When Abby told me "Part Time" she really meant part time. She only scheduled me to work four to seven on Fridays and six to ten on weekends, making me spend the rest of the week studying for the High School Exit Exam, which I was surprised I was able to sign up for without having to take a prep class. Just another couple forged signatures and I was good to go.
But that also meant I was up at "Fuck This O'Clock" every weekend. Free pastries pretty much made up for it though. Every Sunday she said she'd let me take home a box of whatever I wanted depending on how well it was selling. Lisa would probably complain about it making her fat or something, but it wasn't like we could even get fat anymore. She just didn't want to keep running with me because her stamina sucked.
Getting off work for the day, I said bye to Abby and made a quick trip home to change out of my dough covered clothes and put on the first think I pulled from the newish wardrobe I'd gotten so I didn't have to take up Lisa's closet space, which turned out to be an ankle length skirt and the top half of some old school uniform. Half the reason I even spent the money on this particular outfit was the hat it came with.
Once I was dressed I left to meet up with the others at a poutine place Alec kept suggesting we go. I wasn't sure if they specifically sold poutine or it was just something they had on the menu and that was the only thing that caught his eye, but knowing him it was fifty-fifty.
Lisa and Alec were already there by the time I started ordering.
"Did you really have to wear that?" Lisa groaned at my outfit.
"You're the one who told me to wear more eye catching clothes." I retorted.
"This isn't what I meant. I meant like, actual street clothes. You basically just bought a bunch of costumes."
"I bought actual clothes too, you act like I only bought costumes."
"It was half of what you bought."
"I don't see the problem with that." I said dully.
"Taylor, you bought two Renaissance dresses, two pairs of leather pants, three leather jackets, three separate sets of school uniforms including that one, and pastel bear hoodie with matching pants." She listed in frustration.
"Yeah, but I bought a bunch of regular clothes too, so I don't see the problem."
"I-ugh. I'm never going to talk you out of this, am I?"
"Nope. I paid for them, might as well wear them."
"You have to let me see you in the leather outfits." Alec said.
"I feel like I should say no because of the way you phrased that." I said slowly.
"You should." Lisa confirmed.
"Hm…."
Madison and Theo walked in and Theo immediately stopped when he saw me. He looked confused but still went to order. Madison just waved and followed him.
When they finally joined us at the table, Theo was the first to speak.
"Okay, Taylor, why the hell are you wearing a gakuran?"
I raised my eyebrows a bit, as did Lisa.
"Better question, how the hell do you know what that is off the top of your head? I had to look it up online after I bought it." I said.
He sat straight for a moment, then closed his eyes and sighed.
"I was really into Japanese media for a bit in middle school."
"To answer your question, she bought it at a thrift store because I told her that she should wear more eye catching clothes." Lisa sighed.
"It is eye catching." Madison said.
"I meant she should like, show off her legs more or something, not dress in weird random outfits."
"To be fair, you should totally show your legs off more." Alec said.
"I agree with him, but not for his reasoning." Madison said.
"You don't know my reasoning!" He tossed his hands in the ear.
"Yes she does." Lisa says.
"Fuck you guys." He said, going back to his food.
"Anyway, Theo, you had info. Said something about a Rally. You know where it is?" I asked.
"Unfortunately, no. He's really strict about info security. He sends out a mass voice mail an hour before it starts with the location. He has too many applicable locations for me to guess. I could give a list and we might be able to hit them all between us to check."
"Do you know when it's supposed to start?" Lisa said.
"He only said afternoon." He shook his head. "Everyone under him knows how he operates so they didn't need to ask questions and I was only really there for decoration. He wanted me to see how those things are supposed to go."
"Unfortunate." Lisa sighed. "I could've done something if we had at least a little info on a time or general area of the city."
"So we have to wait until they make their move to do anything." Madison sighed.
"Damn them and their competence." Alec shook his fist.
"So for now we eat, then we relax and prepare until they make their move." I said.
It annoyed me we weren't able to nip this situation in the bud, even if it meant we were seen as the aggressors, but letting them start trouble before we could actually do anything about it bothered me. It was part of the reason I didn't want to join the Wards. Being a Hero was too reactionary. Too much down time waiting for things to happen when I could be working to take them out before they could cause trouble. Doing so without killing anyone was the hard part.
Violence was easy. Especially when you had a cause that made it feel justifiable. "They constantly kill people for no reason, so what's wrong with killing them for that?". The problem was it was a slippery slope. The more small justifications I made, the more I moved the post of what was acceptable, even if just by centimeters each time, the harder it would be to actually draw hard lines in the sand on what I would and wouldn't do. I didn't want to look back years down the road and wonder when I'd become the monster.
So sitting back and having to wait was annoying, but it was the better choice.
"Well, with that said, what should we do for the rest of the day?" Madison asked.
"We could hit a movie." Theo suggested.
"Hit the mall." I suggested. "Or any form of window shopping. It leaves us in the best position to easily retaliate if they make a move. We don't have to worry they might jump the gun and we won't know until we get out the movie."
"Yes, let's do that!" Madison smiled.
—
Walking around downtown was supposed to give us a heads up on where and when the Empire was meeting up. We kept to the edges of the residential areas or places with warehouses, just close enough to see if lots of people were trickling into one place. We had been walking around for an hour on eerily empty streets, alert but not noticeably so.
The first indication we got that anything was wrong was screaming two blocks over and a car bouncing down the street in front of us.
"What the hell?" Lisa said.
"We should go do something about that." Theo said.
"We should." I agreed. We took off down and alleyway, changing into our costumes and masks as we ran and getting over to whatever was happening in a flash.
It's pure chaos when we reach whatever the hell is going on.
People are running all over the place, there are cars ripped apart and strewn across the street, and holes torn in buildings. Shattered glass, blood, metal, bodies, it's all chaos.
The Empire is rampaging through the area, Hookwolf running down the street with metal blades swinging in every direction, slicing apart anything they can. Krieg is kicking cars down the street while Rune is picking up debris to throw around and Alabaster is firing off his gun wildly.
We all dash into the fray, stopping the Empire and their rampage. I grab Hookwolf by his chains while Nihilus blows Alabasters gun hand off with a bubble. Samael goes for Krieg, punching him into a building, and Rhapsody and Wraith do something to make Rune lose control and wildly lower herself to the ground before stumbling over.
"I knew you Nazi's were low, but going this far just to draw us out? I was hoping you had some standards."
"Us low?" Hookwolf growled. "We aren't the ones who broke the code! The hell do you think you are, outing us you dirty race traitor!"
"Outing you? What the fuck are you talking about?" I shouted. "We couldn't out you if we wanted to!" Which was a lie, we could do so easily, but I didn't want to get caught up in the backlash of that particular storm in case anyone tried it with us.
"Don't play dumb! You outed us to the fucking news! We'll kill you all for that!" A blade shot forward and through my chest. I felt the pain for all of a moment before I reversed the affect. "What kind of fucked up power is that?"
"Hi, pot, I'm kettle, have we met? Asshole." I slammed my palm into his face and fired off a Cero, blowing a hole through his head. He shouted but metal filled in the hole a second later.
He swung his blades at me and I phased through them, slicing them off. I dash near him and shove my foot into his side, slamming him into the side of a car.
"Wait." Samael asks loudly. "Where are Cricket and Stormtiger? Where's Kaiser and the giant twins?"
Krieg laughs. "Cricket and Stormtiger are off dealing with a filthy race traitor."
"Fuck. I'll be back!" Samael took off, leaving Krieg embedded in the concrete.
How he hadn't been seriously injured in whatever had been done to him was astounding.
A white blur shot past us and I saw Alabaster roll to a stop a few feet away. Hookwolf shot forward, spinning at me like a dog shaped blender. I phased through the attack, grabbed one of the chains and used it to slam him against the ground.
Nihilus' laughing stopped me. It was high and manic sounding. I turned to see her walking up to a dazed Alabaster, spear in hand.
"I'm going to make sweet, sweet love to your chest cavity with the business end of my spear!"
That was enough to get even the Nazi's to stop and look at her.
"Jesus Christ, tone it down a bit, Nihilus." I said.
"Too much?" She asked.
"Even for me that was too much." Rhapsody said.
"Fine, fine." She sighed. "I'll tone it down." She shot forward, impaling Alabaster on her spear and tossing him back down the street towards Krieg. Rune was still struggling to get up and tossing her debris around haphazardly.
I could tell this was going to be a very long day.
AN: Feeling very "Eh" about this chapter. It was going to be longer, but I felt this was a good place to cut it and the rest would go in another chapter before it started escalating further.