Author notes: To Stand Tall is a sequel to On Missing Limbs (Worm x MGS) by fallacies, a fic left in adoption as a "sequence of short scenes [...] meant to be largely humorous, despite how it might look. It also isn't a fic where Taylor triggers with an alternate set of powers." You can find it here at FFNet as well.

Unlike the original text, this one is intended as a longer read with a more involved plot. Reading the original fic before this it's strongly recommended; things won't make sense otherwise, even if you have a good understanding of both universes, as it follows directly the events in that one. And it's pretty cool to boot.

Available mirrors for your convenience at Spacebattles, Sufficient Velocity, Ao3 (they include references to music used, as well as omakes and fanart by commenters in case of SB and SV). FFNet is prickly with any kind of link to anywhere, so I'm afraid you'll have to Google it.

[Recording: Director Iriomote and Daniel Hebert interview]

[A knock is heard]

"Enter".

[A door being opened is heard]

"Ah. Mr. Daniel Robert Hebert, right? Come in. Take a seat."

[The door is closed, then steps are heard moving closer. A weight is gently dropped on a cushioned chair.]

"Thanks, Mr. Iriomote."

"This here is my assistant, Andrea Zafra. I apologize for not meeting you sooner. First the transfer here, learning the place, then attending the most urgent matters of the city. You understand. So. What can I do for the Dockwor-"

[A solid punch is heard. The door is violently opened and a gun is heard clicking.]

"Freeze! On your knees!"

"It's alright! It's alright. I suspect I had it coming. Go back to your post, trooper."

[After a few seconds of silence, the gun is heard being holstered slowly.]

"Very well, director, sir."

[The door is closed, and a few muffled heavy feet are heard settling in place. A click is heard, starting a faint buzz.]

"Alright, nobody can hear us now. Not eavesdroppers, not bugs, not even thinkers will know about this conversation."

[A few more seconds pass in silence.]

"How much do you know?"

"Enough. I know you were behind the butchery my girl was subjected to."

"Dammit, Hebert-"

"What do you know, 'Ocelot'?"

"I know that Kazuhira enlisted you and your wife and for what purpose. I know about your daughter's true biological parents. And don't think I don't know who's your informant. I know all that and more. I personally knew them all and Kaz and considered them all friends, even if he hated my guts at the end. I know many things and many people, Daniel, there aren't many secrets that I don't know. And yes, I ordered the operations done on Taylor, but it was only an opportunity I took advantage off. Nobody expected the incident with the locker, and I'm already pushing to provide more gestures in your favor. Real protection, instead of simply surveillance, for example."

"How generous of you."

"Look, this is just a way to apologize, there'll be more to come, but all this has an explanation-"

"Then explain! Why mutilate and hypnotize Taylor to be John's living image? Why make Armsmaster think he should sponsor her, and... I don't even know if I should ask about the Wards. Why, goddammit, WHY!?"

[After a few seconds of silence, someone is heard sighing.]

"Andrea, could you step outside for a moment? Just stay in range."

[Light steps are heard while the door opens and closes.]

"Your own cape bodyguard?"

"No. Just a thinker deterrent, if one I must use judiciously."

"... Shit. A psychic?"

"Full disclosure, no one in HAVEN are actually parahumans. Just merely exceptional individuals. Andrea happens to be one of the very few psychics I know exist in the world. Just like your daughter."

"What? You mean like that kid Rebenok?"

"No, just a very minor one, nothing on the scale of Mantis. I understand she has developed an 'awareness'? John did the same after he had Jack's memories implanted on him. Jack learned a 'mundane' way to do it on his own, but John's was genuine, hypnosis couldn't teach him that. I think his genes passed it to Taylor. If anything, thinkers will have a harder time working on her, maybe strangers and masters too, but I wouldn't guarantee anything."

"Start explaining everything. Now."

"I'm not your enemy, Danny, everything I'm telling you is a show of goodwill. Now, you must understand, we are at war."

"I noticed there's a gang war in this city, but that's not what you're talking about."

"No. It's a secret war. The public doesn't see the sides, but it's affecting the entire world."

"Like the feud between Big Boss and Cipher? I know someone took over Cipher."

"Right, Cipher is no more. With all of their founders dead or lost, another group took control of all of their assets for different purposes. The entire game as we knew it until the dissolution of Zanzibar Land in 1999 has changed radically, and everyone is now playing by that group's rules."

"... Alright, let me take a guess."

"Very well."

"You climbed positions in an organization formed to fight parahumans, and your hero team isn't actually parahuman, you faked their condition and got them sponsored by the PRT instead of the Protectorate, so you're in some way against capes. Neither the PRT or the Protectorate are actually moving their asses to do the job they are supposed to do. At least out there."

[Two knocks in glass are heard.]

"This very city has been gutted by cape gangs for the better part of two decades, and the heroes are content with the status quo. So I'm guessing you must be acting as a mole or something? Making changes?"

"You're doing well for now. I'll indeed try to make changes in policies, but that's at least the image I must give to everyone else. Nothing is that simple."

"Right. You can't just want vigilantes that aren't parahumans. It makes sense you might want them to be an alternative to capes, keep them outside the jurisdiction of the PRT and the Protectorate, but that can't be all. Nobody makes a new Big Boss without a reason, and having her clean this one city is too small, too small picture... The idea of Big Boss is not just one of a good soldier. Big Boss is an icon, a leader... You want her to lead that war."

[A chair is heard scraping its legs against the floor.]

"You bastard."

"Daniel, I swear, what she's doing right now, against Brockton's capes and gangers, that's just training and testing. All she's been given until now: the operation, the hypnosis, Armsmaster's support, even a last minute 'suggestion' to Panacea to do more than just heal Taylor. All that was just the start to put her at the same level as John. She needs to be tested, but I'm arranging for her to have all the help anyone could ever use."

"But why? Why her?"

"And why not? Jack and John are dead. Jack's sons are dead too and Solid Snake has no interest in the mantle, fought for too long against it. And besides, do you really think Kazuhira simply wanted a memorial to John and Quiet? I confess to having made a similar thing for another person, but him? He was rotten by resentment. He wanted to hit back at Cipher, at the Big Boss that betrayed him – Jack – and so he made it possible for a memory of the Big Boss that he trusted – John – to exist. For what, you think? Just to go on her own way, ignorant of her legacy?"

[A drawer is heard being opened, and a stack of papers being dropped on a table. Then the drawer is closed.]

"He arranged for Taylor to be approached after high school, make recruitment attractive, and eventually get her into the special forces. Green Beret, just like Snake, his favored apprentice. It wouldn't be too hard to guess that he wanted his own Enfant Terrible."

[The sound of paper sheets being checked is heard.]

"... Where did you even get these?"

"His own house, 2005."

"That's the year he died."

"Yes. I was a mole in FOXHOUND during the Shadow Moses incident. To keep my cover, I had to kill him. It was a confrontation twenty years in the making, but no, I'm not proud of it. For all his failings, I respected Kaz, and he didn't deserve it."

[A few more sheets are heard, then stop.]

"Shit."

"Daniel, yes, I've taken advantage of you and your daughter. But where Kazuhira would have made her an attack dog, I'm willing to give her a bigger purpose. It was inevitable that one thing or another would happen. I'd like to think, to make you think, that I'm giving her the best option. Any option at all. And there won't be any more manipulations: when she's ready, she'll be presented all information to make her own choice. And the one who will choose won't be the impression of John in her mind; it will be the girl you raised."

[Half a minute is passed in silence.]

"You swear she'll be safe?"

"I've arranged for it."

[The recording ends.]

The van stopped in front of the warehouse door.

A sharply dressed man got out of it, followed by a bodyguard armed with a sub-machine gun and carrying a sports bag. It was quite the dark night, with no lights around that could shine on them, and the only people around that could identify them were already on his payroll. They were, as they said, cats: in the night, every one of them is black.

Marching to the door, a skinhead acknowledged them with a nod, not with a raised hand. Another opened the door, and moved aside, allowing the newcomers to pass.

Inside they met with another skinhead, a burly blonde man who stepped in as the visitor closed up to him.

"It's starting, then?"

A nod. "We were given molotovs, boss. No capes, should make things easier."

The bodyguard passed the bag to the blonde, and the 'boss' kept talking. "Use these too. Pass them to people we trust." He passed him by then. "You know your orders. Do follow them to the letter."

Behind the blonde, a chained big bearded man sat cross-legged. His face and his clothes were bloodied, not even bothering looking up to his visitor. "Your idea?"

The blonde shook his head. "They left him there like that. Victor, I think. Hookwolf wouldn't have been as gentle."

He nodded. "I apologize for the treatment you and your wife have received. But circumstances dictate that none of you can leave yet."

He crouched to level their eyes, but the chained man still didn't look at him.

"She talked, you know. Told everything."

Now at that, the bearded man looked up. And that must have been the first tear to run down his face since everything started.

"Don't despair. Everything will be better after tonight, whether you're here or not to see it."

He rose up then. "Give my regards to the girl, if you meet her again."

He turned around. "Virtuous Grind is a go", he ordered to the blonde as he turned around and went back to the exit followed by his escort.

Behind him, the bearded man started sobbing loudly.

"Three hours ago, a march protesting the authorities hands-off approach to the city gang war was broken and dispersed by Empire Eight Eight men. One hour later, Armsmaster received information that they took captives to their territory."

"The PRT hasn't acted yet?"

"Technically, the information wasn't 'legally' obtained. The source was a teen that looked like an adult."

"Hmm, could tell you stories myself. They don't trust the info?"

"The tip has been verified, and Director Iriomote is willing to give the go-ahead to a raid operation, but some lawyers stomped into the room and until a judge decides on the subject, the chief-director has the hands of both the PRT and the Protectorate tied."

"And meanwhile the E88 have enough time to move the evidence. Or clean it."

"Exactly. That's where we come in."

"And we shouldn't have to if the PRT and the heroes were doing their jobs from the start. So, what's the plan? Your ship is fast but we've just left Vancouver, and if they're smart we won't have time to cover enough ground."

"No, that's true. I'm thinking about going after a priority target, and exfiltrate. Hopefully, we'll be able to pass information on other places where there might be hostages; the PRT will be able to act then. Armsmaster already gave us the green light and is prepping everyone he can for the raid."

"Any particular hostage?"

"There're two close to each other's locations. Dockworkers."

"Please don't tell me..."

"No. Armsmaster already phoned your father, he managed to evade the worst of the trouble and he's at home now with Diamond."

"Thank god. Do we have IDs then?"

"Not totally confirmed, but they're ones you personally know."

"... Kurt and Lacey. Fuck. And they have weight in the Association."

"Yes, you know better than most that the E88 has been looking for a way in, and keeping them hostages might just give them that."

"Do we know what has moved the E88 to act like that? Or all the gangs to start warring each other, for that matter."

"Not really. They're not the type to give press conferences. There are theories, though, but..."

"You got your own?"

"It's just a thought, but... look. The conflicts in Brockton Bay have possessed a kind of stability for a decade. There are skirmishes now and then, but nothing that would push the gangs to actual war. Then Armsmaster moves you into the game, start hitting them in ways that hurt them bit by bit the aspects unrelated to their capes: drugs, money, weapons. Things where official groups can't justify a proactive stance without reasonable cause and proof."

"They notice the patterns and start shooting at each other. Then they snipe at the Association in the protest. People close to my family. Either they don't know my identity and we just got unlucky, or..."

"We have to assume it's a trap. It's too much of a coincidence otherwise."

"And I'm just a non-parahuman vigilante with the barest of sponsorship."

"You've demonstrated capabilities that are worrying for most baseline humans and lower rating capes. If they know Virtue is the one to blame for their problems, they'll be hunting for blood."

"Hmm, they manage to take me, and that's it. Easy catch, nobody looks twice, business goes back to normal."

"Taylor, I know what you're thinking. If you asked me any other time, I'd told you to sit this out and lay low."

"They're family, Dragon. Family that I'm just starting to reconnect with. I'm not gonna back down just because it might be a trap."

"I know, and I'm with you through and through."

"Do we have a plan?"

"The Empire acquired recently some warehouses from ABB territory close to the docks, and I'm positive that our targets are kept in that area. Lung is trying to recover a different area as we speak and most of the Empire capes are moving to intercept him, with Oni Lee playing distraction on their way, so it's safe to assume parahuman presence in the AO will be minimal for some time."

"Lung doesn't do 'short fights', but I don't see the Empire risking a long confrontation. They'll start retreating soon or risk losing people quick."

"I calculate they'll disengage in forty-five minutes or so, starting now. We'll be there in fifteen, so our window of opportunity is pretty small for two different rescues. Unfortunately, there's enough Empire presence that we can't land nearby, so you'll drop at the beach, then infiltrate on foot. Find the targets, take them to the extraction point, and lay low, see if they can share anything they know. Armsmaster will come in a nondescript van for exfil at our signal."

"Lovely, time limits."

"I know, so I'm going to break the rules this time. I'm sending a suit to drop some weapons from the PRT at the insertion point. Tranq guns like the ones at the Rig exercise, for a start."

"That'll help, but I might need something punchier if I meet heavy resistance."

"I've already discussed it with Armsmaster, and he's adding a sub-machine gun and grenades."

"Is he sure? You both know I've yet to go lethal..."

"It's the best compromise we could reach with what we have available. I'm aware that you are able to operate it and you might need it, but you don't have a guns permit yet and I'm reticent of having you kill, so please, please, only use it as a last resort. You're too young yet to have that weight on your consciousness."

"I promise, Dragon. I don't like the idea of dealing with death yet either."