The Moon's Fall (Worm AU, The Wolf Time sequel)

Anzer'ke · Sep 19, 2017

The Moon's Fall

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♦ Topic: Another Carrie
In: Boards ► Places ► America ► Brockton Bay ► Main
XxVoid_CowboyxX (Original Poster) (Banned)
Posted On Mar 16th 2011:
Oh my god, a cape attack just happened at my school.

It was in the middle of lunch, we all heard this banging crashing noise coming from upstairs on the third floor, and my friend Sparky was saying that it might be another gang fight (anyone who's been to Winslow knows what I'm talking about) but then a bunch of girls rush through the cafeterria and run outside screaming about how we're under attack.

Then there was this huge raor, like a bear or something. A really big animal. So we all go outside and the teachers are talking about it and telling us all to evacuate and someone must have set off the firealarm cause that was going.

Anyway we all get outside wandering what's going on and then some girl screams and pointsup. So we all look up and see that the thrid floor walls are getting wrecked fronm inside. Like these huge claws smashing them out while a shadow jumps around.

So we realise that it's Shadow Stalker fighting some new cape, but the views not good so we didn't see much. I guess a few people will be posting videos but I was busy trying to open this thread ASAP so you all knew about it.

I couldn't post though, I think because of Armsmaster. I guess he must have some kind of tech that blocks outgoing signals, cause he arrived while I was trying to get my phone to post. He had Dauntless and Velocity with him. All of them went to help Shadow Stalker and they beat the villain. She ran away though.

That's not what's crazy though. The crazy part is that I heard the girls talking (the ones who were screaming at the beggining) and I went over to like, comfort them and this girl was so upset that she hugged me and cried into my shoulder. So I was a gentleman about ti of course and I overhear the rest of them telling everyone that the villain who attacked them was a girl I go to school with, Taylor Hebert. Julia (the girl I was hugging) was really scared of her, like she was shivering the whole time.

Taylor's a loner, like me but I've got Sparky and a few other guys and she's got no one. I guess it's true what they say about people like that.

(Showing page 1 of 74)

►Tin Mother (Moderator)
Replied On Mar 19th 2011:
In light of the news openly reporting her name, your ban has been overturned and this thread reinstated. Discussing the name of an unmasked cape is not a bannable offence.

Since yours was indeed the first thread to be posted regarding this news, the thread "Attack on Winslow High" has been folded into this thread in accordance with your request.

►Heart_of_Iron! (Veteran Member)
Replied On Mar 16th 2011:
So, my home town continues to prove itself to be the height of class and sophistication.

We've had a school attack.

Earlier today (barely an hour ago) there was a villain attack at Winslow High. One of the shittier schools in the city, and a well known gang recruiting ground.

What we know so far:

> The villain was homegrown. A student at the school who went on a rampage.

> Her identity is public, when reporters arrived on scene they found a whole lot of kids who knew link her name and were happy to tell it to any camera pointed at them. I'm holding off on mod approval before posting it though.

> Her power lets her turn into a werewolf and turn other people into dogs. Doesn't seem to be that strong though, given how badly she got beat.

> She did get beat badly, so that's something at least. This isn't another Smo'dn. No casualties and few injuries.

And that's all we know so far.

On balance I think it's a lot better than it could have been. No causalities is awesome news, and the heroes kicked seven kinds of crap out of the psycho.

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♦ Topic: Attack on Winslow High
In: Boards ► Places ► America ► Brockton Bay ► News
Heart_of_Iron! (Original Poster) (Veteran Member)
Posted On Mar 16th 2011:
So, my home town continues to prove itself to be the height of class and sophistication.

We've had a school attack.

Earlier today (barely an hour ago) there was a villain attack at Winslow High. One of the shittier schools in the city, and a well known gang recruiting ground.

What we know so far:

> The villain was homegrown. A student at the school who went on a rampage.

> Her identity is public, when reporters arrived on scene they found a whole lot of kids who knew link her name and were happy to tell it to any camera pointed at them. I'm holding off on mod approval before posting it though.

> Her power lets her turn into a werewolf and turn other people into dogs. Doesn't seem to be that strong though, given how badly she got beat.

> She did get beat badly, so that's something at least. This isn't another Smo'dn. No casualties and few injuries.

And that's all we know so far.

On balance I think it's a lot better than it could have been. No causalities is awesome news, and the heroes kicked seven kinds of crap out of the psycho.

(Showing page 1 of 74)

►Kuervojones
Replied On Mar 16th 2011:
Holy fuck! My neighbours kids go there. You're sure there's no casualties? I babysitted those little snots. I hope they're okay.

►Noir_Sleuth1941
Replied On Mar 16th 2011:
tough break on that one. We haven't had a school attack up in New York in...well I don't think there's ever been one.

what's Smo'dn?

►Mailman
Replied On Mar 16th 2011:
@Noir_Sleuth1941 Are you fucking stupid?

here dumbass

►Heart_of_Iron! (Original Poster) (Veteran Member)
Replied On Mar 16th 2011:
@Mailman How about you google "how not to be an asshole"

@Noir_Sleuth1941 Smo'dn was a villain up in canada, some magic theme, she went after a high school cause her kid was getting picked on there and killed a whole lot of kids. Maimed others. The Guild themselves turned up to bring her down.

There's no video, but rumour is that Narwhal spread her over several miles.

►King Nugget
Replied On Mar 16th 2011:
Come on guys, can't we all just get along. This is bad enough without having an argument within the first few posts.

►Mailman
Replied On Mar 16th 2011:
Yeah yeah. Whatever.

We can at least all agree that this Taylor girl's a pathetic piece of crap. I didn't have a lot of friends in school either and I never tried to kill anyone.

►Sikan
Replied On Mar 16th 2011:
You didn't have powers though.

EDIT: Sorry. didn't mean it like that.

►Coyote-C
Replied On Mar 16th 2011:
I'm with mail, going agfter kids is low. Hope they throw her in the cage.

►King Nugget
Replied On Mar 16th 2011:
She's a kid too though.

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(Showing page 22 of 74)

►Laotsunn (Kyushu Survivor)
Replied On Mar 17th 2011:
@King Nugget I can not believe you are still trying to defend this girl.

Shadow Stalker risked her life to try and save a bunch of schoolchildren, but do you talk about what she deserves? No. You lecture me about justice for a murderer.

►King Nugget
Replied On Mar 17th 2011:
@Laotsunn Attempted murderer.

A fifteen year old attempted murderer. I'm just saying that it might be better to go easy on her then to hunt a teenage girl like an animal.

►royalRobert
Replied On Mar 17th 2011:
@King Nugget just give it up already.

So where do we think shes gone? Not a word after a day, where could she be hiding?

►Noir_Sleuth1941
Replied On Mar 17th 2011:
Let's sleuth it out.

She's got a lot of heat on her right now.

Her face is publicly known, especially right now with it all over the news.

We know from those Winslow kids that she ran off as a dog, so she can take that form as well as push other people into it.

She needs shelter (a check online says that it's raining hard in the Bay right now) and food.

She might be injured.

Based on all of the above, I would conclude that if she's smart at all then she'll have headed for a dog shelter. Somewhere in the city there's a shelter with a cage with a very scary dog in it.

►Aloha
Replied On Mar 17th 2011:
What? Like in that film with the alien dog? A Pixar thing I think it was.

►Reave (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied On Mar 17th 2011:
With less cute blue fur and more murder.

►mack0813
Replied On Mar 17th 2011:
Hey @Reave how's Shadow Stalker doing? Must have been rough getting attacked at school like that, and she really stepped up.

Tell her that we're proud of her. She's come a long way since the hockey mask.

►Iblis (Cape Groupie)
Replied On Mar 17th 2011:
I SAY THAT THE SHITHEAD SHOULD BE EXECUTED FOR WHAT SHE DID!!!!

EDIT: I meant Taylor Hebert, not Shadow Stalker. She should get a medal after this. Do they still give those out?

►Answer Key
Replied On Mar 17th 2011:
Calm down. It's not her fault she became a werewolf. Just because she needs a silver bullet doesn't make it her fault.

Lycanthropy is like rabies. You don't blame your dog for catching it, but you do have to get it put down.

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(Showing page 34 of 74)

►Feychick
Replied On Mar 17th 2011:
@Sumgai Yes Answer Key is serious, no he doesn't have any evidence.

Look at his post history (you may need some brain bleach to wash out the stupid after) and you'll get it pretty quick. I'm pretty sure the guy's medicated. Or should be.

►Reave (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied On Mar 17th 2011:
@Everyone Who Keeps Asking

I'm authorised to confirm that Runt is the assigned cape name for Taylor Hebert.

►Answer Key
Replied On Mar 17th 2011:
@Feychick you wanna take this outside bitch? I'm at [content removed] come and get some any time. We'll see who needs medication afterwards.

User Was Infracted for this post: Do not threaten other users. Do not give out personal information. ~ Lady Kay

►Heart_of_Iron! (Original Poster) (Veteran Member)
Replied On Mar 18th 2011:
Heads up! New Info:

I have a buddy in the police (who will be going entirely unnamed) who knows a guy who knows a guy and so on.

The PRT was spread thin so they called in the BBPD to help with perimeters around places they expected Runt to attack.

She hit one of them.

What we know:

> It was her house that she went after.

> She used her power on a PRT agent, from the interview with Emma Barnes we got yesterday, that's probably not a big deal. Unless it doesn't wear off this time. Hopefully it does.

> She also put two cops in the hospital. Badly broken arms, Panacea fixed them both up like new.

> People who saw her escaping all agreed that she had a bag strapped to her back. So it looks like she was grabbing her things.

> The disturbing part, she made it right through the perimeter and was only discovered after she got inside her house. Unless she has a weird grab bag I'm guessing she used a little dog form to sneak inside. So uh, be careful.

As always. More info when I have it.

►CyberneticCivilization
Replied On Mar 18th 2011:
Time to step up pest control funding. Bad enough that we have all these filthy mutts on the streets, but if any one of them could be some teenage murderer...

►WhedonRipperFan
Replied On Mar 18th 2011:
She hospitalised PRT agents and cops. She attacked a cape at their school.

Runt isn't getting brought in alive after all that.

►Aegis (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
Replied On Mar 18th 2011:
@WhedonRipperFan I would thank you not to make such accusations of our conduct.

►WhedonRipperFan
Replied On Mar 18th 2011:
Oh fuck, I'm so sorry.

Hey do you know anything that you can tell us about all this? Like did Shadow Stalker know anything in particular about her powers.

Surely it's a good thing if as many people as possible know about what a villain can do.

►WagTheDog
Replied On Mar 18th 2011:
@CyberneticCivilisation Dnot say that shit. How'd you like if dgos strated killinng us fust cause?

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(Showing page 35 of 74)

►Dawgsmiles (Veteran Member)
Replied On Mar 18th 2011:
Gawd damn. And I thought my spelling was bad.

►Ash_Yeast
Replied On Mar 18th 2011:
It's funny. All this anger for Runt but everyone just forgets about the shit Shadow Stalker used to do. I guess it's fine to drop a guy off a roof so long as you're a hero.

►Mailman
Replied On Mar 18th 2011:
@Ash_Yeast No what's funny is a guy whose post history has him openly claiming to work for Uber and Leet trying to take the high ground.

So she made some mistakes. I bet you'd have pissed yourself in her shoes at that school, but she stood her ground and saved lived. That's a hero in my book.

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♦ Topic: Help! Somethings going down1
In: Boards ► Places ► America ► Brockton Bay ► News
SecretOrder (Original Poster) (Newfoundland Survivor)
Posted On Apr 1st 2011:
Up late, I heard a whole lot of engines outside my window. So I look outside and, well here's a link.

That's Rune's platform above the cars. What do you think is going on? Should I get to safety?

(Showing page 1 of 1)

►Noir_Sleuth1941
Replied On Apr 1st 2011:
Gotta be a major cape fight. Take cover.

►Brocktonite03 (Veteran Member)
Replied On Apr 1st 2011:
Calm down. It's probably not even happening near you. Even if it is you're better off staying inside.

More importantly what is this thread even doing in NEws?

►SecretOrder (Original Poster) (Newfoundland Survivor)
Replied On Apr 1st 2011:
Hey, I'm hearing howling from outside. It sounds far away but I'm getting really scared.

►Answer Key
Replied On Apr 1st 2011:
Hah! Look at the moon tonight! I told you all! Runt's started turning her pack. Soon lycanthropy will spread like a fucking plague, but nobody listens to me. Well you'll be sorry soon.

►Sumgai
Replied On Apr 1st 2011:
@Answer Key but it's a crescent moon tonight.

►Lady Kay (Moderator)
Replied On Apr 1st 2011:
THREAD CLOSED

This does not belong in News and there's already megathreads for the movements of gangs.

@SecretOrder I'm going to PM you a number to phone. It's the PRT's non emergency helpline. They'll probably want some info at some point, but more importantly they'll help you calm down and stay safe. Okay?

End of Page. 1

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♦ Topic: What's going on.
In: Boards ► Places ► America ► Brockton Bay ► Misc
Vorakker (Original Poster) (Veteran Member)
Posted On Apr 12th 2011:
This one believes that something strange is happening.

The Empire is active.

All gangs are more active. Like ants with a flooded nest.

This one walked the night two rotations past and heard a great beast roaring challenge.

Calling to all those who thirst for knowledge, may we find the truth together.

(Showing page 7 of 15)

►Answer Key
Replied On Apr 15th 2011:
@Seven7old5ymphony Of course it's not a skinwalker. What kind of Skinwalker could have passed as a teenage girl for so long?

No, this is lycanthropy. Probably the South American strain.

►Laotsunn (Kyushu Survivor)
Replied On Apr 15th 2011:
@Noir_Sleuth1941 The Dragon is pleased with the situation. I know that much from the peachvine.

This would imply that whatever is going on isn't targetting the ABB, more the pity.

►Noir_Sleuth1941
Replied On Apr 15th 2011:
Am I the only one finding the contrast between the two types of people in this thread a little weird?

@Laotsunn Well that does only leave the Empire then. Everyone else has someone saying that they're doing fine with all this. Can't say I'm suprised to hear that the Nazis have grudges being aimed their way.

►missky
Replied On Apr 15th 2011:
Well all I know is that the Empire is getting along badly of late (when you get to be my age you hear these things) and that's bad news for those of us who were born in these parts. No offence to anyone, but for all their faults the Empire does help keep things safer for an old lady like me.

@Laotsunn It's grapevine dear.

►Orzanobligit
Replied On Apr 15th 2011:
@Noir_Sleuth1941 Ignore the magic nuts. They're crazy, end of story.

As for the Empire, I wouldn't count it out just yet. Despite all that crap you see on the news the truth is that the Empire has never been stronger. Whoever it is that's doing all this is going to regret it before long.

@missky Don't you worry about it. There's no way that the Empire is going to let the drug pushers and assorted trash get a foothold in their territory. You just wait and see.

►Ash_Yeast
Replied On Apr 15th 2011:
Gangs and lunatics, this is a hell of a thread.

I think I'm gonna go find a mod.

►DefenceoftheFather
Replied On Apr 15th 2011:
Hm, I wondered if there might be some real information available here, but such slim pickings.

@Laotsunn Perhaps we should have a private chat. Anata ga sunde iru basho 7123

►Answer Key
Replied On Apr 15th 2011:
All the Nazis should piss off already. They have no idea what they're dealing with. If the infection keeps spreading then Fenris will rise and then not even the Golden Fool will stand a chance.

►royalRobert
Replied On Apr 15th 2011:
@Answer Key, Seven7old5ymphony You're both way off. I mean magic? Are you serious?

This is obviously something to do with Runt. A runaway villain with dog powers, then the Empire keeps getting attacked and a few people mention the sound of big animals.

She must have joined up with the Merchants and come after the Empire because Skidmark hates Nazis, for obvious reasons.

►CrownedShenanigans (Unverified Cape)

Replied On Apr 15th 2011:

@Vorakker I think I may have been walking in the same area. Were you the short woman who screamed and ran away when that big wolf noise happened? I think you might have been.

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(Showing page 15 of 15)

►Tin Mother (Moderator)

Replied On Apr 15th 2011:

THREAD CLOSED

This is ridiculous. Theorising is one thing, but this is verging on spam.

@Answer Key Accusing moderators of being probes of an evil robot army does not help your case. Have a three day ban.

End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 13, 14, 15

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♦ Topic: BREAKING: The Empire Goes to War
In: Boards ► Places ► America ► Brockton Bay ► Main
Bagrat (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Posted On May 1st 2011:
At 7:04AM Eastern Standard Time, the Empire Eighty Eight launched an all out attack on Brockton Bay.

They detonated explosive devices at several locations; including the public offices of New Wave, Brockton Savings and Loan, The IRS offices near PRT HQ, and several major roads.

After that they launched a full offensive with the aid of capes from Gesellschaft, the European Neo-Nazi group. Targeting all the gangs in the city, plus the heroes.

Anyone in the Asian District needs to get far away as quickly as possible. It's been confirmed that Chaste (yeah, that Chaste) is in the area and looking to pick a fight with Lung. Once the dragon emerges I'd expect everything nearby to be destroyed. Get clear now.

The fighting is currently ongoing. Updates will be made to this post as news is confirmed.

Update: Empire capes Rune and Long Knife, plus Geselschaft cape Nocht, were defeated and arrested after an attempt to kill Panacea while she rendered aid outside of Brockton Savings and Loan. Credit seems to go to her sister and PRT agents in the area, but a few people who were watching from windows and such are saying that the Undersiders were also in the area and fought alongside New Wave.

Update 2: Can now confirm the above, this video shows the Undersiders doing the lion's share of the work in bringing them down, thanks to @SkyHigh

More importantly, it shows that the Undersiders have recruited Runt at some point and she's a lot more powerful than anyone thought. I know that this is bad news, but please keep discussion of it to the relevant thread.

Update 3: New Wave won their fight, while the Merchants ran for the hills. New Wave took several injuries. Brandish was in critical condition for a time, but Panacea made it to them in time. Currently it appears elements of New Wave are heading to support the Protectorate.

Update 4:The Protectorate beat back the last of the teams of attacking capes. This picture is currently doing the rounds, which it deserves. I never thought much of Kid Win but it looks like he's learning a lot from Armsmaster.

At this point other than reports of a roaming team of Empire capes it seems like things might be in hand.

PRT forces (with support from the BBPD) are currently dealing with the last of the Empire's footsoldiers. My source in the PRT thinks it'll be an easy job without their capes to support them.

Update 5: I have to admit, I'm not sure how to respond to this one. Cell phone footage has emerged showing a fight at the docks. It's grainy and distant, but...well take a look.

Runt is a hell of a lot stronger than anyone thought. Given what she's done so far, this may be some very bad news for Brockton Bay.

FINAL Update: So the final casualty count looks to be 57 dead, 231 injured. Mostly from the bombs and a couple car crashes, but a few were killed in cape fights and at least a dozen died in the clash between Chaste and Lung. Possibly many more, their powers make it hard to tell.

Meanwhile the Empire is all but gone. Kaiser is in a coma and unlikely to ever wake up again, though he's being sent to a secure hospital (thanks @Reave for the info), meanwhile most of the Empire capes have been arrested.

The only one of them killed was Hookwolf, who died fighting the Undersiders on the docks. Apologies to anyone who watched that video before I broke the link, the low quality and my eyesight meant I didn't realise you could see Hookwolf being torn apart. I'm very sorry.

In memoriam:

Acree
Brocktonite03
Laotsunn

(Showing page 257 of 257)

►Orzanobligit

Replied On May 5th 2011:

The Kaiser is dead. There's almost nothing left of us.

All I have left to say is congratulations to all those race traitors cheering for this. You'll see soon enough just how you're treated by your inferiors without us to protect you.

►King Nugget

Replied On May 1st 2011:

Good riddance

►XxVoid_CowboyxX (Banned)

Replied On May 6th 2011:

My girlfriend's sister's friend was injured in one of the crashes. I can't believe this happened to someone I know. Imagine if I'd been with them, I could have died.

The city is a mess.

►NaturalistChorus

Replied On May 6th 2011:

Don't worry void, I'm sure you'll get killed in the next city-wide tragedy. Then you'll finally have something to exploit for popularity.

End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 255, 256, 257

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♦ Topic: A New Thread
In: Boards ► Places ► America ► Brockton Bay ► Teams ► Undersiders
Brocktonite03 (Original Poster) (Veteran Member)
Posted On Aug 10th 2010:

(Showing page 21 of 158)

►WagTheDog

Replied On May 2nd 2011:

Have yuo guys seeen this!

link

If your net scuk then its the Undursidurs fighting Nazis. Runt's with them nd she turns tehm ubto giant werrwolfes!!!!1

►mack0813

Replied On May 2nd 2011:

You may be interested in this thing called spellcheck XD

►Mailman

Replied On May 2nd 2011:

Oh crap, so the crazy bitch is even worse than we thought. And even worse we're going to have that asshole in here any minute crowing about how he's right about everything.

►Answer Key

Replied On May 2nd 2011:

I was right!!! In your faces. All of your faces! I was right and thr proof is right there.

►Mailman

Replied On May 2nd 2011:

Called it.

►Answer Key

Replied On May 2nd 2011:

@Mailman Oh shut up, I was right. You can't deny it.

Maybe now you'll all believe me that Scion is sneaking into the Dreamworld (or Zeitgeist, to use it's proper name) at night and being hunted by a chained goddess.

I made a thread for it over on Occult Watch (dot) net. Ignore any blips you get from your anti-virus. It's a false positive from some of the cookies or something.

►Cha0sfa1th

Replied On May 2nd 2011:

Who gives a damn? Are we really discussing this crap right now? Look at the size of them in that video!!

I've seen footage of Hellhound's dogs before and they look about the same size, but on their hind legs...what the fuck could you even do against one of those things?

►Noir_Sleuth1941

Replied On May 2nd 2011:

The Regent one looks like it did something with the lightning around Glory Girl too. Extra powers?

►Mane_Magenta

Replied On May 2nd 2011:

So Runt has even more Trump rating?

Great.

Guess I'm homeschooling my kids from now on. I'm not risking her going after another school with the Undersiders behind her.

►missky

Replied On May 2nd 2011:

@Answer Key That's an easy fix. You just need to turn off the anti virus whenever you go to the site in question. One little fix and the warnings all go away.

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(Showing page 22 of 158)

►SecretOrder (Newfoundland Survivor)

Replied On May 2nd 2011:

Damn, I kinda liked the Undersiders. Hard to believe they let such a psycho join.

Maybe they're keeping a firm hand on her? Would explain why they haven't done anything like she did to Winslow.

►TechnoSerf (Verified PRT Agent)

Replied On May 2nd 2011:

Haven't done anything, yet. Yet.

I've been hit with her power. If she's doing something that horrible to people, I don't doubt that she's planning another attempted massacre.

I've heard the theory floating around that the Undersiders are keeping a firm hand on her, like they do with Bitch...but how long can that really last?

A power like hers, you'd better believe there's a Master element to it.

►Dragish

Replied On May 2nd 2011:

You think that's something? hah.

My dad works on the Docks. A friend of his took this video last night, or really early this morning really.

Runt can do a lot more than just boost other capes. Looks like it might be about time for all you rich fucks to be the ones feeling the pain.

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►Heart_of_Iron! (Veteran Member)

Replied On May 4th 2011:

@Seven7old I'm telling you, watch the video. Bitch is right there.

So what they don't have the bone spikes and stuff, maybe her power works different on dogs to dog people?

It makes no sense that Runt could do this alone but conveniently never did until she met the Undersiders. This has to be them working together.

►WagTheDog

Replied On May 4th 2011:

@Dagish come on alrady. You siad you'd PM wiht info on the Dock stuff.

I got musels. I can work hard.

►Ash_Yeast

Replied On May 4th 2011:

I might be able to help @WagTheDog I used to be a member.

Normally I'd say you had no chance, but everything's up in the air right now. They might start recruiting.

You'll want to contact Danny Hebert (yeah, the same guy who's keeps going on the news to claim Runt is innocent) and have a talk to him. His numbers on their website. No idea where the man himself is these days, kind of wish I did.

Kind of wish I'd stcuk with those guys a little longer. Too late to go back now.

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♦ Topic: A New Thread
In: Boards ► Places ► America ► Brockton Bay ► Teams ► New Wave
Iblis (Original Poster) (Cape Groupie)
Posted On Jun 16th 2006:

(Showing page 412 of 629)

►Brandish (Verified Cape)

Replied On May 3rd 2011:

I understand that this has been some shocking news, but I'd like to remind some of you (they know who they are) that New Wave has served this city faithfully for many years.

We were not aware of my daughter's crimes, only Amy knew and as was said in the press statement, she was mastered to ensure she could not reveal the truth.

As soon as we learned what Victoria had been doing, we took steps to ensure that she would face the legal consequences of her actions.

I am a mother, as many of you have pointed out, and I certainly do love my daughter. However the New Wave movement was founded on the notion of accountability and it is one I believe in to my bones. My family is not above the law, no one is.

►Orzanobligit

Replied On May 3rd 2011:

hah, what a load.

I bet she just got caught on camera. This is all just them trying to save face.

►Mailman

Replied On May 3rd 2011:

Hard to see Glory Girl escaping arrest as a coincidence. I bet one of her family warned her it was coming.

►Aloha

Replied On May 3rd 2011:

Or maybe she just heard sirens and reacted like any guilty person? Probably figured out that her brainwashing on Panacea had broken down.

Anyway I think we should be talking about the other Dallon sister. She's been controlled for years and she just broke free. It's kind of disgusting that there's so little support for her here.

►Heart_of_Iron! (Veteran Member)

Replied On May 3rd 2011:

She's still out helping with the paramedics you know. I saw her this morning on my way to work.

►Mailman

Replied On May 3rd 2011:

Maybe she got all the basic human decency and Victoria got all the [content removed]

EDIT: Are you serious mods? She's over age isn't she?

End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 410, 411, 412, 413, 414 ... 627, 628, 629

■

♦ Topic: Rolecall
In: Boards ► Places ► America ► Brockton Bay ► Rogues
PRMaven (Original Poster) (Verified PRT Official)
Posted On Aug 20th 2009:

(Showing page 64 of 79)

►Noir_Sleuth1941

Replied On May 5th 2011:

I can't believe no one has uploaded a picture yet. It doesn't even need to be scanned, just take a picture of the damn flyer and upload it.

►Dragish

Replied On May 5th 2011:

It's nothing special. The text has already been uploaded anyway. Why do you need a picture?

►Noir_Sleuth1941

Replied On May 5th 2011:

Secret messages of course. This is a portal cape with a mysterious name. There has to be something hidden in it.

I've already tried running all the words through a few methods. Found some interesting anagrams, and I think there might be something to the frequency of letters.

Really I need an actual copy though. Who knows what weird paper they're made with.

►Dominas Ostium (Verified Cape) (Verified Rogue) (High Priestess of Janus)

Replied On May 5th 2011:

It's perfectly normal paper. Though I took pains to ensure it wouldn't trace back to me.

►Lady Kay (Moderator)

Replied On May 5th 2011:

@Dominas, how did you get that last tag? Tags are meant to be awarded, not given out just because you asked.

►Heart_of_Iron! (Veteran Member)

Replied On May 5th 2011:

@Dominas Your adverts don't make mention of what your price actually is, how much would it cost me to get transport across the city.

►Leet (Verified Cape)

Replied On May 5th 2011:

@Dominas you mention discretion and no discrimination. Would that mean what I think it means? ;p

►missky

Replied On May 5th 2011:

Am I the only one a little concerned by that mention of Photography?

►Faultline (Verified Cape)

Replied On May 5th 2011:

I have something for you. I'm not talking on an unsecured public phone line though, contact me via PM and I'll give you a number to call me on.

►Dominas Ostium (Verified Cape) (Verified Rogue) (High Priestess of Janus)

Replied On May 5th 2011:

@Heart_of_Iron! If you have to ask, you probably can't afford it.

@Leet Assuming it did, I wouldn't be able to confirm or deny anything here.

@Faultline The line is secure, but if it makes you feel more comfortable I'd be happy to.

End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 62, 63, 64, 65, 66 ... 77, 78, 79

(Showing page 65 of 79)

►Parian (Verified Cape) (Verified Rogue)

Replied On May 5th 2011:

Hello. It's good to have another of us operating in the Bay.

There's a lot of pressure to join a side, so I'm very glad to see another person who didn't give in. I hope we can meet some time. I'm sure we could find a way to benefit from working together.

►Kuervojones

Replied On May 5th 2011:

How far up the East Coast do you think her range is?

Might be sandbagging even.

►Dominas Ostium (Verified Cape) (Verified Rogue) (High Priestess of Janus)

Replied On May 5th 2011:

@Parian I have another partner who is currently preparing to make his own entrance onto the scene. A tinker.

If you're interested by the sound of that, we could meet up in person in the next few days.

►Miss Mercury (Protectorate Employee)

Replied On May 5th 2011:

Sounds like a team of Rogues could be on the way.

►Cha0sfa1th

Replied On May 5th 2011:

Yeah, I seem to recall something like that in the past. I wonder what happened to it

*stares at your tag*

►Miss Mercury (Protectorate Employee)

Replied On May 5th 2011:

The PRT and Protectorate are distinct entities, you idiot.

End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 63, 64, 65, 66, 67 ... 77, 78, 79

■

♦ Topic: Downtown chaos! Werewolves gone wild!
In: Boards ► Places ► America ► Brockton Bay ► News
Rakdos (Original Poster)
Posted On May 8th 2011:
Christ on a shit stick. I just ducked into a coffee shop and yanked out my laptop so sorry if this isn';t as polished as my usual posts but downtown is going nuts.

A week after the Empire threw their tantrum, well I'd heard a few things about the Undersider but they didn't capture...anything.

I was walking to work (at the central library, feel free to swing by any time guys and gals, we could do with the foot traffic) when I hear this rumbling. Coming up the street from bejhind and I assume it';s just a truck of something, but it was not a truck it was.

Like, imagine a tank. A big one, like the length of three guys lying in a row, and bulky.

Now imagine it's standing up and covered in fur (or bone in one case) and it has a bvunch of friends, plus some giant dogs, and a wolf head and it's loping down the street so fast that it's overtaking traffic.

Somehow there wasn't a massive pile up, and they were definitely avoiding the traffic but, I mean.

Hoy fuck

(Showing page 1 of 134)

►Mane_Magenta

Replied On May 8th 2011:

I'm in the area. I see where they're headed.

The Fortress.

►Noir_Sleuth1941

Replied On May 8th 2011:

The fortress? What's that?

►Dragish

Replied On May 8th 2011:

@Noir_Sleuth1941 are you ever not online? When do you sleep?

The Fortress is one of the tallest buildings in the bay. Third place I think, but only by like three or four floors. Built by Fortress Construction as a publicity stunt, to show how solid their building is. hence the name,

@Mane_Magenta any chance you could livestream a view of what's going on?

►Mane_Magenta

Replied On May 8th 2011:

Not ion this phone. But I can tell you that they've started climbing it,

►bothad

Replied On May 8th 2011:

Climbing what? The Fortress? It's smooth glass all the way up though.

►Nod

Replied On May 8th 2011:

Fortress are the guys who make Endbringer shelters for the US, right?

►Rakdos (Original Poster)

Replied On May 8th 2011:

@Nod Some other countries too.

I'm in a better position, it's a hell of a view.

There's two of them, plus a bunch of Bitch's big dog things. They're climbing it like a damn ladder. Just grabbing the floors and surging up.

►Mane_Magenta

Replied On May 8th 2011:

Gotta be at least twnety floors up already. Had a jumping start though.

I've got my birdwatching gear on me so I'm gonna try for a closer look with the binoculars.

►Kriketz

Replied On May 8th 2011:

I think I speak for us all when I say we're grateful.

End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 132, 133, 134

(Showing page 2 of 134)

►Rakdos (Original Poster)

Replied On May 8th 2011:

Hey, I think I see you. Purple dress, black jacket, big ass binocuilars.

Got a good view.

►Mane_Magenta

Replied On May 8th 2011:

There's someone strapped to the bone covered one's back. Focusing is hard with how much they're moving.

@Rakdos That's me, which makes me think you might be the guy with the blue shirt and the quite well chosen glasses.

►Mane_Magenta

Replied On May 8th 2011:

Yeah, I'm waving as I tap this out. And you're waving back, so this is probably pointless to post.

Anyway, you've got a solid view there, I'm gonna stay on this side in case they move around to the other side of the building. Damn they're climbing fast

►Mane_Magenta

Replied On May 8th 2011:

I think it's Runt on its back. The hair's right and I think the build is too. Loose clothes and, I think she's wearing a collar. Which makes an odd kind of sense.

►Heart_of_Iron! (Veteran Member)

Replied On May 8th 2011:

Just found the thread, plus have the news on. You guys seem to have a better angle though, I guess the news chopper is restricted from that airspace.

Why the hell are they attacking a civilian company?

►Miraclemic

Replied On May 8th 2011:

They're a band of thieves aren't they? Isn't it obvious?

►Rakdos (Original Poster)

Replied On May 8th 2011:

They're also known for being sneaky, even after they got Runt and started turning into giant monsters.

These things are so terrifffdfuygfdgvdhbsffdv

Shit on shit, I think I know why they're attacking the Fortress. I'm in cover though, Mane, you okay?

►Mane_Magenta

Replied On May 8th 2011:

Yeah, behind a car.

►Rakdos (Original Poster)

Replied On May 8th 2011:

Make sure it's the wheel well, most of the body won;t stop bullets

►Noir_Sleuth1941

Replied On May 8th 2011:

Bullets? The hell? They're using guns? Giant guns?

End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4 ... 132, 133, 134

(Showing page 3 of 134)

►Mane_Magenta

Replied On May 8th 2011:

No, someone inside is shouting out. A lot of someone's.

Goddamn autocorrect, this shed keeps turning itself back on.

►Rakdos (Original Poster)

Replied On May 8th 2011:

And now it;s some kind of explosive. What the hell is going on. What kind of civlian company is up there?

►Mane_Magenta

Replied On May 8th 2011:

A PMC maybe?

►Answer Key

Replied On May 8th 2011:

I've been telling you all for months, the Fortress is a nexus of evil! harpies and demons and hydras and succubi. Of course they have guns.

►Rakdos (Original Poster)

Replied On May 8th 2011:

Was that a laser? I think that was a fucking laser!

►Tin Mother (Moderator)

Replied On May 8th 2011:

@Answer Key you can have a temp thread ban for that nonsense.

Everyone stay safe please. It's admirable to get the news out quickly but nobody wants you to put yourself at risk.

►XxVoid_CowboyxX (Banned)

Replied On May 8th 2011:

Speak for yourself mom, I wanna know more.

User Was Banned for this post: Do not encourage other users to harm themselves or put themselves at risk of harm.

►Mane_Magenta

Replied On May 8th 2011:

I think that's it from me. I'm getting clear, assuming I don't get trampled to death.

►Rakdos (Original Poster)

Replied On May 8th 2011:

My car's right here. Let me give you a lift to safety.

The Undersiders are inside the building by the way. Fuck knows what they're doing.

►Noir_Sleuth1941

Replied On May 8th 2011:

Thanks for the info you two. Stay safe.

End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ... 132, 133, 134

(Showing page 42 of 134)

►Heart_of_Iron! (Veteran Member)

Replied On May 8th 2011:

Okay, the PRT have just started to come out of the building. It's hard to see over their cordon, but it looks like they're leading out a whole bunch of people in military gear.

Scary looking people too.

They're carting out a lot of weapons as well. A few computers, which we all know will do them piss all good unless this was the dumbest criminal mastermind ever.

On subject of which, who do we think this is. Everyone is assuming Coil so far, which is the obvious answer. Not the only possibility though. It could be someone new.

►Ash_Yeast

Replied On May 8th 2011:

I'm still feeling a lot more concerned with where the Undersiders went after they left. They were inside for a long while before the PRT moved in, I bet they already cleaned the place out of everything worth a damn.

Wonder what they came for.

►Dragish

Replied On May 8th 2011:

Heh, I love knowing things that all the rick assholes don;t. Not that that's you guys. You're all right, so I'll give you a clue.

Anyone looking for a good view of the Bay right now is gonna see something awesome.

►Heart_of_Iron! (Veteran Member)

Replied On May 8th 2011:

What on earth does that mean?

►Mane_Magenta

Replied On May 8th 2011:

I think I might know.

Me and Rakdos went for a coffee after all that, and he was dropping me off near the boardwalk so we were in the area and...well I'm probably just gonna post this and then post a video in a few minutes.

►Noir_Sleuth1941

Replied On May 8th 2011:

What's going on?

►Lasersmile

Replied On May 8th 2011:

Holy shit

►Leet (Verified Cape)

Replied On May 8th 2011:

Is everyone else seeing what I'm seeing?

►Aloha

Replied On May 8th 2011:

I don't know since I'm several timezones away and you're not describing anything

End of Page. 1, 2, 3, ... 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, ... 132, 133, 134

(Showing page 43 of 134)

►Leet (Verified Cape)

Replied On May 8th 2011:

My camera's up. Here's a livestream link.

Sorry to pip you mane and Rak, but you're being all riajuu right now anyway. Good job on the early reporting still.

►Aloha

Replied On May 8th 2011:

holy shit

►Heart_of_Iron! (Veteran Member)

Replied On May 8th 2011:

The forcefield isn't going to hold. They're actually going to do it.

I think I'm gonna cry.

►CyberneticCivilization

Replied On May 8th 2011:

@Leet, I'm not getting a video, just a paywall

►Leet (Verified Cape)

Replied On May 8th 2011:

Well yeah, I'm not sharing this view for free. I've got the supply and there's a lot of demand right now.

► CyberneticCivilization

Replied On May 8th 2011:

Bastard.

I can't believe I'm giving you money.

►Dominas Ostium (Verified Cape) (Verified Rogue) (High Priestess of Janus)

Replied On May 8th 2011:

@Leet I'm impressed.

►Deimos

Replied On May 8th 2011:

Guess it makes sense that the capes are here too. oh hell the forcefield just broke.

►Mane_Magenta

Replied On May 8th 2011:

That's Legend. We're okay. Thank all the gods we're okay.

►Ash_Yeast

Replied On May 8th 2011:

He's not doing anything though...hell I think...no way...no fucking way...

End of Page. 1, 2, 3, ... 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, ... 132, 133, 134

(Showing page 44 of 134)

►Aloha

Replied On May 8th 2011:

He's letting them go.

I don't even know what to think. I feel like my brain just shut down.

►Mane_Magenta

Replied On May 8th 2011:

You and me and all of us. They're swimming back to the Bay and, I don't even know what to think right now.

►Rakdos (Original Poster)

Replied On May 8th 2011:

Uh, I d

►Heart_of_Iron! (Veteran Member)

Replied On May 8th 2011:

Was that intentionally cut off, because that isn't funny right now.

►Heart_of_Iron! (Veteran Member)

Replied On May 8th 2011:

@Rakdos, Mane_Magenta are you okay?

►Aloha

Replied On May 8th 2011:

Dude don't double post

►Rakdos (Original Poster)

Replied On May 8th 2011:

Yeah, we're fine...I'm just. Wow.

Any of you ever seen Walking with Dinosaurs? Me and Mane just got a taste of being in it.

►Mane_Magenta

Replied On May 8th 2011:

They came up on the stretch of dock we were parked on. So many of them pulling themselves up onto land and, they're massive. You don't get it until they stand right by you. One of them turned to look at me, this big sandy coloured thing.

Those eyes.

►Rakdos (Original Poster)

Replied On May 8th 2011:

I got a picture, a whole bunch of them in fact. A few of them posed...

Here's one. As for the rest, I know a guy at the Times who is going to pay through the nose for these.

End of Page. 1, 2, 3, ... 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, ... 132, 133, 134

■

♦ Topic: Gamechanger
In: Boards ►
Bruce Lao (Original Poster)
Posted On May 8th 2011:
Brute Labour

We've all fantasied about it. About what could be done with a whole team of brutes trained to do, well any manual task really. The dexterity of a human and the physical power of heavy machinery.

Well it's a fantasy no longer.

Look at this site, until recently it was the web page of a nearly dead Union of Dockworkers in Brockton bay (an East Coast city, fairly large).

Now it's the main page for ordering the Wolves. A group who claim to have access to dozens of high grade Brutes (we're talking 6/7 or thereabouts) with labour experience. Which sounds crazy until you see this video of a recent news report from the city.

I don't even know where to start. This is big.

(Showing page 1 of 1)

►PRMaven (Verified PRT Official)

Replied On May 8th 2011:

You couldn't be more right.

End of Page. 1

■

♦ Topic: Greetings From the Pack
In: Boards ► Places ► America ► Brockton Bay ► Teams ► Underdogs
AllSeeingEye (Original Poster) (Unverified Cape)
Posted On May 9th 2011:
Hello and good day.

This is the inaugural thread of a brand new sub-forum. One devoted to a team you all know very well. We are the Undersiders, bane of the Empire and master thieves.

We're also a pack of werewolves, with a growing horde of employees, and between that and our intention to branch out into more legal work, we have decided to change names.

So from now on, whether you're looking for brute labour at an unparalleled price, or discovering you're short a few priceless gemstones, the name you should call is no longer Undersiders.

We are the Underdogs.

■

Anzer'ke · Sep 19, 2017

"Mrrffle."

Something was in her mouth. Something hairy.

"Pwah, pwah." Taylor spat, trying and failing to lift her head away from the offending -she blinked a few times- dog…there was a dog beneath her head. Blinking sleepily up at her as if to ask why she was disturbing its nap. Something she found especially galling since it had appropriated her spot on Brian's chest, having somehow clambered onto the couch, squirmed between them as they slept, and kicked her off to…the…side...

Her breath came out in a little, "Huh." The realisation of just what position she'd woken up in finally hitting her.

Somehow she didn't feel embarrassed, or nervous, or any of the things she'd have once imagined feeling after waking up sprawled atop a handsome slab of muscle and charm. Not that it wasn't an embarrassing position to be in, but…

It was Brian. He was still holding the book they'd been reading together the night before, thumb holding their place. His face was even more boyish and innocent with the slackness of sleep, not least because the hair that he'd shaved to nothing when they first moved into the Fortress had grown out just enough for a mild case of bed hair.

As much as a part of her still wanted to combust at the thought of him waking up and seeing the drool stain she'd left on his shirt's shoulder…All she really felt was comfortable.

It was warm and the air was still, thick with the tapestry of their shared scents against the backdrop of a horde of paper made heavy with words. What little pre-dawn light made it down through the skylight high above them only added to the atmosphere, just like the lingering embers in the fireplace. While the sounds of world outside were so quiet as to be whispers even to the fluffy ears that swivelled atop her head.

Every impression sang in harmony, stoking the curious warmth that filled her chest, lulling her back down to sleep with a slow and drowsy beat of her tail back and forth. Despite her usual habits, Taylor let the feeling wash over her. Settling back down with only a brief moment to shove the unknown dog onto some cushions, clearing Brian's chest for her to curl up against him. Tucking her head into the crook of his shoulder and even daring to plant a quick kiss on the side of his neck.

The way he responded in his sleep, turning over enough to throw his arm across her, only stoked the warmth higher inside of her. Even if Taylor might have preferred him to drop the book instead of smacking it against her.

Despite that brief pain, slumber kept dragging at her eyelids, and she was happy to let it win.

The next time Taylor woke up she knew immediately that she was too well rested to go back to sleep. Plus, there was a plate of toast, a teapot, and a steaming cup of liquid delight sitting not a foot from her nose. Who could resist such a thing?

Unfortunately her bed consisted only of sofa cushions and the same snoozing dog, but it took only a brief flex of her power for Taylor to pick through the scents in the air and pick Brian's trail out of them.

He'd headed for the stairs after waking up…beneath her…and there was the embarrassment. Along with a hefty dose of worry about what her boyfriend had thought about waking up next to the drooling mess she was picturing herself as. Though a quick huff into her palm at least assured her that her breath wasn't too bad.

At that point she was already irrevocably out of her comfy position, so Taylor swung her legs out and sat up with the ease belonging only to the disgustingly healthy and the physically superhuman. Casually grabbing a piece of toast and barely managing not to knock over her tea.

The first sip woke her up a little. By the tenth she was ready to put it down and stand up. Ignoring the protesting whine of the dog as she did so.

A monumental stretch popped out the tension in her back and made her very grateful for her regeneration. Sleeping on the couch had left her so stiff even with it, that the very notion of such a night spent as a normal human made her ache in sympathy with her theoretical normal human self.

Plus, her normal human version wouldn't have had a cute boy to spend that night curled up against.

Distant clattering reminded Taylor of the upsides of that normal human life. The racket was only getting louder with each second that passed, but having already been left to sleep in Taylor figured she might as well try and make something of the reprieve. So she sat back down and started carefully spreading jam across a slice of toast, washing her breakfast down with frequent sips of her tea.

She made it through a whole cup and a half before an especially booming crash broke her will. Split seconds later she was through the heavy doors to the gym, then shouldering aside a much lighter door of glass and steel to stand in the glare of an early morning in June.

The pool glittering beside her went completely ignored, as Taylor was far more interested in gaping at the scene laid out in the garden down below.

For the first week or so that Victoria had stayed with them, Taylor had gotten a depressing look at what she must have been like when she first started living with the Undersiders.

Withdrawn, quiet, terrified, and desperate for company. Taylor had looked at Victoria and seen almost everything that she remembered from her own misery. Even the guilt and shame and anger over what had pushed her onto the particular path she walked. It was like looking into a very unkind mirror.

Then Alec and Lisa had both gotten sick of it, raided one of the supply rooms, and dragged Victoria into an impromptu celebration of her one-week anniversary as a guest of the Underdogs.

The next morning Lisa had been hungover, Alec had been speaking as loudly as possible, and Victoria had gone from a moping around to pacing rapidly back and forth across the garden, ranting to everyone and no one about things that a tabloid reporter would have offered limbs for.

It was a sudden and unexpected education on the screwed up dynamics of New Wave, all building up to the awe-inspiring crescendo that was Glory Girl leaping atop the railing and screaming out into the city, "I quit!"

Since then it had been like every bit of energy that had gone into being miserable was getting spent on whatever popped into the ex-hero's head. Which, on that morning in particular, seemed to be some kind of…game? Or maybe a blood sport?

Victoria was holding a heavy looking ball in each hand, big lumpy things with skins made of leather, roughly the size of a head. Around her feet were more of the things.

As Taylor watched she hurled one of them so fast and so hard that it seemed to vanish. Appearing again with an almighty boom as it smacked into a wall. The stitching straining against the sheer power of the impact. Then Victoria stopped halfway to picking up another ball and threw with her other hand, catching Alec a glancing blow that still knocked him right off his feet.

Only the signs of his transformation kept Taylor from intervening, and even that did nothing to stop her vaulting the railing when Bitch emerged from behind a tree with a baseball bat in her hands and the clear intention to actually hit the ball Victoria was lining up to throw.

Taylor hit the next landing down and was about to grab the pipe that provided the quickest route from there to the gardens when Victoria threw. A split second later Rachel's bat was an expanding cloud of splinters and the ball was going right back the way it came.

Victoria's shield -or at least, that was how she had explained her power's defensive aspect- took the impact without a problem, but she still stepped back at the blow to the face. Taylor hit the grass in a roll, ready to break things up, but the ball fell from Victoria's face to reveal a wide smile as she cheered, "Quidditch world cup here we come!"

A frantic charge became a run, became a jog, became Taylor walking a few more steps before stopping. Then she turned right around and headed for the stairs before any of the had a chance to spot her.

Questions were lined up along the inside of her skull, but she wisely left them to wither on the vine. Besides, the not so fun part about their stolen assets was all the work it was taking to keep those assets from collapsing in Coil's absence. Not to mention all the repair work that was still being finished on the Fortress.

Brian had claimed a room as his office within a few days of their moving in, and Taylor had found the one opposite it to be a worthy den for her own paperwork.

As such she had a place to go and things to do when she got there. Very useful things to have when Alec -having managed to get vertical again- started yelling for her to come a play Chaser for them.

Anzer'ke · Sep 19, 2017

Taylor had never thought of herself as a 'daddy's girl' type.

If anything she'd preferred to hang out with her mom, back when…before.

Still, she'd found herself whiling away the hours in her dad's office more than once. From the dim and fragmented memories of banging her toys against the leg of his desk, right up to the few times she'd ended up doing homework at her own little desk in the corner. It was a space that she knew better than most, and remembered fondly.

Even if the walls were slightly water stained on the east side, and the door always took a huge tug to get open, and the shitty insulation meant it was always a little too hot or too cold. Even if being there usually came with her dad being too busy to pay her more than the occasional glance, always with a smile twitching at his face when he saw her. Even if it being there meant being treated like a baby by half the building.

None of that had ever stopped her from loving that drafty room with its everpresent perfume of coffee, a hint of tea, and more coffee.

Or maybe that wasn't it at all?

Taylor couldn't help but wonder, because as she walked into her dad's new office she stumbled through all the same memories, finally plopping down into a comfy leather chair and yet feeling as relaxed as if it were one of the cheap plastic things that her dad had quite possibly stolen from his old college.

So maybe it wasn't the place at all.

Maybe it was the man sitting at a desk far grander than he'd ever had before, still buried in paperwork and inhaling coffee from an oversized mug. Maybe as long as he was using it, any place could be her dad's office, never really changing at all.

'Except,' she thought as her dad glanced up and did a double take at the sight of her, 'Some things really do change.'

Like the way he immediately abandoned his work and came around the desk to give her a hug that showed off his recently acquired independent transformation. Something Taylor regretted giving him when the door opened behind her and he refused to relinquish his embrace.

Her squirming got a chuckle -definitely Lacey, she recognised that bemused chuckle from a thousand childhood embarrassments- and Taylor promptly stopped trying to escape. Deciding instead to endure the indignity with pride and stoicism.

It worked quickly, and her dad stepped away with a wounded look -'Oh no, I didn't mean-'- that cracked into a remorseless grin. Stilling the spark of panic in her chest and leaving her aggravated and grumpy and so damn happy to be the butt of his dumb jokes.

She'd take a million more of them before she took him for granted again.

While she'd been lost in her thoughts, Lacey and her dad had struck up a conversation about the one of the ridiculous number of job offers they'd gotten in the weeks since the Wolves announced themselves to the world. Some of which hadn't been traps at all.

It still amazed Taylor how few of the traps had been run by people who really thought through what they were doing. Even without the Underdogs coming to their rescue, the Wolves were still a large number of burly men and women, turned into giant werewolves. Yet somehow almost none of the bastards ever thought to bring anything that could hold them for more than a few minutes.

Then again, the ones who did bring sufficient bindings tended to be even easier to deal with if anything. Often they seemed to have been so busy preparing to hold their targets that they'd given little thought to the fight it would take to capture them in the first place. Most of all those who were dumb enough to use one of the knockoff Punitive Restraint Collars -or PeRCs, to use their creator's chosen acronym- that Toybox had started selling.

Like it had been easy for Armsmaster to tag her with one when she wasn't expecting it.

Taylor found herself reaching up to toy with her choker, realising only then that she hadn't actually put it on yet. In fact, looking down at herself, Taylor abruptly remembered that she hadn't yet changed out of the sleep-rumpled clothes she'd been wearing the day before. Tension thrummed along her spine, and died just as quickly.

Sure she was underdressed, but then her dad was wearing a shirt and slacks, and Lacey was dressed for either construction work or lying around the house with a beer, depending on whether she chose to add a neon vest and nestle a hard hat on top of the canine ears she was sporting. All three of them were in an office high above most roofs, behind blastproof glass, with some kind of (possibly tinkertech) additive to stop anyone taking pictures through it.

So what did it matter if she looked like she'd just rolled out of bed?

With that -oddly uplifting- thought, Taylor bumped her dad's elbow to interrupt him and Lacey. Smiling a little at them both before fixing a very serious look on her face and staring down her dad.

"Lunch?" she asked. Well, more reminded than anything else.

His smile was a far cry from the hesitant things that he used to send her way. "Don't worry Taylor, I haven't forgotten, I'll see you on the roof at one." Then he darted in to inflict another hug on her and Lacey took the opportunity to ruffle her ears.

Taylor got free as soon as possible and clamped her hands down atop her head, glaring at Lacey as she left the room. All the while trying to get her hair back into order.

Behind her the conversation resumed, but she paid it no more attention than she had before. Her dad could be trusted to pass on whatever the more violent of the Bay's werewolves needed to know, and it wasn't like they didn't have their own work to be getting on with.

With that at the forefront of her thoughts, Taylor hurried towards the stairs, passing the various offices that had been allocated to the most 'important' people among them. Not that most of them saw much of the intended use. In fact, as she looked into one in passing Taylor found that the rules against bringing personal items down from the penthouse were still being broken, unless Aisha had somehow devised a business use for the hot tub in her office. Following a hunch, she took the time to check Alec's office, and found he had responded to the windows finally being fixed (at great expense, owing in equal parts to her dad's definition of a family discount, and Lisa's decision to upgrade the protection on the lower floors) by setting up a driving range in front of the one window in his room that could be opened.

It was facing the bay, specifically oriented towards the Rig, but super strength or not Taylor wasn't confident in anyone's ability to hit a ball all the way to water. Especially Alec with his weedy arms. So she confiscated the clubs and hid them in the last place anyone would think to look for something frivolous and fun. Her own office.

Not that she didn't enjoy having fun. It was just that she, like Brian, had embraced the serious side of their newfound power and wealth, by keeping their office space for whatever serious things they might eventually find to do with the space. So far that had mostly consisted of going over the paperwork that the Wolves generated for the Underdogs every time they worked together. Something that had forced her and Brian to put their heads together and cram an awful lot of bureaucratic knowledge as fast as possible.

Thankfully -not that she'd ever voice the sentiment around her dad for fear that he'd start 'hinting' about her going back to school again- the work ahead of her that day did not involve filling out even a single risk assessment. No, they had something much more interesting to work on. Something that had Taylor checking her computer and holding back a smirk when she found the e-mail from Lisa blinking on her taskbar.

One quick round of print, wait the printer's not turned on, now it won't detect it, work you devil machine you, aaand she had a neat stack of blueprints in hand. All ready to cross the hall to Brian's office and find…that it was empty.

"Huh."

So far Brian and her dad had the only corner offices that had been assigned, and where her dad's was a working room, Brian's was a pure reflection of the impression that a corner office had been intended to give him.

A ludicrously oversized desk, carved from a single tree. A chair that was, honestly, more like a throne with wheels. Immaculate couch and coffee table in the corner, flanked by a bar and bookshelves filled with imposing tomes that Taylor wasn't entirely sure actually had anything written in them.

The walls carried a few sparse pieces of art that Brian had chosen himself, and if the sheer grandeur of the room failed to impress then there was always the section opposite the seating area that had been given over to a small gym. Not that Brian used any of the carefully weathered equipment. Rather they'd picked it out after Victoria came down to look at their work and declared the rack of antique weapons to be too subtle. So instead they'd gone with a very beaten up punching bag and weights so large that they'd have gone straight through the floor of a normal building.

Unfortunately, after all that work, they'd yet to find an opportunity to actually use the intimidating set-up. Brian didn't even use it work in very often, since they worked together so often and her office had been ready sooner. So she hesitated before dumping the blueprints on his desk and heading out to look for her planning partner.

Some of the work she could do on her own, but with Lisa likely passed out after an all nighter to get the information they needed, Taylor needed someone who had more experience with theft than her paltry handful of smash and grabs against the empire. Alec and Rachel hated planning, and their other members, aside from possibly not being members of the Underdogs, didn't exactly have much experience themselves. Taylor wasn't sure if it was bad for her to assume Aisha had broken into a few places, but that probably didn't translate to high-profile thefts, and Victoria was just right out.

Plus, one was probably too innocent to get caught up in a heist, and the other was Brian's little sister.

All of which explained Taylor's decision to head straight for the stairs and start down to the seventy ninth floor, where she was confident in finding him. It just meant descending ten floors without the luxury of a direct route. Which had been bad enough before they filled those floors with stuff.

The neat offices of the eighty ninth floor gave way to spartan metal and windows hidden behind thick metal plates. Unlike Coil they had no need to pretend to be a normal building, so the vault floors had lost any traces of the false outer layers, leaving Taylor to pick through the maze of corridors as much by memory as by the weak running lights along the bottom of the walls. Laboriously bypassing each of the empty defensive positions, painstakingly rebuilt after she and Brian smashed their way through to get to Coil.

Thanks to their modifications her route now involved going down to the middle of the three floors, then back up, then down to the bottom, back up to the middle, and finally back down to the bottom -eighty sixth- floor. An infuriatingly circuitous route that managed to hide the vault even better than the old floor plan, and under that arrangement it had taken them a week to even realise the space existed, despite how it stretched up through all three floors and took up significant portions of each.

Even Lisa hadn't been able to figure out what Coil was expecting to put in it, but Taylor smiled a little at the thought of what it was filled with now.

Sure there were some valuables, but mostly it just had all the sentimental knickknacks that they (mostly her, Brian, and Aisha) hadn't wanted to risk storing outside their highly secure base.

Most of her basement's contents had found their way into the vault…really most of what had been in her house was now to be found somewhere in the Fortress. Whether in the vault, or her rooms in the penthouse, or with her dad, who had insisted on staying with the rest of the Wolves who chose to live on the base. Meaning that their home, the house she'd grown up in, was almost completely empty. Stripped of everything that they cared about.

Her dad had been the one who talked her into it, and Taylor couldn't deny his points even now. It was just too risky to go on living there. Her mom would have wanted them safe.

But it had still hurt to see the place so empty. Hurt so badly that she hadn't gone back since.

Lost in her thoughts, Taylor flinched and nearly fell over when the stairs opened up into bright lights and all the colours of life.

Below the vault, floors eighty-five through eighty had been converted into accommodation and various facilities, with the uppermost of those floors making it clear just how large the building's footprint truly was.

Though the attempt was undermined slightly by the monstrously thick pillars that supported the whole building. The Wolves had done their best to make things open and bright. Taylor could look around and see the outer windows in three directions. The space between filled by something that put her in mind of nothing so much as a mall, albeit one where the food courts didn't charge money and the shops were replaced by everything from arcades to a hairdresser.

As far as she knew everyone in the building was a member of the Wolves, but for all that the place looked far from its capacity, that still made for a lot of people. She understood intellectually that her dad had been on a Tattletale-assisted recruitment spree, and that they'd been vetted extensively, but it still surprised her just how many people were hanging around at any time.

Despite her casual dress she got respectful nods from everyone who noticed her, and especially from those few who were sporting the signs of having achieved an independent transformation.

Funny. They'd already reached a point where she didn't know the name of everyone who could do it. If it wasn't for the steady stream of infiltrators who revealed themselves with the first transformation, she might have been even more paranoid than she already was.

At the centre, wrapping around the thickest of all the hulking tinkertech support pillars (whose metal was familiar enough that she sometimes wondered if Coil had been trading with the Empire via his company) was an open space, stretching down through all five of the accommodation floors, shrinking in a few metres with each floor.

For a moment she thought to just jump down, but the thought of all the hard work that had gone into transforming the building's interior stopped her. No matter how careful she was it was a certainty that she'd crack the floor tiles or scratch the walls. There was no real hurry anyway.

So instead Taylor found her way to the first of the stairs down, wide thoroughfares that nevertheless were scattered in a different location on each floor. Even if the wider corridors would make it easy for any invader to find their way from one to the next.

Below the top floor she was passing actual accommodation. A seemingly random mix of dormitories with shared facilities and larger contained apartments. Strangely there were still plenty of empty apartments and yet plenty of people had moved into the shared rooms. Her dad had tried to explain, but his talk of camaraderie and bonding had seemed a little hollow when he'd claimed an apartment for himself.

So had Brian, for reasons Taylor didn't quite understand. Especially since he also had rooms up in the penthouse and stayed in them regularly. Ever since they moved into the Fortress he'd been dividing his time between the Underdogs (with whom he still spent most of his time) and the Wolves, and spending quite a bit of that time with her dad. At least up until recently.

When she asked he only said that Brian only said that he was learning from him. Though other than helping out with some of the work to modify the Fortress she wasn't exactly clear on what he was learning. Somehow she doubted it was just about picking up experience as a handyman.

Whatever the case, the thought did remind her to ask him just why he'd suddenly started avoiding her dad lately. 'I guess I could invite him to our lunch.' Not that she was eager to give up the time together with her dad, but if they were all working together it was probably for the best to get any issues out the way as soon as possible.

After all, it wasn't like they were safe. There was a reason that even the least secure of their living spaces were on the floors above the Wolves' offices on sixty-nine and sixty-eight, full of burly werewolves as they were. A reason that the five floors above those offices were where Rachel hung out with the steadily growing horde of dogs, always ready to boost them into an avalanche of monstrous flesh to pour down on any attackers.

They had too much to lose. She had too much to lose.

Anyone who came for her pack was going to regret it.

Which was the reason for the floors between Rachel's dog habitats and the human accommodations. The reason that when Taylor descended the next set of stairs she was hit by an almost solid wall of scents, a thousand flavours of exertion blending into something that she might have found disgusting once.

Whether it was just a matter of getting used to it, or her constant use of her powers was changing things, Taylor didn't blink as she stepped into the narrow corridors of the training areas.

Once more she was in a maze, but this one was pitch black. Beneath the strongest scents, there was another layer, with the chemical tang of fabricated odours, and that was her guide through the labyrinth. Vanilla until the second left, then jasmine for two right turns, chicken to pick the right set of stairs, and a very slightly different chicken scent until she picked up a whiff of honey and stopped at a door that she couldn't see but reached for with absolute confidence.

Really there had been no reason not to turn the lights on. It was still a few hours before the first of the day's training sessions, where she'd be tasked with transforming everyone who hadn't achieved independent transformation and they'd be tossed into the maze of scents. Left to wander if they couldn't find their way to their destination and the further work that awaited them there.

Taylor simply liked to take her chances to get a little more training in herself. Something she was not alone in. Certainly the steady grunting that spilled through the door as she opened it, along with a dim light, was proof enough of that.

Brian was working the bag, shifting form as she entered from boxing to what Taylor thought might be Taekwondo. It probably wasn't a good habit, but she'd still picked up his tendency to mix and match a dozen styles, despite neither of them having the experience to be sure they were doing a good job of it. A worry that flashed through her head for all of an instant, before she took in his lack of a shirt and switched to mindless leering.

Without a reason to interrupt him immediately, Taylor didn't fight the urge to stare. Instead she closed the door and sat against the floor, glancing around at one of their more normal training spaces as she did so.

There was nobody else there. Just mats, bags, and a rack of practice weapons. The basic ingredients of a martial arts training room. Even the ring was just a bunch of painted lines to be covered with mats.

All that was only worth a glance, then she got back to leering. Only it didn't take long for concern to override her teenage hormones, herculean task that that was.

He didn't look angry. As much as he liked to keep his feelings hidden away, Taylor could see through enough to recognise anger no matter how hard he tried.

Not worried either.

Yet his moves were too sharp. The blows too light and their successors coming too quickly. So eager to move on with the set, he wasn't following through, and the result was barely swaying the bag. Despite the thick chain and heavy fabric that spoke of brute rated equipment, she'd seen him do far better.

Hell, Taylor could do better herself, and if she didn't resort to powers to win, Brian could still beat her handily in a fight.

Not that long ago she'd probably have just sat and stared. Too nervous to even talk to a guy like him. Which was a funny thing to remember as she grabbed the nearest thing to hand and hurled it at the back of his head.

It had barely left her hand when he reacted, ears twitching at the faintest hints of the projectile. It was a trick they'd all picked up on, and one that was essential with how hard she'd thrown it.

A split second later it was over, Brian spinning and slashing heavy claws right through his water bottle. The plastic scattered in pieces and the contents washed over his face and chest in a heavy wave. A few clattering pieces of ice explaining his gasp.

His combat posture vanished after another split second, eyes finding her in the dim light and fixing her with a glare.

For all of a few seconds before he gave in and let the grin slide across his face, wiping at the neat beard he'd started to grow lately. That much Taylor did understand his reasons for, given the impressive facial hair some of the Wolves sported, especially Kurt and his braided masterpiece of a soupcatcher.

She was still arriving at her own opinion of it. Unlike his previous attempt, which she had had a very…definite opinion of.

Kissing had turned out to be a lot more fun than she'd expected, and she had no intention to tolerate any scratchy scraggly messes that got in the way of that.

His chuckle took her back to reality, in time to watch him shake most of the water away, all but a few stubborn droplets that took easily enviable paths along his-

'Focus damnit!'

"Ahem." Driven by a little suspicion and a lot of mischief, Taylor got straight to the point and asked, "I'm having lunch with dad today, you want to join us?"

The play of emotions across his face might have concerned her more if it hadn't ended in such a comical expression of dread. Like a dog being told it was time for a bath.

He immediately blurted out, "I'm not avoiding him!"

Which was a clear invitation for her to fix him with her most sceptical stare. Standing up and walking closer to him, savouring the way he got tenser and tenser with every step she took.

"Okay, I'm dodging him a little." He gave in to the power of her stare, earning a quick peck on the cheek and her best attempt at a bright smile. A smile of his own crooked the corners of his mouth only to fall back into a frown as he admitted, "Your dad is kinda terrifying…and I don't want to screw it up."

"Screw what up?"

"Uh." The comical dread was back. This time she didn't mess around, opting instead to drop the play acting and let her worry shine through. Though it seemed like she might be worrying a little too much, given how guilty he started looking. "It's nothing important. Don't worry about it."

When he started to turn away she caught his arm, not quite sure why. Again it struck her how much things had changed, because she could remember no small number of times that she'd let her dad end conversations with a similar line. She'd done it herself as well.

Well no more.

"It's important to you. So it's important to me. What's wrong?"

"It's stupid."

"I'll decide that." Taylor said in her most imperious voice, channelling her grandma.

Proving that old saying about talking about devils, Brian said, "Well he told me a story about your grandmother." There was only one woman he could be referring to, since her dad's parents had died when he was still young. Long before Taylor had born, or her parents had even met.

Frankly, no matter what kind of people they might have been, Taylor couldn't imagine her dad's parents being worse than her mom's mom. Stuck-up judgemental bitch that she was.

"What was it about?"

"Uh." She stepped on his toe, lightly. As cute as his dorky side could be, the ums and uhs were getting old. With a wry look he straightened up and cleared his throat, continuing in a clearer voice, "He was telling me about how old-fashioned she was, and how with your grandfather dead, he went to ask her for permission to marry your mom."

"Oh." She'd heard that story herself. From her mom. It was one of the first times that she felt real hate for her grandma. As well as one of the reasons she'd hardly ever seen the woman.

"So I thought I should do the same."

'…what?' The new direction felt like a train trying to take a hairpin turn at full speed. Her mind crashed, rebooted, and crashed again. Finally she managed to stutter out, "M-m-ma-?"

"Oh god no!" Brian yelped, pulling away and waving his hands frantically. "No not marriage, I mean I'd never ask you like that, I mean, no way. We're not ready, right?"

"Right."

"Right."

"…but, if you didn't mean marriage."

"I meant dating."

That was…well as much as she would have liked to claim she didn't know how to feel about it, Taylor knew exactly how she felt about it. Her feelings on the topic had been another thing that started when her mom told her that story.

Angrier with every word, she said, "I don't need his permission-!"

"I know."

If he'd been frantic, or placating, or a thousand other things, Taylor would have kept right on yelling and probably punched him for good measure. It was the calmness that got through to her, piercing the rising tide of righteous fury. He didn't mean it that way.

'So what the hell does he mean?'

Some of her confusion must have shown -though she wasn't exactly hiding it- because Brian's hand rose to cup her cheek fondly and a gentle smile lit his face. Which wasn't fair at all. How was she meant to do anything but melt when he looked at her like that? With his eyes so full of…feelings.

"You're important to me Taylor. I want to be with you, to be a part of your life."

She could almost hear the click as it fell into place.

"Your dad is important to you too. So if I'm going to be part of your life, then I think it's important that he's okay with that." Determination hardened his features and he spoke with the certainty she knew best from Grue, "If he isn't, and there's something I can do to change that, then I will."

"What if he's not, and you can't fix it."

For a long long silence, he seemed to be considering the notion. Then the determined stoicism vanished. His grin made him look every inch the roguish supervillain as he pulled her in for a kiss, not letting her go until she was out of breath and still trying to get closer to him even as they broke apart to gasp in sync. "If that's the case," he panted, a heartbeat away, "I guess we'll be having some awkward thanksgivings."

She gave him back a villain's smile of her own, then nestled her face against his chest and held him close. "Have you met your sister? That was guaranteed no matter what."

"Plus there's the rest of the team."

"Kurt, Lacey, Alexander."

"Not much chance for a quiet meal."

"I'm pretty good at pumpkin pie though." She drew back to look up at him, and words bubbled up unbidden, "My mom taught me the recipe."

The smile stayed on her lips. The familiar sting of grief somehow a distant thing, though it was as strong as ever. Like it hurt, but it was okay for it to hurt. It was okay to talk about it.

She was going to be okay.

Her mom would want that.

Brian laughed and pulled her close as he started for the door. Opening it and staring out into the dark corridor. The image struck her, a sudden knot of dread sinking into her stomach. For no reason at all.

"Hey." She pulled him back for a moment, not quite sure what to say. Mumbling, "This job, you'll be careful right?"

"Always. And you too."

She nodded, then he reached out to tip her head back and keep her from staring at the ground.

"Come on Taylor. What's the w-" He cut himself off.

He didn't say the words.

She wasn't superstitious anyway.

But when they heard the sound it still seemed like fate had been tempted and come to call.

It was a sound that everybody knew. Poor, rich, hero, villain, everybody knew that sound.

And soundproofed that the building might be, none of them had objected to patching in the sound system to the Endbringer Sirens.

With hardly a glance between them they rushed into the darkness. Taylor slapped a panel as she passed it, shattering the plastic instead of taking the time to open it and press the button normally.

Ahead was the outer wall, heavy metal shutters rising up the inside of the windows and revealing a glorious view out over the Bay and the bay beyond. The buildings descending from shining steel and glass to aging brick and concrete. The water glistening in the same bright sun that bathed the city.

And far off the horizon, the smudge of a gathering storm.

"Shit."

Anzer'ke · Sep 19, 2017

They ran through the rain. It was more like a waterfall with every step.

Already the storm had devoured every trace of the sunny summer day Taylor had woken up to. The rain pouring down so fiercely that the streets were already starting to run, gutters straining to handle the flow.

Every beat of her feet against the ground felt like running along the beach. Water exploding up to soak the bottoms of her pants, as if they weren't already sodden. Just like her t-shirt and just like her jacket. The only reason her shows weren't wet right through was that she wasn't wearing any, and as they dashed through empty streets Taylor was glad for the small comforts her power gave her.

Brian was slightly ahead of her, Alec and Aisha trailing him on the side opposite her, while Lisa ran a few steps behind her. Victoria was keeping to the centre of the group and had opted to run instead of taking to the skies. Lastly, Rachel and her dogs brought up the rear, around two dozen canines loping along at their heels.

Given that none of them were in costume, by choice as much as to save time, Taylor supposed that they might have been mistaken for suicidally devoted dog walkers if not for the inhuman features that adorned them. Also the fact they were all keeping an easy pace with the dogs running with them.

But she couldn't keep herself distracted with idle musings for long, not when every gust of wind seemed to bring more rain with it. Sleeting in towards them in what felt like solid sheets of water. The gales strong enough that she thought they might have knocked her off balance if she'd been a normal human.

Yet the only sounds were the sirens, echoing through empty streets, and the steady beat of their progress. That and the omnipresent rattle of rain pounding down on the city.

Ominous didn't even begin to cover it.

"How is this happening?!" Victoria suddenly shouted over the storm, "Didn't Leviathan just attack Lüderitz?!"

Lisa tail flicked back and forth, shedding water and being soaked again almost instantly. Any other time Taylor might have been distracted by the tiny eye that she had developed near the end of it, just like Brian's claws had started to come with bones over his knuckles, or the way Alec's fur was almost constantly standing on end. Any other time she might have been able to ignore the fear she saw in Lisa's eye.

"Something's wrong!" Lisa shouted back to Victoria, to all of them really, "Something has changed or gone wrong or…!" If she finished the thought at all, then she did so too quietly for even Taylor's ears to pick it out from the storm.

Then they rounded a corner onto the larger street and the flash of light in the corner of Taylor eye had her skidding to a stop before Brian could bark the command. All of them crashing together into what was nearly a pile -'dog pile' said a corner of her thoughts still fighting the rising terror- of injuries that they couldn't afford.

The trio of pickups that had almost lost control in their own attempts at braking disgorged a small crowd. Shapes indistinct through the rain, until they came closer and Taylor stiffened. Her whole team stiffened.

"Oh," her dad gasped in obvious relief, "I was afraid we wouldn't find you."

Their leader wasn't saying anything yet, so Taylor felt perfectly justified stepping in and yelling, "What the hell are you doing?! Go back!"

His sigh was not helpful to her calm, nor was the patient way he said, "Taylor."

"No, you get back in those cars and get to a shelter, or the Fortress. Something!"

"Taylor, we're not just going to sit back and do nothing."

Victoria beat her to the reply, concern in her voice as she asked, "Do you know how to fight?" With heavy scepticism.

But Daniel Hebert just grinned, the expression ghoulish in the dim light and with his clothes soaked close to him. "We know how to clear rubble, which is what we're going to be doing."

"Search and rescue." Alexander clarified from his elbow. "That's all we're coming along for."

"We need your power Taylor," Her dad told her, open and honest. "Yours too Rachel."

Brian stepped forward while she was still searching for words, looking out across the gathered Wolves and rumbling, "As soon as you feel it wearing off, get the hell out of there." Somehow he'd shifted as they ran, and the worried boyfriend she'd been running behind when they left the Fortress was gone. Replaced by someone who seemed taller, larger, without having changed size in the slightest.

He stood firm, staring the Wolves down, and after a moment they nodded to him with a fraction of the enthusiasm they'd have given her dad. Which was infinitely more than anyone else got.

He turned to her and nodded. Despite herself she obeyed the unspoken command, uncomfortably aware that she was trusting his judgement with something far heavier than her own life. Soon the Wolves were filing past her, getting a brief pat on some exposed skin each, while a few of them huddled around her dad and accomplished their own transformation. Every one of them stripping to their underwear along the way.

Then Rachel got to work, and the crowd of burly dog people became a forest of legs fit for stomping cars like cans. Spreading as Rachel worked her way along the group towards the cluster of independent transformations. A wave that Taylor was quick to get ahead of, suddenly finding herself almost frantic with worry.

"Taylor-"

"No! No you listen to me!" She snapped, worry fuelling the heat on her tongue, "You're going to be more careful than you've ever ever ever been before. You hear me!?"

He answered with a hug, and she clung to him until his body had expanded too much for her arms to fit around him.

It was an all too brief reprieve, at the end of which she was swept up in his arms and deposited on his shoulders as he growled and barked commands to his Wolves. The code that had begun in an old paper mill had come on enough for him to say, "That way, go. Carry friends. Now!"

Nobody objected to abandoning the pickups (cars whose plates Taylor wasn't sure she recognised to begin with), or to being carried, and soon they were setting a pace that made the previous sprint look like walking. Exploding forward with every step that the Wolves took. Leaping atop buildings and dashing from rooftop to rooftop, the coast looming closer and closer.

From up on her dad's shoulder, Taylor almost thought she saw something darker at the centre of the swarm, something just past the horizon.

Then they were plummeting out of the sky to crater the pristine roadwork of Bayview Boulevard, the beach visible just a few hundred yards away, and the rundown community centre right on their left.

The rundown community centre that was swarming with capes, as befit the city's primary emergency rally point. Even as they arrived a group of brightly dressed (and some not so brightly dressed) teens popped into existence in the parking lot, before the sole adult among them took a swig out of a disposable coffee cup and vanished into thin air.

The heroes, she recognised a few of them from the news, like the girl with a big crossbow on her back, filed inside without ever seeing them. Too focused on the task at hand.

She found Brian with her eyes, found him looking right back at her, and they both let their eyes harden simultaneously.

It was time to focus.

She dropped to the ground and gathered with her team, none of them hesitating to set out across the road, straight for the community centre's entrance.

Not even another pop of arriving capes as they passed the parking lot managed to break their stride. Though Taylor did spot a certain blonde recruit starting to lag further back in the group, until she found herself being pushed slightly by their other blonde.

She kept her eyes forward though. Fixed on Brian's back as he entered, wet shirt stretched across his frame, standing tall despite the water dripping from him.

It was a confident and fearless posture; one she'd helped him practice. As she followed him through the doors Taylor called on that experience to cast herself in the same mould. Realising as she did so that, Endbringer or not, she was about to be face to face with a whole lot of people she'd have rather kept well away from.

Anzer'ke · Sep 19, 2017

Stepping inside the community centre, Taylor found a distinct lack of community.

Not to say that the assortment of outlandishly practical clothing on display didn't speak to a very particular community. It was just that the looks Taylor got as she walked in made her feel extremely unwelcome in it. Not helped by the intertwined scents of damp and fear underlying everything.

Enhanced hearing let her pick up a few snatches of the muttering:

"…kids…"

"Psycho…"

"Smo'dn"

"…us a bad name." Not even the other villains spared her their scorn. Something that she'd had several months to get used to, and still left her wanting nothing more than to shrink down into a tiny little ball of fluff and-

thwack

Brian's tail smacked against her. Not gently either.

He hadn't looked back but his posture was unchanged. Strong and confident, like she needed to be.

'Right. We're on display here, no time for weakness.' So she squared her shoulders and gave them none. Glaring back at any of the capes who looked her way. A gratifying number of them were first to look away.

A clawed hand patted her shoulder lightly, the scent of lilies and dangerously concentrated smugness telling her just who it was. Close on the same breeze came the rest of her friends' fragrances. Embracing her, and reminding her what she had won for herself. What they had all won.

Not that they'd fought alone.

"Myriad!" Taylor called across the room. Nodding to the Traveller's leader when the brute glanced away from her teammates. "Is she giving them instructions?" She pondered aloud, not quite able to make out individual words among the room's chatter.

"Maybe they're clones?" Alec wondered, voice pitched low and quiet.

Lisa frowned, and her tail rose up to point her third eye towards their one time allies, staring intently for several seconds then abruptly shaking her head. "Nah, but I'm betting she tried to convince them to sit it out."

Unspoken was the thought that they would all have made the same request in her shoes. Futile as it would have been.

"What about…you know?" Victoria spoke up, drawing their attention and looking like she regretted it immediately. Nevertheless, she continued in a whisper, "Couldn't she really help here?"

It wasn't hard to imagine how. Taylor hadn't been able to stop imagining the results of Myriad cutting loose ever since she'd first met the girl. An Endbringer fight was just about the best environment possible for it…

…but Taylor already understood the reason it wouldn't happen even before Lisa murmured, "Too risky. There's a reason she doesn't want to draw the PRT's attention. They don't like that much power being out of their control."

'Don't I know it.'

"Isn't it selfish?" Aisha asked, "She could at least-"

"Get refused." Rachel huffed, not unkindly. "Then get fucked afterwards."

"Rachel's right," said Brian, "These fights come with a truce, not trust. Nobody's gonna let themselves be cloned."

"We would."

"And with just us it wouldn't make enough difference to be worth it."

The hint of misery creeping into Aisha's scent almost made Taylor regret disillusioning her. Then she considered the kind of things Aisha might have done if they'd left it alone and fought back the concern. She had to learn.

"On that note, time for me to make my own offer. Rachel?"

"Let's go." The total lack of hesitation caught Taylor off guard, then made her feel guilty for underestimating Rachel's kind side. She knew her friend better than that.

"What about them?" Aisha muttered as they left the others behind.

Not that muttering was much defence against a big brother with super-hearing. "Their powers are already public knowledge, now follow th-"

Taylor led Rachel through the crowd, even though their respective builds made it seem odd. Without much experience around other capes outside of battle or friendship of some degree, Taylor could only assume the wide berth she was getting was due to either her reputation or the touch-mediated nature of her powers. Either way she was more thankful than anything else.

Some of the capes she walked past were way too solid looking for any attempts at shoving them aside.

The glares were easy to ignore with Rachel growling in her throat a few steps behind, and-

A memory reappeared between two thoughts and Taylor promptly ignored her renewed ability to remember Aisha in favour of looking over at where their youngest member was sprawled on the floor in front of…wait, 'Is that Crusader? What the shit is he doing out of prison?!'

The look that the Neo-Nazi was giving Aisha made Taylor uncomfortably aware of the distance between her and them. Behind and to her side, Rachel's growls had become fully audible and gained a violent tone, while Taylor settled for shifting her legs for greater leaping distance.

Crusader stepped towards Aisha, tension rippling out across the crowd of capes, hero and villain both. Then a short cape whose costume just screamed tinker stepped between them. Festooned in devices covered in blinking lights, and wearing what Taylor could only describe as a jumpsuit made of solid metal and somehow still flexible.

Familiar metal.

"He's lost weight." Rachel observed. Making Taylor feel a little bad for her own thought that it couldn't possibly be him.

She felt even worse when Crusader tried to step around the ex-Empire tinker and the shorter man moved to intercept him. Crusader's lips moved but the buzz of conversation was still too much for Taylor to understand them. Whatever it was didn't go down well with most of the heroes around them though, and as they reached her side Aisha was already picking herself up and fixing Crusader with a glare. A glare matched by most of the capes nearby, even if one of them -some forcefield cape whose name Taylor couldn't remember- looked a little sheepish about it.

Crusader didn't back down though. He tried again to step around the tinker and Taylor judged that to be her cue to beat him into the ground. At her side Rachel almost vibrated with her own, similar, intentions, and together they readied to pounce.

Then a glowing hand clamped down on Crusader's shoulder and pulled him back. Which might have looked ridiculous given the height of the glowing woman who had pulled him, if the person looking didn't understand how terrifying Purity could be.

Crusader glanced at her then whirled and stormed off through the crowd. Unsure whether or not to thank an ex-Nazi, Taylor was caught off guard when she reached for the tinker and had her hand slapped away by a man-sized teddy bear that stepped out of a horribly familiar pane of smooth colour. Following behind were an outlandishly dressed pair of women, one dressed like a china doll and the other wearing a thousand tinkling bits of glass.

Only the flashes of metal and lights beneath it all gave any hint that their costumes were suited for more than publicity appearances, and knowing Madison like she did made Taylor doubt any amount of tinkertech could make the least of her bullies into a fighter. The way her costume was continuing to tinkle even while she was still only deepened the impression.

Sure Taylor had a tight ball of terror rolling around in her gut, but she wasn't standing around shaking like Madison and her new pair of friends.

Still, 'Dominas' and Parian both stepped between their teammate and the living artillery laser, so maybe the dressmaker wasn't quite as much of a scumbag as Taylor was used to Madison hanging out with.

The two of them stared down Purity until she slumped a little and turned to follow Crusader.

Which was their cue to turn and, in Madison's case, squeaked in unbridled terror at the sight of Taylor just a few feet away. Not that Parian was much better, but then she didn't have Madison's reasons to see through the shitty reputation Taylor had been saddled with.

Unaware that she'd been staring her old bully, Taylor was doubly surprised at the emergence of a small huddle of capes from amongst the larger crowd. A group that was smaller both numerically and literally, given that they were composed of teenagers in very well made costumes and without a single sign of gang markings.

In other words, Wards.

It was all Taylor could do not to bite them.

The way they acted seemed to say they returned the unspoken sentiment. Glaring and muttering every time they bothered to look her way. She didn't quite realise how much it pissed her off that they were acting like she was the one in the wrong until Rachel's hand on her arm made Taylor aware that she'd been edging closer to them, hands clenched tight enough to hurt.

But the stage at one end of the hall was empty and they needed to find whoever was in charge. So Taylor figured asking the Wards was important enough to force herself to deal with their company.

The only one who came within a few feet of her was the giant crossbow girl that she'd seen outside, and that was just because Madison was keeping between her and the doll cape, blocking the Ward's attempts to start a conversation and refusing to engage in one of her own. Meanwhile Theo was waving off a tinker wrapped in chains and a guy who Taylor guessed was a brute.

"Hey." Her voice broke as she said it and Taylor cleared her throat with a curse, "Hey. You."

"Crossbow girl." Rachel clarified.

Said crossbow girl turned, fixed a completely scornful gaze on the both of them, and said, "It's an arbalest."

Rachel snorted, "Who cares?"

"People with brains." The Ward cut down Rachel's good mood and left Taylor having to hold her back instead, until she finally got Rachel to calm down with a particularly solid yank.

Her opening clear before her, Taylor summoned up memories of her dad practicing his meetings and extended a hand, ignoring how repulsive the idea of touching one of Sophia's ilk was. "I'm Taylor. Could you direct us to whoever's in charge?"

Her own manners only made it more infuriating that the Ward girl only sneered at her hand. "I'm Flechette. What do you want with Legend, Runt?"

'Joke's on you bitch, I like my name.' Thought Taylor, resisting the impulse to punch her.

"We wanted to offer our help." Said Taylor, laying on the innocent charm for good measure.

Flechette wasn't buying it, but she also didn't seem to have any reason to withhold the info and quickly pointed towards the back left of the hall. Taylor opted not to push their luck and left the trio of rogues to handle Wards all on their lonesome.

Even she could admit that she didn't have the greatest history of dealing with them herself. After all, she did still lie awake at night sometimes, holding onto the memory of landing on top of Sophia like it was her old stuffed bear, Lord Teddy.

So they left the heroes behind and stepped into the crowd again. Though now that Taylor was a little less starstruck at the sight of so many capes in one place, she was realising that the crowd was a lot less dense than she'd realised. More complicated too.

The heroes were clear at a glance once she'd picked up on how much more comfortable they were around each other than the villains were. They still had their groupings, but it was the clumps of (mostly) heroes around the entrance that had given her the impression of a crowd.

Further into the building there was no such thing as a crowd, in place there were barely even groups. Not just because of different teams either. Taylor could see one group of villains with matching clothes that still avoided each other. Not that Lung was wearing much in the way of clothing to match with his subordinates' coloured scarfs.

She forced herself not to gulp or step back when Lung, the towering figure made of muscle and radiating power, looked her way. Sending a portion of her mind into terrified hysterics.

Not being Madison, Taylor managed just fine at not showing her fear, and Rachel glared right back at him. Normally it would have been enough to start a fight, at least going by what Taylor had learned from her friends, but even Lung seemed respectful of the circumstances.

They stepped quickly between a gang that looked almost feral and a pair of kids with cynical old eyes and weapons belted all over the place. Suddenly finding Legend in clear sight, standing in front of the stage and having some kind of argument with two capes who kept glaring at one another, both festooned with logos and advertisements, which definitely didn't match.

Even as they drew closer the legendary -'Hah!'- voice of the Triumvirate spoke up in tones that brooked no argument, despite sounding as polite as a boy scout directed an old lady.

"Given all of that, I think it would be best if you deployed to opposite flanks. And do remember that we come down hard on anyone breaking the truce. No matter how minor their abuse." He paused for effect, somehow making the cheesy debate tactic seem natural, and continued, "None of us are enemies today. Not against something like this."

The capes both walked away, maintaining a careful distance as they did, and Legend turned to face them. Setting his jaw in anger at the sight of them.

'Undermines his lecture a little.' Taylor thought, only to wilt slightly as his masked glare sharpened. 'Can he see my thoughts or something?'

"What do you want?" He barely even said it like a question. More of a reprimand, and no matter how happy she was with her life, Taylor still had to fight not to feel bad about that.

Her tongue felt too big in her mouth, like she screwed up a transformation, and in the silence that created Rachel spoke first, "We can make you not suck."

The last traces of warmth left Legend's face. Taylor opened her mouth to try a more diplomatic route and the words died in her throat when Legend leaned closer and all but growled, "If you think that extorting us into leaving you alone has bought you trust, then you really are deluded."

Ice settled over Taylor's skin as she glared right back up at him. "Weren't those files clear enough? If my sanity's still in question I guess we'll need to get a second opinion."

He laughed, not even cruelly, he sounded genuinely amused, "Miss Hebert, I've been threatened by a great many villains in my career and -if I may give some advice- I've learned that threats rely very much on a belief that you will follow through."

"What makes you think we won't."

Another chuckle, then the mirth fell away from his features and left a steady calm behind. "I know you aren't actually insane, no more than most young villains I've met. You won't burn your only protection from punishment out of spite." The matter of fact way he said it only made her madder, nails digging deep enough into her palms to draw blood.

"Punishment?" She hissed, furious but still vaguely aware that quiet was necessary, "We're the ones who deserve punishment? Look at your own people!"

"Hypocrisy suits very few, Runt. I understand that you've been giving shelter to someone with their own violent tendencies. Does that sound familiar?"

"What the hell are you talki-!? Victoria? What does she have to do with anything?"

"A young woman, blessed with powers but too little responsibility in how she uses them."

"Powers had nothing to do with what made Stalker a-!"

"Didn't they? Do you know how she got them? Do you know what she did to become a Ward? Do you know what she's done as a Ward?"

Taylor knew enough, "She hurt people and acted like them being criminals made it okay to maim them. Then when she got in the shit she played the only card she had to get away with it."

He nodded, still calm, unaffected by her rage simmering inches away from him, or Rachel looming at her shoulder. "Now are we talking about Shadow Stalker? Or about Glory Girl? Or perhaps Runt?"

The words hit like a slap to the face, and all she could get out through her anger was an inarticulate gasp. Legend didn't wait for her to find her equilibrium.

"I'm sure the differences seem very self-evident from where you stand." He took a step back, turning the gap between them into something vast and yawning, "From over here you all seem much the same. Damaged and in need of help, but it's only our Ward who has gone looking for that help. You seem so determined to spurn it that…you'll even take others down with you."

"...Do you want our help or not?"

Legend didn't reply to her, instead he raised one arm and spoke into a sturdy looking armband that she hadn't noticed before. "Message. Heroes Only." A pair of beeps from the device signalled, something, and he said, "Be advised that the villains Runt and Hellhound are offering trump boosts, I am ordering all Protectorate and Ward members to refuse their offer, and strongly advising other heroes to do the same."

Her mouth opened. Words wouldn't come.

The hero lowered his arm and looked at them, still calm. He said, "You are welcome here, but while I can't keep you from making the offer, I'd advise you that any clumsy attempts to mimic Teacher will have consequences."

Rachel's grip on her arm tightened, pulling her away from Legend. Taylor followed her a few steps in something close to shock. Before another surge of anger brought a question to her lips, one she voiced without turning back, "Is she even being punished?"

"…Shadow Stalker's situation is under review, which is more than I'd normally tell a victim in your situation, and far more than a villain has the right to know."

After that, there didn't seem to be anything else to say.

They walked back to their friends, and Taylor couldn't help but feel the room had become even more hostile than before.

All around her was the scent of fear. A room full of people -more coming in every few seconds- trying to find some comfort in the face of what was coming. She just felt numb. Not scared, or angry. Just numb.

Right up until they passed a hulking man in an awful lot of leather, and she got an unobstructed view of the latest entrants into the hall. The Wolves having to crawl even after tearing the door much wider and higher.

'There's the fear.'

She tried to ignore the sensation of her heart compressing into a tight squirming ball of horror.

The tallest and leanest of the Wolves gave her a nod on his way to the battlesuit leant up against one wall, and not even the rush of seeing Dragon in the 'flesh' stopped her feeling like she might cry. However, what she found waiting for her with her friends was far more effective.

"So this is where you've been hiding! Who you've been hiding with!"

They'd gathered into a tight crowd, ignoring the seats stacked against the back wall in favour of standing. Standing in a cluster around Victoria, as the brute's big floppy ears drooped further and further beneath the look her sister was giving her. Mumbling out a weak, "H-hey sis."

Panacea was in full costume, standing so close to Brian and Lisa that her robes brushed against them, and trying to lean past them to get her face closer to Victoria as she spat, "You don't get to call me that. You don't have any fucking right to call me that!"

Victoria didn't reply, just stared at the ground even harder. Lisa didn't have any problem filling in for her, shoving herself between them to say, "About that? Funny thing. Vicky here doesn't seem to agree with your version of the story."

"I didn't mean it." Was Victoria's attempt to defend herself, so quiet that Taylor doubted her sister even heard her.

Especially with the way she shoved Lisa -failing to budge her an inch- and sneered, "Unless you want to spend the rest of your life tasting shit for every meal, you'll get the hell out of my way-"

"Bitch?" Lisa queried, nodding over the healer's shoulder and ignoring the flash of confusion the showed above her half-mask. A brief flash, since Rachel was happy to take her cue and grab a handful of white robes. Hauling Panacea back and letting go in time for her to stagger a few steps further.

No sooner had she found her balance then she stepped forward again, raising a hand like she was going to slap Rachel, while Rachel drew back a clenched fist.

Before things could devolve into a brawl at the worst possible time, Taylor stepped between them and speared Panacea with the most intimidating stare she could muster.

For all that she was still reeling from Legend's mind games, she figured that her reputation had to be good for intimidation at least. Only Panacea didn't look scared at all. Just confused.

"You-? No, of course, you're one of them aren't you. If they're sheltering her then you must know about it." Anger crept back into her voice as she slashed a hand through the air, "Did she tell you what she did to me? What you saved me from?!"

"I…"

What the hell could she say? Options flashed through her mind, but with the victim staring right into her eyes Taylor found it impossible to get any of them past the lump in her throat. Justifications and explanations and a thousand variants on 'It was an accident.' All of them crumbled under Amelia Dallon's glare.

"Amy!" barked the voice of authority, half angry mother, half avenging heroine. It shattered Taylor's train of thought and made Panacea flinch like she'd been caught stealing something. Spinning in a whirl of robes to face a woman in white, orange highlighting the edges of her costume and colouring a symbol of crossed blades across her breast.

From behind her, Taylor heard a very very quiet voice whisper, "Mom?" Like she wasn't sure if she was allowed.

Brandish didn't hear, and never looked anywhere near Victoria. In fact, she ignored everything except for her other daughter, watching Panacea hurry to her side impatiently.

"It's time. Legend's about to start the briefing."

Panacea nodded, looking uncomfortable despite her mother standing so close, "G-got it." Then Brandish put an arm across the shorter girl's shoulder and she looked like she might stop breathing.

"Stay close."

They vanished into the crowd without either of them looking back, and a flood of grief washed across Taylor's nose. It smelt of salt.

Brian was murmuring something, trying to comfort Victoria probably. Taylor didn't have it in her to turn around, let alone follow his lead. Instead she followed that of everyone else in the room, finding a place to sit or stand as the strained casualness fled the room.

Taylor tried to manage her breathing. Stepping back into the midst of her friends and brushing against each of them for one last top-up.

In front of the gathered heroes and villains, Legend mounted the stage alone.

With most people sitting, it was easier to see the Protectorate heroes gathered near the front. Taylor had a surprisingly easy time ignoring one wearing a dark hood and cloak, and barely noticed a boy in gleaming armour who was craning to look back at them. Mostly because she, like the rest of the room, was suddenly aware of who wasn't present.

Legend was alone. Neither of the Triumvirate's other members were in sight, and as the muttering got louder, Taylor didn't get the impression that was expected.

He cleared his throat and the room fell silent. Tension ratchetting up even higher.

"Once again, we owe thanks to Dragon and Armsmaster for the early warning. This is even better than what we had in Namibia, and that is something to be hopeful about. We have the time to prepare, and gather our forces, and that makes a real difference to our odds." He swayed back a little, subtly hiding a sigh that Taylor still heard, making her wonder how many other capes in the room had senses like hers. "As you can all see, two of our strongest aren't here, and I won't pretend that doesn't change our odds as well."

"Where are they?" Said someone, voice strong and clear in the silence. Only when a handful of capes turned to look did Taylor realise that it was Lisa who spoke.

"I don't know. I just know that if Alexandria or Eidolon had any ability to be here, they would be. I also don't know why Leviathan is attacking again so soon, breaking their usual pattern. But dwelling on what we don't know won't help anyone, so here's what we do know."

He gestured and a rippling beam leapt from his hand to the wall behind, becoming a splotch of colour, then a crystal clear image. One Taylor recognised from blurred videos and heavily magnified photographs. The kind that every kid watched, and then tried to forget all about.

Leviathan was a third again the size of most of the Wolves, and where the product of her and Rachel working together looked monstrous, the Endbringer was…alien. Dark scales and strange proportions and three glowing eyes on one side to the single green orb on the other. His tail was longer than he was tall, and in the image it was curled around to clearly display the sharp point at the end.

"This is what we're facing. The middle child. Leviathan is strong, tough, and so long as he's in the water he's faster than anything you're fought before. If today is a good day, then he'll likely kill one in four of those in this room, and flood most of the city. Then he'll leave."

It was hard to stay standing after such a blunt declaration, and a few despairing moans echoed in the empty hall.

"Some of you might want to leave after hearing that. Nobody will blame you if you do. Just remember what the bad days look like, and ask yourself it stopping another one is worth fighting for."

He didn't have to name those days. Taylor didn't doubt that everyone else was running through them just like she was. Newfoundland. Kyushu. Millions dead, and just as many displaced. Days that changed the whole world. Just thinking of them was enough to firm her resolve, and all around her Taylor saw capes straightening their backs, even as a few snuck out of the crowd and hurried for the doors.

"Cowards."

Looming off to the side, a bare chested man got more than a few looks for his blunt declaration. Lung didn't acknowledge any of them, but Taylor had to wonder what he was thinking. He might not have been the only one to survive Kyushu, but everyone knew the stories of how he'd fought Leviathan alone towards the end. Was he planning to do it again?

Legend was kind enough not to address the handful of fleeing capes. Nor did he address Lung. He just kept talking, calm and steady and Taylor found herself appreciating that a lot more than she had a few minutes ago.

"I'm being honest because you deserve to know, and because I don't want a single one of you to make the mistake of underestimating what we're fighting. Leviathan is an incredible opponent physically, but he's also smart. He's shown time and again that tactics and cunning are among his weapons, a lot of good heroes, and good villains, have died because they thought he was just an animal.

Beyond that, his powers are probably known to all of you. Control of water on a massive scale, so expect tidal waves and lots of them. His water echo, or afterimage as some call it, makes him a constant source of water for his powers, and at the speeds he moves any stray water will hit like concrete. Harder, even. And if you're strong enough to withstand that, you still need to remember the danger of drowning."

Something cold made Taylor flinch, pooling against her foot. When she looked down it was to find herself standing in a puddle of dirty water, and suddenly she realised that damp scent that she'd noticed when she entered the hall had grown almost overpowering.

The walls were marked by leaks every few yards, some still small, while others were practically streams. Above them the roof was creaking in a way that a normal building didn't. And beyond that she could hear rain pounding down like hail.

"Worst of all, Leviathan brings a time limit to every fight, hence the need for more than just a show of force to hold him back. Between its coastal location and the aquifer beneath it, Brockton Bay will not last long against his waves. We cannot just defend; we have to drive him back before it's too late.

Each wave will be stronger than the last, and the water beneath us will be under his control as well. So we keep him in sight at all times, and we maintain a constant attack. Hit him with everything you have and do not let up the onslaught unless your life is at risk. We need to contain his movements and wear him down as quickly as possible.

He can feel pain, but it's not easy to hurt him. Some of you will not be able to, so support those who can, and we'll whittle him down enough to force a retreat. Given the damage he suffered in Lüderitz we can expect him to be injured when he arrives, which will make this easier."

Legend paused and looked around, seeming to try and meet the eyes of every one of the capes in the room, at least two hundred by Taylor's count. Then he spoke like he was talking to her personally, "This is what we're facing. This is what an Endbringer is. This is what earned them that name. They hurt us badly, every time, if not far worse than that.

But that will not stop us from fighting back.

We will keep fighting. We will keep looking for a way to beat them for good. Someday we will find it, maybe even today. We will end these creatures. Have no doubt of that.

And for those of us who don't live to see that, know that you will be remembered. Your sacrifices, and your choice to stand and fight. They will not be forgotten."

The battlesuit stirred, stepping forward with Armsmaster at its side. When it spoke, the voice was female, subtly synthesised, and had an accent Taylor couldn't quite catch even after how many times she'd heard it on the news. The world's greatest tinker, and according to Lisa, the co-creator of the collar whose remnant she still wore. At least when she wasn't about to tear out of her clothes and ruin them all.

"If you could all put one of these on, Armsmaster will explain their function as quickly as possible."

Another pat of Brian's tail cut off the growl that wanted to rise in her throat, and instead Taylor just glared at Armsmaster's chin as he started to pass out armbands from a bin hanging from the battlesuit's side. Speaking as he did so.

"These are a refined version of Dragon's original design. Resizable, adjustable, and able to be worn however you prefer. The screen on top will note your position on a grid, as well as any landmarks and, of course, Leviathan. You'll note a few buttons on the top. Hands up everyone who's fought an Endbringer before."

There was a brief hesitation, then a scattered portion of the capes raised their hands. To Taylor's shock, the Travellers were among them.

"Relay that to your armband by pressing both buttons and saying 'veteran'. For you, pressing the left button will allow you to speak to everyone else wearing one. For everyone else, there is a monitoring program that will determine if your message is important enough to go through. Otherwise you can hold it down and request a channel to a specific cape, or request a specific kind of cape be sent to you. Do not abuse the comms, or you will be cut out of the system."

Dragon took over smoothly, "The button on the right is an emergency ping. If you press it, or if your armband detects signs of injury in your life signs, help will be sent to your location as quickly as possible."

"For those of you who think the information will do you some good," Armsmaster took over again, "Hold down both buttons and say 'casualty feed' to be given updates on the state of the battle and the other capes fighting…I do not recommend that most of you request it."

By then he was done talking, and someone was passing back a whole bunch of the metal bands to them. Taylor resisted the urge to start smashing them and let Lisa take the armful instead.

Legend was announcing something else. Asking capes to gather based on the kind of power they had. Defensive capes to stop waves and hem the Endbringer in. Movers to transport the fallen and ferry the other groups around. Long range attackers and short range attackers. All assigned to an area of the hall and told to listen to one of the heroes with experience in that role.

Taylor ignored all of it. She was staying with her friends. Her pack.

Even if her dad was bringing his Wolves over to where the Search and Rescue group was gathering.

They had their own role, and as Legend fell silent again, Brian stepped forward to fulfil it.

"We are the Underdogs, some of you may have heard of us!" Most of the capes who turned to look at him were glaring, but he hardly seemed to notice. It was enough to make a girl jealous. "We have capes capable of significantly boosting your powers and your survivability. We're offering their services to anyone who wants them. Just come over to us for a moment."

A few of the murmurs were interested, but mostly people were still glaring.

Taylor only caught it because she was looking at him, the slight jump in his jaw as he stopped himself from swallowing. It was enough for her to know what was coming next, "There is a slight loss of emotional control, but that's the only mental effect. There is no Master effect!"

It wasn't nearly enough of a reassurance. The few interested murmurs died at his words and didn't come back.

Taylor wasn't quite sure what she'd been imagining would happen.

'Not this. Not…nobody.'

Except it wasn't nobody at all. Even as the thought spilled across her mind, Taylor caught movement in the corner of her eye and turned to find the Travellers standing close enough to be mistaken as part of the same group. Myriad looking at them with a smile that was hardly guarded at all, and her team mostly matching the sentiment.

Sure, Trickster didn't look too trusting, but even that didn't stop the rush of gratitude that welled up inside her.

They might have only trusted her because they'd already been transformed once before, but they did trust her. That suddenly meant a lot.

They -other than Genesis, whose projection of a dragon squid thing hovered awkwardly to one side- were shrugging off bits of their costumes even as they each reached out to touch her in turn. Only keeping the essentials and losing every bit of armour that might have interfered. Something that got Myriad an appraising look from Taylor, as she tried to remember that dumb drunken party, and whether she'd even told the Traveller's leader about that limitation.

As they got to the armbands, questioning looks were exchanged, only for Lisa to chime in, "They'll stretch enough, somehow. No traps either." She passed out her armful of the things, and Taylor just barely managed to force herself to put it on. There was no comfort in the way it constricted about her arm, and she had to fight not to tear it right back off.

Still, they were all ready soon enough. An assortment of animal ears marking the Travellers, Myriad stepping between Trickster and Ballistic almost immediately, stopping them with a hand on both their arms, where Brian or her dad would have used presence alone.

It was oddly comforting to see a shortfall in her, given that Taylor still wasn't sure how she'd known one of her limits.

Then Rachel stepped into the centre of their group with her dogs milling obediently among all of their legs.

And she was strong.

Simple cloth didn't have the strength to stop Taylor's power making someone bigger, and Rachel's didn't have that limit. In a few seconds everything they'd been wearing was rags on the floor, and everyone else was still getting smaller.

Within a minute the roof was close enough to force them to spread out and bend over. Taylor braced her hands on the floor and looked around, noting the familiar forms of her friends, and the much less familiar forms of the Travellers.

In theory she must have seen them before, but her memories were hazy enough that each of them came as a surprise.

Especially the giant woman with the dog's head and Myriad's haircut. Though a second look had Taylor noticing claws and digitigrade legs and fur that kept her fortuitously covered, the effect was still less of a werewolf and more a giant woman, at least until a mouth opened on her stomach, closing seamlessly as another appeared on her shoulder, then closed and reopened at a completely different angle.

Beside her the Brian-sized werewolf with flat red panes of bone covering most of his upper body, and the dark furred werewolf with white highlights both seemed 'normal'. Even when she noticed that Trickster's highlights looked like a skeleton from certain angles.

Brian growled, deep and rumbling, and Taylor found it a lot easier to keep her attention from wandering. The first time had been the worst, but she still found it more than a little helpful to have someone to keep them focused. Especially with the hush that had fallen across the hall.

For a moment she thought it was because of them. That people hadn't really grasped the stories of what she and Rachel could do.

Then she heard the roar through the walls, and saw the way a few dozen other capes had stiffened, including more than a few tinkers.

"Incoming!" shouted Legend, "Movers! Get us out of here!"

She had an instant to wonder if the teleporters would struggle with them, then Trickster had cocked his head to look out a window and vanished.

Then she was on a rooftop, and soaked in an instant.

Some part of Taylor noted that Trickster was no longer limited to those he'd touched, since they were all there, plus a few capes she didn't recognise, and she was certain he hadn't touched Victoria in the last twenty-four hours.

Most of her stared at the wall of water approaching the mouth of the Bay and tried to hold onto hope.

Teleporters did their work fast though, and the wave was far off enough for the entire hall to empty before it got much closer. It wasn't just her friends around her. Hundreds of capes were arrayed across the rooftops of the docks, and dozens more flew above them.

Legend rose from the hall, a beacon of light with none of Purity's harshness. He pointed and his voice came from every armband.

"There! The shadow in the centre of the wave!"

Taylor turned to look, trying not to wince at the way the wave picked up the Rig with barely a flicker from its forcefield. Eyesight beyond any human made it easy for her to pick out the darker patch in the middle of the wave, water bulging oddly above it.

As quickly as she'd spotted it, the shadow vanished and then the wave did the same. The entire length deflating -the Rig continuing to drift towards the shore- as the bulge she'd noticed became a roaring column of water, blasting across the water like a spear. Aimed right for the Medhall building.

"Heh compresshhed wafff ieeen wun spoth." Muttered Lisa into her armband, words distorted despite her stubborn attempts to speak English despite her form.

Taylor tried to ignore her and focus on the capes around her, trying to spot the ones who were following the column, getting ready to fire. Ballistic had torn a heavy chunk out of the roof, and Alec's curling horns had broken into their segments, linked by lightning as he readied his attack.

A cape in front of her was gathering light in his hands, following Leviathan's column, and Taylor leant forward to protect him from any return fire as the pillar of water came over the beach. She could practically feel the gathered capes getting ready to fire, some fliers moving below to get a better shot, Legend and Purity among them.

Then the column of water twisted sharply, shedding a waterfall's worth of water in the process, and smashed right into them. Terminating against one of the taller buildings on the dockside.

From Lisa's armband, and a dozen other capes within her earshot, Taylor heard the words.

"Legend Down, CB-2."

And the battle began.

Anzer'ke · Sep 19, 2017

The gathered capes surged forward as the office building began to slump. Water burst out through the lower windows and the flood carried away a few of the closer capes, bright patches of colour in the murky water.

Some of those running into danger stopped to help people up, but most kept wading closer to the collapsing building. All the while Lisa's armband chattered a steady stream of names that Taylor was trying very hard to ignore. A brief beeping interrupted the feed and then a man's voice came from the armbands. Bastion, if she was remembering the protectorate press conferences correctly.

"Everyone who can make a barrier! Surround the building! Seal him inside!"

Another voice came across the line just as suddenly, "Wait! You'll trap them in-!"

The channel cut out, and Taylor was left to stare impotently as various colours of forcefield began to spring up around the office building, only for a dark tail to whip through the wall and smash all but two of them in a single swing. Most were back in a moment, but some stayed down.

Bastion's yelled over the comms again, "What are you doing!? We need more than this!" A few more barriers began to flicker into existence, a claw flashing out to test them this time.

"We can't just leave them to die!" This time she recognised the voice, Narwhal, the public face of Canada's Guild. "Drop the barriers!"

"Ignore her. Everyone with a ranged attack, get into position."

"Belay that fucking order!"

Taylor glanced around, finding indecision in the other capes on their rooftop. Brian stepped up to the edge, Myriad following suit, but neither did anything but watch. Ballistic hefted his concrete projectile in one massive hand, only for his leader to block him with one arm, never taking her eyes off the building as fliers started to gather above it in earnest. As the argument across the comms continued.

"Dragon! Cut Narwhal's feed."

"You're not her CO Bastion. You're not cutting me off again."

"We do not have time to hesitate!"

Yet another voice entered the fray, "Legend is coming out!"

Light bloomed above the building, two beams twisting around each other in an expanding helix, then vanishing a moment later as a shining figure shot into the sky. Purity. With a man in blue slung across her shoulders, blood staining his costume enough to be visible even from afar.

"Seal it!" shouted the same woman, "We were the last ones alive!"

An instant later the barriers doubled, then tripled in number. Not a moment too soon.

The walls vanished in a flurry of strikes. Leviathan slashed at the barriers with claws and tail, every blow bringing down another few forcefields only for the capes to keep reinforcing the defences. They kept ahead of him -barely- as water rose higher and higher inside the cage of energy.

It was almost to the top when the assault on the barrier faltered, and Armsmaster bellowed over the comms, "He's tired! Hit him now! Now!"

Some kind of coordination must have been in place, because most of the barriers across the roof vanished or folded out of the way as flying capes began to pour fire down onto the monster. The barriers around it held, but the building within disintegrated under the combined firepower that thundered down. The attacking capes either flying or being supported by fliers.

For brief, wonderful, moments, it looked like it was working. The shadow in the water was pushed down, the attacking capes only redoubling their assault in response. Trapped by the forcefields, the water bubbled and boiled and billowed up in a great cloud of steam, rapidly depleting the only thing shielding the monster from their attacks.

Except Taylor could see the tension across Lisa's shoulders as she hissed and spat words into her armband. Trusting her friend's insight, Taylor quickly found the other notes of discord, superhuman vision finding the capes rushing away from the trap. Some ran -or flew, or teleported- alone, and others dragged comrades with them, not always willingly. A flier trailed ribbons as she darted frantically around the steam cloud, and a painfully familiar figure in blue armour shouted words that even she couldn't hear over the roar of the combined bombardment.

Another moment passed. The next few suddenly seemed to be laid out before her eyes in hopeless clarity.

Concrete crunched like sand beneath her feet, and Taylor was surging out into open air. A street blurred beneath her, more river than road, and the next roof slammed into her thighs. She tumbled forward into a roll with hardly a pause, catching an upside down view of her team surging after her, Victoria just starting to fly after them. Then she was upright and running and howling a warning-

Too late.

The steam stopped moving. Every droplet frozen still, then frozen in truth. A million tiny beads of ice in the hands of the greatest hydrokinetic on the planet, with most of their heaviest hitters trapped within.

'Line of sight blocked for the teleporters. Movers would just get stuck inside. Hydrokinetics won't be strong enough. Dammit! Think! Think!'

Sprinting and leaping still, Taylor looked up, caught in the slow motion of adrenaline, and braced for the horror she could already imagine. The blender that Leviathan was about to make of his attackers. Barriers were popping up within the cloud, boiling water spilling out into the street from the abandoned trap, but it wasn't going to be enough and despite her frantic charge Taylor knew exactly how little she could do to help.

Momentum kept her moving anyway. That and the friends who hadn't hesitated to join her doomed rescue attempt. Even Victoria-

'Wait!'

-Taylor snapped her head to the side, looking back, looking beyond her team to their newest friend. Victoria made a hell of a wolf, and with the power that form had given her she was suddenly their only hope.

Growling the signal in the golden wolf's direction, Taylor just barely noticed the terror that stole across her friend's lupine faces.

When she turned back, finding the cloud still hanging still above them, she saw a massive shadow surging toward her. Gravel ground beneath her feet, claws slicing furrows as she fought to dive out of the way.

Too late.

A flash of white weighed her down. Gold ruffled her fur. And the water hit her like a concrete train.

…

Claws skittering along skin that felt like glass.

…

A dozen kinds of dust as walls shattered against her back.

…

She hit the ground in a crater of asphalt and rubble, and bounced. Brian still clung to her and she to him, the two of them both trying to shield the other, then they found the ground again and this time gravity kept them there. Groaning and yelping amidst the chorus of similar sounds that the other Underdogs made, the entire team heaving themselves upright in some drowned Downtown plaza.

Victoria was slumped and panting and had definitely just saved them all.

The sight of a trail of shattered buildings leading back towards the shore left no doubt of that.

Alec growled and Taylor didn't need any kind of code to know what he was giving voice to. The beach had to be almost a mile away. A long way to run in a battle like they were in. A hell of a lot could happen to the other capes before they made it back to the fight.

Then there came a flash of green and grey and Taylor realised she had it the wrong way around.

Leviathan stalked forward through the ruin of the building he'd just smashed them through, not a shred of humanity to be seen in his flat green eyes.

It wasn't hard for Taylor to tell, despite how he towered over her, half again her height.

After all…

He was looking right at her.

Anzer'ke · Sep 19, 2017

She dived, and claws sliced deep enough to gut her true body.

She retreated, and the monster's charge ended up with a tail impaling her and Lisa both.

She leapt away, and Leviathan chased her with a barrage of high-velocity water, only scattered meat returning to the ground.

Staring down the demon of the deep waters, Taylor saw only death reflected back. Solid green across their span, somehow those blank eyes still held something like emotion. Not rage, or hate, or anything remotely comprehensible. Just a terrible intent. Shining out at her and leaving her bereft of doubts to shield her from the truth.

Leviathan was aiming to kill her.

Taylor was going to die. As soon as it stopped staring her down and decided to move. She would be slaughtered.

Escape wasn't even a dream. So she did the exact opposite.

Maybe there was a flicker of surprise in Leviathan's eyes as its prey roared and charged. Taylor would never know, because she had dropped as low to the ground as she could before the third step, running on all fours and saved by that instinct from the tail that swept close enough to slice her fur.

Eyes on the ground, Taylor ignored the water that drenched her fur even more, let trust sweep away her fear for those around her, and slammed into Leviathan's leg with her entire weight behind one shoulder.

Stone would have crumbled, steel would have bent, and even the Endbringer was unable to stay standing. Taylor crashed to the ground with it, rolling away before hesitation could kill her and catching a glimpse with every turn of Rachel and two of her dogs all hanging off the end of its tail. Teeth and claws anchoring them through two attempts to flick them away, only for the third to launch them skipping across the drowned plaza. A trail of ripples ending in a jagged hole punched in a storefront.

Alec leapt into the fray, yipping madly and crackling with electricity. He fixed Leviathan with a powerful glare and had just enough time to show his surprise before the Endbringer slashed his face to ribbons. The water that followed the limb smashed Alec through the air, but Taylor was already too close to see any more.

She entered close quarters again, ignoring the car that crunched beneath her feet as she squared off with Leviathan. She growled her challenge low in her throat and didn't turn to look when a deeper voice joined her own. Instead she lashed out and dived to the side in a single smooth movement, mirrored by the comforting presence of her leader.

Both of them landed their blows, one slashing deep furrows in Leviathan's chest while the other punched a spiderweb of cracks into his cheek. The Endbringer barely flinched, answering with a rapid flurry of slashes using all four limbs. Her fur -its deceptive form unhindered by a little water- was keeping it from landing a solid blow on her…but against Brian every one scored lines through his armour and the water that followed hammered those weaknesses until they cracked and bled.

They ducked and weaved and tried to fight back, but far from weakening, Leviathan paid less and less mind to each hit. In barely a minute Taylor found herself stepping backward to keep from being overwhelmed. Only by working together as well as they did had they even kept up for that long and with the punishment Brian was enduring Taylor could already feel his timing slipping. The scent of blood growing thicker with every passing moment.

Finally there came a thunderous crak and Brian staggered, then fell. He was clutching his chest, shards of bone dropping through his fingers and vanishing in the murky waters. She caught only a glimpse of the bloody ruin that his hands covered before Leviathan took the opening. Tail spearing straight at the weakness. Acid horror already rising in her throat.

The world stuttered.

Leviathan's tail was thrust deep into the ground, weighed down by a lithe figure of dark fur and scattered bone. Aisha had wrapped herself around it, ignoring the water that scoured away her fur as it rushed over her, her tail still clutched tight by a pair of the Wolves.

They were both strangers to Taylor, just two more faces she had transformed. One seemed to have some idea of how to fight, hanging back with arms up in a loose guard, while the other simply charged. Claws flashing, maw stretched wide to bite down on the Endbringer's neck, the Wolf howled in challenge as it pushed the monster away. Then the howl died in a wet splutter, Leviathan's arm having speared through fur and bone and taken a handful of human torso on its way out of the Wolf's back.

The experienced Wolf didn't react. Maybe there was no relationship between them. Maybe such displays weren't in the Wolf's nature. Taylor already knew she'd have no chance to find out. Still she waded back into the melee and refused to surrender her hope. Not even when the Wolf leapt onto their foe's back and started clawing at its face.

Leviathan's tail came up, and Aisha crashed into her. Once, twice, and then Taylor was sprawled in the filthy water with a dazed comrade on top of her. She could see only shadows through the murk, writhing and dim. When she reared up and blinked the water from her eyes, Taylor found her hopes already dismissed.

The Wolf was still twitching weakly, impaled and lofted high on the monster's tail, blood pouring down to stain the waters an ever deeper red. Life was already absent his eyes, a sacrifice that had left Leviathan's face a gouged mess that ran freely with its blood. Clear as water, and almost as thin, it left no stain when it splashed into the red swirling at the monster's feet.

A flick of the tail and the moment passed. The corpse flying out of sight as Taylor reached back to take a firm hold of Aisha. Rachel coming up beside them with violence written across her. Only for the next exchange to be interrupted.

"Underdogs engaging Leviathan, CD-7." Dragon's synthesised voice echoed from every armband still intact. "I'm isolating the communications error now."

Armsmaster came next, authority ringing clearly, "We can't wait for that, everyone move to contain Leviathan! We need teleporters for the injured. Thinkers, focus on Leviathan's behaviour. I think-"

A burst of static silenced the feed, but it was Lisa's desperate scream that made Taylor hurl herself away.

"Get away!" Shrieked her friend. Barely a moment before the water around Taylor's ankles stopped moving. Like cool stone, it encased her along with the wrecked cars and assorted debris that dotted the flooded street. Also like stone, it shattered before her strength as Taylor leapt away from Leviathan, holding tightly to Aisha and Rachel all the while.

If she'd abandoned them then Taylor might have made it in time.

Pain like she had never felt before lit her nerves on fire. So much pain that she couldn't tell where it was coming from. All she could do was stagger further away from the spherical maelstrom that had engulfed Leviathan, water accelerated to such speeds that the air screamed.

Then she tried to put her left foot down and realised where the pain was coming from. Again the water rose up over her head, her friends tumbling from her arms as she fell. Taylor had more than enough strength left to tear free of the suddenly hardened water, spitting out the lumps that had made it into her mouth. Only when she rose she found Leviathan was gone.

Seconds slid by, some part of Taylor still hearing Dragon's voice from the gadget around her wrist, despite the roar of whirling water. Something about a problem accessing global networks. It was almost hilarious. Knowing how unimportant their despairing struggle was to anyone else in the battle. How little any of it mattered.

Aisha stirred and Rachel fought to her feet and Taylor threw away her thoughts. The pain still seemed to be ripping her apart, but she was intact enough to get up on her knees and look around.

She saw Brian, bloody and leaning heavily against a wall. She saw Victoria, floating as she heaved great panting breaths. She saw Lisa, frantically splashing closer, hands slashing upwards as if…

Taylor looked up just in time to see Leviathan drop below the level of the roofs. A split second later she took its maelstrom full in the face.

And it bounced.

The orb of water was larger than its creator and destructive in the extreme. So when it rebounded into an apartment block, the result was a tunnel more than thirty feet wide bored straight through. The building began to collapse right around when Taylor realised that Victoria had just saved them again. Or at least Aisha and her.

Sound returned, and about half a second after she realised what that meant, Leviathan burst out of the rubble it had just made and sprinted towards her so fast that the water barely rippled beneath it. Hurling its water echo forward with every step.

With her leg ruined, and her chances in a fight proved non-existent, Taylor could only see one thing left to do. So she turned her back on Leviathan, shivering despite herself, and threw Aisha as far out of the way as she could.

'Sorry dad. I tried.'

But death never came. Instead, there was darkness. A shadow looming over her as the scent of blood somehow became ever thicker.

Brian bled freely, his armour cracked and ruined, one arm bent entirely the wrong way. None of which stopped him from standing between Leviathan and them. A wall of his darkness casting her and Aisha in shadow, solid enough to shield them all.

Already seeing the next move, Taylor gestured for Rachel, found her missing, and settled for pointing Aisha's groggy head at one end of the wall while she focused on the other. The obvious move for Leviathan was to come around the side. What she'd do when it did had yet to come to Taylor, but there wasn't much else for her to do.

Except Leviathan didn't rush around the wall. Instead it shook and shuddered more and more, Brian braced his weight against it and poured more of his power into the barrier. Yet claw tips still poked through, each strike scattering a little more of the darkness.

Her stump scraped the ground and Taylor learned what exposed and broken bone felt like. Only sheer stubbornness kept her from passing out as she left Aisha and limped to Brian's side, adding her own (not inconsiderable) weight to the effort to brace his wall.

He turned her way, a wolf smile stretching his lips in fierce joy. Despite everything Taylor felt a similar madness answering him, and knew her own fangs were equally bared.

One leg hung free and agonising, while she dug the other deep into the remains of the street. Her shoulder pressed against the solid smoke of Brian's boosted power, fur splaying out flat against it. The vibrations of Leviathan's attacks thrumming through her bones.

They came faster. Faster. Faster.

Then Brian dropped his power, and she followed his lead in diving flat. Just in time for something awfully like a train to flicker flash over her head. Rachel bellowing the entire time.

When she finally had enough space above to roll over, Taylor saw every last one of Rachel's boosted dogs, lead by their beloved mistress. Not from the front as she normally did, but by commands she ruffed and barked at them, all the while keeping as far from Leviathan as she could without abandoning her dogs entirely.

Knowing exactly what Rachel would do for her dogs, Taylor looked deep enough to see the truth of her strategy. The dogs dashed and bit and dashed away again, Rachel guiding them in and out of the circle of living tanks that spun in both directions around its gigantic prey. Always a heartbeat ahead of Leviathan's attempts at slaughter.

It lashed out, and the dogs scattered before the water could rip through them. It grabbed for them, and another three dogs would knock its aim askew. Leviathan spun and slashed and the dogs just kept on attacking.

Then it stopped, turned to face Rachel, and attacked her instead. Tail sweeping an arc of water that cut cleanly through a lamppost, and hit Rachel as she tried to jump over it.

Blood sprayed the water and she hit with a massive splash, dogs pouring toward her without any sign of the coordination that had kept them safe.

Leviathan just ignored them, reorienting on Taylor again and striding towards her without any sign that it cared about the many wounds that covered its skin. Chunks torn loose, cuts that bled freely, even the loss of its eyes seemed to bother it not at all. All their effort and they'd barely slowed it down.

A massive hand shoved her backwards, her one legged state leaving unable to fight as Brian put himself between Leviathan and her.

"Rawr!" She cried, wishing for the capacity to speak, to scream at him in words instead. Even if she knew it wouldn't make any difference. No matter how eloquently she begged, it would have ended the same.

His darkness poured out, and Leviathan burst through before it could even begin to harden, batting Brian aside like an unwanted toy, and leaving only a shower of bone shards to mark where he had stood.

Then it was in front of her, so close that she might have felt its breath if the Endbringer was anything so familiar as to need air.

Instead she felt…nothing really. Cold. Sore. Fear seemed appropriate, but she didn't have any left. Just a little scrap of hope that Brian wasn't dead, and nor was Alec, and if the hit was low enough then Rachel would be able to dig free once blood loss killed her boosted form.

She hoped that maybe her death might end the assault that had torn through the family she had just finally found.

With a jolt of surprise, Taylor realised that she felt almost contented at the thought.

Then Lisa ruined everything by tackled her out of the way of Leviathan's claws.

Water ripped apart a van behind where she'd been standing, and Taylor was left to glare at Lisa's many many eyes. They were glaring back. She might have felt outnumbered if they hadn't been about to die. If one of her friends hadn't just thrown her life away for nothing.

Even when Taylor tried to wrestle Lisa beneath her body, the bitch just kicked at her stump and left her writhing in pain beneath the most fragile of the Underdogs. Leviathan already stomped down on them.

And the instant before it crushed them, Taylor felt the slight constriction of salvation and heard Victoria's guttural roar. Leviathan bounced again. Up on one of the roofs Taylor saw Victoria drop out of the air like a stone, and she knew that there would be no more rescue from that quarter.

Still, she couldn't help but grin at Lisa, grateful despite herself.

Lisa nodded down at her, and was ripped away. Leviathan's foot sunk into her like it was kicking a can. Ribs crackled as Lisa soared limp and broken, and Taylor knew she'd never forget the sound as long as she lived.

A tail speared down at her and Taylor lashed out, knocking it high enough to let her remember the sound a few moments more, even if it had rendered her right arm useless. The tail came down again and this time she caught it, left hand straining, two fingers severed by the water echo before she even took hold of the limb, Taylor strained a struggled and in a moment's clarity she realised two things.

Firstly, that she'd never keep her hold. So she stopped trying.

Because secondly, as real as it felt, she wasn't in her real body.

So in the instant she had before death, Taylor reached inside and found the smallest form she could.

A dog the size of a particularly runty rat pressed itself to the sac of flesh that sat high in a Wolf's chest, blind in the total darkness. Still she felt the tail spearing through where her heart had been. Her real heart.

It pulled free…and nothing else happened. For long enough that Taylor went back to her previous form. Only it didn't work.

It was nothing like before. Instead of feeling like the boosted form was her own, Taylor could just about see through its eyes and nothing else.

Sight was enough to understand why the attacks had stopped though.

Taylor caught a single glimpse of Myriad squaring off against Leviathan, tall enough to draw the eye above the buildings, to where the horizon was turning thick and blue.

Then there was blackness, and muffled words. Sound filtering through the hole Leviathan had made.

"Wave incoming."

.
.
.

Anzer'ke · Sep 19, 2017

"Trickster Down, CC-7; Myriad Down, CC-7; Scintillate Deceased, CC-7; Ballistic Down, CC-7. Glory Girl Down, CC-7"

.
.

"All capes withdraw! Lung is ready to engage Leviathan; Leviathan is moving to respond. Safe distance at 200 metres and rising. Withdraw immediately!"

.
.
.
.
.
.

"Lung Down, DG-12; Bakuda Deceased, DG-12; Oni Lee Deceased, DG-12."

.
.
.

"Leviathan sighted, DG-7."

.
.

"This is Clockblocker. We have a plan. Get to CK-7."

.
.
.

"Leviathan has been frozen, we need barriers and every scrap of firepower we've got! Let's roast this fucker!"

.
.
.

"Ambush rea- Wave Incoming!"

.
.
.

"Runt Deceased, CC-7."

.
.
.

Lungs screaming, choking on blood and salt, Taylor was crazed and blind and still clawing at her prison.

The last layer of flesh gave way, and Taylor's hand thrust out into the open air. The other shoved through the wound just after.

With two handfuls of limp and lifeless hair, she heaved, ignoring the way her shattered ribs gouged the sides of her real body, thinking only of the pounding burning need for-

'Air!'

She heaved a breath and started choking immediately, her body unable to decide between taking in oxygen and purging the ocean she'd swallowed, Taylor found herself vomiting filth only to inhale half of it in her frantic quest for breath. Gagging all the while on the stench of blood cloaking her.

The last moments played over and over when she closed her eyes, the announcements filtering in through the same ragged hole that poured water until she was drowning in the dark of her own corpse. So Taylor opened her eyes and hoped for a pleasant distraction.

Instead she found devastation.

Water lapped against her fallen body, just inches away from covering it. The square was shattered beyond recognition and the remains had been swept aside and swirled by the wave- 'No.' -by two waves in succession.

There was no sign of her friends beyond a tiny scent lingering beneath the overpowering smells of blood and sea water. Rachel's scent.

And as she focused on that, not daring to think about the others, Taylor realised she could hear more than just the rush of water and distant violence. There were voices closer to her, coming from the other side of a screen of crumpled cars.

With a mental twitch, her form regenerated the damage done by her near drowning, then became something suited for the task at hand. A flying leap took her from the remains of her boosted form to the twisted metal wall, then she just needed to climb to the top and peep over…and stifle a scream.

Rachel was slumped against a wall, surrounded by dogs, and holding herself together with both massive hands. A gash carved her gut almost to her spine, high enough that Taylor already knew it had cut through the sac within. Cut through Rachel's real body.

Taylor noticed someone beside the body (besides the horde of giant dogs) but was already mid-dive.

Water brought the memory of her brush with death rushing past, then made it worse with every awful thing she brushed against as she swam. Still, Taylor didn't slow. She couldn't.

Fur met her fingers as she swung them forward, and she clambered up onto Angelica's back. A few feet away from Rachel's body, and Victoria, normal sized and tearing ragged handfuls of flesh from the enormous spiked werewolf.

Neither of them acknowledged her arrival. Nor did she greet them.

Instead Taylor rushed to join Victoria in her work, clawing and digging and realising that she did have something worth saying.

"Can't we just get her out through the cut?"

In the corner of her eye Victoria shook her head, not slowing down, and said, "She's out cold. We'd be fighting her grip on herself."

As she took hold of a rib, Taylor didn't know whether to be intensely grateful that Rachel wasn't feeling any of it, or terrified that the delay might kill her. Thankfully Victoria made much quicker work of the massive bones then she could and soon they were down to the sac itself.

Then Victoria's armband -dangling loose but slowly shrinking to match the much reduced diameter of her wrist- chimed.

"Everyone run! He's faking it! Run!" Taylor didn't recognise the voice, only the absolute terror that filled it. Victoria on the other hand, looked like she'd been shot.

"Dean."

"What? What's wrong?" Taylor hesitated a moment, but kept her focus on cutting through the leathery skin that separated her from Rachel. Even as Victoria began to scramble at her armband, pressing the buttons at random. "What are you doing?"

"The, the names. I need the names. The ones getting hurt."

A flood of gore spilled over Taylor's arms as the sac split and she all but dove inside. Still, she couldn't ignore Victoria. A glance told her that Victoria was holding both buttons down. "Casualty feed." She said to one side, not pausing in her search.

Not even when the names started coming so fast that they stuttered and spilled into one another.

Thankfully most of them were just 'Down', but then so was Rachel as far as Taylor could remember from the chaotic fight. 'Down' could mean a lot of things.

Like the muscled girl that she finally pulled free. The girl who'd saved her life and taken her in and never asked for a damn thing in return.

The girl who was missing both legs from the thighs down.

Taylor turned to Victoria, numb and terrified and in the silence of shock she heard the next name very clearly.

"Gallant Down, CK-7."

Victoria looked up at last, and Taylor saw her horror mirrored. Then redoubled as her newest friend caught sight of her oldest.

"I-I-"

"Help me with her." But Taylor had hardly bent down when she realised that Rachel; wasn't nearly as badly off as she'd thought. The regeneration focused form having done it's work and already tipped the stumps in shiny new skin.

Victoria had seen the same thing, enough to make up her mind. Legs tensing to leap into the air.

Taylor caught her ankle and matched the terrified glare she sent down.

"Take us with you. We can help!"

Whether it was panic, or the memory that she could heal, or just the quickest way to take off, Victoria immediately swept them both into her arms. Shooting skyward in the same movement.

They were soaring fast over streets turned rivers and islands of concrete and stone, but Taylor ignored all that. Ignored the vast stretch of the docks that burned in the distance, and the occasional shape that darted through the streets below. Far more important was her hand pressed against Rachel's stump and the sea of possibility that waited within.

When they'd been getting ready for the fight Taylor had insisted on transforming everyone herself. An opportunity to tune their forms for as much regeneration as she could safely find in them. The best defence Taylor had to give her friends.

The only reason Rachel was still alive.

Now she went deeper. Abandoning entirely the form that Rachel took by herself. Ignoring the needs of combat, or the preferences of her friend. Taylor simply found the form with the very strongest regeneration that she could grant, then chose one even better and hoped she wasn't skirting too close to granting madness.

When she opened her eyes, Rachel had shrunk in on herself until she looked starved and weak…but her stumps were almost bubbling with the potential to grow again. Lengthening by a hair right before Taylor's eyes.

Taylor took that as her cue to start paying attention to the world below. Then swore violently as she realised what they were flying over.

Dozens of capes were still engaging Leviathan. Dragon leading the charge in a bipedal battlesuit that would have towered over her boosted form almost as much as Leviathan itself. Armsmaster was crouched on her shoulder and elbow deep in the wiring of some kind of shoulder-mounted weapon.

Leviathan danced away from the charge, slipping aside each time Dragon tried to grab the monster. Other capes landed attacks with every passing moment but none of them did worse than scratching and pitting its already wounded body, not that it seemed to notice any of the damage.

The fliers that Victoria zoomed past were barely a shadow of the numbers they'd started the day with, only Purity and a few member of New Wave were attacking and Taylor wondered if the others lacked the right powers or had simply stopped believing they could hurt the beast.

Then they were past the battle. The din barely faded, but Taylor ignored it. No matter how her stomach knotted and churned.

'Leviathan went right fucking through us. And…I'm more useful as a healer than getting slaughtered.' Looking up at the girl carrying them, Taylor found her crying silently, eyes darting between the map on her armband and the streets below. 'We owe Victoria this. I owe her this.'

Victoria gasped, and Taylor found her stomach relocated to somewhere in her throat as the ground shot up to meet them.

One bone jarring landing later, she rushed to check Rachel and arrange her comfortably while Victoria sprinted to the edge. Taylor joining her just in time for her frantic search to end in another gasp, a finger pointing to the crumpled ruin of the building next door. Only this time when Taylor tried to grab Victoria and get a lift down, she slipped away.

Mostly because Taylor had frozen when she noticed the bodies.

The rooftop they'd landed on had three besides Rachel, two still almost intact and one split into two colourful halves. Taylor was retching over the side, clutching the low brick barrier, before she could even process what she'd seen. Only she found no respite in looking away.

The street, the other roofs, even the places where absent walls let her look inside the buildings, there were bodies everywhere.

A wide circle of the street was depressed and flooded worse than the rest, waters still forming a whirlpool as they filled the damage.

'That was where they trapped him.'

There was no debris next to that spot. Of any kind. Even the buildings that pressed against it on either side were simply missing their front few yards. Some of the edges were ragged, others clean, others still molten, or frozen, or weirder. All of it spoke of the fury that had been unleashed.

'It didn't even slow him down.'

The damage done the other way however…Taylor searched and searched, but she couldn't find a single cape still standing.

Not until raised voices drew her eyes after Victoria.

The next instant she had crushed a handful of brick to dust, leaning out over the edge and holding back a snarl at what she saw.

Victoria, hovering above the collapsed building, and a cluster of capes standing in a dip in the rubble. Familiar capes.

The Wards glared up at Victoria, and she shook beneath it. She didn't retreat though.

Taylor turned to check Rachel a final time, then vaulted out into open air. It whistled around her as she fell, aiming for a flat stretch of toppled wall on the other side of the 'heroes'.

Her target split in half as she hit it, knees bent and hands shooting out to finish breaking her fall. Taylor looked up -ignoring the twinge as her regeneration repaired slight damage to her legs- and found a crossbow and laser gun both levelled at her face.

"Hey Hebert, looking for round three?"

Tempting as it was, Taylor ignored her completely and looked to…well bizarre as it was, the slight form of Vista seemed to be in charge. She couldn't see Aegis or Gallant, and Taylor wondered which one of them was Dean, because she could see no other explanation for Victoria's terror.

Speaking of whom, "Let me help." Victoria begged, "I know he's down there."

"There is a truce on, remember?" Taylor took a moment to realise the words, biting in their sarcasm, had come from her. "Hate us all you like, we're on the same side."

A long moment passed, then Vista nodded her head -adorable visage recast by a cracked visor and blood trickling down the side of her jaw- and bent to keep digging. Victoria and most of the Wards joining her immediately.

Over on Taylor's side, there was a longer hesitation, Sophia keeping her crossbow on target like it would do a damn thing if Taylor gave into the urge to tear her lying whore throat out. Then she let it fall, and, by the cast of her shoulders, Taylor wasn't sure which of them was more surprised.

Then they were both digging, the hate between them allowed to rest for now.

Her strength quickly forced Taylor to move closer to Victoria, the two of them digging more effectively than any of the others. Victoria hurled away the largest pieces, and Taylor heaved chunks heavier than herself out of the way. Around them the Wards smoothly switched their focus to keeping things stable and clearing smaller pieces, Clockblocker starting to jury rig a wall as they dropped below the water level.

A single bubble appeared and popped, and this time Victoria's gasp was a happy thing.

Then the world exploded with thunder, and every one of them looked up to find the source.

Dragon's suit fell alongside the remains of a building at the end of the street. Flying far enough that she could only have been thrown, and sure enough a familiar silhouette stalked through the ruin after her.

Dragon twisted and caught the ground, moving with agility that nothing that big had any right to, she spun back to her feet and charged, a greyish cloud rising around her arms.

Then she was hitting the ground with a mighty boom! Sliding towards Leviathan like something dead and it took Taylor another heartbeat to realise that the suit had frozen between one stride and the next, without Leviathan moving a finger.

Though he did reach out to grab something long and slender that stuck out of the suit's shoulder, too small for Taylor to make much out even with her enhanced vision. He tossed it to one side and started walking towards them.

Towards her.

Dragon's voice rang out from every armband, "Something is disrupting my network. Something is wrong. Something is v-" Then they all went dead.

Leviathan was accelerating.

"He's chasing me," Taylor's voice ran ahead of her thoughts again, "I'll lead him off."

The distance to the Endbringer suddenly stretched out like putty, and a girl that barely came to Taylor's chest stood and spoke to her with terrifying ferocity, "You can heal?" At Taylor's nod she said simply, "Then you keep going. We'll hold him off."

Just like that the Wards were gone, Kid Win taking to skies with Clockblocker on the back of his board, Vista twisting herself a path to the roof and bringing Sophia and…the other one, along for the ride.

Victoria and her bent back to their work, neither girl looking up at the monster bearing down on them.

Not when the warped space all around them snapped back to normal.

Not when a throaty battle cry abruptly cut off.

And when Kid Win's hoverboard slammed into the rubble beside them, Victoria simply stood up and nodded to her, trusting her with something precious.

There were tears in Taylor's eyes when she nodded back. Then Victoria was gone too.

She heard the crak of stone splitting, again and again and again and again and…silence.

She didn't stop digging, but Taylor couldn't keep herself from looking up. Then she couldn't look away from the green eyes that fixed upon her. Almost a block away and still he picked out exactly where she was, crouched among rubble coloured by the same filth and mud that coated her.

There was no more escape. So Taylor kept digging. Hands questing blindly below the water. Eyes unable to move an inch from the monster walking towards her.

Which is why she saw the smudge of shadow beneath a chunk of fallen wall that Leviathan walked past. A shadow that pounced like a jungle cat, resolving into a girl in a cloak the instant before she swept something long and slender across Leviathan's thighs. Taylor saw something like grey smoke at the tip of it, and then she saw the damage it had done to the Endbringer, and…

'Holy shit.'

Sophia Hess had just hamstrung Leviathan.

He slammed a claw down on her so hard it sounded like an explosion. Hitting nothing but water as she flipped out of the way.

"This isn't the first time I've fought some big stupid monster! Now come on! You gotta go through me first!"

Her arms kept going, mechanical motions clearing the rubble away, but Taylor's eyes were nailed to the fight.

Sophia dashed and slid, daring to slip between Leviathan's legs and rewarded by his tail slamming into her. She blew apart like smoke even as she flew back a dozen feet. Only to reform and charge again an instant later, slashing at Leviathan's calves just like she had his thighs.

The Endbringer actually retreated, hopping back from her, and then coming back with his tail and both claws all slashing.

The crazy bitch rolled below the tail, then leapt through a claw as a cloud of shadow, and became a girl just long enough to kick off the next slash. Jumping high enough to clear the Endbringer's head.

Leviathan looked away from Taylor at last, tilting his head back to watch Sophia rear back, putting her entire body behind a single blow. One that left Armsmaster's halberd planted to the hilt in Leviathan's face. Sophia dangling from the haft and laughing hysterically.

He moved, cocking his head to one side, reaching up for Sophia as she kicked at his face, trying to dislodge her weapon. He picked her up like a doll and brought her even closer to his face, other hand reaching up to snap the halberd and toss the handle away.

He considered Sophia for a few seconds. Then he squeezed a scream from her, and hurled her down the street. She hit the water with a lengthy splash and Taylor faced him alone.

She felt armour beneath her fingers, a hand still twitching weakly, and Taylor thought they might have achieved something for exactly as long as it took her to find the slab of concrete that lay across Gallant. Dean.

Squatting in the water, Taylor heaved until her legs shook and her back popped…but it hardly budged an inch. She abandoned moving it and instead squirmed around the edges, trying to find a place she could touch skin, could save the boy still clinging to life beneath her.

All while the boom of Leviathan's footsteps came closer.

It was useless. It had all been…useless.

She tipped back her head in a laugh, and she saw Rachel reaching over the edge of the roof. Rachel whose legs couldn't have regrown more than an inch yet.

The boost poured through her like liquid fury. Taylor found the edges of the slab again and this time it moved a full foot. Then stopped dead, weighed down by more than she could lift.

She was still growing, still getting stronger, but the footsteps had stopped and if Taylor looked up she knew she'd see Leviathan. Towering over her. Ready to kill her. Not going to be tricked again.

So she looked up. She met his gaze and growled defiance as she clung to the slab with both hands and every ounce of will in her body. Clung to it so hard that even her hair was gripping it- 'Wait.'

Then Leviathan reached down to her. Then several tons of giant legless werewolf hit him in a perfect elbow lariat, bearing the monster over backwards and all the way down to the ground.

And Taylor had an idea.

She reached out, and she reached within, and when she roared it was not just sound. It was an explosion of hair, twisting and questing out from her body in thick tendrils.

One surged beneath the rubble, pouring through the gaps in armour to find skin and life and let her reach inside it.

The rest split and split and split again, until she was searching half the street in an instant. Every body that she touched, she reached inside, and in her wake only the corpses were still. No time to figure out who was who, but everyone was an ally in this fight.

And as she thought it, Rachel burst free of the water, scrambled onto a wrecked truck.

And she howled.

Anzer'ke · Sep 19, 2017

Leviathan stood, water pouring from his wound-scarred body.

The capes rose, and rose, and rose yet further. Dozens of monsters taking shape amidst the echoes of Rachel's call.

And every last one was looking at the monster before her.

To the beast's credit he did not hesitate or retreat. Before anyone else had moved, Leviathan was a blur of limbs, hurling water with precision and speed. Cutting through buildings and wolves alike.

And through the storm, they charged.

Every child had heard the saying, and Taylor was no exception. 'The best defence is a good offence.'

Leviathan proved it for almost three seconds. First striking with precision at each attacker, leaving deep wounds in the vulnerable, and knocking the rest away. When they pushed through regardless, he switched to wide sweeping motions, sending out waves that swept away a handful of the transformed capes at a time.

Taylor watched in awe as the monster's assault threatened to drive back the tide. Then someone clad in shining metal, bulky even for a Wolf, charged right through one of his waves and pinned one of Leviathan's arms to his chest. In the time it took her to blink, a mountain of fur and muscle had buried the bound Endbringer.

Memories of her own fight with him kept Taylor from relaxing, but the seconds dragged on and the pile only shifted to better serve its purpose. Capes whose boosted forms clearly designated them as brutes squirmed their way to the bottom, and only a handful of injured had to be dragged out.

The pile still jerked and shook, but the Endbringer seemed unable to break free. Especially after someone with a weird grainy look to their fur made an expansive gesture and all the water within a few feet of the heap vanished.

Her heart was still pounding, and her legs shook too much for Taylor to move just yet, but as Taylor watched Rachel drag herself across the islands of rubble…she finally stopped expecting to die in the next moments.

So predictably that was when a chunk of concrete soared past her head.

Only when she looked for the source, not one of the half-dozen capes she found in that direction showed any sign of noticing her. Not when they were so busy throwing things at one another.

Dread began to pool in her stomach as she looked around. Finding a scene right of her memories of the Docks, the night the Empire fell.

Thankfully there was less of some activities, but the good new ended there.

Some of it was harmless, except to the capes themselves. Locked in mournful howling or curled into shaking balls of fur, they'd have a hard time defending themselves.

Some were already long gone, running away from the fight, or towards something else. Either way they would at least be safe.

Then there were the rest.

A wolf covered in green fire snarled and tore a chunk from another's side. Two fliers dragged a third to the ground and rained blows on them. Growls filled the air, as the gathered capes got busy undoing all her efforts to heal them.

Even the pile restraining Leviathan was started to produce angry sounds, its elements shifting and shoving against one another. If they lost their grip…

Taylor forced her legs to move, forced herself to scramble into an awkward leap to an overturned bus. The thin metal crumpled and tore beneath her weight, but Taylor hardly slowed, ripping free of the vehicle to wade towards the pile instead.

Closer now, she could make out the expressions that twisted dozens of gigantic dog -and doglike- faces. She'd gotten a lot of practice reading such features, none of which she needed to recognise the shrunken pupils of most of the dogpile.

Panic looked about the same on any mammal.

A scattered few were growling in anger, or sagging in grief, but they were a fraction of those shaking in terror. Some of whom were already shying away, getting ready to run, like cornered animals getting ready to bolt.

Taylor sloshed her way to better footing, heaving herself up onto an island of buckled concrete and shaking off the weight of water that had soaked her hair. Stretching the strands out in every direction to help the process and hoping the rain wouldn't render it too pointless.

From where she stood a few good jumps would get her to the pile and her latest trick seemed perfect to hold them all together until-

Something brushed the tips of her fur.

Taylor turned around and threw herself to the ground in one motion, yelping at a rebar frame jabbing into her gut, a shadow rushing over her.

It didn't land so much as it impacted, a cloud of smoke hitting the ground and the water and billowing out in a circle. It stopped, reversed, and became a monster she recognised without a single identifying mark.

Sophia's costume was gone but for scraps, and her lean form was clad in fur of lighter shades then her actual skin, but Taylor had never met another person with eyes as scornful as hers.

"Pathetic as ever Hebert."

There was no time to wonder how she'd understood her. Sophia stormed forward and Taylor leapt back to avoid being cut, improvising a cushion of hair to keep her footing when she land-

"Arrhhh!" Taylor clutched her chest, out of shock more than pain. The cut was only shallow -her millionth reason to be glad of her silhouette-obscuring fur- but she couldn't understand how she'd been cut at all. Then Sophia struck again and she ducked, seeing the truth this time.

Halfway through the blow Sophia's arm, and only her arm, became dark smoke, stretching out until her claws sliced the hair just inches from Taylor's head. Hair that immediately coiled and caught the hero's hand by all the parts that weren't so sharp.

Only for Sophia's hand to became smoke and slip from her grip. Flowing back to her as the vicious bitch charged.

Taylor charged right back at her, bracing for a clash that never came. Sophia exploding around her in a cloud of smoke, reforming behind her with a sound that Taylor had never quite noticed before. As she caught the 'hero' with half a dozen tendrils of hair, Taylor reflected it was a kind of a fleshy whooshing in reverse. Then she threw herself horizontal and kicked out with both legs, catching Sophia full in the chest.

'Tch.' She felt a moment's resistance, then nothing substantial, rolling to her feet as Sophia slid back a few feet and reformed the body parts she'd transformed to slip free.

But she wasn't the only one with range any more. Taylor let her hair shoot forward in a dozen thin streams, hoping the transformation hadn't fully eliminated her foe's weakness to being dispersed.

Going by the way Sophia retreated, slashing at the closest strands all the while, the hero wasn't eager to find out.

Taylor pressed the attack, ignoring the pain as she forced her hair to form even faster, pushing to the very limits of her shifting ability, because that's all there really was to her idea. The realisation that, if she could shift her form to create and remove hair, if her boosted form could even make it dance without a breeze, then she had to have control over it. Control that let her bear down on Sophia like a freight train of dark and glossy hair.

She couldn't transform, or the tendrils would tear her apart and tear her apart and never let her reform so much as a finger. However that had only spurred her to strike faster and harder, then faster still. Sliced hair fell like rain, matting into the water and piling atop that layer, then falling away as Sophia stepped through the pile, forcing her way closer to Taylor.

Or at least, to where she'd last seen Taylor.

Unfortunately for the life-ruining, best-friend-corrupting, violent lunatic of a monstrous raving psycho tramp, Taylor wasn't there anymore.

A single ripple was the only warning, and Sophia didn't see it anyway. She only saw a glimpse of dark fur as Taylor exploded out of the water, hair snaking out behind her. Then a clawed hand closed around her head above her muzzle, and another took her by the throat. Taylor shed the massive length of hair she'd been using, and with one last agonising effort, sprouted enough to completely encase Sophia's body. Layered so thick that not a wisp of smoke would be able to escape.

"Got you." She panted, "I've finally got you."

One of her hands was covering Sophia's eyes, and that was a real shame because Taylor wanted to look into them more than anything else in that moment. She forgot Leviathan. She forgot her friends. She forgot everything she'd gained, everything she'd come to fight for, because the girl who took everything from her was finally in her hands, and it would only take one little squeeze to tear her lying tongue out.

Without a battle to distract her, Taylor could see how bad things were getting. She just didn't care. The capes crawling free of the pile atop Leviathan didn't concern her. The capes fighting more fiercely with every moment didn't matter anyway. Even a glance at where Rachel and Victoria were wrestling with the rest of the Wards couldn't break through the red haze that had settled over her.

"If it wasn't for you. If you hadn't lied…" Sophia could only growl nonsense in response, so Taylor tightened her grip and kept going. "I wouldn't have lost my home."

'I'd never have met Rachel.'

"I wouldn't have had to leave my dad."

'I'd never have met Brian.'

"I wouldn't be a criminal."

'I'd still have no friends.'

"I wouldn't even be a parahuman."

'I'd be powerless.'

"'I hate you!"'

Sophia growled again, remorseless to the end.

Taylor began to press down. Choking off Sophia's growl, then sinking her claws into flesh and snarling her victory. Her voice joined the chorus of raw emotion, while Sophia contributed one last tiny sob.

"Stop!"

She felt the sound before she heard it. Volume enough to hurt, carrying ironclad resolution. Sheer force of will reached down to her bones and held her still long before it reached her ears. Then she realised what she'd heard.

It wasn't a voice. It was a roar. A very familiar roar…though he still didn't sound as scary as her dad.

Taylor looked up at Brian, standing on a rooftop with his dumb beard and his stupid braids flapping in the wind, and the knot that had sat in her chest since she clawed her way out of a corpse and found her friends missing finally loosened.

Brian was alive. Brian, who would have died before he let any of them get hurt, was alive.

All around her the capes were reacting like they'd been doused with ice water. Abandoning their mad passions to stop and stare up at the fragile human standing in the rain, naked and soaked, and daring to tell them what to do.

He stared right back down at them. He didn't repeat himself.

Sophia was coughing, sucking in desperate gasps when she wasn't, and Taylor didn't quite remember deciding to loosen her grip.

What she did remember was a single quiet sob. Not really the sound of it, but how it had felt beneath her fingers. How flesh had tensed and trembled against the pads of her hands while a desperate pulse beat the rhythm beneath.

She looked down at the girl she hated most in the world. Then she looked up and across at Rachel and Victoria, awkwardly clustered among the Wards, worry written clearly on their faces as they looked back at her. She looked up further, to where Brian was being joined by Lisa and Alec, all of them smiling at the sight of her. Then she looked down once more…and let go.

There was no cathartic rush as she turned her back on Sophia. The anger that pressed against her skin was banked, but it still burned, just…a little less than it had a moment earlier.

"F-fuck you." Sophia spat, the words warped by her monstrous form, but recognisable. Despite how her voice shook.

'Still a bitch, huh?' It was a thought without much heat to it. Sophia sounded small, and instead of stoking Taylor's fury the words took away a little more of the weight that had pressed between her shoulders.

Taylor walked away, and wondered for a moment, 'Is this what forgiving feels like?' She snorted, and didn't slow down as she said, "I've got more important things to deal with Sophia." Marvelling inwardly at the sound of her voice, distorted and rough, but still understandable.

Hopefully the ability to speak would help with the shit storm she could see brewing ahead of her.

Brian and her friends had been joined on their roof by another, slightly more clothed, cape.

He had lost his mask, along with his shirt, and looked like he'd stolen pants and a belt from a thrift store. So it was seriously impressive how Lung still managed to be intimidating. Standing only a little taller than Brian, with patches of scales amidst his tattoos, Lung didn't waver in the face of the presence that had stilled a horde of beasts, he matched it. Neither man backing down by even a fraction in the face of-

A faceful of forcefield-clad hand. One for each man as an even taller figure stepped between them, not losing to either of them in sheer presence. Narwhal somehow looked as pristine as she had in the community hall, however many lifetimes ago that had been.

Both men growled at her back, but the look she gave them was unimpressed.

"Don't we have more important business? Like finding out what the hell is going on?"

She looked around at the capes standing awkwardly in the wake of their temporary madness, quickly focusing on the heap of them piled in a curiously dry patch of ruined street. Which was Taylor's cue to haul herself up onto the roof, making it dip alarmingly, and tower uncomfortably over three people who contrived to feel taller than her despite the reality.

"Um, things got interesting?" Was about the best she could offer in the face of Lung's glare, Narwhal's intensity, and Brian's…okay, Brian wasn't pressuring her, but the relief in his eyes was almost as bad. It took genuine effort not to sink into it, to remind herself that the fight was still going, despite the bizarre intermission they'd found themselves in and which she just couldn't find the words to explain.

Fortunately, Lisa was as willing as ever to fill in the silence. Tossing a wink in Taylor's direction as she stepped forward without an ounce of shame at her appearance. "I'll take that one." She pointed to where the Wards were helping Sophia to her feet, Victoria trailing behind them alongside the bulk of a handsome grey wolf that contrived to match her own splendour perfectly. "Runt and Glory Girl were helping the Wards save a friend. Leviathan turned up, and they decided to hit him with everything they had to hand."

"Then where's Leviathan?" Said a cape Taylor hadn't noticed, trailing in Narwhal's wake despite looking like he should be walking down a runway with dumbbells in each meaty fist. "You expect us to believe he ran away?"

"Glyph." Said Narwhal, with a note of warning to her tone. She didn't look any less sceptical though.

Lisa just laughed and pointed again. "He's buried beneath that lot."

The sceptical looks did not abate. Then, as the silence stretched on without a punchline, they morphed hope. Then something fiercer.

"The beast is bound, good." Taylor had never imagined that a smile could look as terrifying as the thing that spread across Lung's face did, but there it was, in all its pointed glory. "I find myself with yet more grudges to settle with him." Then he was leaping out into open air, dropping several storeys without a flinch.

They followed, quickly. Though Taylor couldn't make herself feel the same tension that thrummed through the others. Not after several full minutes without the Endbringer breaking free.

'If he was going to break loose, it would have happened by now. Right?'

Lung was ahead of them but fast losing his lead. Despite growing slowly, he was still too short to move quickly through the chest deep water, while the rest of them had found various means of bypassing the problem. Narwhal and her friend walked on a shifting forcefield, and Taylor had used her new trick to pull her friends into secure seats across her shoulders.

She even held back the urge to yelp when Aisha blinked back into her memories while clambering up her back.

They caught up to Lung just in time to step out of the water and into the sphere of uncomfortably dry air that surrounded the dogpile. The name doing little justice to the collection of monsters that her power had made of dozens of brutes and changers. A group that were a lot less disordered then she'd thought from a distance, as most of the apparent chaos was coming from one glittering cape who kept releasing clones of herself.

"Stay back!" Boomed yet another voice with the echo of command to it.

'Just how many people can pull that trick?' Thought Taylor, with just a twinge of jealousy.

Narwhal cocked her head to the side, "Chevalier? That you?"

"We have him pinned!"

"Then give me an opening." Lung snarled, growing a full foot as he spoke.

"No! It's- he's not moving. Not struggling or anything. Something's wrong, now get clear!"

Despite what he was saying, none of the capes piled on top of the monster were moving away. Looking down at them, Taylor wondered how she could have mistaken their expressions for panic. Fear was there, but caged by an ice-cold determination on every face she could see.

They were ready to die.

'Fuck that.'

Her mind whirled, spinning a solution together before anyone else could talk. "We need to stop whittling him down."

Alec laughed out loud, right in her ear. "As opposed to what?"

She glared at him the best she could without turning her head and knocking Brian off her shoulder. Their leader patted her on the side of the head, absentmindedly pulling Alec into a chokehold as he waved for her to go on.

"We-"

"Not to interrupt," Narwhal interrupted, "but don't you think talking strategy right next to him might be a bad idea?"

"Well-"

"If we don't want be overheard then this is the best place to be." Said Lisa, "Leviathan senses the world via water, hence the rain."

"Tattletale right?" At Lisa's nod Narwhal continued, "Dragon had a theory like that…" Only to trail off into silence, staring at Dragon's abandoned mech, lying in the wreckage of an apartment building. "That bastard made a sinkhole and caught a shelter with the edge of it. Last we left them, everyone who could move was busy with rescue work." She stopped and levelled a considering look at Taylor in particular, "Saw a whole bunch of your guys helping with that…Anyway, Dragon and a few others stayed with him, tried to continue the fight." She gave the suit one last look. "I guess Dragon was the only one who made it this far."

The tinker's last words before the suit fell came back to Taylor then. Foreboding as they were, they were too big for the middle of a fight. 'Once this is over. I'll find out what's going on.'

For the moment she finally had quiet enough to share her plan.

"If he's planning something then we just need to hit him before he can do it, all at once, with everything we have."

Lung turned away with a rough sigh, and Narwhal rolled her eyes, "Kid, what do you think we've been doing all day? Or for the last few decades?"

The pressure on her shoulder shifted as Brian stood up and spoke, no doubt in his voice. "You haven't had her. Now you do. So listen." Then he turned and howled, "Rachel! Get over here."

All eyes on her, Taylor mustered her resolve and straightened her back. All twelve feet of it.

"Just look around you. Together with Rachel, I give one hell of a power boost. It's not the same for everyone but with this many capes in one place, somebody's gonna get lucky."

Brian turned back to face them, "We gather everyone with big powers, every heavy hitter we have, and transform them all. Then we kill this thing."

Narwhal stared up at them, her mask not giving away her thoughts despite how it conformed to her face. Finally, she sighed, "You realise what you're asking me? The kind of trust you're asking for?"

"I-"

"What the hell is going on!"

'I'm getting real tired of being inter…' Even her grumpy thoughts fell silent at the sight of Legend, descending towards them like some kind of avenging angel. He even had the halo, lasers circling his body in several places, ready to attack at any time.

And he was looking right at her. Horror and fury in his eyes.

"What have you done to them?!" In the space between blinks he had dropped down to her eye level, glaring from less than a foot away. Despite their relative sizes Taylor was definitely the one feeling intimidated.

"Back off." Brian was a blur of darkness standing in the corner of her eye, but she could feel the tension in his legs, ready to tackle Legend by himself.

An unfamiliar voice broke the tension, carrying the roughness of someone transformed, "She saved their lives. And ours too." She didn't dare to turn with Legend so close, but the voice was moving closer as it continued. "I've had the MS protocol training, and my power makes me pretty good at judging these things. She's not taken control of anyone."

With that, Dean, or Gallant, or whatever she was supposed to think of him as, walked a wide path around her with Victoria floating at his side. Trailing behind the pair of them were another four giant werewolves, one of them glaring fiercely at her.

The Brockton Bay Wards were taking her side. Sophia was taking her side. If that wasn't a sign of the impending apocalypse, then Taylor didn't know what was. Flying pigs definitely seemed more likely, and Rachel knuckle-walking up to lean against her side was a greatly appreciated comfort.

Legend wasn't moving though. The anger was going away, but there was confusion in its place. Like he couldn't understand what he was hearing, or couldn't make sense of it. "Are you certain Gallant? We have…reliable intel on this subject."

"Then it's not as reliable as you thought."

Gallant had spoken softly, but Legend flinched. A flicker of something crossed his face, too quick for Taylor to make it out, but on her shoulder Lisa was suddenly tense. She didn't need to see her friend to know something had her worried.

But yet again, there was no time to think. Leviathan was still but who knew how long that would last.

"We don't have time to wait around anymore. Are you going to let me help or not?"

"…Strider."

'What? The hell does that mean?' Only when Lisa's hand entered her view and gestured to Legend's face did she notice the earpiece he was wearing.

"Yeah, get everyone who can still move to my location, we have Leviathan temporarily disabled and a plan to use Runt to boost our heavy hitters. Volunteers only." He shot her a wary look at that, but Taylor was too busy wondering how he knew so much to pay attention.

Again Lisa pre-empted her confusion, whispering in her ear, "He has some trick with lasers to hear a long way, or Narwhal might have left an open comm, can't spare the focus right now to be sure which."

Then they were beginning to appear and Taylor had other things to focus on. Barely noticing Legend barking orders at each new group.

Fighting Sophia, shifting so much hair, had taken a toll. Her skin felt like she'd been waxed with superglue, repeatedly. Despite the break, shifting more of it so soon was painful and far slower than her first explosive movements.

Judging by how the arriving heroes and villains (plus the occasional rogue) reacted to the tendrils snaking out towards them, that was probably for the best. Anyone who shook their head or backed away she left alone, Legend among them, but it was a slightly smaller group than she expected. Much smaller than the distrustful crowd she'd seen back at the gathering point.

The rest were left holding her hair and looking unsure of what to do with it. Unfortunately, or fortunately, she had seen an obvious problem in doing them one by one, so they were just going to have to wait. Even if that wasn't likely to be helping the trust in her.

Then Narwhal stepped forward. Looking up at Taylor with a sudden impish grin, she yelled, "Anyone from the Guild had better be getting in on this! You lot know my standing orders!"

As a new rush of volunteers came closer, Taylor heard Glyph muttering something that she didn't hear because Lung was offering her a hand and that seemed like it was more important. At least until she noticed the Travellers among Strider's latest group.

No sooner had she reached out to them, intending to renew their transformations, then she saw a far less welcome figure among the newest capes. Armsmaster.

Despite herself, despite the stakes at hand, Taylor hesitated. She didn't want to transform him. She didn't want to help him. Not after what he'd done to her. What he'd forced her to overcome.

'But I did overcome it. I made it my own.' She sighed to herself, 'Can't let him beat me now.' Then she extended the tendril, knowing that she'd only feel shitty if she let him die over it.

Not that Armsmaster noticed any of her conflict, waving the tendril off without glancing away from Dragon's fallen suit.

Strider appeared again, but this time he didn't leave. Even accepting her transformation as she brushed hair against him and reached within. So many bodies against her, and so much space within them. Unlike the last time she wasn't just reaching out for a moment and moving on, and that made something she'd never noticed before seem suddenly obvious.

They were all different inside.

Not in big ways. The forms were similar enough that she could get what she wanted in each of them. Only when she could compare her targeted form across so many variations did she see the range of subtle differences. Differences that, if she understood her power at all, shouldn't be there.

Despite how she 'felt' it, Taylor knew that her power wasn't actually reaching inside of anyone. That didn't make any sense. Except that now that explanation didn't make sense either…

Just one more thing on the list of mysteries to ponder when she had the time.

For the moment she put it to one side, helping her friends to climb down as Rachel took a long, deep, breath. Then they exchanged nods and Taylor lost herself in an ocean of beasts. Hearing, as if through a distant fog, Rachel's endless echoing howl.

Connecting to them all, Taylor almost felt like she could see inside them as it happened, feel herself reborn a hundred times, then a hundred more.

Then she was gasping and panting and gouging the asphalt with her claws. Only barely catching her breath when Legend's voice reached her.

"Don't lose focus! Listen to me!" He wasn't the best she'd heard, but Legend was definitely another one who could break through the haze of the first transformation. Drawing the eyes of hundreds of monsters and baring them without a flinch. He even smiled. Fierce and furious as he bellowed his commands. "Everyone who thinks they can hurt Leviathan step forward! Everyone else, get ready to clear the way!"

Taylor joined the tide moving away from the pile atop Leviathan, swept out into an entire ocean of monsters, because that was the only word for them. Even if they were holding back the madness, anchored by a dozen or so voices keeping them -and one another- in control, there was nothing tame about the eyes she saw in every direction.

Amidst the current some moved the other way. She even recognised a few of them.

A small Wolf who reshaped her own body to slip between the crowd, even as she turned the distance to Leviathan into a single step. A Wolf made of light, power rippling away from her, that floated up next to Legend. Another reached out and pulled a massive hammer from the air. Two Wolves held hands and drew away from each other, still linked by a glittering ghostly ribbon. A sleek Wolf ripped a girder from the rubble and headed for the pile alongside a Wolf who seemed to be made of something like glass. All the while Legend called for Chevalier to get ready to-

The pile bucked, tonnes of flesh tossed up into the air for barely a second, and something blurred out from beneath them.

Before the pile had hit the ground, the first of them were chasing after the Endbringer.

By the time it hit, half of those in the tangle were scrambling to join the hunt.

Then the world blurred and shifted as a half dozen boosted teleporters transported everyone else into the air above a dark green-grey blur.

Taylor found herself falling, laughing, roaring. Digging her claws into the side of a wall, not to slow down but to leap after their prey. One more wolf among the greatest pack her world had ever seen.

Ground blurred beneath her, space compressing until she found herself ahead of Leviathan beside a dozen other Wolves. Scrambling to a stop she hurled herself at him before she could think better of it, snarling her delight as the wave he gathered was blasted apart by too many attacks to count them all. Then she was skittering against his flesh, trying to find purchase with claws that weren't sharp enough, tangling him in hair that he cut too quickly for her to see.

She hit the ground and tumbled, the others streaming around and over her, even sliding beneath when she hit a car and found herself airborne.

Then she saw someone familiar and reached out, catching Alec and Aisha both with a tendril of hair, yanking herself back into the right direction and barking her apologies back at them.

Not that they cared after another Wolf, bright red and grinning ear to ear, swung his path wide to brush against them. His power launched them in a low arc towards Leviathan and they were back in the chance, laughing wildly and hurling insults in every direction.

Taylor just redoubled her efforts to catch up.

The path began to twist and turn, sharp bends and loops around buildings, Leviathan switching from running to surfing on his own water echo.

It didn't help.

The gap continued to close, teleporters and fliers darting ahead to harry and slow him. Leviathan never had the time to do more than knock them aside, his attacks rushed when they weren't being nullified by another of the horde chasing him.

He ducked into a parking lot and they flooding the structure in moments, leaping into every level in reach and driving him right back out.

He leapt and ran up a building, leaping from rooftop to rooftop only for a hail of blasts and thrown rubble to catch him in the side. It took a beat for the hunt to realise one of the girders thrown had gone right through his chest, then the air shook with their howls.

The prey was bloodied, and they were getting closer with every step.

Some part of Taylor was thinking of the ruin they left in their wake. The passage of hundreds of multi-ton monsters pounding the already damaged streets into gravel.

Some part of her was thinking of what would come next. Of the sheer power that she and Rachel shared between them. Of what it could do for the world. Of what it could do to the world.

Most of her though, most of her was lost in the hunt. Running on all fours one moment and hind legs the next. Furious and ecstatic and feeling on the emotions of her fellows even as they felt hers. Passion bouncing back and forth between them and growing every time.

She ran beside her friends. She ran beside her enemies. She ran beside her lover. She ran beside strangers.

The Pack ran, because the Prey was fleeing. That was all that mattered any more.

Then she saw golden light ahead, and commanding voices -a dozen and more- washed the passion away like dawn sweeping back the night.

Taylor blinked in the light, golden and bright, that poured off the man descending towards them. Standing awkwardly amongst two hundred plus capes as they all remembered that they hated one another.

At least they had a good view of the show.

Ahead, just a few monstrous steps from the beach, Leviathan was standing. Still in a way nothing living could be. Looking up at Scion as the strongest cape in the world descended from the clouds.

Taylor had seen him before, everyone had…but pictures didn't do any justice to such a man. Golden and radiant, shining so beautifully that the clouds around him seemed distorted, those of them hadn't been swept away by his descent. Even after everything that had happened that day, everything she'd seen, he was still the most awe-inspiring sight by far.

She was struck silent, which the only reason she heard Lisa -closer in the crowd then she'd thought- muttering to herself. Her friend sounded uneasy.

Not that she was the only one. Already several capes were angling around to get between Leviathan and the sea, unwilling to lose this opportunity to Scion's legendary unreliability.

It was in looking around at them that she noticed something else. Legend, who had been among the fliers above the crowd, was drawing away.

"Huh."

A growing glow drew her attention back to Scion. He was reaching out towards Leviathan, with one hand, carelessly. As if it hardly mattered. As if he wasn't about to unleash more power than most capes could dream of.

Yet Leviathan wasn't moving. Wasn't even trying to dodge.

Somebody laughed and Taylor wanted to join them. The Endbringer that had killed so many, that had destroyed lives and cities and entire regions of civilisation, had given up. Faced with Scion and the might of the pack he had given up. It was enough to put a wide smile on her face as Scion unleashed a beam of golden light.

And erased a swath of the city.

Anzer'ke · Sep 20, 2017

…

'…'

It was gone. Just…gone…like a god had swept their hand through the city.

Off in the distance, half a mountain wasn't there anymore. The rest was collapsing into the space.

The glow came again.

Taylor turned slowly, in total silence. Among a multitude of powerful people struck just as dumb as she was. All of them looking up as Scion gathered light in his hand again.

Then Leviathan twitched, looked up, and blurred.

A column of water rose up behind Scion, the golden man turning and vanishing it with a negligent wave of his hand. Which was when Leviathan hit him in a full body tackle, knocking him right out of the sky and arcing down to splash into the waters of the Bay.

At last, the crowd remembered their voices, and raised them in a chorus of confusion and fear. Almost everyone screaming for answers that nobody had, even as a few of the wiser cowards were already running for their lives.

Taylor was no coward. She wasn't yelling either.

She wanted to go find her friends, so they could, could do something. Anything. But…

Something was still wrong, something else was screaming at her while the entire world turned on its head around her. Something… 'Scion's in the water, so why do the clouds still look weird?'

Amongst a mob of people looking at the water, Taylor wasn't the only one looking up instead, but it was Legend among the sky watchers who caught her eye. Whose face she looked at closely enough to see tears. Whose muttering she focused on enough to make it out despite the crowd, "You said you'd wait. You said you'd wait. Damn you both, you said-"

Then he stopped talking, stopped moving at all, a distortion appearing just behind him. Just like the clouds but this one was in clear blue sky. Sky that was two different shades. 'Oh shit.'

Arms reached out of the portal, strange arms, emerging from an angle that kept her from seeing their owner, and Legend was gone.

Just in time for the armbands, however many were still intact and being worn, to crackle and scream in Dragon's voice, "Get out of there! Narwhal! Colin!! Get out of there right now! I'm coming to get you, so run!"

In hindsight, Taylor was sure Dragon would realise she hadn't exactly helped maintain the calm.

At the time Taylor just braced herself against the stampede of the panicking crowd, reaching for the first hand that she saw extended her way. Only after she'd pulled a slug with a thousand arms sprouting from its back out of the air did Taylor notice the portal in front of her. There was a man in its grip, an untransformed cape, but not one she recognised.

She tore him free, ripping his costume in the process, before setting him down and turning her attention back to the slug. Only to snap her head back around in time to watch the man walk through the portal. Face so perfectly calm the entire time. Calm enough to make her wish the mask had stayed on as she followed him, letting the slug go about its business and trying very hard not to think about the entirely human nose and mouth she'd seen on it.

Not when the man with the screaming eyes was running across an empty beach on the other side of the portal.

Hair bunched around her arm, coiling then lashing out as she punched in his direction, arm and shoulder entering the portal but the rest of her staying nice and anchored on the Brockton side of it. Ready to pull him back as soon as- 'Gotcha.'

She pulled, and got about a foot of her own hair back as a storm of crystal shards cut through her tendril. Only then did she bend down enough to look up through the portal at the night sky of another world.

Except it wasn't night.

She could see a few slivers of blue sky, clear and sunny, but no light reached the otherworld's beach. Not through the solid cloud of figures floating in the sky. Monsters and abominations and something far far worse than either.

People. People she recognised.

Capes from across the world. Capes other cities. Villain and Hero and Rogue all floating alike, and she cursed the enhanced vision that let her see each of their faces.

Serene faces, with screaming eyes.

Then the cloud parted, and Taylor saw something else. Something she didn't recognise. Something she didn't understand at first. Parts a woman, and other parts an insect. Only when she saw the eyes, Taylor knew exactly which of them this thing considered an insect.

A moment later she was hurling herself backwards. Narrowly avoiding losing an arm to the closing portal, she wanted to laugh even more than she longed to weep. 'Not the first time I've seen those eyes you…fuck. Fuck.'

An arm swept her up. She almost bit Myriad's head off before she recognised her giant form.

"There you are!" Taylor was dropped unceremoniously to the ground, running alongside her ally and realising that the crowd of a minutes earlier was looser and scattering rapidly in every direction, and the ocean was bubbling. "We thought you might have been taken through."

Taylor didn't have to ask what she meant. Not when all around them more of the portal were opening. The transformed running on, dodging the occasional reaching arm or stranger method of grasping, while the rest-

Taylor made herself look away before any more of those eyes could paint themselves on the inside of her skull. She was going to have enough trouble sleeping. Assuming she ever slept again. Assuming she survived the next few hours.

They were running for a clump of people, only some of whom Taylor could recognise transformed. Underdogs and Travellers and even the Wards were easy. The rest she figured were mostly heroes, since she could see Armsmaster and Narhwal's among them. The transformed Guild leader looking like some kind of huge shiny monster unicorn.

The entire mass was moving towards the docks with pace of those trying to let others catch up to them. They stuck together and tore apart anything that dared to poke through a portal in their midst. The transformed sweeping up the others without slowing.

She and Myriad were halfway to them, waving to their companions in the group, when the next catastrophe hit. Heralded by a fiery glow over the mountains, a low boom shook the air. Then the skies above the Bay were torn apart.

Portals in such numbers that they papered over the sky in a patchwork of alien worlds, vomiting a stream of what could only be capes into her city. Her world.

The ocean burst up into a geyser of steam and light, Scion darting up with Leviathan's arm wrapped around him and no sign of the rest of the Endbringer.

Most of the flying capes engaged him, but Taylor ignored that fight entirely. Her attention fixed on the handful of monstrous capes flying down to the gathered crowds. Three of them heading directly for the group with her friends in it.

She dropped to all fours, running desperately for the group ahead. Still too far away to do anything but scream her desperate terrified despair. Her voice joining so many others, only for a single dissonant shriek to drown out every other.

The meteor had crossed over most of the city, slowing enough for her to make out the metal beast at its centre. A dragon built of ingenuity and screaming out of the sky towards them, sobbing in a synthesised voice and screaming in tones no natural throat could form.

They were both aimed for the same place. The same group, suddenly floating helplessly in the air as one of the flying capes gestured, then thumping to the ground after that a car turned that one into a pink mist.

"Ballistic." Hummed Myriad, satisfaction thick in her voice. Taylor didn't voice any such thing, already seeing through the manoeuvre. Tracking the other capes who, after sweeping through the floating crowd, were flying with all speed for the nearest portal, clutching two figures, one transformed and the other far smaller. Not that the weight one was carrying slowed it down.

Attacks shot between crowd and fliers, useless against barriers that appeared precisely in front of each one.

Taylor was too far away.

The dragon was too far away.

So she lashed out with a long tendril of hair, as thick as she could manage with one arm, and snagged a shipping container. The weight tugged painfully on her shoulder, then it was airborne and she was heaving it up and around into a long slow spin. Then another, faster and tighter. Then one more, at the same time the dragon released a storm of missiles into the air.

Taylor released her projectile, aimed with as much hope as skill, and watched it trace a deceptively gentle arc. Waiting for the barrier to intercept it. Right up until it slammed into one of the fliers and the transformed cape was dropped to the beach in a cloud of sand and-

Missiles, trailing smoke and moving slower than she'd expected, started to slam into barriers. Except just as many adjusted their paths, slipping by the first line of defence. The next cut them by half again, then again, until just one skimmed the last of the barriers and hit the remaining flier.

One was enough.

The flier spiralled out of the air, clutching a struggling figure in blue armour in the arm that hadn't been blown off. It hit the sand in a cloud of grit and all too human blood, but the man stood up from the crash, propping himself on a weapon that confirmed his identity as much as the flying metal dragon screaming his name.

Despite the distance, Taylor saw him turn to face what could only be Dragon. Then a portal popped open and he stilled, turned, and marched through.

The static screech was agonisingly loud, for just an instant, then it cut off and the mech angled towards the beach, still flying far too fast to land. Taylor got a glimpse of something shooting out of the front of it, something thick and metallic, then it was past her and slamming into the beach in the biggest explosion of sand yet.

One more tragedy among the tapestry that played out around her. Taylor refused to think about it, just like she refused to think about the man she hadn't saved, and refused to look at the battle out over the water. The battle that could erase them all with any stray blast.

She ignored it all and closed the last of the distance to the group, joining them just in time to judge by Myriad's roar, "Tricky now!"

Just like that they were at least a mile away. Standing in a flooded street with no sign that the world was probably ending except for the colours lighting up the sky in one direction.

All Taylor could do was stop and get her breath, panting and for once not caring about how long her tongue was in her transformed form. Though she didn't get long before another Wolf slammed into her, knocking memories back into her just in time to recognise Aisha sobbing into her side.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyoutankutankuthnkuthkuthku..!" Her babbling didn't take long to become utter nonsense, not that Taylor could blame her given how she began to cry when Brian wrapped his arms around them both.

Around them the rest of the Underdogs -followed by Rachel's canine entourage- joined the knot of comfort, fragile and illusionary as it might be, and Taylor buried deeper into the smooth planes of Brian's shoulder and tried to focus on his scent and the warmth of her friends and not…everything…

All too soon they were drawing away. Leaving her no choice but to do the same.

They stood in a loose crowd, forty to fifty of them as best Taylor could estimate, with -if her brief career as a cape was any example- a combined experience of every kind of horror in the world. Of fighting through those horrors, refusing to give in, refusing to falter or flee.

They stood in silence, faltering attempts to speak coming again and again, until finally Narwhal said in a shaking voice, "We…we can't fight that."

"Which one?" Asked Alec, grinning and trembling at once, with Aisha's hand clasped firmly in his own massive paw.

"Does it fucking matter? They're both out to kill us, this is the end. Of everything."

"Not quite." Lisa said, no pleasure in her voice, "Scion wants to kill us, the other one wants to use us against him."

"A Master?"

"The Master. Stronger than any other I've ever heard of, especially with what she already has under her control."

"Then why aren't we all controlled already?"

Myriad began to mutter, then suddenly grabbed Taylor and swept her into a startled hug, shouting over her shoulder to the others, "The transformation. It has to be. It made us immune!" Then she froze, horror breaking across her face. "Only us."

The other Travellers shared her look. Trickster was quick to say, "We need to get to the hospital. Now." He reached out for the others, and Brian stepped between them. "Get out of my way!"

"Just wait a moment, you'll need all the help you can get." Then he gestured to Narwhal and got a bemused look in return, fragile though it was.

"He's right, we'll go with you. That beam was already too close; we need to evacuate the hospital."

Narwhal's cohorts weren't the only ones nodding along with her, almost half of the group was in open agreement. It wasn't hard to make the same connection that Brian must have, 'They've probably got friends who were wounded.'

"What about the shelters?" Said one of the capes she didn't recognise.

Taylor snorted, "What? They're better off than…" The words died in her throat. They weren't safe at all. Scion's blast had cleaved through buildings like they were made of smoke. The shelters would die as easily as anything else. Not to mention the portals popping up everywhere.

They needed to evacuate the shelters. Shelters that the city had…more than she even knew about. Tens? Hundreds? She didn't know. She sure as hell didn't know how to get to all of them, not when they had maybe four dozen people and almost half were teleporting somewhere else.

She was speaking before she could think better of it, "Can't, can't you guys help us?"

They didn't need to speak for her to know the Travellers weren't going to. Sundancer spoke anyway. "Genesis." It was all she needed to say. Taylor could join the other dots herself with the mention of their final teammate, wheelchair bound and capable of fighting at a distance.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help her." It was a ridiculous thing to bring up. Not one of their allied team had ever blamed her for the failed attempts, not even Krouse. Whatever she might feel about it, Taylor knew damn well that they didn't have the time for her to be vomiting up her stubborn guilt.

Except, she suddenly felt like they weren't going to meet again, and all around her she could feel both their teams reaching the same conclusion, and in the face of a parting she found herself caring a lot more about the way she'd failed them. The friends who had helped them so much and barely asked a thing in return.

Words twisted at her tongue. Useless pleasantries and gratitude given far too late. All emerging in a bitter, "I'm sorry I didn't do more."

Sundancer just flashed a wolf smile at her, "You let her walk again for a while, that was plenty."

Welling up inside of her, the urge to offer to go with swelled and burst all at once. Mad and stupid and even then she almost said it.

Then the moment passed. Both teams stepped apart, the leaders parting last and sharing a handshake as they did.

"Stay safe." Said Brian.

Myriad attempted a smile, "We'll meet again."

Then Trickster raised his arms and they vanished, Narwhal goring with them, along with all too many of the others.

Only then did Taylor realise Victoria hadn't gone along with them, despite her sister certainly being at the hospital. Not to mention the rest of her family and…

The realisation almost stopped her heart. Then it made her feel like dirt. Like the worst daughter in the world.

'What can I even do?' She already knew the answer though. If Dragon's comms had gone down then the phones were long gone. Which left them with nothing. No way to get in touch, or even know if Scion's beam had… "Fuck."

Taylor stomped a car into a wreck, then kicked it into the river that the middle of the street had become.

Then she turned to the others, none of them doing much better than her, and said, "We need to split up into groups, get to as many shelters as we can. Smallest groups we can do while staying safe."

Brian met her eyes as she spoke, a shared understanding flashing between them.

With Narwhal's departure their loose coalition wouldn't hold together long. Better to do it on their own terms.

Sure enough, the various capes they stood beside were quick to sort themselves into groups, teammates and associates reaching out to one another until a scattering of pairs and trios were looking back to the two larger groups. Underdogs and Wards both looked back, all of them listening to the distant rumble of war. Miles away and far too close. No matter how Lisa mumbled about the real battle being elsewhere.

They didn't waste any more time, dispersing on every route that wasn't towards the coast.

Taylor tried not to think about the shelters in that direction.

Instead, as Underdogs and Wards tried to follow the same road without getting too close to one another, she gave voice to a thought, or more like a hope. "What if we head back to the Fortress?" She turned to face her friends, preparing to explain, and knew at once that they'd already seen through her. "They would have headed for home, if, if they haven't left the city they'll be there."

"It's right between the shelters on Jefferson and Elm." Lisa, voice gentle even when she was a rumbling demon fox, supported her. Lisa, who had to know exactly what the chances really were. It almost made her cry.

Brian's run didn't slow. He simply said, "That was always the plan. We're not leaving anyone behind." Never looking back, he didn't see Taylor's reaction to his declaration.

But they all heard Sophia's

"Oh please, we already left a shitload of people behind. Grow up."

All of them slowed down, enough to look to Sophia as she continued, "That shit about evacuating the shelters was a nice way to get rid of the small fry but it's an impossible plan. Time to be realistic."

Brian stared her down, vaulting a bus without breaking the stare, "What's impossible about it?" He waved to the intersection at the end of the street, "We go left, you go right, the shelters are clearly marked."

"So we find some shelter?" Sophia spat, literally spat, on the ground and glared at him. "Then what?"

"We, I guess we head for the edge of the city. Get clear."

"Get clear?" She made of show of turning around mid-stride, waving to the city around them, "Scion took out a fucking mountain without even trying, there is no get clear."

Taylor was in no mood for her shit, cutting in with a warning growl, "Then what do you suggest Sophia?"

"Teleportation dumbass, or if we can't find the right cape, at least a helicopter or something. Police HQ has a bunch and that's not far away."

Kid Win -or at least the disturbing furless wolf with arms and faces on its swollen shoulders and hips that she thought might be Kid Win, spoke up. Calculation clear on all of his faces, "They'd be grounded because of Leviathan's storm, probably still fuelled even."

All of them were slowing down. Thinking the idea through even as Sophia kept shaking her head about something.

Clcokblocker -that one she was certain of, the flaky bone circles that covered him and broke off as easily as they grew back looked a bit like clocks, or scales- shook his head. "We'd never fit enough people on them, even if someone here knows how to fly them."

"You're not getting me." Sophia tried and failed to regain their attention.

The Wolf who might have been cute if she didn't keep stretching herself out like a lump of clay attempting to look taller than it was, and was therefore definitely Vista, raised one grotesquely extended hand, "I could make it bigger on, no, the weight would still be the same. Shit."

Taylor tried not to sneer, "See Sophia, your plan doesn't work now-"

"Because that's not my plan. I didn't say anything about grabbing a bunch of useless civvies on the way."

Dean and Kid Win both flinched, while Clockblocker suddenly looked wary. Vista just sounded confused, "You mean we get them after?"

"No, look." They'd reached the intersection, but instead of continuing they found themselves standing around as Sophia got close enough to put a hand on each of Vista's shoulders, looking her dead in the eye. "There are two kinds of people in the world, the ones who survive and the ones who don't. So-"

"So what?" Vista shrugged the hands away, turning her head away "We just leave them?

Sophia grabbed her and pulled her back face-to-face, "Listen to me! This isn't a patrol or a fight any more. This is survival. How much harder do you think a crowd of weaklings will make it for us to escape in one piece?"

"So we don't even try?"

"You think those things care if you try?!" Sophia jabbed a finger towards the lightshow on the horizon, growing with every moment that they spent talking. "You think they'll even notice?!"

"It's not about those things."

"Damn right, it's about us getting the hell away from them!"

"No. No." It was Vista's turn to get close, gently guiding Sophia's hand until she was pointing down and to the side. "It's about them. Don't, don't you have a friend in the shelters? Emma?"

"She's not in the fucking city, which is an example we need to follow, now unless you want to end up like Carlos we need to go!" She ignored her teammates flinch and tugged at Vista, looking around at the other Wards for support.

Watching the entire time, it was only then that Taylor realised that Sophia had expected them to take her side. When she looked up and saw the way they were looking at her.

Vista pulled her hand away. Sophia's grip gone limp as she looked at her 'friends'. Canine face or not, Taylor still recognised the way Sophia's features twisted. She'd seen it in the mirror once, with her skin still tanned and her eyes still red and her heart breaking.

Monstrous appearance or not, distorted vocal chords or not, Vista's voice still sounded like the little girl she was, "Come on Sophs, come with us."

Sophia raised her hand.

Then she curled her fingers into a fist, the betrayal on her face morphing into a snarl. "If you want to go get yourselves killed, go ahead. I-I don't need you slowing me down."

Despite herself, Taylor didn't take the advice and leave. Instead she stood and watched as one by one, the Wards did what she wasn't. Clockblocker first, Kid Win following soon after, while Vista hesitated and opened her mouth, but closed it and left without another word.

Gallant was left alone, standing beside Sophia and looking small despite having at least three feet on her. He reached out one silver-furred paw, falling short of her shoulder as if he'd thought better of it. "Sophia…you can still go after them."

"Fuck you Dean. Fucking pussy." There was no heat in her voice. She didn't even look at him. She didn't look at anyone.

As for Dean, he turned to Victoria as the Underdogs finally got moving. The two of them staring at each other even as Victoria began to float after them. Taylor looked back over her shoulder to watch their parting, then turned away, unwilling to intrude.

Which made it a hell of a surprise when, as the turned onto Jefferson a minute later, she realised that the Ward was running alongside his girlfriend, the two of them holding hands.

In spite of everything. The sight made her smile.

The signs for the Endbringer shelters were familiar to pretty much everyone and designed to be eye catching. So finding the shelter wasn't hard.

With eight Wolves, getting the doors open wasn't too difficult either. Especially when one of them was a hero who knew the codes to unlock the massive slab of steel and let them open it manually.

The problems began when they opened the doors and the screaming started. Brian stepped aside and waved Dean and Victoria forward, letting the least terrifying of them take the lead on calming people down and maybe stop the screaming that was making Taylor's ears ring-

Lisa's scream was their only warning before the world shuddered and everything went silent with a final whump of rushing air.

The wind still ruffled her skin, but her ears were only giving her a pain and a distant ringing.

She shook her head as if it would speed up the regeneration, then she wished it hadn't worked.

"What was-!"

"-explosion-?!"

"-help me!"

"Help him!"

"No! No!"

"-please!"

Screaming had been nothing compared to the sound of thousands of people begging for help. Terrified and panicking and Taylor was extending her hair before she could think better of it. Touching and transforming every warm body she could find.

Or…at least…she tried to…

'Just get through today, then you can spend the rest of your life in therapy for this shit. Just get through today."

Of course as fast as she transformed them, the panicking civilians became panicking monsters.

"Quiet!"

'I probably should have made sure he was ready before starting.' She could only hope her haste would save a few more, even as she realised that she couldn't feel any more forms waiting to be called to the surface. Plenty of bodies remained, but none that would react to her power.

Another boom deafened her, but Brian was waving at the entrance between roars she couldn't hear, herding them all out of the shelter…

…and into a changed world.

The clouds were gone. The sky was dark. The rain replaced by dust so thick she could hardly breathe.

The few buildings around them hadn't collapsed were on their way to it. Only when she looked towards the coast and saw the entire horizon on fire did she understand. Then the sound came back on and Lisa's voice took that meagre comfort from her.

"They're fighting a few worlds away, but it's getting closer."

Taylor choked on the question she wanted to ask, but Lisa answered anyway.

"That was just what bled through the portals."

They ran.

Wolves at the edges and the civilians running in between them. Taylor found herself at the front.

All around them the buildings quickly became a lot more intact, the coast getting further and further away.

But the blasts didn't stop. Every minute or so the sound would be blasted out of her world, and they'd have to turn and get the crowd back on their feet, the task getting harder every time.

Taylor knew the limits of their regeneration from painful experience. So after the third blast she just started sweeping them up an armful at a time and letting her hair bind them tight against her.

The others followed suit, Rachel in particular piled her dogs with all the civilians they could carry…and they were still moving too slowly. Barely outrunning the damage, even as the shift into Downtown changed that damage from fallen buildings to shattered glass.

Until they finally rounded a building and Taylor fell to her knees, barely remembering her passengers in time not to fall further.

Relief had stolen the strength from her legs, because the Fortress was looming ahead of them at long long last, and a thick crowd was gathered at its base. Being kept in order by a host of Wolves.

'Da-' A clawed hand yanked her to her feet and snapped her out of it. Reminding her to get moving even before Lisa began shrieking at them to get inside.

Ahead, she saw her Dad shift smoothly from keeping the people under control to ushering them into the building, still standing without a scratch on it. Which was probably why people had gathered around it in the first place.

Taylor's ears were ringing, but this time it lasted longer, not just the prelude to an explosion, instead it was just going on and on, oscillating in a way she couldn't begin to describe.

Worry tying her guts in an ever tighter knot, Taylor followed the last of the crowd into the lobby and released the people tangled in her fur. The room was so packed that they didn't all reach the floor.

"All right." Brian voice boomed in the cavernous lobby, "We wait here for the fight to move away again, then-"

"It's too late. Something is happening but…it doesn't make any difference for us." Defeat didn't fit Lisa, but she wore it nevertheless. "The fight is coming our way."

"What does that mean Taylor?" Her dad was suddenly there, holding her tight against him, looking down at her without a trace of the strong leader she'd started to get to know, despite his monstrous body.

He was still just her dad. Just a tired and broken man, desperate not to lose anyone else.

Light bloomed in the Eastern sky. A million shades that she completely ignored.

Instead she held her dad with all of her strength.

And closed her eyes.

Then the world shattered. Sound stopped and roared and she saw-

She felt-

She heard-

She wept-

Everything-

The first thing she knew was the taste of dirt.

Followed shortly by a pounding headache and the overwhelming urge to go back to sleep.

The next time Taylor woke up, the dirt taste had been replaced by dead flesh and total darkness.

Ten minutes later, she climbed out of the remains of her latest giant dead body, and…

…and…

"What…the hell?"

It was a forest. It was like no forest she'd ever seen.

The trees were too big. The undergrowth was too dense. So dense that she could hardly see a few feet in any direction, and when she instinctively shifted herself to a form with better senses she was almost overpowered by the richness in the air.

So much life. All around her. Despite the darkness that forced her adjust her eyes.

It was primordial. She could think of no other way to describe it.

A forest that had never been tamed.

Unfortunately, as much as the little nature geek that Taylor had once been was screaming at her to get a closer look at the plants, none of which looked familiar, her last memories before waking up suggested some higher priorities.

So, glancing at her clawed hands, then up at the likeliest looking tree, Taylor chose the obvious solution and started climbing.

Only when she reached what she'd thought was the canopy, she found herself clambering up into the bottom of a much taller layer of the forest. Bright with moonlight, and teeming with life. Most of which she doubted a normal human would have noticed.

Higher and higher she climbed, until looking down started to make her feel dizzy. No matter how many times she reminded herself that the drop was nothing compared to the height of the Fortress.

Not that she'd enjoyed that climb much either.

Finally, with a soft burn in her shoulders and more than a little aggravation, Taylor reached the true canopy and saw sky through the last few branches. Gingerly choosing her last few moves among branches that flexed and bent with her weight.

She broke the surface like a diver surfacing, and looked out on…more forest. A lot more forest. With an incredibly starry sky hanging over it, visible despite the full moon.

She strained, shifting forms for stronger and stronger eyes, but still the edge of the forest was out of sight. Beyond the horizon.

In every direction it was the same. Terrain just shy of mountainous, completely blanketed in trees, with the nearest hill turning out to be directly behind her initial orientation. Taylor leant back to take it in, wondering idly if it was a hill or a mountain, then she saw the top and nearly let go of the tree.

Glittering in the moonlight, its own lights extinguished, a single structure broke through the ocean of trees. A very impressive tower, that she would recognise anywhere.

Because she lived in it.

"How…?" She couldn't finish the question. Not in the face of what she was seeing. A skyscraper, a pillar of glass and steel, in the middle of a forest.

It didn't make any sense.

So she kept staring, looking for the trick, searching for some break in the illusion.

'There!' The moon was reflected in the glass, but it couldn't be, because the moon was…

This time she did let go. Falling only a short distance before she tangled painfully in a crossing of several branches.

She hardly noticed the pain of her shoulder popping back into its joint.

Instead she rolled over and gazed up at the sky.

"Too bright." She muttered, "Even a for a full moon."

Then again, there wasn't a full moon.

There were two.

The Moon's Fall (Worm AU, The Wolf Time sequel)

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