Furor 3.04

"I think that tall guy bumped into me on purpose."

I realized that it was stupid of me to say that just after I'd said it. Of course the man did it on purpose. Everyone else in the market had given us plenty of space, while feeling various levels of fear or uncertainty, or, in the case of people staring, morbid curiosity. The same as it's been since we first left the apartment… though at least people hadn't started running or screaming again. Seriously that had sucked. Anyway, just out of the blue this tall, broad shouldered man walks into me. He'd patted me on the shoulder, said "so sorry," and walked off, and unlike just about everyone else who wasn't Bitch or Tattletale, he hadn't been afraid.

I started checking the pockets of the shorts Lisa gave me. Obviously she couldn't pay with checks or cards without outing herself, so both Tattletale and I had cash on us. Lot's of cash. I wanted to make sure that Bumpy McTall didn't take any of it.

"Empress," Tattletale began, "he didn't take any-Bitch, no!" Bitch had been cracking her knuckles and preparing to chance the man down, though she didn't seem to have given Angelica any kind of signal. As the young woman in the domino mask attempted to restrain the known fugitive, I pulled something from my pocket that hadn't been there a moment ago: a note.

Empress, Taylor, or whatever you're going by now

I work for your Dad.

He loves you and misses you a lot

He said to tell you to "meet at her grave at midnight tonight."

"Empress?" Tattletale poked me in the side. "What is it?" even without emotion sensing I could pick up concern in her voice, and for good reason. I… If this was real, this was my first contact with Dad in…

"I-it's a message from my Dad. I, I think that-" Tattletale took my hand and quickly dragged me into a back alley off to the side of the market.

"Okay, start from the top, you think it's a message from your Dad?" Bitch came around the corner into the alley, with a look I'd peg as annoyance on her face and her dog at her heals, just as Tattletale finished speaking.

"What's going on?" she asked, "why are we here?"

"The big guy left a note on her," Tattletale answered.

"Yeah… Says he works for my Dad, um..." I wasn't sure I could talk right now… I was feeling a whole bunch of hard to describe emotions. I just handed the message to Tattletale and let her read it.

When she was finished, turned to me and asked "Her grave? Who's 'her,' Taylor?"

"My Mom," I replied, "it's got to be my Mom… H-he's telling me to meet at Mom's grave."

"Assuming it's not a trap," my blonde friend replied.

Oh shit, I hadn't even considered that. "Do you think that's likely?"

She replied with a blunt "No. If it's a trap, it's an incredibly obvious and clumsily done." she looked up at me, "nobody competent would have done this, and that guy didn't look clumsy so..."

I glared at the blonde. "So, then why did you bring it up?"

"It's not likely, but it's not impossible," my masked friend replied while distinctly not withering under my mighty gaze. "I just, I just want you to know that,whatever you decide to do, that you know what you might be getting into." She smiled, a normal one, not the big toothy grin, "I mean, even if it is a trap, the shoddy work on the bait tells me you've got nothing to worry about."

I felt a cool wetness press up against my leg, and turned my head to see Angelica trying to nuzzle me. I reached down to give her a pat and felt my anger at Lisa calming.

"So, what do you want to do about this?" Lisa asked after a moment.

"I want to go." I had to go. It'd been months since I'd seen my Dad, and if this was real then it meant that he still wanted to see me… even after…

"Well, if you're going to meet up with your Dad tonight," Tattletale began, interrupting my train of thought, "then you're gonna have to get some good clothes!"

I blinked… "Li-Tattletale, the clothes you got for me are nicer than anything I've ever owned."

And they were. At least, they felt like they. I'd never have gone out in a backless tank and shorts before, but Lisa had bought them for me, and… they felt great, and they didn't restrict my movements, like, at all… Granted, it might just be that I'd gotten used to bundling up during my time on the run, but-My train of thought was derailed as my experimental zerg-flies picked up something amiss in my room back at the lair.

Tattletale had been about to reply, but I suddenly cut her "Tattletale, could you call or text Regent and tell him to put the beer back?"

Tattletale blinked behind her mask, clearly taken aback by the sudden change in subject. "Alright then." she wandered over the back end of the alley and took her cell out of a jacket pocket before texting away.

I couldn't feel anything unusual emotion-wise coming from the open end of the alley, so I didn't check it out. Instead I just gave Angelica another pat.

"So, um..." I gestured to the dog's missing eye and ear, "I've been meaning to ask you, Bitch, how did that... Did she like, get in a fight or something, or-"

Bitch cut me off, answering bluntly that "The last people to have her were bastards." Bitch then kneeled down to start petting her dog herself. Nonhuman emotions were still hard to read, but Angelica seemed to be liking the attention.

"Well, it's good you got her away from that." My brutish friend simply grunted in response.

Tattletale came back to us about then. "Well, Regent didn't respond to my text, so..."

"It's okay," I replied, "I'll know if he puts it back or not." I chuckled, "if he doesn't, I'll just have to kick his ass later."

"Okay then..." Tattletale sounded… I'm not sure how to describe it really. "Well, you seem to be feeling better, Empress."

"Yeah." I was, now that I'd had time to get my emotions settled. "So, back to girl's day out." I smiled. Everything had been going well so far, and I was going to meet Dad. This was a good day so far, all things considered, and it was gonna stay good. "But no clothes shopping."

Tattletale deflated a bit as I said that, even as Bitch nodded her agreement. "Why not?" She asked.

"Because you said 'good' clothes," I answered simply, "and that means a fancy boutique, probably on the boardwalk. You know, the place we very deliberately didn't go to?" For very good reason. "I know you mean well, and things have been going well so far, but I'm not gonna rock the boat by going to a place that probably won't service known criminals in the one part of town with armed security." I began rolling my shoulders to release some left over tension from a moment ago. "Maybe, maybe if we do this a few more times, and it keeps going well, and people stop freaking out when they see us then maybe then, but not today."

Tattletale shrugged. "Okay." Seems she wasn't as attached to the idea as…

"Giving up just like that?" I asked suspiciously. "You were so enthusiastic when you brought it up at first."

"What can I say," Tattletale replied with a smile, "you make a compelling argument."

"A compelling argument," I shot back, "that you must have been fully aware of, Sherlock. I don't think clothes shopping was ever on the agenda." I thought back to the emotions I'd felt from Lisa at the time, now that my own emotions weren't boiling away within me. "You were trying to distract me. Give me something else to focus on, other than what I was feeling just a bit ago."

"Guilty as charged," she answered still smiling, "though if I'd known what our little friend was doing I'd have just let that flow it's course."

I really should have realized that before it was happening… Useless ass psychic powers, what god are they if I need to be calm to use them right… No, I was anything but calm when Glory Girl hurt… I shook my head, not wanting to think of that right now. I'd figure out my psychic powers later.

"Okay, clothes shopping's out, and so's the boardwalk in general for obvious reasons… what else can we do?" I didn't quite want to go back yet… I had till midnight to get to the cemetery and it would be at least another day before the hatchery was finished, and I wasn't quite ready to work on… those other things, so staying out with the girl's was best bet for keeping busy.

"There's a guy who sells used and off brand electronics at the far end of the Market," Tattletale answered. "I've never gone to shop, but the word around town is that he doesn't mind… certain kinds of clientele."

"Something to do." Maybe if we were lucky I could find a cheap laptop or something. To be honest, I'd been somewhat curious about what PHO had to say about me, or if anything about me made it onto the big time news.

Long Live Empress Taylor

It was a weird experience, walking out of a darkly lit shop with a pre owned(but wiped clean!) laptop and case in a generic "thanks for buying stuff here" bag held at my side. The laptop hadn't looked that old and had been surprisingly cheap even for a computer, even a used one, which, coupled with how the shopkeep, a middle aged hispanic man calling himself by "Mister Smith" didn't react at all to three super villains walking into his shop... Well, it made me suspect that the computer I'd just bought was either stolen or had been used for something illegal in the recent past.

At least by now the people in the market had gotten used to Tattletale, Bitch, her dog, and I walking out and about. I could only pick up a tiny hint of fear from the crowed in general… though I did pick up a hint of more concentrated emotions, felt more directed at my group in general, from a small group of people a bit further away. I turned to see a group of PRT agents standing about as though they weren't at all out of place in a group of civilians-"move along, nothing to see here, go about your business," and in general doing a poor job of blending in. Military style combat uniforms and armor along with military hardware looking foam weapons don't blend in well in a crowd. They had turned to look at us just as I'd turned to look at them. They seemed more.. Composed than the last batch had been and turned away as soon as they noticed that I'd spotted them… It seems that Tattletale was right.

I let out a breath I hadn't known I'd been holding, and had been about to ask Tattletale and Bitch if there was anything else they wanted to do while we were out when I heard something out in the distance.

"We should have gone to the boardwalk," a familiar voice let out, stopping my hearts.

"Oh come on, the boardwalks shops are nice, but there are just some things you can find here that you can't find there," said another… Oh god no. Not now, not today.

"Like what?" sounded the first voice, confirming my suspicions.

"Clothes that don't cost like,a thousand times what it costs to make?" Why here? Why today? Why now?

"I guess… It's just, the kinds of people you see down here," came the voice of my former best friend. "I'd feel safer if Sophia was with us."

"Where is she anyway?" sounded the voice of Madison Clements, the juvenile "I'm too cute to be guilty" bitch who'd helped my former friend and psychopathic replacement make my life hell before all of this started.

"Apparently her boss caught her slacking off at work and is making her do overtime to make it up," came Emma's voice as the two girl's came into view.

"You know, she's never actually told me what it is she does," said Madison.

"Oh, you know," Emma answered, "some boring retail job she doesn't like to talk abou..."

At first I didn't know why she trailed off, but then the emotions she began radiating hit me like a brick. Hatred. Panic. Guilt and remorse. And an emotion I'd never thought I'd feel from her, one I was all too familiar with: Self loathing. She, she'd spotted me. She was staring in my direction, fixated on me, just as I was fixated on her… I'd wanted to be angry, to hate her, to cast judgement upon her and banish her to some Hell for her sins against me… but the emotions she was feeling… She was afraid of me. She… Did she feel bad about what she'd done? Why did she hate herself so much? I couldn't bring myself to hate her, not after sensing that, and that left me unsure what to feel. This wasn't how I expect any hypothetical encounters with Emma to go, I… I didn't know what to so.

Tattletale put a hand on my shoulder. "Empress, are you..." she then caught who I'd been staring out, and through some apparent use of her power seemed to put two and two together. "Ah. We should go somewhere else now."

I stepped forward, letting her hand slide off me, and, not knowing what else to do but needing to do something, called out "Emma?"

She'd heard me and froze, and with the distance between us half the market turned to stare, the feelings of morbid curiosity springing up from around us again. I could sense a degree of panic coming from Tattletale behind me… "This is bad" came her voice in a kind of... Oh, now my mind readings powers wanted to work? Whatever. I stepped forward again, and suddenly Emma's emotions shifted, all other feelings being replaced with panic and blind fear.

My former best friend, my sister in all but blood until her betrayal, turned and ran faster than I'd ever seen her go, her emotions shifting and making her a comet of fear, shame, and self hatred. I half heartedly reached out for her, but she was long gone, Madison hot on her trail and a whole crowd of people staring either at the retreating girl's or at me.

"Taylor," Tattletale said quickly, my code name forgotten or abandoned in the urgency of the moment, "we need to go." She tugged on my arm for emphasis.

"Okay," I said, my voice empty. I was too… Confused? Upset? There was sort of a sour-sick feeling in my stomach, but I'm not sure how else to describe it… I didn't feel much like protesting, or staying out anymore.

Tattletale led Bitch and I out of the market, nobody, not even the PRT Agents blocked our path. We took a different way than Emma and Madison had fled. Once we were well outside of the Market, Bitch turned to me. "Who was that?"

All I could say was "someone who used to be my friend." She nodded, but for the life of me I couldn't tell what the nod meant. After that, I was kind of I don't know how to describe it. Getting back to the lair would take a while. We had to circle around a bit to make sure to lose anyone who might be tailing us, and then to be extra safe we'd drop down into the storm sewers and take my little short cut. We'd planned it out in advance that way.

I just let my feet carry me on the complicated and spiraling path through the city, moving when I detected my friends moving, stopping when they stopped, all while caught up in a sea of my own turbulent emotions and desperately trying to focus on anything but what just happened.

I was shaken out of autopilot by a sudden stop and the sound of Angelica growling. I came to my senses to the sight of our path-yet another alley open at both ends, blocked by a pair of young men, late teens at most, one of whom, a blonde, looked familiar. They were both dressed in Empire Eighty-Eight's colors, and contrary to their position in our path, they both had their hands raised in defense.

"We're just messengers," said familiar Blondy. "See, we're unarmed." the two young men made a show of turning out their pockets and opening their coats, to show that they had no weapons hidden on themselves.

"Okay," Tattletale began as Bitch signaled for her dog to calm, "what message could Empire Eighty-Eight want to pass along to the Undersiders?"

"Not the Undersiders," said Blondy, "her." He pointed to me in a manner that I suppose he felt was nonthreatening.

"I'm sorry," I replied, my voice dripping with equal parts sarcasm and irritation, "but I'm not interested in joining the National Socialist Party."

Blondy and his friend exchanged looks. "...That, that wasn't the message," Blondy said in reply after an awkward moment of silence.

"Okay then," I said with growing irritation, "out with it." God damn it I just wanted to get back to my hive.

"It's about your name," Blondy answered. "Kaiser doesn't appreciate some girl calling herself an empress here in his empire." Oh God here we go. "Now, he knows that you're new and all, so he's willing to cut you some slack." Well, wasn't that a fresh load of bullshit? "Kaiser has generously promised not to take action against you if you just change your name to something more appropriate… Scales, perhaps? Or maybe go back to that hebe she-demon name you had before?"

I blinked, and then ever so calmly, I told Blondy to "go tell Kaiser that he can go fuck himself."

It was Blondy's turn to blink now, and then he turned to his companion. "Well, we did our job. It's a shame though, that we'll have to tell Kaiser that Locker Girl here doesn't want to play nice."

Locker Girl? Wait that means… That's why the fucker looked familiar, the bastard's a senior at Winslow! After a moment, in which I moved more on instinct than conscious thought, I had Blondy and his buddy held, feet off the ground, backs to a wall, with Blondy's neck in my right hand and his friend's in my left.

"Let me tell you something," I said to the Nazis with fangs bared, "I'm in a real bad mood right now." I was careful with my grip, giving enough to be uncomfortable, even painful, but without enough force to crush their throats or break their necks. I was pissed, but I'm no killer. "Two of the last things I need right now," I continued, "are Kaiser's political posturing, or two Hitler Youth rejects showing up just to piss me off by say… reminding me of the worst day of my life?" Especially when I already had it on the brain... I looked the blonde dumbass in the eye but I was cut off by Bitch speaking up

"Were you the one did it?"

Blondy, radiating panic but lucid enough to know that he was being addressed,only answered by asking "di-did what!?"

"She was shoved in a locker," Bitch said slowly, as though talking to a mentally disabled child. "You called her Locker Girl. Were you the one that did it?" Bitch was… Well, she was almost as pissed as I was, that much was clear.

"No, I swear!" Blondy screamed. My friend didn't seem to believe him.

"Bitch," I said to her, "it wasn't him." Bitch didn't believe him, but she believed me. With that interruption taken care of, I once more looked Blondy in the eye and grinned with bared fangs.

"So anyway," I said to him, "I've changed my mind. Here's what's gonna happen:" I took a deep breath before continuing, "I'm gonna set you down. You're gonna run back to Kaiser, and instead of telling him to fuck himself, you're gonna tell him that if he's got such a big problem with my name," I made sure to smile big and bright for the last line, "then he can kiss my scaly blue ass. Understand?"

The two Neo-Nazis nodded, so I let go of their necks and let them fall to the ground. After a moment, the two young men scrambled to their feet and peeled out of the alley.

"Well," I said once they were gone, "that was cathartic. Let's go home." I made a note to ask Rachel why she was so curious about who it was that shoved me in the locker, or why Lisa was suddenly panicking, later.