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A Worm Fanfic
The Taste of Peaches
By: Grounders10
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11
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"... with the hope that others will follow in my lead eventually so that we're all more accountable," Taylor said to the filled auditorium. Besides her the well-dressed PRT Spokeswoman, Ms. Sarah Evans, stepped up to the microphone.
"I believe we have time for one more question," she said. Immediately hands went into the air as journalists began clamouring. She pointed to one. "Second from the front, in the brown suit.
The Journalist stood up. "Ms. Hebert, Corentine-" he paused for a moment.
"Either is fine," Taylor said smiling like she'd been taught to do so over the last several days of classes.
He nodded. "Then, Ms. Hebert, at any time during your application to the PRT did they ever discuss the possibility of some form of Tinkertech Holographic disguise? I know of several PRT Wards across the country in similar situations to yours who opted for such methods of disguise," he asked.
Taylor paused, one ear twitched. She turned to Glenn who was sitting in the front row beside Inari. The Fox was sitting on a large white box with the sharpie'd on words 'Media Fox' in big bold letters along the front.
"Was that an option?" She asked. As one the 'Journalist', fox, spokeswoman and the rest of non-dummy 'Journalists' in the auditorium groaned.
"Right on the last one," Inari grumbled, pawing her face.
"It was on the table when we were negotiating with your father, before we discovered your entropic effect on Tinkertech," Glenn said without looking up from his tablet, "And Greg, that wasn't on the approved list."
"Sorry sir, it just occurred to me," the PR representative pretending to be a Journalist said. He adjusted his brown suit as he sat down.
Taylor sighed. "And with my luck, want to bet it would last just long enough for me to be in the middle of a mall before failing," she sighed, leaning over the podium. "Do we need to do this again?" That had been the result during the last four times she had flubbed a practice run. If she was being honest, she really wasn't feeling up to a sixth run. Even if her reveal was going to be tomorrow.
"No, I don't think we have time," Glenn said, looking up from his tablet, "You did great Taylor. Wonderful job fielding those questions. You've certainly taken well to public speaking."
She grimaced and glanced up at the small auditorium that was ninety-percent filled with cardboard cutouts of reporters. "It helps that most of the crowd isn't real," she replied. The PR Director chuckled.
"That's why we practice like this," he said, folding up his tablet, "Now, we should head back up to the offices. Your proper costume has arrived. We should have enough time to get you to try it on and make sure nothing went wrong before we send you home."
"Really?" She perked up. "I thought it was going to be a last-minute thing tomorrow."
"Dragon rushed it over apparently. A favour for Armsmaster she said," Glenn replied before looking around at his people. "Alright! This is it, everyone. The next time Taylor enters this room it'll be showtime. I want everything sorted and shipshape by seven. Williams, you're in charge. Get this place prepped."
"Sure thing."
Inari hopped off her box and scurried over to the stage. She bounded up the tall permanent structure and leapt into Taylor's arms without hesitation. "Let's go get you dressed," Inari said cheerily. Taylor gave her a flat stare.
"The way you say that makes it sound like I'm not wearing clothing," she grumbled as she hopped down from the stage. She was wearing yet another tank top and jacket combo that was relatively tight-fitting. The next set of properly tailored clothes was due the day after her debut so for now she was stuck with the less than entirely comfortable temporary set from before.
She couldn't believe what she was thinking, but she really couldn't wait until she could go shopping.
"This way Taylor," Glenn said, leading the way out of the auditorium. On their way up to the PR level, he went over her performance question by question. By the time they reached the door, he was only halfway through his breakdown, though he had at least started with that last surprise question. "It is entirely alright to advertise your effect on Tinkertech machinery. That such things weren't an option to begin with may be a small mark against you, but we can handle that. It's a minor thing in the grand scheme of things," he had said as she nodded along.
Upon entering the repurposed conference room Taylor dumped Inari onto the table before allowing Glenn's helpers to shuffle her into the changing booth once again. There, sitting neatly folded on a small table, was her costume.
The white of the top was a slightly darker shade and the way the light reflected off it produced a slight shimmer that hadn't been there before. At the same time, the material was oddly smooth to the touch. It almost felt wet, it was so smooth. The skirt was much the same way. Each layer had a similar reflective shimmer to it.
"Am I supposed to shine when I walk?" she muttered as she turned it over. Well, there was one way to find out how it was going to look, and besides, it was far too late to back out now. There was no way something different could be made in time and be shipped there.
The boots and stockings went on easily, with the former feeling far more comfortable than the prototypes had. There was something different about every piece of the uniform. They had said that the final version would be significantly improved over the prototype, but she hadn't realized by how much. It fit her perfectly.
She carefully brushed her hair back into its proper position before sliding her tiara on. The small triple heart sigil at the end disguised a small clip to help hold her hair in place, and likewise, hold the tiara in place. She adjusted the fox-encircled heart on her chest and smoothed out the decorative bow. Finally, she pulled on the decorative arm-warmers. In a way, it was good that she didn't really get cold anymore. Sure she liked curling up under a blanket, or in a puddle with her tails, but she didn't feel cold in the same way. A nice little advantage since the arm warmers left her shoulders bare. Not that it mattered much in summer.
Maybe she could convince them to make one that covered the shoulder by winter? New England could get rather chilly.
Setting the last bow into its proper place she turned to face the mirror and stopped dead. "What the hell…?" She turned left and right as she stared at her reflection. The shimmer of the material in the bright light of the booth was doing something strange. She looked almost like she was glowing. As though rather than being reflected off the materials, the light was coming from her. It was enough to make the otherwise darker white of the costume appear like it was pure white.
"That's an interesting trick," she muttered as she admired the uniform.
"Taylor!" She blinked and looked away from her reflection. That was Glenn.
"Is something wrong?" she called.
"Are you dressed?"
"Yes? Why?" What was going on now?
"Come on out." Feeling rather confused she unlocked the door and poked her head out. Glenn was standing by the booth as were two of his assistants. They barely waited long enough to confirm she was dressed before the two women hustled her out of the booth. One of them swept into it and started stuffing her clothes into a plastic bag.
She went to protest but paused as she spotted two PRT troopers by the door. She stared at them for a moment, then glanced at Inari who was sitting calmly on the table. "Please tell me no one grew a tail suddenly," she sighed. It would be just her luck at this point.
"Thankfully no, but there's something happening right now. Not involving you," Glenn assured her as he ran a hand through his mohawk, "but the Director wants all personnel not involved in security out of here, right now. I can't share the details, but this is a last-minute thing apparently."
"Oh." On one hand, thank god that no one had pulled a Vicky on her. On the other, what the hell was going on?
"These men will escort you down to a vehicle. I'm sorry how sudden we're being, but the Director wants everyone out of here an hour ago, which means I can't even give you time to change back. Take your costume with you. You can get changed out at home," he said, "Just try not to lose it. We only have the one right now. Dragon has promised more, but that'll be a few days."
"I'm not about to lose my costume," Taylor deadpanned as she accepted the bag of her things from the assistant before allowing Glenn to guide her over to the door. "This seems really sudden," she said as she watched several other assistants pulling on coats.
"It is. If we're lucky this won't disrupt things for more than a few hours. Worst case scenario, we'll cram the final preparations into the hour before the presentation. We've done it before," he said, patting her on the shoulder, "Have a safe trip home, Taylor."
"I'll be fine. Good night everyone," she said, waving to the assistants catching Inari as she leapt back into Taylor's arms. They followed the troopers out of the room.
"Any idea what's going on?" she whispered quietly into Inari's ear.
"Sounded like a prisoner transfer. High profile," Inari whispered at a volume low enough that Taylor doubted an average human could even hear. "Piggot sounded annoyed."
"... Is she ever not?" Taylor asked. She hadn't met the director herself as of yet, but the rest of the Wards had their stories to tell about the strict Director.
"Who knows," Inari replied glibly as they stepped into the elevator.
A few minutes later she was bundled into the back of a nondescript black mini-van. She leaned against the window as she stared out at the city. Watching the people on the sidewalks and the cars driving by had become a silent hobby over the last week. It was about as close as she could get to being out and about other than the PRT building.
"Just another night and I'll be free to walk around," she sighed.
One of the plainclothes troopers in the front snorted. "If by free you mean, 'free to be stared at, photographed, and badgered for autographs', then yes, you'll be free," he said.
Her ear twitched. She recognized that voice. "Not you again," she groaned as Brandon Chambers looked back at her around the headrest. She glared at him. "How did you even get assigned to this?" Wasn't he supposed to be in trouble or something?
"Heya fluffy. How you doing?" he said with an annoying grin. One that failed to disappear when she swatted him with a tail. "Ow," he deadpanned, the sunglasses he was wearing hanging from one ear.
She turned away from him back to her car watching. The trooper driving sighed loudly. "Are you trying to get in trouble again Brandon?" he complained. "Don't harass the Ward, you idiot."
"Yeah, yeah," Brandon grumbled, turning back around in his seat.
She shook her head and tried to ignore him. He reminded her of a jock version of Greg from school. Though… was it even possible to be like Greg and be a jock? She pondered the question as she idly watched the road.
A few minutes later the radio crackled. "Dispatch to all units. There is a disturbance in the forty-five hundred block of Waterfield Avenue involving reported E88 and Merchant capes. Details are unclear, but there are reports of guns possibly being discharged, over."
"We're on Belfast, that's the next street over," the driving trooper noted.
"Take the next right. We'll put some distance between us and it," Brandon said as he picked up the radio, "Dispatch this is Transport Team Five, we're diverting west along… Bunnsworth to avoid the incident on Waterfield, over." The driver signalled and the van smoothly switched lanes.
"Understood, Five. Try to avoid any entanglements," the dispatch operator replied.
Taylor sat up in her seat, her ears twitching. "We're going to avoid it?" she asked. Her ears swivelled listening to everything around her. She could just barely hear something loud in the distance. Gunfire maybe? It was hard to tell through the soundproofing of the van.
"Of course. You're a Ward, not someone who should be getting involved in a cape fight, not yet," the driver chided.
"No glory for you today. We get to play it safe for once," Brandon said, leaning back in his chair. He folded his arms behind his head. "The benefits of being plain clothes. No one expects us to get involved." She frowned at him. She wasn't exactly jumping with eagerness to get involved in a cape fight. Beside her, Inari was siding herself into a spare seat belt, the white fox's own ears swivelling back and forth.
Something exploded. Both ears swivelled with her head as they pulled into the right-hand turn lane. That was definitely coming from Waterfield. In fact… She could hear stone or concrete cracking and water pipes bursting as something was moving through buildings. And it was getting closer.
"Guys, something is coming this way," she said with some alarm as the sounds continued to grow louder.
"Wait, what?!" The driver glanced her way at the exact moment that the large warehouse turned garden center on the far corner of the intersection exploded. Redbrick sprayed through the air alongside a cloud of sand and a display of petunias as what could only be described as the horrific offspring of a monster truck and an abrams tank barrelled through the side of the building. A large armoured turret with a cannon was visible in the truck bed. Hanging from the front of the vehicle, barbed hooks churning for a grip, was a massive wolf made from an amalgamation of barbed wire and fishing hooks.
"That's Hookwolf!" Brandon shouted. The driver slammed his foot on the accelerator and they lurched forward as fast as a minivan more suited to taking kids to soccer practice than high-speed chases could move.
Hookwolf was one of the Empire Eighty-Eight's lieutenants. A gang of neo-Nazis that was particularly common in Brockton Bay's downtown and formerly middle-class areas. From what Taylor could remember he could transform into a swirling mass of metal blades that he usually formed into the shape of a wolf.
As they lurched forward the monster truck bounced as it rolled over a parked sedan, knocking loose the unwanted hood ornament. Hookwolf scrambled, his claws racking the paint off the hood, but failing to find anymore purchase as he slipped off the side of the vehicles.
Right into the wheel well.
Like an eraser in a blender, the wheel flew apart in a spray of hard rubber. The monster truck swerved as said wheel disappeared. It rolled through the center of the intersection, narrowly missing a taxi that swerved out of the way and into the side of an unoccupied sports car.
Taylor's eyes went wide as fear raced through her as the monster truck went into a slide, going right for them. And it was still faster than they were. "It's coming this- Erk," she started to shout, only to get slammed into the side of the vehicle as the driver tried to evade. He was mostly successful. Rather than take the spinning disaster straight to the side, it clipped the much smaller minivan on the back corner. The world twirled as the minivan flipped and rolled. It bounced twice before a telephone pole brought it to a halt.
The impact was less disorienting to Taylor than the rolling had been and thanks to her flying training she quickly reoriented herself. The car was upside down and while the roof somehow hadn't crumpled inward, it would be a supremely optimistic person who would claim that the vehicle was in any state to drive.
"Everyone alright?" She asked, fumbling with her seatbelt. She kicked in her flight as the belt came loose and slowly rotated herself upright.
"I'm fine," Inari said from where she was hanging from the seatbelt. She squirmed loose and dropped to the 'floor'.
"Uragh," Brandon groaned as he moved. "I- I think so? My leg is stuck, but I don't think it's worse than that. Trevor, you alright?" The driver was hanging limply. "Trev? Hey!" Brandon reached over and checked his pulse. After a few moments punctuated only by the sounds of fighting, he sighed. "Pulse is there. I don't see any bleeding. Must have smacked his head. Damn it."
"Let's get you free and then we can see about getting him down carefully," Taylor said, sticking her head into the front of the vehicle.
Brandon tried to move his leg and hissed. "Yeah. Yeah, that seems like-"
With a deep bass rumble like an angry god, a shockwave slammed into the van. They lurched several feet. Taylor clutched her ears at the volume. They were ringing as the car came to a stop. Risking being seen she stuck her head out of the broken window.
The Merchant vehicle was stopped in the middle of the street, a twenty-foot radius of empty space surrounding it. Cars, debris, people, everything had been knocked away by the shockwave it had just released. Across the street, Hookwolf was lodged two storeys up in the wall of a three-story office building.
"That was the merchants," she said. As she watched Hookwolf pry himself out of the wall. There was no way he wasn't going to take another shot at the truck, and without a wheel, they'd probably respond in the exact same way. She couldn't exactly blame them, someone like Hookwolf was an issue to deal with immediately.
"Then we need to move quickly," Brandon said, "Help me get this-"
"We don't have time. I'd have to tear this car apart from the outside to get you out," she said, turning to face the trooper. "The moment I step out of this car everyone is going to see me. We won't have time to get you out let alone Trevor." Brandon stared at her for a moment.
"No," he said.
"Inari, stay here," she said as she considered the situation. If the fight continued that truck was going to release more shockwaves, which would mean more impacts on Trevor and probably worse injuries for both troopers.
"No, no, no. You do not get out of this car kid!" Brandon hissed, "I am not getting in trouble because you-"
She shot him a withering glance that caused his teeth to click shut. "I get it. My actions, my fault," she snapped, worry and terror coiling around her stomach. She glanced outside. There were also others who were being put in danger by this as well. Had there been anyone in the cars that had been run over? What about the building they'd blown up? Unless this fight ended quickly it was quite possible a lot of innocent people were going to get hurt.
She grabbed the handle of the door as she rose into a crouch. She hesitated. So she left the vehicle… then what? She was going to be a target immediately. An unknown Parahuman? Two very aggressive gangs? She'd be targeted-
Four unmarked white vans roared around the corner of the intersection and slid into a stop in a rough barricade across the four-lane road. Doors opened and out poured a motley collection of body-armoured assault-rifle wielding gangsters. From the white skin, shaved heads, and assortment of tattoos it was a safe bet that this little group of thugs were from the E88.
They spread out to take cover behind the abandoned vehicles in the area, a few of them firing shots at the truck as a pair of masked men, one with alabaster white skin, exited the last van.
"And that's more E88," Brandon hissed, "Kid, don't get involved. I'm not joking. I am not-"
"Just shut up," she snapped. This was getting worse by the second. There was no way she was getting them out of here without dealing with the group outside. She flinched as a loud piercing whine began building from the truck as bullets pinged off the armoured panelling. "Now what?"
'Now what' was interrupted as Hookwolf threw himself against the truck again with a battle-cry of clashing steel and shrieking blades. The whine ceased as the truck let out a low deep bass roar that set her ears to ringing even more than before as the entire truck lurched another few feet.
"Fuck, shit, bastards!" Brandon cursed as she rubbed her ears. Trevor wobbled in his seat, his head bouncing against what was left of his headrest.
Taylor shook off the disorientation. This needed to end before more people were injured. The radio hadn't even said if anyone was coming to intervene. She glanced over at van's radio for the first time since they crashed. It was a sparking, twisted, wreck. No wonder they hadn't heard anything about reinforcements. The PRT had to already be on the way, but how long did they have until they got there?
Her ears, still ringing, strained for the sound of sirens. There was nothing she could hear. It was probably at least a few minutes, at minimum. As the only person there she was going to have to do something to buy time. Which meant getting into a fight. With Supervillains. The day before her debut.
One of the E88 thugs emerged from a van with an RPG held against one shoulder. At the same time the cannon on the truck bed began to whine once more, and this time Hookwolf was too busy pulling himself out of the wall of a convenience store to try and intervene.
"Taylor," she glanced back to see Inari looking worriedly at her from her spot by the driver's seat headrest, "are you sure?" asked the white fox.
"I- yeah," she glanced back out at the chaos where the E88 thug was levelling his launcher at the Merchant 'tank', "A hero has to start somewhere, right?" Sure most started with back alley thugs, but not everyone got to choose their moment.
"Yes… But don't force it, Taylor," Inari said cautiously, "Even gods can die, remember that." She peered 'under' the seats at the truck with a worried look in her eyes.
"The fuck do gods have to do with this?!" Brandon snapped, "Weird point aside, you're a Ward, stay in the-"
The RPG was fired and as it flew down the street the truck's cannon fired. A pressure wave that popped ears up and down the block blasted forward like the invisible hand of an angry god. The RPG exploded halfway to its destination as the pressure wave crumpled the contact detonator. Cars were cast aside and one of the E88 vans along with five men, the RPG launcher guy, and the alabaster cape were crushed where they stood. A fog of blood, shattered aluminum and steel, and powered asphalt rolled away from the impact zone as nearby men dropped dead, blood pouring from eyes and mouths. The remaining vans and other cars were sent flying in all directions.
Taylor's eyes tracked a blue sports car as it flipped through the air, end over end. The world slowed as she realized where it was going to land. Directly in its path was a group of teenagers huddled in the doorway of a Radioshack.
Her ear twitched as she felt more than heard one of them shout, "Oh god."
The door of the van disintegrated as she flew through it, her heels digging through the roof of the van and powdering the concrete below with the force of her launch. Her mind reached out, feeling out every source of water in the area and pulling it towards not herself, but the huddled people. Even as she ducked under a flipping utility truck, skimming through the gap between it and the road with bare millimetres to spare, she could tell she couldn't fly fast enough to cross the hundred or so yards between the van and group in time.
The cover of a storm drain near the Radioshack went flying as water arced through the air to form a last moment shield. A dome of shimmering liquid held in place only by her will. The sports car crashed into the barrier and crumpled as she pulled up and rose into the air beside the barrier. Her tails fanned out behind her as she scanned the scene from ten feet into the air.
"Is everyone alright?" she asked over her shoulder as she eyed the scattered E88 and the merchant 'truck'. It had more in common with an up-gunned Bradley than a Ford Truck, no matter what the logo on the front grill tried to suggest.
"We're fine. Thank you," one of the girls shouted. Taylor didn't have enough time to get a good look. But her voice sounded vaguely familiar. Perhaps she was from Winslow?
It didn't matter in the end, there wasn't enough time to worry as the merchant tank had already noticed her. "Get inside, and stay there!" she shouted to them. Without waiting for them to respond she darted away keeping low so as to put one of the cast aside white vans between her and that damned cannon. A river of water followed her, swirling in glittering arcs through the air next to her.
She swept past several disoriented E88 gangsters. One took a swing at her with the butt of his rifle. She rolled around it, her tails batting the weapon out of his hand hard enough to crumple the stock of the rifle. Water wrapped around his hands and legs and dragged him to the ground before freezing solid, anchoring him firmly in place.
Several more men either went for their lost weapons or raised their own with shouted cries of "CAPE!" She didn't have time to deal with them and keep ahead of the rapidly tracking cannon so she pulled her water close in a tight-fitting shield of water. A few bullets crumpled on the shield, the dull whaps of metal and water sending a thrill of worry through her. It would take a lot more force to overwhelm her control of water than a rifle or ten could produce, but the very fact she was even getting shot at was terrifying in its own way.
She zipped out of the intersection and behind the 7/11 that Hookwolf had torn the sign off with his impact. The Nazi buzzsaw in question was had ducked out of sight amongst the scattered vehicles. Clearly neither he didn't want to take a direct hit from that cannon anymore than she did.
"Since when did Nazi's develop common sense?" she muttered as she ducked the corner into the alleyway behind the seven eleven. There was a group of people in the alleyway behind the convenience store. Several convenience store clerks and customers shied away from her as a black man in a Seven-Eleven uniform and an ID badge that identified him as 'Day Manager' Antonio stepped between her and them.
She didn't see any weapons as she raised a foot thick wall of water behind her. It flashed to ice and she let it settle into the background of her perception. She stared awkwardly at them before lessons from earlier in the week prodded her. 'A hero must be reassuring and positive,' Glenn had said during her first lesson that week, 'Be calm and confident and the people will trust you.'
"Sorry for the scare," she said desperately grasping at the bare scraps of public relations she had learned over the last few days, "that should keep any of the E88 from reaching you." She smiled as she landed a few feet away. "I'm Taylor, a new Ward. Is anyone hurt?"
Antonio relaxed slightly. "I didn't hear about a new Ward. Aren't you a little young to be involved in something like this?" he asked.
"And where's your mask?" A woman behind him demanded.
Her right ear swivelled when another deep bass roar shook the area. Hookwolf had probably just tried to jump the truck again. Trevor, Brandon and Inari were running out of time. The temptation to be rude and brush them away was strong, but what would that say about her? "Who says a hero needs to wear a mask?" she asked in reply, it came easily to her after hours spent practicing for that press conference, "And I can't exactly call myself a hero if I run away while people need help, can I?"
She twitched to face the wall of the convenience store as the whine of the cannon started up again. She was out of time. She floated into the air. "Sorry to leave you here, but someone needs to deal with that cannon before more people die," she said apologetically, "The truck didn't make it to the next street over. If you can follow this alley to the end you can probably find cover in one of the stores over there."
"Now, wait a minute girl!" the store manager shouted as she zipped up and over the rooftop.
"Can't, people in danger!" she shouted back as she disappeared from view. Her ear twitched as she picked up the sound of feet running down the alleyway. Good, they were getting clear. She was worried for a moment. The Seven-Eleven didn't have a sign on the roof to hide behind, so she kept low as she cut left towards the next building over. She flickered across the low roof of that building as well and across the next, keeping low and towards the rear. She couldn't see the truck, but that whine was getting really close to its release level again.
She reached out to the water she felt in the area, deliberately ignoring any that was in the pipes of the buildings around her. Based on her memory and the sound the vehicle was just in front of the next store which put it practically on top of a storm sewer grate. She needed to stop the cannon from firing first, then she could disable it permanently. The question was how? The only time it had stopped charging was when the shockwave defense had been-
Her feet slide across the gravel rooftop of the last building as facts and ideas clicked together inside her mind. The power for the gun was also the power for the shockwave. The odds were that the shockwave had a period of recharge just like the gun. You could do one or the other, but neither in quick succession. The power required for either one had to be monstrous and there were limits to what you could stuff into a vehicle and still expect it to be able to move.
The whine of the gun had reached the same fevered pitch that preceded its firing before. Normally she wouldn't feel quite so urgent about protecting Nazis, but the E88 wouldn't care what they hid behind and the Merchants weren't about to give a damn who they had to shoot. Not when their backs were to the wall like this.
She launched herself towards the edge of the roof as she dragged as much water as she could up from within the sewer system. She reached the edge in time to watch as a jet of water slammed into the truck from below, knocking it around and ruining the vehicle's aim. Able to see what she was doing she pulled the mass of water tight around the vehicle's turret and cab before flash freezing everything. Whirls and spikes of ice crawled at the vehicle, grinding its external systems to a halt. The air grew warm as she threw herself back from the edge.
With a deep bass roar the truck released another shockwave, just as she had expected. The blast of wind ruffled her hair, ears, and tails as shards of ice rained down across the area. Not wasting a single moment she lunged over the edge of the roof, kicking off the payday lender sign to give herself a burst of speed.
Bits of metal, neon lighting, and plastic sprayed the area as she slammed into the truck bed of the monster. Abused steel screamed as she dented the reinforced hull. The turret was, she discovered as she spun to face it, a rickety construct of poorly welded steel around the most advanced looking gun she had laid eyes on outside of a science fiction film. Blue lights pulsed up and down the length of the barrel, alternating with shades of pink and green.
As she dug her hands into the seam where the rotating turret met the hull and her tails gripped the barrel she could feel something strange. Like all tinkertech there was a sense of wrongness to it. Not just with the weapon or the interior of the turret, but with the very hull itself. It may have looked like steel, but it was likely some sort of tinker material.
Throwing all her strength into it she peeled back the metal of the turret where the rotating bit met the base. The metal grew warmer as she forced it to bend. To keep the turret from moving, and thus fighting her, her tails coiled about the barrel of the gun. She pulled and twisted the barrel with all of the strength she had in her tails. Metal shrieked and snapped as she worked the turret over.
Servos whined as the turret tried to pull away. The smell of acrid smoke wafted from the gaps in the armour as she braced her foot on the base of the turret mount. Grunting from the effort she pulled the turret up and out of its mounting. Plates of tinkertech steel two inches thick continued to warp around her fingers as she heaved. Wires snapped and servos popped like fresh popcorn.
After only a couple of seconds something critical snapped loudly and the entire turret came loose all at once. The sudden lack of resistance caught her entirely off guard and the turret slipped from her tails as it went hurtling through the air. She tracked it with a sheepish expression as it crashed down on the roof of the Seven-Eleven.
"... oops," she muttered.
There was the sound of glass sliding behind her. "COCKSUCKING BITCH!" A whine of energy was the last warning she had before a battering ram of force slammed into her side as she spun to face the voice.
Things got very confusing for several moments after that as she flew in an out of control arc that included quite a few rapid-fire impacts. Ears ringing the world stopped spinning a moment later as she came to rest staring up at a bright light after she came rolling to a stop. A crumpled bag of potato chips bounced off her nose. She blinked, her head still ringing as another one bounced off her cheek. The world quickly returned to focus as a tilted shelf full of potato chips slowly bounced off her face one crumpled bag at a time. She caught the last one and sat up rubbing her side. Shaking her head she looked around. She was sprawled out on the broken remains of a convenience store shelf. "Ow," she muttered. She blinked as she realized a frightened-looking store clerk was peering over the edge of his counter.
"Is everyone alright?" she asked, brushing the debris off she stood up and looked around. There was a trail of destruction going straight through the store from the window to the back wall where she was standing.
"Am I alright?" The teenage boy's voice cracked, "Are you alright?!" he asked staring at her.
She patted herself down as she inspected herself. Other than what felt like a bit of a bruise on her side, she felt fine. Surprisingly so. "I'm good. No one else here? I didn't hit anyone on my way in, did I?" she asked. He shook his head.
"Everyone ran out the back ages ago," he said, staring wild-eyed at her. She stared at him for a moment.
"Then why are you still here?" she asked, staring at the boy. He flushed and stammered something about keeping his job. She jabbed a finger towards the only door leading further into the building. "Get out of here and run you idiot!" she snapped, putting her other hand on her hip.
With an exclamation of what she took to be half agreement and half terror, the boy fumbled with the flip gate on the counter before instead throwing himself over it and booking it out the back door.
Taylor watched him go with disbelieving eyes. "Merchants and E88 start blowing the city up and he's worried about keeping his job?" she muttered, shaking her head. Now that the idiot was away she walked out of the convenience store onto the street as a deep bass roar shook the area again.
The path she travelled was fairly clear to her eyes. Between the snapped power pole, the crumpled roof of a blue maserati, and the cracked concrete directly in front of the store, it couldn't have been less subtle.
"... How hard did she hit me?" Taylor wondered as she stared at the trail of destruction. She knew that she was durable but she hadn't seen the exact results of the tests yet. Those were still another week out from a final report that she could read.
Her ears twitched. Distantly she could hear a siren now that her ears had stopped ringing. The police were on their way. "Now if they could get here a bit faster," she muttered as she eyed the continuing brawl down the street.
A blonde woman in a much too small tank top and short shorts was standing on the back of the Merchant's truck-tank. The boxy, unpainted, yet futuristic looking gun in her hand made it clear she was probably Squealer, the Merchant's resident Tinker. Taking cover behind the cab of the truck with her were two other merchants wielding AKs. Squealer was screaming obscenities as she fired repeatedly at Hookwolf. The windows of the surrounding buildings shook with each sharp report of the cannon. Each missed shot sent a fountain of asphalt or concrete raining down across the area. Eventually, despite blasting several sizeable craters in the asphalt and the walls of nearby businesses, she hit the Nazi straight on. The mass of whirling steel known as Hookwolf was much larger and heavier than Taylor was, and far less aerodynamic as well, but that didn't stop him from crashing down over a hundred yards away in the midst of his own men who had to scramble to escape.
"Why won't they just run off?" Taylor muttered, lifting into the air to get a better look at the mess. There were maybe a dozen E88 gangsters still up and fighting, not including the mask wearing guy in body armour, Hookwolf, or the alabaster guy. She blinked as she watched the alabaster guy charge out of cover, only to take a shot from Squealer that missed Hookwolf. The man was sent flipping through the air, his limbs clearly snapped in multiple places, before hitting the ground in a heap. A moment later he stood up seemingly unhurt, his suit not even rumpled. He rolled his shoulders and strolled back into the fray.
"What the hell was that?" She stared for a moment at the man who had just shrugged off having every bone in his body snapped like a twig.
Hookwolf crashed into the wall of the abandoned 7/11.
Then, as if some greater being had decided to add more madness to the situation, three pickups roared around the far intersection and slid to a stop behind the E88 lines. Judging by the mixed black, latino, and white men and women overflowing the back of the trucks they weren't from the E88.
"SUCK IT YOU BITCHES!" Squealler cackled, "BACK UPS HERE BOYS!" She fired another shot into Hookwolf, driving him through the cinder blocks.
"Where are they coming from?" Taylor wondered. She flinched as several bullets struck the wall near her. There was a thwap as something tapped her lightly in the chest. She glanced down in time to catch sight of the bullet bouncing off the ground. Two more bullets promptly pancaked themselves against her uniform and the skin of her shoulder. It was like getting tapped by an annoying five year old. Repeatedly.
"What the-" She looked up, her eyes fixing on three Merchants who were shooting at her despite there being much more convenient targets nearby. One of them promptly went down as one of the E88 members shot him.
More bullets stitched across the neon sign of an AT&T office. The open sign crashed to the ground as the window it was hanging from shattered. This was getting out of hand. The Merchant's aim was not only worse, but they didn't seem to have the ability to focus on any one person or thing.
Unless she did more, someone who wasn't a gang member was probably going to get hurt really bad. She was going to have to get involved, a thought that regardless of the fact she was apparently bulletproof, was giving her the shakes. Two more bullets smacked into her, jarring her out of the introspective worry she was falling into. She shook her head and slapped her cheeks to try and focus. Her tails shook themselves out into a full fan.
"Focus, a bunch of gangsters aren't going to stop shooting at everyone just because you need a moment," she whispered, "but what do I do… Where do I even start?" Even as she said that several more vehicles barrelled onto the scene. In the lead was another visibly old truck. Standing on the roof like a surfer was a bare-chested muscle-bound white guy with white and blue mask. His hands were held like claws and she could feel the air being compressed around them. The truck was swerving back and forth beneath him like a bull trying to shake off a rider.
Finally, one wild movement was too much and the truck began to roll. The man jumped, his departure crushing the roof. He pulled back a hand and swung at the air. Taylor's senses caught the ripple of overpressure he released. The forces scattered a handful of merchants before crumpling the hood of one of their trucks, flipping it in the process. He lashed out with his other hand and a wave of air pressure cushioned his three point landing.
A merchant took a swing at him, only for his hand to be caught, crushed, and his body hurled one-handed at another nearby member of his gang. More of his gang moved to swarm the half-naked man, only for them to be blown away. Not that that ended anything as the cape was forced to take cover when Squealer took a shot at him and missed.
Behind them two white vans, much like those that had first dropped off the E88 gangsters, came to a stop. A dozen E88 gangsters joined the brawl with handguns and rifles.
Taylor's eyebrow twitched. "Fine," she growled. Clearly this was just going to keep getting more ridiculous until she actually
did something about it. Feeling worried she kicked off the wall and launched herself towards the fight again before more reinforcements could arrive. "Just take it as it comes. Deal with the biggest threat first," she muttered. Which meant Squealer and that damned super gun of hers.
She pulled water from the air as she flew. The fighting had devolved into hand to hand combat that was clearly favouring the E88 so no one was looking her way in the first place.
"HEY! IDIOT!" Taylor shouted as she crashed down on the remains of Squealer's cannon. The scantily clad tinker had barely started to turn around when a wave of water slammed her and her two groupies into the cab of the truck. A flick of the wrist, unnecessary but helpful when focusing on so many things, had her gun ripped from her grasp by the same water pinning her to the cab and hurled away from the ongoing battle. She slammed three sparking tails into each of them, then promptly frozen them in place.
Despite the shock Squealer still managed to gasp insults, "B-bitch. I'll tie your ass down and get Skiddy to-"
"Shut up." A second application of electricity seemed to do it as the tinker twitched and passed out. A quick check of her pulse reassured her that no, the tinker hadn't died. So there was that at least.
"One down," she muttered, looking up at the developing brawl- The shrieking roar of ten thousand razorblades sharpening themselves on reality stabbed at her ears as Hookwolf emerged from the convenience store and charged the truck. "Oh fuck." She was halfway through throwing herself off the truck, before she realized that would leave Squealer right in the path of Hookwolf, and utterly incapable of defending herself.
"Oh fuck me again," she breathed, reversing course with a thought as she desperately pulled more water from the air. Rather than do the sensible thing and get out of the way of the living wood chipper she rose to meet him. Why did she have to be a hero again?
Imitating her strike against the training dummy two weeks before she spun on the ball of her foot as she coated her tails in water as a shield. Her aim was perfect. Her tails caught the wolf construct of steel directly in the head. Steel crumpled, the entire assembly of blade folding back in on itself from the force before rocketing back down the street. Hookwolf plowed through one of the E88 vans that was lying on its side, bounced off the asphalt, and tore a street lamp in half before disappearing through the red brick wall of another warehouse two blocks away.
All eyes from both gangs immediately abandoned each other to track the ballistic trajectory of the astounding bouncing Hookwolf. Then they tracked back the way he had come from to spot her hovering above the Merchant's would-be tank.
Swallowing nervously, Taylor followed the instincts the PR conference training had drilled into her over the last several days. 'Look confident'. Placing one hand on her hip she took a step forward in the air and pointed imperiously down at both gangs. "STAND DOWN! YOU'RE ALL UNDER ARREST!" she shouted, letting lightning snap and crackle between her tails.
There was silence for a full five seconds before the body armoured cape among the E88 raised the large rifle in his hands and fire. The round tapped her between the eyes like Emma once had during sleepovers to wake her up. Despite the utter lack of effect everyone, E88 and Merchant, opened fire on her. Like a deluge bullets washed across her form. Pattering off her shoulders, hips, and chest like miniscule drops of water off of a tin roof. Her eyes met the original shooter. Emerald green eyes met blue across a hundred meter gap and-
Waves rippled and rolled to the horizon as storm clouds blocked out the stars. A thousand sparks lit the world and a single silhouette stood upon an island amidst fields of corn and the towering smokestacks of industry. Above it all rose a tree whose branches and leaves formed the grinning head of a fox whose teeth were spread wide to swallow-
Taylor blinked and shook her head. Bullets whizzed through the hairs of her tail and pattered off her body before the guns clicked empty. She frowned down at them. Pushing aside whatever that had been, she had a fight to end. "Fine," she said at the top of her lungs, "We do this the hard way."
She launched herself forwards as the late arrival leaped into the air to face her. One hand held back as air pressure gathered. An idea sparking in the back of her mind, she waited. Predictably the man launched the wave of pressure towards her.
A foot from impact with her chest she lifted one hand and her fingers closed upon the artificially induced pressure wave. Her will overwhelming whatever control the cape had over it. Moving with its original momentum she spun, dragging the wave with her as she poured her will into it. Pushing outward what had entered her grasp as a concentrated pressure wave like a blade, left it as a concussive shot the size of a semi-truck.
"Oh fuck-" was all the Neo-Nazi was able to get out before the strike slammed him back down to earth where he crashed into one of his comrades. The pressure wall broke apart on impact with the ground and rolled outward carrying dust, debris, and people away from the epicenter. Anyone not in cover was knocked off their feet. Weapons bounced and rolled along with their owners.
She didn't hesitate to follow it up. An E88 thug looked up from where he was cowering in cover as she slammed down onto the ground hard enough to crack asphalt not even five feet away. A flick of a wrist saw water snag his weapon and toss it back towards the merchant's truck. Similar whirls of water yanked rifles from owners, dragged off handguns and pulled the feet out from under bolting gangsters.
Pointing one fluffy tail sparking with lightning at the nearest gangster who was staring at her. "I won't ask nicely again," she said loudly, looking around, "Give up." She looked down at the shaking gangster. "Well?" Lightning snapped between the silky hairs of her tail. He slowly raised shaking hands.
Others followed, both E88 and Merchants, but not all of them.
"Oh fuck you cowards! Piece of shit race traito-" One of them started to shout as he raised a handgun he had pulled from his waistband and levelled it at the first surrendering gang member. A stream of water knocked his aim high, the bullet perforating a street light, before ripping the gun from his hands. More water grabbed him by the wrists and ankles and dragged him to the asphalt where it punched holes into the black material before freezing him in place.
Ignoring the idiot screaming obscenities, and the way several gangsters surreptitiously discarded holdout weapons, she looked around. "Anyone else?" she asked the suddenly quiet street as more water dragged off the holdout weapons.
Then the wall of the warehouse Hookwolf had disappeared into crumbled to dust as the living steel monstrosity simply went through the wall.
She stared at the steel wolf he shook himself off, his muzzle rapidly filling back out into a proper shape. "Why won't people just leave or stay down or something non-violent for fuck sake?" she asked the nearest gang member who just stared at her like she'd grown another head. She sighed. "Everyone stay put," she growled, walking forward. Her tails lashed about as she grit her teeth. Her fear and worry had slowly turned to frustration over the length of the incident, and as she stared down the street at the wolf-shaped conglomeration of razor blades and hooks it finally peaked.
It was bad enough one of her ears was twitch- Oh, wait, no. She flicked her wrist as a merchant tried to run for it. The half-buzz cut druggy went down screaming obscenities that Taylor hadn't even heard from dockworkers.
Her attention was drawn back as Hookwolf let out the closest thing to a howl ten thousand buzzsaws crashing together could make. The shrieking of blades rattling the glass and grating her eardrums before he lunged forwards. Yards of asphalt disappeared beneath his charge in moments. Most of her water was currently tied up tying down gangsters and weapons, which meant she was going to need more…
She cocked a head. There was storm drain right along his path. There wasn't too much water that she could feel in the system, not after her earlier use of it, but there was probably enough. Pulling it together beneath the storm drain she waited.
The trap was sprung without a hitch as Hookwolf passed over it the cover went flying. Water cascaded into the sky as it scooped the Neo-Nazi up in passsing. Razor sharp hooks were torn from the ground as he thrashed. The form of the wolf disappeared as he struggled to escape, tendrils of barbed hooks lashing out against any opening. Seeking some hole in her trap.
She winced as he pressed and strained against the water, thousands of miniscule blades cumulatively pressing against her will. Teeth gritting from the strain she unleashed a short lived storm of lightning upon her prisoner. The pressure immediately ceased as the Neo-Nazi spasmed before slumping. The hooks folded inwards upon themselves and mere moments later she was left holding nothing more than a man. A man dressed in a tacky steel wolf mask and baggy jeans, but still just a man.
She removed the water covering his head to keep him from suffocating and slowly brought him over towards her.
Rubber squealed off to her right. She turned in time to see the two white vans gunning it down the road as fast as they could. Every bit of water she had that wasn't tying someone down lashed out towards the two vehicles. The back door of the first vehicle was still open and inside she could see the body-armoured cape and the alabaster man. The latter was kneeling by the entrance and gave her a cheeky wave before tossing a pair of grenades towards the prisoners who hadn't snuck off.
Her attention shifted instantly, the tendrils of water chasing the first vehicle diverting to surround the grenades even as the other tendrils reached the second vehicle. The detonations barely strained against her will and she let the water containing it drop as she refocused her efforts. Tendrils of water lifted the white van off the ground, its tires spinning, and brought it back towards the intersection.
Taylor looked around at the gangsters. A couple had managed to duck out while she was bringing down Hookwolf, but the rest were still there. "Everyone, move over to the yellow truck," she shouted, pointing to the vehicle in question. The van stopped spinning its wheels. She pointed a finger towards it as she turned it around to face her. The pasty white face of a terrified young man only a couple of years older than her looked back. She used a tendril of water to open the door. "Get down and don't do anything stupid," she said, holding the van so its wheels dangled a foot above the asphalt, "Are we clear?"
"Yes ma'am," the boy said, nodding furiously. He promptly followed it by throwing himself out of the driver's seat and scrambling over to the group of nervous E88 and Merchants who were giving each other distrusting looks. The back door popped open and two more E88 gangsters dropped out as she spun the vehicle around to check. Certain that it was empty she dropped it heavily onto an empty spot of pavement.
The sound of sirens finally peaked as a trio of police cars rounded the bend near the merchant's truck-tank. "Finally," Taylor muttered. She was tired, exhausted, probably filthy, and who knew what condition her uniform was in. She waved to the police cars as they rolled to a stop in the intersection.
The doors on the first vehicle popped open immediately as the officers stepped out. The driver, a young woman, stared at the destruction. In the quiet of the post-battle scene Taylor could just make out the soft 'what the fuck happened?' from her. The other person in the lead vehicle just shook his head. He was a heavyset, though not overweight, man with a bald spot in the middle of his head and body armour hastily thrown over his uniform.
"Cape battle. Christ, look at that truck," he said at a more normal tone of voice, gesturing to Squealer's vehicle.
"PRT Van over there!" A man from the second car shouted as he got out. "Upside down with the side blown out."
"The two of you investigate it. Jameson, Bart, the truck," the man ordered, waving the other two pairs of officers towards their assignment. "C'mon, let's go meet the hero." He shut the door on the car and started Taylor's way with the young woman following at his heels. One hand was kept on the butt of his gun.
"Hello there!" he shouted, waving with the hand that wasn't parked firmly on the grip of his pistol.
Taylor walked over to meet him, though she floated Hookwolf over to hang with the other E88 cape. It was probably best if she kept him away from anyone not capable of tanking bullets with their face. "Hi," she said awkwardly as the officer neared, "I- Um…" They hadn't covered this yet. What was she supposed to say again? Corentine or Taylor?
The police officer stopped about ten feet from her and looked around cautiously. "Well, uuuh… I take it you've had an exciting day Ms….?" he asked.
"Hebert," she said reflexively. He blinked. Shit, uh, right. Well, it was going to come out at the press conference tomorrow anyway. Confidence, remember. Show confidence. "Taylor Hebert," she said, straightening, "And it wasn't until this happened… How long has it been?" She didn't exactly have a clock on her at that moment. She wasn't even wearing a watch. A bit of an oversight actually. Maybe she could get Glenn to add one? She glanced back towards the group of prisoners to make sure none of them were trying to escape. Every single one of them was either watching her intently, or staring at the ground with equal fervour.
"I, uh, is that supposed to be a codename Ms. Hebert?" he asked, sounding fairly confused.
"Not really? I'm not really able to use a codename. I have one, but…" she shrugged and waved a tail, "If it helps I'm a new Ward." she added, "I was supposed to debut tomorrow, but my van got caught up in this." She waved to the van that two other officers were investigating. At that same moment the cop's radio crackled.
"Sergeant DuPont, we've got two PRT guys here. Both stuck upside down. One has a pinned leg and the other is groggy but awake, and ummm, we've got a talking fox here," the other officer said. Taylor let out a sigh and smiled. Everyone in the van was safe.
"A talking fox?" DuPont repeated.
"She's with me," Taylor said.
"You have a talking fox?" the younger female officer asked. Taylor shrugged.
"Powers are weird." As far as canned responses went at least this one was rather true.
"Huh…" The woman stared at her for a moment before shaking her head.
"Would you like them to bring the fox over?" DuPont asked.
"If she's tired of hiding in the van she can probably find her own way over," Taylor deadpanned. Inari had legs, she didn't need a police officer to escort her.
"Just send her over, no need to carry or escort her," he said into the radio.
"She'll be- and she's gone." Taylor leaned to the side to look past the two officers and shook her head at the small white fox running their way.
"TAAAAAAAAAAYLOOOOOOOOOR!" Inari shouted, leaping the last ten feet. She caught the bundle of fluff with a weak smile. The fox bopped her on the nose before she could say anything. "I told you to be careful!"
"I'm fine, barely a scratch," Taylor said, turning around to keep an eye on the arrested gang members. She tilted her head to the side. There was one missing. Lovely. "Where did they go?" she muttered, looking around.
"Is something wrong?" the female officer asked.
"I'm missing someone- there they are." With a scream of panic the merchant girl who had tried to sneak away was hauled out from where she was hiding behind one of their trucks by loops of water around her wrists and ankles.
"You're getting better at that," Inari observed.
"Thanks, your training has helped," she replied as she dumped the teenage girl with the rest of the more reluctant prisoners. "I SAID STAY PUT!" she shouted at them. A few nodded hurriedly. She turned back to DuPont who was staring at the display with jaded fascination. "I'm um… I'm not really sure how this works, but I think these guys are yours, right?"
"Non-cape gang members are remanded to BBPD custody when arrested by the PRT," DuPont said, "But usually only after a statement has been taken by the PRT. Assuming they cooperate anyway."
"Ah…" She frowned at the group of prisoners. In the distance, and rapidly getting closer, was the
whump whump whump of a helicopter. Looking up she managed to spot the machine in question as it did a flyover. The Cable Six News logo on the side said everything. "And the news gets here before the PRT," she sighed. A few moments later a second helicopter, this one from the BBPD, flew over the site.
"Not the first time, probably won't be the last," the sergeant sighed. He glanced back over his shoulder. "Looks like more of our boys are here. Do you mind if I bring them over to start arresting this lot formally?"
Taylor glanced back down Bunnsworth Avenue. A pair of police cars and several large SUVs painted in BBPD colours had pulled in while she was distracted. "I… don't know?" She grimaced, this wasn't what she was supposed to be doing today. She didn't even know what she was supposed to do here now that everything was with.
DuPont nodded. "I'll get a few guys over here to keep an eye on them so you don't have to stand here staring at them. I'm sure the Lieutenant will enjoy arguing the details with the PRT representative whenever they both arrive. Carrie, run over and round up a few Officers for me. Half a dozen should be enough to keep an eye on this lot."
"Yes sir," the other officer said before running off. A bit over a minute later she returned with the requested officers and they started organizing the prisoners. It was a bit more than DuPont had said, but Taylor didn't feel like arguing. She still had to keep an eye on the two capes….
Speaking of which. "Um, I think those two probably need medical attention," she said, gesturing to Hookwolf and the other cape.
"Yeah, but I'm not sending any of my guys near that lot until the PRT shows up. Anyone but those two and I'd consider it but…" DuPont breathed out a deep sigh, "Stomtiger and Hookwolf. I'd asked how you managed to drag those two in but…"
"I also froze Squealer to her truck earlier," Taylor said, gesturing to the truck.
"Really?" DuPont looked back at the truck in question. He tapped his radio. "Hey, Jameson, is there a blonde gal in the truck?"
"She should be in the back," Taylor added.
"In the back of the truck I mean," the Sergeant corrected.
There was a moment then the radio crackled. "I've got two crackheads here Sergeant, but one's a black haired bint and the other's a guy."
"What?" Taylor had taken off before DuPont could reply. Her tails whipping out behind her as she took to the air.
"Wait, Taylor," Inari yelped as they flew past several startled police officers to pull up next to the truck. The two merchant thugs were being carefully handcuffed and carried out of the truck bed. The ice that had been holding them was in scattered pieces. Of Squealer, there wasn't a single sign.
"Where is she?" Of the parahumans there, Squealer had given her the most trouble, and now she was gone. She looked back to where she was still holding Hookwolf. Police officers were keeping an eye on them, not that either seemed to be waking up.
"Looking for someone?" An officer with greying hair asked. She nodded.
"Yeah, Squealer. I left her right here." Taylor pointed to the truck.
"Ah," the officer sighed. The middle-aged officer ran a hand through his hair. "Not the first time she's managed to slip a net. You don't stay at large for five years in Brockton Bay without being good at running away. Don't feel too bad…"
"Corentine," Taylor said, remembering to use her hero name.
"Corentine, bit long for a hero name," he said, "Do you mind if I call you Coren? Nice and simple."
She hesitated then sighed. "That's fine I guess?" she said, floating down to sit on the side of the truck bed. The metal was giving her weird vibes, but it felt good to just sit rather than hover.
"Great. You can call me Lieutenant Stephen Walter," he said, pulling out his badge. She blinked.
"You're the Lieutenant DuPont mentioned?" she asked as she put Inari in her lap. The white fox was staying uncharacteristically silent.
The Lieutenant nodded. "Most likely," he said, "So, Coren, I don't think I've seen anyone as distinctive as you around before."
"... I guess it's my first day, technically," she sighed, "My Wards debut was supposed to be tomorrow." Oh god what was Glenn going to think? For that matter, what about her dad? She looked up at the helicopters circling the site. All she could hope was that her dad was too busy to turn on the news. He was going to freak out so badly. Her tails swished back and forth with worry.
"A new Ward huh?" the Lieutenant looked around the intersection, "You did quite well for your first day. Can't say I've ever heard of a Ward bagging two high profile villains before they ever even debuted."
She tilted her head. One ear twitched. "Never?" she asked.
"Not once."
"Huh…" She stared at the water-trapped capes.
"How far from those two can you get without issue?" he asked, waving a hand down the street.
How far? She looked down at Inari. "We haven't really had room to test that recently, right?"
Her companion shook her head. "You've had other things to worry about," Inari said.
"Good God, it talks." The Lieutenant stared at Inari with surprise.
"What, did no one mention the talking fox?" Inari asked smugly.
"Apparently not," Taylor observed, a small grin tugging at the edge of her lips. The officer seemed entirely thrown from whatever he had been thinking about as he stared at the fox. She waited for the Lieutenant to get himself together.
The Lieutenant adjusted his collar and sighed. "Brockton Bay. Every time I think I've seen everything," he said, shaking his head, "Where was I… Right, Coren, would you like a seat somewhere that isn't on the side of a tinker tech truck of dubious safety?"
"And right in the way of your people, right?" Inari asked.
"Erm, yes. Assuming you can handle being a bit further away from those two. Or are you willing to bring them this way?" The Lieutenant had gone back to staring at the talking fox who met his gaze with an unblinking stare and as smug a look as Taylor had ever seen on her.
"They aren't fighting back at the moment, so I should be fine for now," Taylor replied, lifting off the wreck of a truck, "They probably need medical attention as well. I hit Stormtiger with his own attack and electrocuted Hookwolf."
The Lieutenant grimaced. "Bring them over this way. Paramedics should be here shortly. I've got a couple of men who can check them over while we wait by the cars. Bring them over and we'll get you a good seat to keep an eye on them from while my men check them out," he said. She waved idly and the two entrapped capes lifted into the air and began to float towards her. A few officers shouted in surprise, but few shouted orders from the Lieutenant quickly calmed things back down.
Taylor laid the two of them on the ground by a police cruiser as she settled onto the hood of the car. She wrapped her tails around herself as she lounged on the warm hood of the police car. Despite the hard metal it was relaxingly comfortable after everything. Three officers were called over to examine the two Neo-Nazi's.
"We'll need to touch them," one of them said as she knelt down to examine Hookwolf's head.
"... Which one?" she asked, eyeing the two capes. She could probably keep Stormtiger tied down easily enough, but Hookwolf was said to generate blades from any part of himself. The only reason she was even leaving his head free was because she wanted to avoid suffocating him. Killing people, even on accident, was a bad thing for a hero to do.
"Both, but let's start with Stormtiger. He looks a lot worse," another officer said. Taylor carefully removed the water she had wrapped the cape in except for loops around his hands and feet. She winced as she got her first good look at the E88 cape. She was fairly sure arms weren't supposed to twist that way. Or legs.
"Christ, look at this. What the hell did he get hit by?" One of them asked, looking up at her.
"His own power," Taylor said, blushing a little as she looked away. In the distance police officers were beginning to search the surrounding buildings. They were probably checking to see if there were any injuries. It would be a miracle if no one was dead, other than the gangsters at least.
Her stomach churned quietly as the memory of several gangsters getting turned into literal mist by Squealer's monstrosity popped into her mind. She hugged Inari as she shut her eyes and tried to think of something else. For the sake of her stomach if nothing else.
"What's wrong?" Inari asked softly as Taylor buried her head between the fox's ears.
"Do you really need to ask?" she replied.
"Ah… No, I suppose I don't," Inari sighed, nuzzling her chin, "Try not to think about it for the moment. We can talk about it in private if you want later."
"Hmm… How do heroes do this all the time?" she asked.
"Well they don't normally get into something like this as a Ward." Taylor's eyes popped open as she whipped her head up. Standing ten feet away from her was Miss Militia, the bandana wearing heroine looking at her with concern. In her hands was a bulky gun of some kind.
"Miss Militia!" she squeaked, accidentally squeezing Inari. She hurriedly let go as the fox yelped in surprise. "Sorry!" How hadn't she noticed the older woman approaching? Lack of care probably.
Miss Militia smiled and walked over. "Sorry we're late," she said. Behind her PRT troopers were waiting with their containment foam sprayers held low. She turned her head towards the two capes. "Nice catches. I think Glenn is going to have an aneurysm when he hears about this."
She could feel her blush getting worse. "It was- Squealer got away," she said, stumbling over her words.
Miss Militia sighed. "Don't worry about it Corentine," she said, walking over to kneel beside Hookwolf, her gun coincidentally angled to point at his head. "What condition are they in?"
One of the officers examining Stormtigers glanced up for a second. "Stormtiger has massive damage across most of his body. Broken bones, twisted limbs. By some miracle his skull doesn't seem damaged. He's alive at the moment, but with my limited knowledge he's going to need the ICU or Panacea once he hits the hospital. We haven't even had a chance to look at Hookwolf yet, but he's been electrocuted by your Ward. If it was anyone else I'd say send him to the emergency room."
"He doesn't yet have a kill order on him, so that's probably where we'll send him. Under heavy escort," Miss Militia said blandly. She looked up from the capes. "Once we get these two loaded up into ambulances you can relax, alright?" Taylor nodded stiffly.
"This day wasn't going too bad until this," the young goddess sighed.
Inari snorted. "That's sadly how these things go. It never seems so bad until it's happening," she said.
It was less than five minutes before paramedics ran up carrying gurney's. Armsmaster and Assault arrived at the same time along with more PRT Troopers. At their direction Taylor carefully lifted the two supervillains onto the gurney's with her power before finally releasing them from her power, though she kept a mist hanging around Hookwolf until the ambulance carrying him left her range several blocks away.
Before leaving Armsmaster paused by her. "Well done, Corentine," he said, nodding to her awkwardly, "An exceptional first day... Let's hope that this will be the last such time you have to step up like this while you are a Ward." He waved over a pair of armoured PRT Troopers, "These two will take you home and guard your house along with the rest of their squad. Please stay inside until tomorrow."
"Sure-" She frowned as he departed before she could reply, "Rude."
"He's like that," one of the Troopers said, shaking his helmeted head, "Ready to head home Miss?" She nodded, her ears drooping. Her energy levels felt lower than they ever had since she ascended.
"Please."
-0-0-0-0-0-
"Hey Danny, the PRT called while you were out on the docks," said the receptionist as Danny walked into the main office of the DWU.
It said something about his life right now that he was getting used to the PRT calling him. He shut the door to the main office behind him before asking, "What did they want, Matilda?"
Matilda was a blond heavy-set middle-aged woman about five years older than himself with a few shots of grey just beginning to appear. She had been the DWU's receptionist for longer than he had been a member of the union. "They said your daughter was being sent home early from her summer course thing. You didn't mention Taylor was doing courses with the PRT," she said, giving him a firm look over her glasses.
"... Did they say why?" he asked, trying to ignore the judgemental stare.
"They wouldn't say other than it had nothing to do with Taylor herself. How is she doing anyway?" she asked.
He paused by the coffee machine in the corner to get himself a drink. "It's been a rough summer, but she's doing alright at the moment," he said as he searched the mini fridge for the creamer he had put in there the day before.
"Hmmm, no lasting issues from the incident?" Matilda inquired.
He hesitated. "A few," he admittedly. It wasn't like it was going to be a secret after tomorrow. "Can't really say too much at the moment."
The blond woman tisked. "Keeping secrets now?"
"Legal reasons," he replied, pouring some creamer into his cup.
"Ah." Everyone in the DWU had dealt with matters like that before. "NDA?"
He sipped the coffee. "Rather than try to pry details out of me, Matilda, just pay attention to tomorrow's press conference," he said.
"Press conference?" she repeated.
"For the PRT. Now, I need to get back to work, and so do you," he said, waving as he left.
"Whose press conference?!" she called after him.
"The PRT's," he called back before heading for his office.
Twenty minutes later he was in the middle of reading through a contract proposal from a new company along the docks, one that long experience told him probably wasn't going to last more than six months, when the door to his office was opened and Kurt stuck his head in. "Did you hear the explosion about five minutes ago?" he asked.
"Explosion?" What explosion?
"Something towards downtown blew up a bit ago. It's on the news. You might want to take a look," he said, beckoning him to follow.
Danny sighed and put his desktop into sleep mode. "Yeah, sure. What blew up this time?" he asked. There was a time when he wouldn't have felt so blasé when asking about what part of the city exploded, but that was decades ago at this point. Grabbing his empty coffee cup to discard in the garbage by the door on the way out, he followed Kurt out of his office and down to the lunch room.
A bunch of the office staff had gathered around the old outdated TV on the counter. It had probably been new in the late eighties when it was first installed, now it was kept working by the two electricians on staff through what had to be divine intervention at this point.
"...see a lot of smoke down there, but emergency services have already arrived and are attending to the scene," said the reporter, speaking loudly over the whump whump of a helicopter's blade. Danny pushed his way past the ring of bodies around the TV. "This is the third public incident between the E88 and Archer's Bridge Merchants in as many weeks and certainly the largest and bloodiest to date. Can we get the camera to zoom in over there?"
On the TV was a slow panning shot of what looked like a warzone. Cars were laying on their sides and backs, buildings were cratered and burning, and a number of large craters had been gouged out of the street. Police cars and PRT vehicles were on the scene and he could see officers moving about. The picture zoomed in on a motley group of men and women being arrested by police.
"That is a lot of gang members. Tucker, I can't remember seeing an arrest this large in quite some time," the reporter said, addressing the news anchor whose face had been relegated to a small box in the corner of the TV.
"Holy crap," muttered Bruce, he was the junior foreman of Pier 3, "That's Bunnsworth and Belfast. That's not far from here." Danny crossed his arms as he nodded. It was on the way home from the DWU. Getting back today was going to be a pain.
"Any sign of capes on the scene?" Tucker asked. The picture zoomed out as the news copter continued to circle.
"There were reports of E88 capes Stormtiger, Alabaster, and Hookwolf earlier, but I can't see any sign of them at present. Furthermore I believe there was a report of Squealer, but if she's among the arrested there's no way I'll be able to spot her from Tucker."
The news anchor nodded. "The scattered reports from witnesses calling in said that the fight was brought to an end before the arrival of Police or even the PRT by a very distinctive young female cape," he said, "One we haven't seen before. Any sign of a new cape among the crowd Samson?" The camera panned about the warzone seeking whoever it was the anchor was talking about.
"I had a shot of her earlier, but… There. Zoom in there, by the PRT Vans." The camera panned towards the cluster of law enforcement vehicles as it zoomed in. As the camera adjusted and the picture came back into focus Danny's heart stopped for a moment as he stared.
"Taylor!" What the hell was she doing there?
Standing aside as a PRT Trooper was doing something inside the van was his daughter. She looked a little windswept with Inari in her arms as she absently petted the fox with one hand. The view wasn't good enough to see details clearly, but she seemed fine.
A firm hand dropped onto his shoulder, startling him. He glanced about to find Kurt gripping his shoulder firmly as everyone in the room stared at him. "Taylor? That's Taylor?" Kurt asked, his grip tightening.
On the TV the reporter continued on, "That's her. The reported hero of the hour. A young parahuman who single handedly brought this destructive rampage to a decisive end."
"Lasting effects, hmm?" He glanced over to see Matilda sitting with a can of coke as she fixed him with an annoyed look. "PRT summer course my ass."
"Not that it's any of your business Matilda," he replied, shrugging off Kurt's hand as he stood straight, "I need to make a phone call. No one says a damned thing. Am I clear?" He looked around the room. Everyone nodded. "Good. You want details, watch the PRT's news conference tomorrow. Hell, it might be tonight. Now, excuse me. I need to find out why the hell my daughter was involved in that." He waved at the TV, only to pause as the feed switched back to the studio.
The anchor was a middle-aged man with a bald spot just slightly off-center. "Sorry to interrupt the live feed Samson, but we've just received word that several videos of this incident have been uploaded onto Youtube. Here are several clips from just a few minutes ago."
The video that appeared was low resolution and clearly being filmed with a camera that was being held up over the edge of a broken window frame. The pixelated form of the merchant's tank swam in and out of focus as the hand holding it twitched.
"Oh my god, oh my god," someone muttered out of frame. With all the warning of lightning strike water surged up from beneath the vehicle, fully enveloping the machine in an instant only to flash freeze. A heartbeat passed before a deep bass roar crackled through the speakers of the old TV. There was a split-second view as the ice shattered, then the camera ducked out of sight.
The view changed to a different camera from a bit further away. Unlike the first clip the person filming didn't so much as flinch as powdered ice covered the summer street. Then a figure darted off the nearby rooftop and slammed into the truck bed between the turret and the cab hard enough to make the monster truck bottom out its remaining suspension. The vehicle bounced as the camera zoomed in on a figure Danny immediately identified as his daughter. There was no audio with this clip as, in what couldn't have been more than three seconds, his well-behaved daughter ripped several tons of metal off its mountings and hurled it out of sight like an american football at the Super Bowl.
He blinked, staring even as the TV returned to the camera view of the scene. "And that… Well, uuuh… That was footage of the young woman of the hour," the News Anchor Tucker said as the camera zoomed in on Danny's daughter. She was getting into a PRT vehicle, "as she brought this vicious and unprovoked rampage to a close."
"I have a few calls to make," Danny said weakly as he found his voice. Kurt patted him on the shoulder.
"Why don't we walk and talk? Come on," his friend said, dragging him from the room even as he tried to process what he had just seen.
-0-0-0-0-0-
A/N: Hello everyone~ Sorry it's late but school had to come first. The chapter isn't nearly as long as I intended, but I'm going to get working on the next chapter which will run right up to the BBQ at the very least. Possibly further depending on word count and dramatic cliffhangers. *evil kitsune is evil*
A thank you to my lovely editor
@Gekkou_Yoko for her help once again~
Dx She made me proof-read this entire thing in three hours! Actually, not even that Dx I started at 6:34pm, she forced me to finish just now at 12:04am
That's 5 ½ hours. ~Grounders10
Bite me.
*nom*
*blushes*
*coughs into hand* *Floofs tails for dignity*
<.<; Chu still rushed me either way.
*Blocks vision with tail*
*bites tail tip gently*
… <.< Ow.
:'3
Anyway, thank you to my patrons and please come by the discord if you want to talk about ongoing stories, or even just chat. Links are in my signature along with the rest of my stories.
Next chapter will be in 2 weeks as of this last monday. Enjoy o/ oh, and PHO segment in the next chapter.
