Harmony – 5.2

April 25th, 2011

Before we could figure out what to do next, the sound of sirens filled the air. It had to be at least several police cars, though I couldn't see anything from where we were. Cop cars driving around wasn't exactly an uncommon occurrence for this neighborhood.

"That sounds like trouble. Should we check it out?" Lily suggested.

"Now? While you guys are out of costume?" Vicky asked. "I mean, I can go check it out. It's probably nothing."

"We'll come too," I said. "Just in case you need backup."

Vicky flew straight up into the air to get her bearings, and then promptly flew straight down and landed in front of Lily and me again.

"Uhh, the cop cars are heading that way," Vicky said, pointing south, "but I think you're going to want to go home and get changed into your regular outfit."

"Why? What's going on?" I asked.

"The Rig is on fire," she stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Wait, what?" The Protectorate Headquarters, or 'the Rig' as it was locally known, was one of the most impenetrable landmarks in Brockton Bay. It had been converted from an old oil rig, and was completely inaccessible by land from its location in the middle of the bay when the hard-light bridge was off. "It's in the ocean. How can it be on fire?"

"I don't know? There's a lot of oil there?" Vicky suggested.

"It's not a functioning oil rig anymore!" I protested. "And it was a rhetorical question! Is it under attack? Why would anyone attack it?"

"Protectorate Headquarters is typically where they keep cape prisoners," Lily muttered, with a scowl on her face. "Brockton Bay is weird in that the PRT Headquarters is a separate building, but I'm betting that the Rig is where they're keeping the ABB capes we caught the other night."

"Still…" Vicky hesitated. "I don't think I ever remember hearing about the Rig being attacked. This is weird. Lily and I can go see what's going on. You should go. If there's any need for healing, they'll probably call you and Amy soon."

I sighed as I nodded in acquiescence. I started heading back home, leaving the two of them to go investigate further. The commute wasn't too far, and I was able to hop onto a nearby bus without much of a delay. Vicky's hunch proved to be correct, as my PRT phone buzzed before the bus even reached my stop. The message was short and not very informative.

PRT: Healing requested at PRT HQ downtown, ASAP. Respond immediately to confirm receipt. Transportation available if necessary.

I typed out a quick reply with my ETA. The PRT's idea of discreet transportation was having unmarked black vans waiting at certain locations that would wait for me to climb into. It was a little creepy, since my parents always taught me not to enter a stranger's van, but it was convenient before I learned how to fly. Now though, I wanted to stretch my 'wings' a little, metaphorically of course, so I declined the transportation offer.

I hopped off the bus at my stop and jogged quickly into a small alley. I should be close enough to my home for this to work. Glancing around to make sure I was alone, I muttered a quick incantation, and a shimmering blue portal opened in front of me. I stepped through it and landed right in the middle of my bedroom. I grinned widely. Flying was awesome, but creating these teleporting portals was freaking cool as well. The range was a bit limited, but I could definitely imagine a variety of uses for it. I quickly squeezed into my costume, and was off to the PRT headquarters.

Amy was already waiting in the lobby by the time I arrived. She was tapping her feet impatiently, and judging by the scowl on her face, was not in a good mood. I forced a smile towards Amy, and slowly approached her. Vicky still hadn't told her about our... new status, and I was definitely not looking forward to Amy's reaction when she finally did. That was a problem for future-me though, so I did my best to push it out of my mind.

"Hey Panacea," I greeted her. "Do you know what's going on?"

She nodded curtly in response. "Not too much more than you do. There was an attack on the Rig, and they're moving their most injured here to the PRT HQ instead of the hospital. It's more secure here."

"Hm, I wonder how much money the two of us are saving the PRT when it comes to medical fees," I joked with her.

Amy merely shrugged in response. "PRT employees have good health insurance anyways. Though I guess we are saving them quite a bit when it comes to disability payouts and costs related to employee turnover."

"Oh…" I didn't really know how to follow up with that. My bumbling attempts at befriending Vicky's slightly younger sister was still a work-in-progress. Wait, was Amy even younger? Vicky was a lot taller and bigger, so I always assumed so, but they were in the same grade.

Luckily I didn't have to stand around awkwardly for too long, as a PRT officer soon came out to lead us down into the medical wing. I vaguely remembered her as Karen Jones, one of the officers I had met a few months back. She led us into the medical wing, where the first batch of injured were just arriving at the triage center that was set up there.

Triage was a bit different when you had two miracle healers to work with. There weren't any 'black tags' to signify patients who were still alive but had fatal injuries. As long as the patient was still alive, they could still be stabilized. Conversation was put on the backburner as Panacea and I got to work. They were only shipping the most critically wounded to the PRT building, and there was already nearly as many patients as we could handle. Soon, we were swamped with patients. We weren't bothering with healing everyone to full health; the continual influx of wounded meant that we could only stabilize each patient and move on. Most of the PRT officers and employees were suffering from burns, shrapnel, or even bullet and knife wounds. It looked like they were coming out of a warzone.

The door to the wing we were in crashed open with a loud bang, pulling my attention away from the PRT officer I was currently healing. One of the Protectorate heroes, Assault, had just barged in. His sleek metallic costume was covered in a distressing amount of blood. He made for such a distinct image that I didn't immediately notice the gurney that had followed him in. Another Protectorate hero, Battery, lay unmoving on the gurney with bandages stained red covering several parts of her body. Most worryingly however, was the stump on her left shoulder where an arm used to be.

Panacea rushed over and immediately began tending to the injured heroine. Assault hovered frantically above her for a few moments before Panacea snapped at him to back off a bit. Huh, there were rumors online that Assault and Battery were an item, even though they would never confirm due to the secrecy surrounding secret identities. Still, it seemed pretty obvious due to the way the duo had named themselves with that cheesy theme. I finished healing the PRT officer I was assigned and made my way over to the three of them.

"Is she going to be OK?" I asked.

"Yes, she'll be fine," Panacea replied. Assault breathed out in relief as the tension visibly lifted off his body. "She's stable. I don't have time to regrow the arm right now, but I'll take care of it before I leave today."

It still amazed me that Panacea could grow entire limbs on people from seemingly nothing. None of my healing spells could do that right now, but maybe one day.

"That's great," Assault said with a large smile. "Thank you girls. If it wasn't for you, Panacea, I'd have to get Armsy to build her a robot arm or something. I'm not sure the world is ready for Cyborg-Battery yet."

I laughed half-heartedly at the cheesy hero's joke. I didn't really want to encourage him, but he looked like he could use a bit of support right now. The Rig had always been thought of as the most fortified and secured building in Brockton Bay, and I had a feeling that our local heroes weren't going to take this attack lying down.

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April 26th, 2011

"Huh, I always imagined these secret cape meetings happening in some kind of sleazy bar or something," I commented.

Lily chuckled. "Maybe the villains meet at someplace like this, but we're heroes. I think we can do better than that."

The recent attack on the Rig had predictably caused quite a bit of pandemonium, especially since the ABB capes we had just caught had escaped during the attack. Lily in particular was still stewing over the latest Protectorate fumble. Even Circus, who had been held there, had taken advantage of the chaos and escaped Protectorate custody as well. I knew the Protectorate had a bit of a reputation with their inability to keep villains contained outside of the Birdcage, but this was just ridiculous.

The only thing that let us know we weren't firmly back to square one was that the Protectorate were finally forced to call a truce meeting with all the independent heroes in town in order to seek assistance.

"But why the museum?" I asked. Sure, it was classier than meeting at Fugly Bob's or some bar, but it seemed like an odd choice.

"Collateral, maybe?" Lily suggested. "There's lots of valuable stuff here. Maybe it puts everyone more at ease if they think there's an additional incentive to not start a fight here."

I nodded absentmindedly as we stepped through the entrance of the museum. It was just a short while since the last time I was here for the fundraiser, but the mood and atmosphere was far different this time. Gone were the red velvet carpets and fancy furniture. Most of the lights were turned low, and there were only a few tables clumped together in the center of the hall.

"You ever been to one of these when you were a Ward?" I asked.

"Nope," Lily responded. "New York has like over a hundred Protectorate heroes and Wards. Manpower was never a problem there."

"Yet apparently Brockton Bay was never deserving of cape reinforcements from other cities," I muttered, with just a tiny bit of bitterness in my voice.

Lily chuckled as we approached the set of tables where heroes were already starting to gather. "Hey, for what it's worth, I actually did apply to transfer here. But it's not really a surprise that most people would rather live and work in New York City than here – heroes included. No offense."

We were a bit early, but some other capes had already arrived before us. Glory Girl was here already, representing New Wave along with Brandish and Lady Photon. Vicky waved at us as she saw us enter.

"Over here!" she called out to us, beckoning us to join her at her table. Amy wasn't here, so I assumed she was either volunteering again at the hospitals, or maybe she was hanging out with the rest of New Wave that weren't here.

Lily and I made our way over and joined them, exchanging quick greetings with the elder New Wave heroines. I scanned the room as we sat down, examining all the capes that were already here. Armsmaster and Miss Militia were here of course, standing at the front of the room representing the Protectorate. So were two members of the Wards, Weld and Aegis. I couldn't see any other official heroes here, but it was safe to assume that they were nearby in case they were needed.

Numerous independent capes were scattered amongst the tables. I didn't recognize all of them, but I had a good idea who most were. Purity was sitting at a table the farthest away from the one we were sitting at, and Brandish was occasionally sending glares over at her direction. At her table was another cape that I didn't recognize, a man with comically large muscles that looked like he stepped right out of the pages of a Silver Age comic book. His bulging muscles were clearly defined through his skintight top. Seriously, it looked like his shirt was several sizes too small. How did he even fit into that thing?

"Who's that over there with Purity?" I asked.

"Why, you see something you like?" Vicky asked, with a hint of danger in her voice as she narrowed her eyes at me. Shit. Had I been staring?

"W-what? No!" I sputtered out. "Just wondering who Captain Steroids is over there. Never seen him before."

Vicky stared at me for a second before nodding in satisfaction. "That's Browbeat. A new independent hero. Some kind of low tier Brute I think. He could use some better company though," she said.

"Who, Purity? She's been really trying to be a hero though, hasn't she?" I asked.

Vicky sniffed disdainfully. "I'm still not buying that whole thing just because she's hired a publicist. You don't hear any stories about her doing anything in Empire territory. Just messing with the ABB and the Merchants. What's the real difference there with what she's been doing before?"

Other independent capes started trickling in while we waited. Parian would be skipping, as she usually did with this kind of stuff. I felt a bit sorry for Sabah. Brockton Bay really wasn't the place to be for a pacifist cape to live, but it wasn't like she could just abandon her family here and move to more peaceful pastures. A few minutes later, another heroine dressed in a rather garish costume walked in, which Vicky alerted me to by tugging my arm excitedly.

"Look who's here! It's Glimmer!" she whispered to me.

"Ugh," I groaned out. "Don't tell me you're a fan of hers?"

"Why not? She's awesome!" Vicky insisted.

"She wears a leotard! With a boob window!" I protested. I didn't have anything against the heroine, but her costume really was an affront to my sensibilities. It consisted of a tight purple leotard with a chest cut-out that showed off her ample bosom, and thigh high boots in a matching purple. It wasn't hard to see what her 'fans' liked about her.

"Wow, way to judge a fellow heroine based on her attire," Vicky said, shaking her head in mock disappointment. "That's just like, the patriarchy trying to get you to turn against your own fellow sisters to get you to like, oppress yourself."

"What the hell are you talking about? It's just poor taste," I replied.

Vicky merely shrugged. "She's supposed to be a Brute, right? So it's not like she needs body armor, though I guess the boob window is a bit gratuitous. My costume isn't exactly super practical either though."

I let out a huff. "Let's just agree to disagree on this one."

"What do you think, Mistblade?" Vicky asked, pulling Lily into our little discussion. "Is Glimmer cool or not?"

Lily hesitated for a moment as her eyes darted between me and Vicky before answering. "I don't have a problem with the way she dresses."

I narrowed my eyes at her. Lily grinned sheepishly back at me for a moment, before her mouth turned downwards into a frown.

"Uh oh," Lily said quietly to me. "Nightingale, I think you should prepare yourself. Someone you don't like very much is here."

I swiveled my head to see what Lily was looking at, and immediately gritted my teeth. You've got to be kidding me. Shadow fucking Stalker was here. I clenched my fists tight as I tried to clamp down on my anger. I wanted to send a laser blast right at her stupid face, but I had a feeling the other heroes here wouldn't look upon that too kindly.

She made her way over to a table not too far from us, and plopped down heavily on one of the chairs. Her costume looked a little bit different from her Wards costume, but it kept the general motif with a dark trench coat, menacing full face mask, and a pair of deadly looking hand crossbows strapped to her sides. I could also see a couple of other very lethal weapons, such as a pair of very large knives strapped to her legs.

"Are you lost?" Vicky asked sarcastically. "This summit is for the heroes of Brockton Bay."

Shadow Stalker sneered at us in response. "Then what are you doing here? Don't you have some Instagram followers that you need to pander to right about now?"

"Don't you have some innocent schoolgirls to assault right about now?" I scoffed back at her.

"What? You're giving me shit too?" Shadow Stalker asked. "I'm more of a hero than you'll ever be, Princess. I'm actually out there cleaning up the streets while you're attending fancy parties and playing popstar," she finished saying, in the same mocking tone that she used to insult me with at Winslow.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. She was a fucking fugitive right now, and she was still acting like she thought she was better than me. Not just me me, but Nightingale me. I opened my mouth to snap a response off, but was quickly interrupted.

"Ladies!" Brandish barked out at us. "Not the place nor time for this."

Vicky grumbled, but swiveled her chair a bit so that her back was facing Shadow Stalker. I swallowed the bitter taste in my mouth as I turned my head away from Sophia as well. Lily reached over and squeezed my shoulder, pulling my attention away from Sophia.

"Priorities," Lily whispered to us. "Let's take down the ABB first, and then deal with little miss psycho over there afterwards."

I wanted to complain at the unfairness of it all, but deep down I knew she was right. The ABB were the immediate threat. The Wards that were here, Aegis and Weld, had made their way over while we were bickering.

"Shadow Stalker," Aegis quietly greeted her. "Did you come to turn yourself in?"

Shadow Stalker snorted in response. "I'm going to have to give that a pass. Caught your guy's last showdown at the bank though. Awesome job trashing the place and letting those Undersider losers escape."

I could see Aegis visibly tense at her sardonic words, but Weld simply lay a calming hand on his shoulder.

"Shadow Stalker, it would be best for you to really consider coming in," Weld said calmly, ignoring Sophia's hostility. Sheesh, nothing ever fazed the guy, not even the weirdos at school that stalked him. "It's not too late to come back from all this, but what you're doing right now is unacceptable. One of the Empire suspects you took down last week almost bled out before EMTs were able to stabilize him."

"Boohoo," Shadow Stalker deadpanned. "However will I sleep at night?"

The two Wards left her alone after that, and walked over to Purity's table where they conversed quietly with Browbeat. I couldn't make out what they were saying from where we were sitting, but I doubt it was as interesting as what I just witnessed.

"What do you think that's about?" Mistblade asked us in a quiet whisper.

"I heard from… one of the Wards," Vicky whispered back, "that Browbeat was going to join the Wards a few weeks ago, but he backed out after the news story on Shadow Stalker."

Armsmaster cleared his throat loudly, causing a hush to fall over everyone in attendance. It felt like everyone was mostly paying attention to the Wards drama now, and I was a bit disappointed to see it end like that. "Why don't we get started?" Armsmaster suggested, motioning for the Wards to return to his side.

"Thank you everyone for being here. As you all know, the recent actions by the ABB have escalated to an unacceptable level, and they must be stopped. To that end, we are temporarily enlisting volunteers from the independent cape community who will serve as additional manpower to combat the ABB threat."

Most of the capes in the room nodded along. I imagine nobody would be here if they weren't already planning on helping out with the current ABB crisis.

Brandish took the opportunity to speak up. "Why now? Director Piggot has generally refused to share information and work with the independent capes in Brockton Bay."

Armsmaster paused for a moment before responding. "This will be public knowledge tomorrow, but I suppose there's no harm in sharing it now. Director Piggot has just stepped down due to her persistent health issues as Director of the PRT ENE branch. The incoming interim Director wants the ABB situation taken care of immediately, and has authorized this operation."

A murmur rippled through the crowd of gathered heroes at his revelation. I had never met Director Piggot before, so all I had to go on was that she was Shadow Stalker's boss. Vicky didn't particularly like her, but I suspected that she was a little bit biased due to Director Piggot banning the Wards from working with her after all the excessive property damage.

"How were the ABB able to break into the Rig?" another cape, one that I didn't recognize, yelled out.

"We believe it was the ABB's newest parahuman and Tinker, Bakuda, who was able to build certain… devices that were able to bypass the Rig's defenses," Armsmaster answered. "We will be providing dossiers with our current known intelligence on the ABB's capes, as well as their operations, but suffice it to say, neutralizing Bakuda is the number one priority right now."

There were more murmurs as the gathered crowd digested that information. Bakuda was relatively new to Brockton Bay, and no doubt had managed to gone underestimated so far. I had witnessed firsthand what her bombs were capable of though. She was dangerous, especially since she didn't even have to be present for her work to do its damage.

Armsmaster continued with the briefing, giving details on how the volunteers would be used, intelligence on the ABB, and answering the occasional questions from the gathered heroes. The ABB were currently laying low, and were refusing to commit its capes to any battles with the Protectorate. The Protectorate on the other hand, didn't have the manpower to patrol the entire city and fight the ABB on their turf at the same time. The rather inelegant solution currently being proposed was to have all the independent heroes coordinate with the Protectorate to patrol and attack the ABB's businesses and different revenue streams in their own territory. From the ground level up.

At one point, the two Wards in attendance began passing out PRT-issued smartphones to the independents that weren't already registered as PRT affiliates. Vicky perked up at the prospect of getting her own PRT phone.

"This is awesome!" Vicky whispered to me. "I'll finally have my own PRT phone. You know what that means, right? I'll get reception in school!"

I snorted in response. "Why? So you can get another phone confiscated?"

Vicky glared at me and pinched me in my sides, causing me to emit a squeaky yelp. Vicky was constantly borrowing Amy's PRT phone to use while we were at Arcadia, and unfortunately had gotten it confiscated by a teacher last week when she was using it in class. Amy had yelled at the both of us for that after she had gotten her phone back. I still didn't see why I'd been included in the yelling. It wasn't my fault that Vicky was caught sending me gifs of cute cats in class.

"That wasn't my fault!" she protested indignantly.

"How was it not your fault?" I asked back.

Vicky pouted at me. "Well of course it was, but you're still supposed to take my side!"

Brandish cleared her throat and shot the both of us a soul-chilling glare. I immediately hushed and sat up straighter. I knew that Carol Dallon was a lawyer, but I couldn't help but think that she would make a very effective school teacher. Or nun.

The meeting wrapped up soon after, but I hung around with Vicky and Lily while giving everyone else a chance to exit first. I did not want to leave at the same time as Shadow Stalker, especially since we were forced to play nice for now.

That night, after I got home, my PRT phone buzzed with my assignment. I was already in bed, but I eagerly got up to check my phone.

Operation Stalwart Beaver

Nightingale – Brockton Bay General Hospital; medical standby

Ugh. Just great. More hospital duty. And who the hell came up with that operation name?

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Author's Note: Happy holidays everyone! It's been a while since my last update. Didn't do much writing over the holidays, but I'm hoping to get the next few chapters out in a more timely fashion. Thank you everyone for all the favs and follows! It seems like there's been an explosion of new readers since my last update, which I'm grateful for.

On a different note, I forgot to add it in last chapter, but yeah, her new spell from her last level up is Dimension Door. I know there's ambiguity over how the spell actually works, but I like the imagery of the portal, like how it's illustrated in some of the DnD literature.

Standard disclaimer: Worm belongs to Wildbow, and Dungeons and Dragons belong to Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro. I own nothing.

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TAYLOR'S CURRENT ABILITIES

Cantrips (unlimited castings)

· Mage Hand – creates a spectral hand that allows Taylor to manipulate objects within 30 feet of her, or allow her to pick up an item up to 10 pounds in weight.

· Minor Illusion – allows Taylor to create an illusory sound or image. Sounds can be any voice or sound that Taylor can imagine, and the volume can range from a whisper to a scream. Visual illusions must be no larger than a 5 foot cube, and can't create smell, light, sound, or other sensory effects.

· Prestidigitation – a collection of minor magical tricks, such as creating a minor sensory affect, cleaning or soiling a small object, lighting or snuffing out a small fire, creating various small illusions, and other small effects.

· Eldritch Blast – fires beams of intense energy at a target. The spell creates more beams at higher levels.

Level 1 Spells

· Thunderwave – generates a thunderous blast of force up to fifteen feet out in front of Taylor, hurting and knocking back everything in her path. Generates a thunderous boom audible up to 300 feet away.

· Sleep – causes people or creatures in an area up to 120 feet away from Taylor to fall asleep. Can be resisted by those of strong fortitude and constitution.

· Cure Wounds – a person or creature that Taylor touches rapidly regenerates towards a healthy state.

· Speak with Animals – Taylor temporarily gains the ability to communicate with animals.

Level 2 Spells

· Invisibility – Taylor or a person that Taylor touches becomes invisible for up to an hour. The effect ends when an offensive action is taken. Requires concentration.

· Lesser Restoration – a person that Taylor touches is cured of one disease or ailment.

· Detect Thoughts– lets Taylor read the surface thoughts of people around her? Or is it just a form of super-effective cold reading? Taylor isn't sure. Requires concentration.

Level 3 Spells

· Major Image – allows Taylor to create an incredibly realistic illusion no larger than a 20 foot cube. These illusions can move and seem completely real, and even sounds and smells real. These illusions can even generate heat or chill, but not enough to cause bodily harm. Physical interaction with the illusion reveals it to be just an illusion though. Requires concentration.

· Fly – Taylor or a person Taylor touches gains the ability to fly for a short duration. Requires concentration.

Level 4 Spells

· Polymorph – allows Taylor to shapechange another creature or herself into a new animal form. Unwilling creatures can resist the change if their mental fortitude is strong enough.

· Dimension Door – creates a dimensional portal that allows Taylor and up to one other willing person to instantaneously teleport to a destination within five hundred feet of her current location.

Other Abilities

· Song of Rest – Taylor can imbue her voice with her power, and people who are resting while listening to her sing regain health more quickly than normal.

· Countercharm – Taylor can use musical notes or words of power to disrupt mind-influencing effects.