I: Butcher (male) (pain and essence transfer)

II: Vein (male) (see cardiovascular systems)

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

IV: Burn (male) (festering wounds)

V: Crafter (of Flesh) (female) (self shapeshifting)

VI: Boom (female) (explosive teleportation)

VII: Wolf (female) (enhanced senses, minor combat thinker)

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

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

X: Hyperspace (male) (pocket dimension for inventory)

XI: Overhand (male) (super strength)

XII: Shatterproof (female) (no sense of pain, durability)

XIII: Crater (male) (super strength)

XIV: Druid (female) (plant control/growth)

Legion: Part 2

Flechette couldn't breathe. None of the ABB had hit her, Oni Lee hadn't tagged her, and yet, she couldn't breathe. She froze, halfway through her skip to the side, legs still concealed behind the car but torso wide open in the middle of the street.

She couldn't breathe.

One arm was still wrapped around the blonde Undersider trying to drag the wounded girl back behind cover, yet she was frozen, staring down the street.

"Well, fuck, there goes the city." Which one had said that? Was it Regent? Regent was the frilly one right? It didn't matter.

Armstrong and Armsmaster were screaming in her ear through her earpiece; she couldn't make out their words over the pounding noise in her head. They didn't matter either.

What was that wailing?

Was that her?

Oh. Oh it was.

Her screams joined Lung's victory roars, jets of fire bursting into the air as he held his head back and shouted to the heavens.

And Druid, her friend, her partner, her Taylor was crumpled at his feet. Druid's head was charred, her beautiful black hair burnt badly enough that Flechette could smell it even this far away. Half her costume was melted to her and her chest was caved in.

And Flechette was still screaming. She tried to lift the arbalest even as Tattletale shouted something jerking forward to latch onto Flechette's arm.

"No, you'll just make it worse! We have to run while we can! Make it worth something!"

It didn't matter. It didn't matter at all anymore. Taylor was dead. Taylor wasn't supposed to die, she wasn't supposed to be able to die. No one was stupid enough to attack a sane Butcher! Flechette had lost everything and everyone. She had bounced from one home to the next, one city to the next. She had finally found a place where she wanted to stay. A place where she could set down roots. A place with a person to share it all with.

And now that girl was dead.

Flechette threw Tattletale off - it wasn't hard, that the blonde was still conscious was a minor miracle - and sighted onto Lung. No, she sighted onto Butcher XV. If Taylor was dead, she would kill Lung. She would kill Lung and she would be together with Taylor again - one way or the other.

She squeezed the trigger.

And her shot was blocked by Oni Lee as he flashed into being directly in her line of fire. One grenade was dropped. A knife was thrown. Lily's shot burst the clone to ash, but the grenade flew through the air towards her.

She wasn't fast enough. She couldn't reach for it and the knife both. She tried to dance out of the path of the knife while kicking at the grenade, but forgot that Tattletale was still leaning on her. Overbalanced, Flechette fell to the side, watching with wide eyes as the knife hurtled towards her chest and the grenade angled towards her thigh.

I'm sorry, Taylor.

And then two enormous vines surged from cracks in the pavement. One stopped growing directly in the path of the knife, letting the 6 inch blade bury itself into the meat of the plant with a thunk. The second casually swatted away the grenade; the deadly projectile fell onto the ground a short distance away and was immediately engulfed by the leafy pod of an engorged venus flytrap that sprouted from another nearby crack. Not a moment later the flytrap's gullet expanded as if in a cartoon, the muffled explosion pushing out the sides and crumpling the plant back to the pavement.

"That wasn't very nice," Lung's gravelly voice echoed over them all.

"What?" Lily said, her voice bereft of all inflection as she stared, eye wide.

"What?" Tattletale joined in.

"What?" A third voice just behind her injected.

More vines exploded from the pavement all around Flechette. She stayed perfectly still as Oni Lee behind her was knocked from his feet, a vine wrapping around his head and covering his eyes before he could teleport again. Tattletale molded herself against Flechette, drawing short panting gasps of air.

"Oh fuck me, you have got to kidding me! This is bullshit, this is such bullshit! Good bullshit, but such fucking bullshit!"

Flechette only had eyes for Lu-Butc-Taylor. The scales of the dragon were gone and the fire had been doused. The giant 10 foot tall beast was already reduced down to the 5 foot 8 inches that she was used to seeing every day. The short-cropped brown hair had sprouted out to fall down hi-her back in black curls. Small vines shot out from the street and wrapped themselves around her ballooning, naked torso. Right, Lung doesn-didn't wear a shirt. One vine looped into the belt hooks of the pants to cinch them up against the, now, far thinner frame. And finally, finally, Taylor reached up to take the mask off and drop it onto the ground next to her old body, glaring at the burnt remains of her old, forest green mask, her hands on her hips and a scowl on her perfect, pouty lips.

"Goddammit. It took me weeks to figure out how to leave Rebuild's power open-ended enough to fit Armsmaster's tech into the gaps! Fucking Lung! You don't get out of isolation for…a week. At least!"

"Ta-Druid?" Flechette finally managed to gasp, still not moving. One of the vines near her leaned over and caressed her face. Tattletale started to giggle, trying to mold herself even tighter against Flechette. Or maybe the blonde was trying to hide behind her. It didn't matter.

"Hey," Taylor said, walking over, stepping into a bed of vines as she moved that formed shoes around her bare feet. "Sorry about that. I didn't think the asshole was actually going to do it. Crazy arrogant idiot. He killed me! Actually killed me! Do you think that a week is too much or too little punishment to leave him in the dark on mute, Flech? I mean, the last time Butcher pissed me off I muted him for like…three days. But Butcher hasn't ever tried to steer me wrong, or into traps, or get me killed or anything. He just makes rude comments about my morals and life choices. Lung actually killed me. I feel like a week is too short, but any longer would just be…you know, cruel."

Flechette moved so fast that Tattletale fell to the street landing on her ass next to the bound Oni Lee. Taylor let out an oomph as Flechette tackled her, arms wrapped around her, face pressed into her chest, tears rolling down her cheeks.

She felt a hand threading through her hair and lightly massaging her scalp while Taylor's other hand pulled her close. "I'm okay, Flech. I got control in less than a minute. The body may be Lung's, but the mind is mine, and thanks to Crafter, I can still look exactly like myself too. I'm okay."

The roar of Armsmaster's motorcycle pulling up didn't warrant enough attention to pull her away from Taylor.

Instead, Lily just tightened her hold and cried.

"How the hell are you still in control, kid?" Shatterproof asked. This was the…third time? Third time. I just sighed and flipped her off. Again.

"Leave Druid alone," Rebuild rumbled. They were normally pretty quiet, so that they were speaking up now of all times was actually kind of sweet. "Just because she's bullshit doesn't mean we get to automatically complain."

"Yeah, I agree! Seriously, it's nice to not have to start yelling and screaming at the new King all over again." Boomer's exuberance was also welcome, it wasn't surprising though. Boomer actually really seemed to like me. I liked her too; her power was awesome. I couldn't actually fly, but using her power chained together in short hops, I could fall with style!

"Oooh, kid, you can totally fly now. Probably. Might take you longer than Lung to get the wings but the poor man's hop doesn't have to be the end goal anymore. Actually, I take that back, Lung is probably the main power now so you get the wings easy!"

My eyes widened at Vein's comment and I felt a slasher style grin spread on my face. It was good that Lily was busy talking with Armsmaster and too distracted to watch me. I probably would have scared her with that expression. What did she call it? Slasher Grin Number 3? It was probably 3. Number 2 was the one I got when I thought about going after the Slaughterhouse guys.

"Thanks for the support guys! I really appreciate it," I said. "And Vein, we are totally going to get into a fight with Kaiser soon, just so that we can fly!"

"Ah, we're rubbing off on her guys! It only took a few years and a death, but we're finally getting through to her. My heart, it can't take this," Overhand said, chuckling.

"You don't have a heart. None of us have a heart. Except Druid. She has a heart, but not us." I groaned at Spidey. He was nice, but he didn't really get sarcasm or jokes all that well.

"Hey, girl," Hyperspace whispered, "want to drop a car on some Nazis?"

"Oh my god, just because I want to get into a fight doesn't mean I am going to go with your normal suggestions for literally everything!" I yelled.

"Hey, it sort of worked on Lung."

"No, no it didn't! It made him angry and then he burnt my hair to a crisp! He burnt my head to a crisp! Go back in your corner, Hyperspace!"

Butcher grunted. "I will never be free of this child. This is what Hell is like."

Regret laughed. "Well maybe you shouldn't have been a psychopath. Sucks for yooouuu! And all of us, but mostly you!"

They started arguing and I tuned them out with an eye roll as Armsmaster finally left Flechette and came to stand in front of me. His hand clenched tight on his halberd as his helmet tracked up and down my body. If I didn't know him so well, I would've taken offense.

"Druid?"

"Yup. Hi. You're a little late."

"I did specifically say not to engage," he replied.

I shrugged. "Yes, but then you would have had four corpses instead of just one. I couldn't let the Undersiders just be murdered in front of me. Flechette is the same way. But if you're going to punish someone, punish me. She followed me in."

"As she is supposed to," he said, sighing. He held out his hand, armored palm up and waited for me to lay my own into the large grip. A quick, painless little prick later, I withdrew and raised my eyebrows waiting for his analysis. Thankfully, I didn't have to wait long. He hissed, his mouth dropping into a scowl as he stared into the HUD readout. "That's impossible."

"Crafter deliberately hid the extent of her abilities. Do you have any idea what sort of plans she had?"

"Your DNA is exactly the same! I understand the appearance, Crafter of Flesh was always able to perform impressive shapeshifting feats, but this is -"

"Her 'limit' was entirely faked. She was going to be President. No one would have ever known. But then she got the bright idea to think that she could make a body per Butcher and keep the voices in check that way. It didn't work out for her."

He gaped at me, apparently forgetting to breathe.

"This all works out pretty great for me though! Now, I don't have to try and figure out if I'm Lung pretending to be Taylor or Taylor being Lung pretending to be Taylor! I can just be Taylor! Awesome right?! Soooo cool. I love her power. Boom used to be my favorite power - after my own of course - but now it's Crafter, hands down."

"Aww, thanks, girl. I feel loved," Crafter said, laughing.

"You should, you're getting to pick the flavor of ice-cream this entire week!"

"It's a bit annoying that I can't form trees with a snap of my fingers anymore, but I'll take the large vines and giant flytraps. That's still pretty good and not too much of a loss for my main shtick."

Armsmaster's whole body shook as he lowered his gaze to meet my eyes again. At least I assumed he was meeting my eyes. It was hard to tell which part of his head was his eyes behind the visor. I still hadn't quite gotten used to the intricacies of seeing cardiovascular systems, even after so long. Body in the next room? Easy. Eyeballs in a sea of veins and arteries? No clue. I knew that they should be hollow spheres, but it was hard to find those spheres when there were other things to focus on at the same time.

"Do you know how you are still in control?"

"I'm just going with 'the Butchers like having someone able to take the reins' and running with that," I said nodding.

"So that's a 'no'."

I rolled my eyes. "Exactly. I have no darn idea why I could shove Lung into the same black pit that I can shove the others into within a few seconds of waking up again. All of my mentors are very confused as well, because, from all of their experiences, I should be a screaming voice in his head cursing him off. Instead, he screamed like a little bit…girl as I shoved him out of the driver's seat and sat down on his throne. Everybody else fell right back into line."

"I think we can safely say there is indeed a secondary component to your original power, Druid," he said softly. His shoulders slumped and he leaned forward to lay an armored hand on my shoulder. "I asked you to stay away from this fight for a reason. I didn't want to risk you. Are you okay?"

"Humph," Wolf sniffed. "Never thought we would see the day that Armsmaster showed he was human."

"Says the werewolf," Boom snorted.

I just nodded. "It hurt, but, between my pain-deadening powers and the general surprise, honestly it…I thought dying would hurt more than it did. Probably helps that I can still be myself now, instead of walking around with Lung's body - or being trapped in his head. Either way, you should talk to Flechette and get her back to the base. She was…not looking so good. And Oni Lee almost killed her. Once we get back, if you guys don't lock me up for MS stuff then I'm going to try and make sure she's calmed down tonight. I'd really, really appreciate it if the MS stuff can be held off until tomorrow."

He squeezed my shoulder, a small smirk cracking the mask that was his face. "I think that can be arranged."

"Wait, seriously? Do you actually have a Master ability, girl?" Butcher asked.

"Really?" I repeated, just as incredulous.

Armsmaster jerked his head to the side, indicating the PRT van loading the blindfolded Oni Lee inside. "He is alive, Druid. You used your plants to save Flechette and Tattletale and instead of killing Oni Lee, you captured him. Any other Butcher, including Lung himself would have simply killed him with the initial attack. I have analyzed new Butcher patterns for nearly two years now. If Lung had been subverted enough to use your power, that quickly, in defense of people he had just been attempting to kill, he would not have been sane enough to capture Oni Lee. You're you."

I smirked and punched his shoulder, the clang reverberating across the street. "Heh. I like your logic. Now we just need to get Director Armstrong to agree."

"I'll deal with the Director. You and Flechette take the van back to base."

I nodded. "Hey, do you think the next time you guys get a lead on the Slaughterhouse you could let me know?"

Armsmaster had to reach for words several times before he was able to ask, "Why?"

"No reason. I would just appreciate a heads up."

"No."

"Come on, who's a girl gotta get murdered by to get some nifty powers around here?"

"Druid. Stop."

I rolled my eyes and waved him off. "You're no fun." As I started to walk off, I paused as Spidey asked a question. Curious, I looked back and repeated it out loud. "Hey, what's going to happen to the Undersiders now?"

Armsmaster glanced over to me and grunted. "It depends on them. I imagine you'll probably get at least one new teammate before the week is out. The others…we'll see."

As the van bounced down the road, Lily curled into my side, her helmet off and her arm wrapped around me. The leaves binding my chest to preserve my modesty weren't really conducive to this type of cuddling or clinginess. Their leathery flesh itched.

"Whose power is best now, Druid?" Boom taunted in a sing-song.

I groaned and tried to ignore her. It wasn't worth muting her. She was right after all. My power was great - until it wasn't.

"I was going to kill Lung," Lily murmured.

I froze. My arm around her tensed and pulled her closer against me. It was only through force of habit that I kept breathing.

"She's frightened now and she was desperate then. We've all been there…many, many times for some of us," Regret mumurred. "Say something while you have the chance."

Swallowing on a suddenly too dry throat, I was able to force some words out after the prompting. "I…think I understand where you're coming from, Lily, but please, please don't ever do that."

"I don't want to be alone anymore, Taylor," she whispered. "March is going to come after me eventually, but even if she didn't it wouldn't matter, because I hate her. I hate her and everything about her. I haven't had anything in a long time and she's taken everything that I managed to gain back since I got powers. You're all I have left. If you -" her voice cracked and she squeezed me hard enough that I would have actually been in pain if not for my powers. As she loosened her grip, she started again. "I can't go back to being alone. Not anymore. I'd rather live with you as a voice in my head, than be alone again."

"Okay, on the one hand, that's sweet. On the other hand, wow, Druid, you got yourself one crazy girl," Crater commented.

"Don't insult, Lily," I growled.

"Seriously, I was frustrated when you got Little Miss Ward as a goody-two-shoes girlfriend, but now? Now I see that this chick would actually fit right in with the Teeth! I mean, bravo and -"

I shoved him down to sit right next to Lung in the black. The others rolled their collective eyes, some sighing and others muttering about stupid idiots pissing off the King.

I tuned them all out.

"Lily," I shifted so that she was sitting up on her own and could meet my gaze. "Don't. Don't even think that. This life? I don't want this for you. Especially now that I know for sure that I'm going to be on the top for…awhile. So please, whatever happens in the future, promise me that you won't follow me into this pit. I'm doing good. I'm actually kind of having fun with it. But that would change really, really fast, if there was someone that I knew - someone that I loved - trapped up here." I tapped my head. Then, to take some of the sting out of the words, I leaned forward. Just like I had expected she closed the distance, kissing me and leaving me breathless as we pulled apart a few seconds later.

Lily sniffled, nodding, as she wiped at her eyes. She grabbed my hand and squeezed. "Okay. I'll try not to freak out so much moving forward."

"Oh you can freak out. I would be offended if you didn't," I said, smirking. "Just don't rush to follow me. Okay?"

"Alright." She paused, tilting her head to the side as a very small grin slowly showed itself. "So, I have to ask. Can you make the leaf bikini top part of your normal costume?"

"What."

"Because, Taylor, that's fucking hot."

My mentors laughed loudly enough to drown out the world around me and I laid my head back against the van's wall, groaning. I was never going to get to live this down.