Taylor stood silently, watching as Armsmaster's bike slowed to maneuver around the remains of Kaiser's wall, puttering to a stop in the middle of the yard. He dismounted, extending his halberd as he did, and turned to face her with a frown.
"Cazador." He spoke, more a statement of fact than a greeting. "Would I be correct in assuming that Courier Six is also involved in this mess?"
Taylor nodded, pointing towards the broken doorframe.
"He's inside. Some of the Empire 88's capes got…" She trailed off, wracking her brain for an accurate euphemism to describe the scene inside, "Messed up. By the trap Six set for them."
"Messed up?" Armsmaster cocked his head. "Were there civilian casualties?"
"No, no," She shook her head frantically, "Only a couple villains. Cricket and Stormtiger, I think. Crusader got caught in the blast too, but Six said he probably wasn't too hurt."
She gestured down at Crusader's form, laid out face up next to Alabaster with his hands tied together.
"Probably?" Armsmaster growled, crouching down and reaching a hand under the villain's chestplate. "There are any number of injuries that aren't immediately visible: Internal bleeding, broken ribs, concussions; do you know whether he checked for any of those?"
"I… No, I don't know." Taylor blinked, shaking her head. "Six said he didn't have anything that was obviously life-threatening; Glory Girl flew off to bring Panacea back a few minutes ago, I don't know when she'll be back."
"Fine." Armsmaster growled, standing back up. "I'm going to go make sure Courier Six doesn't make things any worse. Don't. Go. Anywhere."
Taylor swallowed her indignation at the insinuation; the way he shot her a glare while he spoke, it was as if he expected her to make a break for it the moment he turned his back.
After a moment of silence, he turned away, striding through the remains of the front door and murmuring into his wrist.
"All teams, move in. Two Empire capes in custody, possibly more in need of medical attention…"
And then he was out of earshot.
Taylor stared at the empty doorway for a moment, half expecting Armsmaster to pop back out, just to add on some little snipe about something else she'd done wrong. But he didn't, and so she only let out a sigh, sinking down to sit on the step as the signature low 'whee-oo' of the PRT Vans echoed out, just barely audible from where she sat, and only growing louder the longer it carried on.
Taylor slumped forward, cradling her chin in her hands.
Great, now she got to be talked down to by a whole bunch of PRT troopers, on top of getting yelled at by Armsmaster. It's not like they had just taken down a third of capes from the largest gang in the Bay or anything.
And okay, yes, maybe it was a little overkill, considering the shape it had left Stormtiger and Cricket in, but what other choice did they have? The more she thought about it, the more she could only conclude that Six was right. Letting the Empire get away would have just meant that they could come back another day to try the same thing, and maybe get away with it too. If they had called the PRT, then whoever was in that van probably would have informed Kaiser, and then there would have been an even bigger fight, if there was any fight at all.
They didn't have a choice.
Taylor let out a sigh, shaking her head.
She only had herself to blame; why would the Armsmaster and the PRT be any different from Blackwell and the rest of Winslow? They saw what they wanted to see, and screw anyone who said anything to the contrary.
She watched somberly as a trio of the PRT's black and purple vans rumbled down the street, turning onto the sidewalk and blocking off the road in either direction. The moment they skidded to a stop, the back doors swung open to disgorge nearly a dozen PRT Troopers each, as well as…
Huh. She didn't expect any of the Wards to show up; and yet, here they were.
One; a smaller girl in green… that would be Vista; and the other one in the white suit, covered head to toe in clock symbols… would be Clockblocker, obviously.
Taylor cocked one eyebrow. Seemed like a big response, given that the fight was already over. The PRT Troopers, she understood, even if there were more of them than really seemed necessary; they had gone to work securing Alabaster and Crusader nearly the moment they stepped out of the vans, hosing the former down in containment foam, and standing guard over the latter as a trooper carrying a first aid kit looked him over.
A few of them had acknowledged her with a nod or some other small greeting as they passed, but for the most part they seemed content to leave her be, and Taylor was happy to return the same. Still, it didn't feel right just sitting around while other people were busy doing things…
Looking around the yard, Taylor saw Clockblocker and Vista chatting quietly, standing in the shade provided by one of the vans. Well, it couldn't hurt to meet a few of the Wards, right? Even if she wasn't planning on joining, they'd probably at least end up having to work together from time to time.
Taylor pulled herself to her feet, taking a moment to stretch before making her way over to the van, picking a path around the troopers and villains covering a good part of the lawn. In the back of her mind, she wished her coat had pockets, just so she could have something for her hands to do. Sure, it had more than a few internal pouches sewn into the lining, but she couldn't exactly put her hands inside them without either contorting her arms in weird ways, or taking it off entirely.
Most of those pockets were empty now, but she had put a few of them to use holding random odds and ends that might be useful, mostly stuff she had originally planned on keeping in the now less convenient compartment built into the back of her costume; things like the spiked brass knuckles Six had given her not even a week ago.
Almost without thought, she moved her hand over the pockets where they rested at either side of her hip, patting them protectively through the coat. It was… reassuring, to know that they were there. Maybe she would never actually use them to punch someone, but just knowing she could… Well, she felt better with them than without.
As Taylor approached the Wards, she could hear the tail end of their conversation, though it didn't sound like anything important.
"...I'm just saying, this is like, the third time they've broken up this year. I don't think it's going to stick this time any more than all the other- Oh, hey…" Clockblocker trailed off, as if he was greeting someone he only vaguely remembered. "Cazador, right?"
Vista spun around, letting out a quiet 'eep' as Taylor approached, nodding.
"Yeah, I guess that's me. Clockblocker, right?"
"The one and only," He bowed, "And may I just say, I Caz-adore your costume. Very professional looking."
Taylor paused mid-stride, processing his words. To her side, Vista face-palmed and let out a low groan.
"Oh my god, Clock-!"
"Hey, I saw the opportunity, I took it!" He protested. "And besides, it's true! Just look at her costume; way better quality than that other guy, Browbeat or whoever, had."
For a split second, space twisted in a way that made Taylor's brain hurt as Vista reached over, slapping Clockblocker upside the head despite being a foot shorter and a few feet away.
"You shouldn't be talking about him like that; he's your teammate."
"Yeah, but I mean, it's true! The guy was wearing jeans and a tee-shirt!" Clockblocker threw up his hands. "Meanwhile, Cazador here's got frickin'... I don't know, something professionally made, probably."
"I made this myself, actually..." Taylor murmured, glad she was wearing a mask that hid her entire face; otherwise, everyone would probably be able to see her blushing. "Well, except for the coat, I guess. It used to be one of Six's; I wove the rest out spider silk myself."
Both Wards paused, turning to face her.
"...Spider silk?" Vista asked, almost hesitantly.
"Yeah, I can control bugs." Taylor explained. There were a few insects she still had nearby, mostly the ones that weren't so useful for biting or stinging other people. Things like butterflies, worms, a few kinds of beetles. She called a few butterflies over, letting them land on her hand as she spoke. "I just gathered up a bunch of spiders and made them spin as much web as they could. Learning how to weave it into cloth wasn't that hard once I figured out the basics. Apparently, it's supposed to be as strong as steel."
Clockblocker let out a low whistle.
"That is… impressive." He finally said.
"Impressive nothing," Vista interrupted, "That's amazing! Do you think you could make stuff like that for other people? I bet the PRT would pay good money if you could make stuff like that for the Troopers."
"I- Maybe…?" Taylor offered. "I don't have a really big setup right now; it took me a few months just to make my costume."
"Oh… Yeah, I guess that makes sense." Vista's disappointment was visible, though she hid it pretty quickly. "But, uh… anyway! You said your coat used to belong to Courier Six? Have you, uh... known him, for a while?"
The way she worded the question made it sound like she was grasping at straws for conversation topics; a feeling Taylor could sympathize with.
"...Sort of?" She finally replied, choosing her words carefully. Taylor didn't want to give away her secret identity by accident, after all. "He… He saved my life, a while back. When I ran into him a few days ago, he offered to team up; I guess I feel like I owe him, and it seemed safer than fighting alone."
Clockblocker nodded, humming in agreement.
"Well, I think you're definitely right about it being safer. I don't know myself, but Vista could probably quote you the exact statistics."
The green-clad Ward groaned, rolling her eyes audibly.
"Only because we're supposed to memorize that sort of information." She turned back to Taylor. "But I'm guessing you're probably not interested in joining the Wards anyway, if you've got a team of your own."
"I did think about joining the Wards, but I… don't really think I'd enjoy it much." Taylor admitted. "Uh, not that you guys aren't cool or anything..."She quickly added.
Vista chuckled.
"No, I get it. The rules can get kind of tiring after a while. It kind of sucks to just stand around when you know you could be doing than just being a glorified walking photoshoot."
She shrugged.
"I mean, I know we're doing good, but it just feels like we could be doing more, you know?" Vista shook her head. "Anyway, I probably shouldn't be talking about the Wards like that."
Clockblocker snorted.
"Yeah, despite Vista's frankly astounding pitch for the Wards, it seems we haven't convinced you yet. But if you ever change your mind, we're always open to applications."
Taylor couldn't help smiling a bit, suppressing a laugh of her own.
"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind."
The three of them were silent for a moment, before Vista spoke up again.
"So… How did all this happen, anyway? This isn't remotely Empire territory, and I can't really imagine why so many of their capes would get together like this outside of a rally..."
"They were trying to ambush Six, I think." Taylor answered. "This is his house; the only reason we caught them was because I was looking inside from down the street."
"You can do that with bug control?" Vista's tone was surprised… And maybe a little impressed.
Taylor nodded.
"I can see and hear everything my bugs can; it doesn't really translate that well, though, so I can't really make out details. I just knew that Six wasn't inside, and the Empire's the only gang I know of in the Bay with capes that wear metal armor..." She trailed off, thinking. "Well, I guess Armsmaster technically does too, but I don't think he'd have much reason to break into Six's house."
"Yeah, Armsmaster strikes me as more of a Grand Theft kinda guy," Clockblocker snickered, "I mean, where do you think he got his bike from? Squealer's still sending us angry letters."
They all shared a chuckle at that thought, before returning to business.
"So, how'd you actually beat them?" Clockblocker finally asked. "I mean, it was you and Courier Six against, what? At least three Empire capes? I see Alabaster and Crusader, and it's pretty obvious Kaiser was here, given, y'know..."
He gestured at the iron wall bisecting a solid chunk of the front yard
"It was five of them, total. Stormtiger and Cricket are still inside. They were in… really bad shape."
Just the memory of both their broken bodies was enough to make Taylor cringe. Cricket had probably taken things the worst; while she hadn't lost any limbs, she'd been covered in burns and one of hands had looked more like ground beef than anything in a human body... She really hoped Six actually did know what he was doing.
"Five capes?" Vista's tone was incredulous, bordering on awestruck, "Even for the best heroes, two-versus-five is really bad odds. How'd you do it?"
"It was mostly Six," Taylor admitted quietly, "I just distracted them for a few seconds with my swarm. They were too busy trying to get the bugs off to notice the grenades Six dropped at their feet."
For a moment, nobody spoke. The entire yard was silent save for the sounds of PRT Troopers doing their job, and the ticking over of the engine of the van the Wards had taken shelter behind.
"Shit." Clockblocker finally said, his voice solemn. "You pulled an Oni Lee on them. Are they... still alive?"
"I… I think. Stormtiger lost an arm. Cricket looked… Bad." Taylor dug her fingers into her arms, trying to banish the mental image.
Limbs bent at wrong angles, patches of skin charred almost black. The parts of her face that weren't covered by her mask were pockmarked with gashes and cuts. She was still breathing, but it was raspy and labored.
Vista was visibly cringing.
"That... can't have been fun to see."
Taylor blinked.
"You're taking that better than I would've expected. Armsmaster seemed a lot angrier about… well, all of this." She gestured vaguely at the yard, and the ruined house behind it.
"Well, it's definitely not ideal," Vista admitted, "But I think he's more angry because the Empire decided to attack so far into the territory that the PRT actively patrols. I'm pretty sure that's why they sent out so many troopers, on top of Armsmaster and us; this is just about everyone we could send out on such short notice."
"Yeah, the PRT'll want to make sure we look like we're taking this seriously, even if it just means standing around looking official like this," Clockblocker agreed, "That the Empire even tried something like this is really bad; that they had all either run off or got taken out before any of us even got here won't help matters. And… just between us," The Ward leaned in, one hand covering where his mouth would be and lowering his voice to a whisper, "I don't think any sane person would blame you for what you and Six did, but one of the first things you learn in the Wards is that there'll always be critics. Eventually, you just have to learn to tune them out."
Vista made an unhappy, noncommittal sound, her mouth contorted in a frown.
"Clockblocker's… not entirely wrong, but there are laws for a reason." She admitted, though her words came out stilted, as though she didn't entirely believe what she was saying. "Six is obviously skilled with his guns, but lethal force on anyone without a kill-order is murky no matter how you frame it, especially if there are innocent people nearby."
"Well, Six wasn't trying to kill anyone..." Taylor protested, even as the excuse rang hollow. He hadn't been trying to kill them, but he hadn't gone out of his way to prevent it, either. Hell, he'd said so explicitly.
Could she have convinced him to go for a different plan? One that didn't risk lives as much as they had? Even if they were villains, Taylor didn't want more people killed; she especially didn't want their blood on her hands, no matter how much they deserved it.
"Nyyeeh, well, obviously that can't be helped sometimes," Clockblocker agreed, "Innocent people get tangled up in the middle of cape fights all the time, and the last thing the Protectorate wants is more people getting hurt because of collateral damage..." He shrugged. "I don't think either of us could really say whether you did the 'right' thing, at least not from personal experience, but I do think it could've gone a lot worse than it did, so..."
He shrugged again, making an ambivalent grunt.
Thankfully, the conversation took a lighter turn from there, and Taylor chatted with the Wards for another few minutes, until Glory Girl returned with Panacea in tow. The three of them watched as the pair descended to the ground; and Taylor could only raise one eyebrow curiously as Panacea wriggled out of her sister's grip, letting herself fall the two or three feet to the ground even as Glory Girl let out a concerned shout. The two of them bickered for a moment, speaking too quietly for Taylor to hear, but whatever Glory Girl said didn't seem to satisfy Panacea, the healer scowling and turning away with a huff. As she stopped to crouch over Crusader, one hand pressed to a patch of exposed skin on his wrist, Glory Girl simply watched for a long moment. Taylor could practically feel the conflicting emotions radiating off the girl, leaving a vague, churning anxiety in her gut.
Beside her, Clockblocker cleared his throat.
"Uh, hey, Gee-Gee?"
Glory Girl whipped around to face him; he made a twisting motion with his hand, and almost like magic, Taylor felt her anxiety dissipate.
Right. Almost forgot about her aura.
"Sorry..." The heroine murmured, floating over to their group as she rubbed one cheek. "You know how my aura gets sometimes."
Neither of the Wards said anything to support or deny her claim.
"...Maybe it's not my place to ask," Clockblocker said after a moment, "But what the heck was all that about?"
"It's…" She started, her tone annoyed, before catching herself. She let out a breath, and Taylor noticed the way she visibly sagged, just looking defeated; like her own father on his worst days. "…I don't know. She's been like that for a while now, ever since she got caught up in that bank robbery. I don't know what that bitch," she spat the word, "did to her, but it's like she doesn't want anything to do with me anymore. I thought she liked going flying with me but, well, you saw what happened. If I didn't know better I'd say she hates me."
"Who did what?" Unpleasant comparisons had already begun forming in Taylor's mind within moments. Sure, the chances that Glory Girl could be talking about Sophia Hess were so ridiculously small that she dismissed the thought almost the moment it formed, but aura or not, Taylor couldn't help feeling some sympathy for the girl.
"Tattletale." Glory Girl growled, glaring at Taylor. "I don't know what she did; I just saw Amy unconscious, and the way Tattletale said it, I was scared she was hurt, and... Well, I was more concerned with making sure Amy was alright than catching her after that."
"Oh."
Well, it definitely wasn't Sophia, then. Not unless she happened to have a Changer power.
"Who are you, anyway?" Glory Girl continued, eyes still narrowed. "You were with Courier Six earlier, but I've never seen you around before."
"She's a hero." Vista assured, bending space to jump between both of them and holding up her arms as if to pre-empt a fight. "Her name's Cazador."
Pausing, Glory Girl raised an eyebrow, giving Taylor a less-than-believing once-over. Already, Taylor could feel her earlier sympathy starting to dry up.
"...Don't look like much of one." She murmured, almost out of earshot, before sighing. "Well, if they say you're alright, then I'll trust them. Sorry."
The apology was less-than-heartfelt, but Taylor didn't want to press the issue.
"It's… fine."
They all fell quiet, awkwardly staring at each other. The somber mood wasn't particularly conducive to light conversation. From inside the house, Taylor could hear voices being raised. Trying to listen in with her swarm was… still useless, but she could see the three capes making their way to the door.
"...ll I'm saying is I don't see the problem. I did exactly what you guys said!"
Six stepped out first, walking backwards while carrying on his conversation. Armsmaster followed him out, visibly frowning.
"Leaving one person dismembered, and the other comatose for who-knows-how-long is not an acceptable level of force!" He growled.
"Well fine then," Six pouted, "Next time I won't even bother, if this is the response I get for defending myself. In my own home."
Armsmaster let out an annoyed groan, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Frankly, Six, I don't give a damn about what happens to the Empire 88's thugs." He said flatly as the both of them came to a stop beside a PRT van. "I have a duty, however, to uphold the law, no matter how much I might wish to see the gangs' power broken."
Six hummed appreciatively, standing arms-crossed in the van's shadow.
"Eh, I can admire that. Doesn't mean I don't still think some of those laws are fucking stupid though."
He shrugged.
"It's not like I'm a fucking child or anything; I know the laws exist for a reason, but I also know that when you let the red tape pile up, shit slips through."
The two heroes stood face to face for a moment; locked in a silent battle of will.
"But, y'know, agree to disagree." Six shrugged. "I'm just speaking from experience here."
Armsmaster held his gaze for another moment, but eventually looked away, muttering to himself.
"Be that as it may, that's irrelevant to the situation at the moment. I'll need you to give your official account of events, preferably as soon as possible. If possible, I'd also like to take a few samples of your Stimpacks for further analysis."
"I thought the Followers girl said they were safe." Six tilted his head. "Aside from the whole 'gives you 'Ultra-Cancer' thing, I mean."
"It's not Cancer," Panacea interrupted, shuffling out the front door. "Even if it is sort of similar, you obviously know at least a thing or two about medicine, Six; enough to know the differences, at least. Whatever those Stimpacks do, It's some sort of completely benign, widespread, self-regulating... rapid cell division. Cancer doesn't just kill itself off through genetic damage like that."
"I'm pretty sure it's cancer. You even said it yourself," Six voice went high-pitched and nasally, in a crude approximation of a teenage girl, "You don't want to use too many of those at once, it'd probably cause you to develop tumors."
Panacea rolled her eyes, sighing exasperatedly.
"Fine, whatever. Yeah, it's basically cancer. Call it what you want."
Clearing his throat, Armsmaster cut back in.
"...As I was saying, that's only proof that they don't pose immediate danger. They may have latent effects that would pose a long-term health risk. I'd like to subject them to more rigorous testing than the say-so of two people."
Six let out a tired groan.
"Jeeez, you'd think-..."
He stopped, cut off by a generic ring-tone. Taylor looked around for the source; Glory Girl, Panacea, and the Wards had all gone for whatever pockets they might have, and she even saw one or two troopers surreptitiously patting the pockets on their armored vests. Six, though, pulled out a simple, cheap looking flip phone.
"Ah, sorry about this…" He grunted, sounding a bit sheepish. Flipping it open, he brought the device to his ear. "Hello?"
Almost instantly, he jerked his head away as noise blasted out of the speaker, loud enough that Taylor could almost hear it from where she stood a few feet away, even without her swarm.
"Fuckin' shit, sounds like you're in a warzone. You alright?"
The quality of sound on the phone was as terrible as one might expect from such a cheap phone, but Taylor could make out a masculine voice shouting on the other end, obviously panicked.
"What're- What!? By who?"
More panicked shouting.
"Alright, fine- Yeah, I'll be there ASAP. Don't die."
With that, Six flipped the phone close, calmly slipping it back into a pocket in his coat even as a low growl built at the back of his throat. Then, like a predator suddenly springing into action, he let out a furious roar, driving his fist into the side of the van.
"Mother-Fucking-Piece-of-Shit-Sonofa-Goddamn-BITCH!"
His ranting descended into wordless screeching for all of a moment, Six reaching out before him as if trying to strangle the air before cutting off entirely.
Like that, he was calm once more, though breathing a bit more heavily.
"Well, it seems we have a problem, Armsmaster," He growled, "because I've got a gun full of bullets, a heart full of fury, and my day's just gone from bad to worse. Now you can get out of my way, or you can get in line, 'cuz there's no way things aren't gonna end in blood today."
Y'know, correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought it was called "Winter Break", not "Winter Work Even Harder During the Holiday Rush". But, here we are. Needless to say, I was tired, busy, and the more I didn't work on this, the guiltier I felt about it, which only killed my motivation further.
The vicious cycle, eh?
Anyway, maybe you guys saw this coming, or at least the events it foreshadows, but hey, better to be well written and predictable than unpredictable at the cost of actually making fucking sense. I can't say I enjoyed writing this chapter, but it felt important to at least point out the Local PRT, Protectorate, and Public's stance on Six. Basically, a lot of people like that Six gets results, but the people in the system who, if not agreeing with Six, at least don't disagree with him, and they obviously can't show overt support for someone who so willingly flaunts their rules (Like Clockblocker). Others, meanwhile, are torn between 'What Six did was technically right' and 'What Six did is technically illegal', and depending on who you are, it might be difficult to reconcile those two ideas. I dunno, it felt a little ham-handed, personally, and I don't know how accurate Vista and Clock actually ended up coming out, but it's done and I don't want to dwell much more on it.
I also want to make mention of adaptational changes I've made to make Fallout more internally consistent, as well as to gel better with a more 'realistic' story like Worm; stuff like Power Armor and certain game mechanics like carry weight (Six's magical coat of holding. It has an inherent Stranger effect imbued into it to make people not question it's abilities. This is canon.) so I'll probably make mention of those things as they become relevant in story.
In this chapter, for instance, it was Stimpaks. Obviously, the easy way out would be to say that they just aren't that effective, or that it's Pre-War science bullshit, but Stimpaks healing you by giving you cancer to induce rapid cellular regeneration and then curing your cancer once you were healed just felt magnificently in-character for Fallout while also giving an explanation for the rapid healing.
So I ran with it, even if I could've explained it a bit better. Ah well, it's pseudo-science bullshit either way. I don't study biology, so concoct your own explanation if you want.
Hopefully the next chapter won't take so long, but I make no promises.