Breathe 02

Lisa

Lisa careened around another corner, blowing through the yellow light just before it turned red. The hamster chittered at her from the floor of the passenger seat.

"Oh shut up, I got this! Driving is just another set of data and we need to be at the PRT building yesterday." She scowled. "For once the people here are being smart and staying inside anyway; too worried about the ongoing war to go out for the moment."

A blaring horn, a last second jerk of the wheel, and a muttered curse, all put the lie to her words. "I'm driving here, asshole!"

Mr. Spinster loudly protested the rocking of his cage.

"Stop being a backseat driver," Lisa grunted, trying to slow her breathing. She eased off the gas slightly. It wasn't like she could do anything anyway if she got there before Taylor.

The radio had stopped playing music almost as soon as she had let Taylor out. The commentators now were no longer sounding quite as blaise about current events. Served them fucking right.

I don't know what sort of Wheaties they fed Braid folks, but whatever it was, I want some.

Mike, did you see that?

What? You mean the way the little Ward known for being the weakest person on the team, who would pass out almost every time she used her power, suddenly managed to punt Alabaster into orbit? Or the way she took out the rest of the Empire in less than a minute?

Well…Armsmaster did get some of them too.

Brandish also, but they're strong heroes already and we've been talking about them for hours. Everyone expected results from them. Nobody expected the 'sweetest one' to destroy buildings during her entrance or to -

"She's never going to get any peace," Lisa muttered.

As she turned onto the last street, with her destination in sight, a loud impact on the roof of the car shook the vehicle and it took all she had to keep herself from squeaking right along with her passenger.

Impact consistent with weight of adult female person dropping onto metal. Taylor aware of destination, direction, and vehicle. Taylor finished with Empire Eighty Eight. Taylor is on the roof.

The short knock on the roof confirmed her power's deduction a second later. Lisa banged out a staccato reply, and swung the car into the PRT's parking lot, utterly ignoring the guard, staring at the roof of her vehicle as she drove past him.

Throwing it into park, she grabbed Mr. Spinster's cage and jumped out of the car. "Hey, Tay. Everything went -"

"Fine." The brunette finished. The cap was still pulled down over her hair and her sunglasses were still on, but the light shining around the edges was blazing with the barely contained power of a star. It was, frankly, frightening and blindingly bright, Lisa had to narrow her eyes to keep looking at Taylor. "Hold on tight."

"Wait, what?" Lisa barely had time to squawk and bring the hamster against her chest when Taylor picked her up, bridal style.

"Braid, wait, are you -" the trooper at the gate shouted.

"Sorry, can't talk, gotta save my friend!" Taylor snapped out so quickly that Lisa had to lean on her power to understand it.

And then Lisa's stomach dropped away as the world rushed around, wind whipping at her hair and tearing at exposed skin. For a brief moment she couldn't even breathe from the speed they were traveling. Then the lurching stopped, sound erupted around her.

"Stay where you are!"

"Halt!"

"Identify yourself!"

"Who the fuck?!"

"What the hell was that?!"

Lisa gulped in air, groaning and holding one arm over her stomach, the other clutching to the cage. "Never. Do. That. Again."

The hamster squeaked in protest, but recovered faster than her as evidenced when it chittered against the cage walls at them, then jumped back onto its bedding.

"Sorry," Taylor murmured as she set Lisa on her feet. "I didn't realize how disorienting that would be for you."

"I said identify - Br-Isis?"

"Hi, Miss Militia," Taylor said. "Is Vicky in one of these rooms? Never mind, I'll check."

Manpower was halfway out of his seat, a scowl on his face as he growled, "Whoever you think you are, you better -" but Taylor was already gone.

Lisa slumped down against the wall, clinging to the hamster cage, holding like a shield in front of her.

Photon Mom was there, along with the rest of the Pelham half of the New Wave clan. Which was really all of New Wave accounted for after a fashion, minus Flashbang and Panacea. Photon Mom herself was standing up, eyes wide, one hand on the chest of her husband as her head was locked in the direction that Taylor had theoretically disappeared down while she tried to calm everyone down along with Miss Militia.

Miss Militia on the other hand was yelling at the rest of the assembled members of New Wave, and…she didn't recognize the last two. One was a teenage male, made entirely of metal who was…probably Weld. The other she had no idea. His costume was brown with silver stripes and a matching visor. One of the B-list Boston capes maybe? Why were those two here? New Wave made sense, Militia too, after a fashion. But the others? Backup maybe? In case any more of New Wave lost their shit? Probably. Likely. Her power tried to add input and she clamped it down. She didn't need the assistance right now, it really wasn't that important at the moment.

New Wave missing Panacea from their gathering. Panacea has been missing from public perception since Glory Girl's death. Panacea is going through crisis. Flashbang withdrew from the field early. Flashbang likely with surviving daughter. Dallon Resid-

Lisa clamped the reins on her power tighter. She really didn't need whispering in her head right now. She needed to deal with the potential crisis right in front of her, not create a new one. Keeping things from getting out of hand here was the important thing.

If she wasn't so damn exhausted…then, maybe, she could afford to think about Pan Pan. Or continuing to defuse situation after situation. It was one thing after another, after another. Last night had been…wonderful. Why couldn't the two of them just have more soft, quiet moments like that?

"I said, stand down!" Lisa looked up, trying not to be surprised as Miss Militia loomed over one of the newcomers, brass knuckles on her hand as she glared at the cape.

"If that's Braid, she just killed at least two more people in the last ten minutes. We have to -"

"Stand. Down," Militia growled. "Brockton Bay has jurisdiction and we are handling it."

Lisa was rocked by a burst of wind, nearly sideways. That was all the warning she had before Taylor reappeared, a large, sheet-covered form cradled in her arms. There was just enough blonde hair visible drooping past the edges of the white covering to make it very clear what - or rather, who - Taylor was holding. Lisa found it very hard to swallow as she stared at the girl in Taylor's arms.

"Found her. This room's bed is empty so I'm going to borrow it. I'm guessing Dr. Mobius is going to want to examine her, so someone please page her. MM, if Velocity is nearby, can you ask him to round up some of the potted plants in the building that people won't miss? I'm - well I'm full to bursting, but she's…" Taylor broke off, the glow around her sunglasses changing as her gaze shifted. "Vicky's essentially empty. Anything extra you can spare would be nice, even if it's just a drip feed. It would help with upkeep later if nothing else."

Taylor was gone again, the door to the medical room at her side swinging closed before anyone else could speak a word.

"Is that…Was she holding…?" Shielder mumbled out, lifting part way out of the bench before Photon Mom's hand latched onto his shoulder and wrenched him back down.

"Yes. Don't interrupt her."

Laserdream looked like she was going to comment as well, but was interrupted by the squeaking of the hamster wheel from the cage in Lisa's lap.

Lisa couldn't help herself. She started chuckling. The sheer absurdity of the situation, the net weight of everything that had happened over the last few weeks, the craziness of it all. It was…it was all just so…much.

And the annoyingly adorable hamster just did, not, care.

"First thing I do when we leave," she gasped out between guffaws, "is going to be oiling your wheel, buddy!"

Miss Militia knelt down in front of her, eyebrows drawn in such a way as to suggest a heavy frown underneath her scarf. "Tattletale, are you well?"

"Tag, you're It."

The hero blinked several times in rapid succession. Lisa didn't need her power to tell her that she'd set Militia on the back foot. "I'm sorry, what?"

Lisa stared at the older woman, unable to keep the manic grin from her face but at least ceasing her laughter. "It's been a very long week. I switched sides; resolved to upend my entire damn life for a girl I'd barely known a month; I still feel like I should be dealing with rigor mortis; my girlfriend is cuddling up with another leggy, bombshell blonde; I'm pretty sure I missed getting into no less than three separate potentially fatal accidents on the way here by mere inches; my shitty parents never even cared enough about my highly reported death and resurrection to send me a fucking email - not that I would've read it, but the sentiment would have been nice."

Lisa took a shaky breath and blinked the tears from her eyes, continuing on before Miss Militia had a chance to cut in. "I've been trying to keep it together for Taylor's sake, but she's going to be more or less glued to Vicky's side for at least the next hour or two. Taylor's better, less hopelessly stuck in a pit of self-loathing - she's still not healthy. But I think I can afford to decompress a bit. So, tag, you're fucking It. You get to be the emotional support person for a few hours."

Miss Militia didn't visibly react, though her brass knuckles did shift into a (rather large) flashlight that hung from limp fingers. "I can show you to a bed, then I'll go check on Isis. May I take the hamster?"

"No one touches Spinster!" Lisa growled, clutching the rodent's cage to her chest. "We're zombie buddies!"

"Will someone please explain just what the fuck is going on?" the new guy hissed. Weld still silently observing from behind his shoulder.

Everyone ignored him. Photon Mom and Manpower had sat back down after the initial excitement, seemingly content to do their best to let the world pass them by until the status quo changed again. New Wave's matriarch had her arm wrapped around her son as he slumped beside her. Laserdream curled against her father.

Now she looked closer, the absence of Panacea really was noticeable. Maybe she should loosen her power, just a tad.

No. There would be time for that later. Right now was the time for tagging out and finding a bed to crawl into and letting the world just pass her by for a few hours.

"Uncle Neil? Aunt Sarah?" All heads snapped to the nearest doorway. It was like all other sounds in the world stopped. Lisa glanced towards the warbling, timid voice. Vicky shouldn't sound that timid. Someone that vivacious should never sound so afraid.

Then again, speaking from experience, she knew first hand how utterly terrifying what Vicky was going through was.

"You shouldn't be standing!" Taylor protested, her hand wrapped around Vicky's upper arm, the brunette just behind Vicky in the doorway. "Your flame keeps guttering out! When Lisa's was doing this she could barely sit up, let alone walk around. Sit down! I need to get you stabilized before you can move."

"Hey, Vic. Welcome back. I'll get us T-shirts. Mr. Spinster gets a tiny one. Want to start a band? We could call ourselves the Zombies. Or the Zombinettes? Is that a word? Fuck it, it is now. How about the Second Coming? Too on-the-nose?"

Several people gasped. Someone screamed (she was pretty sure it was Laserdream). The Pelhams moved as almost a single unit, lunging from their bench towards their blonde revenant. There was babbling. There was crying. There was blubbering.

Lisa tried not to dwell on the fact that the only person who had cried over her resurrection had been Taylor.

She might have to make a more drastic change in her life moving forward…

"Be careful! All of you, be careful! I need to keep in contact. Her essence was gone by the time I got here and she's not stabilizing as quickly as Lisa did. Hey - I - Please stop pushing - I need to - I said - STOP SHOVING ME OR I'M GOING TO SHOVE YOU THROUGH THE FUCKING WALL!"

"I don't believe it…" Miss Militia whispered, the flashlight clenched in both hands, her knuckles white as she stared at the hug pile.

The new guy was just gaping. "What. The. Fuck?!"

Lisa could giggle in reply. Taking out a piece of cabbage from the baggie in her pocket she pushed it through the bars of the cage. Maybe they really should start a zombie band? That could be fun. Vicky had a good voice - karaoke had been proof enough of that - and Lisa used to have fun with a guitar. She was really good with a violin too, but…no one used violins in a band…

This was fine. She wasn't being replaced. Taylor wasn't that shallow. She wasn't going to be left all alone with just a hamster for company in a brave new world. Someone still cared about her. This was fine. She was fine. Everything was fine.

While everyone was distracted, she let herself pull the hamster cage tighter against her chest, and tried to stop the giggles from turning into shuddering hiccups. She was stronger than that. Everything was fine.

She really needed to find that bed soon.

Taylor

"I've seen a lot of amazing abilities, but this has to take the cake. All of your vitals are strong and - "

Dr. Mobius cut off, her eyes narrowing to slits as the machines monitoring Vicky started frantically beeping and screeching. At the same time, Vicky started hacking and her holding a hand to her chest. Mrs. Pelham and Mr. Dallon were both at her side before the EKG first started to blare, while Dr. Mobius' grip on her wrist had tightened to a degree that it was probably cutting off circulation.

I just sighed, reached over the double bed, and tapped Vicky's free arm, refilling her with essence. Her breathing stabilized and her flame reignited to a full blaze.

"Christ," she muttered. "How the hell do you get used to that?"

"That goes away in a few hours," Lisa commented from her position lounging in the chair across the way from the beds. Her legs were draped over one armrest while her head was propped up on the other one, a pillow behind her. I had tried to get her to lie down, but she had stated she was more comfortable where she was; and less crowded. "At least it did for me. I had pretty much stopped hacking up a lung by now."

"You're doing much better," I said, aiming for soothing, not quite certain I managed it by the alarmed look in the eyes of the Pelham and Dallon clans. "It's only been four hours and I haven't had to keep touching you for over two! It's just going to take longer to get your flame stabilized and producing energy on its own again."

"How can you be so calm about this?" Mr. Dallon asked, most of his costume long since discarded and exchanged for jeans and a T-shirt along with the rest of his family.

"Because it's working," I murmured, turning to stare down at my hands. My reserves were barely touched. When I had drained the overlays from the Empire capes, I must have massively stretched my well. Even pulling Vicky back from the brink, I had barely tapped into my supply of power. I hadn't bothered to take the essence from the plants that Velocity had brought by; I didn't want to hurt someone's prized succulent if I didn't have to. It wouldn't give me much and I had far more than enough to get Vicky through her reboot adjustment period.

And god-help anyone that tried to separate us before she was free to move around without me. I was strong enough that that wasn't a concern. I felt strong enough that I could even keep Alexandria from prying me off of Vicky. Not that I particularly wanted to test that theory…

"Is Amy coming yet?" Vicky asked. She still wasn't nearly as perky as she usually was. Part of me worried that I had done something wrong, that I had taken too long, that I hadn't pulled everything of my friend back. I thrust that voice to the back of my mind and locked it into a tiny box. That way lay madness. I couldn't afford to think like that.

Mrs. Pelham winced. "Honey, your sister is…"

Mr. Dallon cut her off. "Amy did not take things well. I've explained the new situation to her, but she doesn't seem to fully believe me. It's probably better we wait to force her to confront everything until you're not coughing like you're dying again every five minutes."

"Technically she is dying again every five minutes," Lisa chimed in.

"Do you have to be such a fucking bitch?!" Crystal snapped.

"I'm trying to be realistic," Lisa hissed. She swung her legs back to the front of the chair and sat up straight, scowling. "All of you are acting like Vicky has experienced some sort of miracle cure. She hasn't. Taylor is her literal lifeline. By all means, run your tests, take your measurements - I want to know how it works too - but stop pretending that if you take her away from my girlfriend before the week is out that she's going to be fine. She's not; she's going to be dead within the hour. Taylor is performing fucking magic and bringing her back from the dead. It's not something she gets over in five minutes or five hours or - "

Lisa cut off as I sped over to her, pulled her into my arms and dropped us both back into the hospital bed. She whimpered and burrowing into my chest as I squeezed her tight, letting her head rest in the hollow of my throat.

"Shh, it's okay, Lisa, it's okay. You're alright. It's okay."

"Please don't leave me," she whispered.

"Never."

"I told you that they were good together," Vicky muttered. I glanced to the side and smiled as she glared at her family. Mr. Pelham was carefully avoiding meeting her eyes while her father was nodding.

"You did."

"So," Vicky said, forcing her voice louder, artificial cheer back in her tone as she turned to me and ignored the doctor poking at her arm again. "How was it being on the run? Did you do the whole Thelma and Louise thing? Please tell me you pulled a Thelma and Louise."

I blinked. "Vicky, have you ever actually watched 'Thelma and Louise,' because that may not be the best movie to ask about right now?"

She cocked her head to the side as Crystal slapped her palm against her face and even Eric snorted in amusement.

"I don't see why not. It's a lesbian pair that go on the run to escape the law after one of them accidentally killed their abusive ex. Right? It sounds pretty on-the-nose really."

Her cousin took pity on her. Crystal groaned from between her fingers, "Vicky, the pair drive their car off into the Grand Canyon at the end of the film because they couldn't get away from the cops following them."

My friend's eyes widened to a comical degree and she started choking as she attempted to come up with something to say.

I reached over and patted her hand. "It was a good try. To be fair, Lisa and I did actually have a wonderful time on our own. For a few hours at least, before the city went insane again."

The door to the Medical bay swung open, admitting another wayward member of New Wave, Mrs. Dallon awkwardly clearing her throat as she strode in, her shoes slapping on the ground and her costume torn as it hung around her in tatters. "I…may have had something to do with that. Victoria? Is that really you? Are you…"

"Hey, Mom." Vicky looked to her mother, the ghost of a smile on her face. "I don't suppose this is a hugging moment?"

Mrs. Dallon cried out, surging forward, her arms wrapping around her daughter, both of them quickly devolving into blubbering tears.

"I'm sorry it took me so long to get here! Word didn't reach me until an hour ago and by then I was already forced into debriefs over my actions against the Empire gang members! I can't believe this! I -"

"Thank Miss Hebert," Mr. Dallon stated. The words were small, but they carried throughout the room and brought Mrs. Dallon's sobs to a halt. She stood up straight, her hands never leaving Vicky, but her head centered on me.

"Dad's right, Mom."

"Taylor didn't just save me. She brought me back entirely. You missed it, but Lisa was just very, very clear that I'm still only Mostly Dead; and I'm going to be staying that way for a few days at least."

Mrs. Dallon's gaze swung to Dr. Mobius who had retreated to a nearby computer and was tapping away at it. The woman glanced up momentarily, her green hair shading one eye. "Don't look at me. She's healthy as a fiddle one moment and then, for no discernible reason, about to keel over five seconds later, only to be completely fine once again as soon as Isis touches her. I have no idea how Isis' power works, but I can assure you it most certainly does. I would love absolutely nothing more than to get further research data on this phenomenon, but the sample size is too small to draw effective conclusions at the moment."

"Victoria," Mrs. Dallon said, her voice thick with something that I hadn't heard in…a long time. "Are you…okay?"

"I'm getting there, Mom. Thanks for going and avenging me. Even if it was stupid."

Mrs. Dallon winced and stood up a bit straighter as she tried to brush off her costume. Not that it did much considering the damage to it. "Yes. Well. We didn't react when our brother's fiance was taken from us and you can see where that left us. That filth was not going to get away with this twice. Not to my family. If I had to go down, I was going to take as many of them with me as I could."

"You have a second daughter who needs you just as much right now, Carol," Mr. Dallon said, his voice low, just shy of a growl, and his fist clenched. "Maybe more. Go see to Amy. If you're capable of pretending to care about her at all. Otherwise just tell me and stay here and I'll go try and work with her."

Mrs. Dallon sucked in a breath, though she didn't otherwise react.

I frowned, looking up at him. "Was Amy hurt? I'm not exactly good friends with her, but, if she's hurt, I can - well I think I can help."

"Thank you, Miss Hebert, but you've done more than enough. This isn't something that your assistance would be much help with. We'll deal with it."

"What is going on with my sister?" Vicky hissed. "Stop talking in circles!"

"Either a complete mental breakdown or a second trigger," Lisa murmured, pulling away from my chest slightly. "Your aura is strong when you don't pay attention and she's exposed to you too much. Doesn't help that her trigger was watching you bleed out in front of her and being unable to do anything. This whole thing was basically the worst case scenario for her."

Everyone stared at Lisa. It was the youngest Pelham who spoke first. "How in the hell do you know that?!"

"High level Thinker, previously employed by a paranoid, abusive asshole who wanted dirt on anyone and everyone. If it's about a cape in this city, or a well-placed politician for that matter - you ask me, I probably know something juicy. Hell, that's probably half the reason Coil put a bullet in my head. Couldn't have me running around when I could blackmail half his primary targets better than he could." She paused, eyes narrowing. "Actually, hey, Mrs. Dallon, client to lawyer, if I were to plea deal out with mountains of blackmail material on the right targets, could I get away with just a slap on a wrist and some parole or civic duty? Taylor here is included in my negotiations of course."

The woman simply stared. "Seriously? I don't work with -"

"Carol," Mrs. Pelham cut her sister off. "Before you finish that sentence. Remember that Victoria stormed off and got herself killed trying to find and defend these two. Then remember that both of them risked their freedom to return and bring Vicky back from the fucking dead." Mrs. Pelham stalked up to her sister and snarled in her face, "If you can't even be polite get the fuck out and leave a card with a reference for someone who will take their case, because I'll pay for it!"

Vicky held up a shaking hand. "Uh, according to Aegis, apparently the PRT Legal team wasn't even sure if Lisa counted as being her own person or if she was considered Taylor's property now since, um, something about Taylor's -"

"Power resurrecting me? Huh. Interesting. Well, that would make my Heel-Face Turn simpler. Kinda fucks you over though."

"Yeah. I was planning on buying my own apartment in a few weeks…Not to mention, you know, everything else."

Mrs. Dallon's eyes had narrowed to slits and her nostrils were flared. "I need to check on several things. Mark, which room is Amy in?"

"I'll walk with you. This way, Carol." Her husband swiftly followed her as she turned on her heels and stalked towards the door.

"Don't get too lost, Carol!" Lisa called out in a sing-song voice. Her heart didn't sound in it though as she immediately dropped the smirk as soon as the door swung shut and leaned back into my chest.

As the two elder Dallons left, Mrs. Pelham stepped forward, briefly squeezing my hand. "I don't think my sister actually got around to it, so let me say it again, Taylor, thank you."

"Yeah," Vicky said, her words barely audible and hardly more than a croak. "God, Taylor, I owe you…literally anything you want. You want Fugly's for life, you got it. You want a new wardrobe/makeover trip every week, done. Hell, you want a fucking threesome I can do that too. Me, Flechette, goddamn Alexandria, I'll make it happen. Might take me a few years, but, you know. I can work some magic. Probably."

I stretched out my hand, gripping Vicky just shy of wince-inducing. "Victoria, I don't have many friends. You helped me when almost no one else did; when almost no one else even cared. I don't want anything from you.

"I just wanted my friend back."

AN: And for the record, yes, I know about Lindsey Stirling, and yes, she is badass. Lisa however, is uncultured despite her upbringing, and has not been exposed to the awesomeness of said violinist.