I do not consider myself to be all that great of a writer, but roughly 70% of the stories on this site are garbage, so at least I can be sure this is not the worst story here. Any criticisms or reviews are appreciated.
Taylor took a deep breath as she wondered what the hell made her think going out as a hero with only a single combat worthy puppet was a good idea. She had been, while not exactly confident before, at least sure in the quality of her creations. Naga, her first combat puppet, could easily handle dozens of thugs at once while still protecting her. As long as she avoided the superhuman citizens of Brockton Bay, there should have been little danger.
So when Taylor spotted a group of ABB goons being lead by a man wearing an ornate Japanese-demon mask, she should have just bunkered down in the alley she was watching from and hoped they didn't see her. She should have just watched as Oni-Lee, a para-human known for his ruthlessness, walked by, off to do god knows what. She was not equipped to fight a para-human, and had not prepared for it, especially one so mobile as Oni-Lee, but she was a hero dammit.
If she was going to be a hero, then she could not let people like Oni-Lee walk free just because she was afraid. While she was unsure of the ABB's plans for tonight, there was no doubt that they would do something criminal. Regardless of how ready she was to face him, she was better prepared than any innocents targeted. As a hero, it was her duty to confront the group.
Still, Taylor was nearly as surprised as the gang members when she stepped out of the alley and into their path. She used that moment of shock to examine the group in more detail. Lee in the middle, with thirteen generic thugs surrounding him, wielding a mixture of handguns and metal bats. Not what she would have chosen for her debut, but at least it is not Lung.
"This is none of your concern, girl. Walk away now or you'll never walk again."Oni-Lee finally broke the silence, stepping forward and speaking with a noticeable accent.
Taylor was too nervous to make any grand statement about turning themselves in, Oni-Lee obviously took her continued presence there as disagreement. Barely seconds after his ultimatum, Lee ordered his subordinates to shoot.
Despite the domino mask and large hood that indicated her as a cape, Taylor was still a tall, overly skinny teenage girl. She didn't exactly scream dangerous to the criminals in front of her. That changed, however, when Naga, a fifteen foot long snake woman slithered into view.
Those with guns opened fire immediately, only to see their shots deflecting off of the snake now coiled around Taylor. In less than a minute, the guns ran empty having done no noticeable damage to the snake.
As soon as the gunfire ceased, Naga rose to a more upright position and turned its head towards the Gang members. Hundreds of tiny needles launched from its mouth, injecting them with a fast acting paralytic poison.
The snake quickly twisted to block the knife of a suddenly appearing Oni-Lee as the thugs collapsed around the pile of ash that used to be their leader, unconscious. The next few moments passed in a frantic cycle, as Lee teleported constantly to attack the girl from every angle only to be rebuffed by the snake every time.
However, even as Oni-Lee failed to connect, the snake bit into nothing but ash with its own attacks. Though the snake and the demon masked man could not damage each other, Oni-Lee was not targeting the snake. The stalemate was broken by a bloom of fire that, while failing to cause significant damage to the snake, pushed it of balance and away from the girl.
Before the explosion had even truly died out, Oni-Lee materialized in front of the girl and lashed out. His blade struck her directly in the throat, but only skittered off without finding any purchase. So quick that his eyes did not even have time to widen in surprise, the girls arm lashed forward to slam into his chest.
Oni-Lee tumbled through the air before collapsing bonelessly to the pavement. The girl and the snake watched warily for any movement, and only after a minute of complete silence did they relax.
With the fight concluded, the snake's chest peeled open and released Taylor. She dropped to the ground, barely able to believe what had just happened. She could not contain the smile that crossed her face. Her first night out, and she captured Oni-Lee for the PRT. Using a pay-phone to call it in was kind of embarrassing, but it was Oni-Lee!
Unfortunately, Taylor's musing were brought to a halt by a huge explosion of fire and a roar a block or two away. The only Bay cape who fit that description was Lung, the para-human whose power allowed him to turn into a dragon. He was also the leader of the ABB, and Oni-Lee's boss. For some reason, calling the PRT and waiting for them to pick up the gang members no longer seemed like a good idea to Taylor.
The other gang members were a dime a dozen in Brockton Bay, but she couldn't just leave Oni-Lee and hope he was captured. She worked too hard to just let a dragon ruin her debut.
Resolved, she sent the decoy puppet to pick up Oni-Lee. She would just take him with her to somewhere safer before calling the PRT. However, when the puppet lifted Lee from the ground, Taylor noticed something odd. She moved closer to look, and her face lost all color. Oni-Lee's head was twisted almost completely backwards and hung as if his neck were boneless.
Taylor could barely comprehend what was going on around her. She had killed someone. He must have landed badly after the girl puppet hit him. It was an accident, but she still killed someone. She couldn't call the PRT, she was as much of a criminal as Oni-Lee was.
Another roar snapped her out of her appalled shock. Finding out she had killed Oni-Lee while Lung was bearing down on her was too much for Taylor, so she ran. Her puppets following, Taylor sprinted away, instinctively heading towards her lab, an abandoned office building barely five minutes away.
Despite her daily runs, Taylor was gasping for breath by the time she finally crawled into the unlocked window that was the only entrance to the building not chained or bolted closed. Her puppets followed and then stood completely still as she caught her breath.
The room they stopped in was an absolute disaster. Aside from a clear table in the center, saws, power tools, chunks of wood, nails and more lay scattered all over the floor while half finished puppets hung from the walls. Saw-dust and a strange resin like liquid were spread over everything.
When Taylor at last came back to herself, she turned to her puppets and nearly had another panic attack. Still clutched in her puppet's arms was the corpse of Oni-Lee. With stiff and mechanical motions, so unlike the earlier showing, Taylor made the puppet place its burden down in the only clear place in the room.
Taylor paced back and forth in the small clear area of floor just in front of her operating table. She had killed someone. She didn't know what to do. Almost against her will, she found her eyes drawn to Oni-Lee, flopped onto the table, neck at an odd angle. She was a murderer. Deliberate or not, she had ended someone's life. She had to fix this. She had to deal with this. She had to find some way to make it better. She had to...
She staggered back from the table, splattered in blood, still holding a saw. Without thinking, Taylor twitched her finger and applied bit of will. Oni-Lee rose from the table, neck no longer twisted, but eyes still just as dead. Another twitch and Lee was suddenly on the other side of the room, the body by the table falling to ash. All three puppets stood silently as Taylor collapsed to her knees and emptied her stomach.