Taylor Hebert, Medhall Intern [Worm Fanfic]

[Sto Odin]

When Kaiser says it's 2 and 2, it's actually 3 for with only Stormtiger against Victor's awful plan.

And speaking of awful plans, I sure hope Tattletale can't bamboozle them into something stupider than going to the PRT. Even if Brian's worry about a kill order is overblown, he and Aisha need way better protection than Coil can offer.

 

[macdjord]

The elevator doors opened. If Brian had needed any proof that Taylor had been telling the truth about the Empire Eighty-Eight running Medhall, he now had it. Stepping forward out of the elevator, hands held out in front of him, was Hookwolf. The villain even had his trademark metal mask on.

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What, none of them commented on the basement being filled with unnatural darkness?

Tossing the shoe off to the left, Brian sidestepped quietly to the right in his bare feet. These were less than optimum in a combat situation, but he wanted to be silent as possible. The ruse was almost certainly older than civilisation, but it was still a good one; as muffled as it was, the sound of the shoe hitting concrete still turned all four heads.

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Grue's darkness blocks sound as well as light, so why would they have heard the shoe?

The burst of disorientation took him by surprise and nearly knocked him off his feet. He staggered, staring with disbelief as Cricket moved directly toward him. Even as he tried to evade and block her incoming blow, she sent him reeling again with what he belatedly realised was a sonic attack to his inner ears.

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Same problem: the darkness cloud blacks sound, so neither Cricket's echolocation nor her sonic attack would work.

 

[Ack]

What, none of them commented on the basement being filled with unnatural darkness?

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That's my bad. When I wrote it, I was going with, "they thought the lights were out" but forgot the lights in the elevator. Will add a little dialogue.

Grue's darkness blocks sound as well as light, so why would they have heard the shoe?

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Muffles, doesn't block entirely.

Same problem: the darkness cloud blacks sound, so neither Cricket's echolocation nor her sonic attack would work.

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Canonically, Cricket's power works through Grue's darkness.

FFN is being strange, claiming that I'd already commented on a chapter that was just published. So I'll put the review here, as well, just in case it somehow shows up in a while on FFN.

-_-_-

Hmmmm, intriguing! It appears that Taylor's still got an administration-related power, but instead of insect control, it appears that she's a power-administering trump by means of tapping powers from everyone in her radius, and lending them to her allies within that same radius. The interesting question will be how much of which powers were present around her during the cluster trigger-event she will keep for the long term.

From the way she described herself as tapping, rather than stealing and sharing, it appears that specifically included skills, since she tapped the melee skills of the security guards at the entry desk.

If she can identify which powers or skills come from which person in her zone of action, this will become a certified nightmare for certain villains, specifically including Coil and a number of groups. The FIRST thing she should realize is that she needs to drastically understate her actual radius of effect, which might be an approximate 60 feet radius surrounding her. I base that guess on how far out she could detect metal around her.

Her metal detection alone is fairly powerful, since not only can she apparently detect metal at a distance, she can differentiate between the metal of guns and the metal in the bullets, which are contained by the metal of the guns and their barrels, meaning she can differentiate types of metals, as well as shapes and their orientations in space.

I desperately want to see how her power testing goes, both on her own, with Greg, Brian, and Tracey (as a group), then adding other capes in. Adding her power-distribution as a central feature of her specialty, as well as lingering grab-bag cape powers from the triggering. Just WOW on the potential! The tapping and sharing of skills alone would make her an incredible force-multiplier in just about any setting. She walks into a room with a gifted programmer, taps and shares it out... suddenly, everybody within about a 40 foot radius of her, including vertically, can be just as good a programmer! Or surgeon, or .... you get the idea. So long as her powers are working, it sounds like she'd always be the equal of the most skilled person around her, no matter what skill.

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The power sharing was a once-off (cluster trigger) but yes, she can gather all the skills of everyone in her radius and share them out to whomever she deems is an ally.

Which is ironic, because she first got noticed at Medhall due to her skills in pattern recognition.

When Kaiser says it's 2 and 2, it's actually 3 for with only Stormtiger against Victor's awful plan.

And speaking of awful plans, I sure hope Tattletale can't bamboozle them into something stupider than going to the PRT. Even if Brian's worry about a kill order is overblown, he and Aisha need way better protection than Coil can offer.

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Yes, yes, they do.

And Cricket was also against it.

 

[LordGoliath512]

Why didn't we grab the guards' guns? At least give us a fighting chance if they catch up with us. Or am I missing something?"

"Ho ho ho, now I have a machine gun?" Greg added.

Brian shook his head. "Not going to happen. Stallone's character in that movie was a cop. He was trained in using firearms. I know which end bullets come out of, and that's about it. We don't know the safe way to handle them, and we don't know how to use them properly. Maybe with an hour or two to look them over carefully, we could chance it, but we don't have an hour."

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Great chapter, but I got to say... that's some really, REALLY, dumb logic. Discounting the fact that the gun has already been shown to fire at least once, so the safety is off and the charging handle has already been pulled back, meaning that the gun is ready to fire without any finangling with. The idea that none of them have any familiarity with guns doesn't make much sense. Now I can somewhat understand the logic in Taylor not knowing this, assuming that the city she lives in has restrictive gun laws and she's never been around any form of gun, but with Brian having a criminal background in the U.S. it seems like he would end up exposed to firearms to at least SOME degree! With Greg being a self described gamer he would probably have at least a little familiarity with guns if he'd ever played an fps game. At least enough to know the basics of how to fire one. But even if you throw all that out the window, there's no way you need an hour to get familiar with a gun. Within 5 minutes you've got the basic functionality down, and can at least hit the broadside of a barn. So there's functionally no reason not to give a gun to at least Grue, who would be able to shoot Kaiser, Hookwolf, and Victor without them even knowing he's there. Or give them to one of the others, letting them be something other than an active liability going into the fight. Now I might be expecting too much from relative newbies to guns, but as someone who owns 5 guns myself and grew up around them it just bugged me.But other than that it's a good chapter, and this scene here.

The burst of disorientation took him by surprise and nearly knocked him off his feet. He staggered, staring with disbelief as Cricket moved directly toward him. Even as he tried to evade and block her incoming blow, she sent him reeling again with what he belatedly realised was a sonic attack to his inner ears.

A snap-kick sent the baton spinning from his hand, then a backfist to the jaw rattled his cage and loosened teeth. He was still up, but disoriented, and she hit harder than any woman he'd ever gone up against. Before he could do more than put a basic guard together, she buried her heel in his solar plexus. The breath went out of his lungs in a painful whoosh and he began to involuntarily double over, only to meet her knee coming the other direction at speed.

He straightened up from the impact, but his consciousness was already flickering around the edges. The full-blooded kick to his sternum arrived like a battering ram and drove what little air he'd gotten back into his lungs straight out again. He vaguely felt his feet leave the floor before he crashed down on his back.

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Is a great example of the difference between a decent self trained fighter, and a significantly more experienced and better trained one. You can learn a few basics from books online, but you'll never compare to someone who has actual training and sparring experience. Even with a big physical advantage over someone you can still get destroyed by superior skill. That happened to me first time I tried BJJ.

 

[Ack]

Great chapter, but I got to say... that's some really, REALLY, dumb logic. Discounting the fact that the gun has already been shown to fire at least once, so the safety is off and the charging handle has already been pulled back, meaning that the gun is ready to fire without any finangling with. The idea that none of them have any familiarity with guns doesn't make much sense. Now I can somewhat understand the logic in Taylor not knowing this, assuming that the city she lives in has restrictive gun laws and she's never been around any form of gun, but with Brian having a criminal background in the U.S. it seems like he would end up exposed to firearms to at least SOME degree! With Greg being a self described gamer he would probably have at least a little familiarity with guns if he'd ever played an fps game. At least enough to know the basics of how to fire one. But even if you throw all that out the window, there's no way you need an hour to get familiar with a gun. Within 5 minutes you've got the basic functionality down, and can at least hit the broadside of a barn. So there's functionally no reason not to give a gun to at least Grue, who would be able to shoot Kaiser, Hookwolf, and Victor without them even knowing he's there. Or give them to one of the others, letting them be something other than an active liability going into the fight. Now I might be expecting too much from relative newbies to guns, but as someone who owns 5 guns myself and grew up around them it just bugged me.But other than that it's a good chapter, and this scene here.

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Except, they didn't have five minutes. They barely had one minute.

Taylor had only ever seen assault rifles in the movies.

Greg had seen them in first-person shooters, none of which teach the actual skill in using them. In-game, they're basically magic fingers of death, and you get useful little crosshairs to show where you're shooting.

Brian had handled pistols (and chosen not to use them) but never an assault rifle. Why would he? He's the guy who covers people in darkness and goes all punchy on them.

One of them was ready to fire, but whether it was set up to fire single-shot, three-round burst or full-auto, he didn't know. And worse, he didn't know how to check.

They lacked two things that are essential to the safe handling of firearms: 1) time to carefully learn what each part of the gun does, how to do it right, and what not to do, and 2) a reasonably competent user of firearms to do the teaching.

The best way to actually give people a chance to hit something with it is to give them the chance to fire the actual weapon at a target with the instructor right there to make sure they don't do anything stupid.

Absolutely none of which was available to them.

All the knowledge and understanding you have of guns? The exact awareness of their capabilities, and the little habits of use? They had none of that.

"Oh, you once flew a Cessna for five minutes with your dad next to you, ready to grab the controls? Here, safely land this A-380 on the first try."

Also, they didn't know they were going to be shoved into a face to face confrontation until it was too late.

Me, personally, I'm Australian. I grew up on the land, so I've used bolt-action and lever-action rifles, as well as an M1 carbine (never handguns though). Given a little instruction on where the safety and the selector switch are (if they aren't the same switch) and how to change out magazines, I might have a go at it. I certainly wouldn't grab the thing up and assume I knew everything. If things were dire, I'd probably pick it up and try to do my best, but I absolutely wouldn't default to it.

Is a great example of the difference between a decent self trained fighter, and a significantly more experienced and better trained one. You can learn a few basics from books online, but you'll never compare to someone who has actual training and sparring experience. Even with a big physical advantage over someone you can still get destroyed by superior skill. That happened to me first time I tried BJJ.

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It also doesn't help that she was playing fucky games with his inner ears and hammering on him while he was off balance.

 

[Crazael]

So, basically, they followed the Number One Rule of Gun Safety for the Inexperienced: Don't fuck with guns, or they will hurt you, probably fatally.

 

[Sto Odin]

Cricket was against it?

"I like it." Kaiser nodded slowly. "And if they decide to die instead of committing murder, their families' lives are forfeit as well. All the sticks. Cricket?"

She only paused for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, sure. She won't have the guts anyway

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How is this not Cricket reluctantly going along with Victor's suggestion?

 

[Ack]

Cricket was against it?



How is this not Cricket reluctantly going along with Victor's suggestion?

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Because this came first.

"You're just sayin' that 'cause she saved your life, an' he clocked Shadow Bitch." Stormtiger didn't sound convinced on either instance.

Cricket nodded. "Plus, that just makes them dangerous."

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Cricket only agreed to Kaiser's plan (in the end) because she thought Taylor was too much of a wimp to actually agree to murder Tracey.

 

[LordGoliath512]

Except, they didn't have five minutes. They barely had one minute.

Taylor had only ever seen assault rifles in the movies.

Greg had seen them in first-person shooters, none of which teach the actual skill in using them. In-game, they're basically magic fingers of death, and you get useful little crosshairs to show where you're shooting.

Brian had handled pistols (and chosen not to use them) but never an assault rifle. Why would he? He's the guy who covers people in darkness and goes all punchy on them.

One of them was ready to fire, but whether it was set up to fire single-shot, three-round burst or full-auto, he didn't know. And worse, he didn't know how to check.

They lacked two things that are essential to the safe handling of firearms: 1) time to carefully learn what each part of the gun does, how to do it right, and what not to do, and 2) a reasonably competent user of firearms to do the teaching.

The best way to actually give people a chance to hit something with it is to give them the chance to fire the actual weapon at a target with the instructor right there to make sure they don't do anything stupid.

Absolutely none of which was available to them.

All the knowledge and understanding you have of guns? The exact awareness of their capabilities, and the little habits of use? They had none of that.

"Oh, you once flew a Cessna for five minutes with your dad next to you, ready to grab the controls? Here, safely land this A-380 on the first try."

Also, they didn't know they were going to be shoved into a face to face confrontation until it was too late.

Me, personally, I'm Australian. I grew up on the land, so I've used bolt-action and lever-action rifles, as well as an M1 carbine (never handguns though). Given a little instruction on where the safety and the selector switch are (if they aren't the same switch) and how to change out magazines, I might have a go at it. I certainly wouldn't grab the thing up and assume I knew everything. If things were dire, I'd probably pick it up and try to do my best, but I absolutely wouldn't default to it.



It also doesn't help that she was playing fucky games with his inner ears and hammering on him while he was off balance.

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I may just have a different train of thought, but in a dangerous situation where I'm being pursued by super-powered Nazis a gun would definitely be my first pick. But you have some pretty reasonable arguments, and I could see things turning out that way. I may just be a little biased because I'm an American who grew up in a rural community.

Grue's best option in that scenario with Cricket would have been to go with wrestling or BJJ. Any type of grappling, as it would help mitigate the balance issue. Assuming she wasn't well trained in grappling, he'd have a substantial size and strength advantage, so he'd be able to use it in a position where Cricket wouldn't be able to avoid hits, and he'd at least have a chance to bring one of them down.

 

[Ack]

I may just have a different train of thought, but in a dangerous situation where I'm being pursued by super-powered Nazis a gun would definitely be my first pick. But you have some pretty reasonable arguments, and I could see things turning out that way. I may just be a little biased because I'm an American who grew up in a rural community.

Grue's best option in that scenario with Cricket would have been to go with wrestling or BJJ. Any type of grappling, as it would help mitigate the balance issue. Assuming she wasn't well trained in grappling, he'd have a substantial size and strength advantage, so he'd be able to use it in a position where Cricket wouldn't be able to avoid hits, and he'd at least have a chance to bring one of them down.

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He didn't get close enough. She put him on the back foot, then hammered the fuck out of him.

Plus, she was a cage fighter. I think she would be good at grappling.

 

[LordGoliath512]

He didn't get close enough. She put him on the back foot, then hammered the fuck out of him.

Plus, she was a cage fighter. I think she would be good at grappling.

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Would she though? Most of the grappling systems I've seen women involved in are derived from Asian martial arts. Aikido, Judo, Sambo, and BJJ, but with Cricket being a Neo-Nazi I can't help but wonder if she would be willing to learn those martial arts. Although she could know something like Greco-Roman or catch wrestling, but you don't see as many women using those styles. And since you may not have had organizations like the UFC popularizing MMA like in our world, I wonder how available training in these styles would be. I think thats it would be interesting to see how MA might have developed in the Worm universe.

 

[Crazael]

but with Cricket being a Neo-Nazi I can't help but wonder if she would be willing to learn those martial arts

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It should be noted that Cricket's weapon of choice is a pair of Kama, a distinctly Japanese weapon.

 

[LordGoliath512]

It should be noted that Cricket's weapon of choice is a pair of Kama, a distinctly Japanese weapon.

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That's a fair point. I wonder if it's her being practical, or if she's not self aware enough to see the disconnect there.

 

[GladiusLucix]

That's a fair point. I wonder if it's her being practical, or if she's not self aware enough to see the disconnect there.

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Or she doesn't care about the racism and is just in the gang that let's her fuck people up.

 

[Zackarix]

Or she doesn't care about the racism and is just in the gang that let's her fuck people up.

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She just decided that cultural appropriation is her favorite type of racism

 

[Crazael]

Or she doesn't care about the racism and is just in the gang that let's her fuck people up.

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I tend to favor this for Hookwolf, Cricket and Stormtiger. They're in the gang because it lets them beat people up and they don't really too much about who they target.

 

[macdjord]

I may just have a different train of thought, but in a dangerous situation where I'm being pursued by super-powered Nazis a gun would definitely be my first pick. But you have some pretty reasonable arguments, and I could see things turning out that way. I may just be a little biased because I'm an American who grew up in a rural community.

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I'm a suburban Canadian who has, AFAICR, never touched a live firearm, but I'm pretty sure I could have figured out how to use those guns well enough to help in that situation. Locate safety, take best guess as to which position is 'armed', point at Bad Guys, pull trigger, if gun does not go boom toggle safety, pull trigger some more. I don't have to be particularly accurate when we're at close range and I'm hidden in Grue's darkness.

 

[ScyBlade]

I'm a suburban Canadian who has, AFAICR, never touched a live firearm, but I'm pretty sure I could have figured out how to use those guns well enough to help in that situation. Locate safety, take best guess as to which position is 'armed', point at Bad Guys, pull trigger, if gun does not go boom toggle safety, pull trigger some more. I don't have to be particularly accurate when we're at close range and I'm hidden in Grue's darkness.

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As a US Navy Sailor, I must say that that is a recipe for SHOOTING YOUR OWN ALLIES!

THERE'S MORE THAN ONE STRONG REASON WE DON'T HAND FIREARMS TO PEOPLE WITHOUT A VALID UP TO DATE LICENSE FOR THE FIREARM THEY ARE REQUESTING. Unless they're being trained in proper and SAFE use of the firearm in question.

Besides, only Grue can see where to not shoot in his Darkness. So firing in his Darkness for everyone else means that you should assume you'll hit all of your allies and none of your enemies.

Never point a firearm at anything that you do not intend to shoot.

 

[LordGoliath512]

As a US Navy Sailor, I must say that that is a recipe for SHOOTING YOUR OWN ALLIES!

THERE'S MORE THAN ONE STRONG REASON WE DON'T HAND FIREARMS TO PEOPLE WITHOUT A VALID UP TO DATE LICENSE FOR THE FIREARM THEY ARE REQUESTING. Unless they're being trained in proper and SAFE use of the firearm in question.

Besides, only Grue can see where to not shoot in his Darkness. So firing in his Darkness for everyone else means that you should assume you'll hit all of your allies and none of your enemies.

Never point a firearm at anything that you do not intend to shoot.

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There's only 15 states that need a license to buy or own a gun. I'm pretty sure that many of them have cases in court on those laws being unconstitutional. But discounting that, this a actual life or death situation. Not a day at the range so logically you're going to choose the option that sees you more likely to come out alive. Yes, you want someone to be trained in firearm usage and it's something I cannot overstate how important it is. Buy between dying to Nazis and using a weapon you're not familiar with, one is significantly better than the other.

Edit: The simple solution to the issue with Grue's darkness and avoiding someone being hit is they blanket the elevator in darkness and Grue and the others shoot in to that relatively contained area.

 

[ScyBlade]

There's only 15 states that need a license to buy or own a gun.

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Just to be clear, when I wrote 'license' I meant 'US Armed Forces accepted qualification'.

We need proof that you will properly and safely use the firearm in question. This also applies to many pieces of equipment.

That said, my issue with people using firearms they aren't trained in is their lack of awareness of the risks of using the firearm in question. Ever use a shotgun? If not, well, I have and you definitely need training in the use of a shotgun in order to hit what you're aiming at. Admittedly, if have some proper firearm training you will likely not hit anything you find it unacceptable to hit.

 

[macdjord]

That said, my issue with people using firearms they aren't trained in is their lack of awareness of the risks of using the firearm in question. Ever use a shotgun? If not, well, I have and you definitely need training in the use of a shotgun in order to hit what you're aiming at. Admittedly, if have some proper firearm training you will likely not hit anything you find it unacceptable to hit.

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In this case, the list of things they need to avoid hitting is literally the three of them. As long as they don't miss by 90°, they aren't going to hit each other.

 

[ScyBlade]

In this case, the list of things they need to avoid hitting is literally the three of them. As long as they don't miss by 90°, they aren't going to hit each other.

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That sounds like taunting Murphy.

This also sounds like it is going against official US Navy Policy on firearms use. I'm not allowed to acknowledge as Correct anything that goes against US Navy Policy outside of a limited number of circumstances.

 

[Ack]

In this case, the list of things they need to avoid hitting is literally the three of them. As long as they don't miss by 90°, they aren't going to hit each other.

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People handing unfamiliar firearms at the firing range, with instructors right there, have been known to shoot the instructor.

 

[Ack]

Taylor Hebert, Medhall Intern

Part Twenty-One: Running the Gauntlet

[A/N: This chapter commissioned by GW_Yoda and beta-read by Lady Columbine of Mystal.]



Purity

Kayden was just settling Aster down for her afternoon nap when her phone rang in the other room. She used a gently musical ringtone so it wouldn't disturb her daughter's rest, so she always had to listen for it. Given her specific circumstances, it was rarely a good idea to ignore a phone call, especially in Brockton Bay.

Stepping out of the room, she took up the phone. It was Max's number, which raised her alertness levels immediately. She was still separated from both him and the team, but he had a habit of not taking no for an answer.

"Hello?" she said, putting the phone to her ear.

"Kayden," he said, and she immediately knew he wasn't calling to mess with her. He was panting as though climbing stairs or some other strenuous exercise, and Max never made phone calls when he couldn't sound like he was on top of the situation. If she knew her ex-husband, there was something seriously wrong. "I need you to suit up and get over to the Medhall building, right now. Long story short, we're at extreme risk of being outed. All of us. There are four capes trying to get to the PRT building, and we have to stop them at any cost."

Her eyes went wide. If 'all of us' meant her as well (which Max could be exaggerating about, but could she take that chance?) then Aster was at risk. But … "Max, I can't just leave Aster on her own!"

"Theo's on his way over in a cab. He has a key to your apartment?"

"Yes, yes, he does." She trusted Theo to take care of her baby. He'd done it many times before. "Okay, I'll go. Who are these capes? What am I looking out for?"

"They're new. A three-person cluster trigger plus Grue, of the Undersiders. They got into our secure files and found out things they shouldn't have. Their theme is black metal armour. One can teleport. Another one can fly. Take no chances. Shoot to kill."

"Understood. Who else are you calling in on this?" She darted to the closet and pulled the white bodysuit out from the hidden compartment.

"Everyone."

<><>​

Rune

Lounged back on her seat in the bus, Tammi let the music from her phone wash over her while she idly watched the world pass by. Unlike basically every other teen on the bus, she was evaluating people as worthy targets of her powers once she changed into her cape identity; even in the 'good' part of town, there were far too many wrong sorts of people. People who needed to be taught a harsh lesson about not going where they weren't welcome.

Another couple of stops and she'd be at the Medhall building, where she'd be free to find out from Kaiser what the Empire's latest plans were. She didn't see it as brown-nosing exactly, but she figured that if she showed enough interest, he might ease off on her about that bullshit self-defence training. Especially with that utter fucking cow Taylor Hebert lording it over her all the fucking time.

If it wouldn't get me yelled at again, I would seriously kick her ass while I was out as Rune, and pretend I thought she was Jewish or something. But she knew Victor would see through that shit in a hot Brockton Bay second, and he'd totally snitch on her to Kaiser.

The music cut out, then her phone ringtone kicked in. Making a face, she considered declining the call, but considering the thin ice she was already on, it was probably a good idea to find out what was going on. Letting out an exaggerated sigh, she tapped the earpiece to accept the call. "You've got Tammi."

"Family business." It was Krieg's voice, and he sounded like he was driving somewhere in a hell of a hurry. "Clear?"

The code phrase was as simple as it got. 'Family' meant 'Empire'. Tammi casually glanced around; nobody seemed interested in listening in to her side of the conversation. Still, she knew she'd have to keep it innocuous. "Clear."

"You are needed in the air post-haste. Four capes wearing black metal armour are trying to get from Medhall to the PRT building. They have sensitive Empire data. Kill them, any way you can. Understood?"

She blinked, her mind whirling with the ramifications, but not wanting to ask any stupid questions. Besides, Krieg had laid it out as plainly as possible. "Um, understood."

"Good. Go." The call ended.

Tammi stood up from her seat and slid out into the aisle. There was a bus stop just up ahead; even if there hadn't been, she would've had the driver stop anyway. Fortunately, she had her costume in her backpack—though she was being a fuck-ton more cautious about people trying to grab it, these days—so she wouldn't have to half-ass a mask.

As she headed up the aisle toward the front of the bus, she wondered exactly who the four capes were and how they'd managed to grab such sensitive data.

But asking those kinds of questions wasn't her job. Kicking the asses of people who tried to pull shit on the Empire was.

And right now, it was time to go to work.

<><>​

Fog

Geoff Schmidt was seated on the sofa, newspaper held up at the correct angle for reading, because that was what men did with newspapers when they were home. At precisely timed intervals, he turned to the next page, so that even an astute observer would assume he was actually reading it. The observer would be wrong, of course; there was no information within the newspaper that could possibly interest him. He did these things because not to do it might cause comment.

The newspaper was just low enough that he could see Dorothy in the small kitchen. As he watched, she opened the oven and took out a tray of freshly baked cookies. Neither of them particularly enjoyed cookies—they were a relatively inefficient food source—but making cookies was something that women did in the home, so she did it. Humming the same tune she always hummed whenever she cooked or cleaned or did any other housework, she transferred the cookies to a bowl and brought them out to him.

"I made cookies, dear," she said brightly, as she always did. "Would you like one?"

"Thank you, my darling." He folded the newspaper in exactly the same way as he had done the day before, and the day before that, and took a cookie from the bowl. Despite the fact that it was still uncomfortably warm, he took a bite from it. "Mmm. It's delicious."

"Thank you. I'm glad you like them." She placed the bowl on the coffee-table in front of him, on the mark it had left after weeks of being placed in the same spot. "Feel free to eat as many as you want."

"I will, thank you." He finished the cookie, then took up the paper again and unfolded it. He would eat no more cookies. Before they went to bed that night, Dorothy would empty the bowl into the trash and wash it up. Tomorrow, she would make more cookies.

The landline rang. He lowered the paper and turned to look toward Dorothy. "Could you get that for me, dear?"

"Of course, sweetheart." Dorothy went to the phone and picked it up. "Hello, you have reached the Schmidt residence. Dorothy speaking."

He kept the paper lowered so that Dorothy would stay in her human form while she was speaking on the phone. When she had finished, she put the handset down again and turned to him.

"Who was it, dear?" he asked.

"It was Victor." Dorothy smiled. Unlike the expression she wore when bringing cookies out to him, this expression was genuine. "Kaiser wants us to kill someone."

Geoff's return smile was equally sincere as he put the paper down and stood up. "After you, my dear."

<><>​

Taylor

Brian slapped at his hip; his metal gauntlet smacked against his armour with a clang. "Dammit," he muttered. "I'm pretty sure I've still got my phone, but I can't get to it. How do I take this stuff off?"

"Are you sure you want to?" I asked. I'd never even considered the idea of wearing armour before—I liked reading fantasy books, not acting out the scenes in them—but this stuff was both comfortable and made me feel protected. Especially since I didn't have Victor's bottomless well of skills to draw on. Though Brian was pretty impressive in the hand-to-hand stakes. "It's saved our lives already, and you know they'll be coming after us pretty hard."

Tracey nodded. "That's true, but if we send out an SOS, we can get the cavalry on the way before the bad guys get here." She gestured at the vehicles passing by. "And you know, if we just grab a cab or jump on the bus, we could be well away before they get themselves organised."

"I, uh, I dunno about you guys," Greg interjected, "but if we call the PRT and tell them what we know, we'll just sound crazy. Even if they send someone to investigate, they'll take their time about it. And as for grabbing a cab? Brian, I love you like a brother but the cabbies in this town are assholes. Half of them won't even slow down if it's a big black guy trying to grab a ride."

Brian shook his head. "I was thinking of calling my friends, not the PRT. So, can you give me access to my phone? Like Tracey says, we need to put out an SOS as soon as possible."

"Okay, yeah, good point." Greg flexed his free hand—I wasn't sure where his sword had gone—then paused. "Uh, where do you keep your phone, anyway?"

"Belt pouch, right here." Brian indicated the armour on his hip. "Just give me access, then you can put the armour back. Though maybe fix it so I can actually make a call too." He waggled his steel-clad fingers and tapped the side of his helmet.

"Okay, give me a second." Greg seemed to concentrate on the spot Brian had pointed at.

"Wait." My brain suddenly threw up an answer to a question I hadn't asked. Specifically: if Brian was a cape, who was he? I'd spent some time memorising the list of capes that Ms Harcourt had given me, and there was only one in Brockton Bay who could create darkness at will. "You're Grue, aren't you? Of the Undersiders."

Brian turned to look at me while Greg was still working on his armour. "Will it matter if I am?"

"Honestly, Taylor," Tracey said with some asperity. "Why even bring something like that up at this—wait, the Undersiders? You're a villain?"

An aperture opened in the side of Brian's armour, and he retrieved his phone. "I'm pretty sure this is not the time for this discussion, ma'am. We're in this together, and I want to survive as much as you do. Which means—"

"Look out!" shouted Greg, jumping in front of Brian and raising his shield. Something metallic ricocheted off it an instant later, followed by the spiteful crack of what I automatically identified as a high-powered rifle (and how sad was it that I knew what one of those sounded like?).

I looked around, and saw Victor again. This time he was airborne, though he was wearing ordinary clothing and a domino mask rather than his regular metal armour. He was also carrying something; with my current lack of glasses, I couldn't see what it was, but I figured it was the rifle.

"Shit," Greg muttered. "He's out of range." He gestured, and the opening he'd created in Brian's armour closed up again. "I can't affect the gun, and bullets travel too fast to get a fix on them."

The rifle fired again; this time, the bullet struck my helmet, making my head ring, but didn't do more than give me a shove. A moment later, another shot hit Greg in the shin. Again, this did no damage, but I began to wonder what would happen if he shot the same point three or four times in a row.

"We've got to do something, maybe get under cover!" Tracey gave Victor a glare, but apparently he was out of range of her powers too. "If he knows where we are, the other members of the Empire won't be far behind!"

"Give me a second." Greg modified Brian's helmet and gauntlet so he could use his phone, then turned to look up at Victor. While he was doing this, three more bullets struck; if we hadn't been wearing armour, any one of them would've been a kill shot. "Okay, I'm going to go deal with him. You guys get under cover and sit tight."

Belatedly, I recalled the redirection-ball I'd used earlier. "Give me a second here." Facing Victor, I held up my hands and summoned the ball again. Three feet across, it formed a nice shield in front of Brian, allowing him to make the call without Victor doing something assholish like shooting the phone out of his hand.

As I'd hoped, Victor fired a shot into the ball … and it came out going straight back toward him. He jerked sideways in the air, blood spraying from his left shoulder. Apparently disliking the way things were going, he started flying back toward the Medhall building. Good. Maybe he'll think twice about shooting at people in the future.

I barely had time to savour my triumph before Tracey yelled a warning. I spun around, just in time for a chunk of concrete half the size of a Buick to smash into me. The armour took the impact (not without inflicting a few bruises), but I was knocked a dozen yards along the sidewalk. Groaning and trying to figure out which way was up, I started to climb to my feet.

Tracey and Greg ran toward me, while Brian followed behind. Still talking on the phone, he threw out his free hand to paste a swathe of blackness across the sky. There was a distinct difference to the last time he'd used it: that time, I hadn't been able to see through it. Now, it was like tinted glass to me. Did it have something to do with my new powers, and how I could see in the dark?

I stopped thinking about that when I saw the costumed figure on the other slab of concrete swoop around the cloud of blackness for another try. The chunk of concrete that she'd already nailed me with, plus a motorbike and a car, orbited her as she looked for a clear shot.

"Rune!" yelled Brian. "Fuck off!"

"Hahaha die!" cackled the teenage Nazi, angling the car in our general direction.

"Oh, no you don't," Tracey snarled. She held out her hand and the wind tunnel she'd used to yeet Victor down the corridor formed again. Although she couldn't quite reach Rune with it, the tunnel sucked in Brian's darkness and hosed Rune down with it, enveloping her so she couldn't see a thing.

Behind me, Greg took off straight up, sending dust flying everywhere. I half-expected his jetwash to be hot, but it was just high-pressure air. He angled over toward the black cloud that Tracey had hit Rune with, forming a wicked-looking mace in place of the sword he'd used before.

Rune burst out of the blackness, trailing wisps of it behind her. While she'd been in the cloud, I'd been able to make out her expression as one of epic fury; once she was in the open air again, my lack of glasses reduced that to maybe upset. She was going to be more than 'upset' in a moment, given that Greg was closing with her, mace raised menacingly. All three of her orbiting weapons were out of position, and she had no way to avoid him.

But then he slowed dramatically; she swooped mockingly out of the way, giving him the finger on the way past. I couldn't understand it, especially given that he couldn't slow down without turning off the jet-thrust. It was either full-on or nothing, as far as I could tell.

Brian called out, "It's Krieg!" and pointed. Then he put his phone back to his ear. I looked to where he'd indicated and saw the familiar costume of the most Nazified cape in the Empire Eighty-Eight. A moment later, it became hard to move or even to breathe.

Fuck. This is bad. This is really bad. Krieg had battlefield control, able to slow his enemies and leave his allies unhampered. None of us had the range for energy attacks to hit him.

"Get … here … fast …" Brian ground out, forcing the words past the cloying power that made it feel like we were mired in fast-drying concrete. Turning his attention from the phone, he raised his hand with some effort. More clouds of blackness started pouring out, but even those were held back by the slow-field.

Rune circled around toward where Greg was still gamely blasting forward at a fraction of her speed, her concrete chunk leading the way. "Not so good against stuff that's not made of metal, huh?"

She was right; he wasn't. Even the heavy shield he was carrying would only transfer the impact into his arm. The trouble was, Krieg's power would prevent him from being knocked back normally. It would be like being hit with something travelling a lot faster. Bones were going to be broken.

Greg brought his hands up into the path of the mass of concrete; just before it reached him, he unleashed the same blast that had smashed Stormtiger into Kaiser. The crack echoed across the street like a gunshot, and while the concentrated air-hammer didn't smash the concrete or even stop it, it did slow the thing down dramatically. Greg was knocked backward, but it was more of a hard nudge than a killing impact.

I couldn't see Rune's expression, but her whole attitude told me she was pissed off that he'd managed to deflect her big attack on him. Unfortunately, there was a way she could easily screw him over, and I was pretty sure she had figured it out. Even worse, her concrete platform was moving too erratically for me to teleport onto safely.

Wait a second. Teleport.

"Tra … cey," I managed. "Send … you … Krieg."

Her eyes met mine, and she nodded fractionally. "Do … it."

This was just one of the upsides of us having worked together so closely for weeks. We were on the same page almost immediately, and didn't have to spend time explaining things in detail. I formed a teleport circle and flicked it toward Krieg.

In the meantime, Rune was circling around, clearly intending to hit Greg from behind where he couldn't use his air-blast to counter her strike. Fortunately for him, a chunk of concrete that big had a lot of inertia, so she couldn't just corner with it on a whim. But time was running out, and if she hit him in the back of the head, she just might manage to snap his neck.

I didn't intend to let that happen.

The instant the teleport spot landed, I put the other end of the teleport under Tracey's feet. She fell straight down into it, and came up between me and Krieg. He'd been out of my range from the beginning … but now he wasn't out of her range. Forewarned, she put out her hand toward him and a black tendril shot out from her to him. It latched on and he staggered backward, evidently unprepared for that move.

All of a sudden, I was able to move and breathe normally again. It seemed that with Tracey drawing on Krieg's life force (or whatever the black tendril drained from people) he was no longer able to concentrate on fucking us over. Brian's darkness began to billow unhindered, and Greg managed to jet-blast out of the way of Rune's murder attempt.

He started to pull a hard turn to get back toward her, mace once more at the ready. Now that he wasn't being held in place anymore, she didn't like this game; flinging all three of her improvised missiles at him (he easily dodged them all), she bolted for the cover of Brian's expanding darkness. It wasn't a bad idea, considering that Greg was looking for payback for the cheap shot she'd used on him, but it had one drawback.

Specifically, me.

My power was literally about teleporting through shadow. If there was no pre-existing shadow, I had to supply one, but with one already there, I could create teleport links into it … or out of it. Brian's darkness was tailor-made for this; I didn't even have to concentrate to make the links. One was right in front of her when she hit the darkness, and the other was on my side of the darkness, down at ground level.

Brian's head came up. "Purity!" he warned, just as I caught an approaching glare out of the corner of my eye. As inconvenient as this was to us, it was too late for Rune; plucked from her concrete magic carpet, she emerged from Brian's darkness at her full flying speed, and face-planted the sidewalk with impressive enthusiasm. I was pretty sure I heard bones break, but I was all out of either sympathy or fucks to give.

Turning to stare at the oncoming Purity as the now-uncontrolled concrete slab demolished a row of parked cars, I was fairly certain we wouldn't be able to bait her into doing the same thing Rune had. In the Medhall information documents, she was one of the capes for whom the recommended response was 'hide and pray', which was probably just a paraphrasing of the PRT's stance on non-capes dealing with her.

"We've got to move!" I yelled; at the same time, Brian shouted exactly the same thing. "Greg, get down here!" I added.

Flying up there on his own, he was nothing more than a target, especially as he was lacking in ranged capability. Worse, we were all currently going through an accelerated learning curve about how to best use our powers; currently we were doing okay, but I'd forgotten to use my redirection-ball and my teleport until it was almost too late. I was actually pretty impressed by how well the teleport had worked with Brian's darkness, but it kind of made sense if I'd somehow gotten the darkness aspect of my powers from him.

That was something we were going to have to look into later; analysis of powers in the middle of a fight was probably not the best use of my time. Purity was coming in hot, and Greg's manoeuvrability was not the best. Also, while the metal armour he'd made for us was very cool, I had no desire to test it against a blast that could level a building.

Turning in midair, he started back down toward us, but it was too late. She'd evidently spotted him, and was arrowing in his direction. And then what I'd feared happened; a spiralling blast of destruction shot out toward him. I screamed a warning, even though I knew it would do nothing at all to save him.

Her attack was going to hit him; he didn't have the airborne agility to dodge it. More to the point, he didn't have any airborne agility at all. He did have the heavy shield, but that simply wasn't going to cut it.

This had likely occurred to him as well, so he did the only thing he could: he turned directly toward her, put out his hands, and generated the flat disc that had dissipated Stormtiger's attack. I had no idea whether it worked against anything other than high-pressure air, but as a Hail Mary pass, it was as good as any. In the instant before Purity's blast hit, it spread out between him and her, just wide enough to cover his entire body.

Light flared in all directions, like a high-pressure water hose hitting a flat plate. I felt the concussion from where I was, and a dozen car alarms went off. Nearby windows might have shattered, but I wasn't sure and I didn't really care.

Greg was driven backward, still maintaining the shield as Purity kept trying to blast through it. He was dissipating the energy as fast as she threw it at him, but she was betting on him running out of gas before she did. The trouble was, I had no idea how long he could hold her off. His ongoing jet-thrust kept him in the air, but her blast prevented him from moving forward.

Tracey came jogging up, panting a little from the exercise. "Krieg's out like a light," she reported. "What do we do now?"

Brian's voice was grim. "The longer we let them hold us in one place, the more chance they'll have of wearing us down and killing us. We've got to neutralise Purity right now."

"Open a portal to her," Tracey urged me. "I'll do the same as I did to Krieg."

I shook my head. "Too dangerous. Besides, my portals need a surface to attach to … wait." A whole series of connections had just clicked together in my head. My powers were linked to Tracey's and Greg's, and we'd all borrowed from Brian. If my teleport had an affinity to Brian's darkness (hell, I could see through it), and the colour of the metal Greg had made our armour from was also connected to that, then …

"Wait for what? We don't have time to wait!" Tracey pointed up at Greg. "He's facing her all by himself!"

"No. He's got us." I flicked out a teleport hole, aiming at the street directly under Purity. At the same time, I used my link to shadow to make Greg's shield the other end of the link. It connected immediately, confirming my suspicions. "Greg!" I yelled. "Your shield! Use your shield!"

I had to say this about Greg: whatever his misgivings about doing what I said, he trusted me implicitly. He brough the large steel shield up into place behind the dissipation disc, then dispelled the disc. Purity's blast struck the shield; or rather, the teleport portal I'd layered over the outer face of it … and vanished. It wasn't even splashing out sideways.

Half a second later, Purity found out where it was going, as it erupted from the street below her. With a startled yell, she stopped blasting, smashed skyward by the surprise attack. She was, it turned out, immune to damage from her own blast. But she wasn't immune to being knocked back by it.

We'd gotten some breathing room, but it wasn't going to last for long. As Purity was flung away over the rooftops—sucked to be her, I decided—we moved off down the street. Not running, because while Tracey's glowing tentacles had definitely pepped me up back in the Medhall building, I still wasn't anywhere near as fit as I really needed to be.

Greg came in for a landing near us. He stumbled but didn't fall over, though I was pretty sure he cracked the sidewalk anyway. "Holy shit," he managed. "What just happened? I thought I was dead. What did you do with my shield?"

"Yeah, I was kind of wondering about that myself," Brian said, scanning the sky above. "You only threw a shadow portal to the street."

"I'll explain later," I panted. "Doubt it'll work twice."

"Here, have a top-up, courtesy of Krieg." Tracey sent a glowing tentacle to each of us, and I immediately felt a hundred and ten percent better. Even the incipient bruising from Rune's bullshit ambush went away.

That let me think a little straighter, and I tapped into Brian's athletic skills for any techniques on moving fast without getting winded. The trouble was, these all came with the disclaimer: 'be fit first'. I wasn't unfit, but neither was I what anyone would really call athletic.

"Purity's coming back." Brian warned. "Can you do that trick again?"

I shook my head. "Not that one, but maybe another one." I eyed the incoming glow. She had to be pissed off.

"Cars coming, too," Greg said. "Not PRT. I don't think they're friendly."

Brian took a quick look in that direction. "No, they aren't."

I made a snap decision; dropping one shadow portal at my feet, I opened another one across the road, in the shadows of an alleyway. "Guys, go. I'll take Purity this time. Maybe I can convince her to fuck off for good."

"Are you sure about this?" Brian asked, but first Tracey and then Greg had already stepped into the portal and ended up on the far side of the road. "I can put up visual cover."

"And she'll just shoot through it blindly until she hits us." I pointed at the portal at my feet. "I got this. Go."

I wasn't certain if it was my tone or the incoming Blaster that convinced him, but he dropped into the portal as well. Greg and Tracey had trusted that I knew what I was doing. I hoped their faith in me wasn't misplaced.

I'm supposed to be an analyst, I wailed internally. Not a superhero!

But there I was, with not one but two cars full of villains bearing down on me, along with Purity. All had blood in their eye, and nobody was pulling any punches.

That was fine. Neither was I.

Someone leaned out the window of the first car and opened fire on me with an automatic weapon. Bullets pinged off the sidewalk around me, and a few signs acquired sudden holes. I felt—and heard—hammer-blows on my armour, but Victor had more or less inured me to that with his sniper rifle.

Small mercies.

The second car screeched to a halt, and a man and woman jumped out. Almost immediately, the man dissolved into a misty cloud; I belatedly recognised him as Fog, one of the Empire's second-stringers. The woman stepped into the cloud and vanished. Either she was Night, or she'd just committed suicide. (Until further information came along, I was going to assume she was Night.)

And then Victor himself, now wearing his trademark metal armour, swooped into view above the cars. In his hands, he carried a somewhat larger rifle than before. I seriously did not have any faith in Greg's armour to stand up to it. But if what I was wearing wasn't proof against it, Victor's armour certainly wouldn't be either. He'd be looking for an opening to shoot me in the back, just like Rune had tried with Greg.

As bullets continued to ping off my armour, I looked back toward Purity just in time. Hovering over the street, she raised her hands and sent one of her building-killing blasts my way. Hastily, I summoned my redirection-ball and got it in the way with mere instants to spare.

Originally, I'd considered just throwing her blast back at her again, but that would only temporarily deal with one problem. And Kaiser was stepping out of the back of the first car, raising a long tubular object to his shoulder; I didn't know what it was, but the very appearance of it screamed 'military'. By definition, that meant it was dangerous, maybe as dangerous as Purity herself.

So when Purity's blast got to me, I fielded it with the redirection-ball … and sent it at the cars. The bullets that the Empire were spraying at me, I sent the other way.

Shit proceeded to happen at an impressive rate.

The second car exploded, catching both Night and Fog, dissipating the mist and forcing him to reform, and sending her sprawling. While I didn't get the first car, the explosion sent Kaiser flying, along with several of his men. Still airborne, Victor backed off a ways, carefully raising his rifle to his shoulder. Purity came in for a semi-controlled crash landing in the middle of the street; it seemed at least one of the bullets they'd been spraying at me had hit the mark. The wrong mark, but I wasn't complaining.

This was my opportunity. The teleport portal was still open in front of me, so I jumped into it. At that exact moment, I heard Victor's rifle go off; the bullet whanged off my shoulder, giving me a solid jolt. I stumbled as I emerged from the shadows in the alley across the street, but Greg caught me before I fell.

"Are you okay?" he asked as quietly as he could, his helmet close to mine. Even though we both had narrow slits for vision, I could see the worry in his eyes. I knew there was a reason I liked him so much.

"I'm fine. Victor's shot knocked me off balance." I turned my shoulder toward him. "What's my armour looking like?" When I moved my arm, I could feel metal scraping against itself in a way it really shouldn't be doing.

"Sprang a plate," he reported. "I can fix it—"

"Move now, fix later," Brian interrupted. "We're too close to them. We need to break contact."

He was totally right. We were only about twenty feet inside the alleyway, and Purity was visible from where we were (fortunately, looking the other way). With her power off, she was a petite mousy brunette in a white bodysuit, now stained red from at least one bullet wound. She was kneeling in the middle of the street, hand held to her ribs. Her Empire buddies would be swarming around her in the next few seconds, and all it would take was one of them looking our way to start this shit all over again.

"Stick close to me," I said quietly, then activated my sound deadening aura.

Everything went utterly silent, and we started off down the alley. Even when Greg accidentally brushed against a trashcan and knocked the lid off, not a sound was made. Between that and the wall of darkness Brian raised behind us (people expect to see darkness in dark alleys; it's kind of a thing) we managed to get down the alley and around the corner without anyone charging after us.

Even when we came to a fence, it wasn't a problem. I bridged the obstacle with two portals, and we barely broke step as we passed through. But while we were absolutely making progress, none of us pretended for a moment that this was going to last.

When we got to the far end of the alley, we paused to catch our breaths. Brian was giving the impression this was casual exercise for him, and Greg was definitely fitter than he had been from all the traipsing around inside the Medhall building doing his janitorial duties, but neither of those situations applied to Tracey or me. I just wasn't as fit as I could be, as proven by my lack of stamina during the mad dash to get away inside the building, and Tracey had just spent the last couple of days doing literally nothing at all.

"Okay," I panted as I leaned against the alley wall. "They're totally going to be looking for us, yeah?"

"They are," Brian agreed. "Especially with what we know about them." He still had his phone in his hand, and he tapped out a quick text. "Also, we can't count on any of them staying down. Othala's known to be a fairly effective healer, if she uses her power that way."

"Victor didn't look like he'd just taken a bullet to the shoulder," I admitted. "Which means Rune and Purity are both going to be coming after us again, more pissed than ever."

"That's who shot you?" Greg shook his head and groaned. "Oh, man. I miss the days when he was just Alexander the Great, Medhall law division and all-round awesome cool guy."

Brian shook his head. "It's never not going to be weird that you know them by their fucking nicknames."

"Know them?" Tracey had recovered enough to contribute to the conversation. "Taylor saved his life. From Shadow Stalker, even."

"I remember Taylor and Greg telling me about that, or at least about Greg clocking her with a fire extinguisher," Brian agreed.

"Is it just me," Greg asked plaintively, "or is it the height of irony that even though Stalker was a murderous psycho bitch who tried to kill three of us, if we'd known about Victor then, we probably would've cheered her on?"

I had to stop and think about that. "Jeez, you're right. She did try to kill you, me and Tracey. Wow. That's a real head-spin."

"She tried to kill all of us," Brian corrected me. "The 'friend' I mentioned that she shot with a broadhead arrow? That was me. She hates me." He paused. "Wait a minute. Why did she come into the Medhall building if she didn't know it was Nazi central, anyway?"

I sighed. "She was also one of my school bullies, and she couldn't stand the fact that Bradley and Mr Grayson … ugh, I mean Hookwolf and Victor, came to the school, saved me from her, and got her arrested. Also, Hookwolf smacked her pretty hard in the mouth while both of them were out of costume, which is a whole other level of irony that I'm not sure I'll ever be able to top. So anyway, my guess is that she came to Medhall to kill the people who were helping me, then kill me, and vanish."

Like she killed Justin and tried to kill Tracey, I didn't say. I hated the idea that he'd actually been an Empire cape instead of just some charming guy who worked in Advertising. Hell, I didn't even know which one I wanted him to have been. Did I want his death to be retroactively justified, or did I want Tracey to have been dating someone who wasn't a Nazi?

Tracey shook her head. "I think I'm going to be needing a lot of therapy after this. Okay, I've caught my breath now. We can keep going."

"It's good," Brian said, looking up. "Our ride's here."

Puzzled, I followed his gaze, just as five gigantic creatures jumped off the edge of a roof and scrambled down to ground level. I'd heard about these things before, something to do with a villain called Hellhound and her control over dogs, but seeing them up close was something else altogether. Resembling some unholy cross between dinosaurs, rhinos and the dogs they had allegedly begun life as, these horror-movie monsters ended up on the sidewalk next to us.

Riding astride them were three costumed teenagers: one wearing purple spandex with a stylised eye on the chest, one in a Renfaire outfit with a sceptre and a theatrical mask, and a heavy-set girl with a cheap dollar-store dog mask. I figured the last one was Hellhound, but the other two weren't anyone I knew about. The closest I could come was 'the other members of the Undersiders'.

Greg did a double-take. "Wait, we're riding those things?"

Hellhound turned to look at him; I could feel the glare she was giving him. I elbowed him in the ribs, eliciting a clack of metal against metal, and held up my other hand. "Ignore him. We've been on the run since we discovered the truth about the Empire Eighty-Eight, and right now we're all a bit frazzled."

The girl in purple stared at me. "Wait, holy shit, Medhall is Empire? All of it? Max Anders is Kaiser?"

Brian sighed. "Introductions. This is Tattletale, Regent and Bitch. Yes, that's what she prefers. And yes, Tattletale will figure shit out. Guys, this is Taylor, Greg and Tracey. Greg's the one who smacked out Shadow Stalker." He eyed the two monster dogs without riders. "We're going to have to double up. Tracey, are you okay riding with me?"

"I gotta say," drawled Regent, "the armoured-knight look actually works well for you, Grue. Maybe a demon head for a helmet, but the rest of it's totally on point."

Tracey shook her head. "I don't care if I have to learn how to ride a skateboard at this point. I just want to get to safety." She looked at the dog-thing, as if trying to figure out how to get on its back. "How do I get up there without hurting it?"

"You won't hurt it," Hellhound/Bitch replied curtly. "Just climb on." 'If I can do it, dumbass, so can you' was clear in her tone.

Brian scrambled onto the back of one of the dogs, while Greg gave me a hand-up onto the other one. Reaching down, Brian pulled Tracey up in front of him, while Greg pulled himself awkwardly on behind me. "Um, we might need to armour you guys as well," Greg suggested. "The Empire's playing for keeps right now. They're going all-out on the lethal shit."

"They really are," Brian confirmed. "This stuff's saved our lives several times already."

I tilted my head. When I wasn't suppressing sound around me, my hearing was really, really good. I wasn't sure if this was due to air currents funnelling sound toward me, or my ears just being more sensitive (or even a combination of the two), but right now I was hearing the sound of things (and people) pushing through the air, coming closer with every moment. Fainter, but still audible, was the crackle of radio communication. "Incoming!" I warned.

"Go!" shouted Brian.

Bitch whistled and pointed, and the dog-critters jolted into motion. I'd already found a couple of bone spurs to hang onto, and my fingers were clenched tightly around them. This was good, because the dogs had an amazing turn of acceleration; they bounded off down the street like puppies who knew the treat was that way.

Brian held up his hand and darkness poured from it, spreading out and filling the street behind us. As usual, I could see through it, and I looked back over my shoulder just as Rune came over the rooftops on another slab of concrete. It looked like she had several people on board.

"What, super-hearing and you can see through his darkness?" Tattletale had somehow managed to drop back alongside the dog Greg and I were riding. "Are you all grab-bags? Wow, a cluster? How recent?"

"No distractions!" yelled Brian over his shoulder. "Figure out what they're going to do! Greg, armour!"

"On it!" Greg let go with one hand and gestured to the cars we were galloping past. Streamers of metal curled off them, leaving them without side-panels and roofs, but I didn't care all that much. Destruction of property seemed to be the order of the day around us, even when we didn't mean it.

A moment later, each member of the Undersiders was wearing front and back torso armour and a helmet that was vaguely themed toward their original costumes; Tattletale got an eye embossed on hers, Regent got a crown built into his, and Bitch's visor was a snarling dog's muzzle. All of this was in the black steel that Greg seemed to specialise in, of course.

A moment later, his effort paid off as a hail of gunfire poured down through the darkness and swept over us. They were firing blind, of course, but enough expenditure of ammunition would inevitably see results. I felt one bullet ping off my helmet and heard a couple more hit Greg; sparks flew off the others here and there, saving them from wounds that would've been debilitating at best and fatal at worst.

"Jesus Christ!" yelped Regent. "Who opted for bullet hell?"

"Fuck off!" yelled Tracey. I was pretty sure this was the first time I'd heard her swear ever, so that was a measure of the pressure we were under. She pointed up and back, and I saw her pull the wind-tunnel trick again, forcing Brian's darkness much higher than it would normally have gone. As a result, the slab slowed a little and the volume of fire slackened off.

"Where are they?" asked Greg, looking up and back into the cloud of darkness. "And is Purity around?"

"There." I twisted around and pointed at the flying slab of concrete. "And I haven't seen her yet, but be careful."

"Were you being careful when you took them all on at once?" he retorted. "Right now we're in 'do, or do not' territory. Stay safe." Letting me go, he took off straight up from the dog we were riding, like some kind of vehicle-launched cruise missile.

As Brian had noted, he was really into this. I just hoped it wouldn't get him killed. Him and me weren't done yet, not by a long shot.

<><>​

Greg

Flying was an absolute blast, in every sense of the word. It wasn't like he had rocket boots, but like the air under his feet was just forcing him forward. He was still figuring out how to alternate between 'full power' and 'off', but he was sure he'd get there eventually. Right now, he needed to kick some more Nazi ass.

With this firmly in mind, he launched up through the cloud of utter blackness that Brian had generated—how Taylor could see through it, he would never understand—and then levelled out once he could see again. Directly ahead, he spotted Rune and her passengers on their flying chunk of concrete; they immediately opened fire on him, so he brought up his arm to block them from hitting the vision slit in his visor. He could still see the concrete slab, though, so he could aim.

The volume of fire coming in at him sounded like hail on a tin roof as he closed with them; he could feel the metal weakening under the incessant impacts, but his power allowed him to shore it up and take the hits. They tried to dodge, but a ten-ton block of concrete was too heavy to just duck out of the way, so he stayed on target. If I spread my arms out at the last second, I can sweep them all off the block.

And then, with less than half a second to go, a smashing impact hit him from the side, hammering into his right leg just below the knee. Agonising pain blasted from his toes up to his hip even as he was thrown off course, veering aside from the flying concrete platform. More by instinct than intent, he threw out his hand and sent an air-hammer at the assholes on it, using the manoeuvre to redirect himself in case the sniper was lining up another shot.

As he flung himself over and dived for the cover of Brian's darkness, he spotted the culprit: Victor, of course. Coming in from the side with that damned oversized rifle, he'd held off from firing until Greg was totally focused on Rune's platform. He was too far away for Greg to have a hope of getting to him, and with that rifle he could punch through Greg's armour. Technically, Greg knew, he could make the armour thicker, but he was also wounded; the rifle had done damage to his leg. Better to back off than double down right now.

He changed direction twice, zig-zagging in the air, before he reached the cover of the darkness. On the second such change, he heard another shot, which came so close he heard it, but felt no impact. Then he was inside the darkness and levelling out, powering back toward Taylor and relative safety.

That was stupid, he told himself bitterly. I could've been killed.

It wasn't the first time he was going to get told that, he knew.

<><>​

Taylor

When Greg came flying back out of the darkness and flopped onto the dog-monster I was riding, I was shocked. Half the armour on his right leg was gone, and there was blood running down his leg. "Greg!" I gasped. "Tracey! Greg's hurt!"

"I'll do what I can." She reached out toward us and sent a glowing white tendril to the wound. A few seconds later, it cut out and she sagged in place. "I can't do more than that, but the bleeding's stopped."

"That's fine," Greg panted, leaning against me. "I'll be fine. And before you yell at me, I know it was a stupid idea. Victor was just waiting to ambush me."

"No," I said. "I heard them talking on the radio just after you took off. Victor was coming in from another area. And you knocked two of the guys off the platform, so that took the heat off us."

"Velocity came by too," Brian added. "He checked us out, then backed off, but I think the cavalry's on the way."

"Said no member of the Undersiders ever about the Protectorate or the PRT," snarked Regent.

The dogs took a corner at high speed, leaping over cars and ripping up asphalt with their claws. I hung on as tightly as I could, and Greg held on to me. The PRT building was within sight now, just another few hundred yards.

And then, Purity drifted down from above, hands glowing. From out of the intersection drove four heavy SUVs, which screeched to a halt. Men piled out of three of them, while Kaiser got out of the fourth. Two armoured women also climbed out, and began to expand in height. Someone handed Kaiser the same bulky metal tube as before.

"We can get through," Bitch said, but her tone was unsure. "We can take them."

"Not everyone." Tattletale's voice was quiet, even as the dogs slowed to a walk. "We'd lose people. Maybe even most of us."

"Well, they're going to try to kill us anyway." Tracey's voice was sharp-edged. "They already faked my death once. This is just them balancing the ledger."

"I'll flood the area with darkness," Brian began. "Taylor, if you can teleport—"

It seemed Purity wasn't willing to let us finish our discussion. I had the impression she was bitter about being shot, earlier. Summoning my redirection-ball, I hoped she'd target me again. Maybe I could get her and Kaiser to take each other out …

She fired, but it didn't go anywhere. This was because a dark-costumed figure was suddenly right in front of her, black cape flapping and curling with the sudden release of energy. Alexandria was driven back not one inch by Purity's attack; in return, she backhanded the Empire heavy-hitter almost casually, knocking her unconscious.

Legend flew in from the side and caught Purity, then unceremoniously dropped her to the ground from just low enough that she wouldn't take any more injury. Alexandria stared down the gathered Empire contingent with that folded-arms pose flying capes loved to use when they were intimidating people; Legend, looking back over the top of us toward Victor and Rune, had his hands on his hips.

Kaiser made the first move. He carefully laid the missile launcher on the ground, and climbed back into the SUV. One by one, his underlings did the same, Menja and Fenja reducing in size until they too could enter the vehicle. They started up and drove off, leaving the missile launcher still in the middle of the road, not far from Purity's unconscious body.

I looked around to see Victor and Rune likewise retreating before the unstated menace of two members of the Triumvirate. When I looked forward again, Alexandria was gazing down at us, her expression unreadable. Without so much as a nod of recognition, she rocketed up and then angled southward. I was pretty sure I heard a sonic boom.

"Go," Brian said urgently. "Before the Empire changes its mind and comes back."

But we didn't have to worry too much about that; the PRT was coming out in force, and we made the last hundred yards to the building with an honour guard of troopers and armoured vehicles on either side, watching the skies for any return of the villains. More troopers had gone out to collect Purity and the errant launcher.

None of us breathed easy until we were under cover, and the blast-proof doors rumbled down over the entrance to the parking garage. One by one, we got down off the dogs; Greg's leg was still weak, and I supported him as best I could. The troopers didn't quite seem to be sure what to do about us, but we made no hostile movements and neither did they.

And then an elevator door opened, and a solidly built woman in a blue business suit stepped out. "Alright," she said, looking from one to another of us. "None of you are under arrest. But I do want to know exactly what's going on here."

Tracey cleared her throat. "Yeah, we're probably going to need refreshments for this one."

<><>​

Cauldron Base

Legend

Keith made way for Rebecca to step through the Door into the common room where Contessa was waiting, then he followed on. The enigmatic woman looked up from her coffee and nodded to them. "Well?"

"Done," Rebecca said. "They nearly made it, even without our help." Her expression asked a question. Why did we need to intervene in a local conflict?

"Good." Contessa stood up, leaving the cup where it was. A Door opened before her, and she stepped through it.

Rebecca growled under her breath. "I hate it when she does that."

Keith took the cup and went to the sink to wash it up. "And yet, she keeps doing it."

He, too, wondered if he'd ever find out why she'd sent them to do that.

All things told, it didn't seem likely.



End of Part Twenty-One

 

[Knived]

Ew that cauldron part is bad and should be cut from this.
Other than that. Its pretty good

 

[macdjord]

I looked around, and saw Victor again. This time he was airborne, though he was wearing ordinary clothing and a domino mask rather than his regular metal armour. He was also carrying something; with my current lack of glasses, I couldn't see what it was, but I figured it was the rifle.

Click to shrink...

Wait, since when can Victor the Skill-Thief fly under his own power?

 

[Ack]

Ew that cauldron part is bad and should be cut from this.
Other than that. Its pretty good

Click to shrink...

Why?

Wait, since when can Victor the Skill-Thief fly under his own power?

Click to shrink...

Since Othala can impart the power of flight to anyone she chooses.

 

[macdjord]

Since Othala can impart the power of flight to anyone she chooses.

Click to shrink...

Never heard of that being on her list of grantable powers, actually.

 

[Ack]

Never heard of that being on her list of grantable powers, actually.

Click to shrink...

Othala – Can grant powers with a touch, drawing them from a limited, rather basic subset, including enhanced speed, strength, invincibility and flight. Othala wears a red bodysuit with a rune at the chest.

 

[NavigatorNobilis]

Never heard of that being on her list of grantable powers, actually.

Click to shrink...

I've never heard of a complete list of explicit powers. And in at least one fic, the lack of known Changer, Stranger, or Master powers was speculated to be due to them being kept secret, both for utility and deniability, rather than because she couldn't grant them.