The End of the Rope - Aftermath 02

3 Months Prior

The PRT trooper chuckled as he tossed the bench against the wall, then stood up straight, flexing his arms and smiling wide. I returned his easy grin, even though I died inside a little bit more. He was so happy to be able to get a Brute rating, even for just a few minutes, yet it tired me out so much. And I could only give it to one or two people at once without needing to sit down and rest. And I couldn't even empower myself.

I was a mild Othala. I was a weaker, more pathetic version of Othala. At least Othala could make people invincible. I couldn't even make someone bulletproof. I could barely give them minor regeneration. At least all of my buffs happened at once unlike hers.

"That's very impressive Mr. Sanders," Doctor Mickel said. She walked out from behind the security shield and ticked another block off on her tablet. "Any diminishment in the empowerment?"

"None that I can feel. This is amazing, Braid. If you could buff all of my team like this we'd be so much more effective. Safer too!"

"I can't do that," I mumbled.

Doctor Mickel frowned as she tapped at the tablet. "Are you sure? From the readings I'm getting, there is a distinct power gradient here. Most of the times I see something like this there's usually another aspect of the power. Perhaps something longer distance or a second toggle, maybe to Thinker abilities instead of Brutes?"

"Hey, lay off the kid Doc, she knows her powers better than we lowly grunts."

"I am a researcher thank you very much."

"This is all I can do," I said shaking my head. The whisper at the back of my skull calling me a liar didn't help my feelings of uselessness. The shame and guilt from the reminder of the dead school hamster was just more heaped on top.

I squashed those images and instead pulled up another smile, throwing it across my face. "Kid Win was saying that he could think faster and focus better when I buffed him. I think it works differently with parahumans. Maybe that's the other aspect?"

Liar.

"Braid, answer your fucking comms or I swear to god I will fuck you up so bad -"

Tattletale covered my earpiece with her hand, muffling Shadow Stalker's continued stream of cursing. The blonde girl stared at the comms device with a sad, little scowl. For a moment I thought that she was considering if it was going to explode - a not unreasonable worry for tinkertech devices. But then why would she still be holding it?

"I'm not afraid of this blowing up, Braid," Tattletale said, sighing. "I'm worried that your teammate is this - let's say - acerbic towards you. Is she always like this?"

"I'm not supposed to talk to you."

"You're also not supposed to be out on your own."

"I-I wasn't. I just-I just needed to get away for a few minutes!"

"In full costume?"

"I didn't have my street clothes! Give me back my comms!" I wasn't even lying. Maybe omitting a few important details, but she was a Villain and I was Ward. She didn't get important details. She especially didn't get the important details when Armsmaster didn't think they were important enough to bother disrupting his patrol over.

Tattletale frowned. I could still hear Shadow Stalker's muffled yelling through her cupped hands. I pulled back from it even as she started to extend her arm towards me. She stopped moving as soon as I flinched - which just made me flinch even stronger. "Honestly, I don't think I should give this back."

"Because I'm a Ward and you're a Villain?" I hissed. I just needed to concentrate on being angry instead of upset. If I was angry I could think clearly and I wouldn't give anything away. If I was angry then I wouldn't have to think about dealing with Shadow Stalker for another 2 hours and 4 minutes. Being upset was how I got into this problem in the first place.

I was still too tired to even try to run away, let alone fight, but all Tattletale could do was talk. The PRT agreed on that. She was a Thinker, and she talked. She wasn't violent unless you were in her way, and neither were her team; they were smash-and-grab people. If it wasn't for Uber and Leet, they would probably be the resident Beloved Mascot Villians for the city. Hellhound was supposed to be a bit rough around the edges, but I'd take her over some of the people I knew any day. And her monster dogs were even rather adorable in an ugly-cute kind of way. Plus Regent was always amusing as hell with his irreverent attitude. Some of the audio clips of him were comedy gold.

And my attention was wandering. I was so tired. So, so tired. I should never have let Shadow Stalker bully me into buffing her for that fifth fight. She hadn't even needed it. Not against two idiot muggers. I needed to sit down. I needed to sit down and…

"No, because if I give this back to you right now then you're just going to get verbally abused by the resident bitch. Why did they send her after you?" I scowled, my eye twitching under the green and brown mask. "Oh, they didn't send her. She's who you were trying to get away from for a bit. Patrol gone bad? Not just that, something deeper? Oh, wow, trouble in paradise."

"Please give it back," I pleaded. "We both know I can't do anything to stop you on my own and your team is already leaving. Nobody would respond quickly enough to get in your way. Please…just give it back."

Grue stepped out of the store to the side and jerked his head towards the panting monster dog sitting in the street a few feet away. "Tattletale, time to go."

"Yeah, come on Tats! We can tease the new Ward later, when we don't have, like, all of the pretty, pretty Empire jewelry to go and drape over our non-existent beautiful boyfriends." In spite of myself I felt a corner of my mouth lift up for an instant at Regent's joke. If this shop really was an Empire front…then I didn't feel nearly as bad about not being able to get backup here - backup who could do something at least.

Tattletale kept staring at me, her frown never leaving her face even as Grue levered himself and his bag of ill-gotten gains onto the dog behind Hellhound. Hellhound herself just kept patting the slobbery dog's side. "Hey, look at me Braid, eyes down here." I snapped my gaze back to Tattletale and she started to extend her hand again. I winced as I lifted a shaky hand towards the comm device. She closed her fist again. "Why do you want this back so bad? It's an easy out for you right now. All you have to do is say that I broke it. It'll be the truth."

"I'll get in trouble for breaking it," I murmured. "I'll have to pay for Armsmaster to fix it. I don't have the money for that. Director Piggot will say that I broke it on purpose - to avoid patrol with her. Please…give it back."

"Tattletale!"

"One second!" she called back, not lifting her eyes from me. "Why do they have you going out with her if it's that bad? I'm not a fan of the Heroes in general, but they're usually not showcasing stellar incompetence. They're overworked and outnumbered in this city, but they're not bad people."

"Gallant called out and she covered for him," I whispered. Fucking Dean. His date had probably ran long and I was the one who got shafted. It had happened before. He never checked the schedule when he had to call out. It wasn't even Vicky's fault. I had checked with Amy. Vicky didn't know because he didn't bother to tell her it was a problem. Maybe I should talk to Vicky…

God I was so tired. I scrubbed at my eyes under my mask with the back of my hand, trying not to sniffle and I swayed on my feet.

"How much longer do you have in your patrol, Braid?"

"1 hour 59 minutes." An eternity.

"Tattletale if you don't get on Judas right now, we are leaving you behind!"

"Braid," Tattletale said, her voice soft. Gentle. She was a Villain. A somewhat harmless villain in a team of people that were pretty neat and definitely the better ones in the city - against Nazis and kidnappers and drug peddlers that wasn't really too hard - but she was still a Villain. She wasn't supposed to be gentle. The world spun around her as I leaned against a light pole. I just needed to sit down. Just for a minute. "Braid, I'm going to break this. Then I'm going to tap you on the head. Not enough to do anything, but enough to register with your sensors that you were hit. You're already passing out, but you'll probably be conscious for another 5 to 10 minutes and you don't need the wannabe-murderer's vitriol in your ear the whole time."

"I just need t' ssit down," I said. Was I slurring my words? No. I was speaking perfectly fine. I was just tired.

"I'm going to activate your beacon too. Armsmaster is nearby. He should get here faster than Shadow Stalker. This area is safe enough and the Empire isn't going to respond and prove this shop is theirs, not until long after you've been picked up. And just in case, I'm going to stick around too; to make sure that Armsmaster is the first one to get to you. Okay?"

I blinked. She had said something, but it was hard to follow. I slid down to the sidewalk and took a few deep breaths as I tried to ignore the tightening in my chest. I was so tired.

Something crunched and I felt my eyes tearing up again as I saw my comms die under Tattletale's boot. Sophia's threats dissolved immediately, but…that was going to come out of my pay. I needed that money. I needed to contribute. I needed to…

"Okay, don't tense up, remember, this is just enough for the sensors in your suit to register a hit."

I blinked. My head rocked back and Tattletale was above me again laying me back down against the ground as she reached behind my neck to flip my emergency beacon.

I couldn't stop the sniffles this time I looked up at her wide green eyes hanging over me. "Why?" I whispered.

She was silent as she looked back at me. Finally she shrugged. "I would've liked to have met you out of costume, Braid. I think we could've been friends. I think that would've been…good for you. When they debrief you, don't you dare gloss over how Shadow Stalker pushed you to exhaust yourself. Not all powers are limitless. Not all of us can keep going for forever."

"TATTLETALE!"

"I'm coming!" She looked back at me one last time. "Check your mailbox in a few days. I don't think they're actually going to bill you, but check your mailbox just in case."

I could barely see her as she stood back up. Things were too blurry and there were dark spots in my vision now. A snuffling next to me was the only herald before a rough, wet tongue licked my face.

"Good doggy," I mumbled, barely above a whisper. I hadn't been eating enough, I hadn't been sleeping enough. Maybe that was why five in a row had taken so much out of me. Just a short nap wouldn't hurt. Just a short nap.

A whisper at the back of my skull told me that I didn't have to be tired. I didn't have to be helpless. I didn't have to be useless and pushed around. All I had to do was…reach out.

I shoved that voice aside.

There was a shrill whistle and the sidewalk shook under me as the slobber-monster jumped away towards his master.

Just a short nap.

It would be easier to breathe after I napped. It always was.

My eyes fluttered closed as a blonde girl, shoving her arm through a coat, skidded to a stop and knelt down next to me.

Present

Lisa squeezed Taylor's hand as the brunette's grip on the car door tightened, her knuckles going momentarily white as Lisa slowed and stopped in the line of vehicles on the road leading out of Brockton Bay. The PRT troopers at the makeshift roadblock ahead must have been doing a thorough job: traffic was backed up for over a mile. "Hey, we don't know that this is for us," Lisa said.

It is. Her power helpfully added. Goddammit. Even the back roads were getting covered. This was ridiculous. They were going to have to go on foot if she couldn't convince Taylor to calm down soon.

Lisa had barely managed to stop coughing every few minutes and she could still feel the aching throb in her head where the bullet had hit - pierced her skull and scrambled her brains - and done some damage. She couldn't go walking miles across city lines in the hopes of finding a car to steal.

Taylor could always carry her…No! Bad Lisa! Bad thoughts! Think calming thoughts! Woosah!

"We can't turn around," Taylor said. She sank lower in the passenger seat.

"Tay."

"You're not entirely better. We need to stop moving, so we need to get out of the city. Here, how do I look?" She pulled the ball cap down over her glowing eyes and stuffed her hair almost underneath it, leaving just a few strands to hang down. Coupled with the looser shirt, it was hard to tell her gender let alone most of her distinctive features.

And none of that would matter one bit. Not to the troopers. Troopers she had probably worked with, maybe even saved their lives with her empowerments. Troopers who wouldn't be fooled by sunglasses; sunglasses that didn't even do a halfway decent job of hiding Taylor's bright golden eyes that leaked light around the edges.

"Taylor, don't take this the wrong way, but while you probably pass for an effeminate boy at the moment -"

"'I can't pass'," she scoffed, "you owe me twenty bucks, Alec!"

"These guys are going to see right through you."

Taylor scowled, her grip on Lisa's hand tightening enough to make her fingers ache. "Let's stay in that Motel we passed two miles back. I can go find some abandoned lots in need of weeding and maybe a cow or two if there's a farm nearby. We go through the woods on foot tomorrow."

"Sweetie, you know I can't do that. Like I'm pretty sure I physically can't."

Taylor nodded. "I know. I'll carry you. It'll be okay."

"Taylor…"

"It'll be fine. You'll be fine in another few days, Lisa. I can see your essence when I touch you. I don't have to feed you a minor stream anymore. Your own is flowing again; it started up last night. You're improving and you'll be fine soon."

Don't say it, Lisa. Don't say it, don't say it, don't say it. "If you truly believe that then why aren't you letting yourself drop back down to your normal levels, Taylor?" Goddammit! Why did you have to go and say it?!

Cringing away from you at the completion of the question but not at the start of the query. Didn't want you to ask. Knew you would. Knew the answer already. Not afraid of damage to you from lack of Life drip feed. Afraid of collateral damage should you or another be hurt when she was not powered up and could not react in time.

"I-I just…" Taylor sunk deeper into the seat, the ball cap hiding her face entirely. "I don't want to ever be unenhanced again. If I'm enhanced I can see things coming. I can stop them. I can react fast enough to - I can - I can - I'm never going to let the people I care about get hurt because I was weak and pathetic and vulnerable ever again."

"Taylor, you weren't the reason that I got hurt." 'That I got dead', she corrected internally. "Coil was always going to try to kill me one day unless I killed him first. I just…I got outmaneuvered and I didn't see him coming. And you and Vista got caught up in it. And I'm so very sorry. I'm never going to stop apologizing for that."

"Coil didn't convince Sophia to come after me," Taylor whispered. "Coil didn't push me to kill her. Coil didn't even convince me to run away afterwards."

Taylor is correct. Coil took advantage of the situation and manipulated all camera footage his PRT access allowed when sending you the 'available footage' in order to steer the results to his benefit.

No, really? Like she hadn't figured that out ages ago. Sometimes her power was a real fucking idiot.

Taylor roused and picked her head up, the glow dimming somewhat behind the sunglasses as she narrowed her eyes. "We're too close. Why haven't we turned around yet?"

"Taylor, we don't need to keep running. You have friends back there. People who care about you. People who are worried and scared. None of this is for me. Sure, they'd like to talk to me and run some tests. But this is to find you. To make sure that you are okay. To make sure that no one else gets to you and tries to force you to work for them like he did. Because they're going to now. We're never going to be able to escape that."

Taylor's head dropped back to her chest and her fingers locked like a vice around Lisa's. "I just want to go to a cabin in the woods. I can get an e-reader and we can get internet and satellite cable and…we can shut everyone out that we don't want and…Why can't they all just leave us alone?"

Lisa winced. That dream had been possible once upon a time. She had even been looking forward to it herself, after a fashion. She liked being in the game, but there was a certain thrill to doing online jobs as well. She could be the Smart One through internet lines just as easily as she could by walking into a room. Less chance of getting shot in the head with the former too which was always a plus. "Tay, I think that possibility died a fiery death the instant that you resurrected me. Hell, with how your power works you're probably one of the few people who can one-shot Lung."

The brunette sniffled once, and nodded. "Fuck."

"Good summation. Hey, how about some music. Something to calm both of our nerves."

Lisa flipped the dial on the radio, but instead of pop or rock or even dreaded country, it was the local news. She almost changed stations. Her thumb was still on the tuner, when she froze solid, her eyes going wide. Taylor's grip on her hand had tightened enough to actually hurt her now. She didn't particularly care.

"…How New Wave will deal with the loss of yet another of their members remains to be seen. Glory Girl and Panacea have been the most active of the team in recent months since Laserdream began attending college.

"Many have called for Kill Order designations as suitable repercussions for Fenja and Menja in retaliation for Glory Girl's death. Kaiser's swift response is standard, but expected. He has made clear that no one was aware that Glory Girl was not a true Brute and that she was, in actuality, vulnerable following a strike. The Empire Eighty Eight is maintaining that this is not an intentional escalation of any hostility on their part and that this is simply a 'tragic accident that sometimes occurs whenever inexperienced children' attempt to enter the Cape scene.

"New Wave has not yet responded to requests for comment. We are told that Glory Girl was taken to the PRT medical facility following the incident and that that was where Panacea pronounced her death one hour ago. Please join us in a moment of silence for Glory Girl."

There were only two cars ahead of them now. Lisa looked at Taylor. Taylor stared back at her, her sunglasses off and ball cap between her legs.

"Can you get there faster than if we talk to those guys?" Taylor asked.

"We stole a fast car for a reason."

Taylor shut her blinding, golden eyes. She took a deep breath and let it out in a slow, steady stream. Her iron grip on Lisa's fingers never wavered. "Go."

Lisa nodded once. Then she slammed on the accelerator, spun the wheel and pulled into a U-turn. The PRT building was 12 miles away. They would be there in 7 minutes.