Chapter 2.3
Monday, April 11th 2011
"The paint still isn't quite right."
"Who the fuck will notice?"
"She's trying to fix it."
"She's trying not to contemplate what a shitshow this place is. The paint is a distraction."
"I've never ascribed particular intelligence to any of you, but drawing attention to a mental diversion tends to reduce it in efficacy."
"I'm fine," I muttered, deciding that there wasn't much point in trying to restore the stall divider to pristine condition. The surprisingly thick metal was already in much better condition than the divider next to it, despite having my fist punched through it repeatedly several minutes prior.
"What was that, boss?" Chrissie called from outside the bathroom.
"She didn't mean to hurt you," Alkaline said quietly, noticing the tension. "Trigger events are hot-button topics for every cape."
"Just suck it up," Butcher complained, but it was half-hearted.
"Besides, their reaction was pretty funny, huh?" Marauder tried. "The violent one snapped almost instantly!"
Chisel made a contemplative sound. "I almost wonder if they had… an encounter, shall we say, with our gang."
That thought froze me on the spot, stopping my now-habitual pacing when dealing with the Butchers. Taking the high road and refusing to stoop to Emma's level was much harder when I could imagine her trembling in fear at being visited by the Teeth. Hell, I could do it myself, assuming that I could rein in my urge to smack the traitorous bitch across the face. I could even have the Teeth set fire to her house afterwards, and everyone would assume her dad ran afoul of —
I took a deep breath. As much as I wanted to see Emma get her comeuppance, I couldn't trust myself to do it without going overboard. I would need an actual plan that didn't involve just turning the other cheek constantly, no matter how little threat they actually posed to me.
"Boss?"
"What?" I snapped.
The door to the bathroom creaked open, revealing Chrissie's face. My bugs reported that she wasn't the only lookout, but the other Teeth were apparently happy to play guard while the cape dealt with their boss. She eased herself into the room after giving me the once-over and deciding that I was unlikely to punish her right now. "So, uh, Tay…"
I gave the other girl a flat stare. To her credit, she didn't wilt under the force of my displeasure. We had made plans over the weekend to go shopping this afternoon, partially because Chrissie was trying to endear herself to me, but mostly because even I could admit that my wardrobe was in dire need of renewal. "We are still going shopping," I ground out. "Get your shit together and let's go."
As I swept past her and down the hall, Fester tried and failed to help. "Taylor, you can't get upset every time the Teeth are assholes. Chrissie said something stupid, sure, but —"
She said the Teeth were 'impressed' with how those bitches caused my trigger event! That was beyond 'stupid!'
"I'm with XV here," Stratego rumbled. "Any of the rest of us would have pain blasted her, at minimum."
Chrissie scrambled to catch up to me after some comments to the other Teeth that had been hanging around, and the thought of doing something more violent to her crossed my mind. However, she was the only person to show me anything like compassion — in the Teeth or otherwise — and I was definitely not stooping to Butcher's level for dealing with my subordinates.
I had endured all of the trio's awful comments up until this point.
So why did Chrissie's comment hurt so much?
The girl in question followed me out of Winslow and most of the way down the block before finally attempting to apologize. "Uh, I just want to say sorry —"
"Sorry?" I hissed, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk to loom over the other cape. "Do you know what it was like, being stuck in there while everyone laughed? Did you laugh, Chrissie? Were you there, listening to me beg to be let out?"
"No," Chrissie said, meeting my eyes. "No, I was passed-out drunk at the lair and got a really confusing call from one of the boys. I didn't even find out what had happened until afterwards, but…"
"But what?"
"I, uh, did tell everyone not to cooperate with the cops —"
"What the fuck!?"
Chrissie quickly waved her hands in a vaguely placating gesture. "Boss, hold up, wait — cops wouldn't give a shit about gang kids pointing fingers at the popular girls, and it doesn't help us to have the cops nosing around. Those bitches already had the 'respectable' students keeping quiet, remember?"
"Taylor, she has a point," Alkaline said, cutting through my rising fury. "We're criminals, here."
"They're the criminals!" Chrissie, to her credit, barely winced at my non-sequitur outburst. I dumped some of my anger and frustration into my swarm, which immediately began skittering in aggravation nearby. "Ok, fine. That makes sense, I guess. But what if you had been there? Would you have let me out?"
Her answer came immediately. "Honestly, Taylor? Probably not. I don't want to bullshit you, Butcher or no, but I'm not a good person like that." The bottom dropped out of my stomach at her admission, but continued before I could get out a response. "But I'll say this, boss — when I said that what they did was Teeth-worthy, I meant shit that Spree or Quarrel would do."
"Hell yes we would!" Quarrel cheered. I muted her immediately.
"No high school student deserves that level of shit, and definitely not someone as harmless as you… well, were, I guess. That's not really my style, and what they did was seriously awful. I wouldn't pull that sort of stunt at a school."
From the moment I hoisted her over my shoulder, I had known that Chrissie was a member of the Teeth. One that was… significantly invested in me, to be sure, but she was an actual supervillain who had intentionally chosen that path. She was directly contributing to the gang issue that had turned Winslow into a cesspit, and indirectly to the faculty ignoring my cries for help.
"She's being honest with you, Taylor," Fester said, continuing that line of thought for me. "An underling looking to just get in your pants or not get pain blasted would just lie and say something about recruiting you afterwards."
"Remember, kid — we're supervillains. Ignoring the plight of others comes with the job," Ironsides said. "And if there really are Wards at Winslow, it's not like they helped any more than the Teeth."
That doesn't excuse what she did!
"No it doesn't," Fester agreed. "But Chrissie could have chosen to leave you adrift at your first party, so clearly she's trying."
She needed to try harder. "What about now?" I asked quietly, honestly curious about her response.
Chrissie took a long moment to consider her reply. "Taylor, I'm sorry that I brought up your trigger event. It never really occurred to me that things could be so bad that a quiet girl like you would get powers, and, well… yeah, I wouldn't want someone else to go through that."
I didn't bother to hide my disbelief. "Something tells me you're not about to go sign up for the Wards."
"Fuck no," Chrissie snorted. "I'm more than happy to beat up Nazis and other trash. But kids just trying to get through the school day? I'm kind of glad you put your foot down."
She sounded sincere. Hell, just a few days ago Chrissie was lamenting contributing to my trigger event in the first place, so it was hard to believe that she was bullshitting me right now. But her comment continued to echo in my head — not literally, the Butchers were mostly keeping to themselves — and despite myself, it had been immensely satisfying to see Emma freeze like that.
We walked the rest of the way to the lair in silence.
"So, uh, boss," Chrissie asked as we finally reached her room in the lair, "I need to take care of something before we go shopping. You still want to go shopping, right?"
"You had better not turn her down," Pyro warned.
"Yes," I said. My temper had mostly cooled back down, and while I wasn't particularly happy with Chrissie, I also could admit that I needed to update my wardrobe. "Let's just change and get going."
She nodded, pushing the door open and waving a hand towards her bed. "Here, that should work so we don't get tossed by the Enforcers." It didn't escape my notice that she had laid out an outfit for me ahead of time (a bland purple shirt and jeans), nor that she herself changed quickly into a tank-top and jeans of her own without taking the opportunity to give me a bit of a show. "Meet me on the corner of Lord's and Market whenever you're ready!"
"Damn, someone's in a hurry," Alkaline said as the other girl dashed out of the room.
Fester huffed in displeasure. "She didn't even wiggle her butt at Taylor!"
I tried to distract myself from the way that comment made me feel, both by changing into my own clothes and using my bugs to bring me some loose cash for later. Neither really worked, however, and it only took a glance around the room to really understand what had gone so wrong. After all, Emma and her cronies had made references to the locker afterwards, and even her comment about Mom was objectively worse than what Chrissie had said.
So why was I so upset?
The answer was simple: Chrissie was, without a doubt, my only actual friend. The Butchers didn't count.
She had helped me with the Teeth, and let me sob on her shoulder away from everyone else.
She was actually quite cute, scars and all.
She was my first kiss.
Having my possible, maybe crush approve of my trigger event was… not pleasant, if I was putting it lightly. Another part of the typical Butcher experience that I was hell-bent on avoiding was the crippling loneliness, as the others had struggled to maintain even the most basic human interactions with their team. Thus, I was desperate to hang onto any connection with someone who was willing to look past my powers and title.
I did wonder about the wisdom of latching onto someone I had only known for a few days — Quarrel's memories barely counted — especially when she had such a habit of putting her foot in her mouth. But the thing about Chrissie was that she was so genuinely excited to be around me that I couldn't help but get swept up in her enthusiasm, and I really did appreciate how she had immediately jumped to my defense against Emma.
"She's a good kid," Marauder said approvingly.
She's a murderer.
"So are you!" Quarrel shot back, and the chorus burst into laughter.
I distracted myself from that thought by cramming the cash I had retrieved into my pockets and teleporting to a nearby alley, as I really didn't want to deal with the rest of the Teeth right now. Of course, I didn't want to deal with the Butchers, either, but I wasn't escaping them so easily. Just… shut up for a moment. I'm not going to just abandon her.
"You had better not, or you'll never get laid," Fester said, triggering a blush that took me three blocks of brisk walking to dispel. That was an aspect of my situation that I really didn't like to think about.
I ended up teleporting twice more, with the last one bringing me close enough to the Boardwalk that I wondered if the noise would attract Wards on a PR patrol. Luckily, nothing interesting happened until I made my way to the intersection that Chrissie had indicated, which let me stop and stare in obvious confusion when I followed the bugs I had nestled in her clothes.
"Oh, she's good," Chisel murmured.
"I'm surprised this place is still around," Fester said, and Sabertooth growled in agreement.
I caught Chrissie's eyes through the window of MacMillan's Frozen Treats, and she gestured wildly at the collection of tables out on the porch. As I picked a table and sat down, memories started flowing — Dad and Mom brought me here as a kid, but I had not worked up the energy to go myself in years. I quashed any further reminiscing before it strayed into unwanted territory, focusing instead on the movement of people on the Boardwalk that I could feel with my bugs.
There were a lot of people.
People in shops, people walking around, people on benches —
"Um, hey… Taylor."
Chrissie's voice jerked me back to the ice cream shop.
She held a paper bowl full of deliciousness towards me, a small blush blooming on her cheeks. "I, um. Sorry, again. You liked the lemony drink at the party, so I got you lemon meringue ice cream. I hope you like it."
"You know, I don't think I've ever seen her this nervous," Quarrel added unhelpfully, earning a roar of "Shut the fuck up!" from several of the others.
I took the bowl from her hand and spooned some of the ice cream into my mouth — and nearly moaned in pleasure. It was damn good, and Sabertooth's enhanced senses made it all that much better. "Wow," I breathed, echoing several of the voices.
"Is it good?" Chrissie asked, eyes lighting up.
"Amazing," I confirmed, then gestured at the seat. She plopped down, sitting close and leaning against me in a very distracting way as I handed her the bowl back. "You try it."
We ended up going back for a second, larger round of the lemon meringue ice cream, grabbing another spoon as we did. Neither of us had much to say beyond appreciating the dessert, but I wasn't stupid — this was a peace offering, and she had clearly worked hard to find something that I might like. Truth be told, lemon wasn't my favorite flavor, but it had been my favorite among the wine coolers.
It was surreal, having someone go out of their way to make up for a mistake, and with the ice cream to cool the last dregs of my temper, I was finding it hard to remain angry at the other girl. The other cute girl, the Butchers were happy to point out, not that they needed to. Chrissie was doing that well enough on her own, with the constant puppy dog eyes and the clearly intentional ways she would lean over as she took a bite, or look up at me as we ate during the silent moments. The Butchers also refused to let me deny that we basically had been on a date at MacMillan's.
Of course, now that I was in a changing room at a clothes store, trying on outfits that my aforementioned maybe-crush thought would help my image, I was suddenly unsure about the whole process. How much of Chrissie's effort was to keep her boss happy, and how much was her attempt to apologize for her awful remarks? Did she really like me, Taylor, or did she just like how I led the Teeth?
Was I too sensitive to be a supervillain? Was being angry about some meaningless taunt a sign that I didn't have the mental fortitude to be the Butcher? Did she see me freak out and decide —
"Hey, less moping and more focusing on your date," Pyro prodded.
It's not a date! I tried to protest, but the snickering of the chorus told me they saw it differently. She just wants me to not make an embarrassment out of the Teeth!
"We don't want you to do that either!" Butcher growled, but the others rounded on him immediately.
"Shut the hell up!" Alkaline yelled. "We're not going to let your bad attitude ruin this!"
"Taylor does need to improve her wardrobe," Chisel admitted. "But we could have helped her just as much as Chrissie."
"Fat chance," Marauder grumbled.
"But regardless, she jumped at the chance to go with a cute girl. This is a date," Chisel concluded.
"She already had a change of clothes picked out," Sabertooth pointed out.
I paused my deliberations of the clothes I was trying on as I considered their words, but I couldn't fault Chisel's logic. I was already planning to do this anyway.
"Yes, this weekend, after your tormentors found their balls and you proceeded to break said balls," Knockout said. "You seem to be skipping a step or two there just because a girl batted her eyelashes at you."
Alright, fine! Maybe I am. I just… What if she sees more of the real me and doesn't like me? The chorus laughed. I'm being serious here!
"It's healthy for you to admit that you like her," Alkaline said, voice kind. "Chrissie likes you even after your heart to heart, and you like her. There's nothing wrong with seeing where things go."
"She knew you as Locker Girl, yet she's still interested," Pyro said bluntly. "So listen to my damn advice and take your minion out on a date already!"
Do NOT call me that! The Butchers had become vastly more helpful since I took over the Teeth, and I rarely had to force any of them down into the dark. But Pyromaniac should have known better, especially after today. Next asshole who does that gets a nickname based on their own trigger event!
Unsurprisingly, they all shut up.
I finished tying my shoe and smoothed out the red tank top Chrissie had given me to try on. The sleeveless top did a lot to show off my now well defined muscles, so there was little doubt Chrissie had chosen it on purpose. If I was going to represent the Teeth at Winslow, I did need to project a certain aura; after today, I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up the illusion of helpless little Taylor for long. My numerous encounters demonstrated that I couldn't just stand back and do nothing, not anymore. People were going to figure out that I had powers, people would see that the Teeth followed me without question… people would know I was Weaver.
I had to own that with all the confidence my station demanded and my wardrobe needed to reflect that. So, I would go shopping with Chrissie, and if I enjoyed it? Was that really so wrong? I wasn't sure why this part was bothering me so much when earlier I had been agonizing over…
You fuckers were trying to get my mind off my fight with Chrissie!
The collective groaned as I heard multiple thumps in my head.
"Duh, so keep doing that and go have fun with your girlfriend already," Pyro said.
She's not my girlfriend!
"Then ask her to be!" Alkaline said with some exasperation. "Just stop dwelling on shit and go live a bit."
"Tay, are you alright in there?" Chrissie asked from outside the stall.
"Just having a heated discussion with the assholes in my head, don't mind me," I muttered.
"Anything interesting?" she asked as I opened the changing room door, then she froze. I watched her eyes track me up and down as her pupils dilated, only to lick her lips in a very distracting way. "Holy hell girl, you're hot."
I felt my cheeks flush with heat as Chrissie stared at me with unrestrained wanting. Her own outfit was just as revealing as mine, showing off well-defined arms covered in scars and tattoos that were obviously Teeth inspired. It was a look I was suddenly finding very appealing. I tried not to think about what she might be imagining at the moment, nor about how much I wanted her to… Deflect! Fucking deflect!
"Thanks, turns out killing the previous Butcher was great for my figure."
"Oh you bitch!" Quarrel snarled while the rest of the chorus cackled.
Chrissie blinked for a moment — I heard a snort escape — and then she was bent over absolutely roiling with unrestrained glee. I lasted all of a second before I was laughing right there with her. We were laughing loud enough that I was sure we would attract attention, even though I had everyone in the store tagged. Thankfully, there weren't many people around to hear us cackling like madwomen.
We weren't likely to be disturbed.
… and the thoughts were back.
Chrissie was just so damn genuine about everything she did, sort of like how I was before Emma stabbed me in the back with every secret I had ever shared with her. Could I learn to be like that again? Just living life to the fullest and enjoying every minute of it? Well, Chrissie was probably one of the best people to help me with that. Even if she was an unrepentant villain.
"Who gives a shit? She's your unrepentant villain," Fester said.
I just feel like things are happening so quickly…
"And?"
Fuck it.
"Chrissie."
She looked up, her cheeks flushed and eyes watering from laughing so hard. She was breathless. She was breathtaking. I leaned in ever so slightly, trying to find that same courage I had felt in the cafeteria. She was watching me, as if she was asking for permission. I nervously licked my lips (not my habit) and began to move in.
Then, Chrissie left me breathless as she closed the remaining distance by darting in and kissing me so passionately that my toes curled. Distantly, I knew the Butchers were howling and wolf whistling, but I didn't care.
When we finally separated, Chrissie had a playful smirk on her lips even as she breathed heavily. "Sorry to steal your thunder there Tay, but you were taking just a bit too long for my liking."
"Don't you dare stop now!" Pyro demanded.
She's just moving so fast, I feel like I'm being dragged along behind a runaway horse.
"Are you actually complaining?" Alkaline's impression of an arched eyebrow was clear in my mind. "Or are you just looking for an excuse to stop?"
That brought me up short. I gave Chrissie the most deadpan stare I could manage; she gave a coy smile in return. Then I returned the favor with every trick I could pull from the frankly impressive set of memories that the collective possessed on how to properly kiss someone.
"Hell yeah!" Fester cheered. "Get you some!"
I shoved her and all the others into the dark as I broke the kiss, feeling Chrissie almost going limp in my arms. I grinned as her half lidded eyes struggled to focus on my own. "That more to your liking?"
"Fuck me…" she breathed.
"Down girl," I teased, channeling all the confidence I could from the Butcher's memories. "At least let me buy you dinner first."
Chrissie's eyes snapped into focus as she eyed me carefully. "Don't make me a promise like that if you don't intend to follow through."
"Well, we've still got plenty of shopping to get through first."
"Can we rot your old wardrobe after this?" Fester asked.
"Nah, just burn it," Pyro added to no one's surprise.
"That's your answer to everything," Alkaline said.
"Respect the classics!" Pyro yelled.
Shopping with Chrissie was honestly proving to be a delight; the Butchers, decidedly less so. I had most of the men muted on principle because I didn't need them being lecherous about Chrissie or myself, and I'd even ended up muting most of the girls at this point for similar reasons.
Just because you're a girl doesn't make it less creepy.
"Spoilsport," Alkaline pouted. "Chrissie has a good eye for style though, you really should listen to her."
I reserve veto rights on all items.
Chrissie was taking great pleasure in finding the racks of pro-Teeth clothing that ranged from in-your-face blatant to the more subtle, and she refused to move on from the novelty shirts until I selected one for her. I picked out a shirt that had a tooth with fairy wings set in front of a rainbow, to which she giggled and pecked me on the cheek. The resulting blush was red enough to match the unsubtle shirts.
At her insistence, I picked out a shirt for myself as well — a gray background with 'Brockton Bay Fletchers' in an old school font in red, with seven arrows in a bundle on each side. Quarrel complained, of course, but the tactless morons who sold this stuff hadn't made a version for me yet.
I didn't want to think about that fact.
"You killed the Butcher and all you got was this lousy t-shirt!" Pyro blurted, and I fumbled the shirt in my hands and had to scramble to catch it while fighting down my own sudden laughter.
"And all of us in your head!" Butcher added in.
"Shit, how hard would it be to get that embroidered on the back of the shirt?" Chisel asked.
"I'm surrounded by assholes," Quarrel muttered.
"We could trivially make the modifications ourselves, what with Taylor's army of spiders," Damascian suggested.
Chrissie patted my back as she watched on in silent amusement until I got myself under control enough to share the joke, which prompted even more laughter.
Once we got our laughter under control we managed to finish the rest of our shopping without anything going too wrong. I grabbed several new hoodies as well as better-fitting pants and a few blouses, only some of which were in the Teeth's colors. Chrissie picked out a few outfits for herself, including a set of spider-print pajamas that were almost certainly too long for her.
As I tried to steer Chrissie towards the checkout, a confused look flashed over her face. "Wait, boss, are we going to pay for all of this?"
I couldn't help but facepalm while the Butchers laughed in my head. "Yes, Chrissie. What did you think?"
"Well, we could just steal it," she tried. "Just do the matter reshape-y thing on the back door locks."
"Chrissie, I literally have a million dollars in cash hidden at my old base… which I should probably move to Teeth HQ soon. Paying for it with illegitimate cash is far less obvious than theft."
"But stealing is so fun!" she whined.
"She's not wrong," Chisel said while holding up her hands.
How the disembodied voices in my head managed such vivid expressions… I just blamed it on power bullshit and tried not to dwell on it. "Look, just think of it as the Empire is paying for all of this, alright?"
"Well in that case…" She flashed another of those bright smiles and darted back to the novelty shirt rack, eventually returning with a shirt bearing a giant fly and the text 'I'm so Fly' that had the chorus giggling in the dark. She also retrieved several outfits that she had previously discarded now that she knew we didn't need to dodge security.
Sometimes I wondered how much effort it would take to get the Teeth to behave, even in public. Chrissie was tame compared to some of the other capes.
I was still processing those thoughts while handing over a thousand dollars in cash for all of our purchases, which earned me another kiss from Chrissie and a lot of grumbling from the cashier. "Did she have to check each and every twenty to see if they were counterfeit?" Chrissie whined as we left the store.
"We spent a ton of money in there," I replied, guiding us down the Boardwalk. "I'm an obvious teenager paying with cash. She could have refused or even called for an Enforcer given the situation. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if the only reason she didn't was because of the obvious color selections we made."
"I suppose that's fair," Chrissie muttered, only for a devious grin to spread across her face. "So, when's dinner?"
"Treat her to the classy shit!" Fester demanded.
"You are not limited for funds," Damascian pointed out.
I'm open to suggestions for a place that isn't likely to be an Empire front.
"An Empire front would be an entertaining date spot, you must admit," Alkaline mused.
"Dinner and a show? I heard dinner and a show!" Knockout said loudly.
I'll save that for the second date. I just want a pleasant evening for now.
Suggestions began to get tossed out and I pushed them back just enough to let their chatter fade into the background as I turned to Chrissie. "The peanut gallery is currently debating the options. Want a snack while we wait?"
She leaned in and kissed me. "You're all the snack I need."
"Damn. That was smooth," Chisel murmured. The chorus hummed their agreement before going back to the food debate.
I did my best to conceal my furious blush, along with just how flustered this girl was leaving me. Based on her concerned looks, I wasn't particularly successful. She bit her lip, then asked, "I'm moving too fast, aren't I?"
The Butcher's debate ceased immediately, which thankfully gave me the space to think. "Um, kinda? This is all new for me and I'm trying to avoid being… swept away in all of it. The others, um… they wanted us in bed with you that first night."
"Mission accomplished there," Chrissie snarked. "Though, not in the way they or I wanted."
"Well…" I started, only to trail off under Chrissie's concerned gaze. "For some of this stuff, it's hard for me to keep everything straight in my head. It's so easy to lose myself to their memories, or habits, if I don't stay on top of things. I can feel things about me shifting; responses and perspectives and influences…"
"That's part of being a villain, you know," Chrissie said softly. "I told you what things are like with my family now. Before my trigger, I was what you would consider fairly normal. My family was happy and supportive, we were well off enough to live in a downtown highrise. Life was great."
I didn't want to hear what was coming next, though I could see the general shape of it.
"Then I came out of the closet. They didn't kick me out, but they made my life miserable enough that I triggered. To them, capes are of the devil, so no Wards for me. Throwing me out would have looked even worse to their little community of blind sheep, so they just kinda ignored that I existed. I still attend school to keep the government flunkies off their back and in return they don't report that I moved out or that I'm a villain."
When the Butchers howled for blood in my head, I couldn't tell where my own anger ended and theirs began. A grim smile curled on my lips at the timely reminder of my curse, and I pulled Chrissie into a hug. "Let me know if I ever need to pay them a visit; I hear a surprise visit from the Butcher can be quite the life changing experience." Chrissie chuckled mirthlessly and I pulled her tighter against me. "I'm just afraid of where I will be in a month."
"Hopefully still by my side." Chrissie said, hugging me fiercely.
I looked down at the villain embracing me, knowing full well how merciless she could be in a fight, but now I'd seen how supportive and passionate she could be towards those she cared for. My smile was as genuine as the tears pooling in the corner of my eyes.
"I'd really like that."
"Are you sure you want to meet dad?" I asked as Chrissie and I departed the bus with our shopping haul in hand. Thank God for Brute strength. "He's going to ask a lot of questions."
"Let him ask," Chrissie said cheerfully. "Hey there, name's Chrissie, I'm also Vex and dating the Butcher who happens to be your daughter. A pleasure to meet you."
I snorted and decided to run with the joke. "Remember that girl mom always hung out with when you met her? She's in my head now and I now know exactly why you married her."
"Wait, seriously?" Chrissie stopped, mouth slightly agape. "Which one?"
"Fester, Bucher IV. She's been surprisingly helpful among the collective."
"What can I say? I always had a soft spot for Annette. May as well have a soft spot for her brat too," Fester said.
Wow, that was almost affectionate. Love ya too mother fucker.
"Damn right I am!"
I rolled my eyes and gave her a playful shove. Fester was growing on me, despite the fact that many of the memories she had of Mom were things I never wanted to see. She also knew a side of her I never got to see before she died, and for that I was grateful…
Fester, stop prodding memories of Mom in the shower or I will shove you into the dark for a fucking month!
An echoing laugh answered as I let out a sigh. "Back to Dad, I can't see him not freaking out when he meets you."
Chrissie ran a hand down her torso and it took an effort of will to not shiver at how seductive she was being about it. "Think he'll be so impressed that you bagged such a hottie?"
"That, and that said hottie has Teeth tattoos all over her arms," I said, eyeing her muscular biceps. "Impressive as those guns are, they don't distract from the obvious."
"I knew I was right to go sleeveless," Chrissie said, ignoring my point. "We should totally get you some tattoos soon, though Quarrel had issues with the needles, and the regen messed up the healing process… Eh, we'll figure out something."
"You're not even listening to my concerns." Her smirk was all the answer I needed.
"Getting XV tattooed on your arm would be badass," Ironsides said.
"What about a spider's web with fifteen spiders?" Sanguine suggested.
Did any of you manage to successfully get a tattoo after inheriting?
Silence greeted me. Well, if a solution ever presents itself, I'll get right on that. Letting out an exaggerated sigh, I checked with the bugs in my house.
Dad was home, so unfortunately my hope that he had to stay late tonight was crushed before it truly began. He was also on his second bottle of beer while watching something on TV. Well, no sense trying to delay things.
I skipped over the broken step and offered my hand to Chrissie to help her over it, which she happily took. I considered knocking, just to drag things out for another moment or two, but that would just draw more attention to us.
"Quick question," Chrissie asked just as I pulled my key out.
"Go for it."
"How open do you want to be about… Us?"
"Are you talking about Teeth stuff or…"
"Us. Like, can I be your girlfriend around him or do you want to keep that quiet?"
Did I want him to know I was dating a girl? More importantly, that I was dating a girl who was obviously in a gang?
Wait a second — was I dating a girl?
"Don't be an idiot, Taylor," Chisel said immediately. "For all intents and purposes, you and Chrissie are dating."
We are?
"YES!" roared back most of the collective.
I was tempted to argue, but in less than a minute I would have to face Dad, and the easiest way to explain whatever I had with Chrissie was that she was my girlfriend. Like everything in my life, it seemed like things were moving too fast, but at the same time… I liked it.
It was so much better than what I had before.
"Keep it tame," I murmured, "but don't feel like you need to hide who you are around him, or who we are. Just… don't mention anything about cape stuff, alright?"
"Sounds fair to me," Chrissie said, then tiptoed to gently kiss my cheek.
With a bit of hesitation I unlocked the door and stepped inside.
"Dad, I'm home."
"You're late," he called back.
"That was my fault Mister H!" Chrissie yelled. "I took Taylor out for some new clothes after some asshole spilled juice on her hoodie."
"Better than blood." Knockout pushed a set of memories forward of scrubbing blood out of his clothes after a particularly enthusiastic bar brawl.
"I suppose blood is a type of juice in the right circles," Sanguine mused.
"I know using my power to store blood is useful when combined with your own power, but I miss having booze on demand," Alkaline added.
Random thought, what type is the blood stored in there?
"Fresh," Quarrel said while trying to sound menacing.
"Is she still being bullied?" Dad asked, as the bug I had on him confirmed that he was getting up.
I rolled my eyes. Obviously it's fresh, I was more thinking how viable it would be for blood donations.
"That…" Stratego trailed off, muttering to himself about logistics and drew Damascian and a few others into the conversation about how we could use it to turn a profit as I returned my focus in full back to Chrissie and Dad.
"Nah, nobody would dare bully Taytay, not with me around." I groaned at Chrissie's banter, but just as I heard the floorboard creak just around the corner, Chrissie pulled me into a chaste kiss, at least by her standards. She timed it so Dad saw us as she pulled away.
"Chrissie!" I hissed. She giggled and swatted my shoulder as I turned to face Dad, who suddenly looked so out of his element that I was struggling to tell if he was even breathing.
"Dad, meet Chrissie… My, uh, girlfriend."
The cheerful mischievousness on Chrissie's face faded as she turned to Dad as well, replaced with an anxiety that I hadn't really seen on her; not even when I was mad at her earlier. Dad blinked, looking at me like I'd grown a second head for an instant, and honestly, it hurt to see him with such suspicion writ across his face. Then he gave Chrissie a much more appraising look; I could tell that his eyes lingered on her tattoos as well as her hair. There was no way he hadn't figured out she was a member of the Teeth.
"Let him figure it out," Knockout said. "Look at the man, he's already beaten down. There's no fire in his eyes anymore."
He… wasn't wrong. Dad looked so conflicted right now, so rather than give him more to worry over I wrapped an arm around Chrissie's waist and pulled her close, pecking a kiss of my own on her cheek. Seeing me return the affection, he seemed to relax just a little bit. Maybe he was worried she was pressuring me?
"It's, um… nice to meet you, Chrissie," he said, warily.
To my utter shock, Chrissie actually seemed to shrink back a bit as he stared at her.
"Is something wrong?" he asked, his eyebrows drawing together in worry as he looked from my girlfriend to me, questioningly. After a moment of us all just staring awkwardly, Chrissie slowly relaxed and a small smile returned to her face as she looked between Dad and I. She smiled a lot, but this was the most genuine, non-playful smile I had ever really seen from her.
"Yeah, sorry," she mumbled a bit and quickly wiped at her eye before smiling more. "Everything's fine." She squeezed me to her side more, beaming.
"You should probably get home before dark," I pointed out. I wasn't too sure what was going on, but things had gotten a little awkward and this seemed like enough for one day, at least for me. "You don't want some Empire asshole to jump you on the way home." Come on Chrissie, play ball…
"Let 'em try." Her grin was feral. "Been a while since one of them was stupid enough, I could use the workout."
"Dammit Chrissie," I muttered but I was thankful she was rolling with my plan. "Just be safe out there, for me?"
She huffed. "Yeah yeah, I'll play nice. No promises if they start something."
"I suppose that's all I can ask." I gave her another chaste kiss. "Run along home, we have school tomorrow."
There was that grin that melted my heart every time. "Sure thing boss, see ya tomorrow. It was nice meeting you Mister H; hopefully next time we can have a proper introduction."
I wanted to slap my forehead as she damn near skipped out the door, taking her own bag with her before closing the door behind her. Her abrupt exit left me alone with a very confused father.
"Is she always so…" Dad waved his hand in an encompassing manner.
"In all fairness, she has all the subtlety of well… I can't think of anyone less subtle than she can be."
"Your eloquence outshines us all and belies your true brilliance," Marauder mocked.
Fuck you too, and you totally stole that from Stratego. Besides, it's not like any of you assholes had a better one ready that didn't reference someone I either killed or currently am.
"A Butcher joke would have been the peak of humor and you know it," Pyro countered. "And don't you dare try and claim that you're subtle. That's a damn lie and we all know it."
The entire collective was laughing now. I did not pout, nor was I petty about it. The echoes from the darkness of my mind had nothing to do with thirteen voices being mercilessly slammed back into the void.
"Are you being safe about things?"
"Dad!" And my cheeks were no doubt crimson again.
He blinked for a moment, then slapped his forehead. "I was referring to the Empire, but if that subject is relevant…"
"It isn't!" I squealed while shaking my head. "We only started dating recently, trust me, we aren't there yet."
Endless amusement was radiating from the void, and I sent the sternest glare I could down into that abyss.
"That's good to know," he said, then his expression turned serious. "How safe are you from the Empire? I know Winslow is bad about gang membership, and if they learn you're dating a girl…"
"Would it really change anything?" I asked, my voice now hard. "The Empire stood back and watched while a black girl shoved me into that locker. I doubt who I date will change much about how they regard me."
Dad was silent long enough for me to consider dragging a few of the Butchers back out of the dark. Just as I was reaching for Alkaline and Fester, Dad broke the silence.
"Does she make you happy?" Dad asked, cutting through my thoughts.
Did Chrissie make me happy? Even though I'd only known her for a few short days, she'd been the only person I could say without a doubt was in my corner. Sure, maybe at first she just wanted me to be the Butcher, but she didn't have to support my Winslow plans. She didn't have to sit and listen as I cried over my darkest moments, yet she did.
Then there was that radiant smile; I loved to see her smile because of something I said or did. I wanted to see more of that, even if she did occasionally stick her foot halfway down her throat at times. I definitely couldn't say that I was in love with her, that would be far too soon of an admission, but she was someone I had quickly come to care for.
"Yeah, she does," I answered with all honesty. "She makes me the happiest I've been in years."
"Good," Dad said, surprising the hell out of me. "Just be careful, I don't want to see you have your heart broken again."
"Again?" I found myself asking, though the snickering in the void told me I already knew what he was going to say.
"I'm depressed, Taylor, not blind. I know Emma either turned you down, or broke up with you. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you when you needed me. Just know, if you need to talk about something, no matter what it is, I'll be there for you. I promise."
My breath caught at such a candid admission, but at the same time, I knew I couldn't accept his offer. I refused to get him caught up in the chaos that was my life right now. He didn't need the pain of knowing his daughter was not only a villain, but a killer.
He didn't need to know I was the Butcher.
Still, that didn't mean I couldn't hug him all the same. Perhaps in time that would change, and I could let him into my life again, slowly. For now? I'd take this as a first step for getting my Dad back.