Denial
1.4
Saturdays, for me at least, were a time to sleep in. No school meant no waking up early, and no bullies to worry about dodging. I cherished Saturdays almost as much as I hated Mondays. Thursdays were the worst, though. On Friday, Sophia and Emma would be looking forward to the weekend too much to do their worst, but they were bored of school by Thursday and unendingly cruel. Either way, Saturday was not a day to be up and about early, which was what made it so surprising that I had my head in my wardrobe, looking through my limited selection of outfits.
It was more a surprise because of how late I'd been up on PHO, reading through rumours of myself and becoming increasingly impressed with just how wild their predictions were. Some had it that I was the next Alexandria, while others said my suit clearly made me a gangster. Because, you know, criminals would walk around dressed like criminals. The police would have an easier job if they did.
Well, maybe the E88 were a contradiction to that rule.
And Lung, with his lack of a shirt and tattoos.
And the Merchants being stoned all the time…
Come to think of it, how did all the gangs in Brockton Bay manage to stay under the radar? Probably because their Capes outnumbered those of the Protectorate. Armsmaster would be all over them if he had the chance, I was sure, but he couldn't be everywhere at once and if he focused on the ABB, the E88 would attack them from behind. It was a four-way standoff with only the gangs benefitting from it.
But – that didn't matter to me. I had a guided tour of the Rig tomorrow and a chance to meet all the Wards and talk to them. It was going to be the best day of my life, and it was the anticipation that had me out of bed and checking my new outfit carefully. I really did wish the suit had a jacket to go with it. The trousers were really high quality, surprisingly so to find in a thrift shop, and I'd done a little research on the brand in the tag. Well, I'd jumped on a search engine and typed it in. Apparently, it was the name of a rather pricey custom tailor based in Europe. These pants were tailor-made.
Tailor made for Taylor? I thought with a little smile.
No. Not quite. They were wider in the hip for one. Made for a woman with, though. I'd not found a name or identifying tag inside, but whoever it was had some money to throw around. The dress shirt was from the same tailors. Small world. It made me want to go back and hunt for the jacket, but the nice lady there had already told me this was all they had. She couldn't remember who sold it to them, stating that she couldn't really remember if anyone had, but that there it was, so she must have forgotten.
I didn't want to mess them up today, so opted for some blue jeans and a black hoodie, typical me-wear on my days off. Comfortable, loose and concealing. It was cold out, not even eight in the morning, but I needed the fresh air. If I got cooped up all day I'd spend my time agonising over what I was going to say and do tomorrow. Now that I wasn't anyway, but at least I could be distracted outside.
Dad wasn't up yet – probably down and out from another late night. We didn't speak all that much in the mornings, so I wrote a quick note telling him I was going out, just so he wouldn't worry, grabbed a bowl of cereal, downed it so fast I nearly choked, and stepped out the door still munching away.
As I did, I thought about Dinah. Her parents had been killed from what I heard, and she was going to be staying at the Rig, in the protection of the Wards, at least until her other family – an uncle, apparently – could come and decide what to do. I hoped she'd stay. Not for me, but because the Wards would be able to look after her. Unless their family wanted to move out of state, I didn't like the idea of her being on her own.
I was worrying for nothing, though. There was no way Armsmaster and the Protectorate was going to let her be in danger. It was their job to help her, and unlike me she had powers and would be of use to them. I wondered if I'd ever have a chance to be friends with her again, before ultimately deciding it was up to her. Considering how much trouble Dinah got me in the last time, I wasn't sure it would be worth it. At the end of the day, it was none of my business. I wasn't involved with Capes, Gangs or anything like that.
I caught the bus and made my way into Brockton Bay proper.
-------
The bus was quiet so early on a Saturday. Just me, some burly fitness guy towards the front with a light-grey gym jacket and hood, and a youngish girl with blonde hair, her upper face hidden as she typed away on a cell with a pair of earbuds reaching up into her hoodie. I enjoyed the relative silence and the chance to sit a good five seats away from anyone. The school bus was normally a lot worse.
When my stop came around, I pushed a button to ring the bell. To my annoyance, the driver didn't hear it – lost in conversation with the fitness guy up front. I rang it again, twice in quick succession, but it was drowned out by their laughter and the bus drove on, past my stop entirely.
"Great," I muttered, standing. Even when I got up early, the world couldn't help but inconvenience me. I pulled my way to the front using the poles that interspersed the bus for purchase. "Excuse me," I called when I got closer. "Hey! Excuse me!" Finally, I reached them, and they finally stopped chatting and paid attention to me. "You missed my stop."
"Nah," the driver laughed. "Don't think I did."
"No. You did! I rung the bell."
"It wasn't your stop, missy. You should sit down. It's against regs to have someone standing when the bus isn't full." The condescending tone of voice nettled me and I took a step forward, not quite sure of what I was going to do, but at least prepared to look the driver in the eye.
A hand caught my wrist in a grip like solid iron. "He said sit down," gym guy grunted, voice gruff and muffled. "Take the advice."
"Excuse me?" I tried to pull out of his grip but found I couldn't. He had fingers like solid iron bands and strength far beyond what I could hope to muster. "Let go of me," I half-demanded, half-pleaded. "Or I'll shout."
"I wouldn't do that."
He let go of me. I stumbled back, but found my path obstructed. The girl from before was stood behind me, arms straight at her side, a smile on her face. The lower half of it, anyway. The upper half was covered with cloth. Like a mask.
A mask! Shit.
"Sit down," the girl said. "He asked you nicely. He might not be so nice the next time."
The girl followed up her words with a gentle push from behind. I'd already gone slack, muscles turned to jelly, so I didn't put up much of a fight. My legs hit the chair. I fell, instinctively turning so that I was sat down, now right next to the burly man. The girl – the Cape – sat on the other side of me.
"Who are you? What do you want with me?"
"Nothin' much, girl." The man pushed his hood back just a little, enough to reveal dirty blond hair and a mask of solid metal, shaped like a wolf. My mouth went dry. I tried to swallow and almost choked. "Just your co-operation. And a little talk."
Hookwolf.
The Empire.
------
I kept my head down for the next few minutes, mind awhirl. The Empire 88 – the resident Nazi movement of Brockton Bay – had for some reason taken me hostage. Why? At the risk of sounding just like them, I was white, Caucasian and everything they were supposed to want. I had no obvious ancestry that might get me in trouble and certainty hadn't caused problems with any of the E88 kids in school. Hell, considering how much Sophia made it her job to hate me, I'd been surprised I'd never had a recruitment speech. Figured she scared them too much for that.
If it were the Merchants, I might understand. Kidnap me, get me hooked on drugs and suddenly you had another customer. The ABB? Hatred against my race was enough, but it could have been revenge for Lung. I doubted I was attractive enough for their whorehouses. But the Empire? It made no sense. Did they want something from Dad? They could just go after him if they did or take over the DWA through force.
Unless they'd been the ones after Dinah…
Christ. I'd interfered, gotten Dinah to safety and then acted like my part in the whole thing was over and done with. I was such an idiot! Of course they'd want to make an example of the person who cost them a powerful precog. Oh God, I was going to be strung up to die. They were going to make an example of me.
"Are you going to kill me?" I blurted out.
Hookwolf looked down on me. I had the feeling he was disgusted with my fear but to hell with him. He wasn't the helpless one here. It was easy to feel tough when it was two parahumans and a goon against a teenage girl. "Depends."
I tried to sound brave. "On what?"
"You."
He growled under his breath and I took the hint. The time for questions wasn't now and I should shut up. I looked to the girl I'd realised was Rune, but I wasn't sure why. There was no support there. Although she wore her mask, the rest of her outfit was casual, not like the depictions and pictures I'd seen of her. I guessed she didn't want to cause a scene. I'd not have gotten on the bus if she'd been dressed in her full costume.
The driver turned the bus into what appeared to be a disused construction yard. We entered a warehouse which had an open door and were suddenly cast into darkness. The only light was the sunlight cast through the large doors, which didn't reach the bus as it came to a stop, and the dim illumination from the vehicle's automated lights.
"We're here," the driver said.
"Good. Get gone. You don't need to be here for this."
The driver nodded, stepped out of the booth and then off the bus. I heard his footsteps echo away as he left, and despite him being a useless Nazi, I still wished he hadn't left me the only normal human here. Were they getting rid of him so he didn't have to see them kill me? Or was this worse and they were going to make an example of me, torture me for daring to cost them Dinah? As ever, my imagination made things worse than it ever could be. Or at least I hoped so.
When Hookwolf stood, I shrunk in on myself. His hand caught my collar, hauling me up. I couldn't believe how easily he did it; I was skinny, but I had to weigh something and yet he carried me with one hand, back down the bus to the rear seats, which he tossed me back into. My head cracked painfully against the back window. Rune stood a little behind him, watching over his shoulder as he inspected me, looking me up and down.
"You sure don't look like much."
Offended? Not offended? Which was the right choice? Maybe it was good if I looked useless so they would let me go, but it could just as easily be bad. In the end, I supposed it didn't matter. They were the ones in control.
What would Armsmaster do?
Well, he'd pull out a halberd and demolish them. Not exactly helpful in my situation. I didn't even have my pepper spray since Lung took it all and I'd not yet dared to tell my father what happened. To my name, my only weapons were my fingernails.
Against a guy who could literally grow hooks and blades out of his flesh.
I should have slept in…
"I'm not the one they normally send," Hookwolf said. "Kaiser prefers a softer sell, says it makes for longer term assets, but we don't have the time on this one. Understand this is your fault. You're the one who went to the Protectorate. We could have done this the easy way."
Hookwolf raised a hand, and before my eyes his grey hoodie was torn to shreds. His arm erupted in sharp barbs and glinting metal. He slammed it towards my face and I screamed, only to go silent as I heard metal tear. I cracked one eye open and immediately wished I hadn't. Hookwolf had lodged his arm next to my head, through the seat's headrest and the chassis of the bus itself. The message was clear; that could just as easily have been my skull.
"The Empire needs capes. Join us and help fix that problem."
A recruitment speech? That was what this was? I wanted to laugh but feared it might come out hysterical of worse. And I was right; they did want me to help get Dinah for them. They must have known I had a tour tomorrow and felt I could lure her out. To her doom, possibly. They'd already killed her parents.
But what was I to say? No, obviously. My heart said no even before Dad's constant warnings kicked in. My mind told my heart and Dad to shut up before they got us killed. Joining didn't mean loyalty, right? I could say yes and then run away. Get back to Dad, to the PRT, the Protectorate. We could skip Brockton Bay. Sure, we couldn't afford it, but Dad would move if it was my life on the line. The Empire couldn't follow us everywhere, right?
Could it…?
I wasn't sure. My eyes stung but no tears came forth. I had no idea whether it was bravery or a suicidal kind of virtue, but I prepared myself to spit in his face. He'd kill me, but at least it wouldn't mean turning Dinah over to this monster. It wasn't even me they wanted – some useless girl – but Dinah's powers. Once they had her, I'd probably be killed anyway. I opened my mouth, formed the words to tell him exactly where he could shove his offer, and then froze.
"Well?" Hookwolf demanded, patience gone.
I gave him no answer. Couldn't. As Hookwolf brought his hand forward to grip my neck, or kill me, a figure in full black came hurtling towards the window behind him, feet first. Glass exploded inward and I had a brief moment to catch Shadowstalker's distinctive mask and the grey soles of her boots before her crossbow was already discharging, aimed at Hookwolf's face, even though he was not two feet away from me, in the confined space of what was probably about to become the most unfortunate bus journey of my life.
I was proven right a second later.
Denial
1.5
I've heard it said that the world can seem to move in slow motion in extreme situations. I'd never been sure until now if that was the truth or just some convenient ploy to let movie directors get away with it. Time certainly did seem to slow down, but I was still paralysed with indecision, so it didn't really make a difference. I did get a wonderful front-row seat to Hookwolf spinning on one heel and ploughing an arm made of metallic death through Shadow Stalker, so that was a thing.
A thing that made me scream.
I needn't have. Shadow Stalker burst into smoke an instant before he connected, and the smoke seemed to flow through and around Hookwolf, coalescing on the other side of him as Shadow Stalker's boots hit the floor. Still moving, and still relying on her momentum, Shadow Stalker grabbed me by the shoulder and bodily hurled me at the nearest window.
Now, the theory was sound. I'd give her that. I knew what she was going for and I wanted to be out of the murder-bus as much as anyone else, but this being a public bus there were certain health and safety things in place. One of which included windows that wouldn't shatter quite so easily. Shadow Stalker striking one with a huge run-up, her no-doubt military-grade boots and a crossbow was one thing. Gangly, skinny, scrawny me was another. When the window and I met, the window refused to compromise. My rebuttal came in the form of my face being squashed up against it.
"Oof!" I slammed into it and held there for a fraction of a second, before I slid down with the kind of noise one made running the palm of their hand down a glass surface. I didn't think anything had broken but I was still stunned.
That might have saved my life to be honest. Hookwolf wasn't known for his subtlety and turned into a whirring storm of death, a transformation somewhere between a human and a wolf, but limited by the confines of the bus. Fortunately for me, his attention was focused on Shadow Stalker and he all but forgot about me, laid flat on the floor.
It wouldn't last, of course. Or the bus wouldn't. I reached out and dragged myself forward, pulling my body flat along the ground and under the seat in front of me. I barely got out of the way before Hookwolf charged Shadow Stalker, roaring at the top of his lungs. Shadow Stalker turned into smoke and thus dodged him, but he carried on by momentum alone, crashing into the side of the bus and doing a much better job of it than I. He tore through glass, metal and upholstery like it was nothing. Coincidentally, that included the spot I'd occupied all of four seconds ago.
I'd very nearly become a Taylor smoothie. Not something I wanted to consider.
Shadow Stalker and Hookwolf were outside the bus now. That had to have been her plan, right? Save me and get him out at the same time? If it was, it worked a charm. The alarm on the bus was going wild and the lights were flashing, but I didn't think it could explode or anything. If I kept low, I might be able to hide here until they left.
Or until they won and came back to finish me off.
Okay, not hiding then. Huddled into a ball, I watched Rune's feet in the aisle in front of me, trying desperately not to breathe lest she heard me. The girl took a few short steps and sighed audibly. To my relief, she stepped out of the ruined hole and onto what appeared to be a floating platform of rock. It hovered away, ignoring me entirely.
Yes, yes, yes. I held in a cheer and waited another three seconds to be sure she'd moved on before I dragged myself out from my impromptu hiding spot. I kept low still, peeking out a non-ruined window to see if it was safe.
Well, not safe…
There wasn't much `safe` about a warehouse containing a fight between a Ward and two Nazi supervillains, but `safe enough` was what I was looking for, and I got something… not quite that, but about as good as I was going to get.
Hookwolf was actively trying to murder Shadow Stalker, while the Ward in question dodged and fought for distance, frantically reloading a crossbow that was all kinds of useless against a huge animal made entirely of metal. I'd heard she used to be a vigilante before the Wards got hold of her, and that despite still using a crossbow, she had tranquiliser darts. It didn't look like they were doing much to Hookwolf. Rune was on her way too, no doubt to double-team the Ward. Between them, they could probably bring her down. I bit my lip at the thought.
No, I couldn't think about that. Shadow Stalker was doing her best to give me a chance to run. If I got out of here, she could flee too. Besides, what use could I be? Hookwolf was as good as invincible as far as I was concerned, and Rune…
Well, Rune was, to the best of my knowledge, a telekinetic. She didn't have the same endurance Hookwolf did, but that still put her leagues above me. The best thing I could do was run and call the PRT. Not that I had a cell phone or anything.
Ugh. I really had to revisit that idea, no matter what Dad thought of seeing me with one. Okay, fine. I'd get out, find someone and see if they could call the PRT. That was as much as I could offer Shadow Stalker. The girl who just saved my life.
Potentially at the expense of her own…
And whom I was now going to abandon…
"It's not abandoning," I told myself, voice a whisper. "It's a tactical retreat."
It was nothing like the locker. It wasn't like when I'd needed help, and everyone chose to do nothing, to run away and pretend they couldn't see what was going on because it was safer for them to do so. This was nothing like that at all!
…
"God damn it!"
------
Hookwolf had pushed Shadow Stalker back towards an interior office and was cornering her as best he could, for all that she kept escaping into her smoke form. He was locking her into a single spot, however, from which Rune could pepper or rain rocks down on her. Since Hookwolf would be mostly able to ignore those, it would only be a matter of time until Shadow Stalker made a mistake, at which point she'd surely be killed.
Shadow Stalker saw it coming and fired off a bolt towards Rune, accurately guessing she'd be the easiest to bring down. Unfortunately, Rune saw it coming and brought two smaller rocks before her, using them as a shield to knock the bolt aside.
Rune smiled cruelly and brought her disc back out of range. She reached out to touch a wooden crate for a few seconds, after which it rose up into the air. With a flick of her hand, she sent it hurtling towards Shadow Stalker. Though it missed, the Ward dodging, Rune simply reached out to another, content to continue so long as she had ammunition. She was so focused on her target that she didn't notice the far smaller, wiry shadow slip behind the crates.
This was, I decided, a really bad idea.
Like, moronic.
Complete idiocy.
Pausing for a second, I caught my breath. Or tried to even it out. My heart was beating entirely too fast and I could barely stop my legs from shaking. It was a wonder everyone couldn't hear me just by my heartbeat. On the other side of a pile of crates in front of me was Rune, a deadly Nazi supervillain.
A deadly Nazi supervillain who was also a young girl. A young girl who, judging by her frame and height, couldn't have been even fourteen. I was fifteen, and while that didn't sound like a lot, I was bigger than her. Rune's thing was all about telekinesis. I was sure she didn't have a Brute rating, which meant that sans the ability to lift and throw objects around, she was basically the same as any other girl. I could, in theory, overpower her.
Assuming I didn't get a rock sent through my body. Or that she didn't have a gun. Or a weapon. Or was trained. Or couldn't empower and move me. Wow, that was a whole lot of options now that I thought about it. Except that I couldn't think about it because I'd chosen to hide behind the crates she was using as ammo, and during my little panic session, she'd gotten through about half of them. Any more and she'd reveal me.
Moment of truth, Taylor, I told myself. Time to prove you're not as bad as everyone else in Winslow was.
Shadow Stalker hadn't abandoned me, so I wouldn't abandon her.
When Rune empowered the next crate, she levitated it up and took aim again. It soared away, fired like artillery to crash through Shadow Stalker's form. Even if it did nothing, it drove her back towards Hookwolf, who bowled forward like a razor-blade apocalypse. Rune laughed cruelly, reaching out for another crate.
I handed her one. Two handed, swung down over my head and onto hers.
"Arghhhh!"
The crate cracked over Rune's head, the aged wood cracking and splintering but – against all odds – not falling apart entirely. Instead, she was trapped for a moment with the crate covering her face, her head trapped inside. Instinctively, she tried to move her disc away, but I was already in the air. I hit the side of it and tried to pull myself up like a swimmer pulling herself out of a pool. At least, that was how I'd imagined it in my head.
It wasn't that easy.
Maybe it was the lack of water, the adrenaline or the fact Rune's disc wobbled and swept around madly, the Cape losing some control of it due to her lack of vision and the sudden weight, but it was ridiculously hard to pull myself up – more akin to mountain climbing than swimming. I was neither form of athlete - or any at all - and flailed around uselessly, feet scraping along the floor as Rune's disc sped across the warehouse like a spinning-top on crack cocaine.
"Wall!" I cried out. "Wall, wall, wall!"
Rune must have heard and realised neither of us was going to survive an impact. The disc suddenly veered left, and my legs flew out as momentum threatened to tear me off entirely. I only just managed to hold on, dragging myself further up with one hand. Once I saw over the rim, my eyes widened again.
"Another wall!" I yelped. "Left, left, left, left, le- eek!"
"Let go!" Rune cried, still fighting with her new hat-mask combo, now in wood-brown. Her voice echoed weirdly through it. "Let go or we'll crash!"
"If I do, then I'll crash!"
"Good! Fucking race traitor!"
Like that was going to incentivise me. Rune's disc dipped a little, enough that my feet hit the floor and I had to run to keep up with it. Rune tried to counter it by dipping my side down, maybe wanting to scrape me off against the floor, but I countered in panic by kicking myself up and reaching for her instead. In my head, the plan was simple. I'd grab her, pull myself up and wrestle her into submission. I was bigger, heavier and had the advantage of height.
It didn't quite work how I'd planned it. The second my hand snatched her ankle, my foot caught on the floor and I tripped. I fell, and since I had a hold of Rune, she fell as well. It turned out that she wasn't so much `locked` onto her disc as just `balancing precariously`, which meant that when I accidentally dragged her off it, the disc shot off like the world's angriest frisbee, causing a horrifying crashing sound in the distance. Rune and I hit the floor together, the crate stuck over her head breaking apart on impact. Still aware I could die at any moment, I jumped on top of her.
At which point flaw number two made itself apparent. Rune was younger, yes, and lighter and smaller than me, but she was still a supervillain. She was used to fighting. I was used to being trapped in a locker and pushed down stairs. My fighting consisted of punches, attempts to hold her wrists down and hissed threats.
Rune punched, kick, scratched, gouged, pulled hair, bit, spat and was made of elbows, knees and spite. She felt more Hookwolf than Hookwolf did.
"Ow! Argh! No, no. Stop! OW!"
"Race traitor! Jew bitch! Heeb!"
"You're a Nazi!"
I tried to punch her again, only to yelp as she twisted out of the way and hooked her arm around my neck from behind, pinning me against her. She really was strong. Went to show height and size wasn't everything. I managed to get a hand up behind hers, so she couldn't choke me, but all I could do to get her off was try to knock my head back into hers and flail my other hand uselessly. Her grip was as hard as iron.
She, on the other hand, had options. I watched in horror as a piece of rubble we'd been fighting on rose ominously into the air in front of us. It didn't take a genius to figure out Rune's plan. I started struggling harder, for all the good it did me.
"How you like it now, bitch? Should have just joined us."
"Offer still open!?" I asked, panicked.
Rune snorted. The rock rushed in for my face – she wasn't even going to fuck around trying to knock me out, was she? A terrified scream escaped me, and my eyes grew wide. No help. No rescue. No nothing. In a last-ditch effort driven by raw instinct more than planning, I opened my mouth wide, exposed my teeth, and bit down on her wrist.
"OW! YOU BITCH!"
Rune dropped me. I fell onto my hands and knees, eyes wide.
There was a sickening crack behind me, followed by a groan and the sound of a body slumping to the floor. I dared to look back, and realised that Rune was out for the count, bleeding from her nose and mouth.
On the other side of the warehouse, Shadow Stalker was stood still, crossbow pointed to the ground and attention focused on me for some reason. Wait, where was Hookwolf? I glanced around and quickly found him. He'd been pinned to, and partly into, the wall of the warehouse, a solid disc of stone embedded in his stomach, almost cutting him in two. There was no blood, but he clearly couldn't drag himself off the wall.
"No fucking way," Shadow Stalker said, still looking at me. "This is not fucking happening…"
A moment later, the wall behind us crashed open as two figures – both in red uniforms, though one being a Ward and the other a full-blown and well-known Protectorate Hero – entered the warehouse.
"Hookwolf, surrender!" Assault yelled.
"Shadow Stalker, we're here to help!" Aegis echoed.
The two Heroes had a moment to awkwardly take in the situation, their lateness, and the fact that both opponents were down and out for the count. Or at least Rune was. Hookwolf would probably escape from his Rune-induced incident in a few minutes if they didn't deal with him. After staring at the two, the two Heroes looked to Shadow Stalker, and then to me.
I tried to adjust my, by now completely broken, glasses and waved at them. "Um." I hesitated awkwardly for a moment, and then said the first thing to come to mind. "Thank you for rescuing me?"
Despite the masks, both Assault and Aegis managed to look embarrassed.
Spoiler: NoteLast edited: 18/9/2018 Award Quote ReplyReport1765Nara'la17/9/2018Reader modeNewAdd bookmark Threadmarks NoelemahcThese things, they happen.Award RecipientHe/Him17/9/2018Add bookmark#238This was a neat fight, although I would have thought that having a wooden crate smashed into your head hard enough to smash your head inside of it would more than simoly inconvenience you by obscuring your vision. More importantly, Taylor did, technically, win this fight
Nara'la said:this early in the story I'm fairly sure Rune is just a normal personI love how this implies that down the road she becomes this huge mutant beast with laser eyes and acid breath. I'm moderately certain she never becomes anything other than a squishy teen with TK powers? Award Quote ReplyReport239thesevenwielderMehBanned17/9/2018Add bookmark#239User is banned, and can not reply to this threadSo was Rune hit by the rock she was going to kill Taylor with?