3.2 Assemble

I closed my eyes and massaged my temples. "Who wants to be leader?" I asked, looking around. There weren't many of us, and from what Richter had said, neither he, nor Dragon were eligible. That left Scatha, whom I never really met before, Sue, Akane, Myrtle, and myself.

I waited a minute, and when no one raised their hand, I looked at Akane with a confused expression. I had fully expected her to want the job. Of course, Myrtle wasn't really leader material, and neither was Sue. Scatha, I had no idea, but that very reason disqualified her.

"What about you, Akane?" I asked her.

Akane gave me an apologetic smile. "Sorry Taylor, I think you're the best suited for this."

"Best suited for this?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Andrew Richter clapped and smiled. "Well, that's decided then, Taylor is the Planeshifter's leader, now we can move on to-"

"Wait a moment." I exclaimed, standing up. I took a deep breath. I had to tell them. I couldn't just become the leader only for them to find out later about what I have done. "I have something important to announce, before a decision is made about this."

Richter looked at Akane with uncertainty, before slowly nodding my way. "Uh, Okay. What do you have for us?"

I closed my eyes for a second, focusing on all my summons' eyes, making sure I could sense everything they were sensing before I started. I could feel dread and confusion from some of them. "I am sure all of us have noticed about the new element in our city."

Akane tilted her head to the side, understanding. "Ah, you're talking about Saffron." Even though she forced herself to sound casual about it, I could taste the venom in her voice. She hated Saffron. She hated him like she hated no other.

"Yes. Saffron." I said. "He's a new element. Someone who has massive powers that have put the ABB as the most dangerous gang in the city, pushing the Empire to a far away second place."

Sue frowned. "I am not sure it's that bad, Saffron's is a Blaster 9, yes, but other than that he-"

Dragon shook her head. "He's also a regenerator, and his flight qualifies him as a Mover 4. But what's truly dangerous about him is-"

"His eggs." Akane said, interrupting. "He has mind controlling eggs. He used it on some of my friends, before I died."

Sue shrugged. "Really? So, waht? Master 5?"

"Master 8. At least." Dragon said. "The eggs make whoever is affected by them totally loyal to the master. It's not an active power, the victim is imprinted with a trust and love for the master, and they want the master to succeed in everything they set to do." Dragon looked around, making sure that everyone was paying attention to her. "Armsmaster's sources state that in a recent battle, the ABB managed to snatch Othala. She's been imprinted by Lung."

"By Lung?" Myrtle asked. "I thought Saffron was the master?"

"Saffron can make the eggs, but the imprinted are controlled by the first person they see." Dragon explained. "Lung is not about to allow Saffron to enslave people, if he can be the master himself."

I felt small for a moment. Like what I was to announce was even worse than that. I knew Saffron's people claimed he could mind-control people. But the imprinting eggs sounded worse than what I imagined. I guess we would have to start carrying mirrors with us, just to make sure no one gets imprinted.

I shook my head. I had to stay on target. "That's one of the things I wanted to talk about, but we have all to question, why has Saffron shown up in Brockton Bay?"

Akane blinked. "I figured he's just the counterpart from this world."

"No one has heard from Saffron before." I countered. "No one, that is, until the day I triggered."

Akane looked at me strangely, not fully understanding what I was saying. Then, it hit her. She looked like she wanted to yell at me, but settled for looking down.

Richter nodded, rather sadly. "You're saying it's a side-effect from your power."

"Yes." I said, still staring at Akane, searching for any clue that she didn't hate me for bringing over her killer.

"But you don't have any way of sensing him. Correct?" Dragon asked.

"No. I figured it out surfing PHO, actually. Plus, Oroboros."

"Oroboros?" Myrtle asked, perking up.

"It showed up when I summoned you." I said, turning to face the witch. "Didn't you think it was strange?"

"What? What was strange?" She asked, rather dumbly.

"That you didn't remember killing yourself. That you remember feeling sad, but not- not really intending to kill yourself. There was nothing special about that bathroom you died in." I paused, and took a breath. "Or rather, there was. The Oroboros was lurking."

"That's silly." Myrtle countered. "Professor Dippet wouldn't allow an mad murderous giant snake go around school grounds! Not to mention Professor Dumbledore!"

"It fits. What's the last thing you remember, before dying?" I asked, and focused on her memory. There was the voice of a boy saying something strange, in a tongue not of this world, and then, the eyes of Death itself.

She froze in place. "I- yes." She gulped. "I think- I think you're right."

I nodded, and turned back to everyone else. "You see? Every time I find myself in a problematic situation, my power brings someone to help me. A new hero to the party. But it also brings an enemy. A monster for us to fight."

Everyone shifted uncomfortably on their seats. "You're saying that this somehow makes you unfit to lead?" Richter finally asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know. But I think it's important for everyone here to know about it. I rather not lie about it."

Sue smiled. "That's OK. Your power brought dad back to life, and that in turn created us!" She said, pointing at herself and Scatha. "Plus, Rodan is totally going to kick ass when she's ready."

I softly smiled at that. "I am sure she will."

Dragon nodded. "Also, while Akane is not the most powerful brute around, she has the ability to teach you her skills. And I believe she's able to teach others as well." She turned towards Akane. "One thing I was going to ask you, is to start an intense training schedule to improve Myrtyle and Taylor's chances of survival. We can't depend on Shen Long to bring us back from the dead."

Akane nodded, not completely convinced. "I could do that."

"Some wards might also be interested in learning how to harness your 'Chi'."

Akane smirked. "That's the chinese word. Where I come from, it's Ki."

"Right." Dragon nodded, and turned back to me. "You see? While Richter and Akane might not look like they're the best, they certainly can help you all become better than the best."

"What about me?" Myrtle asked, feeling left out.

Dragon smiled at her. "You can do magic. Actual magic that doesn't seem to have any limit other than your own knowledge. If we can replicate your wand and find more people able to harness magic it could be huge."

I nodded. "Yes. It's wonderful." I glared at Dragon. "Of course, you're forgetting two things."

Dragon looked back at me. Unblinking eyes reminded me that she wasn't really human. "Oh? What have I forgotten?"

"Richter. What killed him?"

"He drowned." She said, probably knowing where I was getting to.

"He drowned because of Leviathan." I looked down. "What if I made things so much worse, we can never even get close to being 'better than the best'? Huh?"

Dragon shifted on her seat, and fell silent.

Richter smiled at his daughter. "It's a possibility we considered." He said, and pat Dragon on the back. "It doesn't matter. If there are two, or twenty Leviathans. Dragon and her sisters will deal with all of them."

I felt like I was on the losing side of an argument. He just needed to say 'with sufficient use of Dragon, we can defeat any foe' and that would be it! "What about Shen Long?" I asked.

"Who killed the Dragon God?" Richter asked, and massaged his chin. "That's a good question, actually."

"Whoever could kill Shen Long must be insanely strong. Someone like that could maybe put the Endbringers to shame." Akane offered. "And I don't think even Saffron could kill Shen Long."

Richter glared at Akane. "What? Because he has magic and can revive people he must be impossible to kill? Anyone can be killed. Maybe he just happened to be summoned when an atomic bomb exploded."

"Somehow, I doubt that." I said.

Dragon sighed. "Okay, Taylor. I will investigate both the second Leviathan theory, and Shen Long's killer."

I felt… relieved? No, that wasn't the word. I felt slightly content. I could now look forward to what followed. "Thank you." I said, and sat back down. "Now, as you can see, how can I be the leader, when I created some of our worst enemies? I shouldn't use my power at all."

"You could still use your magical super piercing punch." Sue offered. "You know, the thing that left the Oroboros half-dead?"

I massaged my fist at the memory. "That thing left me unable to move for weeks, you know. I don't think I could pull it off again."

"You will." Akane said. "Because I'm going to teach you. Really teach you."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." Akane simply said.

"By the way," Sue said as she lifter her hand, "You have my vote. You brought back my dad, and I exist because of that, I cannot vote for anyone else."

Myrtle nodded, and lifted her hand as well. "Yes, if it weren't for you, I'd probably be a ghost about now. Plus, you got me away from my bullies."

Akane smirked. "I'm OK with you being leader, Taylor. You need to trust yourself. We can figure it out."

Scatha nodded, and talked for the first time, "we can find a way around your problem. Help you get to capes that weren't killed by villains, or capes who were killed by containable villains."

"Or actual villains that were killed by badass heroes." Sue offered.

Scatha looked at Sue and blinked. "Yes, we can do that as well."

I scratched the back of my head. "What? How can I do that? I just activate my power and it does the selecting on its own."

Scatha tilted her head to the side. "Are you certain?"

"Yes?" No.

"My tinkertech could help you focus on your power better." She said, and she started taking notes on a laptop I hadn't seen before. "I can make you an antenna of sorts, that helps you contain your power, and point it to a more beneficial target."

"Like, what?"

"Like, if we need a healer, instead of getting one that can only heal the particular wound you need to heal at the moment, my tech could help you get someone more broad instead."

"Someone who can heal like panacea, you mean?"

"Yes."

I frowned. She didn't understand. "But that's not the problem. The problem is, that my power could provide me a Panacea-level healer, that was killed by a Eidolon level bad guy."

"We could test that, too. Contain the summoning. Either block the unintended quirk of your power, or point the 'bad guy' to a volcano."

"That wouldn't have killed Saffron." Akane provided.

Scatha nodded. "Of course not, but I believe Taylor's power allows her to see more about the worlds she lift heroes from. My tech could help her time it just right for her to judge about where to send the villain. Maybe to the Sun?"

"I don't think Saffron can survive the Sun." Akane agreed.

Richter glowed. "Excellent! So it's decided. Taylor is leader, and Scatha will focus her next project on making a, huh, antenna to help her focus her summoning power better. Everyone on board with this?"

All of our hands lifted at that. But somehow, I felt my power wouldn't like me sending villains to the Sun.