It was a rather slow morning at the shop. Then again, I rarely ever saw people when I was just a customer, so I shouldn't have been surprised that didn't change much as an employee. If not for the fact Abby seemed to make a decent amount of money, enough to afford to pay me at least, I'd have thought she'd be close to going out of business. Apparently the rush happened after my shift ended, which was odd since I usually left mid morning on the weekends. Even on my Fridays that seemed a bit of a stretch, but she made money, so I wasn't going to question it.

"You almost done, Taylor?" Abby asked from the front.

"Yeah," I called, finishing cleaning some of the equipment. I didn't have the know how or anything like that to cook the pastries quite yet, Abby had been teaching me between the cleaning she had me doing, so most of my job was just to serve customers and keep things clean. Not that I minded. It was low stress and gave me ample time to think about how I wanted to operate all my Cape stuff.

"Come back up front when you're done. I've got a batch of fritters to finish in a bit."

"Got it," I called.

The week after dealing with the Empire had been more tiring than I wanted. Dealing with the Protectorate coming at me every chance they got to talk about Missy was annoying and they were starting to try my patience. Armsmaster and Battery were the worst offenders, and the funny thing was they didn't even realize they were doing exactly the thing she hated when they talked to me: treating her like she was a fresh trigger. It was always "She doesn't know what she's doing" and "You must have influenced her". It made me understand why she left very quickly if this was how they always treated her. The Wards, luckily enough, were ordered not to bother me if they ever saw me, so I didn't have to worry about them if we spotted each other on the boardwalk or something.

Operating out of the Docks was also a bit more than I was expecting. It was a high traffic area, so of course there'd be more going on than some of the other parts of the city. Alec and Missy were lucky in that regard. Luckily Circus and Uber and Leet hadn't been active in a while, so I was free of them for now, but I still had to deal with non-Cape dealers every once now and then, which I didn't want to do. Especially since I was trying to focus on getting my shelter up and running. Run down buildings were plentiful so all I needed to do was find somewhere I liked and fix it up real quick once it was mine. I'd like to do it the legal way, but the way things were going that wasn't looking entirely possible. Especially not with me still trying to repair a lot of the damage the Empire had done.

And boy had they done a lot. A hurricane might as well have run through with the way some of the areas looked. And the loss of life was ridiculous. It just made me glad those fucks were basically gone for good since all of the civilian generals had either skipped town or gotten grabbed by the cops and all of their Capes were either dead or locked up. Theo and Kayden had been doing as well as could be expected, which was dodging from place to place to avoid the cops until they figured something out. Madison had been offered to let them stay with Paige and Sherrel, but they couldn't really do that with a baby around.

Other than that, things had been slow, and it made me feel like something big was coming. Because that's how things seemed to be going lately. One big blow up after another. Even dad, for the few hours I had seen him this week, felt like something was coming. Despite everything, I knew I could still trust his instincts on things like that. He seemed to be doing better in general, which I was glad about. Drinking less, working reasonable time frames, relaxing like he should to keep steady. I was glad he had friends like Kurt and Lacey to help him because I sure as hell shouldn't have been the one trying. Neither of us was emotionally stable enough to be trying to help—.

I was broken from my thoughts by a low pitched droning noise blaring across the city.

"The fuck is that?" I asked.

"Taylor?!" Abby shouted over the sound, "Taylor we need to leave!" I had never heard that much emotion in her voice. I'd never heard her speak with so much fear.

"What's going on?" I asked, rushing to the front to find Abby throwing pastries into bags and tying them up.

"Endbringer! We need to leave! I have somewhere out of the city I can go. Do you need me to take you anywhere? Do you want to come with me?"

"Endbringer?" I asked, the word sending my brain into overdrive. I had a lot to consider in that moment. Of course we were going to stay and fight, but what would we do? I had no idea if we were strong enough to fight one, especially if it was the Bird. And my dad. I doubted Kurt and Lacey had a place to stay out of the city, so what would I do about them? Letting them into Las Noches to hide until it was over was a big risk, but I'd be willing to take it if it kept them safe. And dad had power so what if he wanted to stay and fight despite not knowing exactly what—.

"Taylor!" Abby shouted, knocking me out of my thoughts. "Keep your head in the game! We need to get going! The streets are going to be crowded soon so we need to go now!"

"I'm staying," I answered, getting a shocked look from her. "You take off, I don't want to slow you down. I'll lock up and head to my friends house. They stay nearby, running distance is maybe a couple minutes for me."

"Taylor I'm not leaving you here! Especially not to lock up! The shop is fucked either way, and your life is more important than—,"

"Abby!" I shouted, making her jump. "Take off. I'll be fine. I promise you I will be fine. I'll get to my friends house and call my dad to see what he's going to do. I'll take it from there, alright? You don't have to worry about me."

"But I do," she said harshly. "Do you think I'd hire you if I didn't care? It's a rare thing that I care about people who aren't family, Taylor! I'm not going to just let you—," She stopped as I hugged her. She was still for a moment before she hugged me back and I could tell she was annoyed with me if her balled fists was anything to go by.

"I have to make sure my dad is okay. We're staying in the city since we don't have anywhere else to go and I don't want to slow you down. I know I'll be fine and it's more important to me that you make it out of the city while you can. I'm leaving the store right behind you. I promise when everything calms down I'll be alright. I'm not going anywhere. You know I'm tougher than that."

Abby growled, but it was one of resignation more than anger.

"Fine!" She said, pulling away from the hug and holding my shoulders to look at me. "But you better be fine when I come back."

"I promise I'll be alright," I said sternly.

She took a moment to examine the resolution in my eyes before nodding.

"Take care of yourself. Please, Taylor."

"I will. You go. I don't want you caught in traffic when this thing shows up."

Abby nodded and tossed me the keys before taking off out the back door. I heard her car take off just as my phone rang.

"What's up?" I asked far too casually as I go about locking the doors to the shop.

"It's me," Lisa said. "Quick update, Coils dead and I can apparently set kill people by burning their souls."

"Brutal. What else?"

"Coil had a little girl kidnapped. Turns out it's the mayor's niece and she has some crazy strong precog ability. Also, I think there's something really scary in Coil's basement, but that can wait until after we deal with this fucking Endbringer. Do you know which one it is?"

"No idea. We're coastal so I'd be more than willing to guess Leviathan. You called the others yet?" I asked, turning off the lights looking out through the shop windows. Cars sped down the street as fast as they could and a flood of people rushed down the sidewalks all trying to get either home or to a shelter. It was a chaos I can't say I've seen in the city despite everything that's happened. The fear was heavy in the air like the blaring siren signaling Brockton's doom. The panic on the people's faces as I closed the shutters showed just how much more terrifying Endbringers were compared to any other threat save for Sleeper, the Blasphemies, or the Nine.

"Shit… Okay, Alec and I will be up in a bit. I need to get these mercenaries to sit still while we fight. We're fighting right?" She asked.

"Of course. I'm gonna check on my dad then get the others together. Get everyone organized for me when you're done with your thing."

"Got it. See you in a few."

We hung up and I took off for Kurt and Lacey's place. Didn't take longer than a few seconds to get there, and I was glad to see them getting packed up to leave the city when I ran up.

"Hey!" I called, as I reached the car.

"Taylor!" Lacey shouted, pulling me into a tight hug. "I'm so glad you made it to us. We're leaving the city. I don't trust those bunkers."

"I… How's my dad?" I asked, wanting to avoid the topic of me staying in the city.

"He's doing surprisingly well considering. He's helping Kurt pack everything we need."

"I'll help," I said.

"It's fine, They're almost done. We just need to pack everything and we're heading out."

"Alright," I said nodding. "I'll help get everything in."

Dad and Kurt walked from the house carrying suitcases and boxes and we moved to help.

"Taylor!" Dad said when he spotted me.

"Hey," I said, grabbing one of the suit cases from him. "I came to check on you guys. See what your plans were. Lacey says you're leaving the city, which is good."

"We can find a hotel or something to stay in when we get to Manchester. No way we're staying here," Kurt said.

"I'm just glad you're getting out of the city. Who knows what's about to go down here," I said as I put the case in the trunk.

"You're talking like you're not coming," Kurt said.

I didn't say anything, but it suddenly felt very awkward. I didn't know how I was going to say I was staying. Dad knew why I would want to despite the fact he didn't look happy about it.

"Kurt," Lacey said harshly, pulling the man away. "What did I tell you?" I heard her ask.

"She knows?!" I whispered harshly to my dad.

"She kind of figured it out," He shrugged helplessly. "They know about me, it was… difficult keeping it under control, but Lacey made the connection that you were probably a Cape too. My refusal to confirm or deny it probably didn't help."

"It's fine," I sighed. It wasn't fine but I knew I could at least trust them not to accidentally out me or something. "I'm surprised you're leaving so easily."

"I want to stay," He said. "I want nothing more than to stay and help but…" He sighed and scratched his head.

"You still don't know exactly what your power does."

"I have ideas, but nothing concrete. More than that it's not like I have a costume or anything to wear to fight. And even then—,"

"Dad," I said, knocking him from his pity party. "I prefer you be out of the city. I couldn't stop you from using your powers, but the last thing I want is you trying to face down an Endbringer before you even know what you can do. I'm pretty sure I can take a hit or two, but I don't think you'd be getting back up."

"Yeah… Yeah, I know. Just…" He pulled me into a tight hug I immediately returned. "Promise me you'll be safe, Taylor. I don't want to get back and find you dead because you overestimated yourself."

"I promise," I said. "You'll get back and I'll still be right here. No reason to worry." Surprisingly, I was completely confident in that declaration. I felt completely sure that I'd make it through whatever today was about to throw at me.

"You better be. I couldn't… I wouldn't be able to handle losing you."

"I know. Nothing is going to happen to me."

"You ready, Danny?" Lacey asked from a few feet away.

"Yeah," He said, pulling away from the hug. "Yeah, I'm ready."

"You be careful, Taylor," Lacey said, pulling me into a quick hug. "I don't want to hear about anything bad happening to you."

"I'll be fine. You guys go before the highways get too clogged up."

I stood at the end of the driveway and watched the car leave. There were still people getting their things out of their houses, even on this street, or trying to bunker down in their homes. I thought the latter idea was stupid, but hopefully it wouldn't be.

I went behind the house and opened a Garganta, stepping into Las Noches a moment later. Everyone was seated, we had finally gotten around to getting some chairs for the others, and half of them looked nervous.

"Alrighty ladies and gents, it's a big one," I sighed as I sat in my seat. "I'm guessing it's Leviathan, which is better than the other two. I'm not sure how we'd fare against Ziz's scream or Behemoth's instant kill zone. Honestly, this is probably the best stress tester for our powers we could ask for."

"That's certainly one way of looking at it," Lisa snorted.

"So let's get non combatants out of the way first: Grue, Bitch, you two will be running search and rescue. That's the best place to have you. Alec, you should probably be doing the same at first. Outside of a Cero you don't really have anything to throw at Leviathan. It's the same for Li— actually, Lisa, if you have eyes on the Endbringer, would it be possible to give everyone in your range constant vision on it?"

"Probably?" She said. "Yeah, I could. Just make an illusion that let's people see through buildings, it could work."

"Great, I want you doing that and analysis. Keep eyes on target so we always know where it's headed and where it is. Paige, Sherrel, sorry to say but you two are going to have to be on babysitting duty."

"What?!" They and Kayden cried.

"Kayden, we need you in the fight and there's no one else to watch Aster for you while we fight. She'll be safe with them here," I said.

She looked conflicted the idea, but reluctantly nodded. "Just… Okay, They can watch her."

"I ain't never done this before, but I'll keep the kid entertained for a while," Sherrel said.

"I like babies. They aren't too hard to deal with," Paige says.

"Now, I am planning to mostly run combat medic. I'll be in the fight and if anyone gets hurt or killed, I should be able to bring them back to full health in an instant."

"Why can't I run combat medic?" Alec asked.

"Because you don't have anything useful against and Endbringer. I don't use it often because I have trouble controlling it, but my spatial slicing does work at range."

"How bad are you at controlling it, exactly?" Kayden asked.

"It's a precision problem. I usually just end up cutting everything in my path instead of the specific area or thing I want."

"And what's the range on that?" Grue asked.

"A mile at least," I shrugged.

"Kay, you can keep combat medic. I can't do that shit," Alec waved his hand dismissively.

"As I was saying, that puts Theo, Missy, Madison, and Kayden on the front lines. Missy, you seem to be physically the strongest of us, so you're definitely a front line fighter. Theo, you know why. Your beams and gravity control should be extremely useful. Kayden, you have beams, same as Theo. Madison… I have a question actually."

"Shoot," She said.

"How big can you make your negation fields, and can you keep things from going into them?"

"I…" Her eyes scrunched up as she thought for a moment. "I don't know. I should be able to make it as large as a couple blocks at least. Never tried to stop stuff going in, just controlling what goes happens inside."

"Well try to make it as big as you can make it and keep fighting, and don't let any water inside if my hunch is right."

"Got it," She nodded.

"Any questions?" I ask.

"What happens if things get out of hand?" Theo asked.

"What do you mean out of hand?" Missy asked.

"I mean what if things start going downhill or the fight is tougher than we're expecting?"

"If things get dicey, we just have to go harder. We only need to drive him off if the fight is too hard. And we'll have the support of other Capes. If things go well and it seems like we can do it, the answer is still fight harder. No use letting it live if we can help it."

"What about a group attack?" Madison asked.

"Group attack?" Grue asked.

"Yeah," She nodded. "Like, what if we all got together and blasted a Cero in its face at the same time?"

"I'm not opposed to the idea," Alec raised his hand.

"Of course you aren't," Lisa rolled her eyes. "That said, if things are going well, I can see it happening. One last push to get things done."

"Good or bad, if we do group up for one big Cero, use the Oscuras," I said.

"Right," They nod.

"Now, Lisa, do you know where we're supposed to meet up with the other Capes willing to fight?"

"In fact, I do," She said.