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Rating:
Teen And Up Audiences
Archive Warning:
No Archive Warnings Apply
Fandoms:
Parahumans Series - WildbowVampire: The Masquerade
Characters:
Taylor Hebert | Skitter | WeaverLasombra Antediluvian (Vampire: The Masquerade)
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Canon-Typical ViolenceAlt-Power Taylor HebertCompetent Parahuman Response Team | PRT
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English
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Published:2025-06-22Updated:2026-02-11Words:157,182Chapters:25/?Comments:650Kudos:1,401Bookmarks:539Hits:75,849
Abyssal Escalation
Zahariel_Scholar
Chapter 12: Dominate
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
"ARCHER BRIDGE'S MERCHANTS CAPTURED
Last night, in a daring raid led by Armsmaster and Miss Militia, the BBPD and PRT struck at the headquarters of the gang commonly known as 'the Merchants', which have been responsible for numerous acts of drug trafficking as well as robberies and murders over the years.
The parahuman members of the group, Skidmark, Squealer and Mush, were all successfully apprehended …"
Extract from the headlines of the newspaper Bay Gazette, January 20th, 2011.
"Omen's intel on the Merchants was correct. After her questions reduced the potential hideouts to a handful of possible locations, we were able to identify the one their capes were occupying using mundane surveillance methods in cooperation with the BBPD.
At the time of the raid, Squealer was working on a new vehicle for the gang's use. It was based on the chassis of a monstertruck and, after studying it, I believe that, had she been allowed to finish it, it would have caused significant damage before we could disable it. It's cloaking field in particular would have complicated the chase : I have removed it and intend to study it with Dragon's help to see whether it can be reverse-engineered for the PRT's use.
By launching the raid within the time window recommended by Omen, we were able to strike while Skidmark and Mush were incapacitated by their drug use. They were arrested without difficulty, and Squealer herself did little more than dent one of the troopers' helmet with a wrench.
It is my belief that Omen's tactical contributions to the ENE PRT alone would be priceless, but I am aware that she is likely to be assigned to the Think Tank once the paperwork for her evaluation is processed. If her parents agree to their relocation, it will be a shame to lose her."
Extract from the after-action report of Armsmaster, logged onto the PRT servers on January 21st, 2011.
"… as of now, we have identified five individuals who were subverted by Calvert, and two more working for the Empire Eighty-Eight. Three more are still being investigated for possible ties to the now-defunct ABB.
Working with Dragon, we have also been able to identify several backdoors in the PRT's computer systems which could only have been installed by someone with passwords beyond what Calvert's position would give him. Between this and the fact that previous investigations of the ENE branch failed to uncover anything of note, the probability of a Thinker power of some kind being involved in the process is a near-certainty at this point."
Extract from the progress report of the PRT Internal Affairs team dispatched to Brockton Bay to investigate the penetration of the organization's local branch by the deceased supervillain Coil, January 23rd, 2011.
"… custody of Aster Anders shall be passed on to Kayden Anders née Russel, as Max Anders' professional duties sadly leave him believing that he is ill-suited to provide their infant daughter with the love and care she deserves …"
Extract from the documents submitted to the court of Brockton Bay by the lawyers of Max Anders, January 24th, 2011.
Over the forty-three years he'd spent in Brockton Bay, Fred had crossed paths with the Empire many times, despite his best efforts otherwise. As a black man, he had been forced to learn which parts of town were safe for him to be in, which ones he should avoid after dark, and which ones he should never step foot in. Oh, the Nazis wouldn't attack you in broad daylight – well, not often – but they'd make a note of it, and pay you a little visit later to teach you a lesson about 'going where you weren't wanted'.
He'd managed to stay more or less safe, apart from a couple close calls in his youth. Now, however, his luck had run out. He hadn't even been doing anything : the skinheads had just pulled over while he was going home from work at the Docks, kicked him around a little, and thrown him into the back of their van without so much as an explanation, just a barked order to stay quiet if he knew what was good for him. Fred had kept his mouth shut, not wanting to risk provoking the thugs into beating him up more; he'd a feeling he was going to need all his strength for whatever was to come.
Now here he was, inside what could only be described as a pen made of head-high walls of sharp metal blades at the center of a warehouse, empty but for a few crates that had been pushed to the walls. There were other people around him, all of them members of one minority or another : Black, Spanish, Asian, a few who were clutching Jewish symbols – there weren't many of those left in the Bay, what with all the fucking Nazis – and even a handful of same-sex couples. All of them had been roughed up, with bruises visible on many faces. There were no children, but that was a small mercy : the youngest member of the crowd looked to be, what, fifteen ? Sixteen ? Far too young to be involved in this. But then, Fred didn't feel old enough himself.
He didn't know why they were all here, but he could tell it wasn't anything good. Getting taken off the street by a bunch of Nazis wasn't the kind of thing that led to free cake and drinks. Was this a mass initiation ? Everyone knew the Empire was losing ground and people since a bunch of their capes had been captured recently. Getting a fresh bunch of soldiers of the glorious white race bloodied to bolster their ranks might be someone's idea of a good plan.
Except, when Fred looked through the gaps in the blade fence, he could see that the skinheads looked really nervous by the way they were all looking around all the time, eyes wide, clutching their weapons like security blankets. Even the capes were nervous – and there were far too many of them here, the entire roster the Empire had left if he was any judged, including Kaiser himself. The Empire's head honcho didn't show up for anything but the gang's most important operations.
So clearly, there was something else going on. The Nazis had taken his watch along with his phone, but looking at the window, it looked like they'd been stuck here for several hours; long enough for the sun to set. The Empire goons had started getting a lot more nervous since then, and Fred had a feeling he knew why. Every Brocktonite knew that, since a few weeks, things in the Bay had changed, and what the coming of the night heralded for the gangs.
Fred took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. He hadn't been to church in a long, long time, but he still found himself praying – even though everybody knew God didn't answer prayers in Brockton Bay.
Then there was a sound, coming from the front of the warehouse.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
Fred opened his eyes, and there he was. Lasombra, the cape who had taken down Lung and Hookwolf. The hero who had stopped numerous crimes across the city, always emerging from the shadows, striking down criminals and then vanishing without a trace. He was even more intimidating in person than the stories made it seem, but Fred didn't care. Lasombra could have appeared in a flash of hellfire and be accompanied by the howling shades of the damned, and he wouldn't have cared, so long as he helped rescue him and the other captives.
The Empire thugs stared at Lasombra, who presumably stared back from within the shadows that made up his head. Fred could tell they were scared, and with good reason.
"Ah, Lasombra," said Kaiser. "How nice of you to join us. I expected this little gathering of undesirable would draw you out, but I'm surprised it happened so quickly."
The shadowy cape turned his head around, taking in the whole scene : the Empire capes, the armed goons, and the metallic cage. A shiver ran down Fred's spine as Lasombra's eyeless gaze swept over him.
Then he spoke, a single word that came out of every shadow in the warehouse, thick with threat :
"MISTAKE."
"Yes," snarled Kaiser. "But not mine : yours."
And then, all of sudden, there was fire, and light, and heat. A bright white pillar that plunged down on where Lasombra had stood, blinding Fred and everyone else.
God, Fred thought, closing his burning eyes to shield them from the radiance reflecting on the walls of the cage. Please, no. Not him. Not like this.
Kayden took a deep breath. She'd done it. She'd killed Lasombra.
Max had already signed over custody of Aster to her, and had promised to give her enough money to leave the city and settle anywhere else in the United States after tonight. It would hurt to abandon the career she'd built in this city, both as a civilian and as an independent cape, but a clean break from her past would be best for her and her daughter –
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
No. No, it couldn't be. She'd just killed him ! She'd seen him burn away to nothing !
But it was. Lasombra was here, walking out of the smoke from the vaporised concrete, completely unharmed.
So much for Gesellschaft's vaunted Thinker support, she thought numbly. According to Krieg's briefing once she'd accepted Max's deal, they'd been so certain that sunlight was Lasombra's weakness; it even made sense, given that he only appeared at night or, if the rumors that he'd been involved in Coil's downfall were true, underground where the sun didn't reach. And yet, he'd shrugged off her ambush as if it were nothing more than a minor inconvenience –
No. No, she suddenly realized. Something had changed in Lasombra's posture : he had been angry before, but now he moved with less … control. He had recovered from her attack, yes, but she had hurt him; he was just hiding it really, really well.
Which meant that she could still win this. She gathered power for another blast, but before she could let loose, he was suddenly right in front of her, looming above her. His left hand closed around her face, forcing her to look straight into the faceless blackness that served as his head.
"NAZI. SCUM."
Purity saw colored faces staring at her in terror, and heard the sounds of screams begging for mercy. She recognized some of them as the criminals she had struck at since breaking away from the Empire – Asian whores and their matrons, thugs planning to rob white-owned stores, wide-eyed drug addicts huddling in the shadows of dirty alleys as they indulged in their vices. They stared at her, and she saw things move behind their wide eyes, terrible and unknowable, reaching out toward her to drag her down into the black with them –
Then the cane hit her in the side of the head, and there was only darkness, and the howling of nightmares.
How dare they.
I was fucking furious, in a way I hadn't felt since the ABB brothel on my second night out. When I'd laid down in bed, closed my eyes and projected my consciousness into the Abyss, this place had been as close to a blazing beacon as could be imagined within the infinite darkness.
I'd known it was a trap the moment I'd extended my mind through the shadowscape. Kaiser couldn't have made it more obvious if he'd hung up a big neon sign above the warehouse spelling 'AMBUSH WAITING HERE'. But what else was I supposed to do ? There were over thirty people being held in that building, and somehow I doubted the Empire would just let them go if Lasombra didn't show up. I could have called the police or, given how many villains were present (and the open secret that the E88 had sympathizers in the BBPD who were sure to warn them in advance), the PRT, but Lasombra didn't have a phone, and even if I dismissed my projection and called them myself, what was I supposed to tell them that would convince them to act swiftly enough ?
… No, I was lying to myself. Even if I couldn't call the police directly, I could've called Tattletale, and have her contact the heroes : I was sure she would've figured out a way to get them to take the tip seriously. The real reason was that I couldn't turn away and ignore the problem. It didn't matter that it was a trap specifically made for me : what mattered was that there were people who needed my help, and who were in this situation because of me, however indirectly.
And so here I was, facing off against the entire remaining roster of the Empire Eighty-Eight, with a bunch of innocent people at risk of being caught in the crossfire.
I could feel how scared these people were. Even now that I'd shown up, they were still in an enclosed space with a bunch of capes fighting, and they all knew how dangerous that was. My appearance and seeming invulnerability to Purity's blast had given them hope, but it was a fragile thing, outweighed by their very reasonable fear of being collateral damage.
I wouldn't let that happen, even if it meant I'd to kill every single Nazi in the building. I'd still try to take them alive, because that was the right thing to do and because the PRT could use prisoners to dismantle the entire organization root and stem, but if the choice was between their life and that of a hostage, then fuck them.
Fortunately, things were going relatively well for now. It was clear that Purity had been the Empire's ace in the hole, the counter to Lasombra they'd been relying on. I'd read rumors on PHO that she'd broken off from the Empire Eighty-Eight to do her own thing, but it seemed they'd just been that – rumors. Whether the break had been genuine and she'd come back to the Empire for one reason or another, or it had all been some kind of twisted ploy didn't matter : she had stood by and done nothing while the Empire kidnapped and held people hostages.
Her light had burned, oh yes. It had banished the shadows which made up my projection, and hurled my consciousness back into the Abyss. But the pain had been … dull, for lack of a better word. Far less biting than what I'd felt when I'd burst out of Coil's underground lair and into the sunlight.
Was it because I was feeling it through a projection, or because Purity's power lacked some undefined quality of true sunlight ? I didn't know, and now wasn't the time to figure it out. Instead, I had hurled myself back out into the world, rebuilding Lasombra from the stuff of the Abyss as fast as I could and acting as if he'd simply tanked the attack without problem. Then, before she could recover from the shock of seeing her attack apparently fail, I'd hit Purity hard enough that even with her transformation's Brute rating, she'd fallen unconscious, her body returning to normal as she collapsed.
Before I could move, the rest of the E88's capes went on the offensive. I had to admit part of me was impressed by their courage. The thugs opened fire with their guns, but I ignored them : their bullets couldn't harm me, and the metal fence should keep the hostages safe from accidents. I was more preoccupied with the pair of blonde bodyguards wielding melee weapons who were charging me, growing taller with every step. These would be Fenja and Menja, then.
My first blow smashed into the left giant Nazi's knee, but I didn't hear the sound of the bone breaking under the impact. I knew Menja and Fenja had increased resilience when they transformed (also that they blatantly violated the square-cube law, but I could hardly throw stones when it came to bending the rules of physics), but not to that level.
Ah. Invulnerability. Right, that was one of the powers Othala was capable of bestowing on people.
But that protection was only physical, and I wasn't restricted to mere punching. I sent a mental command, and Marchosias leapt from my shadow and bit deep into the giant Nazi's shoulder. She screamed, her Brute rating completely useless against my familiar's terror-inducing fangs. Her sister tried to help her, but the moment her hand closed around Marchosias, the black she-wolf disappeared, before emerging from the shadows the lightbulbs cast across the roof and drop on her back.
The second giant screamed, too, and joined her sister on the ground, their size already decreasing – presumably they needed to maintain some level of focus in order for their power to work, and I knew Marchosias' bite wasn't exactly conductive to keeping a clear head. I was already moving, catching a tossed crate from Rune and hurling it back at her. Before she could use her power to catch it back, a black tentacle rose up from her shadow and wrapped itself around her.
She screamed in surprise, and the distraction was enough for the crate to hit her. She went down, and I extended a few more tentacles to keep her from breaking her neck on the floor. Strangely, the sight of a teenage girl being surrounded by black tendrils seemed to cause the Empire goons to panic.
A swarm of spear-wielding ghosts charged me. Rather than waste my time dealing with them, I reached into the shadowscape, found their source, blinked in front of Crusader, and punched him out, all in a handful of seconds.
"I can't get a grip on him !" shouted Krieg, his arms stretched in my direction as he tried and failed to use his power on my projection. I wasn't sure why that was : presumably my projection's nature as a construct of Abyssal energies was messing with his power. But I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
I blinked right in front of him, and punched him in the chest, right where the false medals of his stupid Nazi uniform were. I felt some unusual resistance as he tried to use his power to protect himself, but I was more than strong enough to overcome it, and he went flying before crashing into a pile of precariously balanced crates. Clearly whoever had cleared the warehouse's floor for this ambush hadn't been trained by the Dockworkers' Association, because the whole thing collapsed on Krieg with a thunderous noise. I could still feel his mind underneath, so he wasn't dead, but I doubted he would be getting out anytime soon.
By this point, the unpowered thugs were well and truly freaked out. I straightened and turned toward Kaiser, who was looking a lot less confident with every one of his minions I dispatched. Good. I wanted him to be afraid, to feel even a sliver of the terror he'd inflicted on so many people for so many years.
Also, his power was the greatest threat here : not to me, but to the hostages. I needed to take him out, fast – and as a bonus, seeing their 'glorious leader' defeated would probably make the thugs run. Loath as I was to let anyone who would participate in this grotesque scheme escape, anything which reduced the risk to the civilians was good right now.
I stalked toward him with intent, wanting him to stay focused on me. My cane tapped the ground with every step, and I reached out to smash a few more of the high-powered lamps which hung from the ceiling, making the shadows deeper.
"Night, get him !" ordered Kaiser, with more than a little panic creeping into his voice.
Something smashed into me, something dark and large, with too many legs and razor-sharp claws. The impact brought Lasombra down, and I rolled on my back to see my attacker –
Except the moment I did so, the nightmarish form of Night's Breaker state had vanished, replaced by a woman dressed all in black. Her mask left her eyes exposed, and they widened in shock and confusion.
Without questioning my good fortune in how our powers had interacted, I knocked her on the side of the head with my cane's pommel and stood up as she fell unconscious, only to be immediately enveloped by a thick white fog. I extended my perceptions through the shadowscape, and immediately got what was best described as a three-dimensional view of the entire warehouse. The fog was focused around me, and I recognized it as the Empire cape of the same name, who, along with Night, was among the most feared villains of the Bay.
I knew that Fog's power inflicted damage on people trapped inside, but I felt fine; another advantage of using a projection. But while Fog couldn't hurt me, I couldn't hurt his intangible form either.
With a howl, Marchosias leapt down from the blond Nazi twin she'd been riding and landed into the fog, claws and fangs out. For the briefest moment, the sensory information I was getting from Lasombra seemed to glitch, and there was a sound that was like a human screaming, but not. Then Marchosias was at my side, and Fog was back in human form, his costume a grey copy of Night's. Incredibly, unlike everyone else who had been subjected to Marchosias' tender mercies, he was still conscious, albeit staggering as if he were drunk.
I caught him by the shoulder and raised my cane to knock him unconscious. As I did so, my gaze met Fog's, and I saw –
I saw –
God. God, no.
How ?! How could anyone do something like this ?! I could see it, in Fog's reflection in the shadowscape, made perfectly clear as I stared into his eyes. They looked empty, devoid of emotion, but that was only a mask, and beneath it was pain, layers upon layers of pain, inflicted with a cold, methodical, deliberate sadism.
I wasn't fighting a man, but a puppet with strings woven of horror and agony.
I recoiled, pushing Fog aside, and flickered across the warehouse to appear right in front of Kaiser. He summoned a bunch of metallic blades from the ground, all of them aimed at me. I slammed my cane down and pulled on the Abyss, calling forth a multitude of black tentacles in response. The two powers clashed, and mine bought me enough time to reach for Kaiser's throat with my right hand.
He tried to dodge, but I was too quick, and wrapped my fingers around his armor's neck, hauling him up so that his masked face was right in front of Lasombra's featureless visage.
I would have answers from him, even if I had to squeeze them out of his skull with my bare hands.
"WHO ?!" Lasombra screamed. "WHO, WHO, WHO ?"
Every word was like a hammerblow to Kaiser's brain. He couldn't focus, couldn't even lash out on instinct to cut everything around him to ribbons like he'd done after his Trigger.
"Gesellschaft," he gasped, and now that he'd started talking, the words poured out of his mouth : "European far-right organization. They made him and Night and sent them here to help us. I had nothing to do with either of them –"
Lasombra threw him away with all the care one would show to a discarded piece of trash, but Kaiser couldn't find it in himself to care, so long as he didn't have to stay close to that … that creature. He tried to rise, but found that his trembling limbs weren't obeying his commands. He tried to use his power, to attack Lasombra or just to kill the vermin they'd taken captured to draw Lasombra out – if he were to fall, then let the other cape choke on his victory – but he couldn't muster the mental strength to do so, either. His skull still felt like someone had taken a jack-hammer to it, even though it was still covered in armor.
All he could do was lay on the ground, hurt, and watch Lasombra stalk toward Geoff, before picking him up with surprising gentleness and raising him up until the Empire cape's face was right in front of what passed for his own.
"REMEMBER," Lasombra said.
For a moment, nothing happened. Then Geoff started to scream.
He remembered.
He remembered everything.
The command was not kind, nor was it gentle. But there was mercy in its sheer ruthlessness, as it tore through the layers of conditioning and ripped through the identity which had been forced onto him by torture and Master effects, until it reached the man buried underneath – a man he'd thought was dead, but who now was being dragged back to the land of the living.
And so he screamed, but it was a scream of release and rebirth as much as it was one of unfathomable mental and physical strain. He screamed as he stopped being a puppet of meat and bone and parahuman power and became a man once more.
He stopped screaming as his lungs ran out of air, and spent the next few moments blinded by lack of oxygen as he coughed and gasped, held in place by the firm arms of his savior.
"Thank you," he breathed once his vision had cleared enough to look into the swirling pit of darkness that was Lasombra's visage. The shadows didn't seem nearly as terrifying now, for some reason, he thought, still more than half-delirious. Then a sudden thought cut through the haze over his consciousness, and he forced himself to raise a trembling arm and pointed toward Dorothy.
"Please," he begged, tears running down his face under his mask. "She's the same as me. Please help her."
Lasombra nodded, softly laid him down on the ground, then rose and walked toward Dorothy. He knelt by her side and seized her head, and when she began to stir, repeated the same command he'd given Geoff.
She screamed too, but stopped soon enough, and started sobbing and laughing all at once. Geoff dragged himself toward her, crawling on all fours, and Lasombra stepped aside, letting him hug her with trembling arms. She returned his hug, and for a moment, despite all that had been done to him, all that he had been made to do, Geoff felt that everything would be alright.
They were free. They would never be the same as they'd been before Gesellschaft had raped their minds and remade them, but they were free.
"Console, this is Armsmaster. I believe I've found the missing people we were looking for. I have thirty-one civilians here in need of medical attention. None of them are in immediate danger, but they all show bruises and other traces of having been beaten."
"Copy that, Armsmaster. What about the Empire ?"
"… They are all here."
"All of – Armsmaster, pull back and wait for reinforcements –"
"Console, I misspoke. My apologies. I meant to say that all currently known Empire capes are here, but unconscious, with the exception of Night and Fog, who appear to be undergoing some kind of mental breakdown."
"… Armsmaster, please confirm your last statement."
"Console, I have Kaiser, Fenja, Menja, Krieg, Purity, Crusader and Rune all defeated in the building, and Night and Fog hugging each other and alternating between crying and laughing. I am in the process of restraining them, and – ah. Lasombra is here. Good evening, Lasombra. I suppose you're the one we've to thank for this ?"
"[burst of static] YES."
"Am I correct in assuming that this whole thing was a trap for you ?"
"[burst of static] YES. [pause] THEM."
"Night and Fog ? What's wrong with them ?"
"[burst of intense static] GESELLSCHAFT. BRAINWASHING. BROKEN."
"… I see. We will take care of them, you have my word."
"[burst of static] GOOD."
"Lasombra, before we leave, this situation could have gone very wrong – and he's gone. Console, do you read ?"
"Armsmaster, we do read you. Please confirm that was Lasombra speaking ?"
"It was. If you could hear him, then I am pleased to report that the audio-only transmission system I added to my armor seems unaffected by Lasombra's Stranger effect. How long until the ambulances get here ?"
Excerpt from the PRT communications, January 25th, 2011.
Looking at the video footage of the man and woman in drab hospital clothing holding each other's hand even as they slept in the PRT's hospital room, it was difficult for Director Piggot to accept that she was looking at Night and Fog, two of the most dreaded E88's capes.
"They are cooperating fully," said Armsmaster, standing at attention in front of her desk. "Both of them seem determined to do everything they can to hurt Gesellschaft. We've already sent the location of several safehouses in Europe they were aware of to Interpol. Also, while I'm aware that protocol would demand that they be interrogated separately, we have had to keep them in the same room. They … they panicked whenever we so much as hinted at separating them. I believe Gesellschaft fostered a co-dependency between them as part of their brainwashing process that wasn't undone when Lasombra did … whatever it was he did."
"Understandable, given the circumstances. Do we know if they were married before ?" asked Piggot. It wasn't really important in the grand scheme of things, but the question gave her time to organize her own thoughts.
"No," Armsmaster shook his head. "They met for the first time while in captivity, and it will take time and a lot of psychological help before they're able to speak of what happened then. But we got their names : both of their civilian identities had murder cases which were closed years ago. From what I understand, the German authorities have re-opened the cases and are looking for an explanation as to how they were closed the first time. Interpol has taken over the investigation, expecting it to lead them to more of Gesellschaft's operations in Europe."
Emily grunted. That was all well and good – anything which hurt Nazis was good news in her book – but it wasn't her problem. Her responsibilities were restricted to the ENE area, though most people thought she was in charge of the Bay only (an understandable misunderstanding, given that until very recently, managing this nightmare of a city had taken all of her working hours and then some).
Which brought her back to the biggest reveal of last night. Unmasking villains was always a complicated business, but with every Empire cape in custody, it had been inevitable. The PRT had known that the Empire had ties to what passed for Brockton Bay's high society, but it had still been a surprise to see that fucking Max Anders was Kaiser. The owner and director of Medhall, one of the largest employers of the Bay and a major contributor to its struggling economy.
Thousands of people in the city owed their jobs to Medhall, either directly or indirectly. If the company went under, so would the Bay, and having your CEO revealed as a closeted Nazi and gang leader wasn't going to help the company's stock price. Fortunately, a lot of people understood that, and various agencies were at work making sure that the company would continue to run, albeit in different hands. Anders' son and heir was a teenager who had apparently known his father was a supervillain but had, quite understandably, kept his mouth shut about it.
According to the preliminary questioning, Theo Anders didn't share his father's racist views. And while anyone in his position would have claimed as such, the investigators involved were more than capable of seeing through a teenager's attempts at lying. The boy might not look like much on the photos of him Emily had seen, but not giving in to the Nazi propaganda for fifteen years was still testament to some impressive willpower. For now, he was staying in his father's mansion along with a security detachment, just in case some Empire remnant tried to use him as a figurehead.
The fact that Purity had turned out to be Kayden Russel, formerly Anders, only made this mess more complicated. All of Purity's previous attempts at playing heroine by beating up minorities didn't mean anything compared to her participation in Kaiser's scheme. Given her power level and membership of a group like the E88 for several years, it would take a very good lawyer to avoid being sent to the Birdcage alongside her ex-husband. Her daughter was being kept in the same house as her half-brother, with someone trained in caring for an infant (and apparently, young Theo had been helping with her care, which probably helped him as much as it did the girl).
"Armsmaster," she said. "What do you think of what Lasombra did to them ?"
"That's difficult to say for sure. The Schmidts aren't in a fit state for M/S screening, but the exams we've been able to run seem to indicate they aren't under the effect of any Master power at the moment."
"A Trump who can remove Master effects, then ?"
"Possible. But I've asked some of our contacts at Interpol, and they told me Gesellschaft doesn't merely use Master powers to enforce the compliance of their … converts." It was rare for Armsmaster to lose his cool, which made the amount of venom he'd put in that last word all the more surprising. "Maybe removing the Master components of the conditioning would be enough to bring it all down : I'm not an expert on these matters. But I find it … unlikely."
Piggot sighed. "I understand what you mean. On the other hand, Lasombra didn't have to reveal these capabilities by healing Mister and Missus Schmidt. From all accounts, he healed Fog because he noticed there was something wrong with him, and then did the same to Night because Fog – no," she corrected herself. Those names would have to be used on the paperwork, but she shouldn't use them when talking about them. It was … disrespectful. "He did it to Dorothy because Geoff asked him."
"So it appears, yes," Armsmaster agreed.
"Then we can continue to treat Lasombra as a heroic independent, even though we'll need to update his file and the countermeasures in case he goes rogue." Which would be a nightmare scenario all by itself, but she'd more pressing concerns. "With the Empire gone, all of the city's major gangs have been removed, and we both know what that means."
"The Boston Games," the Protectorate leader said softly. "The power vacuum in the underworld will draw in others seeking to fill it."
"Exactly," Piggot nodded grimly. "Villains from all over the East Coast and beyond will be coming to Brockton Bay, hoping to seize the territory of the fallen gangs for themselves. And while I doubt any of them will be able to inflict as much long-term damage to the city as any of their four predecessors did, especially with Lasombra still out there, open warfare in the streets is unacceptable."
"It is possible that fear of Lasombra's intervention will dissuade some criminal groups from coming to the Bay," Armsmaster offered.
"Oh, I'm sure the smart ones will stay well clear of the city, at least until they can get more information on our dear independent friend," Piggot snorted. "But I'm not worried about the smart ones, Armsmaster. I'm worried about the idiots and the damage they can do before being stopped."
In her experience, criminals typically weren't smart. The image of the smooth mastermind plotting in the shadows and running his criminal operations like a well-oiled machine was nothing but fiction : as a rule, smart and well-adjusted people didn't turn to crime, not unless they were driven to it by desperation, which didn't allow for much in the way of long-term planning.
"With the Empire in the process of being dismantled, their sympathizers in the BBPD will be handled by the federal investigation," said Armsmaster. "Combined with the removal of Coil's moles within our own ranks, we'll be in a better position to meet these new gangs trying to move in than we ever were before. I won't say it will be easy, but we've one of the most experienced and battle-ready teams on the East Coast. I'm confident we'll prevail, ma'am."
"I'm glad to hear it. Still, we must speak with Lasombra, Armsmaster. I need to know what he's going to do now. More importantly," she grimaced, "the higher-ups also want to know. It appears that the request for Watchdog to investigate a possible link between Lasombra and the Fallen ran into some kind of anti-Thinker power, and they are worried about what it means."
"I think after everything he has done, we owe Lasombra some trust," said Armsmaster. "Actions speak louder than words, and his actions have been to the benefit of Brockton Bay and its people."
Piggot nodded. Much as she was inclined to distrust capes, and especially independent ones, she couldn't deny what Lasombra had done for this city. Even if he was related to the Fallen – which was a big 'if', as the odds that he just had a very unfortunate naming sense were much higher in her opinion – it was most likely going to be as a rebel who'd fled the cult and was trying his best to do good.
"I agree with you, but someone who can stump Watchdog makes people nervous. And with the level of power Lasombra has repeatedly demonstrated, I honestly don't think we could handle him if he went bad – unless you think you've figured out a way to counter him ?"
"No, Director," Armsmaster shook his head. "Before today, I thought that he might be vulnerable to concentrated light, but the fact he took one of Purity's full-powered blasts head-on and survived apparently unharmed disproved that theory. And with his Mover ability, even forcing a confrontation would be all but impossible, since we don't know its limits. I do still believe that he has some kind of time limit on how long he can use his powers every day, but without the capacity to hold him in place or detect him once it runs out …"
"Hence why we need to speak with him and confirm his goals," said Piggot.
"If he wanted to join us, he's had plenty of time and opportunities to do so," Armsmaster pointed out. Piggot waved him off.
"Don't worry, I most definitely don't want to turn him against us by going too hard. He doesn't need to join the Protectorate, though make no mistake, the higher-ups would love that. Just come in for a chat. He's never had an issue leaving the perps he brought down for us to bring in : this is just about formalizing our relationship to reassure the paper-pushers."
"Understood. But that leaves the question : how do we achieve this ?"
That was a very good question, and Piggot wished she had an answer.
Notes:
AN : It is common, in Worm fanfics, to give a pass to Purity for her actions and allow her to find redemption as a heroine. There are several reasons for this, the most important likely being what happens to her daughter in canon.
But while writing this chapter, I went back to Interlude 3.5, which is from Purity's perspective, and was reminded that even after leaving the E88, she was still a rascist bitch, who only left the Empire because she didn't like her husband's controlling tendencies, and who went back to leading a Nazi gang the moment Kaiser died against Leviathan. Frankly, Theo and Aster deserve better than her.
By contrast, Night and Fog were both broken and remade into weapons by Gesellshaft, enslaved to serve an ideology that we can assume they never believed in out of their own free will. Canon doesn't give us many details as to how this was done, but, well. Nazis. In my opinion, they deserve a second chance a lot more than Purity.
What Taylor did in this chapter is technically possible with the use of the Dominate Discipline, which is one of the Vampire powers of the Lasombra Clan. Usually, Vampires use it to mind-control, twist and erase memories (and let me tell you, running a praxis without having at least a handful of people who can edit the memories of humans is almost impossible), rather than break through layers of existing conditioning, but this felt like a good first attempt for Taylor.
Oh, and the Merchants were taken care of off-screen by the PRT with the help of Dinah. Congratulations if you saw this coming. And now that all the major gangs in Brockton Bay are dealt with, an era of peace and tranquillity await !
Eh.
As always, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter, and look forward to your thoughts and comments.
Zahariel out.
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Parahumans Series - WildbowVampire: The Masquerade
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Taylor Hebert | Skitter | WeaverLasombra Antediluvian (Vampire: The Masquerade)
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Canon-Typical ViolenceAlt-Power Taylor HebertCompetent Parahuman Response Team | PRT
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Published:2025-06-22Updated:2026-02-11Words:157,182Chapters:25/?Comments:650Kudos:1,401Bookmarks:539Hits:75,849
Abyssal Escalation
Zahariel_Scholar
Chapter 13: Collapse
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Topic : The Empire Falls
Bagrat (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Posted On Jan 26th 2011 :
Gather around, friends, for do I have a story to tell you !
Yesterday, the Empire executed a plan to take out Lasombra. And boy, let's just say it didn't go as that bunch of Neo-Nazis had planned.
You might be wondering, given that every known sighting of Lasombra so far has had him pop out of nowhere to smack some fool, how did the Empire manage to arrange a confrontation ? Well, friends, they did in the most stereotypically evil way possible : by kidnapping a bunch of innocents and holding them hostage. If you are thinking that's something straight out of a comic book, you would be right. But wait ! It gets worse ! The police reports are a bit coy on the issue, but it's pretty clear that every single person involved was part of one minority group the E88 loves to hate or another. So all those people were probably not going to survive the night if things had gone as the Empire hoped.
Good news for the Empire : they definitely got Lasombra's attention. We still don't know how Lasombra seems to know when a violent crime happens in Brockton Bay, but he found the warehouse the Empire was using to hold their captives long before the police and the PRT.
Bad news for the Empire : Lasombra was really pissed off, and proceeded to beat them senseless. By the time Armsmaster arrived to respond to the reports of a superpowered brawl, every single cape left in the Empire's roster was unconscious, including Purity (which I guess puts an end to these rumors she'd left the organization), and their unpowered mooks had either surrendered or were running away, terrified out of their mind. Most of them ended up caught by the police soon after, by the way.
According to my sources, the Protectorate was alerted as to the location of the fight when Purity unleashed a full-power blast on Lasombra while Kaiser distracted him. Armsmaster, who was searching for the missing persons (even in Brockton Bay, you don't take thirty people off the streets in broad daylight without someone calling the cops) was the first hero on the scene.
But even with how fast that bike of his is, by the time he arrived, the fighting was over. Now, I know this looks kinda bad for the Protectorate, since it's not the first time this happens to them, but in this case I think we can all agree it's because Lasombra's so strong he finishes every fight he's involved in too fast, not because the Protectorate are too slow.
The hostages were rescued and brought to the hospital to be checked over. None of them were badly injured, but the E88 thugs were exactly as gentle with them as you would expect.
Here is the official PRT public announcement on the subject. With that, the Empire had lost all of its capes, at least the ones we knew about, including its leader Kaiser. Now, the Empire is more organized than the ABB ever was, and it wasn't created by forcing a bunch of ethnic gangs that all hated each other to cooperate, so its collapse isn't going to be as total and violent as what happened to their main rival, but I wouldn't bet on the E88 surviving as a consolidated organization for long.
UPDATE ON 01/27/2011 : Kaiser's identity has been revealed, and holy shit it's Max Anders, the CEO and owner of Medhall, one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the US and one of the key employers of Brockton Bay. I can't even begin to imagine the full scope of the repercussions from this.
Rightsector
Replied On Jan 26th 2011 :
… Holy shit. Even for the Empire, that was low. And stupid. I mean, I know I shouldn't be surprised cause, y'know, Nazis, but still. Good riddance to bad garbage, I say.
Brocktonite03 (Veteran Member)
Replied On Jan 26th 2011 :
With the Merchants taken down by the PRT earlier this week, who does that leave ? The Undersiders ? I don't think there's been any sighting of them since Hookwolf got caught.
… Fuck me, is the Bay going to actually be gang-free ? That hasn't happened since … well, I want to say since parahumans appeared, but it's not like the city didn't have organized crime before. Kind of ironic that the Docks were the only area of town without a gang presence, to be honest.
Sapphire_Prophet
Replied On Jan 26th 2011 :
Brocktonite03 Unlikely. With every major parahuman gang taken off the board, every criminal group on the East Coast is going to want to take their place : even if the Bay is a shithole, it's still a shithole that made a lot of money for the gangs.
Letes
Replied On Jan 26th 2011 :
Sure, but if they do come, they're going to find Lasombra waiting for them. And the PRT too, I guess.
Shadow_Seeker (Verified not a cape)
Replied On Jan 26th 2011 :
Letes Come on, man. The gangs of the Bay were among the worst of the country. We'd a frikking rage dragon and Nazis. Do you know what other cities have ? Costumed thieves and organized crime. The PRT and the heroes of Brockton Bay were faced with some of the most dangerous villains in the States. Even if Lasombra decides to take a vacation, they're going to eat whoever try to set up shop in the city for breakfast.
Not that I think Lasombra should take a vacation, even if he certainly deserves it.
Geronimo
Replied On Jan 26th 2011 :
My brother was among the people the Empire took hostage. They just attacked him in the street, roughed him up and dragged him into their van. I didn't even know what had happened until I got the phone call from the hospital telling me he was there.
Thank you, Lasombra.
Miss_Blue
Replied On Jan 26th 2011 :
I heard from a friend in the EMT that when they came to get the hostages, he saw Night and Fog hugging each other and sobbing and laughing at the same time. He compared it to people he saw being rescued from a fire at the last minute. Also, unlike the rest of the Empire capes, they weren't restrained, though Armsmaster was standing close to them. What do you think that was about ?
XxVoid_CowboyxX
Replied On Jan 26th 2011 :
Maybe witnessing Lasombra taking on the entire Empire at once and winning made them see the error of their ways ?
SunlightLurker
Replied On Jan 26th 2011 :
… Lasombra doesn't have Master powers, right ? I mean, apart from what his wolf can do to people that makes them terrified without actually hurting them.
XxVoid_CowboyxX
Replied On Jan 26th 2011 :
Not that we know of, but after everything he's already done, would you really be surprised ?
SunlightLurker
Replied On Jan 26th 2011 :
Shit, that's a good point. Lasombra already breaks so many of the expected limits of grab-bag capes, what's one more ?
Reave (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied On Jan 26th 2011 :
I have been authorized to reveal that the individuals formerly known as the villains Night and Fog were under the effect of some very effective, very vicious brainwashing, including Master powers, for their entire career. Lasombra used some previously-unknown aspect of his abilities to remove the brainwashing and free them. They are currently in PRT custody and are receiving the help they need after such an ordeal, as well as M/S screening to make sure they won't relapse.
The PRT wishes to speak with Lasombra about this, as well as the entire fight against the Empire as a whole. While Lasombra handled the situation extremely well and prevented the hostages from coming to harm, things could easily have gone very wrong.
Lasombra, if you are reading this, please contact me. There's also the matter of the compensation you are owed, as not only Lung, Oni Lee and Hookwolf, but several other members of the Empire had outstanding bounties. For now, the funds are being held in reserve.
Geronimo
Replied On Jan 26th 2011 :
… shit. These two terrified the Asian parts of town for years, but to hear that they weren't doing it willingly … Poor bastards. Fucking Nazis, man.
Brocktonite03 (Veteran Member)
Replied On Jan 27th 2011 :
FUCKING MAX ANDERS ?!
… I mean, looking back, I guess I can see it, but FUCK ! That's really not good.
Sundered_Road
Replied On Jan 27th 2011 :
No. No it's not.
"Holy fuck," said Alec as the news report finished and the anchor, who was looking more than a little overwhelmed, passed the baton to the weatherman with barely concealed relief. "Lisa, I don't think I've said it before, but thank you for making sure we aren't on Lasombra's shit list."
"You're welcome," she replied absent-mindedly, still reeling at the revelation of Kaiser's identity. That particular titbit hadn't been among the secrets tied to Coil's deadman switch, and she wondered if it was because he hadn't figured it out by the time of his death or for some other reason.
It didn't really matter, she decided, now that Coil was dead and Kaiser was in jail.
"Lisa, what do you think the rest of the Empire's rank-and-file is going to do now ?" asked Brian.
Wants to believe this is a good thing in the long run, but is worried about the short term. Is worried about them acting out. Worried about his sister getting caught in the violence.
"The PRT will be digging into the homes of the capes they captured," she thought out loud. "And not just them : with the Medhall and Gesellschaft connections revealed, a lot of agencies both national and international are going to get involved. The people affiliated with the Empire, if they are smart and can afford it, will be going on the run to escape the law. Others will try to make deals to stay out of jail, maybe using the economic stability of the Bay as a bargaining chip."
It was an open secret that the E88 had sympathizers in the upper crust of Brockton Bay. Not the kind of people who went out at night to beat up minorities, but those who enjoyed looking down at anyone with a different skin tone, or religion, or sexual preference, for no other reason that because it made them feel big. They had helped finance the E88, and pulled strings to keep its so-called soldiers from going to jail when they were arrested.
Lisa wondered how many of them would find out what the inside of a prison cell looked like now. Probably not as many as there should in a just and fair universe, but if they lived in such a universe, nobody would ever Trigger.
"But the typical E88 goon isn't smart," Brian said. "And that's the ones who're more likely to act up."
"Hmm." Lisa nodded. "You're right. I think they are all going to stay indoors at night : they are stupid, but not stupid enough to think they can take down Lasombra where the leaders of the Empire failed. And those who are that stupid will get themselves caught by the police and the PRT as soon as they try to enact whatever stupid plan they come up with."
There might a few incidents in the days to come as a result of what Lasombra had done. But while these would be spectacular, they wouldn't come close to the number of assaults and murders which had become commonplace in the Bay as a result of the Empire's presence.
"No more Nazis means no more Hookwolf," said Rachel, who was brushing one of her dogs, not interested in the TV. "Means no more dogfighting rings. All good."
"I don't think Hookwolf's people really cared that much about the Empire's ideology, Rachel," Lisa said cautiously. "Most of them just enjoy violence and used the E88 for protection."
"Stop trying to sound smart," Rachel grunted. "Talk normally."
"Very well," Lisa sighed. "Just because the Empire is gone doesn't mean that there won't be idiots trying to start the dogfighting rings again."
"Then I'll go after them and make them pay," replied Rachel matter-of-factly.
"If you do, please call us for help, alright ?" said Brian. "Even with Hookwolf gone, all it takes is one punk with a gun getting lucky, and you'll be dead. And then who'll take care of your dogs ? None of us are as good with them as you are."
"You will come if I ask ?" Rachel frowned, staring at Brian as if trying to see if he was making fun of her.
"Yes, Rachel, we will," the leader of the Undersiders replied. "Lisa and me because we care, Alec because I will drag him along."
"Hey, as long as we don't risk running into Hookwolf, I'm up for fucking up a bunch of not-zis," Alec called out from the couch.
Is aware of own sadistic tendencies. Is uncomfortable with them : they remind him of his Father. Thinks only indulging them on acceptable targets will make him less likely to follow down his Father's path.
Heartbreaker had really fucked up Alec's mind, and not just with his power. There was a small, vindictive part of her that wished the Canadian supervillain would come to Brockton Bay. She had a feeling Heartbreaker's infamous emotion control wouldn't do shit against Lasombra.
But the rest of her was all too aware of the collateral damage Heartbreaker was likely to leave in his wake even if he met his end in Brockton Bay, and while Taylor's projection was probably immune to the infamous Master, her human form might not be, and the thought of what Heartbreaker could do with someone like her under his control was utterly terrifying.
Taylor Hebert is Lasombra. Taylor Hebert isn't Lasombra. Taylor Hebert isn't a parahuman. Lasombra isn't a parahuman. Taylor Hebert –
Aaaand there it was. She winced and shut her power down. Meeting Taylor and more or less pledging allegiance to her hadn't done anything to stop the anti-Thinker aspect of her Stranger power.
"I will talk to Lasombra about it next time we meet," she said out loud. She hadn't shared the other cape's civilian identity with her teammates, and none of them had asked, because even Regent wasn't that stupid. "Since we basically work for him now, maybe he'll want to participate."
"Nobody else knows about the deal you made with him," said Brian. "What will the PRT think if they see us actually work with Lasombra ?"
"Well, after he took down the Empire, they won't think he's gone villain and joined our team, that's for sure," Lisa snarked. "Far more likely, they'll think we have gone legit, or are trying to. Which isn't that far from the truth when you think about it."
"Still, maybe I should tell Aisha to stay home for the next few days," Brian mused. "Just in case."
"She does have a tendency to speak her mind," Lisa agreed. "A bunch of Nazis looking for an easy win might take umbrage to that. But I don't think leaving her with your mother is going to go over well."
Which was an understatement if Lisa had ever said one, but given Brian's grimace, he got her point.
"But you know," she added, "since we aren't doing crimes anymore, if you need a place for your sister to crash while things are settling down and she isn't in too much danger for being a black girl in Brockton Bay, she can stay here. I know you've tried to keep her away from your life as a criminal, but the situation has changed."
The elder member of the Undersiders blinked. Clearly, the thought hadn't occurred to him.
"Maybe I will," he whispered. "Maybe I will."
"… three days after the capture of the supervillain Kaiser and the rest of the Empire Eighty-Eight's capes, the investigation into his subversion of Medhall is still ongoing …"
Theo sighed and turned off the TV. At first, he'd followed the news of the Empire's collapse almost religiously, taking a strange pleasure in it. But after three days, he was growing numb to it.
Despite not being involved in the Empire's activities, Theo had known that something was going to happen. He hadn't missed the conversations between Max and Kayden, even though the details of their … negotiations, he supposed was the correct term for it, until after the dust had settled and a bunch of policemen and PRT troopers had shown up to (very politely, but also very firmly) ask him some questions.
He'd been told that his father had signed off custody of Aster to Kayden, as part of a deal to get her to return to the Empire to assist in taking down Lasombra. Once the independent cape was dead, Max would have signed the rest of the divorce papers, with a very generous share of his wealth in cash so that she could leave the Bay and set up elsewhere.
She would have left with his half-sister, and left him behind for Kaiser to keep trying to shape into what he thought of as a 'worthy' successor. The revelation hadn't surprised Theo : Kayden had tried, he would give her that, but it had always been clear to him she didn't, couldn't love him. He reminded her too much of his father, even if she hadn't realized it herself.
That had hurt, but it was an old wound, and he'd gotten used to it.
And now Kayden was in prison. He didn't know what her sentence would be : he was pretty sure that, unlike his father, she wouldn't be sent to the Birdcage. But it'd been made clear to him that she wasn't going to keep custody of Aster, on the very reasonable premise that being raised by someone willing to participate in a scheme to kidnap thirty random people and hold them hostage to draw out and murder a hero wasn't someone who should raise a child.
It was hard to argue against that, especially since, even though the agents explaining things to him hadn't said it, it was obvious Kaiser would have had all the witnesses killed to keep the truth of what had happened under wraps. And Kayden had to have known that would happen too, even if she'd convinced herself otherwise. A good lawyer might be able to argue that she hadn't known it for certain, but he doubted it, especially since it was unlikely his stepmother would be able to hire the kind of lawyers his father would undoubtedly have – not that they would make much of a difference.
It was almost certain that Max Anders would be sent to the Birdcage once his trial was complete. The reason was simple : aside from the many hate crimes he was tied to, someone with Kaiser's powers couldn't be contained by an ordinary prison, and as the leader of a Nazi-themed gang that had victimized the Bay for literal decades, he was well past the three strikes rule. Sure, if Kaiser had been arrested while the rest of the Empire stood, the rest of the organization (or other white supremacist groups across the country : Theo wasn't stupid enough to think the E88 were alone in their beliefs) might have pulled strings with friendly politicians in order to get a less severe verdict.
But with the entire top leadership of the E88 removed at once, every law enforcement agency in the country was out for blood. The FBI had shown up once the Empire's ties to other groups had been revealed, along with other agencies whose names Theo didn't recognize. He did know that the IRS was very interested in getting a long, hard look at Medhall's finances, which he found funny for some weird reason.
On the whole, there was no denying the fact that this whole mess was a good thing for Brockton Bay. Whether it was good for Theo and Aster, he wasn't so certain about.
But, now that he didn't have to worry about his father or one of his associates killing him for refusing to follow in his footsteps as a racist supervillain, he had time to figure it out.
"Geoff and Dorothy display all the signs of trauma bonding. They don't appear to be attracted to each other or romantically involved, but draw comfort from each other's presence. They are aware that this isn't healthy in the long run, but neither of them are concerned with it at the moment, as they're still enjoying the feeling of being free from the confines of their own minds for the first time in years.
Both of them are aware of the crimes they committed while under the effects of Gesellschaft's brainwashing. Per PRT guidelines when Master effects of such a level are involved, I've done all I can to reassure them that they bear no guilt for these actions. I've mentioned the prospect of going into protective custody, and they both agree in principle. They know that Gesellschaft won't take their perceived betrayal lightly. The idea of being captured again by them nearly caused the two to have a mental breakdown, until one of the orderlies mentioned that Lasombra wouldn't let Gesellschaft step foot in Brockton Bay, which calmed them down.
Medical exams and M/S scans conducted now that they have recovered enough have shown no sign of lingering Master effects : whatever Lasombra did to break the brainwashing, it was cleaner and more complete than anything I've heard about.
In short, I expect it will be years before the patients are in a state to be given a clean bill of mental health, and the trauma of what happened to them will remain with them forever."
Extract from the psychological report on Geoff and Dorothy Doe (formerly known as the villains Fog and Night; due to the process of restoring their civilian identities still being ongoing, this pseudonym was used in all internal documentation), logged on February 6th, 2011.
"We encountered the group of parahumans calling themselves the Terrible Three right where Omen told us that a disturbance was likely to occur. Clockblocker intervened to freeze the gang's combat robot in place, leaving them bereft of most of their firepower. We were then able to capture all members of the gang without incident. By the time Clockblocker's power ran out, Kid Win had figured out how to use the remote control he'd taken off the group's Tinker to shut it down.
The Terrible Three are currently in custody at PRT HQ, while their robot is being taken apart by Kid Win and Armsmaster."
Extract from the after-action report of Aegis, logged onto the PRT servers on February 9th, 2011.
"… in addition to the intel Night and Fog volunteered, the PRT also got some information from the rest of the E88 in exchange for plea bargains. Some of that intel was outdated by the time we got it, but a lot of it was useful. Over the last three weeks, we've been able to dismantle three drug trafficking rings stretching across Europe. More importantly, we've found and raided one of the organization's 'training centers', leading to the recovery of six parahumans who were in the process of being brainwashed into Gesellschaft assets, including two former heroes.
More intel was obtained during these raids, and we are now in the process of investigating Gesellschaft's political connections …"
Extract from an Interpol report on the Gesellschaft investigation, logged into the organization's servers on February 15th, 2011.
"We need to strike back, right now ! This is unacceptable."
"We don't have the resources to spare at the moment. All of us need to go to ground, hide, and wait for the storm to pass."
"Hide ?! We have already lost so much because of this !"
"And we will lose more, of that I have no doubt. Be patient. Lasombra will pay for his actions, just like the two turncoats will pay for their treachery."
Exchange between two Gesellschaft leaders, February 20th, 2011. Recorded by a hidden device planted into the meeting room by the German hero Lautlose Schritte, with the record used as evidence to perform an arrest of their civilian identities three days later.
"Emily,
I've been getting reports that the Teeth may be preparing to move again. They've intensified their robberies of convenience stores and supermarkets in the outskirts of Boston, and my analysts tell me that's likely because they're preparing to leave and are stockpiling supplies. I don't need to tell you what their most likely destination is.
I'll keep you informed the moment I get anything more on the situation, but you should be prepared, just in case.
Regards,
Kamil."
Email sent from PRT Director Armstrong to PRT Director Piggot, February 23rd, 2011.
It felt strange to smile as I did one final read of the math lessons which would be on tomorrow's test (part of me felt relieved to learn that Arcadia's teachers could be just as evil as Winslow's and put a test on the first class of a Monday), but I couldn't help it, even if it was a betrayal of all teenage principles. Things had been going great over the last month. I'd started making … I hesitated to call them friends, after Winslow, but definitely acquaintances in Arcadia.
Talking with Dad and looking at the news, it was clear that my work as Lasombra was helping. Now that the villain capes were gone, the police was actually able to go after criminals without being worried about falling down the stairs due to being pushed by one of Crusader's ghosts, or being burned alive by Lung or blown up by Oni Lee.
It seemed that those criminals who were left in the Bay (and I wasn't naive enough not to think there were still plenty of them, even with the major parahuman-led gangs removed) had learned to fear the sunset. Rumors that Lasombra could show up anywhere someone was committing a crime at night were spread all over PHO. The truth was a little different : not only could I only be in one place at a time, which in a city of the size of Brockton Bay meant that there would always be crimes I couldn't get to in time, my shadowscape reflected only emotions. So if someone broke into an empty store at night to rob it, I wouldn't pick it up unless the robber felt really bad about it or was terrified that I might show up. That exact scenario had actually happened last night, and I hadn't needed to do anything but stare at the masked men before they had gotten on their knees and called the police on themselves.
With most criminals too afraid to go out at night, the heroes had picked up the slack during the day : a number of minor parahuman gangs had been arrested in the last few weeks, both from out of town and locally grown. From what I'd seen online, after spending years dealing with the likes of Lung and Kaiser, even the Wards were finding dealing with the newcomers easy. Void_Cowboy had made a joke about the Bay locals being over-levelled for that kind of encounter, and it was hard to argue with that – I knocked on my bed-frame at the thought, just in case.
Thinking of the Protectorate brought my mind back to Reave's post on PHO. The PRT had wanted to talk to Lasombra since I'd first appeared on the scene, and every success I'd won against the gangs had made them more interested.
I would be lying to say that I wasn't tempted by the thought of the bounties he had mentioned. Thanks to the PRT's settlement for what had happened to Winslow, we weren't exactly hurting for money anymore, but I knew enough about finances to realize this was only a reprieve, not a long-term solution. And sure, I hadn't decided to be a hero for the money, but I wouldn't have blamed anyone else for accepting the reward for taking down Lung and the Empire.
The problem was that I still didn't want the PRT to know my identity, and I couldn't think of any way to get in touch with them that didn't lead to that. Unless … Maybe I could ask Lisa to serve as some kind of intermediary between me and the PRT ?
I'd met with Tattletale a few more times after school. After confirming that she was doing what we'd agreed on and helping struggling businesses with Coil's blood money, she'd told me about Bitch's desire to crush any animal fighting rings which might pop up in the wake of the Empire's collapse, and I'd agreed to have Lasombra assist with that. Which was why I now owned a burner cellphone, with only Lisa's number in it. I had to keep it hidden from Dad (although even if he found it, explaining it wouldn't be that much of a problem, since I was a teenage girl who was starting to socialize with other people her age).
It would take some work to make the heroes accept that I was using a villain as a proxy, and more still to ensure this didn't damage my relationship with them, but it should be possible. I made a mental note of asking Lisa about it next time we met.
With that decision made, I turned off the lights, laid down on my bed, closed my eyes, and let the darkness swallow me.
"PRIORITY ALERT
THE SIMURGH IS DESCENDING
PROJECTED DESTINATION : CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA"
Automated alert of the Endbringer Watch System, sent on February 24th, 2011.
Notes:
AN : Thirteen chapters, and at last, we've arrived at the part that convinced me to write this story, with what would be the first book if this were a series complete (well, if this was a book, I wouldn't put the teaser at the end, unless I was feeling particularly vindictive).
The next chapter is something that I've been working on almost since I started writing this fic, and should be coming out very soon - I've already got 6k words of it written, it just needs some bits finished up and polishing.
Oh, yeah : in case it wasn't obvious, Taylor isn't going to sleep through the Simurgh's attack on Canberra. She got more or less one month of "peace" with the Empire falling apart and the PRT, Protectorate and BBPD doing their best to clean up the city (because no matter how powerful Lasombra is, single-handedly solving crime in a city the size of BB isn't plausible, at least not without making the kind of examples Konrad Curze would make), which I'm pretty sure is a better deal than she got in most fanfics I've read.
As always, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter, and look forward to your thoughts and comments.
Zahariel out.
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