1.14

When Krieg finally returned to the study, I was alone. He looked around for a moment before calling my name.

"Taylor? Are you still here?"

I called Michael back into being. I expected Krieg to jump or be startled, but he only nodded at Michael.

"Hello again, Miss Hebert." Krieg sat down across from me. "Have you seen Richard?"

"Bathroom." I said through Michael. Allfather was actually cleaning up after our talk, but Krieg didn't need to know that.

"Ah." He paused, thinking about something. "So, are all the things he says about you true?"

I figured they'd talked about me, but having him ask me outright was uncomfortable.

"Like what?" I said.

"Quite a lot, really. Your history and your powers, how you're working alongside him to kill Kaiser, et cetera."

I stared at him. "He told you that we're going after Kaiser? What if you were on Kaiser's side?"

Krieg's smile hardened slightly; his mouth tightening. "Miss Hebert, how much did Richard tell you about Caroline?"

"Iron Rain?"

"Yes, but I knew her best as Caroline, just like I know Allfather better as Richard. He and I have been friends for a very long time. When Caroline was born, he named me as her godfather. Had he been around when my sons were born, I'd have done the same for him."

A surge of guilt ran through me at that. I'd brought back his best friend, and now I was going to take him away.

"It was a dark time for us, Miss Hebert. A very dark time for the Empire indeed. We-"

The door clicked shut, and we both looked up. Allfather strode over to my couch, standing behind it rather than sitting. He bore no signs of what had just happened between us. I was glad. I just didn't connect him with those kinds of emotions.

"Don't stop on my account, James." Allfather said.

Krieg nodded and continued. "A dark time. Kaiser's first wife was killed by the Teeth. You probably don't remember them, but they were a gang in Brockton Bay back then. They operate out of Boston now."

"Kaiser's wife?" I said. Huh. I hadn't really pegged Kaiser as the family type.

"Heith." Allfather said softly.

Krieg nodded. "She was a good woman. Max was more upset than I'd ever seen him. He swore revenge on the Teeth, but by the time he was ready to carry it out, the Teeth were all dead. The Slaughterhouse Nine got them to a man. And not just them. The entire Protectorate team too. And many of the smalltime rogues got caught in the crossfire."

Geez. It sounded like there had been a war. What was weird was that it had happened during my lifetime. A full on cape war that I didn't even remember because I was just a kid.

"Things became very chaotic for a while." Krieg said. "Some of the Nine were killed, and they started escalating. Huge public displays of murder and torture, the like of which even we had never seen."

"It was a nightmare." Allfather said. He was quiet. Was he remembering? Everything Krieg spoke of was something that had happened days ago for Allfather.

"Yes." Krieg said simply. But a shadow passed over his face as he said it. "People were dying, half the capes were dead or worse, and we were scrambling around trying to survive."

He looked up at Allfather. "When you… passed, Richard, things went wild. We were already in disarray, and we lost our leader."

"To Kaiser." Allfather growled.

"Perhaps, but we didn't know that then. All we knew was that you disappeared. Kaiser said the Nine got you and Iron Rain, as revenge for one of their members that you slew."

"I didn't slay any of their members." Allfather said.

Krieg shrugged. "We didn't know. We never found your body, or Caroline's. You were just gone, one day."

"I… I'm sorry for that," Allfather said.

"It wasn't your fault." Krieg leaned forward, dropping his eyes to the table. "I wondered, Richard. Wondered for twelve long years what happened to you. And the answer was with us all along."

He paused for a long moment. "What did happen that night?"

I turned to look at Allfather. His face was blank; his eye far-off, looking into his memories.

"I didn't see much before I died. But… I remember my son. He was definitely there. It was him… and two women, I think. And another man. …Or was it three women?"

"Anything specific?"

"Not much. They ambushed me." Allfather clenched his fist. "I died a pitiful death. It was over so quickly."

I thought he'd be angry, but he just looked miserable.

"I remember… one of the women, a blonde, laughing when Max did it. And the other was… white-blonde, I think. I think she shot me when the fight started. With Max… I thought he'd gloat. He always liked to talk in a fight, but he didn't then. It was odd. Not like him at all. He didn't even use his powers on me. He used one of my swords to do it."

Allfather fell silent; his eye dark, like a shade had closed behind it. I wanted to say something to him, but what could I say to that?

"I'm sorry to bring it up." Krieg said soberly. "But I needed to know."

"I understand, James. I feel the same way about Caroline. Not knowing what happened to her is a nightmare." He paused. "Did you say that Heith was my son's first wife? What happened to her son, Theo?"

Krieg smiled for the first time in a while. "He's fifteen now. I think he'll be glad to see you, he needs more positive influences in his life. As for Kaiser, he remarried a couple years ago to Kayden Russell."

"Purity?" Allfather shook his head wonderingly. "She always did have a crush on him."

"It didn't work out. She had a child with him right around the time that they split up."

"Oh."

Krieg checked his watch. "I need to wrap this up soon. Medhall calls."

"Hold on." Allfather said. "I… we need to discuss something before you go. What Taylor told me has changed the situation."

Krieg looked on intently as Allfather explained what I'd learned about my powers when I completed Michael's contract. I didn't contribute much. Allfather had a solid grasp on the details, and I didn't trust myself to explain to Krieg why his best friend was going to die. When it was over, Krieg was stone-faced.

"That's a hell of a way for things to go, Richard." He said. "What does this mean for our plans?"

"So far, nothing." Allfather said. "The issue comes at the end. I won't be able to take over the Empire from Kaiser if my contract ends. James, would you be willing to take over when I'm gone?"

Krieg's eyes went wide. "Me? Leading the Empire? I… I mean that's…"

"You don't have to decide now. Think about it, give me your answer later." Allfather managed a crooked smile. "I know you've always wanted the top job."

"I have. I just never expected…" Krieg rose to his feet slowly, looking stunned. "Yes, let me think about it. Right now, I need to go to work. It'll look odd if I call off."

"Take your time." Allfather said.

Krieg paused in the doorway. "I forgot- there's a rally scheduled at the end of the week."

"What for?" I said.

"For you, Miss Hebert. It's a rally for you." He checked his watch again. "Shoot. We'll talk about it when I get home."

He excused himself and left the room. The hurried footsteps and door slamming that followed told me that we were alone in the house. Allfather stood quietly, gazing around the room for a while afterward.

When he finally turned his eye to me, he looked tired; totally and completely drained.

He'd gone from a confident, powerful supervillain to an exhausted, scared man in a matter of minutes.

And that was all my fault.

"I'd like to return, if you don't mind, Taylor."

"I'm sorry, Allfather."

"So am I." He said.

I mostly lay around the house after that. Now that I had Michael, I could do stuff like watch tv if I wanted. But after a couple hours of daytime television, I started getting antsy.

What could I do next? I could use Michael to touch things. I'd already been doing that. I'd touched everything in the room, actually. It was awesome, but what else could I do?

"What do you think?" I asked Michael.

He didn't answer.

I stared at him for a moment before the answer hit me.

Of course.

With a sigh, I banished Michael. Then I dove inward, looking at the shards submerged in my power. Of the three remaining shards that were not-me, I picked two. Skidmark's, a wavy blue gem, with the edges melted into a smooth spiral. And Runechild's, like a pearl, flickering back and forth in place.

The two ghosts appeared before me.

Runechild immediately skittered away from Skidmark, looking nervous. As she turned away from me, I noticed that her white cloak was as bloodstained as her gloves. Like a Jackson Pollack made with blood. How the hell had she managed that?

"You guys saw what happened earlier, right?" I said.

Skidmark chuckled unpleasantly. "You and Captain Klan had a pretty fuckin cute little moment there. Gonna marry him and make a bunch of Aryan brats?"

"Shut up. I meant before that."

"Y-you're talking about the contracts." Runechild said. She had her cloak pulled around her like a safety blanket. I wondered if she was still upset. She'd been really upset when I first met her, and I still wasn't sure why. Because she'd died?

"Right." I said. "The contracts. You two saw what happened to Michael when his ended. The fact that completing a contract had an effect means that the deals we have are deeper than just promises. My power does something with them. Knowing what you do now, would you like to change the terms of our deal?"

They both looked thoughtful. I stayed quiet, giving them time to figure things out.

Skidmark spoke first. "So… If I wished to fuck every bitch in the world, you'd help me do it, and I wouldn't die until I did."

I glared at him. "I'm not doing that. Also…" I parsed what he'd just asked. It felt… it felt wrong. Unsuitable. It wasn't like a definite yes/no light lit up in my brain. More like a general feeling of warning. Foreboding.

"No. I don't think I can do that, even if I wanted to. Which I don't."

Why was that though? Because it was unfeasible? Because it'd take forever? Because it was essentially impossible to do?

"You're gross." Runechild muttered at Skidmark. "Why would you waste your wish on that?"

"Because there's nothing finer than when you throw a bitch down and-"

"Skidmark!" I shouted. He ignored me.

"-and then she's like 'oh yeah, use the butter and-"

Runechild shrieked, covering her ears. I unsummoned her out of mercy.

"-and the third bitch is standing on the guy's back, using the turkey baster to-"

I covered my ears.

Skidmark kept going for almost five more minutes before I felt it was safe to listen again.

"- and that's when you hand her a rose and tell her… 'The Aristocrats.'" He said, smirking at me.

"I- please, just tell me your wish so I can put you away."

Skidmark rolled his eyes. "Same as it was, Skinny Bitch."

"You said you were going to think about the details. And when it's over, your power becomes mine. Are you okay with that?"

"Pssh, I ain't doing anything else with it. If I gotta die, I'm gonna do it in the biggest, craziest fucking way possible." He paused. "I want… I want to kick Kaiser's ass."

Huh… there might be something to that. Nothing would humiliate Kaiser more than getting beat by a black man. But… no, Allfather would never go for it. He was the kind of guy who fought his own battles.

I shook my head at Skidmark. "I like it, but it's not going to work."

He pursed his lips, thinking hard. "Something big… I want… I want to get the rest of the Merchants out of jail and… Big…"

"Fight the Protectorate?" I suggested. I didn't really like the idea of letting him fight heroes. I still wanted to be a hero someday, and it set a bad precedent.

"Bigger. Like… Triumvirate level. So big that the whole fuckin world sits up and shits its pants at how cool it was."

Ookay, he was getting to scary levels there.

"Too big." I said. "Let's focus on Brockton Bay. You were mad at the capes that live here."

"No!" Skidmark shouted suddenly. "Fucking A- I've got it!" He turned to me, grinning through his mouth full of rotting teeth. "I want to get the rest of the Merchants out of prison and fight an Endbringer."

…

He could not be serious.

"Please tell me you're joking." I said numbly.

Skidmark sat down on the coffee table, facing me.

"Listen up. The Merchants have never once been to an Endbringer fight. It's part of why the other capes think we're lower than dogshit. Well we're gonna show every single one of those dickfucks. You, me, and the Merchants, can work together as one team during the fight. If we could get together and hit one of those giant cocksuckers hard enough, I can die happy."

"I mean, that's global shit right there. Every big name cape shows up. I want to get up there and roll with the badasses, even if it's just for a second. The Merchants look like a bunch of hardcore motherfuckers, and you can use my corpse as a meat puppet or whatever the fuck you do with it."

Skidmark finished his speech, panting slightly.

"Whadya say, Skinny Bitch?"

He was asking a lot. Endbringers were the major leagues. That was end of the world stuff there. But… if I were a hero, would I have gone to fight them? I… yes, I thought so. And I was probably safer than the average cape because of the whole ghost thing. What did I want to do?

I wanted to be a hero, and being a hero here meant stepping up and fighting.

"Skidmark, you've got a deal." I held out a hand. "Don't make me regret this."

We shook on it, and I realized that I actually felt good about granting his wish. Despite my misgivings, we might actually make a difference. This wasn't the morally ambiguous nightmare I'd ended up with in helping Allfather, this was fighting the Endbringers. That was as heroic as you got.

Skidmark stepped back and I was about to unsummon him when he spoke.

"Shit, I forgot! There's a ghost I know about. Didn't think of her until a little while ago. The fuck was her name… Manny… Maggie… Mary… that's it- Marisol. Her cape name was Marisol. Killed herself ages ago, when the Merchants were just getting started."

That was unexpected. Skidmark was really surprising me today.

"Will you show me later?" I said.

Skidmark snorted. "That bitch ain't going anywhere. 'Oh boohoo, I don't wanna be a monster!' Splat. We'll get her after you're done with your Nazi boyfriend."

"Allfather is old enough to be my dad!" I shouted.

"Hey, I ain't one to judge. If you wanna hit that, then you-"

I unsummoned him.

Hmph.

It wasn't until I stopped fuming that I called Runechild again.

"H-hi." She said quietly.

"Hi Runechild." I said. "So… I was asking you about making a contract. Knowing what you do about the results, do you still want to do that?"

She wasn't looking at me. She was inspecting her gloves again. They were white silk, and peppered with the same collage of bloodstains that her cloak had.

"He died." She said. "He died because of me. I should have gotten him out."

"Who?"

"Detective Wickman. Could your power… could it bring him back?"

"Was he a parahuman?" I asked. I had a feeling, and I dreaded her answer.

She shook her head slowly. "Just a normal guy."

"I'm sorry, but my power only works on parahumans."

"Oh." She slumped back onto the other couch, pulling her cloak around her again.

This was agonizing.

"Was there anything else you might want?" I said.

Runechild exhaled sadly, blowing her bangs up. "Everything. I never got a chance to do anything. Never got to kiss a boy, or be a hero, or drive a car…"

It felt like someone was slowly replacing my insides with lead. I'd never gotten to do any of those things either.

"Could I make a list of things we could do?" She said. "There's a lot. I want to see some people, and I want to stop a crime, but I also want to get Mouse Protector's autograph if I can."

I parsed that and got the same sense of foreboding.

"No." I blinked. "Mouse Protector? The superhero?"

"Yeah!" Runechild said, excitement replacing her depression in an instant. "When I lived in Japan, she did a guest spot on this sentai show."

She leapt up, posing dramatically. "Mausu-Proteckta, go for justice!"

I stared, and Runechild dropped the pose, looking a little embarrassed. "After I got my powers, she was my inspiration to become a hero."

"Let's see if we can put that one on the backburner." I said.

Runechild sighed. "Yeah… Could I wish to do just a couple things, and that's it?"

I checked. This time the feeling I got was still wrong, but closer to hopeful.

"Narrow it down, please."

She perked up a little. "I want to visit Detective Wickman's grave to say goodbye, and then see my…" Her voice hitched. "My sister."

I thought about it. "How about you wish to go see your sister, and we can visit Wickman's grave on the way? I think the contracts work better with specifics. Like, now we have a clear ending to our deal."

Runechild held out a hand before hesitating, and then pulling her bloody glove off.

"Alright. Taylor, I, Noriko Aida, wish to go see my sister.

The metaphorical lights for the wish were all green.

"Deal."

I took her hand.

(condition set)

It was a small contact, but I savored the warmth.

Soon. Soon I'd be able to feel again.

Afterward, I let Runechild return to my power so I could get some rest. I was still tired from when I'd gone transparent at Skidmark's warehouse, and my irregular schedule wasn't helping. I'd been up all night two days in a row.

And they'd been busy days too. Between Allfather, my father, Skidmark, my powers, almost dying, finding out about Sophia… They'd been really busy days.

The house was still quiet, and Krieg wouldn't return for a few more hours, so I stretched out on his couch and curled up. Sleep took me almost instantly.

I dreamt of my shards.

Shards grown big as mountains; every jeweled facet a shining mirror, reflecting with scenes and images. They were impossibly beautiful. So fragile. So perfect that looking at them was almost painful. They were beautiful, and they were mine.

I dove inward, swept along in the sea of my power by a current that I imagined into being. One shard rose in front of me, and the current carried me to it. The shard was clear, its reflections sharper than the others, like it wanted to tell the whole world its story.

I had only to stretch out a hand and I was within, letting its essence wash over me like an embrace.

I was sixteen. Gangly, aching from growing pains, but exalted. The small bundle in my lap shook and whimpered, and I held it closer with my free arm. I doubted Mom and Dad would ever imagine that my first solo drive would be like this.

We were halfway home when I pulled over to check on him. Nestled in my lap was a dog. I'd wrapped him in my sweatshirt to keep him warm, but he still shook with fear. A single bleary eye looked up at me; the other crusted shut with yellowy mucus. His gray fur was matted and spotty. In places, blood had soaked through into the sweatshirt. It would stain, but I didn't care.

What did a piece of clothing matter compared to a life?

The scene blurred.

I was nineteen. Nineteen and almost delirious with joy. She'd said yes! Meredith had said yes! For the first time in my life, I, Michael James Paulson had a girlfriend!

It blurred again, and I had a sense of regression.

Meredith, her brown hair windswept and wild, stood on tiptoe to kiss me. Just the barest brush of her lips on mine sent my heart racing, and my palms sweating.

"You're such a dork, Michael." She said. "But you're my dork."

She gave me a playful punch on the shoulder and then ran for it. I stood and watched her go. It took my breath away. I tried to take in every detail of the scene and etch it forever in my mind.

Meredith ran, her long hair streaming out behind her. The setting sun to our left, the city to our right. Twin plumes of sand kicked up by her heels hung in midair. She turned then, and called to me.

"Cmon Michael!"

It felt like a dream.

Blur.

I was twenty.

The carcass in the alley was swollen; the air thick with flies.

Leo. My dog.

He'd lost the eye three years ago to infection, but now the empty socket gaped up at me.

His eyelid had been torn off.

All my work. All the days spent searching. Visiting every shelter in the city. I'd put up ads, posters, cries for help. And here I found him.

Two hundred feet from my house.

In the alley outside of a dogfighting ring.

I fell to the ground.

The knees of my jeans grew damp almost at once, and I realized that I was kneeling in Leo's blood.

I reached out, my hand shaking. I'd reach out and shake him awake, and it would all be better. This couldn't be what really happened. He couldn't possibly be-

Stars.

Countless stars, shining like a web of jewels.

Stars and huge shapes-

-spiraling-

-and-

-crystalline-

The scene shattered.

My mind recoiled. I'd seen something I shouldn't and now-

BlUr.

I was twenty-four. "Old enough to know better, and young enough not to care," as Dad had put it at my birthday party.

Noah's Bark was slowly but surely gaining ground. All the sleepless nights we'd put in were paying off. The animals were happy and healthy, and we were finding homes for them. My powers played a part, but Meredith and Eliza's hard work evened the playing field between us.

I finished cleaning Rambo's pen. Rambo waited outside for me to clear off, and then inspected cautiously, snuffling and sniffing every bit of the pen.

"I'll feed you in a minute." I said.

The big Doberman wagged his stumpy tail. He didn't understand time like a human did, but he still understood what I was getting at. It wasn't the best power, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.

The back room of the shelter was crowded with supplies. Eliza had finally gotten certified as a Vet-Tech, so now we could stock all sorts of medications for the animals. I hefted the bag of dog food over one shoulder, heading back to Rambo when-

There was a splintery crash as the back door swung open, the lock spinning off across the floor. The men standing in the gap wore the yellow bandannas that signified Merchants.

My blood boiled. How dare they break in?!

I ran at them, my fists raised. I wasn't much of a fighter, but in that moment I was too angry to care.

I wouldn't let them ruin this!

It was our place!

Our dream!

I sent the first man's teeth flying with a right hook. He stumbled backward, cursing at me through a mouthful of blood. The second man pushed him aside, raising a pistol and-

My face was wet.

Was I…

What had I been dreaming about? I'd seen something bad, and everything after that was hazy.

It… no, it didn't matter. I was too warm and cozy to deal with this right now.

Before long, I drifted off again.

The shards were beautiful.