Chapter 2.7
Thursday, April 14th 2011
I stood alongside Tattletale as we watched Coil slip into the same medically induced coma that he had been saving for Dinah. That these drugs were highly addictive was of little concern to us, given he had intended them for a fucking twelve year old. The Butchers had wanted me to carve him to pieces, leave him a stump of a man, and then prolong his suffering; that I had come so close to doing just that really said something about how much I had changed. Staying my hand after seeing Dinah was harder than I wanted to admit, not that my own hands were clean anymore.
My lines in the sand were growing fainter with each passing day.
"Lines or not, that bastard is the worst kind of human filth," Alkaline sneered.
Fester snarled. "He was keeping a drugged up twelve year old girl! You can't tell me that with his power he wouldn't have —"
You don't have to fucking spell it out, I get it. I have no pity for the monster or those who worked for him, just let me deal with this in my own way, all right?
"Alright kid, just know we're here for you if you need us." For tips, Ironsides didn't say.
Like I could ever forget you're all in here. For now though, I've got shit to do, I can have an existential crisis later.
"It doesn't feel quite real," Tattletale said softly. "This man has controlled my life for the last year. I know he's killed me dozens of times over, tortured me and… worse…"
"And now he'll never be able to hurt you again," I said firmly.
Tattletale shot me an annoyed look. "Are you sure about that? As long as he lives there's a risk that he will escape."
"Precautions will be taken."
"They won't be enough, he'll just keep trying until one of them sticks."
I pulled one of my guns from the holster and offered it to her. "Explosive slug. You could shoot him just about anywhere and it would be lethal."
She blinked for a moment as she looked at the gun. "You do realize I'm not a Brute? This thing would fuck me up as much as it does him."
"Then use your own gun, I don't care," I shrugged. "Way I see it, if anyone has a right to end his life it would be you or Dinah, but she's a bit young for that."
"No tricks?" she asked hesitantly.
"He's a dead man for what he did, I don't care how he gets there. Come up with your own rules for how you want to end him and keep to them. If you need help, just ask and you'll get it."
"You're making it very hard for me to be angry with you."
"I do have a power that could change that," I joked.
Tattletale didn't seem to find my joke as amusing as the chorus.
That reminded me — I hadn't made much use of Marauder's power, though it did have its uses earlier. Unfortunately, the rage aura affected my allies just as fiercely as my enemies, which made the power difficult to use safely. My predecessors often used it to turn a battle into a massive clusterfuck that killed as many of our men as it did the enemy. In many ways, it was a nuclear option that I couldn't afford to abuse.
"Spoilsport," Marauder muttered.
Tattletale gave me a calculating glance. "Of course you're joking… I have no idea how I'm supposed to handle you, Weaver. It's so easy to forget that you're the Butcher when you're like this. You could easily have used fear to control us, at the bank, but that never even crossed your mind… but it did cross the minds of the assholes inside your head, which is honestly disconcerting."
I couldn't help but chuckle. "Circumstances may have made a villain of me, but that doesn't give me the right to use my powers to be an asshole for no reason."
A snort caused Tattletale to jump. I'd known Vex was sneaking up behind us, but didn't want to spoil her fun. "That was literally the first new rule Weaver laid down: 'stop being assholes.' She wasn't fucking kidding that things were changing in the Teeth."
I watched Tattletale's face scrunch up in pain as she turned her power on my girlfriend, and had to fight down the sudden urge to show what happens when me and mine were targeted. It was a near thing, and it didn't help that the chorus was in full agreement.
Just a week ago you wanted me to pursue her, so why are you baying for her blood now?
"Chrissie is one of ours, Tattletale is not," Chisel stated.
Oh, NOW she's Chrissie.
"You're sharing a bed more nights than not, even if you haven't —"
Drop it.
"We're just saying, Lisa has a long way to go before she earns our respect," Alkaline said.
Vex gave Tattletale an affectionate pat on the head. "Let me guess, your little chorus of assholes want you to add this little cutie to the snuggle pile of debauchery."
I gave Vex the most unimpressed deadpan glare I could muster. "You sure that isn't your own desire being projected there?"
"Like they aren't in full agreement."
"Chrissie knows us well!" Pyro cheered.
I found myself pinching my nose, having removed my mask to do so. "Doesn't change what I said."
Vex grinned and stuck her tongue out in a way that I found very distracting. I could feel the heat of a forming blush on my cheeks. "So, we getting a new base out of this?"
"That depends on Tattletale," I said, eyeing the foxy blonde.
"You can call me Lisa when the masks are off," she said, removing her own mask. Her left eye twitched when she glanced back at me. "Huh, the Rules are that important to you?"
"I refuse to out people even when it's just a polite fiction. That I even have a civilian life is an outlier that I need people to respect. My secret identity is paper thin just because it flaunts that I even have one. It also lets me rub the PRT's nose into the fact that they can't touch me."
"Which is why you haven't named Vex even though the two of you are dating."
Vex pulled me into a half-hug. "Yeah, Weaver's a real sweetheart like that. I'm Chrissie, by the way."
"Is this a bad time, or are you three having a moment?" Regent asked, his mask was already off, and he was twirling his scepter lazily.
"Oh right, this one. He gives me the creeps." Fester said.
"High functioning sociopath, I'd put money on it." Chisel added.
"Oh shove it Alec." Lisa answered with a roll of her eyes. "You're just jealous."
"Didn't Tattles call him Jean Paul before?" Ironsides reminded us.
"You should probably look into that, if he has more than one identity," Stratego suggested.
"Jean Paul," I said aloud and Regent froze mid laugh. "Interesting reaction, care to explain?"
"Not really." He said flippantly, though bloodsight told me there was genuine panic there. "I'd just rather stay off the radar and keep daddy dearest from coming to collect me."
Ironsides made an unpleasant sound. "His name and accent are French."
"His power is nerve control of some sort, making him a human Master," Chisel continued.
"Shit fuck!" "Taylor, you need to —" "Oh sweet Christ on a cracker, he's —"
My gun was out of its holster and leveled at his head in a blink and though the boy didn't flinch, I did see his heart rate and blood pressure spike all the same. "Explain, because I swear to fuck if 'daddy dearest' comes to my city looking for you…"
"I don't suppose I could deflect from the subject by pointing out that your selfie had a note visible that called Tats 'possibly dumb'? Could we talk about how hilarious that wa—"
I cocked the hammer.
He swallowed. "Was worth a shot."
My finger twitched. "Get to the fucking point!"
"I ran away from home to get away from that shit," he said, the words almost tripping over themselves. "Coil was keeping me safe from him. That was the carrot and stick that he used to keep me on board with the Undies."
The chorus chimed in and I repeated the question. "Explain your full powers, leave nothing out."
"What, afraid of another Master inheriting and booting you like you boot us?" Quarrel said.
Lisa flailed her arms in panic beside me. "His power gets more precise the more time he spends messing with their nerves. Given a few hours to a few days of experimentation, he can Hijack their bodies and pilot them from miles away."
"Give me one reason to not blow his skull open," I said coldly.
"He can't control any of us, and he's been on the team for almost a year. You would know if he was feeling you out."
"It's true. I'm very good at feeling people up," he said with a grin.
My head was filled with fourteen groans as I lowered my gun.
"You should kill him on principle for that one," Pyro muttered.
"I'm half tempted to ship you to the Wards for that." Alec recoiled in mock horror, clutching his chest as if I had actually shot him. I glanced back towards my girlfriend and saw her silently dismissing her forcefields. "You know what, work Coil over and see if you can control his powers too. Consider it an extra contingency."
"Can do, boss lady," Alec said with a mock salute as the tension drained from his body.
I had never been so thankful for the immunity to headaches than I was at that moment. "Back to Chrissie's earlier question; Lisa's the one with access to all of Coil's files and finances, so really, it's up to her if we get a new base or not."
"I thought the Teeth had requirements to join?" Lisa asked hesitantly, as she regained her breath.
"We used to, but a recent change in management has resulted in a handful of significant changes. Grievous physical harm inflicted upon a rival gang is no longer necessary."
"Just like that?" Lisa asked.
I grinned. "It's still heavily encouraged, because fuck Nazis, but just in case I didn't make it clear, the Butcher leads the Teeth. They do what I say or I beat them up."
"You should teach a leadership seminar," Alec deadpanned.
Chrissie and I both broke down laughing; Lisa joined in with a worried chuckle after a few seconds. After all of the horrors of Coil's base, it felt good to laugh… until I remembered that there was a drugged up preteen Thinker who needed my urgent attention.
What, exactly, was I going to do with her?
Usually, when the Butcher kicked down the door and stormed into a building it was practically guaranteed to end in a bloodbath of some sort. However, as the door in question was attached to a hospital and I was both out of costume and carrying a semi-conscious Dinah, I would have to settle for a waiting room's worth of annoyed glances.
"These people have no survival instincts," Sabertooth growled, shaking his head.
Butcher laughed, a sound that I still didn't like. "Well, maybe we should do some natural selection."
"Fantastic idea, start a slaughter in a hospital while the girl still needs help," Chisel said with no small amount of anger.
My civilian clothes had been delivered by motorcycle from the lair, but the front desk staff were much more concerned for the girl in my arms than the Teeth colors of my clothes. The attendant had likely seen much worse than me, and merely frowned as I came up to the desk. "Give me one reason to not call the cops immediately."
"Girl's certainly got a pair on her," Pyro remarked.
Sabertooth somehow sent a mental image of a lewd grin. "Hell yeah she does!"
"Pig," Fester hissed, to which Sabertooth responded by oinking.
Quiet, I thought at them, and aloud said, "The Teeth just carried out an attack on a known villain, and discovered this girl being drugged with a cocktail from hell that even Spree wouldn't touch."
The woman behind the desk gave Dinah a once-over, frowning at the girl's pale complexion and cold sweat. "We can admit her, but there is a bit of a —"
"Stop stalling for the cops or the PRT and just tell me where Panacea is. I was told to bring the girl directly to her, and trust me — you don't want to know what Weaver does to people who don't follow orders."
"Just give us the kid, and we'll make sure Panacea gets to her."
"Not good enough," I said, noting the security guards moving towards me with my bugs. "Where's the healer?"
"We won't —" the woman said, but I had given up on this avenue. I wasn't totally sure what was going to happen if I gave Dinah over, but it was pretty clear that they were not going to tell me where Panacea was. Luckily, my bugs had already located her and Glory Girl, so I summoned a bug arrow pointing down the appropriate hallway.
"Thanks, boss!" I called, ignoring the snickering of the Butchers and shocked expressions of the staff both as I dashed down the hallway. Panacea was on the third floor, which meant I needed the stairwell at the end. I took the stairs three at a time, being careful not to jostle Dinah too much in my arms.
Another bug arrow formed at the top of the stairs, which then dissolved to harass the security sent to intercept me. I felt a bit bad about the cockroaches invading their noses, but Dinah was more important than their temporary discomfort.
"And permanent entomophobia," Alkaline giggled.
I nearly took Glory Girl's fist to the face when I rounded the last corner into the break room, but the flying brick caught herself midair. "Hey, who the hell are you, and what are you doing with that girl!?"
Next to her, Panacea was holding a coffee cup and directing a particularly withering glare at me. With her hood and scarf down, I noted that she was more freckle than skin and had dark bags under her green eyes. The Butchers knew that she was adopted, but rarely was the distinction so obvious.
"Dunno, she's got Brandish's stare down pat," Fester laughed.
Sabertooth snorted. "The frigid cunt would be so proud."
"Look, can we argue about this after Dinah is safe?" I said, holding up the girl for emphasis. "The Teeth found her in an honest-to-god underground supervillain lair, drugged to the gills and unresponsive."
"Set her down here," Panacea said with a scowl, indicating a couch more likely used for sleeping rather than lounging. I made sure to keep a good distance from both of them as I did, as Lisa had warned me about Panacea's absurd power before dropping me off. She may have been one of the few heroes I still respected, but I wasn't going to take any unnecessary risks. Glory Girl was not shy about maneuvering me away from both her sister and Dinah while the former leaned over and finally started to heal the girl.
"Oh, what the fuck?" Panacea choked out as soon as she touched Dinah's skin. "What the hell kind of sicko does this to a kid? Why? This is… fuck, worse than some of the Merchants I saw!"
"Ames? Is she telling —"
Panacea waved an impatient hand at her sister. "Yes she was, fuck. Okay. Tell me again just what the hell happened?"
"So, I'm with the Teeth."
"Obviously," Panacea muttered.
"Someone needs improvements for their bedside manner," Stratego rumbled.
I focused on keeping my expression as neutral as possible. "Anyway, Weaver and the crew raided Coil's base earlier today. He wasn't some tiny player. Huge underground lair, tons of mercs, lasers… he was also backing the Undersiders, apparently, and they sold him out to the Teeth. So they hit the place, wrecked everything, found the girl, and sent me to bring her to Panacea."
Glory Girl tapped at her phone a few times, then gave me a profoundly suspicious expression. "Uh huh. Well, your boss is apparently sending her bugs after security here, so excuse me if I don't believe that you're here just to get the girl healed. You do know that hurting Amy will get your gang taken apart by the heroes, right?" Her statement was punctuated with a pulse of her aura, and I quickly shunted most of the fear responses into my bugs.
"They can certainly try," Marauder sneered.
"Weaver just wanted to make sure that the girl was safe, okay? She also asked me to apologize on her behalf for giving you more work, but this was an emergency." I said, keeping some of that fear in my voice. "I don't want trouble, and it wasn't like I can tell Weaver 'no,' you know?"
"And what are you planning on doing with the girl?" Panacea asked acidly. "Is your asshole boss going to teleport up here and steal her away?"
"And here I thought I was an asshole." Butcher interjected. "She could give us all lessons."
"Hell no," I snapped before remembering my façade. "I mean, Weaver wants her back with her family. She doesn't keep slaves in the Teeth."
"Right," Glory Girl said, still suspicious. "Well, your job is done. Thanks for bringing the girl to Ames, though next time you can just leave her at the front desk, alright?"
I thought back to the room we found Dinah in and shuddered. "Fuck, I hope there isn't a next time. I'm, um, going to go." Neither of the sisters followed me out into the hallway, but they really didn't need to — the PRT and BBPD were setting up around the ground floor of the hospital. The heroes weren't rushing in, but there was no way I would escape without teleporting. Thus, I made my way towards the stairwell, but went up instead of down; bloodsight didn't reveal anyone on the roof or flying nearby. Still, I pulled my hoodie off and turned it inside out before wrapping the bundle around my waist. Then I let down my hair and used Chisel's power to open the door.
As I navigated to a small covered area on the roof with some plastic chairs, Glory Girl and Panacea had a heated but whispered conversation that I strained to hear with bug senses; it seemed like the latter wanted to keep working while the former was concerned for her safety. To my surprise, Glory Girl let herself out of a window and went down to the PRT van waiting in the parking lot, abandoning her sister to be questioned by the PRT.
Meanwhile, I found a few blunts in the pocket of the hoodie, which would have caused problems had I been dumb enough to talk to the cops. Unfortunately, as I lacked a lighter, I was forced to sit in the uncomfortable chair and listen to the chorus prattle on about nothing while making sure that nothing bad happened to Dinah.
"You could always teleport to light something on fire," Pyro suggested gleefully.
"Yes, and alert everyone gathering below that we are still on the premises," Damascian countered.
Sabertooth sighed wistfully. "Why couldn't we have gotten Lung before Taylor? Proper pyrokinesis would be so fun."
"Not to mention his regeneration would actually be useful," Quarrel barbed.
"As always, Quarrel never misses a shot," Damascian muttered.
The heroes eventually sent Triumph up to watch Dinah, and they were making noise about calling her legal guardians. He complained into his communicator until Panacea appeared, only for her to yell at him for wasting her time when she had already healed Dinah. She was evidently displeased — I could hear her yelling clearly via my bugs — and when she was done with Triumph, she stalked to the stairwell and out onto the roof.
Panacea froze when she saw me, casting a long shadow in the late afternoon sun. A complicated expression rolled over her face before she sighed heavily. "You know, maybe Carol was right and the Butcher really does have an unhealthy obsession with me."
"Carol?" "Obsession?" "Well, she is kind of cute." "What the hell is this Brigade Bullshit?"
"I doubt it," I said, trying for levity. "Weaver's a busy girl. The Teeth are nuts, but even they're not dumb enough to mess with a noncombatant healer."
Panacea huffed in amusement or derision — it was hard to tell. "Well, I'm glad they're not completely braindead. They fight the Empire too, I guess." To my surprise, she didn't run away, but instead shuffled out to the chair across from me and flopped down into it. "What the hell is wrong with this city that the Teeth have inflicted the most damage on the Empire of anyone recently, nevermind the ABB, the Merchants, Coil apparently…"
The chorus cheered in my head at the heroine's words, and to my surprise I had to work to keep down my smile. Despite whatever hangups I might still have over how violent the raid was, it was still a good thing in the end that Coil was dealt with. All it had taken was one look at Dinah and my reservations for what I had unleashed on them was gone like dust in the wind. One less gang in the Bay which now left me free to take the fight to the Empire in full.
Whoever just started humming the damn song, knock it off!
"I chalked it up to them being ten gallons of murderous insanity in a one gallon jug."
Panacea actually laughed at that, reaching into her robes and pulling out a cigarette and lighter. The Butchers tripped over themselves to point that out, of course, so I produced a blunt from my own pocket and held it out. The healer got the wrong idea. "For me? You know that's illegal."
"If you want it, I have more," I said. "But I was going to ask for a light."
"I shouldn't be doing this," Panacea muttered, swiping the blunt from my fingers, "but I've had to deal with your asshole boss all day. This isn't going to poison me, right? Vicky will cave in your skull if you do."
"Please let her, I want to fly dammit!" Quarrel demanded.
"We need to find some way to recruit Demolition Dallon for the Teeth," Ironsides grumbled. "It would be beautiful."
"Should be safe," I said, pulling out another blunt and taking Panacea's offered light. "Not going to lie, I never would have guessed that you smoked at all."
Panacea snorted, then coughed out a mouthful of pot smoke. "Go fuck yourself."
"In public?" I retorted, reducing Panacea to a blushing, coughing mess. "Are you alright, Pan—"
"Amy," the girl bit out once she got herself under control. "You can call me Amy, but only if you answer a question. Why did you join the Teeth?"
"Yes, Taylor — why did you join the Teeth?" Quarrel hissed. The others chuckled, and I gave the whole group a shove. Luckily, I already had an answer for this that would work under most normal circumstances.
"Well, I guess I'm Taylor, then. I joined mostly so that I didn't get stabbed at school for having a girlfriend. Winslow is a shithole and the Empire isn't afraid to just stab people randomly for being gay. In fact, they tried to do just that a few days ago." I didn't bother to hide my grimace at the memory. "Weaver actually saved me."
Amy's eyes went distant at that. "Fuck, don't tell me those things," she murmured. "I don't suppose that she gave those Empire kids to the authorities?"
"She did not!" Butcher hooted, a sentiment echoed by several others. I pushed them all away, but unfortunately in the resulting silence I was just left with my own guilt. Amy had a damn good condemning glare, despite not knowing that the target of her ire was actually sitting in front of her. For some reason, her displeasure felt… more weighty, perhaps, than the Protectorate's complaints before —
"Before they tried to shove you back in a box and ship you to hell!" Knockout bellowed. "Don't go soft on us because of the cute hero!"
The fact that I find her attractive at all is your fault to begin with!
"Keep telling yourself that sweetie," Fester added unhelpfully.
Just… shut the fuck up.
"Taylor?"
I blinked, realizing that Amy's glare had softened to something like concern. "Sorry, just… remembering. It's not every day that you and your girlfriend are almost murdered at school."
Nor was it every day that I sentenced four teenagers to a painful and humiliating death. Though, after today… I'd ordered the deaths of dozens when I gave the command to storm Coil's base. I told them to show them the terror that the Teeth were known for, and they did not disappoint.
Were the two situations really any different? I hadn't killed anyone on purpose with my own hands, that line yet remained, but that was a hollow argument given how many were dying at my orders. The worst part of it though?
Did I even care anymore?
Amy's scowl returned in full force, but it wasn't directed at me. "Why am I not fucking surprised… I swear, those idiot Wards at that school are an embarrassment."
Huh, so there were Wards at Winslow, and more than one.
Before I could process that extremely interesting tidbit, however, I noticed a pair of people in suits approaching Dinah's room. Reading body language via bugs was sketchy at best, but Triumph's jerk of surprise was followed by an annoyed sigh when the man and woman produced some identification.
Then they started helping Dinah to her feet, and everything went wrong.
"Her parents, perhaps?" Alkaline mused, though her uncertain tone made it clear how much she believed her own guess.
"Worst parents ever if they didn't even give her a hug," Ironsides grumbled, then seemed to jerk at his own unexpected sentiment. "The girl isn't exactly rushing into their arms, either."
"Tattletale did indicate that Coil had tendrils in the municipal government," Damascian reminded us. "A revenge plot, perhaps?"
Maybe, but I can't just teleport down there and rescue her until they do something obviously wrong. I really don't want to start a fight in a hospital.
The Butchers grumbled at that, but Stratego's power outlined a very simple plan for watching and following Dinah's second round of possibly-kidnappers. It would be very easy for me to keep an eye on them, and I knew that Panacea was nearby.
On the conversational front, Amy seemed perfectly happy to sit and smoke my weed instead of actually talking. As 'scowl' seemed to be her default mode, I couldn't tell if she was upset specifically at me, the Winslow situation, or everything on Bet. When she noticed that I was more present on the roof, she grabbed the blunt with her two fingers and waved it at me. "You should tell the school and cops about those kids, at least. You don't seem like a bad kid, so they'd probably help you despite your… affiliation."
I snorted in amusement. "Sure, right. I'm not rich or pretty enough to be important to the authorities at Winslow. Did I mention that Weaver is my boss? And besides, they'd just post bail and be back to stabbing lesbians the next day."
Amy opened her mouth to reply, but when she couldn't manage a response, she put the blunt back in and smoked furiously at me. The Butchers giggled at the reaction, but most of my attention was on following the suited would-be kidnappers as they worked through the necessary paperwork needed to see Dinah discharged.
"So you joined the Teeth to stay safe at school," Amy said in a displeased tone. "Fine. Did you join before Weaver inherited? Have you actually met her, and is she as crazy as everyone seems to believe?"
"What the hell?" Chisel murmured. "Why does she care?"
I don't know, but… I made a show of thinking about it before shaking my head. "Weaver is perfectly sane, at least as much as one can be after being stabbed in the back so thoroughly by the heroes." Talking about myself in third person was strange, especially with the chorus's echoing laughter. "I mean, she still has a civilian identity for crying out loud. Even with the voices, she probably could have been a great hero, if the PRT hadn't been so scared of her power."
"Yes, such a great hero." Marauder said with a roll of his eyes.
"She did manage a very heroic body count among our enemies." Butcher agreed.
I shoved them both away.
For the first time since the conversation started, Amy's eyes seemed to finally come alive, boring into mine with frightening intensity. "Oh? You don't think she'll crack, proving the PRT correct? How do you know she would have been able to keep being a hero?"
My mind flashed back to the meeting in the parking lot. "If that's your attitude, then why do we trust anyone to be a hero? Powers are fucking dangerous, and Legend could probably level most of New York before we could stop him. Sure, Weaver is scary, but there's definitely more powerful capes out there who are heroes instead of being sent to the Birdcage."
"Well, for one, heroes know the definition of 'acceptable force,'" Amy retorted acidly. "I'll give you a hint: that means you don't eat out eyeballs."
"Did she just suggest that the bastard didn't deserve that?" Pyro asked with wide eyes.
"Are you seriously defending a sex-slaving mass murderer?" I spat, though some of my anger was directed at the heroes who let the suited people through the cordon with Dinah. "And besides, his teleport ability was line-of-sight. That's the reason no one was able to reliably keep him contained. Weaver could have just killed him, instead."
Amy fumed at me, huffing out the last cloud from her blunt. "Line-of-sight, huh? That's awfully convenient. If that were true, the heroes would have…" She trailed off, eyes widening slowly. "Wait… how do you know that?"
"Busted!" Half the chorus cheered.
Down below, Dinah was shephereded into a waiting SUV. "I, um, give me a second," I said distractedly, making sure to mark Dinah and the car both with insects so that they could —
The SUV rocketed away from the police with no regard for the speed limit.
None of the cops followed.
"Shit." "Aww hell. "After them!"
"Sorry, I need to go," I said. "Nice to meet you, drop by sometime. Bye!"
I teleported almost before the words were out of my mouth, exploding into a back alley two blocks in the direction of the SUV's travel. When they changed course a moment later, I cursed — I would have to follow them mostly on foot. Echoing laughter in my head confused me until Alkaline pointed a mental finger back up to the roof of the hospital.
Amy had fallen out of her chair in surprise.
I heaved an annoyed sigh as soon as I stepped off the bus at my usual stop. Chasing after the SUV had been an exercise in futility, as the vehicle had safely delivered her to the fucking mayor's house. Chrissie kept sending me cackling animated gifs when I finally messaged her and I was doing my damndest to not pout over a near literal wild goose chase.
I stayed within range of their house for a bit less than two hours, just to be safe, but Dinah had simply gone into a bedroom and promptly fallen asleep. The one time she stirred awake and seemed to panic, I sent a butterfly to land on her finger. I almost expected the girl to freak out, but my bug apparently helped soothe her nerves… a little, anyways, given that her parents had died hours earlier. I felt terribly sorry for the girl, but there wasn't much I could do for her except send more butterflies and fireflies into her room to let her know I was watching over her.
When she finally fell back asleep I decided I'd best get ready for dinner with Dad and Chrissie and set off for home after texting my girlfriend some amended plans.
Getting Coil's little empire situated would take days, if not weeks even with Lisa's help. However, it would still prove a major boon for the Teeth's finances in both the short and long terms given how much of his financial empire was actually legitimate. Hell, he even owned enough shares of Medhall to have a seat on the board if he'd wanted it.
Luckily for me, Lisa was committed to joining the Teeth, even after I offered her the option to walk away. I was hesitant to trust her, but I was willing to give her a chance after she threw her fate in my hands by selling out that bastard. The rest of the Undersiders… I'd scheduled a meeting for tomorrow evening with them; hopefully that gave them enough time to think things over and come to a decision.
"Letting them walk away would be a mistake," Butcher said for the sixth time.
I want them working with me out of respect and loyalty, not fear.
"You saw what happened with Coil. The stick gets you shanked," Alkaline pointed out.
"This isn't how the Teeth do things," Sabertooth muttered.
"My Teeth, my rules," I said aloud as I walked home.
I'd planned to cook a nice dinner for Dad's official introduction to Chrissie, but I'd run out of time with the whole 'taking down an enemy gang.' Thankfully Chrissie would be coming to the rescue with some quality takeout from a place that had not made a mysterious contribution to dockworkers' lunches this week.
I was putting my faith in her tastes. Which considering she liked me…
"No self deprecating bullshit!" Fester snapped.
I winced at the volume of her scream, but she was right and I was almost glad to have the chorus around to keep me from spiraling. My bugs had already reported that Dad was home early once again and that the TV was on. There were no beers this time at least, and the note I'd left for him had been moved, so he knew I was running late. I needed to avoid this being too regular of an occurrence if I wanted to avoid uncomfortable questions.
"Or you could just rip the bandaid off," Alkaline suggested.
Stratego hummed. "He is sharper than he initially let on, based on his observations about Emma. It would be better to reveal the truth on your own terms than those of another."
I agree… Just give me some time to settle into my role as the Butcher before we make those plans. I'll feel better if I can point at the dessicated remains of the Empire when I do come out fully to him. That way I can say definitively that I've done more good than harm.
"You're playing with fire, kid," Knockout warned.
"Too bad Lung didn't join us in here; more fire would have been fun!" Pyro added with a cackle.
I just rolled my eyes as they fell into their usual banter and power fantasies, pushing open my front door and stepping inside. "Hey Dad! Sorry I'm late!"
"Anything I should be concerned with?" Dad asked, joining me in the hall.
"Nothing much. There was a bit of commotion downtown that had the buses running late all afternoon." I tossed my backpack aside and gave him a hug. "Something about a cape fight I think? I didn't overhear much from the other passengers."
"Clever bit of misdirection," Chisel noted.
"The news was just covering it actually. Some group of teen villains called The Undersiders tried to rob Brockton Central."
"That's such a weird name," I said with a snort.
He chuckled. "I thought the same thing. The Wards and New Wave were there, but before things could heat up, the Butcher arrived. I was actually worried you might have been caught up in that mess."
I didn't miss how his eyes tracked down to my clothes, which were so obviously Teeth inspired that I couldn't even deny it.
Shit.
"He's aware you skipped school, then. Be careful to avoid giving him free information," Sanguine said.
I flooded the distant edges of my swarm with my anxiety. "How could I have gotten involved? School didn't even let out until the robbery was underway. It actually kicked off a rumor that there's multiple Wards attending Winslow."
"I suppose you're right," he said after a moment. "I guess I let my worry get the better of me."
"It's alright. Anyone would be on edge right now given how the Empire is sweating bullets over Weaver taking them to task."
"I wish we could just cut loose against those fuckers." Knockout whined.
Soon.
"Is Chrissie still having dinner with us?"
"Yeah, she's just picking up dinner since I didn't have the time to cook."
"You just told him you have a cell phone." Ironsides chimed in.
I could see the pain on his face as he caught it too. Fuck.
"Did Chrissie manage to stay out of trouble as well?"
Marauder laughed outright. "Oh, this is fun! He knows she's Teeth, and that you are, too!"
"I wonder if he figured out Chrissie is Vex?" Alkaline wondered.
Stratego nodded. "It wouldn't be difficult. A single picture of her in costume would do it."
"She wears her hair and tattoos with pride in both identities after all." Pyro agreed.
"How long shall his denial outweigh his concern?" Damascian wondered.
Enough.
"Just the usual that she gets into for being gay at Winslow," I answered.
Dad sighed. "Taylor, if I ask you a question, can you give me an honest answer to it without any wordplay to hide the truth?"
"Here we go!" Butcher cheered.
"I…" I took a breath — he deserved that much. "Of course, Dad."
"Is Chrissie a member of the Teeth?"
"Shiiit, there's that spine I remember Danny having back in the day," Fester said with an appreciative whistle, while the others laughed at my misfortune.
I considered lying to him for all of a second, but then he would never trust me again. He already knew the truth, he just wanted me to say it. There was the ghost of an impression of a hand on my shoulder and a smile that reassured me this was the right choice. I sent reassurances to Reflex and squared my shoulders.
"She is."
Those two words brought Dad's expression tumbling and I could see how his temper was at war with a desire to respect my honesty. His face was blood red and his breathing was controlled, I recognized the exercise from one of the times the DWU lost a major contract. When he reopened his eyes, I saw them shimmer with unshed tears.
"Have you joined them as well?"
"Yes Taylor, tell your daddy all about how you joined the Teeth!" Quarrel snarked.
I felt my heart shatter at the raw concern in his voice, and I shoved all the laughter down into the dark. I couldn't tell him everything, but he deserved an answer that was at least truth-adjacent.
"The school wasn't doing anything about the bullying, even going so far as to back them on obvious lies. Nothing had changed, then something did. Weaver took over the Teeth and the rules at Winslow changed. No more bullying the weak. Anyone can wear the colors, initiation or no and be safe. Weaver… knew about the locker. I'm not being bothered anymore, and all I have to do is wear red and gray."
"You aren't going out and hurting people for them?" he asked softly.
"The Teeth haven't given me a single order." It was the truth, but it was the kind of wordplay he had specifically asked me to avoid. The words were like ash in my mouth. "If that ever changes, I'll let you know."
I'd never seen dad look so defeated before, not even after the investigation had been dropped. A part of me felt horrible for inflicting that pain upon him, but a much larger part felt anger that it took everything it had to get the trio to finally back down. That it took me becoming the Butcher for dad to finally give a damn.
Deciding that it was better to air a few more things, I pulled out my phone. He stared at it as I flipped through the PHO threads, but only after opening an incognito tab where I wasn't logged in on my Weaver account. I then spent the next few minutes showing Dad the selfie thread, as well as all the footage that had been taken from the bank.
"Oh, this is a new one," I muttered as I clicked on a video uploaded about an hour ago.
What followed was a surprisingly detailed video taken from so close that it could only have been someone inside the PRT cordon. The image was clear enough that I was almost worried Dad might be able to figure out that it was me under the costume. Stratego's power slipped over my memories and I had to fight down a grin when it clicked who would have been behind the camera.
"Taking bets on if we manage to recruit the white mage?" Alkaline asked.
Sanguine scoffed. "No bet, the girl's got the same stick up her ass as Brandish."
"Hell, I'd bet Brandish shoved it up there herself," Sabertooth added.
"That's gross even by our standards," Fester retorted.
"This is the new Butcher?" Dad asked softly, the concern clear as day.
I nodded. "That's Weaver, she doesn't like the title. She actually goes to school with us."
His head jerked up at that and I could see he had to stop from blurting his first thoughts on the matter. "You've met her?"
Everytime I look in the mirror.
The chorus chuckled at my joke. "Yeah…"
Knocking at the door saved me from further awkwardness.
"Taytay, can you give me a hand?" Chrissie yelled, hopefully signaling the end of my current interrogation.
She had half a dozen bags of Chinese takeout in hand. I'd known she was close thanks to my bugs, hell, I'd almost asked her to hurry just to cut Dad off sooner, but it wouldn't have been fair to either of them.
"Coming!" I yelled back. Dad looked resigned as he averted his gaze. I sighed and hurried to help my girlfriend. She wasn't struggling with the bags of food, but it didn't look comfortable either. "You didn't have to get so much!"
"What if I wanted leftovers?" she asked as I took a couple of the bags. "Tomorrow is chicken I'm afraid of, no way in hell I'm eating the school lunch."
"The alfredo is pretty bad…" I quietly agreed.
She laughed at that, the sound of it was like a balm to my soul after the talk I'd just had. A talk I had managed to warn her about at least thanks to my swarm. The last thing I needed was for her to assume he knew something he didn't and make things worse. The less said around Dad, the better.
"Were the buses hell for you too?" Chrissie asked, affirming our cover story as we took the bags to the kitchen table.
"Yeah." There was no use delaying, it was time to rip the bandaid off. "Dad finally asked if you were in a gang."
"Oh." Damn, Chrissie could really nail that kicked puppy tone. "I suppose I'm not welcome here anymore?"
"Were that the case…" Dad said, joining us in the kitchen, "I would have answered the door with my shotgun. Given I dated Annette while she was still running with Lustrum, I'd be a hypocrite to deny you outright just because you're in a gang.
"That being said, you have zero rope here. This is the only concession I'll make. You're allowed to date Taylor, but if you step out of line even once? If you drag my daughter into any of your gang shit beyond wearing the colors? I will give you a firm reminder of what the bad ol' days were like in the Bay that would make even your boss shiver in fear."
I felt a chill run down my spine as he stared down my girlfriend.
"Am I clear?"
Chrissie swallowed hard, her pupils dilated and a cold sweat was forming on her brow. Here we were, two of the most dangerous capes in the Bay and my Dad had just put the fear of god into both of us with words alone.
"Still wonder what Annette saw in the man?" Fester asked.
"Crystal, sir." Chrissie answered.
Dad clapped, startling the both of us as he smiled wide. "Excellent! Now, we should get to eating because it smells amazing and it would be a crime to let it go cold."
Chrissie was curled up against my side, gently snoring as Robin of Loxley loosed a Patriot Arrow and I couldn't help but be reminded of Quarrel's power as it shot through the stands before nailing the target from behind.
"That arrow wishes it had been shot by me," Quarrel said.
I chuckled softly as the chorus settled into their usual banter in the back of my mind; the relative peace was nice compared to the insanity from the rest of the day. I couldn't help but find the entire situation bank hilarious, as I had humiliated the heroes while gaining at least one new minion. The rest of the Undersiders had a day to think it over, but Lisa was on board.
Then there was taking down Coil, who proved that he was every bit as big of a player as the Empire or ABB had been — potentially bigger now that we knew his civilian identity and how deep the corruption ran. That was a reckoning that would come in due time.
Taking down his base… I'd killed people, maybe not deliberately or by my own hand, but I'd killed them all the same with my orders. We'd left that base painted scarlet, oddly fitting given the gray concrete.
Forty seven mercenaries lay dead. Two of my own men died as well, all because they failed to heed my instructions. Each one of those lives were on my shoulders.
Still, an innocent girl was safe, spared the fate of being a tool for a madman. The Undersiders were free, and Lisa was hard at work sifting through the mountains of data and failsafes the man kept. I wasn't sure what to think about her — the Butchers giggled; I ignored them — but the Thinker seemed eager and willing to help out. A not-insignificant part of me was suspicious, but Lisa was well aware of the consequences of betrayal.
Sometimes it helped to have the Butcher's reputation.
"Hell yeah it does!" Pyro had been more than happy to leverage her reputation as Butcher VI, given her general destructive tendencies, which was one of the reasons Stratego arranged to have her killed.
"It is an unfortunate fact that fear is more easily spread than respect," Damascian noted. "But by shaping that fear, you may yet achieve your dreams as a cape."
I rolled my eyes at her flowery words. Pretty sure I never dreamed of becoming Butcher XV.
"No, but you did dream of making a difference," Marauder said. "You certainly did for all of those mercan—"
He got a shove out of my mind, to the chuckles of the others.
"I hate to agree with that idiot, but he is right, Taylor," Chisel said, hooking a metaphorical thumb down into the darkness. "The rest of us spent too much time arguing to accomplish much of anything, ruling by fear alone. But you've shown the world just how dangerous the Butcher can be, even just by staying your hand."
Several Butchers laughed at the mental image of the Wards covered in pizza sauce, and I smiled despite the fact that I was a supervillain who fought heroes. A tiny part of me still wished I had joined, but having the freedom to chart my own course meant that I was able to take down threats like Coil.
Despite the death and mayhem, I'd done genuine good today. I may not have been a hero, but would the heroes have stormed Coil's base and taken the bastard out? No, they would have gone in with full non-lethal measures prepared, played softball for a bit, then Coil would have gotten away and been back at it the next day. That he wouldn't was all because of me, because I chose to act. Because I turned the Teeth loose on a deserving target.
I could live with myself if this was the kind of impact my actions were going to have on the city as a whole. This is what I wanted Weaver to be, what Butcher XV would represent. She would do what was needed, what was necessary, for this city. She would help the people that the government turned a blind eye towards because of bullshit truces that they only honored because they couldn't afford the risks. Bloody cowards, one and all.
The Empire was all that stood in my way now, and I was done playing games. The Coil operation showed me that my men were ready and eager for the fight to come, if a bit lacking in training and discipline, but I couldn't afford to sit around while we waited for them to be ready. I had the momentum, and I couldn't cede initiative now.
We would rest tonight, celebrate tomorrow, induct the Undersiders on Saturday, then we would be right back at it, and soon, an Empire would fall. Screaming in agony if necessary, like the Empires of old. Eighty eight knives, all stuck into Kaiser's cooling corpse. I wasn't sure which of the Butchers had pushed that image forward, but I found it oddly enticing.
"I still think we should just ask Tattletale," Knockout grumbled.
"Absolutely not," Stratego retorted. "Taylor's plan requires strict adherence to the Rules."
"Then it's a dumb plan!"
"Shut the fuck up!" Quarrel yelled, and they all descended into an argument.
Knockout's idea was… tempting. Coil had known the civilian identities of most of the capes in the city — along with notes on how to get leverage on them, apparently. I had yet to actually ask Lisa for any of the information, because I wasn't totally sure I could trust myself to stick completely to the Unwritten Rules. Messing around at school was one thing; cape teams with Thinker support were quite another.
I certainly wasn't afraid to enforce the Rules. In fact, my plan hinged on me doing a demonstration or two, provided anyone was dumb enough to try.
"If you cared so much, why did you out yourself to Panacea?" Ironsides grumbled.
That… had probably been a mistake, but I had been too preoccupied with saving Dinah to realize that I should have teleported away as soon as she was safe. I really had no idea what Panacea was going to do with my secret, though in the end it really didn't matter much. Assault already knew, as did many kids at Winslow, so stressing about the healer wouldn't do me much good.
"Plus, you don't want to fuck with the white mage," Alkaline said sagely, dredging up a saying from some Dungeons and Dragons-like game she had played.
King Richard had just arrived back from the crusades when my bugs picked up Dad coming down the stairs with something in his arms. He took a moment to step into view as he unfolded a fluffy blanket and spread it over us; I made sure to smile, because it was appreciated.
"I'm heading out for a bit, think you can hold down the fort?" he asked softly.
I ran my hand through Chrissie's short hair as she snuggled just a bit closer and feathered a soft kiss on her forehead before looking back up. "I think I can manage."
"Don't stay up too late, you do have school tomorrow."
"I'll get plenty of sleep, don't worry."
He began to lean in, but hesitated a moment later. I didn't miss how his eyes flicked ever so briefly towards Chrissie before he pulled back and made for the front door. My bugs followed him until the old truck left my range, but my mind was already wandering.
On the screen, the credits were rolling. The movie may have been over, but I was just getting started. There were plans to make, battles to wage, and a war to win.
We would be ready.