Chapter 4

Taylor's eyes opened as she slowly became awake, the beeping of the heart monitor, the low whine of high-powered lights, and the too clean smell of a hospital. She looked around groggily, and sitting in the seat to her left, with a hat slouched over her face was, a cowboy?

Really?

Taylor groaned as she sat up, startling the other person who Taylor realized was a woman. The other woman came to in a blur of motion, one hand going to a gun holster before she apparently realized that there was no danger, and relaxed slightly as she pulled on a duster that had been laying on the back of her chair. The red haired woman turned and smiled at Taylor.

"Hello Taylor, my name is Moira, its a pleasure too meet you."

Taylor coughed as she tried to speak. Moira winced as she realized that her throat was dry and hastily held up a blue plastic cup with a bendy straw to Taylors lips. Taylor drank greedily as she realized just how thirsty she was, as she drank Moira cautioned her.

"Try to drink slowly. You've been out for a while."

Once she had drank her fill, Taylor tried speaking again.

"Why are you here?"

Scene Break

I winced internally. This was going to be a hard sell. I wished Danny were here to help.

"I…" I began slowly. "I am your new bodyguard Taylor."

Cue total incomprehension as I rushed to explain.

"Your father was not the one who hired me, your uncle passed away recently, and actually willed you my services as well as enough money to pay for both my services, and your education a few times over."

I supposed it was true enough. On the backside of the letter there had been a list of bank accounts and an explanation as to their uses. Now, were they from some random uncle of Taylors? Don't care. What was important was that I had millions of dollars in untraceable money.

Taylor was still just looking at me.

"My family have been professional warriors and bodyguards for the past five hundred years. Your uncle earned our loyalty by saving the patriarch of that time. After that, he earned a bodyguard for himself, and the ability to secure our services for any other family. After his death in which a cousin of mine also died while attempting to protect him, we found that in his will, he had made arrangements for one of the Grey clan to enter service as your bodyguard."

And she was still looking at me. Really? No reaction even after you just essentially learned that you just got a bodyguard form a ancient family of warriors? Really?

"Wheres my dad?"

Oh.

"He went out to go get a cup of coffee. Ill go get him."

I stood up, calmly strapped on my gun, and left to go grab Danny.

I motioned him aside as I shut the door quietly.

"She's awake, but I don't know how well she's taking this. Try and get her on board, and I'm going to head back to the house, make sure you have a good meal waiting for you, and I can bring some back if Taylor doesn't get discharged today."

Danny nodded and patted me on the shoulder in reassurance before entering the hospital. I left the hospital through main doors, already reaching into my coat pocket for my mask.

I activated my SEP field as I walked away, but then paused as I held up the mask to my face, my hands shaking slightly, the realities catching up to me.

I had been a normal, nerdy, guy. Now, I was a red headed, teenage girl, who in the space of a few days had already amassed a kill count in the double digits.

What the fuck was I doing?

I felt a phantom twinge in my ribs that reminded me, I was doing this to save my life, and maybe that of others.

I strapped on the mask, tilted my hat, and got ready to go to work.

Scene Break

Aegis, leader of Brockton bays wards with his least favorite person on the team.

Shadowstalker.

There was dead silence between them, usually they would be bickering back and forth, trading insults as he attempted to her to open up, and failing at it, he had to admit, in an epic fashion. But tonight, it felt like there were eyes upon them, they had already reported it to the console, but Clockblocker, the ward on duty for the night, had just mocked them.

That hadn't stopped the tension from rising as they went along their patrol.

Both wards started as they heard a feminine scream in the distance.

Aegis arrived with Shadowstalker in tow to see a grungy merchant with a gun menacing a cute redheaded teen dressed in jeans and a tight red shirt.

"Give me yer wallet!" The druggy slurred. The redheaded woman shook her head furiously as she pressed herself against the brick wall of the alley she had been cornered in. Aegis and Shadowstalker both jumped down behind the thug, the woman eyes lighted up as she saw them.

"Put the gun down, or be taken down."

The Merchant whirled, gun in hand, and there was a shot, and Shadowstalker went down. Aegis sprang forward and threw a heavy handed, panicked punch that crunched as it made contact, sending the merchant spiraling into a nearby wall.

Panicking, his heart low in his throat, Aegis turned to Shadowstalker. She lay on the ground motionless, a small hole, in the center of her forehead. Aegis swallowed, and called it in.

"Console. This Aegis. Ward down, I repeat Ward down."

Clockblocker's voice came over the console, for once, professional and clipped.

"This is the console. Which ward is down."

"Shadowstalker… S-she's dead."

And when Aegis turned to find the woman they had just saved, but the red head was gone, gone like a fading breeze.

Scene Break

I sighed as I walked away, my SEP field up. That had been even easier then I expected. I had dropped off my costume at the Hebert's house after I had picked up a couple different changes of clothes.

Dressed in some of the new clothes, and then I'd just walked around Merchant territory for a few hours with my gun in a small, localized SEP field. Id been mugged a few times and called for help, but no one had answered so Id just shot the first few. But then Id gotten really lucky with the last one. I had expected to have to pull bait duty for at least a few days, but Shadowstalker had been patrolling with Aegis when the Merchant had tried to mug me. When the Merchant had turned to confront the the leader of the Wards and my target, I had slipped the gun out and taken my shot before cloaking and calmly walking away, out of the alley, and back toward the Hebert house.

One target down, and only a few more dozen, way more difficult ones to go.

Fan-freaking-tastic.