Premise: This was inspired by a story prompt on my Pa tr eon. The original prompt was for Taylor getting All Might during her summer camp trip. Unfortunately I don't really follow My Hero Academia and trope dives aren't really enough to do that sort of thing justice. That said, I can do a fun take on a Butcher!Taylor as a spiritual version of the idea…

Special shout-out to Spacebattles' HowlingGuardian and his 'Here Comes The New Boss (Nothing Like The Old Boss)' as I've been reading that story recently as well so that has influenced the direction here a bit too.

Names for the Butchers:

I: Butcher (pain and essence transfer)

II: Vein (see cardiovascular systems)

III: Spidey (super strength, danger sense) (hero)

IV: Burn (festering wounds)

V: Crafter (of Flesh) (self shapeshifting)

VI: Boom (explosive teleportation)

VII: Wolf (enhanced senses, minor combat thinker)

VIII: Rebuild (reform matter, shape that matter into objects)

IX: Regret (super strength, induce rage) (hero)

X: Hyperspace (pocket dimension for inventory)

XI: Overhand (super strength)

XII: Shatterproof (no sense of pain, durability)

XIII: Crater (super strength)

Legion

"Did you not hear me? I said, go away, Taylor. I don't need you anymore. You're weak."

I frowned as I kept staring at Emma. In through the nose. Out through the mouth. In through the nose. Out through the…

"Who the hell does this bitch think she is?" Boom shouted. She growled as she stared through my eyes at my best friend.

"She's a dirty rotten traitor that's who she is!" Rebuild hissed. "And we all know what we do with traitors."

"Shush now, I'm thinking," I murmured.

"What's to think about, kid?" Shatterproof asked with a mental shrug. "She hurt you."

"You don't even feel pain," I muttered out loud with a soft sigh.

"Oh, now you talk to yourself too, Taylor?" Emma said. Her smirk grew wider as she stepped forward. My eyes narrowed as I caught sight of another girl just behind her leaning against the wall of the hallway, a huge smirk on her face.

"Dollars to donuts that Red is being Mastered. Check out Blacky. She's too happy with this. Kid was too tight with Red and now such a big change after less than two weeks? Master, no doubt." I might not particularly like Burn or what the racist man tended to think, but his insights had been fairly spot on so far. Which was damn annoying honestly. It would be easier to mute him if he wasn't a tactical whiz.

I suppose when your only real power was leaving somewhat rotting wounds on people, you'd have to be intelligent in order to kill the Butcher.

At least Crafter had been sneaky when she'd done her deed. Not too many ways to defend against someone when they walk up to you looking like your lieutenant and then stab you in the damn heart.

"Nah, I'm not taking that bet," Boom chimed in. "Why would someone want to Master the kid's friend? All she's got is a modeling thing. Dad's a divorce lawyer, there's money, but not enough to be a good target for a Master."

"It's personal," Butcher grunted. I cocked my head to the side as he commented. He usually just sulked. How a man could still be annoyed years later that people kept killing him and stealing his legacy I didn't understand. "Did you piss off anyone besides us recently, Girl?"

"She didn't piss me off!" Regret said, waving her nonexistent hand. I sighed. It was still surprising that the woman who had been able to induce mindless rage in people around her was a hero. I suppose I could see why the PRT kept that quiet, but it was annoying. I would have to clear her name. She'd named herself Regret even.

"You really are crazy now aren't you, Taylor? That time in the woods knocked whatever screws you had left loose. Go home and cry to Daddy. I don't need someone as pathetic as you around me anymore."

The watching girl's smile widened even more. The Butcher's collectively perked up and my eyes narrowed. I let a bit of them seep into me as I stepped forward. I barely even paid Emma any mind as I gently pushed her out of the way.

"Hey what the - "

"It's okay, Emma, I'll get someone to help you in a moment. First, let me fix this problem."

The new girl pushed herself off the wall while Emma tried to shove me. Not that it did anything. She would have been able to knock me into a wall a few days ago. Now…not so much. New girl stalked forward, her grin not diminishing for a moment. "So, you're going to 'fix' me huh? You and what army, Herbert?"

"It's Hebert actually. But I'm sure you knew that. And you are?"

"Hess." She showed her teeth as she stopped in front of me, not even bothering to uncross her arms. This might be fun. "You should leave now before you get hurt. Sheep like you have no business trying to bare their teeth."

"Show the little bitch! Drop a car on her head! That'll teach her!" Hyperspace shouted.

"That's your answer to everything," I retorted.

I grinned as I advanced a step closer, putting me within arms reach of Hess. "I agree completely. You just seem to have the wrong idea of which weight class we're both in."

"Oh? Well, let's correct that then shall we?" Hess didn't waste any more time. She moved, her body flowing like a stream as she lashed out. Her fist struck for my solar plexus while her leg lashed out to kick at the back of my knee. By all rights I should have gone down.

Instead, I let her fist hit me, her shout of pain bringing me a moment of joy and the raucous laughter of the Butchers. Before her leg could connect, I pulled oo Wolf's power and twisted. I grabbed Hess' leg, using her own momentum against her, swinging her around and out the threshold of the door. The girl's head just barely managed to clear the bottom edge. Emma screamed as Hess slammed onto the concrete of the sidewalk leading up to the steps of the house.

"It's okay, Emma. I was careful. She should just be winded." Emma ran inside still screaming as I knelt down, grabbing Hess' shirt and jerking her up so that I could stare into her eyes. "So, where were we?"

Hess' lips bared into a snarl and she spat a glob of blood at me. "I'll give you one chance to let go of me."

"Hmm, a fighter. Gotta give this Master credit. She's got balls. Most Masters don't get that physical," Burn noted.

"Still on that, huh?" Boom asked. "I say it's a power thing. Girl's definitely a cape. We just outed ourselves easy and she's still grinning like a loon. Only capes are that cracked. But I'm thinking she's a minor Brute who wanted a minion."

"Oh, you think she might have set up a situation to break Red and then pounced on the pieces left behind?" Burn asked.

A chorus of voices chimed in with agreement to that. It did sound more plausible than a Master randomly grabbing Emma. Alan didn't make that much money after all and there were easier ways to get to Carol Dallon than worming their way through the civilian side of her law firm.

I nodded. "Okay, this is how it's going to go, Hess. You have two options. You can explain to me, right now, how you hurt my friend and turned her into your minion, or you can explain it to the PRT when I call then and get them here for a rogue cape. I doubt they'd take someone setting a girl up to be attacked and then asking for a 'favor' as the 'savior' afterwards. But hey, your choice."

Hess laughed. "You're so fucked." Then she turned to gas in my hands. I inhaled in surprise, and nearly missed it as her incorporeal form slid out from under me. My danger sense flared and I twisted again, catching her booted foot just as she resolidified. I tried to throw her again, a scowl crossing my face, but she turned to gas in mid-air and drifted out of my reach.

I was up and running towards her as Alan and Emma ran outside shouting. Alan was on his phone and Emma was pointing towards us. I took a moment to turn my head to the Barnes. "Uncle Alan, call the PRT! This bitch is - " My danger sense flared again, and I tried to twist out of the way, but it wasn't enough. A - much muted - lance of pain shot up through my shoulder. Looking down I saw a small dark crossbow bolt sticking out of the meat of my shoulder.

Hess was staring at me, her grin fading slightly as she realized that her shot hadn't hit my heart.

"You just tried to kill me." The Butchers all fell quiet as rage boiled inside me. Theirs, my own, I didn't really know which. Not that it mattered. "Okay. I'm done being nice." Reaching up, I snapped the bolt, shoving both halves out of my body. An instant later, I teleported. The explosion knocked Hess onto her chest. She tried to turn to gas, but I pushed out with my pain aura and she screamed, holding her head. The gaseous form collapsed back into a girl and she whimpered on the ground.

I reached under her side with my boot and kicked her over so that she was lying face-up. Setting my boot down on her chest, I left just enough weight on it to remind her I was there as I leaned over. I snapped my fingers and plants grew from the ground around her, binding her arms and legs to the ground. The Butchers' powers were fun, but I loved my own. Being a goddamn Druid was badass; actually that was a great name. Druid. I would be Druid.

"Let's try this again, shall we, Hess?"

The girl panted, her eyes wide as she stared between the plants on her limbs and my face. "You're…"

"Out. Of. Your. Weight. Class. Now, how did you hurt my friend. And be quick about it, I'd rather get the story from you, before I have to deal with explaining this mess to the PRT. And I hear sirens."

The Butchers cheered as Hess started babbling and Alan held Emma to his chest, both of them staring at me. I just smiled at them and flashed them both a thumbs up.

I totally had this covered.

"Do you think if we feed her a lemon she would implode? Her face is already so scrunched up it might just work." Crafter said, chuckling. I had to hold in my own laughter as I completely agreed with her. Director Piggot looked nearly ready to shoot me as she stared at me from across the table. Well tough luck lady, that wouldn't help and we both knew it.

"Let me see if I understand this correctly."

"Why are we doing this again?" Crater sighed. "She's even doing the typical Dumb Cop thing of reiterating what we just said. This is so cliche it's like a fucking B-Movie."

"Because I want to help people. And if you don't listen to me, I'll mute you and then I'll probably end up having to kill Snowbird and Lightning Rod too since they'd stay villainous instead of being redeemed." I said, mentally shrugging.

"You killed all of the others already, why not finish the set," Butcher grunted.

"If they had stopped chasing me, I wouldn't have had to kill them. I was panicking thank you very much. Being lost in the woods and randomly stumbling onto a murder gang isn't a fun situation you know."

"Cut the kid some slack," Spidey said. "She managed to take out a few of the Teeth before even getting our powers."

"I still say she got lucky," Overhand groused. "Who gets lucky enough to get plant powers while in a forest? Kid's got a fucking angel on her shoulder."

"…and that's when you attacked Miss Hess."

I refocused on Director Piggot and rolled my eyes. "No. She attacked me. I confronted her about hurting my friend. Hess threw two attacks that would have probably landed a normal person in a hospital for a few hours. Having already realized that my friend was being subverted by a cape, and being attacked myself, I took action."

"And then you tried to kill her - "

"Director Piggot," Armsmaster cut in. The woman looked at him and her face scrunched up even further. Crafter laughed. "If you don't want to induct the newest Butcher into the Wards, that's fine. Just tell her no, and send her on her way. But stop antagonizing her. You are not a Cape. You are not in danger here. I am. I and every other cape in this building. Stop antagonizing the Butcher or get the fuck out and I will call someone competent to handle this interview."

Piggot's face turned red. Before she could start shouting, I leaned back and nodded in her direction. "Ma'am, you really should watch your blood pressure. I can see how bad your veins are right now, and you're really going to give yourself a heart attack or a stroke in a few minutes if you don't calm down."

Piggot twisted back to me. Her mouth opened to say something. Probably to start shouting. But then the door to the room we were in opened and another woman walked in. Piggot's mouth snapped closed and Armsmaster quickly snapped to attention. I waved to the new arrival. The woman just nodded to me as she sat down.

"Director Piggot, you are dismissed."

Piggot didn't even bother fighting back. She just grunted, stood, and stalked out of the room. The new woman met my eyes and the Butchers quieted as they appraised her.

"Something familiar about this one," Wolf murmured.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Hebert. I am Chief Director Costa-Brown. Before we continue, would you like your father present for this interview?"

"Not particularly, no. He hasn't really been super present in my life recently and he's just going to freak out once he understands what happened. I'd rather that be when we're not having to deal with the PRT as well if that's okay."

"That's perfectly fine, Miss." She shuffled some papers and after getting her folder in order, clasped her hands on the tabletop, staring at me again. "Now, I am led to understand that you wish to join the Wards?"

I nodded. "That's correct. I could do the whole Independent Hero thing, but I don't really see that ending well. I'm half convinced that I'm going to stay in power anyway if someone kills me, but I'd rather not test the theory, and having a team for backup would be nice."

Armsmaster grunted and the Chief Director nodded. "There have been two prior heroic Butchers. They did not survive particularly long amongst the onslaught in their mind. The first lasted for approximately two months. The second made it barely three weeks before she succumbed."

"Actually, I'm glad you brought up Regret." I tapped the table. "One condition I have for this is that I want it made public that she was a hero. She was small-time so nobody knows about her or her power. They think that the Rage Butcher was some random psycho; not a good woman who got shafted because she made a mistake and the wrong person died while still under her influence."

"I'm sure that can be arranged easily enough."

"You don't have to do that," Regret murmured. I just patted her metaphysical hand and sent a bit of warmth towards her.

"As to my concern, Ms. Hebert…"

"I'm in control of the voices. They can talk and they can yell if they want. But they don't get a say unless I let them have a say. It's like I have 13 mentors in my head. Granted some are complete assholes and I'm fairly sure that at least one wants me dead, but the rest are actually decent. It's like they're grateful for some order and a hierarchy for once…"

The Chief Director rubbed at her chin as she considered that. "Do you know why you are able to keep them in order when no one else was previously able to do so?"

"No idea. They don't know either. I'm not looking the gift horse in the mouth. Teeth are rotten but it would make for good glue and…" I trailed off sighing. "Yeah, my humor has been affected by this situation. Please ignore my attempts at jokes. I'm trying to police myself, but I've rather lost some of my filter."

She nodded. "Very well. You understand that there will have to be limitations."

"I don't have any problems fighting with kid gloves, but I can't agree not to use my powers. All of my powers. The Butchers would start getting annoying if I don't use their abilities every once in a while and though I can keep them muted, they see things that I don't. I'd be much more effective if they are helping - and that means I need to be free to use all of my powers."

"I was afraid of that," she sighed. "I'll see what I can do. Moving on for the moment, we need to discuss Snowbird and Lightning Rod. They were sighted arriving in Brockton Bay at approximately the same time as yourself. None of the other members of the Teeth have made an appearance. We are fairly certain that we know why, but I would like your confirmation."

I fidgeted, suppressing a grimace.

"Come on kid, own the carnage!" I muted Vein with a sigh. He knew better than to say things like that.

"I saw the news story last night. It got most things right even if it was speculation. When I triggered, I triggered as a Druid. My trees basically ate most of them while they chased me. I didn't even realize I had killed the Butcher while running away until I was getting yelled at and started teleporting instead of running."

"And Snowbird and Lightning Rod?"

"They're not that bad. Get them some therapy, surround them with heroes, and they'll be good people. They were just pulled into a bad crowd. The others were crazy. Those two are nice. Mostly."

Armsmaster frowned as he looked at me. "You are asking us to put them in the Protectorate?"

"Well Snowbird is Wards age, but for Lightning Rod? Yeah. Please? They're the last of the Teeth. Isn't it better to convert your enemies rather than kill them? These two didn't even do anything besides rob a few stores."

The Chief Director eyed me for a long moment. "Would it cause the Butchers to be more helpful if they were still working alongside the final two members of their last team?"

"Yes. But that's not really why I'm asking. Snowbird doesn't deserve to be railroaded because she was an idiot."

"Your heart is going to get you killed, child," Butcher hissed.

"Because your strength worked so well for you, buddy." I muted him and spread my arms before the Director. "Just a bit of help. If they mess up, that's on them. I'm just trying to see that they have a chance."

"It's been done before." The Chief Director nodded once. She pushed her folder towards me and I snatched it, flipping it open. "Ms. Hebert, we're willing to take you on. You will have to undergo weekly psych evals, all carefully monitored. Your team will be informed of your status. They will have the final say if they are comfortable working with you in close proximity. We will need to run a full power testing gamut on you to determine exactly what your limits are and how much influence the prior holders' minds have on you. There will likely be more terms later as we understand the full implications of this. Is this acceptable as is for the moment?"

I smiled. "I'm looking forward to working with you Ma'am."

She chuckled and Armsmaster grunted. "And I you, Ms. Hebert. Now, let's deal with the minutiae."

AN: I have a Pa tr eon and Ko-fi now! If you want to support my efforts and see some work-in-progress chapters a bit earlier as well as have a say in what I focus on please feel free to take a look. Both are under my other pseudonym 'Slider'. More descriptive links are in my profile.