon, and I was rapidly running out of patience.

"Kaiser has overstepped by dragging my Dad into his dealings today, I can't let this go unanswered."

"You risk dragging the entire city into a gang war." Miss Militia warned.

My Spirit Energy flared to its very limits and in an instant I was face to face with the star spangled heroine. She startled back, but my hand lashed out and had her vest in a vice grip. Her power shifted, but this close she didn't have many options and most would barely tickle when I was pushing myself like this.

"What will it take then? The Protectorate continues to sit idle time and time again. They didn't lift a finger when the Empire attempted to sell me into slavery as a broodmare. The Protectorate didn't even investigate what happened to Rune. I know the truth, but do you? Continue to refuse to act and you forfeit the right to complain when we finally do."

Dad's hands were on my shoulders, trying to pull me back, but failing to even budge me. Mouse Protector's head was hung in shame and Flechette was hurrying over. Amy stepped between us, her own Spirit Energy dancing around her like crimson flames. Flechette pulled back in surprise, it was the first time Amy had shown her own aura in public like this.

Good. It was about time that people started to understand that we weren't to be fucked with. I refused to allow a repeat of what happened to Amy, and I certainly wasn't going to be a victim again. I would do whatever was necessary to keep my family safe.

"You would plunge the city into chaos." Miss Militia said, her shoulders drooping as she spoke.

"If it comes to that, there at least won't be enough of the Empire left to do anything once we're done with them. Anyone attempting to take advantage of that will meet a similar fate."

"Be careful, Taylor." Miss Militia said, her eyes pleading for me to understand. "You risk becoming the very monsters you fight."

"Better to risk it than to sit idle and ensure it." I said sharply, letting her go. "I refuse to remain complicit in the slow decay of my home, I refuse to continue to look the other way."

I didn't wait for a reply. To them, I vanished in a cloud of dust, with Amy only a step behind me. I didn't pay too much attention to the route we took across the rooftops, just letting the wind wash over my hair as we ran and jumped, climbing ever higher as we reached downtown. Soon enough we were atop a building with an amazing view of the skyline with the Bay in the background.

"You sure this is what you want to do?" Amy asked me, as I wrote out a note in sharpie. "You start this and there will be no backing down."

"Oh I'm sure." I said with a smirk, and took the note and tied it to a brick. "If you don't think we're ready, I'll hold off."

Amy gave me a flat look before taking the brick from my hand and turned back towards the nearest skyscraper. Medhall stood proud among the other highrises, and across from us we could see a meeting room where Mr. Anders was addressing a room full of well dressed individuals. To a casual observer it would appear to be a normal meeting, that is, if you could see through the reflective surface of the window.

That was an advantage of Genkai's sight technique, you could see beyond mortal limits and distances. Each individual in the room had the familiar disturbance in their Spirit Energy. It was a meeting of capes. It was an Empire meeting.

Amy's aura flared as her arm pulled back, and she hurled the brick with everything she had. I watched as it sailed half a mile through the sky in a perfect arc and smashed through the offending window. It took everything I had to not cackle at the panic the room erupted into as the brick slammed into Alabaster and lodged in his chest.

Kaiser and Hookwolf exploded into blades and Crusader's ghosts filled the room in short order but it soon became clear to them that no follow up attack was coming.

I couldn't help but whistle in appreciation. "Remind me to never piss you off."

Amy smirked. "Hopefully that's the lesson they take away from this as well."

I watched as Hookwolf ripped the brick free and Alabaster finally reset from the damage it had inflicted. Nobody seemed concerned about the shower of blood and gore as it too vanished with the reset. Kaiser visibly paled as he read the message then looked out the shattered window right at us. I couldn't fault him for not smiling for Insight's drone, nor over the message we had just delivered.



Kaiser, aka Max Anders:

Given our past interactions, this method of delivery felt suitable. I'm giving you twenty four hours to divest your interests and leave the city. No further negotiations will be offered, any further actions against me or those I care about will be met with lethal force.

Fuck off and die cold and alone.

~Esprit, aka Taylor Hebert



Author's Notes:

One more chapter in the arc to go then it's back onto hiatus for this story and Inheritance comes off it's brief hiatus with arc 4 written to completion. (Minus surprise last minute chapter that isn't delaying anything, I promise. First Friday of November was the goal there since late September. Since that is drafted I'm taking a break to gear up for arc 5 of Inheritance by writing an original story! Look for it on Royal Road in the coming months once I get it drafted and edited.
 
Fun chapter as always, and Taylor has certainly maintained her title Queen of Escalation in this chapter. Bit bummed this is going back into hiatus so soon, and I hope it won't last as long as it did this last time, but as long as you eventually come back to this Fic that's the important part. And congratulations on starting an original story.
 
Taylor pretty much said to the Protectorate what Genkai said to Yusuke.

"When you lack the strength to lead, you lose the privilege of getting what you want."
 
Before the Storm! Overcoming Sorrow 5.4
February 23rd, 2011

I dumped another bunch of wood onto the pile beside our fire pit and paused to watch the others. Amy was squatting next to the hot coals, fiddling with and securing the griddle. Vicky was seasoning a plate full of steaks, slicing them up for skewers, while Castiel prepared the vegetables. A half dozen foil pouches rested at the edge of the coals, filled with bacon, butter, garlic, onions and potatoes. It wasn't any wonder why we needed so much firewood.

Genkai was lounging near the fire in her feline form, to maintain her presence while Sophia still struggled to perceive her spirit form. I could tell she enjoyed taking that form, especially with all the enhancements that Amy had given it. I knew the feeling well, considering I also enjoyed the benefits of similar enhancements.

Sophia meanwhile was sitting off to the side, watching me warily. We hadn't spoken since that particular Valentine's Day from hell, and it was causing a tension in the group that desperately needed to be aired. It's not like I was in any hurry, it was more her than me that was being isolated. She could stew a bit longer.

"You sure you're up to taking on the entire Empire?" Vicky asked, while preparing her skewers. "I hate the bastards as much as anyone here, but I don't think we can take them all in a straight fight."

"Scared, Dallon?" Sophia asked, with an amused smirk.

"Drop the bravado." Vicky bit back. "Unlike you, the rest of us can literally sense your apprehension and fear."

"We're all nervous." Castiel said, holding his hands in a placating gesture. "I know better than most what the Empire can do once you've poked the nest, but that being said, I also know just what we can bring to bear. Taylor and Amy are no joke, and the Empire is well aware of that."

"You're pretty dangerous yourself." Amy said, putting some of the meat down to start roasting. "We can keep preparing forever, and only grow stronger for it, but there comes a time where we just have to act. The Empire is too bold, we need to remind them that they don't own this city."

"A straight fight would mean too much collateral." I said, moving over to set up the tents. "We have two frontline fighters that could go blow for blow with their worst. One mid-range and two long range. It's nothing to sneeze at, but we aren't an army."

"Any engagement will need to be decisive." Genkai stated, sitting up on her haunches. "Urban fighting will mean potential civilian casualties as well. Picking your battles will be important, and retreating to regroup will be a necessary tactic."

"Fuck that!" Sophia exclaimed, standing up and stalking forward. "If we do this, we aren't running away like little bitches."

My Spirit Energy spiked and before anyone could blink, I had her wrist in my hand, having moved a dozen feet in an instant. Stunts like this might be taxing to pull off, but they made a certain impression on those around you. Sophia tried to pull away but I may as well have been an immovable object for all the good it did her. She turned to shadow, but my hand remained locked around her otherwise intangible form.

She shifted back into solidity, cursing about how my being able to restrain her was bullshit, and threw a sloppy punch at my face. I casually moved out of the way, releasing her wrist as I did, then took a step back into a fighting stance while she backpedaled.

"If you think you can handle yourself, Sophia, prove it."

Just to add insult to injury, I urged her to come at me like we were in some campy kung fu movie. Sophia snarled but took her own stance, more kickboxer than eastern martial artist. She was pissed and needed to be reminded that she wasn't as hot shit like she thought herself to be. Enjoying myself was just a bonus.

She lunged forward and shifted into shadow as she did so, letting her keep her momentum far better than otherwise. I threw a punch through her, knowing that it would hit only air. My energy needed to be in contact with her before she shifted for me to restrain her and we both knew it.

My foot slid out and I let my center drop just as she swung her arm through the air where my head had just been. My elbow came up at an angle, but I felt her shift back to shadow at the last second. I swiveled, letting my extended leg drag the ground and spun to face her, just as she shifted back and threw a punch at my face.

My wrist snapped, knocking her fist aside and sprung back to smack her jaw, only to find shadow once more. She was slippery in any form of combat, which was fine by me, I had the endurance to keep up with her all night.

"Kick her ass Tay!" Amy cheered.

A savage smile came to my lips at that, glad to see her this animated about something. Another quick exchange followed as her shadow melted across my counter.

"Just don't let the food burn, don't want to spoil dinner over the show."

Sophia didn't appreciate my bantering with the audience apparently, as a knife was pulled from somewhere and she swung it at me. Knowing what I did about her power, I dodged it. The last thing I wanted was for her to phase it just enough then reform it embedded in my arm or worse. It was the deadliest use of her power, and part of what made her so dangerous in her vigilante days.

"You may as well just give up, Sophia." I said, deflecting a few solid blows before ducking another shadowed knife strike. "I'm out of your weight class."

"You're a cocky bitch that needs to be brought down a peg." She countered, with a snarl. "You look down on me like I'm hot garbage, like you're better than me, all because you won the power lottery."

My aura burned like an inferno and I stopped holding anything back. The wind whipped off of me as the trees nearly bent over from the torrent of power I was unleashing. Amy, having seen this coming a mile off, had grown a mass of roots over the fire and food, shielding them from the worst of it. Sophia however, was trying to stand defiant, and failing.

I approached her slowly, casually, all the while she fought just to remain upright. "You don't get to say that. I had to die to get these powers. Two days. I spent two days in that locker slowly dying, it was agony, and you condemned me to it."

Sophia slipped and went tumbling until she smashed into a tree. Gripping her head, she glared defiantly at me. I let my aura ebb down, but didn't dissipate it fully.

"All that dying did for me was let me touch my Spirit Energy, everything else I gained through hard work and the guidance of a good teacher. Tell me Sophia, did I deserve to die? If your philosophy of 'might makes right' is so true, then tell me why I shouldn't just kill you right now?"

She glared up at me, that same snarl still on her face. "You think you're hot shit just because you kicked a bit of ass? I'll admit, you got over yourself pretty well, but you don't get to look down at me. You aren't better than me."

"You're right, I'm not better than you." I admitted. "I killed people, just like you. I've crossed that line, and it was so easy. People are fragile, and it would be as simple as breathing for me to just solve the problem in front of me with force." I raised my finger as it began to glow and aimed it at her. "Just a small flex of my energy, and it's over, a person is gone. That level of power is intoxicating, wouldn't you agree?"

"What are you getting at Hebert?"

I chuckled, lowering my finger as I did. "I'm saying, there is always a bigger fish. I'm stronger than you, but there are plenty who are stronger than me. If I went bad, there are those who would put me down. Amy and I have an agreement to that effect with each other, we would rather die than let ourselves become monsters. So tell me Sophia, why are you so eager to be seen as a monster?"

Sophia looked away, refusing to make eye contact, but I could see her aura waver. "I am not weak. It's not my fault people like to take that to mean I'm a monster."

"And that's okay. Nobody wants to feel weak, but the strong, the truly strong, don't need to target the weak to make themselves feel better. Be better than you were, strive for that each and every day. That is my advice to you, Sophia Hess." I stood up and walked back towards the fire pit. "So, who else is starving?"



The mood wasn't as jovial as it could have been, with Sophia reflecting on our spat while Castiel kept close to her. He offered a comforting presence to her roiling emotions, but left her space all the same. How those two had ended up bonding was a mystery for the ages.

I'd let them borrow my Spirit Phone to watch some of the archives, specifically to show her what was waiting in the dark. Needless to say, seeing some of the denizens of Demon World truly cut loose had been sobering for the pair.

It had taken a few hours of discussion while eating, but we had a battle plan for the following day. We would confront the Empire and bring them down in one fell swoop. Castiel and Sophia would bring Insight onboard in full and make sure her people were also ready. It was built around plausible deniability, with her releasing enough information to the media to link Medhall to the Empire, then we would begin by hitting a known Empire safe house.

Plans from there branched out based on the Empire's possible reactions, and while we were hesitant to bring Calvert into the plan, the local Protectorate and Wards were still assets that could be used. It was a plan for war, with enough contingencies to cover many of the possible problems. We just had to put it into action.

Sophia was sitting up in a tree nearby watching the stars while Castiel meditated next to her, floating atop a singular orb while a cluster of others rotated around him. Amy was running her hand over Genkai's fur while the spirit coached Vicky on a potential application of her Spirit Energy.

Vicky could turn her force field off, but she only did so for training purposes. Of more interest was how she could reinforce it with her budding Spirit Energy. Before, any shot of my Spirit Gun would ignore the shield, but when she reinforced it, the shield held. It was incredibly efficient too, especially compared to my own attempts to block energy blasts. Genkai was working with her now to see if there was anything Amy and I could learn from her new ability.

Meanwhile, I was balanced on a pinpoint over a now roaring bonfire. My Spirit Energy was keeping me balanced and aloft, while also shielding me from the heat and smoke. It was a mediation exercise, one she had put Yusuke through for days at a time, and unfortunately the results spoke for themselves.

It was also oddly calming, closing off outside stimulus while focusing inward. I could feel my energy pulsing through me, the gentle pull that was keeping me aloft, and the beat of my heart. My body sang in harmony with my Spirit Energy, which was how I noticed the anomaly. Deep within myself, in a space that I couldn't quite map to any one point in my body, I felt it.

A foreign source of power flowing into me.

It wasn't Spirit Energy or anything of the sort. I hadn't felt Demon Energy or Sacred Energy, but I was reasonably certain it was neither considering my body was slowly converting it into Spirit Energy.

It was the source of my regeneration.

I was tempted to break off my meditation and ask Genkai, but I was afraid if I lost focus it would take me hours to find it again. I hadn't made any headway in figuring it out since first noticing it so instead, I directed a small flow of Spirit Energy into the void within myself, feeling it out at the perimeter, exploring, testing boundaries, reaching out—

I saw stars. Deep, infinite stars that spanned the cosmos a million million times over and folded within themselves. The entire universe was laid bare, all of it within my grasp. It was beautiful, and so full of life. Countless species just waiting to be explored, to see what new ideas they could bring to the question and the never ending quest for the answer that was sought.

Billions of memories flashed through my mind, so far beyond my mortal comprehension. I felt my mind straining to understand the infinite depth to what I was experiencing. I was like an ant suddenly understanding the world as a human would, and already I dreaded the loss of it. Deeper and deeper I plunged, until I felt something reaching out to me, and I reached for it, for her. She was the Queen. She was the Administrator.

She saw something in me, in the powers I had gained. Her gaze was fixed upon me while she communicated with those connected to my friends. They were interested, they were obsessed over what we represented, and they didn't want to let go. One concept was their focus, and they felt they had finally discovered it.

[SOLUTION]

Pain spiked through my entire body as my focus slipped, spinning about as I was once more a mere mortal, and so did I. I fell into the flames, the spike I had used for balancing now occupied part of my stomach, but none of that mattered, for I had seen what the powers were, what they wanted. I had seen that they couldn't be allowed to achieve it, not as they currently were.

Then my world was agony as the burning heat registered. Amy had her hands on me in the matter of moments, trying to pull me out, but the spike was embedded deep in the ground. Castiel forced his power into it, and ripped it free at Amy's insistence. All of this was consciously known to me, but I couldn't focus on it.

I finally knew what the threat Koenma had warned us of was. It was monstrous and eldritch beyond human comprehension. A dark god in the emptiness of the void, and we had gained its attention. Worse, it was an amalgamation of millions of smaller beings that were no less infinitely complex. Fractal and without end.

I had one attached to me.

All Parahumans did. They gave us powers to run tests, to seek the innovation they lacked. To learn, to grow and explore, to improve and iterate. We were a lab test to them, not even as valuable as bacteria. In the end, when their experiments had run their course, we would be exterminated.

Just as they had done before to other countless, nigh infinite worlds.

It was so much worse than Koenma ever dared imagine, and he was right, it was centered on Earth Bet. It was their primary testing ground. There were scattered experiments in other dimensions, and a few others they had closed off access to completely, but this was their primary instance. Whatever was coming would start here, I just wish I knew what form it would take.

The Endbringers were related, I'd gotten that impression, but in what way? Were they the endgame? More and more showing up to push us to the brink to see what we would do in desperation? Was there more to it? What was Scion's role in everything? Was he there to give us hope in the face of these monsters? The name itself spoke of trying to inspire hope, and in the face of the end of all things, what role would he play?

A sharp pain blossomed across my cheek, shattering my focus.

"Taylor, snap out of it!" Amy yelled.

I blinked, seeing her worried face hovering over mine. Unfortunately, the understanding I had was slipping away, the comprehension fading. I had to articulate it somehow, explain in a way they could understand.

"I know what the threat is." I said, my voice scratching as I spoke. "It's slipping away, even now, but powers... Powers are the key! Where they come from, what they are, they're the threat!"

Amy shared a look with Genkai before turning back towards me. Amy pressed a hand to my throat, sending a warm pulse of energy into me. "Whatever that was, it sure as hell wasn't a human language. It shredded her throat to even speak it and gave me a headache."

Shit, that was a problem, I could understand them, but I couldn't articulate what I needed to. Instead I grabbed a stick and started to scratch images into the dirt, something they might understand. The canvas I had chosen was limited, but I had to hope that once the impression had faded, I could explain it better.

It was all I had to go on.

Even Sophia was looking on in concern as I drew the best impression of the infinite worm I had seen. How powers linked to their hosts. It was crude, but crude was what I needed, even as I slowly became human again.

"Can you understand me now?" I asked, being careful to articulate myself in what felt like English.

"Welcome back from crazy town." Sophia said. "You went full Tinker fugue on us there."

Looking at the images, I could vaguely recognize them on some level, but not like I knew I could have. Already it was beyond me and I felt lesser for it. I took my phone out and snapped a few pictures just to be safe and sent them off to Insight. She may have been a bitch, but she had a power that was better at this than I was…

It wouldn't work. Some deeper understanding told me this, but I couldn't nail it down even as my phone rang. Answering it, I was greeted by a yelling voice.

"The fuck are these and why are they giving me an aneurism?" Insight demanded.

Amy covered my mouth with a glare. "Taylor went into a seizure in the middle of her meditation, then experienced some sort of fugue state after. She drew those when we couldn't understand the inhuman wailings that came from her mouth."

"Fuck, just what the hell did you manage to piss off this time?"

"Something beyond us." I muttered. "I can't remember anything else, it's all a mess in my head and is still slipping away."

"Just relax Taylor, we'll figure this out." Amy muttered, pulling my head into her lap and forcing me to unwind with her power.

"We won't…" I muttered, feeling my body falling towards slumber, no doubt Amy's intervention.

I felt the world floating away, drifting on a tranquil sea, only the infernal siren to disturb me… Siren? My eyes flitted open, finding myself in a sleeping bag under the stars. The fire had been reassembled and the others were gathered around it, staring at their phones with haunted expressions. My own phone continued to wail, prompting me to reach for it with a groan.

I was met by an automated emergency alert and I felt the last vestiges of sleep fall away while I read and reread the warning.

EMERGENCY BROADCAST

SIMURGH DESCENDING

CANBERRA AUSTRALIA

What followed was an address near the PRT building that was no doubt the rally point for any volunteers. Sharing a glance with everyone present, it seemed we had a decision to make, and only a limited time to make it.

It was a primal urging, as though every instinct I had was in full agreement. Deep down I knew, whatever the Simurgh was plotting, we needed to be there.

We couldn't sit this one out.



Author's Notes:

Sorry to end off here, but if I didn't post this now it would likely be almost a year before I posted anything as I'm not keen on working on two Endbringer fights simultaneously. So, here's a bone for me to toss you all, while I won't be posting anything SDT related this week, this has been the end to the dry spell of content on my end! That's right, Inheritance returns next Friday with Arc 4, completed and ready to go! 80k+ words of content across 12ish weeks of uploads, I hope you all enjoy.

Also, be on the lookout for my first original fiction over on Royal Road in the coming months, if you're a fan of audacious, gay criminals... Well, I hope you enjoy what I have in the oven. Once NaNoWriMo wraps up I'll be back to working on arc 5 of Inheritance, then I'll shift focus back to getting this little gem ready for the public.
 
Well that's one hell of a cliffhanger, so I can see why you initially didn't want to post before finishing Canberra. Still this was a great chapter. I'm looking forward to seeing more when you get around to it. Hopefully it's not a year away though.
 
Well that's one hell of a cliffhanger, so I can see why you initially didn't want to post before finishing Canberra. Still this was a great chapter. I'm looking forward to seeing more when you get around to it. Hopefully it's not a year away though.
I have a lot of stuff in the oven, between arc 4 of Inheritance resuming, writing arc 5, and getting my original fiction ready to publish.

That has been my goal with writing fanfiction, get some practice and peer review to improve my writing enough to where I feel I can start doing my original ideas justice.

Regardless of anything, I do plan to finish arc 6 since it is a good send off point. I also will finish Inheritance, that is something I don't want to back down on. (Just like I made sure to finish Fistful)
 
Regardless of anything, I do plan to finish arc 6 since it is a good send off point. I also will finish Inheritance, that is something I don't want to back down on. (Just like I made sure to finish Fistful)

I get it, and that's completely understandable. Though I do hope you'll continue this Fic since it has the potential to really do justice to both settings in a longer format. But that's just me, I read 65k+ words an hour if I can focus on it, so longer is almost always more enjoyable for me.
 
Back
Top