Overcast 3.3
An unbreakable hold stopped the thrust before it could pin Bakuda to the floor. Taylor felt betrayal sweep through her as Legacy stood beside her, hand gripping the spear with impossible strength.
"Olympia." He said softly, but firmly. "Stop. Think. Is this really what you want to do? Is this the kind of hero you want to be? Is this the right thing to do and are you doing it for the right reasons?" He leveled his gaze down at Bakuda for a moment, then back up to Taylor. "She's already caused a lot of harm, but killing her is a very permanent action. Don't do something out of rage that you'll come to regret later."
"She threatened my dad, Legacy." Taylor snapped. "My dad. He's the only one I have left in this fucked up world."
"There are better ways to deal with it than to simply kill her. If this is truly what you wish to do, the path you wish to take… then it is yours to walk. But please, at least consider what I've said." Legacy pleaded, inching the spear further away from Bakuda. "We are heroes and while sometimes killing is necessary, it is never wrong to show mercy. We are more than just superpowered cops, we are better than that."
"She's… she's still a threat…" Taylor tried to argue, the hot feeling of rage slowly leaving her chest.
"And there are ways to neutralize someone dangerous without killing them." Legacy explained patiently before finally letting go of the spear. "It's your choice Taylor. I just don't wish to see you potentially ruin yourself out of spite and anger, no matter how justified."
Taylor regarded the fallen villain, terror in her body language. Bakuda hadn't so much as dared breath during Taylor and Legacy's discussion.
Good. I probably would have stabbed her.
Taylor took a deep breath and then let it out. Legacy was right of course. She'd dreamed of being a hero since she was a kid and now here she was, almost about to execute a prisoner. Maybe it would have been justified… but would it have been heroic?
Still, Bakuda had information on Taylor, information that she could use to hurt Taylor and her father if she ever escaped. She reversed her spear and slammed the end of it into Bakuda's head, knocking her out.
Alexander, I need your expertise.
What can I do for you? The young psychic answered without hesitation.
How powerful of a telepath are you?
Middling, at best. Alexander admitted. Good, perhaps even excellent control, but horrible raw strength.
Who's the strongest telepath on your Earth then? Someone who could easily brute force their way into another person's mind.
A supervillain named Arachne. Alexander answered reluctantly. We were friends once, when we were children. A very long time ago.
You're only nineteen, stop sounding melodramatic.
Scanning through the stars of her power, Taylor put out the call for Arachne. After a moment, a mind came to the surface, causing Taylor to recoil from the sheer amount of… hatred. It was directionless, just raw hate and resentment at the entire world. But beneath that was more… It was loneliness, darkness, and misery, all wrapped up and held together by longing and a dream.
Hello Taylor. A soft voice (young, so young to have experienced those emotions) echoed through her mind. I must say I didn't expect you to ask for me.
Because you're a villain?
To a degree, but also because you have more versatile supers. Arachne admitted. I'm only a telepath in the end.
Well I don't need them, I need you. Taylor said firmly, already deciding that there must have been more to Arachne's story than just 'supervillain'. Will you help me?
Of course. Arachne agreed easily enough, surprising Taylor. A bit of amusement floated to the surface. I see much of myself in you, Taylor. It would be my pleasure to assist you. Then hesitantly, in a much smaller voice. Would you be willing to summon another super for me? Things didn't end well the last time we saw each other and then our world ended.
I can't promise that now. Taylor replied thoughtfully, gauging the exhaustion her power was already heaping upon her from having both Legacy and Roulette active. But I can certainly arrange something after tonight.
A spark of hope and happiness blossomed from Arachne. Thank you. Please, bring me forth whenever you're ready.
Taylor concentrated and then with a flash of violet light, a girl appeared. She wore a purple dress with segments of black carapace-like armor over her vital areas, a mask with eight lenses glowing an eldritch purple covering her face, but allowing her dark hair to spill down her back. Based on what Taylor could see, she was a stunningly beautiful woman, almost inhuman in appearance. She was pretty sure she'd only seen those kinds of curves on magazine covers or T.V.
Arachne let out a small giggle and twirled in place. "Thank you, I designed the body myself."
Taylor flushed a little. "Excuse me?"
"I can hear your thoughts. This isn't my original body." Arachne explained easily, walking over and examining Bakuda critically. "In my original body I was extremely unhealthy and sickly looking from a lifetime of not being able to care for myself." She glanced up at Taylor, voice becoming mirthful. "We could have been sisters. You and my own weren't too dissimilar looking."
"What happened to your original body exactly?" Taylor asked uneasily.
"Oh, Archmage killed me." Arachne actually laughed. "My boyfriend at the time did something incredibly stupid while Archmage had me hostage. Usually he wouldn't have hurt a seemingly innocent girl like me, but when he loses his temper his power automatically lashes out and it snapped my spine like a twig." Arachne looked bemused then. "Let that be a lesson about us supers, we all have little quirks once we reach a certain power level. Archmage has his temper, I have a bit of a… lets call it a fixation on a certain someone, and Legacy over there," she gestured to the hero, "well he hasn't taken a day off since he became a hero, ain't that right?"
"It's like a compulsion." Legacy agreed. "I just have a need to help and make myself useful."
"See? Anyway, after my first body was killed, my psychic power was strong enough for my mind to linger, so I ended up briefly possessing a Designer (Tinker to you) who specialized in biological manipulation and had her build me a body, a perfect body." Arachne gestured to her admittedly stunning figure. "Then took it over since it was an empty shell. No harm no foul, not like I actually bodyjacked someone."
"Right…" Taylor was feeling a little less sure of summoning the villain now. "So Bakuda?"
"Ah, right." The purple lenses on Arachne's mask flared brightly and Bakuda jerked slightly even though she was unconscious.
Then Taylor flinched and leveled her spear as Bakuda suddenly sprang to her feet. Behind her gasmask, Taylor could see her eyes glowing the same purple as Arachne's.
"Hot damn this chick is fucked up!" Bakuda announced, her voice sounding like it was overlapping with Arachne's. "And I thought I was crazy."
"You are crazy Arachne." Legacy interjected with a flat look.
"I'm fun crazy though."
"You killed dozens of people while you were The Collective." Legacy sighed wearily.
"They got brought back to life!"
"That doesn't make it better."
"Doesn't make it worse either." Bakuda-Arachne waved off the issue. "Alright, so what exactly do you want me to do with this psycho?"
"Can you just… make her forget who me and my dad are?"
"I mean sure, but I could do so much more if you really wanted." Bakuda-Arachne offered hopefully. "Oh please let me tie her mind into knots. I could make her forget all her schematics for her tech. Oh, oh, I could maybe even cut her connection to this giant nightmare thing in her head, leave her with no powers. Eh wait, no, that'd kill her. "
A Master. Of course Arachne was a Master, a really powerful one by the looks of things too. "Just erase what she knows of my civilian I.D… I guess get rid of the bomb knowledge too, even if it might come back."
"She'll be in prison before that happens." Legacy assured Taylor.
Bakuda's eyes finally lost their purple glow and then she dropped like a sack of potatoes. "Alright Olympia, you're all good to go." Arachne confirmed. "Oh and by the way, there's a teleporter on his way now. At least that's what I assume he is, his mind keeps vanishing before reappearing closer to us."
"Oni-Lee." Taylor grimaced. "Can you seize control of him too?"
Arachne tilted her head, eyes flaring again. "No. He's too in tune with his power, it's keeping me out. I can probably do some psychic shenanigans to mess with him, but outright control is beyond even my power."
Taylor worked her jaw, staring down at the fallen Bakuda and debating her options. "Arachne, get Bakuda out of here, Legacy, we're dealing with Oni-Lee. The ABB falls tonight."
"Wh- Olympia, I'm a telepath, not a full psychic!" Arachne complained. "And I bet John isn't even around anymore to be my muscle." She eyed a device on her belt before hitting a button on it. "At least I don't think…"
A tear in the fabric time and space appeared and a disheveled looking man in a labcoat hurried out eyes wide and frantic. "Arachne? You're back? You survived?!" He lurched forward and swept up the surprised supervillain in a massive bear hug. "You're alive! Oh good god I thought I was the only person left from our Earth."
Arachne patted him on the back. "You still are John. I'm just a projection. Part of Janus' final gambit. She's the Overmind." Arachne redirected his attention.
The scientist's eyes shot over to Taylor. He looked… familiar. Too familiar. "Are you Suit's brother or something?" She wondered out loud.
The man called John flinched like he'd been struck and then pointedly turned his back on Taylor. "What do you need Arachne?"
"Psycho there, take her back to the lab and keep her restrained, do not give her access to any materials. Run some scans while you can too, identify the source of her powers." Arachne ordered him.
"I'll get right on it." He hefted Bakuda up in a bridal carry. "Give me a call when you need me."
"Answer if it's Olympia here too." Arachne ordered. "She'll need your skills as well."
"Of course ma'am. Legacy, good to see you again. Olympia…" He paused awkwardly, then scuttled off through the portal before it closed.
"Don't mind John, you probably just scared him a bit." Arachne giggled through her mask. "Still, I'm glad to see he survived everything…"
"What was up with that anyway?" Taylor asked curiously. "I mean, he really did look a lot like Suit…"
"Not a lot like." Legacy cut in. "Just like. John is a clone, Olympia, a clone of Suit."
"Um… Why?" Taylor asked, feeling completely baffled.
"Because Janus is insane and he liked having a clone of his former best friend around to bully and have as a right hand man." Arachne sighed. "Poor John… Well anyway, Lee is almost here, you still want me around?"
"Your power will be useful." Taylor nodded. "Also what's your range like if he's just now getting close?"
"Heh, theoretically world wide, but that's a little too demanding of even my abilities long term, so I usually keep it localized to whatever city I'm in." Arachne answered smuggly. "Oh and here he is."
The demon-masked cloner/teleporter appeared in the center of the room, freezing for a moment at the sight of the heroes before throwing a grenade and vanishing into ash. Legacy shot forward, grabbing the explosive and allowing it to detonate against his body, leaving Arachne and Olympia unharmed. A second later, another Lee appeared behind Arachne and took a stab, but the telepath merely side stepped the attack before using her power in some way. Taylor couldn't see what exactly she'd done, but it caused Lee to fall to the ground, writhing in pain, before crumbling to ash once more.
Two more Lees appeared simultaneously, one trying to cut Taylor's throat and the other dropping a more exotic looking bomb at Legacy's feet. The throat-cutter failed as his blade was repelled by Taylor's vulcanium armor, allowing her to elbow him in the chest, step back, and then run him through with her spear. Legacy simply kicked the explosive away, sending it crashing into a distant wall before it detonated.
Damn, we're destroying my dad's office. Got to move the fight elsewhere…
Arachne and Legacy moved in tandem, one sprinting out the front door, the other flying, while Taylor followed, spear held in a warding gesture. Outside in the streets, they had more room to maneuver and Taylor didn't have to feel guilty about blowing up her dad's workplace.
It also gave Oni-Lee more places to teleport.
Gunfire pinged off Taylor's armor as the teleporter appeared in three places at once, twin uzis spitting out streams of bullets. Legacy dashed forward and in the blink of an eye had crushed all three into piles of ash. Another Lee appeared behind them once again, finger poised to yank off the pin of the grenade bandolier he wore, but Legacy's energy vision struck first, the twin beams scything through the clone. Several more Oni-Lee's appeared in quick succession, weapons out, preparing to use their plethora of explosives.
I've got the main body pinned down. Arachne psychically projected. Say the word and I'll hit him with a mind blast.
Do it.
Arachne's eyes glowed fiercely and suddenly one of the present Oni-Lee's stumbled. Legacy's energy vision lashed out again and that Oni-Lee flew backwards like a ragdoll into an alleyway. Taylor followed, spear ready, but found just another pile of ash.
He's retreating. Arachne projected. Getting lost in the noise.
"We'll let him go for now." Taylor sighed, feeling her power reaching its limit. "I suppose by removing Bakuda and Lung we've already accomplished a lot." She sat down on a nearby curb and just let herself rest a moment. "Being a hero is freaking exhausting sometimes."
Arachne giggled and sat next to her. "Don't worry Tay, it gets easier." She took off her mask, revealing a beautiful face and actual purple eyes. If Taylor squinted hard enough, she supposed she could see some vague resemblance.
Legacy chuckled as he stood in front of them. "She isn't wrong, to an extent anyway."
"Thanks for your help tonight." Taylor thanked the two supers. "But I think I should check on Roulette before my power runs out completely."
"I know when to get lost." Arachne held up her hands in surrender. "See you around Taylor, it was nice to meet you." She blushed and then kicked her feet against the ground for a moment. "And uh… don't forget-"
"I'll summon you and your ex another time." Taylor promised.
Arachne smiled and then faded away. Legacy sighed and looked around the destroyed street. "Someone isn't going to be happy about this."
"They'll get over it." Taylor grumbled. "We can always help fix it. Mind giving me a lift to whichever hospital Roulette is at?"
"Of course." Legacy agreed, scooping Taylor up and taking off into the sky. "You know, you should invest in a cellphone that isn't PRT property, that way you could, I don't know, call your dad and check in on him."
"Shit, you're right." Taylor felt more exhausted than ever. "Where the hell was he?"
"Probably evacuated the building once all the fighting started." Legacy reassured her. "But it wouldn't hurt to have a way to get in touch with him in the future."
"Yeah… yeah I'll do that."
Taylor sighed in relief, a feeling of victory overcoming her.
It was good to be a hero.
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