CONTENT WARNING: This chapter contains underage drinking as well as mild violence. Reader discretion is advised. Don't drink if you are underaged. In the US that means don't drink if you are under 21. In my country it means don't drink if you are under 18. If you do drink, please do so with caution, with proper (sober) supervision. In a crowded place keep a careful watch of your cup and be mindful of what you drink. Don't drink and drive. Also, if you do drink remember that fatty foods and water helps a lot afterwards.
Shimmer for Monsters
It was a slow day in the beginning.
The red and black clad girl brought lunch served from a grease filled paper bag, which filled his belly nicely, and the conversation that came with it wasn't terribly boring either.
The underground base he was in had a massive room protected by heavy doors where he could move freely with his new body, so his accommodations weren't as bad as they could have been if he had to stay in the Last Drop. The fact that Duchess had an Endbringer shelter all to herself was quite surprising although apparently, they were still in the process of moving stuff from the club to here where it would be better hidden and protected, so the acquisition must have been recent.
The patrols had been slowed down in preparation for an offensive against the E88 today at night, so most of the gang was resting to gather strength for that eventuality. Urgot, as a patriotic Russian, would take great pleasure in kicking nazi ass but for now he still needed to get used to his chem-tech body.
The guns and his spider legs and his new lungs and liver all made him feel like a new man and he could barely wait for a fight to prove himself.
The TV that was installed in his room blared a soap opera that he started watching way back in his cabin in Canada and he let himself relax moving one mechanical leg after the other, stretching them to their max and then coiling them as back as possible.
Then, when he was about to exercise his new arm, the speaker in the corner of the room blared with sound:
"Urgot, this is Spitfire. We have a situation. The E88 are attacking Patrol B on Keystone Avenue and we have confirmed sightings of Hookwolf, Cricket and Crusader heading there as reinforcements. Patrol A and C are moving to help, and we need you there to deal with the murder blender."
"Da! I hear you loud and clear!" He yells back. "Open the door and let me out! I'll deal with that scum!"
"Good, Tattletale will give you directions to there, through your comms. See you on the battlefield!"
He moved to the slowly opening gates while using his normal arm to pick up, from the pocket of his coat, the small object to put in his ear. As soon as the object was put in place, he clicked it on and spoke.
"This is Urgot. I need directions to the fight."
"Urgot, this is Tattletale. Be ready for the info." Duchess's lieutenant spoke.
Navigating through the base with as much speed as he was allowed, he finally came out inside the car park beneath the Fortress Construction building. He made his way towards the northern exit as he tried to commit to memory the information the blond girl was giving him.
Years of military training and experience was quick to kick in as he finally received word that Hookwolf was moving to the avenue in a pincer move with Crusader. He was only a few streets from there, since Patrol B was patrolling the stretch of territory connecting the underground base to the Boardwalk.
After turning a corner, he finally found the nazi fucker, wearing nothing at all from his waist up with a metal mask in shape of a snarling wolf on his face. He looked like something out of a very deadly trash dump. Full of knives and shiny hooks coming out of his body as he ramped himself up to enter the fight.
Urgot was lucky in finding him before Hookwolf was fully transformed and before he went to join his nazi friends.
Unlucky for Hookwolf, though, because now he had an empty street where Urgot could unleash everything he had without worrying about friendly fire.
Without even a greeting, Urgot sent two shots from his arm gun towards the nazi. Hookwolf was hit by the first and, despite his surprise, he dodged the second. The green goo exploded in contact with the enemy cape as the liquid was released from its bullet shaped container with a shower of bubbling acid that made Hookwolf scream in pain. The other shot hit the building behind the nazi rotting one of the walls.
The nazi's metal body, now fully transformed, shook itself like a wet dog sending sharp pieces of itself everywhere, all of them half-eaten by the acid.
"Who the fuck are you?" Hookwolf loudly ask.
"Your fear, given chem-tech and flesh." Urgot proclaimed as he ran closer to the enemy cape.
Hookwolf's body was already replacing the lost weaponry as Urgot shot towards him again. This time Hookwolf dodged cleanly and pounced towards him but was surprised when he received a burst of flame from Urgot's most forward spider leg, sending the nazi cape back. Hookwolf fell on his hind legs, shook himself again and pounced towards Urgot's left flank, away from his gun arm. With a downwards swing of his claws, Hookwolf attempt at dismembering Urgot failed when his claws met a green energy shield. The shield seemed to bubble at the hostile contact but didn't budge. Urgot flexed his spider legs and threw himself towards the nazi cape using his shield as a battering ram.
They hit the wall of a building. Bricks and glass falling on top of them.
Before Hookwolf could regain his bearings from the impact, Urgot decided to put more distance between them.
With his strong left hand, he caught Hookwolf by his windpipe, a place where no knifes or sharp edges existed, lifted him up and threw the fucker behind his back.
Urgot turned around quick enough to see the metal wolf flip through the air and land on his four legs like a cat.
Urgot took a deep breath from his tox-mask and proceeded to cock his gun arm and switch the internal mechanism, like he trained himself to do for the past few days. He took aim and immediately a hail of bullets came through the nozzle. The only thing the nazi could do from such a distance was dodge, but he couldn't escape the trajectory of so many bullets and, as he was hit, he lost parts of himself. Hookwolf still tried to regain lost ground and reach Urgot but was again surprised when a different spider leg shot a burst of flame towards him making him loose a few more pieces. Still defiant Hookwolf tried again and this time Urgot decided to oblige him ending the bullet shower and preparing to ram the wolf again.
Another green field activated and the russian man jumped at the nazi cape with all his strength. Hookwolf unbidden threw himself to his opponent as well, cracking the concrete road beneath their feet, as the opposing monsters met. Urgot pointed his gun directly towards the wolf's head but feeling the impasse Hookwolf used the green shield as a launching pad with his hind legs and jumped backwards, retreating. Both men took a moment to regain their bearings and regain their strength, pausing the fight.
"You are quite strong. It has been a good fight." Hookwolf breathed out, taking the opportunity to rest a bit. "Have you thought about joining us, instead?"
"Ah. You respect strength. Good. Then you understand." Urgot's new mechanical voice responded, pleased. "Unfortunately, I have prior commitments… and even if I didn't, I would never join a man that walks beneath the nazi flag."
Urgot decided that it was best to end the fight then and there so he could join his teammates fighting in the avenue next to him. He needed to prove himself as a reliable comrade, so he needed to go there in case they needed help.
With a burst of energy from the green liquid that was flowing inside his body, he took position.
With a creaking sound, he felt his lower belly and his waist giving way to the machinery beneath him as the roar of the metal was began to resonate deep in his bones.
To an outsider, his belly seemingly opened upwards to reveal a complex metal structure, only to immediately from it swing out two cylinders full of spikes that hit each other with a bam sound. The two cylinders then threw themselves apart from each other. The entire thing resembled a mouth opening, waiting to be fed.
At the same time, two holes reveal themselves from the chassis and from them two hooks shot themselves forward. With great speed they flew towards Hookwolf.
Since the whole thing happened frighteningly quick, the enemy parahuman, who was about to answer back to Urgot's response, barely had time to dodge. But his attempt was too slow. The two hooks immediately found purchase in the nazi's complicated body structure and with a yank brought him towards Urgot.
In no time whatsoever the metal wolf was inside Urgot's mechanical mouth as the indentations on both the ends of the metal dropped, keeping him in place. The two cylinders started quickly rotating and hit Hookwolf from each side.
The nazi cape screamed as Urgot's drill quickly thrashed his metal body, pieces flying everywhere and dropping to the floor. The chem-tech contraption ripping and tearing the hard metal like it was paper. The damage was so great that the chains stopped being useful because the pieces they had hooked on no longer existed, so they retreated back into the chassis.
"If only you were stronger." Urgot sighed, in disappointment.
Then what was left of Hookwolf fell onto the road. It was nothing but a metal ball of seemingly liquid shiny metal with a deformed animal leg attached. Urgot prepared himself to pick up the remains and throw them somewhere suitably degrading when something else stole his attention.
"Attention unknown parahuman, this is the Protectorate! Identify yourself!"
Urgot's attention went from the remains of the nazi on the floor to the armoured man with a shiny halberd, several feet in front of him. There was a motorcycle behind him, and he could see two other masked people coming towards their position.
"I am Urgot, a temporary member to the Nation of Zaun." He simply responded to the hero. He saw him tense up and the man responded (Urgot made the effort of studying the local hero branch, just in case, and by the signature weapon, he judged him to be the parahuman tinker known as Armsmaster).
"Then you are a villain. Please, surrender peacefully to our custody or you will be forced to!"
"How about no?" Came a voice from behind him.
Suddenly the street was being flooded with green and purple smoke that came from small round copper grenades that clinked across the road. A thump and a sudden weight on one of his legs announced the arrival of Spitfire, who turned to him and spoke quickly.
"We need to go! The rest are already retreating!"
"Very well." Urgot responded, trying to ignore the disappointment at missing such a promising fight. But he had yet to prove himself, so he obeyed. His conscience soothed with the knowledge that, at least, there will be more fights to come.
"Just let me cover our own retreat."
Spitfire inhaled harshly through her mouth and when she opened it, liquid napalm was spat onto the road, through the opening of her mask. She spread the liquid all through the width of the smoke covered street. The heat coming from the flames was so immense that the heroes will have a hard time getting through it if they try. Then she hit him on the shoulder announcing the end of her task and he turned around to run away with her still on top of his chassis.
As quick as he could, he dashed the length of the street, with Spitfire sometimes spiting on the ground behind them. He could also hear yells from behind them, but he paid it no mind.
With Tattletale's voice returning to his comms, helping the two of them evade the heroes, he took the back roads and went through narrow streets. They stopped in one alley for a bit, on the thinker's advice, and then they backtracked trough a few streets before arriving finally to the underground base.
As the doors to the shelter closed behind them, he heard Spitfire proclaim with tired cheer:
"So… that went well!"
"Da, that was a good fight."
"Well, to you, maybe. I had to deal with Victor, the bastard."
Urgot raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, I know. I can literally spit fire but the damn nazi couldn't stay still for a second. Thankfully, I just had to make him retreat."
"Then we both did our jobs correctly. We will drink tonight to celebrate!" Urgot nodded, enthusiastically.
"Sure, why not?"
"I'll get the vodka then."
Ω
"That was a disaster."
"What?"
"That was not supposed to go this way."
"Look, sure they caught us by surprise but what is important is that we bounced back and kicked their asses!"
"We weren't supposed to be caught by surprise!"
"Look…" Tats interrupted the fight between you and Taylor with a sigh. "We still won. By all measures we won an astounding victory. Just because we were caught unaware by such a large force does not mean we lost the vantage point. If we act offensively next time, we can still use the self-defence excuse. An excuse that we were planning on getting anyway. The entire team knows we ended up in the best of all possible worlds with this situation."
Taylor simply grounded her teeth against each other with a look of fury. Despite the celebrations of the gang's victory going on outside the office, Taylor was not in a celebratory mood having raged her way through the office after the official team meeting. Her fickle mood fully changing after a few comments from Regent and Brian during it. Somehow, giving you the new gun before the meeting, no matter how non-lethal, only soothed Brian's opinion a limited amount. With her plan to deal with E88 having been derailed, even if only by a slightest amount, served only to compound her feelings to create this new mood. This derailment changed the narrative she wanted to utilize, and she was pissed about it.
Despite the fact you thought that she was overreacting, you understood that her rage was coming from a place of fear and anxiety. To Taylor this gang was her life, ever since the death of her father she threw herself, mind and soul, to make Zaun a reality. Sweat, tears and blood (from Taylor, from you, from Jack and from all the members that came to join them throughout this journey) were the price at building such a massive organization and to even see the slightest possibility of the castle of cards falling down was certainly worth an anxiety attack.
You throw at Taylor a pleading look and her anger seem to dissipate a bit. Well, at least she stopped trying to ground her teeth to dust.
"Look, relax Taylor. Nobody on our team was badly wounded and the nazis got so wrecked I hardly think they will try something like this anytime soon." You add to the conversation.
"Regent-" Taylor tried to protest.
"Regent is now as good as new. I bet he's already annoying the bartender at the club like nothing happened." You interrupt unflinchingly. "He only complains for complaining's sake."
Taylor simply threw you another look but this one was less hot than the previous one. She then shook her head and gave her attention to the cane sword lying on her lap. With slow motions, she cleaned the blade with a white cloth that was slowly turning magenta, with the amount of blood still remaining on the blade and the shimmer that coated it like some dark poison. The two other occupants of the office simply took this moment as a respite and tried to relax. Tats had a wet cloth on her forehead that was slowly falling to her eyes, dripping water onto her face, as she lied down on the biggest sofa of the office. You were on lying horizontally on the nearest armchair, playing again with the butterfly knife. Before the fight, you saw a video on the internet with a new trick you wanted to try, so you were now attempting at performing it.
With a click, your attention went back to Taylor. She was now sheathing her weapon to look like a normal cane again and with the previous click she had put another purple vial on the handle, recharging the device.
After finishing the maintenance session, Taylor simply put the ferrule of cane on the floor, tapping it, and putting both hands on top of the bird skull that served as the handle. She rested her back to be fully reclined on the sofa, took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
You continued trying to perform the new trick, while taking the occasional glances at both girls.
After a few moments, Taylor opened her purple eyes. The sudden move, after so much silence, startled you a bit making you fail at the 15th attempt at the trick.
"Tomorrow, I'll be seeing Urgot. The drills need replacement after today. Lisa… you will follow Aisha to the shelter. There you will observe Aisha's… interrogation of Krieg. Get everything from him. Coil's information was excellent for us, but it was superficial at worst, incomplete at best. I want to know his bank account, his social security number, his favourite food, even his high school sweetheart, everything." Duchess said softly. "Do not disappoint me." She closed her eyes again. "The both of you."
You harrumph at her audacity, but she only opens one eye and somehow manages to glare with just that single one.
You glare back.
When the glaring doesn't stop, you huff.
Now thoroughly annoyed, you get up and move to the door.
"I'll be up there partying it up. When you finally get out of that funky mood of yours, you are free to join me. Until then, stay there." You firmly state before opening the door and getting away.
Damn Taylor. Forcing me to do this. You think angrily as you go your way to the floor above. It's nothing she wouldn't do herself or that we haven't done before, but just now she acted as if I'm beholden to her. I shed just as much of myself as she did, to see this gang rise up from nothing. She has no right to be like that!
The party was in full swing on the floor above the office. Urgot was staying in the shelter, so he was the only person missing from the party. Not for the lack of wanting to come. According to Spitfire, he drank his own weight in spirits before falling asleep where he dropped to the ground drunk. Spitfire wasn't looking any better, having to call Jack to bring her to the club.
Now, you can spot her somehow sleeping on one of the couches, while the party continued. Jack was next to her, resting against the arm of that couch while drinking a beer and talking with… Sam? You don't know who. At this point, there have so many additions to the gang that you lost the who was who of the lower ranks. You now only interacted with the elite members and the few medium ranked people responsible for a few minor but vital operations of the gang.
You immediately went to Chuck at the bar.
"Hey little boss. The usual?" He saluted nervously.
"Of course." You respond amused.
Chuck quickly gave you your vodka mixed with orange juice on the usual cup coupled with a two ice cubes and a little straw to drink from.
Sitting yourself on the bar chair in the most secluded spot here, you decide to relax a bit and people watch before actually partying. The anger had been quick to come but was being slow to fade and it had no business in fouling your mood on the dance floor. You could always go to the ground level and play with the common folk but watching people having fun while wearing your gang's colours always warmed your heart something fierce, so you stayed.
"Eric, can you give me my usual?"
"Of course, boss. I'll be right back with it."
You don't look back to the bar. Your eyes are fixed at some point between the ceiling and the disco ball reflecting the many lights being shined at it.
"I am sorry."
You ignore the voice next to you, your eyes moving on to a couple that is trying to go through the dance floor and probably find somewhere private for them.
"I understand that you don't like being ordered around… especially when you are in charge of this place as much as me… Look, I-"
"Boss." Eric interrupts. "Your absinthe."
"Thanks Eric. Here, keep the tip."
There is a few seconds of silence which you break by sipping loudly from your straw.
"I am sorry."
You decide to look back at the speaker. Taylor is there, still in the suit, but with no mask on. Her cane resting by the table of the bar, her hand around a clear bottle that was slowing dropping its contents on top of a cube of sugar resting on a spoon. The cup beneath slowly filling up.
"I don't want you to be sorry. I want you to be better." You take another sip of your own drink. "I've been putting up with your moods for too long." Taylor's hand trembles and you quickly add: "They have gotten better but a girl has a limit you know?"
Taylor inhales sharply and puts the bottle of cold water on the table. Her other hand goes for the small glass shot on the other side of the cup, where another measure of the green liquid rested, and she drinks it straight and quickly down her throat. You watch her pale throat bob up and down drinking the spirit.
"I am sorry." She repeats when she finishes, with watery eyes.
"Stop saying that." You admonish.
"Ok, I'm sorry."
You sigh.
Another moment passes.
Drinks are drunk.
"I don't blame you. Not completely at least." You say softly.
She looks at you uncomprehendingly.
"Do you remember… that time when you escaped that tiny room we had before the club? I came from school – you weren't going there by that time –, came home, didn't find you, didn't even know how you ran away with the apartment still locked… It felt like I searched the whole city for you. I was so worried. I didn't know you stopped taking the vials, so your sudden disappearance... I felt so dumb when I finally went to your house and found you there." You take another fortifying sip of your drink, trying to make the memory of her state when you found her vanish, before continuing. "After that… Well… You were the only person that I felt a… I don't know, I am not as good with words as you are, but… You gave a shit you know? Despite all that bad shit happening to you, you still cared for other people. Sure, Tats will probably say something about your heroic tendencies that are so big to the point of you being suicidal about them. Just with more words and shit, you know? But you cared. And the thought of losing you?" You shake your head disparagingly. "You told me I am the only thing you have. I agree that you have me – and you always will – but I am not the only thing here. You have the gang. All of this you and I built. This is the stuff that stops you from going full mad scientist and… I don't know… sell WMD's to some shmuck."
You look back at Taylor, hoping that your rant made some sense to her because you weren't sure it made sense to you. Maybe you should stop drinking when having heart-to-heart conversations.
"What I am trying to say…" You rant a bit more. In for a penny, in for a pound. "Is that I hate the fact that you act like this. Cold-hearted and authoritarian. Overly demanding. Detached and clinical. You being some sort of natural leader wasn't why I decided to stick by you. It wasn't why I befriended you or joined you in this mad crusade. It was because you cared. You looked at the city and thought I can make this a better place. You looked at me and thought That is someone I want by my side." Forgoing the straw, you drink what remained of the entire mixture in one gulp. "You cared about me. And all this crap you and I are taking? I feel it bubbling under my skin waiting to be used. And when I use it I feel like… invincible but afterwards? I feel maddened really. And you? Ever since that fight with Skidmark-" The usual mechanical tick from Taylor's fingers interrupts you, briefly, but you forge on. "-, you feel more and more like someone else wearing the skin of the girl I came to regard as my best friend. All that planning you make…"
You feel Taylor's hand fall on your bare shoulder. The cold of her metal fingers on your skin breaking your rant and making you look again at the girl. Taylor's purple eyes shine and sparkle. The music from the club suddenly seems to come from far away and the people a few feet away from your secluded spot look like indistinct blurs. You focus on her eyes and nothing else.
"You are my best friend. I won't ever forsake you. And I am sorry I made you feel like that. I'll try to be better. But…" She stops briefly her eyes searching your face. Then she gets closer to you. "It's only us, Aisha. Everyone else… they'll leave us. Eventually. The gang? I created the whole thing for you. Every time you came to me with another complaint about your mother… Sure, my dad's death gave me other reasons along the way. But in the beginning? It was all for you." Her hand goes from your shoulder to your cheek and you reflexively lean on it. "I am sorry. I have the same fears as you, really. They keep me awake at night. Will I become a monster? So cold and calculating… I know I have it in me. A terrifying level of practicality and ruthlessness. An end-justify-the-means kind of mentality. The Shimmer, it only makes that side of me surface more. I… what did you say a few days ago? A heart beating purple instead of red? It flows inside me, too. It feels like it wants… more. To be more. When I use it… It's like it grants me… eyes. To better see. To understand. Did you see me fight, today? How I did all of that so effortlessly? Shimmer is a curse and a blessing. It is necessary for us." You are so close you can smell the anis from her drink. "But no matter how maddened I'll become… I know I'll be ok in the end, if you are there by my side. And if you become mad too… I'll be by your side as well, and we'll be ok. I love you, Aisha. You are perfect."
It's a feather light touch that grows slowly. Warm lips meeting yours. After a wonderful time of light kisses, you deepen your kiss. Things only get more heated from there.
After a while, you separate yourself from her. You are out of breath, and you are sure you are blushing beyond compare.
You can only look at her eyes. You feel warm inside. Was it the drink or the kisses or the proclamation of love? All of them?
"C'mon." Taylor whispers. "Let's get out of here. We can talk more somewhere else."
"But… your drink?" You whisper back, still discombobulated.
She turns around and gets it from the table. At the same time, she grabs your hand and pushes you out of your seat. The party still rages on, everyone seemingly oblivious to the momentous event that just happened a few seconds ago.
She leads you through the throng of people, back to the office.
You simply tighten your hold on her hand.
No matter what comes next in their lives… you know everything will be ok for now.
You'll do your best to enjoy this as much as you can.
"Hey, Taylor." You whisper to her ear, when she opens the secret door to the floor below.
"Yeah?"
"Thanks, for everything."
"No… Thank you."
