As much as I may have wanted to try and run around and start looking for Amy immediately, I knew in my heart that the chance of actually finding her by just scanning the nearby area was next to zero. Even if I got lucky I had no idea how to deal with a hostage situation if I ended up finding myself in one. No amount of power I could throw around at a bad guy would guarantee that someone who could sneak up on Lisa and could force someone raised around heroes like Amy to leave with them rather than try and fight would go down before they managed to hurt her.
All I could do was get to where the PRT troopers had set up a line of first responders and get Lisa checked up on before informing them about what had happened. After that things started to blur together. People in uniforms asked Lisa and myself questions, asked us questions individually, until eventually we were released after passing along our phone numbers so that we could be reached if any other questions came up.
The moment that the two of us had gotten out of the grips of the PRT agents Vicky was on us, a look of pur ranger mixed with fear on her face. However before she could open her mouth her eyes traced to the massive amount of gauze on Lisa's face and seemed to decide better then to start yelling at her.
"What happened?" Vicky finally asked, trying to maintain some sense of calm despite the nervous energy practically radiating off of her.
"Not sure, we were trying to get away from the whole mess and someone must have snuck up behind us, I don't even know what hit me." Lisa retold the same story she had no doubt had to repeat to the PRT agents, however in front of Vicky she couldn't be annoyed about it.
"And where were you?" Vicky turned to me, most likely desperately searching for someone to put even a bit of the blame on.
"I got swept away by the crowd before I could get out, I only managed to find Lisa after she had already been attacked." The lie felt bitter on my tongue. As much as Vicky had gone out of her way to be kind to me I wasn't ready to trust her with my secret identity. Telling Lisa had been a spur of the moment decision due to her finding out about Riley, and I could trust her to keep the secret. But Vicky operated without a mask and in the heat of the moment I didn't know what she would do. After all, if I had gone with Lisa and Amy I might have been able to keep the two of them safe. The worst case scenario against Uber and Leet was property damage, but I had injected myself into the fight because at the time it seemed like the right move, the way to help the most people.
It seemed that even if I wanted to be a hero I still had a lot further to go before I could really put the word to my name. I was sure that if Stetson had been here that he would have simply said I was being hard on myself, but in my own mind the amount of power I had at my beck and call meant that I had to be harder on myself than anyone else. At least that's how I viewed things.
"Fuck," I pulled myself out of my self-loathing and focused on Vicky, seeing the redness in her eyes and the panicked energy that was practically flowing off of her. "Who the hell would even want to kidnap her?"
That was the million dollar question, and the reason why the PRT agents had asked so many times for us to confirm just who had been taken. Amy Dallon wasn't an ordinary person, hell she wasn't even an ordinary parahuman.
Ever since she started attending Endbringer battles, fatalities caused by injury had gone down by a shocking degree, her abilities meant that as long as one wasn't killed instantly the chances of getting to go home weren't impossible. The number of people she had saved, both criminal and cape, easily put her into the category of one of the most well liked parahumans in the world.
And outside of the cape community it wasn't much different, it was impossible to count the number of people she had saved during her work through the local hospital, anyone in the city that had faced life threatening injuries probably owed her more than most could imagine.
New Wave might have thrown aside the unwritten rules when they decided to forego secret identities and work publicly, but there was a rule even deeper than those that had been around for a lot longer. You don't go after the medic or the messenger.
That was a line of thought that Stetson had taught me while training, the moment that you decided to attack a noncombatant was the moment whatever cause you had lost all legitimacy. Whatever group or individual had kidnapped her wouldn't have anywhere to run to, the moment it became known that they had taken Amy was the exact moment that the other party would wash their hands of them.
And to my knowledge there was only one person in the Bay that would be willing to utterly isolate themselves and use any tactic to get what they wanted. Coil, the ego driven mastermind that had been pulling strings from the shadows in order to turn the Bay into his own domain.
Of course even if he was the most likely subject that didn't exactly help things, his base was well hidden and heavily defended from what Lisa had told me, even if I could theoretically take out all of his defenses and guards that didn't guarantee me a chance of capturing the bastard in a single move.
But I was getting lost in thought again, trying to ignore just how uncomfortable Vicky looked due to not having any idea how to comfort her. Even if I said 'don't worry we will get her back' at the moment I was just Taylor Hebert and to Vicky those would just be empty words.
"I'm sorry, I wish I could have…done something." I knew that the words were less than nothing before they even escaped my mouth, but Vicky didn't seem to be paying attention.
"There was nothing that could have been done, whoever kidnapped her didn't leave a single trace I'm afraid." a voice suddenly rang out from beside us as a tall black man in a well tailored suit approached. "But that doesn't mean there isn't any hope, we already have some eyewitness reports about some suspicious vehicles leaving the mall around the same time as the attack."
I turned to look at the man, a sense of unease flowing through me at the sight of him. There was no specific word for the feeling, just a sense of creeping dread that slowly seemed to bleed away. "Who are you?" I asked, my voice a bit harder than I had meant it to be.
The man raised a small badge showing the name 'Thomas Calvert' and underneath 'Consultant'. "Due to the unprecedented nature of this incident I have been called in to help with the case. I hope you don't mind a few quick questions before you go?" a smile crossed the man's lips, giving him the appearance of someone who was wholly at ease. If not for the odd feeling that was burning in the back of my brain I probably wouldn't have even thought twice about answering more questions.
"I'm sorry but…it's been a long day." The words tasted bitter in my mouth, and the pained look in Vicky's eyes after I spoke burned more than any workout I had been put through.
Not to be put off Thomas pushed forward. "It's just a little simple…"
Lisa stepped in front of me and locked eyes with the man. "Listen, we've told this same story about ten times in a row to about ten people. We came here to shop and got caught in the middle of a Parahuman fight and our friend was kidnapped. Maybe we can just do this another day?"
If Thomas was at all put off by the tone that Lisa had taken with him it didn't show on his face. "I understand, this must all be quite a lot to take in. That being said," he pulled out a business card and offered it to Lisa and myself. "Maybe we can set up a meeting at another time?"
Lisa took the cards and turned to Vicky, who left without a word to either of us.
Another friendship I probably managed to fuck up. Fantastic.
The two of us started to move away before Thomas spoke up again. "Thread."
Lisa and I stopped in our tracks at the mention of my alternate identity. "You said that you were pulled away by the crowds, did you happen to catch sight of her?" Thomas asked.
Lisa was about to speak for me again but I quickly turned and looked at him. "No, I didn't."
"Hm, interesting," he smiled and pocketed the badge. "Stay safe on your way home, things are likely going to be quite chaotic once the news breaks." With that said Thomas walked back toward the rest of the PRT agents, leaving the two of us alone.
"Well that was weird," Lisa muttered to me under her breath before guiding the two of us away from the chaotic scene at the mall. "I'm going to get a cab and round up the group, let's meet downtown and I can show you what you're paying me for."
I gave a simple nod and followed her along to make sure she could get a cab before walking to a safe place and quickly jumping to the Dollhouse. What was supposed to be a simple day had turned into an utter nightmare. Part of me wanted to contact Stetson and try to get advice from him, but at the same time I wasn't sure what he could do even if I talked to him. Amy getting kidnapped was awful, but he was probably halfway across the world dealing with something that was just as if not more important.
Which meant there was only one person to really talk to, and thankfully it looked like she was in the entertainment room instead of the operating theater. After a quick walk I pushed open the door to the room, finding Riley wrapped up in a blanket and watching an animated movie while using Trauma Bear as a couch instead of the abundant comfortable furniture in the room. The moment I walked in however she quickly paused the t.v. and turned to look at me.
"Taylor!" Riley stood up and clapped, the lights of the entertainment room flashing on to reveal the whole area.
Like almost every room in the Dollhouse the entertainment room was amazingly crafted and decorated, containing multiple televisions, game systems, books, and any manner of distraction that could be thought of. I had spent one or two days just lounging around in here with Riley passing weekends watching movies between training sessions. Of course the variety of choices was mind boggling, with a number of the books and movies being ones that I hadn't heard of before. When I had asked Stetson about it he had simply said he tended to collect things 'here and there'.
"Hey Riley, can I talk to you for a bit?" I knew my voice most likely carried my exhaustion, because she moved off of Trauma Bear and onto a couch. I plopped down next to her and tried to relax for a moment. "What do you know about kidnapping?"
"Thats it is illegal." Riley answered in a voice so innocent it nearly gave me whiplash. "I'm kidding," she offered a smile before taking on a more serious expression. "In theory or practice?"
"Either or." I wasn't sure anything she could tell me would be useful, but it felt like I would go crazy just sitting until night came. I gave Riley the details of what had happened at the mall earlier.
Riley nodded and thought for a moment. "There are three reasons people go to kidnapping instead of any other crime. The first is money, but that requires a lot of things to go right so it's easier to just rob a bank or something. Second is information gathering, you capture the person because they know something and you need to have time to properly extract the information from them. Third, they have a skill that you need and can't get anywhere else," she frowned for a moment. "There is also Jack's go to reason 'because it seemed fun', but that just means the person is already dead."
The last sentence sent a shard of ice into my heart, but I tried to brush past it and focus on the options that would give Amy a chance at being alive. "I don't think anyone would kidnap Amy for money."
Riley nodded at that. "High profile but not rich enough, and makes too many enemies for the amount to be worth it. That makes sense. Information could be a reason, she is one of the bestest healers and has been to a bajillion Endbringer battles so she probably knows a bunch of secret identities."
It was a long shot but it would fit into my current theory that Coil was behind it. Lisa had mentioned how he went out of his way to gather information on a massive variety of people to ensure that his plans all went as they should. It was staggering to think just how much good he could have done in regards to something like an Endbringer battle, but there was no point thinking of ifs at the moment.
"Still, I would put money on it being about her power, which could mean anything from him being sick to planning to release a virus only she can cure and using her that way." I had a bit of a difficult time trying to get into the head of someone twisted enough to threaten the hopes and dreams of a bunch of kids with nowhere else to go and turning them into a criminal team. Through with my current plans I suppose that would be a bit too much like the pot calling the kettle black.
Of course the worst case scenario wasn't that Coil was behind the kidnapping, but that he wasn't. If he was half the schemer that Lisa made him out to be then Amy would be alive. Maybe not content or happy with her situation but at the very least alive. If it wasn't Coil then the jury was out on how she was being treated and even if she was still alive.
"I wish I could help," Riley looked down, her brows furrowed. "Actually, maybe I could," she looked away for a moment. "I might be able to construct something that might help, I just need some biological material from her, and I might be able to set up a sort of bioscanner that can lead you to the rest of her."
I had to admit that it sounded like a good idea, like a dowsing rod that would lead us to Amy. But I could tell the idea of crafting something like that made her uncomfortable. So far any experiments Bonesaw had made in order to help deal with the 'parasite' as Stetson had caused it were immediately destroyed by her own hands in order to ensure they wouldn't trigger any episodes. "I can't ask you to do that." I said, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"But I want to." Riley replied, her small voice containing a note of conviction. "Stetson, Lisa, and you have been doing so much good while I've just been here pretending to be a normal girl. But I can do things to help and I want to try."
I looked into her eyes for a moment, seeing the conviction as plain as day and found myself unable to deny her in this matter. So I simply sighed and gave a nod. "If you think you can, then I trust you."
She gave a nod and a smile before turning toward the movie. "But before that, do you want to finish watching this with me?"
I briefly considered the idea before shaking my head. "I should go home and see how my dad is doing." Honestly I didn't even know if he was home, but normally he at least took Sunday's to be home and get some rest from work so the odds were in my favor.
Riley simply waved it off and took back her seat, a smile on her face now that she had a goal in mind for how to help. I made my exit and dropped off close to my house, checking for a moment to make sure I wasn't seen and walking in. However the moment I was inside a pair of arms wrapped around me in a tight hug.
"Thank god, where have you been?" my father looked at me for a moment, relief evident in his expression as he looked at me. "I saw what happened on the news and I was worried out of my mind that you got caught up in all of that at the mall."
Feeling my dad's arms around me released all of the stress I hadn't realized had built up in me ever since I realized Amy had been kidnapped, and I put my arms around my dad and put everything aside for the moment. I wanted to help Amy, I wanted to take down the criminals in the Bay. But I was also sad that my friend had been taken, heartbroken that I might have offended the first person to stand up for me. In my dad's arms I let those worries out, and while the concern was evident on his face he stayed silent and just let me hold onto him for a moment.
Once I was able to put some sense back into myself I told him the whole story, cutting out the parts about my own actions and explaining what had happened with Amy, how I might have hurt Vicky, everything I would have normally kept a secret.
I didn't expect anything from him, but surprisingly he led me to the couch and brought me some hot chocolate and ordered from one of our favorite restaurants. He didn't try to sugar coat things and say everything would be alright, but he was there with me, talked when I wanted to and stayed quiet when I didn't.
Some dark part of me had always assumed that I should just keep quiet about the events of my life out of fear of putting more on my dad, but no amount of planning on how to get Amy back or thoughts on how to fix the Bay helped ease my mind quite as much as just having my dad sit down and talk with me about pointless things and occasionally chime in about his own day.
"I know it won't help much, but why don't we see about checking in on the Dallon's later in the week? They are probably going through hell right now. I would be in their situation." He spoke quite decisively on the matter, and we discussed back and forth about what exactly we should do for them.
Our conversation was eventually interrupted by a loud knock at the door, to which my dad got up to answer in case it was the police again coming for another statement to tell them to come back another day. However once the door opened and a few words were exchanged he yelled back that it was for me.
Unsure of who would be here for me this late into the evening I approached the door cautiously, seeing Dean there holding the bag of clothing and school materials I had bought at the mall and wearing a tired smile. "Hey Taylor, you forgot these…well you know."
My dad made himself scarce and I took the bag in my hands. "Thanks, I didn't even think about it."
"I mean after what happened that's understandable. Are you holding up okay?" he asked, hsi voice filled with concern that only made me feel more guilty.
"I…no probably not but I'm trying," for some reason I didn't feel like lying to him about the subject, it just felt wrong. "Is Vicky still…you know?"
"She was pretty mad at the time, but I think she is just scared for Amy right now. Once she calms down I think that things will be fine. But I can talk with her if you're really worried about it." Dean offered and I simply nodded my head in agreement.
"Thanks," I let out a relieved breath. I didn't know if what he said would help, but it was better than nothing. "Were you two okay after everything happened? I didn't see you guys in the crowd."
An odd series of emotions played across Dean's face before finally giving a nod. "We had to fight against the crowd a bit but we were safe. I just wish we had gone with your friend and Amy." It seemed like I wasn't the only one beating myself up at the moment, though if they had been there Amy might not have been the only one in danger at the moment. Whoever had taken her had been willing to knock out one girl in order to take Amy, if there were more they might have gone even further.
"Anyway, I should probably get home," he turned for a moment before a thought seemed to come to him. "Oh right, Edgar wanted me to tell you that he looks forward to getting to talk with you again. Apparently you are a decent conversation partner."
A small blush came over my cheeks at the idea of someone going out of their way to pass along a message like that, but Dean saved me the embarrassment of a response by simply waving it away as he walked out to the car waiting for him on the street.
I closed the door and rested my forehead against it, happy for the small bit of hope that I could make things right between myself and Vicky.
That was until my dad spoke up behind me. "So Edgar huh?" there was a mysterious tone in his voice that triggered my sense of danger as I turned toward him.
"He is a friend." I didn't know why I answered like that, we had only met one time and I wasn't even sure that we were beyond 'acquaintance' when it came down to it.
"A friend who likes talking about books," he responded in the same mysterious tone, a devilish grin coming over my fathers face. "You know back when I was your age."
I suddenly found thoughts of heroism and the events of the day being the last thing on my mind as I slapped my hands over my ears and tried to drown out my father's attempts to 'relate' to me and explain relationships.
Later I would realize this was a planned move, and my dad was more cunning than I usually gave him credit for. The hours passed comfortably until night fell and my father was asleep. Meaning it was time to greet the Undersiders and begin working on making this city a better place.
Taylor might have failed in preventing Amy from getting taken, but Thread would ensure that she would be brought back safely. And if I had to beat down every single criminal in the city to make that work, then all the better.