Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Taylor

I could barely see anything but the ground whizzing under me. I could only just barely hear sirens and explosions over the pounding of my heart and the wind rushing past my ears. I needed to get to the Dockyard. I had to make sure-

A loud bang and some screaming from below almost directly below me would have been enough to shake me from my single-mindedness if the shockwave from the explosion making me stumble in the air hadn't.

I rebalanced myself and turned on a dime to look below me. A building had been blown apart and was about to collapse completely onto some civilians who'd been knocked down by the blast.

I swung Opal in its direction while willing her star-shaped barriers to manifest before the crumbling building, holding up most of the rubble but…

"Princess," Opal began, "we can only put out so much mana at once and without a repelling force my shields won't do anything to diminish the velocity at which the debris will fall once the force of gravity inevitably overcomes the strength of the barrier."

I looked down at the people on the ground… There were about twenty of them, and half of them looked like they were having trouble getting back up.

"Opal," I asked, "how long do you think the barriers will hold if I cut off the flow of Mana?"

"With the lack of ambient mana?" Opal said clinically, "approximately thirty seconds."

I lowered myself to the ground as fast as I could without disrupting concentration on the barriers and rummaged through my holster for a class card. "That should be enough."

I only had a short amount of time. I had to do this perfectly. I took a breath, dropped concentration on the shields, and used a card: "Install: Assassin!" I willed myself to get through the transformation as fast as possible and then immediately drew upon "Chronos Rose!"

Time stopped and I ran, pulling the people out of the way of falling rubble before they could get crushed. Assassin's Noble Phantasm ended just as I gently sat down the last person and the ruble fell to the ground, crushing absolutely no one as everyone was well out of the splash zone.

A couple of people, those who were the least injured, were looking around in confusion. "H-how did we get over here?" One man asked.

"Time magic," I said casually as I ejected the Assassin card. I was about to head back up into the air when another, distant explosion followed by a loud, guttural roar drew my attention to the Bay.

Out in the distance, I could see smoke billowing from the Rig and the dragon-like form of Lung flying towards the mountains. I then decided that maybe I'd stay closer to the ground for the time being.

"Look, uh, I don't have much in the way of medical ability," I said to the closest able-bodied person. "I'm sure that emergency workers will be around here… eventually, but I really need to get to the dockyard, so… I'm so sorry," I said and then took off running.

"We should have killed the Brute when we had the chance," Opal quipped.

"Opal, there is no possible way that anyone could have predicted any of this happening," I said back. "The PRT had him contained on the Rig. That might as well have been Alcatraz. There's no way in hell he wouldn't have been kept in the Birdcage after he was convicted and escape from there is supposed to be impossible. There's no way anyone could have predicted him escaping during a city-wide terrorist attack. This might as well have been an Endbringer hit or the Slaughterhouse Nine coming to town for all we could have known ahead of time."

"A what or the what now?" Opal asked.

"I'll explain later."

Getting by on foot was a lot slower than flying… Mostly because I had to keep slowing down to catch my breath. I need to start jogging or something when this clears up.

Every so often I'd hear another explosion, but I only got an up-close view of another bombing when a crying man who was running towards a crowd suddenly started convulsing while blue streaks of electrical plasma erupted from him and ravaged the area around him.

I came to a dead stop, skidding on my heels, and went for my Berserker card. "Install: Berserker!"

Again I rushed through the change as fast as I could and slammed the Bridal Chest's base into the ground while opening up its sphere and drawing in the electricity that this unfortunate man was emitting into it and thus in me.

The sudden rush of having a whole freaking lot of electricity made me feel slightly less nervous about my dad.

That faded once I'd absorbed every last drop of juice the guy had in him and was drawn back to earth by the smell of charred flesh. This man was dead, as were a couple of other people near him.

"Ugh… uhh..." I wasn't sure what to say. A couple of other people were looking at me, so I just ran off back in the general direction of the Dockyard.

"Princess," Opal said to me, "he'd have been dead regardless. You're not responsible… You probably saved most of the people that were-"

"I need to find my Dad," was all I said.

"Well, then perhaps you should be dropping the Berserker Install now," Opal said as though stating the obvious. "The Brute has probably made it to his destination by now so there's no reason not to fly, and likewise since you very much enjoy this form I don't think being in it during this situation any more than necessary would be good for your mental state in the long term."

I once more skidded to a stop on my heels, then fell over because I was wearing heels. I ejected the card while lying flat on my back.

"Opal," I asked of my wand, "how was I running in such impractical heals?"

"Don't think about it too hard," Opal explained, "now let's get going."

I flipped up, took to the air, and flew for it.

I finally made it to the Dockyard after way too long. There was a huge bit of lumpy glass right in the middle of the yard, but no exploded bodies, so…

I landed by a group of people who were crowded around, looking shaken up. "Uh, hello," I asked, "I-" Then I got a better look at the lumpy glass and saw that the lumps were a glass statue of a man laying on top of another man: The man on top seemed resigned to something. The man below was Asian and looked scared and sad and…

"Glass bomb?"

"Something like it," called a familiar voice. I turned and saw Kurt, a friend of my dad's. "Taylor? Oh, that's right," he said. "I'd heard… Yeah, the guy, he came in, crying about how sorry he was and rushing for the offices, yelling about how he had to get to your Dad. Carl just tackled him out of nowhere and told the rest of us to get clear, and..." He gestured to the glass.

"Is my dad okay?"

"I don't know. He's been in his office ever since..." Kurt was clearly shaken. Everyone was.

I bid him goodbye and floated over to my Dad's office. I didn't bother knocking, I just rushed in. Dad was sitting at his desk, perfectly still with a dead stare. He barely reacted.

"Dad?" I said as I walked up

"Taylor," he said looking up. "I'm sorry, uh-"

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"I, uh..." He signed. "That man came in here for me. I'm not sure why, but… Carl tackled him, he saved me. He saved everyone who might have gotten taken out with me, and… He had a wife and two kids. What am I supposed to tell them?"

"I don't know," I said. "That he died a hero? Or is that too cheesy? I..." I hugged my Dad. It was the only thing I could think of.

He hugged back.

I don't know how long it was, but then there was a knock on the door. "Uh, Boss," a man from outside said, "Uh… Armsmaster's here with some guys from the PRT..."

"I'll be out in a second," Dad said. He took a bit to compose himself. "Taylor, would you-"

"I'm not leaving your side."

"Wasn't going to ask."

We walked out together and saw a single PRT van at the end of the dockyard. There were two agents examining the glass and a third taking statements. Armsmaster was there, as had been said, and when he spotted us he walked over to meet us halfway.

"Mr. Hebert," he said, "Head of Hiring and Union Representative for the Dockworkers Association, father of Princess," he gestured to me, "The PRT suspects that the Azn Bad Boyz are likely to target you to get to Princess after she defeated Lung." I clenched my fist. "As with the Bad Boyz on the offensive with this attack that we were not prepared for, we're stretched too thin to have a guard on you 24/7."

"You're leading up to something," Dad. "There's no reason to say that to my face if you're not."

"I've been instructed to offer to take you into Protective Custody and escort you to PRT Headquarters if you accept," Armsmaster stated clearly.

"I can't just leave the Association in a crisis," Dad replied without a beat, suddenly more determined.

"Why you specifically," Opal spoke up. "As the leader of this Protectorate, I'm sure that there are better uses of your time in a situation such as this."

"Part of being a good leader," Armsmaster began, "is knowing who is most effective in what situations. Another is knowing when to delegate. Miss Militia is more than adequately skilled at directing the Protectorate. I, meanwhile, am most adept at moving through this city quickly while defending a singular individual from potential attacks. However, since you've refused..."

He had the decency to look away for a moment. "Director Piggot requested that I inform you that we'd be better able to justify posting a 24-hour guard if Princess were to join the Wards. That said... "

He paused to breathe, "In the interests of not alienating you by trying to force your hand," he gestured to me again, "we tried to station a temporary armed guard at your house and he was struck by lightning out of a clear sky the second he stepped onto the property. He's fine, but he refuses to try again."

"Yeah, that's in the wards I set up," I admitted. "Step within the bounded field with a weapon without permission from me or Dad and you get zapped. If he'd wanted to kill us his crotch would have rotted off," I added. Some of Caster's curses were mean.

Dad and Armsmaster both looked at me with mouths open in slack-jawed horror.

"Taylor," Dad said, "from now I want to know exactly what you're doing when you work magic in the house. So that I can veto it."

"Yes. I'm going to have to politely ask that you replace that effect with something else." Armsmaster said. "That, uh… I can understand… To a degree, but I think that counts as excessive force and..." He actually looked a little green.

"Anyway," Armsmaster said, "I doubt you'll be getting much work done until the crisis has passed. If you have an escort when you leave the house and do most of your work from home you should be fine."

"I could throw some wards on your office," I said.

"We'll discuss it at home," Dad said neutrally.

"Speaking of which," Armsmaster said, "There's been some talk of establishing a curfew. You'll be wanting to send the workers home… those of them that still have homes, and get home yourself. I'd offer to escort you, but as you've turned down the offer of protective custody I'm needed elsewhere. However, before I leave."

He reached into a hidden compartment in his armor and pulled out a small watch. "I was hoping you'd be here, Princess. This is a little something I've been working on for the last couple of weeks," he said. "It's adapted from the technology used in the Endbringer Battle Wristbands. The idea is to make it easier for independent heroes to collaborate with the PRT and Protectorate during emergency situations. Might as well test it now."

He gestured to some buttons on it. "This one issues a priority call to the PRT's emergency line. This one to the city's emergency services, this one activates a police scanner, this one is a GPS assisted map of the city, this one with the light glows red when there's an emergency, pressing it will provide details. The button under it is an emergency beacon, if you're in trouble it'll immediately alert the PRT and anyone else who has one of these watches." He cleared his throat. "The final button flashes an authorization code marking you as being PRT affiliated, in case the curfew does go into effect. Do not lose it or let it get broken because I'm going to want it back when this is over."

I took it carefully in my hands. "Why-"

"Because it'll make any assistance you attempt to offer in this time go more smoothly. Now I need to go deliver another set of these watches to New Wave. Princess," Armsmaster said, "do not be afraid to call for help, and make sure that your collaterals are safe."

And then he left. We stayed at the dockyard for another hour, making sure people could get home before everyone who lived in our part of town went home in a group.

I wish that had been the end of it, but I'd been seen out and about with enough people that… I knew that Lisa was safe, she'd been with the Dallons when the bombs had started going off, but…

Shortly after Dad and I got home, I ducked out to check on Brian.

Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Taylor

Brian was not at his apartment.

He wasn't at his father's house either-I hadn't spoken much with Mr. Laborn, but Aisha hadn't heard from him since before the bombing. She had been trying very hard to not look worried about him.

And that's when I started to get worried. It was getting late, and I wasn't sure if he was okay or not.

I wasn't sure where else I could look for him… My heart skipped a beat when I briefly considered the morgue or wherever it was that the city was keeping bodies of people who'd been killed in the bombing before they could be claimed. I didn't… No, bad Taylor. Don't assume the worst until everything else has been ruled out.

Of in the distance, I could make out an awkward shape slowly heading over the skyline towards the part of town that Lisa lived in. I flew over to it, not sure what I would encounter…

It turned out to be a very grumpy Lisa, held in a bridal carry by Glory Girl. Lisa noticed me before Vicky did. "Fancy meeting you here," she said in the deadest of deadpans.

"Lisa, hey, uh… by any chance, you wouldn't have-"

Lisa held up a finger and then pulled out her cell phone. She hit some buttons and then spoke into it. "Hey, Brian? I'm being held up hundreds of feet over the ground because Glory Girl wouldn't take no for an answer when she offered to fly me home after being stranded at her house all afternoon… Yeah. Yeah other than that I'm fine, nothing we didn't talk about earlier… Hey, I'm gonna hand over the phone and I want you to tell your girlfriend that you didn't get exploded."

Lisa handed me the phone, and I took it to my ear. "Uh, hello?"

"Uh, Taylor, hey," Brian said awkwardly. "Yeah, I'm fine. Was with some co-workers when the bombs went off, I'm crashing with them until morning."

"Okay," I said feeling an immediate sense of relief. "I was worried. You weren't at your apartment and your sister said she hadn't heard from you-"

"I called Aisha hours ago, to make sure she was okay," Brian interrupted.

"Then why…?" Oh, that little… "Anyway, I uh… I'm gonna give the phone back to Lisa now."

I awkwardly handed the phone back. Lisa took it, said "bye now" into the receiver, hung up, and pocketed it. "Taylor," she said. "Something big and terrible happened today and it makes sense to be worried, but worry can wait until after you go home and get some sleep."

"Lisa-"

"I'm serious," Lisa interrupted. "Trust me, we all know that Lung's gonna be gunning for your head. You're going to need to be well rested."

"She makes a lot of sense, Princess," Glory Girl supplied.

I sighed. "Yeah, you're right."

"Now then, my graceful steed," Lisa said to the heroine carrying her, "my apartment is in that building over there. Chop chop," she finished with a clap.

"You know, I could drop you at any time," the other blonde said as she flew off in the direction of Lisa's apartment.

I flew back home and crashed the second I got to bed.