AN: Still do not own either half of this crossover. Read and Review.

I dreamed of wandering a desolate wasteland. The sky was a cloudy, rusty, crimson, that seemed to be illuminated from everywhere and nowhere. Giant gears made of dull iron hung suspended in the air, constantly grinding away without any driving force. The landscape was dead. Low hills rolling on forever, but without a single blade of grass to soften their appearance, or bind the dirt which made them. Clouds of dust choked the world, clinging to the ground like a heavy mist blown ever onward by dry winds carrying the smell of ash. And everywhere I looked, sticking out of the ground like gravestones, were swords.

{}{}{}{}

Gasping, panting, I shot up into a sitting position… in a hospital bed? 'Was it all a dream?'

"Welcome back, Taylor." The familiar voice echoed in my head.

I shrieked... A little. "Archer?"

"Still here, Taylor."

"I thought it was dream. A nightmare."

"I'm afraid not."

"So that thing is really out there. And it really is going to destroy everything?"

"Yes." I closed my eyes and brought my knees up so that I could bury my face in them. For a few moments I focused on just breathing. It was all I could do for the moment. That and tremble. I couldn't even control it; my body would simply not stop trembling.

"I'm not ready." I murmured into my knees. "I'm not in shape. I don't know how to fight. I don't even know what to expect from that thing or how to get to it in the first place. More than that… Archer, do you know just how dangerous this world really is? If I make a mistake before I'm ready, before we fight that thing, I could die and never even get a shot at it." I wasn't giving up. In spite of how it might sound I wasn't giving up. I just needed to know if Archer really understood what we were up against.

Archer's sigh echoed in my mind. "Perhaps not fully. I have some idea based on your knowledge, but it's incomplete. For all that you are native to this world you have never seen any capes in combat. Let alone these Endbringers. I will not lie, this will be difficult, and I do not know if we can expect any further help, though I am sure others will continue to try. Now that they know how to do so they may be able to more easily send other spirits the same way… though most would not be so willing to see their existence come to an end."

I latched onto the last bit, putting the rest aside. "Why were you willing to come here if it meant dying?"

For long moments Archer remained silent. "To be a Counter Guardian is to subject oneself to an eternity of killing. Always those deaths serve humanity. We kill those that would put all of humanity at risk… But it is a horrible, and empty existence. The chance to be a part of saving the earth, of saving all earths. Of being able to leave something other than corpses in my wake. The chance for this horrible existence to finally end." His voice was thick with emotion. Vicious glee and anticipation warred with something that seemed almost religious, and hope. Hope carried more clearly in his voice than anything else. "Taylor, this chance, this last mission, this is everything I want."

As Archer spoke my trembling slowed and finally stopped. Archer was here to die. I could feel it down to my bones. He was here to help, and fight, and save. But just as much as all those things he was here to die. Even if we succeeded, he would die. He was counting on it.

"I see. I guess I'll have to be sure to never accept a job offer as a Counter Guardian." I said trying for just a little bit of levity. Archer seemed to appreciate the attempt going by his chuckles.

"Yes, I would highly recommend never accepting such an offer." He answered wryly.

"So, what do we do now?"

"Now? We do everything we can to prepare you."

Before I could respond the door to my hospital room opened. Rather than a nurse or Dad like I would have expected, Miss Militia, of all people, walked in.

"A hero? Damn it. We do not need this kind of attention. Not so soon at least."

"Miss Hebert? How are you feeling?" She asked kindly. The corners of her eyes crinkling slightly gave the impression of a smile under her scarf.

"I, well, not great. But I'm clean which is a relief." I answered honestly. "What is she even doing here?"

"I have a feeling we'll find out soon enough."

I blinked. Archer had answered my question? But I hadn't even asked it? "You can hear my thoughts?"

"I'm glad you're comfortable at least." She said moving to stand at the foot of my bed.

"Yes, but only when you put them in words. With practice you'll be able to limit it to what you want me to hear."

I absently nodded to both of their statements but otherwise remained silent. I would have to practice keeping my thoughts private. "This is going to be awkward enough without Archer hearing every little thing that goes through my head."

"True, but I'm sure you will get it eventually." Archer's response sounded vaguely amused.

"Damn it."

"Miss Hebert, Taylor, I hate to ask about this, but you cut yourself out of your locker. We can tell from how the edges looked. You had no tools or blades with which to do so, and from that position you would have had terrible leverage. How did you escape?"

"Don't tell her anything."

"I think it's a bit late for that, Archer. She already knows I somehow cut myself out when I physically couldn't have."

"...True. However, that doesn't mean you should give away tactical information about your capabilities just because someone asks."

"You're a bit paranoid, you do know that, right?"

"Fate of all earths in our hands. A bit of healthy paranoia is not a bad thing."

"Miss Hebert?" I glanced up at Miss Militia's tone before glancing away again.

"I need to tell her something!"

"... couldn't you just, not?"

"No!"

"It's not like you have any kind of legal requirement to answer."

"Alright, legally I don't need to answer. But practically speaking they already know something is going on… And I can't think of anything that might convince her otherwise. Can you?"

Miss Militia seemed content to let me keep my silence for now, but that couldn't last forever.

"No… no I can't. Alright, I don't like it, but you are right. Just, keep the information to a minimum."

"That should be easy enough. After all, I don't even know what I can do yet." Archer's answering chuckle sounded strained, but I still took it as a good sign.

"I cut myself out." I finally answered. I couldn't quite bring myself to look her in the eye while I answered though.

"I see, how did you cut yourself out?"

"With a pair of swords I made. They didn't last very long though. I, don't think I'm very good with my powers just yet."

"Not bad. All mostly true and it tells her nothing important."

"That's, interesting. Is there any chance you could show me?"

"Well, I, um."

"Taylor, we've been linked for less than a day. And you've only seen me use my magecraft once. You're not ready. Tracing my blades now is impossible for you."

"If I don't show her she's just going to be even more suspicious!"

Archer's groan reverberated through my mind. "I never expected this mission to be so damn troublesome. At least not so early on. I'm going to need to take control again for this."

"Why do I feel like this is going to be a recurring theme for us?"

"Just put your all into learning and soon enough it won't be."

His piece said I felt my consciousness slip into the back of my own mind as my body moved on its own. Shoulders squared, back straightened, my expression shifted to something calm, and determined. I knew as I saw the shock and tension run through Miss Militia that we had made a major mistake.

"Trace on." My voice, but not my tone of voice. Swords, black and white and gleaming brilliantly, formed in my hands. Then I was back in control. I couldn't even begin to fight the reflexive flinch backwards as a curled in on myself slightly.

That was all she needed to see. Miss Militia was out of her chair and had retreated back to the doorway. Her power, which had previously been in the shape of a small knife at her side, danced through the air as restless green energy, snapping from one form to the next rapid fire. Her eyes danced back and forth between the blades and I.

"Miss Hebert?" she said flatly.

"I, yes?"

"What was that?"

"I don't…"

"Miss Hebert, please don't make any hostile movements. I'm going to require you to go through Master Stranger testing. Please cooperate and we'll do everything we can to help you, I promise."

I could hear Archer cursing a blue streak though I didn't really pay it much attention. With a groan I slumped back into my hospital bed and dropped the blades to the floor where they faded away into particles of light. As if my day hadn't been long enough already.

{}{}{}{}

Three hours of seemingly random questions later I was finally left alone in a padded room with a trough for a toilet/shower, and a futon for a bed. I got it, really I did. But seriously? 'Have you recently smelled something that could best be described as fudge when there is no fudge?' Where the hell did something that random and off the wall come from? They hadn't even bothered to just ask me if I knew what was going on and why I suddenly changed body language like that.

Archer had at least done me the favor of not distracting me with a lot of comments during their testing. Which I appreciated, but it didn't change the fact that I could actually feel his mounting frustration and anger across whatever connection we shared. I was already frustrated enough on my own. I didn't need his on top of mine. More than that though I was just tired. It was just so fucking typical that nothing could go right for me. Even getting powers only managed to make my life worse in the end.

"Anyone out there listening to me by any chance?" I asked my ceiling as I laid out on the futon. I could feel a faint thread of interest from Archer. I ignored that too. After a minute with no answer I shrugged to myself and kept talking. "Fine, don't answer me. Even if no one is listening right now I'd bet I'm being recorded. Just thought I should point out that none of you did the obvious thing and just asked me if I knew what was going on. Idiots."

Archer's laughter managed to drag a tired smile out of me as I closed my eyes. They were going to pull my secrets out of me sooner or later at this rate. But I was just so tired of the world beating on me. If I was going to get dragged along then damn it all I was going to get a few kicks of my own in!

{}{}{}{}

The sound of an annoyingly loud buzzer dragged me from sleep. Groggily, I rubbed at my eyes and glared at the door as it swung open. Standing in the doorway was an apologetic looking Miss Militia, a grumpy looking Armsmaster, and a Ward in power armor, Gallant. With a groan I flopped back onto the futon and rubbed the palms of my hands over my eyes. Blinking I sat back upright and stared at the heroes for a moment.

"Archer, why can I see without my glasses."

"Hmm? Oh, my presence, and being absorbed is helping optimize your body. You'll still need to work hard to reach, and then maintain, human peak, but it will come easier for you than a normal person. Once we get into self reinforcement, you will be able to surpass human capabilities. Though as the process nears completion you may find yourself exceeding human limits without magecraft and there may be more obvious physical changes as well. You might, for example, develop my tan or eye color. This has never been done in such a way before so it's hard to know for certain what we can expect."

"Right, one question answered. A dozen more in its place."

"Miss Hebert, if you'll please come with us. We have prepared an interview room." Armsmaster spoke in a nearly dead tone of voice gesturing with the hand not carrying his halberd.

"Hmm interesting weapon he has there. Gahh, I can understand parts of it. The outside makes sense, but the interior is a mess. Mixing magecraft and technology like that, it's giving me a headache."

Ignoring Archer, I stood with a groan and fell in just behind Miss Militia and ahead of Armsmaster and Gallant. With any luck something might actually get worked out today. We walked through the halls in silence for a few minutes before Miss Militia gestured through a doorway. Inside was a cheap looking table and some generic chairs. Off to one side there was a basket of muffins and a pitcher of ice water. Grabbing a cup of water and a few muffins I dropped into the chair opposite the door.

Miss Militia claimed the seat across from me and the two other heroes in power armor stood by the door. I suppose they would be too heavy for the chairs in that armor. Miss Militia waited patiently for me to finish my muffins. I took my time chewing and tried to put my thoughts in order. I wasn't really sure what was going on at this point, I definitely didn't think I rated three heroes for, well, whatever this was. Swallowing the last bite of muffin, I decided I might as well start asking questions.

"Err, no one took my statement yesterday, about what happened to me. Can I give that now? Or do I need to go to the police station for that?" I asked shifting to look at each hero in turn.

"Given your new status as a Parahuman, and the irregularities we've observed, your case has actually been passed to the Protectorate. Would you like to get that out of the way first?" Miss Militia asked, not unkindly.

"...Sure, I guess." I wasn't sure what else there was to talk about, but I wanted to get this over with as soon as I could. More than that I didn't want to give those bitches or the school any more time to cover things up. They'd already been given too much of a head start.

I explained. I prefaced by saying that the bullying had been going on since the start of high school. I listed off the general kind of things that happened. Insults in the halls, tripping and shoving, vicious emails that forced me to create new accounts, homework and personal property destroyed. I didn't bother giving them a case by case, just an overview, I explained that the administration wouldn't do anything claiming there was no proof. Then I took a deep breath and told them about yesterday, about the locker.

"Sophia had to be the one to actually push me in there." I said winding down my testimony. I felt drained, God I hoped they would at least listen. "Sophia Hess, Emma Barnes, and Madison Clements are the usual ringleaders. But Sophia is the only one who ever gets physical, so it must have been her that pushed me in there." I just barely noticed Gallant stop moving. It shouldn't have meant anything, but the boy had been constantly shifting since I started to describe the locker. And he froze stock still when I mentioned the girl's names.

"The hell? Does he know one of them from somewhere or something?"

"Hmm, possibly."

"Probably Emma. Her Dad's a divorce lawyer and he brings her along to a lot of high society events. I think I remember hearing that Wards get dragged to those sometimes."

"Mmm, makes sense."

"Was there anything else you needed from me? My Dad's probably worried about me, and I'd really like to get home."

Armsmaster and Miss Militia shared a look before Armsmaster began to speak. "Miss Hebert, you are aware that you went through Master Stranger quarantine yesterday?"

"Yes." I answered slowly, as if speaking to a particularly slow child.

"How could I have missed waking up in a strange room to a trio of superheroes?" Archer's amused snort forced me to fight a grin. But the way Gallant suddenly leaned forward as if looking at me closely quickly killed my amusement. I gave the Ward a questioning look.

"Miss Hebert, when you used your power yesterday, it was like looking at a completely different person." Miss Militia spoke carefully, as if choosing each word was of some great importance. "Nothing truly worrying came up when we interviewed you yesterday. However, Gallant here is an empath. He watched part of your Master Stranger interview. He claims you have two sets of emotions."

"It's really odd." Gallant said thoughtfully. "Just now the second set of emotions was amused for a moment. Then you're, primary emotions, followed. Can you tell me why that happened? Why you have two sets of emotions to begin with?"

"... I'd really rather not." I focused on a spot in the middle of the table. I wasn't willing to look any of them in the eye.

"Why?" Armsmaster asked. He wasn't like the other two he was… almost confrontational.

"Because it sounds crazy."

"Taylor, if someone is using some sort of power on you, we need any information you can offer to be able to help you." Miss Militia said gently.

Groaning I rubbed at my eyes. "I'm not getting out of here until I answer their questions, am I?"

"Most likely. They've already decided what must be happening, and refusing to tell them anything will only further cement their belief."

"Damn it."

"Mmm. I was really hoping to keep a lower profile."

"It's not some Master effect, that's Archer." I rubbed at my eyes tiredly. "He sort of, came with my power, I guess."

"Elaborate." Armsmaster demanded. Miss Militia shot the man a mild glare to which I added my own.

"My powers, were, are, his. He came with them as a kind of package deal. Thing is… I can't work my powers, yet. He has to teach me first and I haven't had them long enough to even start learning."

"Powers don't work that way." Armsmaster scowled at me. I just shrugged.

"Mine do."

"But I saw you project two blades yesterday." Miss Militia cut in before Armsmaster could start talking again. "And you cut yourself out of your locker."

"I didn't though. That was Archer. He had to be in control to do that. It's why my body language changed. I still have no idea how he does that."

"I'll teach you."

"Good. I need to be able to protect myself. I'm never going to let something like that happen to me again… and we've got a world to save, don't we?" I didn't want to think about that. It was just such a huge problem. I had no idea where to even begin dealing with it. But denial wasn't going to help. I'd just have to take it one day at a time.

"Yes, yes we do." Archer's voice was warm with approval. It made me sit up a bit straighter in my chair.

"This, Archer, can take control of your body?" Armsmaster demanded.

"Yes." I'd already admitted as much, no point in denying it now.

"And you can speak with him."

"Just have to think at him, or something. Still working on keeping my thoughts private the rest of the time."

"Miss Hebert, you have admitted to having a voice in your head, and that said voice is capable of taking control of your body." Armsmaster said flatly. "Until such a time as this effect is no longer an issue or your, claims, that this is only an aspect of your power can be confirmed we have no choice but to act under the assumption that you are suffering from some form of Master effect. Body thieves are incredibly rare, but there have been a few cases of such."

With every word I could feel a pit opening up in my stomach.

"Furthermore, your testimony is now suspect and any capable lawyer could have it thrown out of court. While we can use it as a starting point for our investigation, we will need to corroborate everything through other sources."

"No. No, no no no no! Damn it all! They have to listen to me! If they don't believe me then they'll just get away with this!"

"Breath, Taylor, just breath. We will get through this. Worst comes to worst we will just have to break you out."

"But then I'll be a villain!"

"It will be our last resort then. There is still time to figure things out."

"Finally, as a Parahuman suffering from an unknown Master effect, you are by PRT regulations to be considered a possible threat to both the public and yourself. To that end we are required, by law, to hold you for a period of one week for observation. Should the effect fade in that time you will be cleared to leave. Should the effect persist after a week then we will be required to transfer you to a long term Master Stranger recovery ward for professional evaluation and treatment. Do you understand?"

"You can't just arrest me! I haven't even done anything! I can't even use my powers yet!"

"Miss Hebert, Taylor." Miss Militia spoke up after shooting a look in Armsmaster's direction. "You aren't being arrested. I know this must be upsetting, I know it isn't fair to you. But it's the only method we have to help you, and keep others safe. What if this Archer took control and used your body to hurt someone? You claim he can use your powers, that makes him dangerous."

I slumped into my seat and just stared at the table. It was true that I had only met Archer yesterday. I didn't really know him but he didn't seem like a bad person, and he was here to help save the world, not go around hurting random people. But they wouldn't believe that. They had no reason to believe me. I could tell them I wasn't insane or Mastered until I was blue in the face, but they had already made up their minds. They wouldn't listen to me now.

"I've half a mind to just beat them all and walk us out of here."

"Archer, that is without a doubt the stupidest, most short sighted plan I have ever heard. It's three against one and we are who knows where in a place we don't know the layout of and it's probably rigged with containment foam sprayers everywhere. And even if we did get out, they would hunt me down because they think I'm a public threat! So, either shut up, or offer me a useful suggestion!"

"All right, all right. Not like I was being serious."

"Fine, whatever. You all think I'm crazy, or Mastered, or whatever, got it." I could feel my eyes starting to sting but I would not start crying here and now. I would get through this even if I had to train until I could break out and survive on the run. I could deal with the trio making my life hell, I could deal with this. "But if you're going to be investigating, I kept an incident journal. I only started it this year, but I recorded every incident and kept copies of emails and… whatever. It's not much, but it's something at least. It's in my closet on the top shelf. My Dad should be able to get it for you since I'm stuck here."

"We'll make sure it's retrieved. That should at least help to corroborate your testimony." Miss Militia said kindly.

"Great, anything else you needed? Because if there isn't, I'd really like to start learning to use my power." And I really wanted to get out of this room. They weren't going to help me, and it hurt to look at them and know that.

"We can bring you back to the Master Stranger cells now, but be warned any attempts to break out will result in the room being filled with containment foam." Armsmaster declared rather pointedly.

"Yeah, figured as much." I answered sullenly.

Armsmaster waved for me to stand as he opened the door to the room and led me back to my previous room. Miss Militia followed behind me this time.

Once back inside the containment cell I plopped down on the futon. "Alright, Archer. Looks like we have nothing but time on our hands. And I could really use a distraction right now. So, teach me magic."

Archer's warm chuckles echoed through my mind. "Alright then, Taylor. Let's get started."