Twilight 02

"This really isn't what we had intended," Armsmaster said. The frown on his face was approaching scowl territory though it hadn't quite made it that far yet. For once I was glad that his helmet concealed most of the rest of his face. The rigid stance and his (presumably) white-knuckled grip on his halberd already gave me info about his mood. Internally I cringed, though externally, I just folded my arms and planted myself in front of Rune.

Purity gestured towards Rune from her spot between us and Armsmaster. "And yet it still fits the PRT objectives for getting Rune away from the Empire Eighty-Eight doesn't it? Let's just call this a win and be done with it."

"Yes, that was the core intent, and I am extremely appreciative that she is no longer hostile."

"I am right here," Rune grumbled.

"Yet it still doesn't change that, until a few minutes ago, she was a villain. Probationary Ward agreements are vetted and approved through Legal for a reason. There are many hurdles that have to be cleared in order to be acceptable; both for the larger Protectorate organization and the public as a whole. Bringing on simple thieves is simple; clearing attempted murderers is exceptionally different. I am not aware of the entirety of Rune's file, but we are all aware of one of the most important aspects: her Empire associations. We were prepared to deal with that in several ways, depending on her preferences. And if she is not intending to join with the Wards, that becomes exceedingly difficult and the options narrow to an absurd degree."

Purity nodded. "But there are still options. Correct?"

Armsmaster signed. "I am ambitious. This is not a secret. However, I am not good with people and it has hampered my goals. The Empire is good with Public Relations, it's a large part of why they have survived for so long, why they have thrived. PR is important - no matter how much we all despise it. You of all people should be aware of the necessity of optics. You have been trying for months, possibly years, to improve your image, to move away from your past. Yet only in the past few weeks, because of your efforts with Hardlight, has there been any success. The PRT is good at optics. You are not."

"Rune's already agreed to rebrand, and I'll replace her costume, if that helps at all," I said.

Armsmaster's frown lightened as he glanced towards me, then shifted his gaze to Rune. "You aren't intending to keep your moniker by staying with Purity and Hardlight?"

She shook her head. "No. I just don't trust you not to disappear me. But I trust her."

"We would never - " he growled and his hand clenched tighter on his halberd. "I'm not dealing with this. This is not my department, this is not my field, this not my fight. If you want to stay with Purity and Hardlight, fine. While your identity may be unknown, theirs is not. Be aware that the PRT is likely to push for checkups to ensure that you are actually remaining heroic and have not slipped into old habits. I don't know how that would work, but again, not my department. Also be aware that while we will not actively look for your civilian identity, your association with Hardlight is well known to us, so we are quite likely to become aware of who you are in short order by simple association. If you joined the Wards, this would be a moot point, but you are not, so you need to know in order to ensure you don't take offense. If you do take offense, then that is your own fault for being foolish about something obvious. Is everything understood?"

Rune stared at him. After a moment, she nodded. "You are not what I expected."

He sighed again and shook his head. "Yes, I get that often. If you change your mind, please come see us. Hardlight, thank you for your assistance today. Assault passes along his thanks as well - both for the help and for something he referred to as 'the cat in the bag'. I don't want to know what he is referring to."

I snorted. "It's actually tame. If anyone was hurt in the other teams and Panacea is still taking time off, please let me know."

"We will. Purity, your assistance with Fenja and Menja was also appreciated. With all five capes here captured, plus one defector, we've dealt a decent blow to the Empire today. We'll contact you once we're ready to move against Kaiser and the remainder."

"I appreciate that." Purity bit her lip as she glanced to the side. I doubted anyone else could see it though with how bright she was still glowing. "There are no capes at any of the other locations?"

"Alabaster was spotted at the secondary target, however he peeled off as soon as you began your attack. Our assumption was that he was going to come and back up the present forces. He may have arrived too late and decided to fall back instead."

She nodded. "Yeah, that's what I was expecting, especially with Cricket here. He was a bit on her, and they worked together a lot with Hookwolf and Stormtiger."

"I recommend caution concerning your family until this is resolved. While Cricket is usually the more lethal of the group, now that Hookwolf is dead and she and Stormtiger are both captured, Alabaster may well escalate."

"He will," Rune said, scowling. "Fucker likes to hurt people. He's not as bad as Hookwolf was, and he's not as batshit as Cricket, but he's still a sadist. He used to like to beat up those of us who didn't seem to be 'pulling our weight'. We'll be careful."

"I'll see if the PRT can station plain-clothes nearby if that's acceptable."

Purity nodded. "Yes, that's fine. When my husband gets home I would very much like our house to still be standing. While I'm sure the three of us could deal with a direct attack, without backup we'd probably end up destroying our home."

"Wait, am I living with you now?" Rune asked, snapping her head to the side.

"Well you can't exactly go home. Until we get you an apartment, yes, I imagine you would be living with us."

"Oh. Um. Okay. I mean, yeah I can't exactly go back and live with my cousin anymore…Victor would probably kill me now at this point…This is going to be awkward."

I blushed, trying not to think of the full implications of that. "It'll be like a sleepover. I haven't really had a sleepover in years so um, I'm not the best at that and, well I could um, I mean we could…"

Armsmaster grunted. "I'll leave you all to it. Purity, get the teenagers off the street before the Empire strikes back."

He started to walk away as Rune and I just goggled at his back. "No. No way was that intentional…"

"No way was what intentional?" Purity asked.

I stared at her instead, my eyes as wide as saucers.

"Dude, you need to give your stepmom a pop culture education."

How we made it back to the house without further incident I had no idea, but I was grateful all the same. As the front door shut behind Kayden I pretty much just collapsed onto the sofa. I knew it would probably only be a few hours, a day or two at most before we moved against Kaiser, but I was going to take the chance to relax while it was available.

"You're really sure I can stay here?" Tammi's voice drifted towards me from the kitchen.

"It's not a problem. I'll get extra sheets out and we can make up the couch. I might have an air mattress in the basement instead, but I'm not entirely certain. That is my husband's territory."

Dad. He would've been home by now if this day had been normal. He wouldn't likely be doing anything…But I still would've been able to hear him as he shuffled around his room, or he'd be on his armchair pretending to watch TV, or he'd…

I rolled over, facing the back of the couch and curled up around one of my puppies, shutting my eyes. Dad was fine. He was somewhere safe, and he was fine. The PRT would watch out for him.

Would they make sure he took his medicine? I didn't even make sure he took his medicine. Was that why his good days were so inconsistent? Was it my fault? If I had tried harder to not get so angry with him being distant would it have helped? But he got hurt on a good day. Would that just make him even less likely to want to get better?

"Taylor? Are you okay?"

I just hugged the puppy harder and screwed my eyes shut. The hand on my shoulder wasn't important. Dad was important. And Dad wasn't here, and he wasn't going to be here, and it was my fault, and I wasn't even allowed to know where he was because if they caught me then they could find out, and -

"Kayden! Can you come in here please? Like now!"

"There's no need to shout, I'm right - oh damn. Budge over." Hands pulled me away from the back of the couch. I just buried my head into the soft, pliant 'fur' under me. "Taylor, sweetheart, I need to focus on your breathing, okay? Can you do that for me? Take deep breaths; in…and out…in…and out."

When I had started panting? Did it matter? It should matter. Did it matter more than the fact that the house was empty when we got home? Did it matter more than Dad and Kayden doing a two minute ceremony in a hospital room officiated by Dauntless of all people? They were supposed to have a real wedding! Now Dad was gone to the wind and I was alone again and Kaiser hadn't even shown up so the person responsible was getting away with it!

"Taylor, you're hyperventilating. Can you talk to me? What's wrong, baby?"

I just cried harder and pulled the dog tighter. It was good that it was a projection. I probably would've hurt it if it was real. When had I started crying?

"Did she say anything to you?"

"No…I was coming to ask if she knew anything about the air mattress and I found her like this…What can I do? How can I help? Can we help? That…she doesn't look good…"

"It's happened before. Can you get my bag? I think I have some smelling salts or something in there. If we can shock her a bit, we can probably kick her out of whatever loop she's spiraling down."

Even if Kaiser showed up the next time, what were we supposed to do?! Kayden couldn't hurt him. She was already on thin ice. I couldn't hurt him - I had to be the moral one or everything would fall apart instead of just most things. And if Tammi got close then he'd kill her. At best, we'd capture him and he'd walk free in a few days because that's what the big capes did. They never stayed caught, they never got punished, they always got away! Uber, Leet, Lung, Kaiser, Shadow Stalker…

"Aren't shocks like that bad?"

"Her thoughts loop and she talks herself into a downward spiral. We're trying to avoid medicating too heavily because she's worried about becoming dependent on it. If I knew what set her off…"

"Well could it be related to the basement?"

"There's nothing in the basement it's - it's Danny's. Fuck. She hasn't stopped to process things until now. Taylor, Taylor, listen to me, your father is fine. He's okay, he's in good hands and he's safe. "

"My fault…" Was that my voice? Why was I so broken?!

"Hey it is not your fault that Kaiser is a sadistic asshole. Hookwolf was just as bad, probably more. He never believed any of that white supremacist stuff, he just liked hurting people."

"I appreciate the backup Tammi, but that doesn't help. Taylor, nothing that's happened in the past day has been your fault. Not even remotely. It was just bad timing and a sad, petty, little man lashing out. If you need to blame someone, blame me."

I sucked in a breath and jerked upright, my eyes flying open. Kayden was close enough that it had to have been sheer luck that I had avoided cracking her skull with my lurch. Tammi was hovering just behind her, the redhead's hand on my leg. "No! You saved him!"

"And he never would have been in danger if he wasn't dating me," Kayden sighed and shifted, laying her hands on my shoulders and pulling me into a hug. "Sometimes things just happen sweetheart. This is one of those things. No one is at fault and at the end of the day, all that matters is that he's okay."

I dropped my head to her shoulder, sniffling. "But he's going to get away with it…Just like her…"

"Just like who?"

"Tammi, shush, Taylor can explain later when she's feeling better." Kayden squeezed me tighter, the puppy squished between us. "Sophia didn't get away with anything, remember? The DA is prosecuting her. The trial is scheduled and she's already been proven to have violated her parole."

"But - "

"And Madison was expelled the other day. And Emma is getting counseling now. They didn't get away with it. And Kaiser won't either. I swear to you, no matter what happens, he's not getting away with trying to hurt our family."

My hiccups slowed and the shaking bled off. I don't know how long we sat there like that. I didn't particularly care. By the time I pulled back, the light leaking into the room was dim, and I was breathing normally, even if I could still feel the wet streaks on my cheeks. Kayden just smiled at me as I leaned back into the couch, pulling my knees under me and cuddling up to my puppy.

"Better?"

I just nodded.

"I'm going to get dinner started. Call if you need me, okay?" I nodded again. Kayden leaned forward and kissed my temple, ruffling my hair as she stood to walk back into the kitchen.

Turning my gaze to Tammi, I shrank into the couch more, unable to fully meet her eyes. "So, now you know how much of a mess I am. Still want to fight for me? I'm sure we could call Armsmaster if you've changed your mind about me."

Tammi flopped into the couch beside me, throwing her arm over my shoulder and pulling me to the side. I squawked, unbalanced and tipped, my head resting against her shoulder and my bony limbs probably digging into her side. "Tay, we're capes. Capes are fucked up by definition. So you cry a bit. Who gives a shit? Not me. You can be a girl all you want. Cry all you want. I can be…um…Fuck I have no idea how this shit works. What do you call the girl who's the guy in a dyke thing?"

I blinked. I blinked again. "A girl. You call them a girl, Tammi. And dyke isn't a nice word."

"Oh. Hmm. Okay then. Um…Is lesbian okay to use?"

I snorted. That noise quickly increased to a chuckle, which morphed into full blown laughter after another few seconds. Tammi joined in with me while Kayden shouted to us from the kitchen. I let the minion dissipate and I shuffled closer to Tammi, settling in more firmly against her side.

Dad wasn't home, and things weren't perfect. But they weren't horrible either.

Maybe…maybe things were better.