"Ok, lot of things, but it is way past your bedtime right now." Verity said as she went up and immediately scratched the downed Lung just in case before turning her attention to Taylor. "Second off, how?! Why and how?"
"It wasn't all me," Taylor answered. "I heard him talking about killing kids, but they turned out to be a group of teen villains, and one of their members sent her mutant dogs on Lung after I had all my bugs bite and sting him. He fell off the roof and hit his head," Taylor explained.
"That sounds like Hellhound…" Verity noted as she looked at Lung, and thought on how easily her claws slid into his skin and how simple it would be to rip his head off right now, but pushed the urge down, and focused on the present, like how Hellhound was the only Undersider her files had detailed info on, meaning said super hooligans were involved. "Guessing they already turned tail and ran?"
"Yeah, they ran when the one called Tattletale said someone was stomping close," She answered.
"Ahaha, Tattletale, nice." Verity said before making a concerted effort to focus, before quickly going for a very very light hug for Taylor. "I am so proud of you right now." She said before quickly letting go. "You are in so much trouble, but I am so proud of you."
"Really?" She asked.
"Yeah!" Verity said as she grabbed Lung's mutilated, but still breathing, body, scratching him again just in case, before cuffing him (she knew it wouldn't do much if he woke up, but it was the thought that counted). "Like, you are totally grounded, but I could not be more proud of you right now."
"You can't do that," She replied, but before Verity had a chance to response, Armsmaster's voice came through her armband.
"Medusa what is the situation? I am one minute from your location."
"Armsmaster, this is Medusa, Lung has been taken down and secured." Verity said. "No sign of Oni Lee or any other ABB goons."
"...Truly? What is his status?"
"Mauled, bug bitten, and intermittently injected with my venom." Verity said. "He was in the middle of fighting the Undersiders and an independent hero in a mêlée à trois before being taken down thanks primarily to said independent hero and my subsequent arrival. I had to let the Undersiders go in lieu of securing Lung."
Taylor turned to look at her in surprise.
"Understandable, keep administering paralysis to keep him sedated as his passive regeneration would fight against it and your venom does not suppress it. I will administer a proper sedative upon arrival."
"Understood." Verity said, scratching Lung's back in the least friendly way possible and continuing to do so every few seconds, just a shallow cut with one nail at a time, but he was healing quickly anyway, it would be fine.
Plus, Taylor said he wanted to kill kids.
She did not care if he was uncomfortable.
Verity looked to Taylor as she kept talking. "Medusa, out." She said, and when the armband made the beep she focused entirely on Taylor. "So, do you have a name in mind? Because I think you're about to debut."
"Urgh, no," Taylor answered, embarrassment clear in her voice.
"I have suggestions if you need them." Verity said. "Or you can scurry on home and we can do this another time, I'll just say you walked away while I was keeping Lung secure."
"Yeah, I think that is the best idea," Taylor responded as she began to walk away.
"Stay away from the roads and stay out of trouble!" Verity said. "Or at least try!"
She didn't get a response from Taylor as she had already went pretty far down the road in a short time, and a few seconds later Armsmaster arrived from the west. His arrival heralded by the sound of his motorcycle.
"Hey! Guess who got the white whale?" Verity greeted with a grin.
"...That you did," He answered as he held out his halberd and fired small darts from it that sunk into his flesh. "Now he just needs to be escorted back to the Rig and put in a cell."
"Great!" Verity said, in rather good spirits at the moment. "We waiting for a van or are we doing that ourselves? I can carry him if we need to."
"We will have to do that ourselves before the sedative wears off so run back to the Rig as fast as you can," Armsmaster said.
"Got it!" Verity said, picking Lung up and putting him over her shoulder like a bag of potatoes (where she could also easily inject more venom just in case) before running off and doing just that as soon as Lung was secured.
Verity ran straight across the Docks until she came to the Hardlight bridge that had already been activated for her, which she went across full blast, and at the end of which a small army of PRT Agents, alongside Miss Militia, were waiting for them with further restraining tools.
"Good job tonight Medusa," Miss Militia stated as the men took Lung from her.
"Definitely not a bad first night, huh?" Verity said cheekily.
"Yes not many can say they have taken down a major crime boss on their first night as a Protectorate Hero," Miss Militia replied.
"I figured." Verity said, before lowering her voice. "Didn't exactly do it alone, to be fair. How much did you hear?"
"That Lung got into a three way fight with a new Independant Hero and the Undersiders, which does make sense as their latest stunt involved stealing from the Ruby Dreams Casino which was under investigation as a ABB Front," Miss Militia answered.
"Ooh, that makes more sense now." Verity said, bringing herself back to conversational volume. "The independent looked pretty young going off the stature, I'll try to convince them to join the Wards if we meet again, kid was scarily effective."
"Yes and hopefully they accept," Miss Militia answered.
"Hopefully!" Verity concurred. "So how's this work now, do I head back out, or like debrief and then do that, or is this it for the night?"
"Well, I think you should end patrol time, and just start writing out your Field Report before heading home," Miss Militia stated.
"You've got seniority here, I'll do just that." Verity said, deciding that was a fantastic idea.
"Both Armsmaster and the Director will appreciate that," Miss Militia told her.
"Well, have a good night Hannah, Imma get writing."
"You as well, Verity."
Xxx
Verity hummed to herself tunelessly as she put the finishing touches on her latest creation.
After sleeping in quite cozily given what happened the previous night, she had spent most of the day so far on making something special for a special someone, internally praising her own foresight in getting several colors of food coloring and fondant.
She looked at her creation and smiled, as it smiled back with the sharp white teeth.
"Perfect." Verity said.
Ding-dong.
"Just a moment!" Verity called out as she went and answered it, grinning as she saw who it was. "Well hey there, come on in, I got something special for ya."
"I've got stuff for you, you need to hear," Taylor said as she went inside.
"Good stuff or bad stuff?" Verity asked, hearing a tinge of confusion in Taylor's voice. "Because if it's bad stuff, you first, if it's good stuff, mine first."
"I think it goes under bad stuff," She said.
"Okay, so you go first."
"So I got contacted by the Undersiders today and went to meet with them," Taylor stated.
"...I'm sorry, you did what."
"I went to meet them, in costume of course," Taylor said.
"What about, exactly?" Verity asked as she led Taylor into the living room. "This feels like it's going to be a lot, so take a seat."
"They wanted me to join their team," Taylor said as she did just that.
"...Taylor?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you entertaining the idea of joining a villain team?"
"To infiltrate them, they said they had a boss that paid them and gave them jobs," Taylor said as she opened her bag and pulled out a lunch box with Alexandria on it, and opened it. Showing that there was a stack of fifty dollar bills in there.
Verity blinked at the cash in incomprehension for a moment before looking back to Taylor. "...And who, pray tell, would you be infiltrating for? You're technically not affiliated with the Protectorate or the PRT, so, unless you…" Verity put two and two together. "...I'm the one you were gonna tell if you do this, aren't I?"
"Yeah," Taylor answered. "You're the only hero I know, so I thought that would make the most amount of sense."
Verity looked at Taylor blankly for a moment, before taking a deep breath. "Taylor, I'm going to put this as nicely as I can, this is possibly the stupidest plan I've ever heard."
Taylor just looked away from her in shame.
"...But I can't say it's the worst plan I've ever heard." Verity continued, Taylor looking back at her in confusion. "Listen, Taylor, you're 15. I know that may seem like a lot for you right now, you're always the oldest you've ever been, but this is not the kind of thing you should be worrying about. You should be worried about grades or acne or prom or whatever, not infiltrating a group of dangerous criminals."
"I just wanted to do good and make you proud," Taylor responded. "I thought taking down the super secret villain would be a good idea." She spoke a second later. "That's why I went out last night."
Verity felt her heart twang at hearing that. "Taylor, I was proud of you for coming to me for help in the first place, you do not have to do this kind of thing to make me proud of you. I would have been proud if you got an A on a math test. And I'm happy to hear you want to help, but this is… Taylor you could have died last night. I may not even be able to go blow for blow with Lung, that was super dangerous."
"I know."
"...Dammit, are you certain a winning personality isn't one of your superpowers?" Verity asked after a moment of tense silence.
"If it was I think I would still have been friends with Emma," She said as she folded her arms.
"No, frankly put, she needs mental help, the way she was talking… you know what, no, there's no use dwelling on what-ifs. Let's focus on the what-now's." Verity said. "So, your plan is to infiltrate the Undersiders in order to suss out who their boss is and what they want, relaying information on both to me, with the end goal of… what, exactly?"
"Sending them all to jail and making the Bay safer?" She answered.
"Okay." Verity said, steepling her fingers in front of her as she sat back on her tail. "So you want to infiltrate a band of unstable, super powerful teenage criminals, in order to find an undoubtedly very dangerous boss who is paying them for doing crimes, which will undoubtedly lead to more danger and possibly crossing paths with the Protectorate or the police, who will not know of your mission and therefore treat you like an actual threat, the latter with lethal force against you, who is not immune to bullets. And you want to do this entirely on your own, with me as your only point of contact. Am I understanding all this correctly?"
Taylor just nodded her head as it seemingly seemed to click for her what she was getting into.
"And what is the primary reason you want to do this? Honest answer, please."
"I...I am…" Taylor began to say as she started to choke up a bit. "I'm doing this for myself. To make myself feel better, to die." She said as she broke into tears.
Verity had already been about to hug her, but at those two words immediately she pulled Taylor into a hug. "It's okay, it's okay." Verity said, trying to figure what, if anything, to say to that as she carefully and slowly rubbed Taylor's back with her fingers held back, deciding to just comfort her.
"Mom," Was the drowned in sorrow word that escaped Taylor's lips.
Verity's heart stopped for a moment as she heard that word, her entire everything coming to a halt, entirely freezing up for a moment as Taylor continued to sob.
When her brain rebooted a moment later and she could breath again, Verity decided to deal with that later as she focused on comforting Taylor now. "It's okay, it's okay. You don't need to prove anything, I'd miss you if you were gone." And so on went Verity with the comforting words she had engraved in her mind from the times she'd comforted her friends in similar states in the past.
A few minutes later the waterworks came to an end.
As they did, Verity looked down at Taylor, who looked like a mess at the moment.
"Why did I… Why did I say that? Why did I say any of that? I haven't…" She said.
"It's okay, everyone has moments like this." Verity said softly. "It's just part of being human. And, really, you've been through a lot, you've probably been bottling everything up for a while."
"That's no excuse for calling you that," She answered.
"Calling me what?" Verity asked, pretending she hadn't heard. "Did you curse at me or something?"
"...Nothing," She answered.
"Alright." Verity said, before very gently patting Taylor on the head. "Now, you feelin' better, Taylorgator? Crying usually does that for me anyway."
A groan of pure cringe escaped from Taylor's throat at the nickname.
"I'll take that as a yes." Verity said with a grin as she let go of Taylor, her face briefly becoming one of disappointment before setting into neutrality. "Now, you stay right here, I'm going to go get the thing I wanted to talk about, and then if you're feeling up for it we can maybe talk about the future again, that sound alright?"
"Yeah it does," Taylor responded.
"Alrighty then, just one moment." Verity said, before heading into the kitchen (not that hard or far a thing, considering there was only a partial wall separating them) and grabbing a plate and the proper utensils, and the entire cake, before heading back into the living room, keeping it up and out of Taylor's line of sight. "Alright, so three guesses what this is."
"Well since it came from the kitchen I am guessing food?" She asked.
"Partially correct, you still have two guesses."
"I am going to assume something sweet, more brownies?" She asked.
Verity made a buzzer noise with her mouth. "Incorrect, one more guess."
"Cookies?"
Another buzzer. "Incorrect!" Verity said as she lowered the tray to the coffee table and Taylor's line of sight. "Ta-da!" She said with the biggest grin she'd had so far as she showed Taylor her masterpiece.
Said masterpiece being a cartoonishly cute (and kind of derpy looking, she wasn't a master chef) alligator head with icing shaped like familiar brown hair on it's head, three of its sides lined with grinning white 'teeth'.
"It's a Taylorgator!" Verity declared.
Taylor stared at the cake for a few seconds before looking up at Verity's yellow eyes. "I burn with the fury of a thousand suns for this thing."
"It's also a chocolate cake." Verity said, handing Taylor a spoon. "Entirely for you."
"Really?" She asked as she took the spoon.
"Ayup." Verity said. "I recommend you use the plate I got, we can save any leftovers for later, but yeah this is entirely for you. I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate the rousing success last night." That she could afford, she distinctly did not say.
"...Thank you," She said as she began to carve a chunk out with her spoon while Verity plated her a slice (distinctly not letting the apparently suicidal teen handle sharp objects) and she took a bite out of it. "...Tastes good."
"I sure would hope so." Verity said jovially. "Do you want me to get you some milk to go with this, or you good?"
"Yeah that sounds great," Taylor replied.
Xxx
"So, you feelin' okay to talk about that again or no? We don't have to if you don't want to yet." Verity said after Taylor ate half the cake and seemed to have stabilized a bit.
"I am ready," Taylor said as she took a deep breath.
"Okay, so… you do understand that plan… probably wouldn't end well, right?" Verity started slowly.
"I do," Taylor answered.
"And you understand you do have people who care about you and would be sad if that happened, right?"
Taylor just nodded her head at that.
"And you understand that there are other ways of helping if that's what you wanted to do?"
"How?" She asked.
"Well, you could continue being an independent until you're 18 like you said before, which I don't recommend it's going to make it a lot harder to do stuff, but if you choose to do that I will support you, or you could join the Wards, get a lot of support in the here and now leading up to that point, including getting paid, unlike independent which is pro bono, and that's the one I would recommend. Or you could do something completely unrelated, like volunteer work. Just because you have powers doesn't mean you need to use them to beat people up." Verity said. "And that's just three examples, there's probably more I'm not thinking of."
"How can I use them to do anything besides beating people up?" She asked.
"Well, you can control bugs, so that means you could clear infested areas, you could be incredible for relocation efforts, I'm willing to bet there's some conservationists who would love to work with you, and probably pay big bucks if that's a factor for you. Or you could be the most moral bug removal and just… take them to different places. Or you could go into science, study the natural behavior of bugs and how they're affected by your ability, see if you're doing a hormonal thing or a telepathy thing, there's potential there. Or you could make some sick art, do a semi-literal flea circus, Parian's doing pretty well and you don't see her beating people up with her powers. And the list goes on, really." Verity said with a shrug. "The only limit to what you can do in life is your imagination, powers or no."
"...You sound like a Tibetan monk or something like that then you say that," Taylor said with a slight chuckle. "And that is a lot of stuff… But… despite what I said… earlier. But when I stood before Lung the dude throwing fire at me and trying to kill me, despite the fear, in that moment I had never been more alive. My power, more responsive than they had been since I had gotten them." There was a brief moment of silence before she continued. "And I kinda want to feel that again."
Verity sighed. "I understand, you want to fight. That doesn't mean you have to only fight, you can probably get away with doing multiple of the things I suggested or more… but I figured I wouldn't be able to dissuade you from heroics."
"Yeah you're probably right," She answered.
"So, I suppose the question is: What do you want to do?"
"...I have no idea," She answered. "I feel so lost right now, like I had an idea but all that you kinda just made come crashing down."
"Sorry, I tend to do that." Verity apologized, rubbing the back of her neck. "But that's the fun thing about life, you don't have to decide on that kind of thing immediately. I know school kind of makes it seem otherwise, but you can also change your mind later if you want with most things. Like, Oprah wasn't Oprah until she was in her 30's."
"Yeah, they do make you feel like you should have determined your life a decade ago," Taylor replied.
"Yeah, trust me, it's not really like that. You have time to figure out what you want to do." Verity assured. "So, in the meantime while you're figuring that out, what are you going to do?"
"Well I am going to tell the Undersiders no," She responded.
"That seems like a good start." Verity said, relieved. She would much rather try to figure out what those kids' deals were herself than put Taylor in harm's way like that. "Do you want me nearby in case things go south when you do?"
"...I would like that," She responded, her face reddening a bit.
"Hey, it's nothing to be embarrassed about to need help, you know how much help I've needed since I've got here? I barely knew my left from my right!" Verity said, holding up the incorrect hands for left and right as she did.
Taylor let out a minor laugh.
"So, did they give you a deadline and a spot, or just a vague thing?" Verity asked, since this seemed like it might be time sensitive.
"They gave me until tomorrow afternoon" She replied.
"No location? Or like, a number or something?" Verity asked worriedly. "Please tell me they didn't say 'we'll find you when the time comes' or something like that."
"Nah, they said to meet up at the same place we just did," She replied.
Verity let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, okay, that's good. So you'll be going tomorrow, in costume, to say no, and I'll hide nearby… with a…" Verity shivered. "Do you think giving me a bug that you could send a 'distress' signal through could work?"
"You just need to be within two blocks of me," Taylor answered.
"Holy cannoli, Taylor, that range is insane!" Verity said in surprise. "I guess you never have to worry about having enough bugs, huh?"
"Yeah there are a lot of bugs, and I know the location of every single one of them and what kind they are," Taylor answered. "There are about a hundred thousand right now in my range."
"Wait, hold on, you know the location and species of every bug within a 2 block radius?" Verity asked incredulously. "Every single one?"
"Yep," She answered. "Well the relative distance from myself."
"And when one dies or something, you're aware of it?"
"Yep," She answered. "It's like they suddenly left my radius without me leaving the area."
"Taylor, I'm pretty sure with just that and like, no training, you'd make for an insane disaster detection system." Verity said, awed at the scope of her power. "Cause you've had this for, what, a few months? Imagine what you'll be able to do if you train with it! Imagine a year or two from now, you'd probably be able to basically use your bugs as a living radar, and that's assuming you only developed existing techniques and didn't figure out anything new! Your power is almost as awesome as the person it's attached to!"
"You think that?" Taylor asked.
"Yeah!" Verity said with an enthusiastic nod as she began to think of the possibilities of Taylor's power. "Like, you've got so much room to grow, Taylor, there's a very good chance you could figure out how to coordinate bugs into living constructs like giant hands or a duplicate of yourself or something insane like that."
"...Huh? Yeah that could work with a bit of effort, that clone thing," Taylor said.
"Yeah, see, exactly!" Verity said, happy her memories of a certain anime that didn't exist here were being useful. "Insane stuff like that! With you behind the wheel, I could totally see that kind of stuff happening in the future."
"I feel a lot better," Taylor replied after the shower of praise that had just been heaped on her.
"Great!" Verity said with a grin. "Now, few things, but first: no vigilantics tonight."
"Why do you keep butchering the english language?" Taylor asked in fake pain.
"It's called a malaprop, also known as Malaproper language." Verity said, using an example of said thing as she spoke. "And my brain just works like that."
"...I can't believe how similar you two are," Taylor said.
"Hn?" Verity asked. "Similar who is?"
"You and mom," Taylor said. "She would have given the exact same response to that."
When Verity heard the word 'mom', her entire body froze up again once more.
Taylor let out a breath as she turned her attention back to Verity. "I should probably get home now. I do have homework to do… Though... What did you say to Sophia? Because she kinda just didn't do anything, nor Madison, heck she actually shut down the other groupies."
That got Verity's mind and body to sync back up properly as she took a breath and responded. "Uh, well, I kind of outlined what might have happened if you weren't you." Verity said.
"?" Was what Taylor's face said asking for her to elaborate.
"Uhhhhhh, wellllll." Verity stalled. "I kind of pointed out that if it weren't you, i.e. a good kid, uh, that level of harassment would of, um, probably lead to a, uh." Verity struggled to say it now, not having thought she'd ever have to actually explain this to Taylor. "Um, well, a uh…"
Though Taylor did seem to get the implication that Verity was alluding to. "...Oh...Ergh...Is it bad to say that I did have a few thoughts of going Carie on the whole school?"
"As long as you never act on them, no it's not bad." Verity said. "...Wait, so do you like Stephen King?"
"Yeah, though, I did skip that one scene in IT," She responded.
"I think everyone does." Verity said. "So you like reading, then?"
"Yeah, mom was English Professor at the Community College, so she gave me a lot of books to read," Taylor explained.
"You ever read the Chronicles of Narnia?"
"Yeah, and a few other fantasy books, even the Aleph Versions of Harry Potter," She answered.
"...Aleph?" Verity asked, head tilting in confusion, her plan to get Taylor the full Chronicles put on the back burner for a moment. "Is that like a publishing company or something?"
"No the Earth Aleph versions," Taylor responded.
"Wait, what?" Verity asked. "Are you saying there's other Earths? Like parallel universes or something?"
"You don't know that? But your a Protectorate Cape I thought that would be in your files or something?" Taylor asked.
"It probably is, but Taylor there's a lot of stuff I've had to read, I don't think I've gotten to that part, but are you saying not only are there other Earths, but that there's trade with them?" Verity asked, wondering if maybe she slipped into here from there, and that she might actually have a chance to make it home.
"Yeah a Tinker named Professor Haywire opened up a few small portals to other earths back in the late eighties," Taylor answered.
"...Huh." Verity said after a moment. "I… think that means I'm from one of those. It makes a lot of things make more sense."
"Huh? Really? Then I guess you prove some of those theories on PHO right," Taylor said.
"What theories?"
"That Case53 comes from other Earths, and it is the transition that makes them forget when they Trigger, but you still have a lot of your memories right?" Taylor asked.
"Yeah, most of 'em." Verity said. "...I think. I didn't exactly have the best memory before all this... " Her eyes widened as a crucial factor occurred to her. "Oh god, my friends might be here too." She said quietly as the thought hit her like a freight train.
"Probably only like alternate versions of them," Taylor said.
"No, I was… my last memory before all this was me driving with my friends, going… somewhere." Verity said. "I don't know where, but we were going somewhere, and then everything just… stops, and then I was waking up in an alleyway like this, I-" She was suddenly cut off as her hands smacked her cheeks, snapping her out of it and startling Taylor. "Sorry, you shouldn't have to deal with any of this, forget I said any of that." Verity said, ignoring the stinging in her cheeks. "More importantly, you should probably just vibe around your house for today, don't do anything that could draw attention to you, and then tomorrow we'll deal with the Blundersiders, and then we'll go get ice cream. Sounds good?"
"Yeah that sounds great," Taylor replied.
"Alright, you do that, do that homework you mentioned, and…" She paused. "Where was it that you met up with them before?"
"Where we fought Lung," She answered.
"Okay, got it, I'll go stake that out today and then do some homework of my own." Verity said with a nod.
Taylor nodded back at her as she stood up and headed for the door picking up her bag along the way. Though as soon as she stepped out of the house, Verity said. "See you later, Taylorgator!"
The groan of cringe that left the girl was music to her ears.
Though as she returned to the living room she saw that the lunchbox with the two grand was still present on the table.
"Shit, she forgot her stuff." Verity said, very carefully picking it up before heading out herself. Upon not seeing Taylor she sighed and went over to the Hebert home and rang the bell.
It was opened a second later by Taylor wearing one shoe, who just looked confused by her sudden appearance.
"You forgot your lunchbox." Verity said, holding said lunchbox out for her to take. "You really should keep better track of your things."
"...I didn't think I could keep it," She replied.
"Why not, it's your lunchbox." Verity said, before lowering her voice a bit. "I'd be a pre-tty bad neighbor if I stole your lunch money."
"Thanks," She said as she took it.
"No problem, tell your dad I said hi then." Verity said as she carefully backed off the porch. "See ya later Taylorgator." She said again just because she could.
She didn't groan this time as there was still a small smile on her face.
Verity smiled back and waved at her before walking back to her house, closing the door, and immediately losing her shit at what had happened so far sunk in.
20 minutes of screaming into the reinforced pillow she'd gotten from Parian followed by a solid few minutes of complete incoherency, she finally started to get her thoughts in order.
"I'm mama now? No, no that can't be right, she's just latching on… but is she right?"
"Ssss."
"No no, I'm just doing what any one would do."
"Ssss."
"...Yes, fine, I'm doing what I would do, but… I'm not good enough to be a mom figure!"
"Ssss."
"You know what I mean you little shit."
"Sssss."
"Oh don't you start too now."
"Ssss."
"Sssss."
"Sss."
"Dammit, why are you all turning against me now?!"
"Ssss."
"...Gwah, no, you're wrong, I can't, it's just me misinterpreting what's going on."
"Sssss."
"Yes I know she called me mom, she was crying she just probably had a slip, that doesn't mean-"
"Sss."
"I know she keeps comparing but that doesn't mean-"
"Ssss."
"...Shit, you're right about that one."
"Ssss."
"Sss."
"Sssss."
"...Wait, am I just talking to myself right now?"
All three nodded in unison.
"...Maybe I should see a psychologist…"
"Ssss." The main one said, pointing at the door.
"Right, right, the docks." Verity said, before thinking for a moment. "Yeah, a walk would be a good idea right now anyway, let's do that then."
Xxx
"Fucking Hookwolf spotted by Parian's workshop, bunch of goons, engaging now." Verity said as she spotted the E88 member who was just on the verge of a Kill Order, surrounded by a group of clearly E88 goons, briefly considering going straight for lasers but remembering he didn't have a Kill Order yet, lamenting her luck of patrols, as she immediately went for a tackle, aiming to scratch him with her claws, ignoring the most-likely non-powered goons for the moment.
"What the-grgh!" Was all he managed to say but before he was tackled to ground and then groaned in pain as Verity's claws went into his arm.
"Hey." Verity said as she grinned viciously at the neo-nazi fucks. "Surrender." She ordered simply as she dug her claws a bit deeper into Hookwolf.
"As if, you subhuman bitch," He responded as his body began to change and shift into a blender of hooks and blades.
"Ow, fuck, okay, you're a right bitch bastarding fuck arentcha?" Verity said as she continued to hold the now slicing fucking down, punching him in the back of the head as she tried to ignore the pain of what felt like a thousand paper cuts across her body. "Heel, mutt."
But it didn't knock him out as his head became blades as well, getting out from under her and out of her grasp, shearing off chunks of her hand and a few fingers in the process.
"AHHH, FUCK! That's my writing hand you bastard!" Verity screamed as she grabbed the streetlight they'd been standing near and used it as a bludgeon to try and beat him into the ground, the pain being blinded by the sheer rage flowing through her.
"Hrhgh, hrgh, hgrgh," He laughed as the pole was shredded, while the goons were opening fire on her. But unlike the blades that now made up Hookwolf's body they did no damage as they bounced off her.
"You're more likely to hit your own guys than me, nazi idiots!" Verity shouted as she blocked one that had been heading for her eye just in case.
And as soon as she said that one of them fell to the ground in pain clutching his leg as a bullet had ricocheted back at him.
"Cease firing fools," Hookwolf stated and the rain of gun fire came to a halt. "I just came here to try and convince a nice little doll to be our dressmaker, but it seems that I have to get the prize of killing the PRT's new golden goose. You should feel honored to face me you filthy monste-"
He was cut off by Verity blasting him with stoning power, having closed her left eye and truly opened her right, hoping to disable him, before closing her right entirely and opening her left, and thankfully she was right about the one-eye thing working, mentally thanking that one trivia bit about pirate eyepatches.
The beam had definitely hit since the top half of Hookwolf had been melted away, exposing in the center of his body what looked to be a core made out of flesh? And from it she could see new metal emerging.
"Oops, sorry, lemme finish that." Verity said as she resumed blasting the fucker with Stoning Power, aiming directly for the core, before once again switching to her left eye to see if it worked.
And all that remained was a ball of stone lying in a pile of molten metallic sludge.
The goons looking at it in pure despair.
"Boos? You bitch?" One said drawing a hand gun, which was immediately slapped out of his hand by Verity's tail.
"Dude. Come on. If he didn't do jack shit, did you think the bullets would?" Verity asked. "Wait, why am I even reasoning with you people, you're Nazi's." She laughed, before turning a 'grin' towards all of them, hair raising in clear threat. "Surrender."
"Kaiser is going to kill you for this," One of them said but they all still held up their hands as Verity began to cuff them while stating their rights as was procedure.
"He's gonna need a god killing scythe to do it." Verity said in response, before quickly going over and picking up the now-stone core of what was once Hookwolf before the metal around it could solidify too much. "...You know, I should probably feel bad about this, but I really don't." She said softly to the sphere. "But congratulations, Yorick! You were the first."
"...Verity what happened, are they gone?" Came the voice of Parian who peeked out of her door, looking like she hastily put on her costume making so that Verity could see a little bit of dark skin around her hands at odds with the image her costume projected, her sleeve not properly connecting with her white glove.
"Nah, but they are dealt with." Verity said cheerily. "Could you spare a bit of rope or something so they don't run away? Just in case, we've got people on the way."
"...With pleasure, the E88 has been harassing me for the last two months, wanting me to join their group," Parian stated as threads of cloth emerged from her shop.
"Ahaha!" Verity laughed at that, getting a weird look from Parian. "Sleeve, darling, the sleeve."
She looked down and immediately covered it up. "And you can guess why my costume is full body right?"
"Yeah, I get it, I get it." Verity said, grinning at yet another unequivocal success, before cringing as the adrenaline faded and she could feel the pain in her hand, or rather what remained of it. She looked at it in worry, only to watch and marvel as it began to regrow before her very eyes.
It was truly fascinating as new bone was formed and flesh to cover it, new ligaments to connect them, and new scales to cover the flesh, followed finally by new claws extending outward, all in less than a minute. "...Well that's new." Verity said in surprise.
"...You didn't know you could do that?" Parian asked.
"To be entirely honest, not really." Verity admitted. "I knew I could heal fast but not that fast."
"Well I say that is good news," Parian said as the sound of a motorcycle entered Verity's range and she saw Miss Militia come towards her, and behind her four police cars, and one PRT van.
"Hey!" Verity greeted cheerily with a wave as they approached. "Everything's a-okay! We got him!"
Though she only got a response a few seconds later as Miss Militia rolled up to her. "Where is he?" She asked as she held a modified grenade launcher in her hand.
"Who, Hookwolf?" Verity asked, adjusting her grip on the stone ball she was carrying.
"Medusa it is no time for jokes, you said you engaged him, and then shouted you got him so where is he?" Miss Militia asked in a rather no-nonsense tone of voice.
"Sorry, on a bit of an adrenaline rush right now, you remember how my eyes work right?" Verity asked, tapping Stonewolf with her other hand.
"You turned him into stone? Did his blades manage to harm you?" She asked.
"Yeah, uh, lost most of my right hand actually, we're probably going to want to clean that up, but it turns out he had a fleshy core." Verity said, indicating the stone ball she was carrying. "So should still be alive, but he also met the parameters, so…"
"You were justified, he already had his Kill Order basically presigned, and there are a few more deaths that could be attributed to him," Miss Militia said. "So you shouldn't be too penalised for this use of force without direct permission."
"I figured there'd be some repercussions for doing it." Verity accepted. "I would have asked permission in advance, but he started monologuing." She said as if that actually justified it.
"Probably just have to write up a report and change the shift to consol duty alongside one of the Wards on Thursday," Miss Militia said.
Verity thought on that. "That works. Uh, what do I do with this?" Verity asked, holding up the art piece formerly known as Hookwolf.
"He will be taken by the Agent to Armsmaster's lab for study to hopefully advance the search for a way to undo your stoning," She told Verity. "Now you can just continue your patrol."
"Mkay, will do." Verity said easily. "Oh, but I seriously recommend cleaning up any bits of me, I don't want to find out some mad scientist came through afterwards and tried to clone me or something."
"Stuff like that is always disposed of, don't want someone like Blasto to get a hold of it," Miss Militia said.
"Blasto?"
"Villainous Bio-Tinker in Boston, relatively harmless, mostly interested in making weed, but he is a known cloner," Miss Militia explained.
"Eaugh, yeah, definitely do not want any mini-me's running around." Verity said, not liking that image one bit as a PRT agent took the core, and was quickly supported by another as he almost dropped it.
"Yeah that would be a problem," She said in response. "Well talk to you later, Medusa."
"Ehh before you go, again thank you for the help Ve-Medusa," Parian stated.
"Oh yeah, any time, Parian." Verity said. "I'm always willing to help, and… you know what, you want my number?"
"Uh? I...I can- what?" She asked.
"Yeah, in case something like this happens again, or you just wanna talk or something." Verity said with a grin. "May not always be able to answer cause patrols and stuff, but yeah."
"I would love that," She replied.
"Alright, it's…" Verity said, before remembering there were a bunch of people around and leaning down to whisper the number in Parian's ear before pulling back. "Did you get that?"
She nodded her head.
"Okay, see you later Parry~!" Verity said before heading off, continuing on her patrol, hoping all her patrols would follow this trend of success.
Xxx
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[b] Topic: The Official Medusa Thread[/b]
[b]In: Boards ► USA ► Brockton Bay ► Protectorate Capes[/b]
[b]Bagrat [/b] (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Posted On Apr 6th 2011:
Hello everybody this is Bagrat here with the Official Thread for the new Protectorate ENE Hero.
Medusa.
Here you can discuss theories, thoughts, and other such things related to her.
Pics: Official Costume, Casual Clothes, Snek on the Boardwalk.
Bio: Verity Mendax AKA Medusa is a Case53 so is not capable of having a secret identity and so it is public.
Her body having lots of snake based mutations, such as scales, fangs, and a long ass tail.
Known Powers: Snake Biology, Snake hair which gives her name, fangs with paralytic venom. And is stated to be a high level brute. EDIT 1: Eye Beams that can melt metal and stone flesh.
Merch Page.
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[b]►Smoothmoves [/b]
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
So I was just working at home and I was hearing shouting outside and I looked out to see the E88 trying once again to recruit Parian into their Nazi nest of love, this time the proposer being Hookwolf.
So I started to record it for evidence, but here comes the part that makes it relevant to the thread.
Because a few seconds later the snake herself comes out and bodies Hookwolf. And what follows is a brief fight that results in her win.
Video here.
[b]►Buffersufffer [/b]
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
Holy shit Hookwolf got indeed bodied.
[b]►Wouldschool [/b]
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
That has to the briefest Capef fight I think I have ever seen, that barely lasted a minute.
[b]►Noname [/b]
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
Yeah definitely a high-end brute with how those bullets just bounced of her skin
[b]►Bounetrounce [/b]
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
Yeah, I think even one guy bot hit by his own bullet. Though it looked like wolfy was able to cut through her scales as her costume was damaged and I saw blood, I think even her fingers got cut off.
[b]►Bootylover [/b]
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
Yeah they did I saw them go through the air then I saw the video again.
[b]►Numberhead [/b]
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
Yeah but can we talk about the eye beam? Like da fuck did our new hero do to Hookwolf.
[b]►Ekul [/b]
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
No idea but it was fucking awesome.
[b]►Thatdude [/b]
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
But is he actually alive? That power wasn't mentioned in her debute
[b]►ThatIndianGuy [/b]
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
A true hero kills with her eyes!
[b]►Thatdude [/b]
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
Yeah again is he still alive?
[b]►Goalmaster [/b]
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
Why do you care? He is a fucking Nazi?
[b]►LoverofReptiles [/b]
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
Yeah fuck Hookwolf, I want to talk about how she just intimated those skinheads, her voice sent a shiver up my spine.
Fucking do it again while stepping on me you amazing snek lady!
[b]►Chaosfaith [/b]
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
Why are you people so horny? Though I the eyebeam weird since it apparently turned Hookwolf's core thing to stone, the theories about her having eyes like a Gorgon is true. Though I wonder how Kaiser is going to react?
[b]►Aloha [/b]
Replied On Apr 12th 2011:
Pfft! What is he going to do? She has taken down the two other strongest brutes in the city. Try and cosplay as Perseus? I wonder what our new Queen of the Bay is going to do now. Burry Parian in her cleavage? Because it looked like our local seamstress wanted to take a dive into them going by how hard she was staring.
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Verity stared at her phone as she read through her own official thread on PHO that now had a video of her fighting Hookwolf.
She had to admit, she did look pretty cool. Though now the internet had a video of her basically killing someone (a nazi, but still) and cursing. Thankfully, according to a PRT official who commented on the thread (and the news) Hookwolf had literally just gotten his Kill Order confirmed that morning, and was still technically alive, so it all worked out.
"Your order ma'am," The singular waitress within the small cafe she was inside of said as she sat down her glass of Lemonade. Well, less of a 'glass' more of a metal stein.
"Thank you!" Verity said with a smile before pocketing her phone to try it. It was definitely lemonade, and definitely refreshing.
The reason she pocketed her phone instead of using her other hand being the ladybug currently running around on the back of her left hand, with the signal being if it stopped or deviated wildly.
She already had the tip out on the table for the waitress just in case she had to dash.
As for why, well, simply put, she was nervous as fuck.
Taylor was currently meeting with the Undersiders, a group of dangerous, unknown, teenage paracriminals, the teenage one being the biggest red flag for Verity, since that meant they were temperamental and could potentially do anything in response to Taylor saying no.
So while on the outside she may have been all smiles and having a great time, inside she was a roiling mass of anxiety ready to explode into action and motion at a moment's notice.
That was when the Ladybug stopped moving and fell off her hand.
Verity immediately burst into action, this being precisely why she had chosen an outdoor cafe, as she ran at speed to where Taylor should be, a mantra of 'please be okay please be okay please be okay' on loop in her mind.
And she was there within seconds, though before she arrived her enhanced senses picked up on the rather loud 'conversation' she was approaching.
"Bitch what the hell did you do?"
"Tattletale said she brought another hero, they were obviously going to ambush and arrest us."
"You didn't let me finish, she was here in case this happened and now-" The voice of the teenage girl that had been speaking cut out as Verity landed on the roof they were on. "Oh shit."
Verity took one second to scan the area for Taylor, nothing else mattering in her mind-
And her heart stopped when she saw Taylor laying on the roof in a puddle of her own blood.
She turned to look at the other occupants of the roof, giving them her deathiest death glare short of actually immediately blasting them.
A blonde girl with a purple and black bodysuit and a domino mask.
A skull masked teen giving off black smoke.
A dark haired teen in fancy clothes and a full-face white mask.
And a girl in a rubber dog mask.
Flanked by two massive, mutated dogs.
One with bloody claws.
She memorized their scents.
"Can any of you fix her?" Verity demanded.
"No, but Panacea is currently at Brockton Bay General, you can go fast enough to get her before she bleeds out," The blond girl stated fearfully.
Immediately, her focus shifted from them to Taylor.
"If she doesn't make it." Verity said as she carefully, carefully, oh so very carefully, picked up the bleeding and unconscious Taylor in her arms. "There will be no force in heaven nor hell that will be able to save you."
It was not a threat.
It was a fact.
"She was only here to tell you no." Verity said, having calculated the best angle downward, before going off the roof and heading straight for the hospital, ignoring the destroyed pavement where she landed and the startled passerby, as she went at speed, ensuring Taylor stayed supported and shielded from the wind with her hair.
The scent of blood was so strong she could taste it.
It only hastened her pace.
"Grrgh," Came the gurgled sound from Taylor's mask covered as she seemed to regain consciousness. Verity could feel her hand touching her arm.
"Shh shh shh, it's okay, everything's going to be okay." Verity said comfortingly, searching wildly for that hospital and cursing her inability to know geography.
"Ve-verity," Taylor groaned as she continued to search wildly for Brockton Bay General where Panacea was. She knew that it was in the Downtown area from map readings, and her earlier patrol having passed by it. But now that it mattered she could not orient herself.
"It's-it's okay sweetie, it's okay, everything's going to be okay, okay?" Verity assured her, voice wavering. "Everything's going to be okay."
"T-thank you," She said, her voice stuttering and coughing and Verity could see her mask becoming an even darker shade. "F-for car-caring when n-no one else did," She managed to say the last part clearly as her breathing became more shallow.
"Nononono, stay with me, stay with me Taylor." Verity said as she took off the girl's mask, the sheer amount of blood on her face making Verity's own run cold. But at least she was breathing a bit easier. "You're going to be okay, okay? You're going to be okay, I'm going to get you home, okay?"
Taylor just smiled as her eyes began to lose light.
Something inside Verity clicked into place.
She still had one option.
She checked one more time for the hospital, any hospital, anything- but no. Somehow, in her blind search, she'd ended up in the middle of a small park or something. Empty.
Verity looked back to Taylor as she slowed to a stop.
Prayed this would work.
"Everything's going to be okay, Taylor."
"I promise."
And she bit down.
Xxx
A/N: If you like this or any other of my stories, you can donate to my P A Treon. com (slash) StreamingViking and read commissioned stories. Along with voting for which stories will be updated next via Polls. And chapters before they are released here.