AN: Hey there. So, a lot of you have questions. It's inconvenient to answer them on this site, and I've answered some of them on other places I've posted this story. Like NobuNepu points out on in a comment on chapter 1, You can ask on either my thread on Space Battles, or in the comments section on AO3 and I'll get back to you as soon as I see it if it's a question I haven't already answered. And for the one dude who asked twice in a row, there are going to be 7 Espada total. Also, somethings wrong with the FF servers right now, and the a lot of the new reviews aren't showing up under the chapter. At least for me. They show up in my email fine, so I still see them though, so don't be discouraged to say anything just cause the review count is higher than how many actually show up. Anyway, enjoy.

My morning runs had gotten longer despite my smoking. Because of my powers I could run far longer in a far shorter period of time. So it was more like I could go farther in the same amount of time. I started out only going a block or two before tiring out and couldn't actually run for longer than a few minutes out a time. It took me an hour to run a three block route around my house. Now, I could easily run to the beach and back in the hour and barely work up a sweat. That was around six miles in half an hour, meaning my morning runs were usually twelve miles both ways. Winslow was a bit over eight miles from my house, but I saw no point in running to school and back only to Sonido back a few hours later.

Because of my time, I usually had time to finish a smoke before starting my run home. Take a look around the Boardwalk and all that. I usually used my bus money to buy a snack if I find something open. There was a nice donut shop near the Lord Street Market, so I ended up buying a donut maybe three days out of the week. Just as a treat for putting up with the shit at school.

"Morning, Taylor." Abby, the middle aged red head who ran the shop greeted me. She looked like she was only in her late twenties, despite having children in college. I liked that she didn't really bother with the played up smile and greeting so early in the morning.

"Morning, Abby. Let me get a cinnamon twist and a chocolate milk."

"Yup. Something up?" She asked as she grabbed my order.

"Really not looking forward to school today." I sighed.

"You never look forward to school."

"Even less so today. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to have a conversation I don't want to have with someone I don't like." I said, paying and taking my food.

"Ah, sounds like a pain."

"Yeah. You ever have to deal with people you hate?" I asked, taking a bite of my twist.

"All the time."

"You know what I mean."

"I do. I think you should figure it out."

"You know I'm bad at interacting with people."

"That's why I think you should figure it out."

"You're useless."

"I can take the sweets back."

"It's half eaten." I said, sipping my milk.

"And?"

"Christ. So I should have this conversation with this chick I hate?"

"Yes."

"Despite all the terrible shit her and her friends have done to me?"

"Oh, those chicks." She tilted her head back in understanding. "Well, I'll give you some advice my mom gave me when I was dealing with something like that: "if you can't say it with your words, say it with your fists". In other words, if you can't talk it out, fight it out."

"Funny. My mom used to tell me that if they were getting back up I wasn't hitting hard enough."

"Good advice, but inefficient for someone of your size. You should be going for eyes and soft spots."

"I'll keep that in mind." I said, as I finished my food.

"See that you do. See you next time."

"Thank you for the sage advice, Wise Lady Abigail." I bowed slightly before leaving as she told me to fuck off.

—

Dad was usually gone by the time I got home, but he did leave breakfast out for me, which was nice. I was a little surprised I'd never seen him when I ran down towards the Boardwalk, but it was a good thing I hadn't. I doubted he'd really say anything about it, but I'd prefer to avoid the confrontation if I could.

I showered, microwaved my eggs, bacon, and toast, and plopped down in front of the TV to watch the morning news. I wasn't entirely surprised to see the cape fight from the previous night, but the damage they'd managed to rack up was insane. The bombs Oni Lee dropped around were ridiculous. They didn't seem to do anything different than regular grenades, but they packed a serious punch. I was certain regular hand grenades shouldn't be powerful enough to blow holes in concrete or brick walls.

That started my thinking on plans for The Espada. I'd have to go over a map of the city and draw out territory. Once I better understood how te areas of the city were split between the gangs it would be easier to figure out where we could take once the others knew how to use their powers.

I shook my head. It was too early to be going over plans for what to do. Both too early in the morning and too early into the new situation. First priority was getting the others up to speed, everything else would have to be secondary. It took me two weeks to figure out my powers and I was still working to make them stronger and figure everything I could do with them. I could probably speed up the process for the others and get us ready for actual fights as soon as possible.

I checked the clock and got up. It was almost time for class, so I stretched and grabbed my bag before Isolating myself. I walked through the wall and used Sonido to get to school. I had time to smoke and boy did I take it. This was going to be a long day.

—

I was looking forward to Gladly's class less than usual because of Madison, but that was made worse when she decided to sit next to me. She started passing me notes not even five minutes in to class. I was able to ignore it for a few minutes before she started tapping me.

—Can we talk?—

—What's there to talk about?—

—You know what. It's not a trap or anything, I promise.—

—Your word means nothing to me.—

—Fair enough… I still want to talk. Let's eat lunch together.—

—Seriously?—

—Yes. I won't rat out your hiding spot or anything.—

—Not like you could. Fine. Do you bring lunch?—

—No, I buy it.—

—Then you can buy mine too. I know a good place that's not too far.—

—Alright.—

—Just go to Las Noches and I'll meet you there.—

—I'm not sure I can get there by myself.—

—It's not hard. You'll figure it out.—

Gladly split us into groups and I was lucky to not have Julia in my group. Greg, on the other hand, was talking more than usual. I was looking out the window while he talked about some show or game and Sparky was more zoned out than I was.

"Greg." I said, stopping his ranting.

"Yeah?"

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Uh…" He seemed put off by that.

"Seriously. I mean it sincerely. What are you talking about? Every time we get put in groups you start ranting about whatever and I have no idea because I'm not interested in those things. So tell me from the beginning. Don't talk like I know what you're saying."

"Uh…" He seemed genuinely shocked that I was interested in what he was talking about. I couldn't say I was, but I'd rather have to listen to what he was saying and learn something new than let my thoughts keep going back to what I'd do about my talk with Madison that was approaching all too quickly. "Well… I was talking about this game I've been playing."

"Okay." I said, motioning for him to keep talking.

"It's uh… It's a JRPG."

"Meaning?"

"Uh… JRPG means it's an RPG made in Japan, but it's also used to describe a particular style of game. So you have a party, usually of 4 people, who each have their own class. Typical classes include Monks who do high physical damage, The White Mage who heals, Black Mage who does magic damage, Paladins that tanks hits, Ninjas that have high speed and usually dodge things, things like that. The one I'm playing has demons that listen to the characters commands instead of classes. I was talking about how my party is a little under leveled."

"Okay. So you need to get your party to the same level as like, a boss, I'm assuming."

"Yeah!" He perked up. "At least, I thought so. But everyone online is telling me levels don't matter as much as what skills I have and my tactics."

"Have you considered changing tactics?"

"Yeah, but all the demons I want are too high level for me to get."

"Does the boss have weaknesses?"

"Uh… Yeah. It does. But I don't have any demons that hit that weakness."

"So find some lower level ones that hit the weakness." I said.

He blinked at that. Like he hadn't considered doing it at all.

"Huh… I guess I can try that. I have the game with me if you want to watch."

"Sure." I said.

I picked up what was going on pretty quickly, despite Greg already having 20+ hours in the game. I wasn't particularly interested in what little of the story I could figure out, but it gave me something else to think about until class ended.

—

I sighed as I walked out of class, heading down towards the gym. People rarely went that way for lunch and it gave me a good opportunity to disappear. I turned a corner and shifted dimensions before opening a Descorrer and walking through to Las Noches. I was surprised to see Lisa there, sitting in her throne.

"Hey." She waved at me.

"Hello." I said, a bit confused.

"So, what brings you here this time of day? You have school, don't you?"

I walked up the steps and flopped down in my throne, sliding a cigarette between my lips and lighting it. I took a deep drag before I answered her.

"Yeah." I said, blowing smoke. "But I have to have a conversation with Madison." I explained.

"About all the shit she helped do to you." Lisa said.

"Yup. Really don't want to."

"For what it's worth, she really is remorseful. Which is a bit surprising, considering how emotionally dead she is."

I raised an eyebrow at that. "Yeah?"

"Uh-huh." Lisa nodded. "She's been struggling with this for at least a few months from what I can tell."

"You know, I don't know what your power is, but it's kinda bullshit."

"I'm a mind reader." I could hear the smug in her voice without looking at her face.

"Doubt it."

"You can doubt me all you want, but that doesn't make me a liar."

"What number am I thinking of?" I asked.

She was silent for a few moments as I blew another cloud of smoke from my nose.

"Okay, fine, I'm not a mind reader." She huffed. I let a small smile cross my face at that.

"You don't have to tell me what it is or anything." I said. "The number was seven, by the way."

"Maybe. Eventually. I wasn't waiting for you, but I do want to talk in private."

"Sure."

"I'm looking to get rid of someone."

"Who?"

"A super villain that goes by Coil. My boss. I don't like him. Real slimy asshole. Says he can control Destiny, but I don't believe that for a second. Problem is I'm not sure I've ever met him in person before. He does everything through phone calls, emails, text, video chat, or proxies. If I have, It was difficult to tell if it was actually him."

"Why do you want him dead?"

"The asshole basically kidnapped me. Told me my options were to work for him or have my brain turned into a Jackson Pollock on the alley wall."

"Jesus Christ." I said flatly.

"Yeah. He's super careful about everything he does. Probably the most paranoid person I've ever seen. I just want out from under his thumb. I think you can help with that. Even better, once he's gone, I'll have all his assets and I'll be able to fund the Espada. It would be easier for us to take over and maintain control of the city."

I rolled over the proposal in my head. I shrugged. "If he's operating out of the Bay we were going to get rid of him anyway." I said.

She chuckled wryly at that. "Yeah, I guess so. Now then, Boss Lady, what are your plans for the Bay?"

"Boss Lady?" I asked.

"I'm choosing to work with you and you're probably the strongest of us. Definitely the only one that knows how to use all this power we have. And… I think… You could use a friend right?"

I perked up and I knew she could tell.

"If you're only offering because I can be useful to you—."

"No! No, no, no. Never. I… I know how that feels. I'd never do that to someone else. I… I see a lot of someone I knew in you and I genuinely want to be your friend, Taylor."

I sat up and looked at her. I could see she was being serious. She looked more solemn than she did before.

"Alright. Let's get to know each other." I said.

"Great!" She smiled.

A Descorrer opened and Madison stepped through. "Sorry I'm late. It was a pain getting away from the others." She looked up and saw me and Lisa. "Am I… Am I interrupting something?"

"No. We just finished." Lisa said.

"Alright. So, where are we eating, Taylor?"

"I found a good pizza spot a few blocks from the school."

"Alright." She nodded.

I stood up. "Later Lisa. We can talk planning another time." I said, tossing my finished cigarette into the void outside the room and opened a Descorrer.

"Bye, Taylor. Have fun you two."

Madison seemed put off by Lisa's I-know-something-you-don't tone, but she didn't comment as we left.

—

We'd been eating for ten minutes and she hadn't said a thing.

We came in, I ordered (two large pizzas), we sat, waited, got our food, and started eating, and she hadn't said a word. I could tell she was mulling it over, but she was taking too long.

"You wanted to talk, right? Talk." I said, taking a bite of my pizza.

She placed her slice down and wiped her hands. Her eyes never left the table as she seemed to finally be coming up with something to say.

"Okay, listen, Taylor… I can sit here and tell you I'm sorry and how much I regret the way I've treated you until my throat bleeds and I can't talk anymore, but I know it wouldn't mean anything to you." I nodded as I took another bite of pizza. "I'm not sure if I can ever make it up to you, but I want to. I'm already at your command, but that can only go so far. I really want to start making this up to you however I can. Whatever you want me to do, I'll do it if I can."

"Why?" I asked. She seemed confused for a second before understanding crossed her face.

"It's… It's so stupid and petty." She waved her arm dismissively. "You know better than anyone how vicious high schoolers can be. I did it because… Well, I was afraid. You aren't the only one Emma bullies, you're just the one she's the most vicious to. If any of us fell out of line she and Sophia wouldn't hesitate to turn on us. Popularity is a powerful drug and the fear of losing that, of what the others will do when you aren't falling in line with them, is more than enough motivation to keep doing shitty things if it means you won't be the one being shat on."

I wanted to go off on her. To Yell, to scream, tell her how much I hated her. I wanted to reach through her chest and splatter her heart against the wall.

Instead I took a long sip of my soda to processed her words. I'd never been in her position, but I could see how fear of being treated like I was would be a good motivator to keep up the act. But I wasn't going to be so quick to forgive just because I understood. Juice in my hair, glue in my chair, stealing my work, helping ruin my grades… My mothers flute. I wouldn't be so quick to forgive those things. I had severe trust issues because of Emma and her cadre of cunts, so convincing me to trust one of them would be hard earned.

"Taylor?" Madison asked.

"Did Emma tell you the reason she can get to me so well is because we grew up together?" I asked. She shook her head, eyes widening slightly. "We were best friends. Sisters, basically. She used to say she'd rather have me than be where she is now. Our parents were friends because we were friends. We used to alternate sleeping at each others houses on the weekends. Our parents used to joke that her older sister was named after my mother and I believed it for so long because we were that close. She's the one who helped me most through my mothers death." I could see the horror growing on her face as she pieced together the implications of what I was saying. "I've developed severe emotional issues as a result of what you all have done to me. This isn't something I can forgive so easily. It's going to take a lot of time for me to start trusting you." I paused, trying to think of what else to say. "Get the rest of this to go."

She got up to ask for a box and we were out of the store in less than five minutes. She followed just behind me and to my right. Like she didn't want to imply she stood on the same level. We turned into an alley and I grabbed her shoulder and shifted us before using Sonido to take us to the roof of the school. I let go and she balanced herself from the trip.

"I can't begin to tell you the depth of my emotions towards you and your friends." She looked like she wanted to object to that, but I kept going. "There's just far too much to go through and we'd hit the heat death of the universe before I could finish ranting at you. So since words won't work, we'll use our fists."

"What?" She asked, taking a step back.

"We're going to fight. Look at it this way, it'll be good training for your powers and beating your pretty little face in will be cathartic for me."

She squeaked and covered her nose with her hands.

"You won't actually beat my face in will you?"

I shrugged. "I won't be trying to do any lasting damage, but I'm not going to be pulling my punches either."

"What about people?"

"There aren't any people. This is my isolation world. The only living things here are us. Now square up and let's go. We've got twenty minutes till lunch ends. We start when I say 'go'." She took up a tentative boxers stance while I got into something more akin to a martial art stance. "Go."

I dashed forward slow enough that she could still see me and threw a punch at her face. She dodged with ease, but didn't retaliate. I threw another punch that hit her in the nose. She stumbled back and brought her hand to her face.

"No time outs. You think Hookwolf or Oni Lee will stop when they hit you?" I asked, hitting her in the stomach and kneeing her face when she doubled over. I didn't attack as she fell back and hit the ground, holding her nose.

"You're going to make me regret everything, aren't you?" She sighed, not getting up.

"Absolutely, I am." I said with a sly smile.

—

We ended up missing the rest of our classes to fight. It stopped being as enjoyable when she realized she could just tank hits, so it devolved into a pseudo slug fest where she couldn't hit me and my hits weren't causing reaction. Not to say she didn't feel the hits, her nose and mouth were bleeding after half an hour, she just didn't register any of it emotionally, like she couldn't feel it.

We'd also managed to discover a couple of her powers. She could control air, even creating bubbles of pressurized air that could explode with the force of several hand grenades, and create a "Negative Zone" where things were essentially reversed in any way she wanted. I was more than a little surprised that it didn't really affect me, but I probably shouldn't have been considering my power set.

It was a little before class was supposed to let out and we were lying on the roof looking at the sky. Neither of us had spoken in well over half an hour. I was content with the silence, but I could tell she was getting restless.

"So what now?" I asked her.

"About what?"

"Your friends?"

"They aren't my friends. They were always more social vultures than anything. I only spent time with them because, well, you know."

"Right. So what are you going to do?"

"I don't know." I could hear a bit of fear in her voice. The same kind I had when I would talk about going back to school after breaks.

"Listen, I might hate you, but I'm not so callous as to abandon anyone to the same fight I had. I recommend you stick with them but leave me alone or I will actually hurt you. If you want to practice during lunch, I sit up here. Just give me a note in Gladly's class. I'll be more than happy to beat up on you some more."

"Okay." She said more blandly than I was expecting. There was a hint of fear from my threats, but it was muted at best. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Why didn't you ever do anything?"

"It's not that I never did anything, but that I had limited options. Emma's dad is the type of parent who will do his best to keep his children from facing the consequences of their actions. So I couldn't tell him because he'd just ignore me or say it's slander. Dad wants to help, but he's been ineffective. We don't have the money for a legal battle. The teachers and administration just doesn't care. I know you know Gladly knows about what you and Julia do. Mrs. Knott is the only teacher who's ever tried to help. Sophia and Emma are in higher social standing and have people willing to back up what they say, so Blackwell thinks I'm just trying to get attention. Doesn't help that Sophia tries to spin it as me having a persecution complex. Now, here's the thing, if I tried to fight back physically, I'd be the one getting in trouble. I'd probably go to jail because being out numbered and Sophia being stronger than me, plus my diminutive size, means I have to fight as dirty as possible to win. So what happens when I have six girls saying I attacked them unprovoked and all of us are covered in bruises, scratches, and at least one person has a fucked up eye? I go to fucking jail. Sophia's a cunt of the highest order but she's not worth catching a case over."

"Missing an eye?" She asked.

"People of my size, with no physical strength, are better off going for soft spots. Eyes, hair, throat, neck, ears, kidneys, crotch, all places I'd aim to hit as hard as possible if I wanted to win a fight before getting powers."

"That's fucking terrifying. If that's how you'd fight without powers, I don't think I want to see the types of things you can do with them."

"I know I can reach through people and take stuff out of them."

"Are you trying to scare me?"

"Is it working?"

"Little bit."

We went back to silence after that. Neither of us said anything for several minutes until Madison broke the silence.

"School's out now, isn't it?"

"Probably."

"You don't have a watch?"

"It'd have gotten stolen by now if I did."

"Fair enough." She said, standing up. She offered me her hand.

"We're not at that point yet." I said, rolling back and onto my feet. "This doesn't make us friends, and I certainly don't trust you yet, but I'm willing to let you try to get there." I snapped my fingers and we were back in reality, the noises of students leaving for home and getting ready for after school activities roared back to life. "And buy your own smokes from now on. I can tell you don't like mine and I don't want you bumming them off me forever."

"Alright." She accepted my request easy enough, it seemed. "See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah." I said, taking off for home.