Chapter 6: Not much to do on a Friday
Bubblegum, my favourite flavour was bubblegum. Dean knew it and had been kind enough to order the milkshake for me, yet, I didn't know what he liked, so I got him chocolate, I hoped he liked chocolate but seeing him not even drinking it as I slurped down mine, made me question my choice.
Maybe I should try to get to know my on-and-off-again boyfriend better, I knew I was the one that put the strain on the relationship, but sometimes it just became a bit too much for me to handle, all of my emotions jumping around when I was with him and not in the 'I used my powers on you' kind of way.
I had asked him on this date, I missed him quite a lot and wanted him to hang out with me, just two teenagers relaxing at the pier, drinking milkshakes in an ice-cream bar. I didn't know why I wanted milkshakes of all things, but something about the cold and the monster yesterday just pleaded with me to get some of the cold goodness and as I took a large sip of the blue concoction an echo of adrenaline spiked through me as I recalled the experience. The milkshake looked nothing like it had after the almost brain-freezing slurp, the original dollop of cream and sprinkles that made it look cheesy, cartoony and adorable at the same time was gone with the last slurp, a sinkhole swallowing up the cute piece of dairy delight.
"So, you going to say anything?" Her boyfriend asked. His chocolate milkshake sitting full while mine was half empty, I hoped he liked chocolate or maybe I forgot he was a vanilla guy. I took another hard slurp, the iced milk smashing against the roof of my mouth, sending a spike of pain through me as I hadn't recovered from the previous bout of frozen food. I rubbed my forehead as I tried to power through the casual brain freeze. It was a roundabout way to delay the conversation, even if I did miss him, there was still the problem with how we broke up last week.
"You okay? You shouldn't drink it so fast." Dean was dressed in a casual striped button-up T and denim shorts, he had a casual look and it fitted his dreamy rich boy appearance quite well. I had a casual crop-top and skirt, both black and my hair was pulled in a ponytail, just like yesterday -with Taylor- to differentiate myself from my glory girl persona. Glory girl always wore her golden hair loose.
"I'm fine, just tired from yesterday." I waved off his concern, it was admirable that he was concerned and was one of the things I found most charming of him, his compassion and diligence made him endearing and was one of the main reasons why I kept coming back to him, even if he was a stupid boy most of the time.
To be fair, I was a stupid girl most of the time as well, just something about him made my heart pound against my chest and my stomach flip when he smiled at me. but then on another day, I was mad for no reason and his attempts to make me happy just seemed dishonest and crude. And that imbalance often caused me to shoo him away and ask to cool down for a week before I eventually dove back into his arms.
"So about yesterday…" His question hung in the air, waiting for me to bite into the bait and allow him to question me. Even if he was my boyfriend, he was also a Ward and that meant that he was the unofficial contact point between me and the PRT.
"It was interesting, she messaged me early in the morning and asked to meet up at the Halloway building, the one we met first." Taylor had been waiting for her, pacing about in agitation until I arrived and whistled to grab her attention.
"We went about forty miles west of the city, into the forest." The girl barely said anything before rocketing off into the forest, I had to fly as fast I could to keep up with the girl.
"She grabbed my hand and I guess started her hunt." Dean was listening intently, waiting for me to continue, I had him where I wanted him.
"What did you do yesterday?" My question threw him off. I smiled, I liked playing with him and he took his job too seriously. I eyed the Chocolate milkshake sitting beside him. "You going to drink that?"
"I am, just waiting for it to get a bit warmer, sensitive teeth, remember." I didn't, he had perfectly clean pearly whites, the dazzling smile that stole my heart at first. At least he still wanted the milkshake. I replied with a hum and a nod.
"Not much, yesterday I mean. Denis and I went to the arcade, we found Missy there, we played some shooting and racing games, the usual ones." The three had been tailing merchant drugs shipping for weeks, seemed they had gone into a bit of heat and a chase when they found the shipment.
"We had to split before it was dark, I got mom and dad to pick us up before it was too late." Militia and Armsie had saved them, I had heard the same from mom last night.
Mom was worried when I came back, ice still sticking to my legs. Amy had rushed over as soon as she could to clear me of any malaise, the Hot Drink had kept me going for the trip back to the Bay and kept all my toes from freezing off, they were still blue, but they only stung a little when the two ordered me into a bath to get warm.
"It was cool, we got a new personal best and everything." Seemed they had done alright, they had stopped the drugs and captured the crooks, something I could have been doing as well but I didn't feel up for it, I wanted to go hunt with Taylor again, maybe I'd call her tonight.
"I'm happy to hear, so we fought an ice dragon. She had this nasty ice breath that froze the entire clearing." I looked at the milkshake, wondering why I had demanded the cold beverage if I had just fought a cold monster.
"We almost died, but powered through, Hunter is even stronger than we thought and totally crazy. When the monster roared at her, she'd roar back. When the two ran to kill the other she wouldn't dodge the attacks, she'd just push through them like the monster wasn't even a problem for her." They had been moving rapidly around the area, each time Taylor swung her hammer, Velkhana would just jump out of the way.
"Well, I'm just glad that she did it outside of the city." He crossed his arms and looked out towards the calm bay.
"Well yeah, the thing could freeze the sea if it wanted to. I can't think of what would have happened if she fought the thing here in the Bay, half of the Protectorate wouldn't have been able to fight against it." I didn't know what they could have done to combat her monsters. I just hoped that she couldn't control them later on.
"So, the monsters," he looked back at me, his green eyes gauging my reactions, his powers probably telling him what I was feeling when I talked about the woman. "You say she just starts her 'hunt' like it's no big deal. Got any more details than that?"
"Yes and no. she can start her hunt whenever she wants to as far as I can tell, what the monster is, is random, so one day it's a lightning unicorn and the next it's the dragon of frost." How many monsters did she still have, was it an infinite amount or would it stop when she was the strongest cape in the world?
The wind blew against the window, the waves spiking as we watched the freak weather of the bay once again rear its ugly face. The rain would come soon and would only disappear by tomorrow. Dean sucked down a full mouth of his milkshake, the cream had sunk into it and mixed with the drink to form a thick slurry. His face twisted in mild discomfort; the drink hadn't warmed up enough for him to enjoy. He leaned forward, his eyes shifting around to see if anyone was listening.
"Do you think it has anything to do with her and the Undersiders' attack at the E88 casino the other day?"
I paused.
"What?" I hadn't heard of that. "What attack?"
"She and the Undersiders busted an illegal casino open. Three nights ago, they made off with a bag of cash and about twenty people were injured by her, most of them were gangers so no sleep was lost from us. But it gets worse, she killed Crusader."
"Killed?"
"We found a lot of blood and I mean a lot of blood on the roof across from the site, I don't think the exchange was one-sided, rest of the team doesn't think so." He leaned back, resting on the bench as he grabbed his milkshake to take another swig.
"So what? What do your parents and grandparents think of the whole thing?" I needed to know what the higher-ups thought about it.
"Granny P is on the fence, dad's tight-lipped as usual and mom wants to know more before deciding, they were hoping you could get her side of the story before we make a verdict. Seeing as you're the closest person we have to her since she doesn't keep in contact with her family."
Dean was being way too good at this talking over the subject thing. Still, why did she have to go with small-time criminals to rob a casino and kill a member of a major gang, she'd paint a target on herself.
"I can call her, but I don't think this is the best place."
A twenty covered the bill and tip as we made our way to the pier, the Ferris wheel wasn't big but at the peak you could almost see over the entire city, the hill of the southern and western ends blocked the view as we rotated further and further upwards. The phone rang as Dean sat next to me, his eyes glued to the PRT building peeking up from the squatting shops of the boardwalk below us.
"Hey, Taylor!" 'Hey, Vicky, what's up?'
"Not much, just airing some dirty laundry." I hesitated, was a phone call the best way to learn that my new friend had killed a nazi cape.
'Okay, that's cool.' "Yeah…" I avoided Dean's side-long gaze, I wasn't one to hesitate but this was sudden. I swallowed and I hope the sound didn't carry across to the other side.
"Taylor, did you kill Crusader?" Bite the bullet Victoria. I scrunched my eyes, waiting for her to respond.
Nothing, I could hear nothing as silence stretched for tense seconds, the golden rays of the sun filling the compartment as we reached the zenith.
'Yes, no, maybe. All I know was that he tried to kill me. He stabbed me through my armour, twice. Next thing I know, I blasted his chest apart and everything was going dark.' Her answer was slow and halting, each sentence interrupted with a second or two of tense and dramatic pausing.
Dean listened carefully with the phone on speaker. My stomach was flipping back and forth as I parsed her revelation. Reality was often a killer for hopes and dreams, and my hopes and dreams for a new friend to chill and kill monsters with had just flown the coop.
'Is this another PRT thing Vicky? Cause if they want to know, it was in self-defence.' The girl was too sharp for her own good.
"Yes, sorry Taylor, I'll make it up to you. Have a nice night, bye!" I clicked off before she could respond. Adrenaline rushed through my body. Why? Why was adrenaline flooding my system?
Dean grabbed my hand and squeezed tightly, I rested my forehead on his shoulder and released my tension in a few silent tears as we came down the carnival attraction.
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*The morning of the Valkhana hunt.*
I was ticked off, Brian, the moronic leader of our trope, had decided to try and talk to Taylor about how we, the Undersiders, did things.
"Rule one, don't kill capes. Rule two, we plan, we execute, we get out. Rule three, don't kill capes. Rule four, no funny business, this is a life-or-death profession and the big boys aren't afraid to play dirty."
I don't know if she was actually listening to him ramble down his list of nonsense. Unwritten rules and cops'n'robbers don't do much when you're bleeding out on the ground and boy was she bleeding out on the ground two nights ago.
They were seated around the table, Taylor's back to the fridge and with a cup of tea in her pale hands. Brian was sitting opposite her, trying to impart his whole two years of independent caping knowledge on the girl that could kill all of us in a minute. I was sitting at the head of the table, a few feet that could have been a mile separating us, Brian was ignoring the pat-pat of my feet on the ground as he just kept going.
"Now you've killed a cape and we're going to be in trouble. An Empire cape even." Taylor's head was listing about, her focus drawn around as if she were in her own little world. I let my powers squeak a few words in.
'Restless, not listing, waiting for body to recover before heading out to kill a monster.'
It was about the same information I had gotten when I met her on Monday, a girl shackled to her powers just like I was, but back there on the rooftop she was much more aware, no, focused than she was right now.
'Damage to person requires energy gathered from hunting monsters to let her focus on other things. Involuntary addiction.'
Made sense, but why did she need to go on a trip on Monday if she killed a monster Sunday?
'Intense emotional experiences demand energy, drawn to conflict to supply energy.'
So, it was even a physiological draw as well, one that made her impotent after a few days or after doing something difficult, be it physical or emotional.
"I'm glad you're not dead Hunter, but you could have not chased after him and he'd still be alive." He kept going.
'Afraid of repercussions, gangs won't pull punches now that a cape has been killed.' Yea no shit.
Taylor's eyes flicked back to the clock, the time on the wall saying eleven-twenty-seven.
I knew Brian, he was a man that relied on his previous knowledge and experiences too much for his own good. It didn't help that with only seventeen years on this earth that he didn't have much experience. He could learn a lot from others if he tried, but his stubborn streak kept him from absorbing experience as much as he should. Case in point, his handling of the fifteen-year-old bunking with us.
"Brian, names. We use those here and hers is Taylor, not Hunter. Also, she's not really listening, let her go kill a monster and she'll be back on earth and listening before the sun goes down." His arms were crossed and sitting on the table, defiant to my advice. Taylor wasn't even listening to me as she eyed the clock, her entire day planned around her next hunt, why didn't she go now?
'Waiting for someone.' And who would that be?
'Thursday after leaving, met someone. Phone, bought phone on insistence of other person. Not PRT cape, would be distrustful of institutional heroes. Neutral party met her. Meeting place in location where she can't escape without being at a disadvantage, thus flying cape to corner her.'
Glory Girl. I made it out before my powers could, the only other flying cape in Brockton had cornered the girl and forced her to buy a phone. How comical.
'Wednesday meeting forced her to co-operate. Waiting for Glory Girl to say yes. Yes to going on hunt.'
Well, it seemed that Taylor was busy before the casino even. Was she playing both sides or was she just stretching her wings to meet as many people as she could before deciding on what she was going to do with her cape persona? If I was a betting girl, then she'd probably be going with us to hit the gangs and that's about it, no illegal activities like kidnapping or robbery.
'Won't fight Protectorate or New Wave. Vested in fighting gangs and cleaning up the Bay.'
A bit naïve, beat one gang away from the city and another from Boston or New York show up. You can't really get rid of America's number one problem, not with the government's focus on keeping the balance in the cape cities before they collapse with all the problems that keep popping up in them and then there were the Endbringers to consider as well.
"Taylor!" He rose to catch her, but she unintentionally ripped her arm from his grasp without turning to face him and walked out of the room, the beeping on her phone chasing her out of the building. It was Friday and Arcadia came out early today. We'd be seeing her again later today.
"Brian, just stop." I eyed him down before he could run after her.
"She's not going to listen, she can't. Her powers are knocking on her ears and fucking around in her head, even worse than normal. She almost bled out Wednesday and stopping herself from dying made her use whatever power she gets from killing monsters." He sat down, his cold cup of coffee disappearing down his throat as he downed his bitter brew.
"She'll be coming back tonight; she isn't sleeping anywhere else. Too many people know who she is for her to go sleep at her house. She can sleep here for as long as she needs to." It was the least I could do, Coil was testing the waters with the girl through me, his leash pulling tight on my neck to get her to work for him.
"We don't have another room Liz, she can't keep bunking with you."
"And why is that?" He didn't respond, smart to keep his mouth shut. Why did I let her sleep in my bed even? It doesn't matter, she's warm and doesn't move when she sleeps, a big pillow of skin and bones. My pillow of skin and bones.
"She's fifteen Brian I don't think we'll have a problem for a year or so." Who was I kidding, my powers had told me that she was as dull as a rock, a rock that was warm enough for me to cuddle into. Something, something, powers and her monsters.
'Uninter-' You can shut up now.
I clamped down on the voice in my head, keeping it quiet before exposing too much information about a girl that I had become fond of in the few days I've known her.
"Fifteen or not, she's a teen just like us and you know what teens like us do." His self-aware attitude was silly and nonsensical, I fear he was projecting about his own insecurities rather than really caring about what I let the girl get away with.
"I'll try to keep that in mind. Now, don't you have places to be and people to see?" He gruffed and grabbed his leather jacket, slinking out of the room without a goodbye.
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She wasn't home. I scanned the front door for the fifth time through the cheap binoculars that hung around my neck, I had bought them for a camping trip that never panned out. The same broken step, the same dirty walls, nothing different than when I looked twenty minutes ago.
"Not coming home, huh? What an idiot. Guess I'll go ask the old man himself." Hebert's dad had been coming back at more regular times since she had decided to give the PRT idiots the slip earlier the week, maybe he was hoping that the weak girl would crawl back to a safe space and cry about how cruel the world was.
If it wasn't for the fact that the girl was running around and murdering monsters then maybe I wouldn't be interested in her at all, I got her to leave school and disappear from my life and that was a good thing. Now I could focus on making Emma the fighter she's always been, one willing to put herself above the sheep running around and waiting for the world to die from the slow crawl of the apocalypse.
And now she wasn't just going around and killing monsters, instead, she was running around with the B listers and hitting gang shops, even worse was that she was doing it with Grue, the insufferable prick that countered my shadow state.
I clenched my teeth as I jumped down from the large oak sitting about a quarter of a mile from the small house in a decent neighbourhood. I had forgone my usual attire and instead came in more casual clothes, a simple white tee with black stripes and denim shorts that went to about mid-thigh, casual clothes. Clothes that would let me walk into the house without problems, I'd just play the act and make it over, scout about and try finding where the idiot went.
The door was heavy and old, the age showed through good care in previous years but a new coat of varnish and sealant would be needed soon to keep it pristine. My fingers rapped against it, and I let myself drift into the schoolgirl act from years prior.
Hebert's father was visibly older than he was last year, where I had spotted him dropping the sap off for school, his balding spot had grown thin and he had visible rings around his eyes, probably from exhaustion and stress.
"Good evening mister Hebert, is Taylor here?" a predator like myself didn't need to bare its teeth to get what it wants, the prey knew that I was being kind to them, kind words often got more done than aggression ever did, if only his daughter had figured that out sooner.
"Uuh no, she's not here. Why?" he might look weary and exhausted, but the man had sharp eyes that keenly observed me as I stood there with a handful of papers.
"Taylor does have some people looking out for her. I'm Sophia, one of her friends and I got her homework for the week with me, I thought it might be nice to let her get it before it became more of a problem." The stack was homework, most of it mine, I'd taken a portion of Hebert's after talking to a teacher, just to get inside the house of the girl.
"That's very kind of you, she doesn't talk about her friends at school anymore. I didn't know she had any."
"That's okay, we don't hang out much, we've got different classes and stuff. Can I come in?" Danny step to the side and I walked in, the house had a bit of a dirty feel to it, everything looked nice and orderly but grime and dust had started to settle on the furniture that wasn't used often.
"Her room is the door on the right upstairs, think you can drop it off there and that should do it, I don't know when she'll be back unfortunately." He made his way over to the sofa he'd been sitting on, the TV playing whatever was on at the time.
I nodded and made my way into the den of Brockton's newest hero, the bed was unmade and dust lay in a thin layer over everything, the mid-day sun peered through the window, making the particles littering the room glimmer and the air to shimmer as I stepped inside. A simple wooden desk had a few scattered pages of notes on it, the scribbling on the pagers seemed to be notes on how her powers worked, I'd be taking those later.
I dropped the pages of homework, the classes she hated the most, and drifted to her drawer and gently riffled through it. I was looking for any hidden notebook, almost like the black one we had destroyed last month, any password sticky notes or scribbled codes. Alas, I found nothing, no passwords and no memorandums, not even a note on where she was staying.
"Sophia?" Her old man shouted from downstairs; time was up.
"Sorry," I looked the man in the eyes, his worn face relaxed as I made the last steps down in a rush. "I got some of the homework mixed in with mine, I had to figure it out first."
He walked in front of me to the door, opening it and letting me walk back into the sunlight. I smiled and waved back at the man that stood still before waving back at me. I walked to the pavement, the open window in Taylor's room casting a ray of sunlight into my face as travelled away from the house.
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"And you're sure that's how her powers work?" The pause from the other end of the phone hung in the air comfortably, he was in control, there was nothing she could do to stop him from figuring out every trick the new cape that had walked into his spider's lair had to offer.
'Nothing more to it, she kills a monster, she gets stronger.' Tattletale's voice spoke quickly and efficiently, no seconds wasted on trivial information that didn't offer a clearer picture or nuance to the hunter. He, Coil, was going to find a way to get the girl on his side one way or the other. Playing dirty wasn't out of the question but it was easier to lead with the carrot than strike with the stick so to say. Offering the girl safety for her family and friends if she worked for him had gotten him far in the few years, he was capable of doing so.
Yes, safety was much easier to afford than paperwork for a wilful teenager to secure his younger sister from an abusive household, it helped that the girl had already enamoured herself to his gang of powered pawns. He'd only need to press a few buttons, speak a few words and the girl would be like putty in his hands, a strong cape like her would put his operations much further ahead of schedule than it was a mere week ago.
Along with his insider knowledge with the PRT and his rather insane manipulation of the players in the Bay, he was poised to take the bay in the coming months, it would just depend on how Taylor was going to react to his subterfuge, he had some excess time to persuade the girl.
"Thank you, Tattletale, you'll have your next assignment on Monday, have a weekend off and don't forget, I'm watching everything." His phone beeped with the dismissive tone of a closed call.
Coil didn't talk to himself in cold damp rooms, it wasn't worth the energy to gloat to himself that his plans were falling into place already. His eyes tracked to the photo of the young girl that had just developed powers this weekend, the final piece to his puzzle was drawing close to his grasp.
No, he didn't talk to himself, but a sinister smile graced his face as he devised a plan to grab whatever he needed to enact the final stages of his play.