Epitaph 3-5

The wind picked up as I walked as fast as I could towards the Dock Workers Association Headquarters. Glory Girl flew over my head, staying a little ways in front of me. It probably would have been faster for Glory Girl to carry me, but my shoulder was acting up and I didn't want to risk hurting it any more.

It took me several minutes to get to the building, Glory Girl circling overhead and watching for trouble while I walked. As we got to the Dock Workers Association headquarters, we were on our guard, constantly looking around and watching for any signs of Bakuda. For now, though, it seemed quiet. The building was only partially still standing, the signs of bombing evident for all to see. A large crater now stood where the eastern wing of the building would have once been, and most of the windows were blown out. Several corpses were wedged in-between rubble, an arm or leg visible here and there. The air was already filled with the rank smell of singed human flesh.

I heard shouts and frantic talking coming from the second floor, right near where it was now exposed to the open air. Glory Girl clearly heard as well, because she rushed off towards the sound, disappearing into the building. My dad didn't need to know what I was doing just yet, but Glory Girl being here meant I couldn't just pull off the mask and help. I sighed. She could help the people get out, I needed to go get Bakuda. This wasn't going to end until the psychotic killer was stopped. At least she was a stationary target compared to Oni Lee. With what I knew about my powers, and the powers I had been loaned, now meant this shouldn't be too hard.

A cloud of smoke several blocks further into the Docks, and what sounded like muffled thunder, gave me a very good guess at Bakuda's location. I grabbed some of the larger pebbles and small rocks that were lying strewn about on the ground and shoved them into my pockets. Calming myself down, I headed towards what appeared to be Bakuda's location. Freshly destroyed buildings gave me an easy to follow path, tracing the carnage that she was leaving in her wake.

The air was thick with the smell of burning corpses, something I'd never smelled till today and hoped to never smell again. A thin haze of smoke drifted through the air, obscuring the tops of the taller buildings and giving everything a grey tinge, and the smell of the smoke mingled in with the acrid scent of scorched flesh to leave me with a very unpleasant aroma.

A squawk to my right made me jump straight into the air, my heart skipping a beat. I spun to see what it was and was greeted by a radio, sparking but now playing whatever song was on the channel it was tuned to.

If we make it we can all sit back and laugh,

But I fear tomorrow I'll be crying,

Yes I fear tomorrow I'll be crying.

I'd never heard the song before, but it fit the events of these last couple days pretty accurately, someone at the radio station must have a dark sense of humour.

Ahead of me, down the road just out of sight, I could hear some quiet voices approaching. One sounded distinctly like Bakuda, and I immediately moved into one of the blown out buildings, inching my way forwards over the wreckage as quietly as possible.

"Oni Lee should be back by now, this isn't good." I couldn't see her yet, but the pause seemed to indicate that she was looking around. "Well, it's not good, is it?"

"No, it's not good, not good," echoed several voices in the same area, each one filled with fear.

"Thank you, see, that's all you have to do. Answer me when I want you to and do everything I say. That's not too hard, is it?"

"No, ma'am, no it's not," the voices all responded yet again.

I fiddled with the rocks in my pocket. If I launched them up at the right angle, I could hit Bakuda and put her out of the fight. I just had to find that. Looking ahead, I didn't see myself choosing any angle to throw from, which surprised me. I still hadn't figured out how this 'seeing the future' thing worked: was it based on what I would do, or was it showing me what I had to do? I decided to do what it showed, that had worked out for me every other time, so it wouldn't hurt this time.

Bakuda was now talking about dreams and goals, but I wasn't paying attention. I didn't want to hurt all the people she had dragged into this, but was there a choice? What was that line from the old Star Trek movie, "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few?" If I could stop Bakuda here, that would help the whole town in the long run.

Well, a dramatic entrance was probably better than nothing. I stepped out from the shadows and into the road, heading straight for Bakuda. Every one of the people around her looked up and me, and Bakuda's shock was evident through her mask. I continued moving toward her, hitting each of the pressganged fighters in their calves, bringing them down before they could move toward me. Most of them simply lay there after falling, though a few started to crawl toward me, their fear of Bakuda still clearly higher than their fear of me doing anything to them.

"Stop or I detonate every single one of them," Bakuda sneered, quickly regaining her composure. "I can set them off with a thought, you saw me do it before. Are you fine with letting all these people and their families die?" Bakuda waited for my response, standing perfectly still.

My response came as a rock, hurtling almost as fast as a bullet directly at the side of Bakuda's head. It clipped her along her cheekbone and hurtled straight through her ear, continuing off behind her. As the rock impacted, several of the bodies near me exploded.

I had seen it coming, though, so I followed up my rock attack with a leap towards Bakuda, moving out of range of the small explosives. I drew my arm back and surrounded it with the red arm thing to strengthen my punches, then slammed my enhanced fist straight into Bakuda's jaw. She started to fall, but I was already ready with another punch, slamming my fist into her gut, then following through and hitting her face with my elbow. I could feel her jaw shatter.

"I'm done with you!" shouted as I let loose another punch into her prone form, again into her gut. "You. Aren't. Going. To. Hurt. Anyone. Any. More." I punctuated each word with another punch to her face. Bakuda lay still on the ground, her breathing shallow and clearly laboured.

For several seconds, I just stood there, panting. My shoulder ached, but it was over. I could go home and finally get a chance to rest. I kicked Bakuda in the side lightly, but she didn't stir. Satisfied that she was really down for the count, I turned and headed back toward the Dock Workers Association Headquarters.

I probably should just head home, though. There was still a chance I could beat my dad back, and that way I wouldn't have to have another confrontation about where I was. If he was already back when I arrived, the easiest thing to do would just be to tell him I heard on the news that his office had gotten bombed and I went to look for him. It was technically the truth, and I wouldn't have to lie about lying.

"Epitaph!" I jumped. I looked up to see Glory Girl hovering above me. "Where's Bakuda?" There was an edge to her voice, a sense of urgency.

"I just knocked her unconscious, what's the problem?"

"Several of her bombs just went off all at once across the city. Not just explosives, but bombs that had tinker additions to them." I choked imperceptibly. Bakuda had followed through with her threat to just indiscriminately set off bombs. Shit. "If you took her out, though, that means this over for now, right?"

"Yeah, as long as someone can get the PRT down here soon to clean up this mess. I left Bakuda on the ground after I knocked her out."

Glory Girl paused and looked me over. "You don't have a costume or armour or anything on, what's up with that?"

"It got ripped up the other day when I fought Circus, didn't have time to fix it or get a new one."

"If you need any help with a costume, my family can help. I owe you for helping me."

"Thanks," I said, a little awestruck. Glory Girl was offering me help, New Wave was offering me help, this was surreal. I gave a little wave and resumed walking; how do you say goodbye to a cape that just offered you help?

The wind picked up, and I shivered. The haze of smoke that had covered up my view of the skyline was mostly gone now, which allowed me to see the columns of smoke now pouring from the downtown area. Not my problem right now, though, I just needed to get home and make sure my dad was alright.

The walk back was uneventful, and when I arrived home, Dad was still gone. There was a message on the answering machine, though. He had called and told me he was at the hospital and that I should stay inside. After I hid my mask with the rest of my costume, I sat down on the couch to wait for Dad.

Taylor's body stood from the couch. She vanished, then reappeared. Her father was asleep, and wouldn't be waking up soon, the sleep medication would make sure that he stayed sleeping soundly. Brushing her hair into her face, King Crimson headed toward the door. She paused and looked down at what she was wearing, then shook her head. She flickered and vanished. Several seconds later, she appeared again, this time holding the costume Taylor had worn to fight Circus and Lung. She quickly donned the reinforced pants, looked at the top, and then reluctantly put it on as well.

With that accomplished, she headed out the front door and vanished into the night.