Here we are, a new snippet and some new characters to go with it.

Thanks to Commissar Carnifex for betaing.

Torch

"You know, when you said you wanted to have a girl's day out I figured that we could go do something like the spa or have a movie marathon," Cindy drawled as she shot another wave of fire towards her attackers. They were rather weak flames, and only lasted a few seconds before sputtering out of control, but they were enough to stop the gang members in their tracks. Everyone with half a brain knew better than to walk headlong into a fire. "Not attacking a gang warehouse."

"You did say you thought the gangs were getting a little rowdy," Victoria said as a knife bounced off her skin-tight shield. She then promptly picked the offending gang member up and tossed her to the side. Though it was hardly the best throw ever, even Cindy had to wince a little as the teen who probably wasn't that much older than they were bounced down the street, cursing all the way.

"They always get rowdy when Mom's out of town," Cindy said as she shot a blast of fire towards the bundles of drugs lined up neatly for transportation. While she knew that she should have handed it over to the police it was likely that half of it would be out of evidence lockup before the week was over. While it had improved over the years Brockton Bay was still a den of corruption and criminals.

A pink blast fell from the sky like an angry god and scattered the recuperating criminals. Cindy looked up to see Victoria's equally blonde-haired cousin raining down her energy blasts all while muttering "pew-pew" under her breath. She knew that Crystal liked to try and keep her embarrassing little practice a secret, and had nearly beaten her brother black and blue for trying to make a meme out of it.

Cindy decided to err on the side of caution and just not bring it up.

"I don't know why you're complaining, it's not like any of these guys are a challenge," Crystal noted as she floated to the ground, raising a red-tinted shield to block a led pipe to the head.

It was rather disappointing. Cindy would have hoped to have made a bit bust, especially since this was supposed to be a relaxing day, but it appeared that wouldn't be the case. Even as nice a haul as the drugs were, they were only a drop in the bucket compared to how much the gang made. While the Fang was easily the youngest gang in the city they held an impressive amount of power, especially with the Empire's rather recent loss in leadership. Krieg had taken over for now, but it was clear that he didn't have nearly the same charisma that All-Father had possessed. And since the investigation into Medhall had concluded and gutted most of the company they were seriously hurting for cash.

"It is rather dull," Cindy noted in agreement as the last of the white masked gang members finally decided to surrender. A smart choice when facing not one, but three capes.

"Then perhaps I could remedy that."

Cindy turned around, heart leaping to her throat once she caught sight of the speaker. Standing in the smashed open doorway was Taurus, one of the Fang's main enforcers. A white mask with crudely built horns was attached to his face, revealing his unamused expression. His dark suit was a sharp contrast to the near blinding light from the shattered remains of what had once been a poor door before Victoria had gotten to it. His katana blade laid at his side, but the light yet firm grip showed that he was ready to use it at a moment's notice. His muscles had a tenseness to them that Cindy could recognize from some of the former PRT Strike squads, hinting at some rather throughout training in conjunction with his already deadly powers.

She had never witnessed them first hand, but Cindy had read reports and watched video clips of Taurus using his sword to absorb fire from enemies before dishing it back in a brutal counterattack. He had managed to kill Hookwolf after his escape attempt in the wake of All-Father's death, cementing his position as one of the more dangerous capes in the city.

Not someone that she wanted to fight, no matter how bored she was.

Cindy said nothing as she took a few steps back, hands wreathed in a defensive fire that made it appear that her eyes were glowing embers. Crystal and Victoria floated up from the ground, keeping their distance while maintaining their ready stance.

"Taurus! Stand down and we'll go easy on you," Victoria said, cracking her knuckles with an eagerness that belied her words for a peaceful resolution. Taurus' only response to the threat of being beaten up by one of the strongest Brutes in the city was to smirk.

Then he moved.

Cindy wasn't sure what happened. One moment she was staring down the masked man, the next something slammed into her gut, sending her flying across the ground as her breath left her lungs. As she desperately tried to keep herself from seeing doubles she caught a glance of Crystal firing off a few lasers as Taurus as Victoria dive bombed him. What lasers he didn't just outright dodge were quickly absorbed by his blood red blade, a faint glow surrounding the metal. They then proceeded to perform a backflip right over Victoria as she bulldozed her way through the spot he had just been standing in.

Taurus then twisted around to pull out his blade and made a quick slash towards the exposed Crystal. Cindy shot up to her feet in a blur of motion and let loose a burst of fire that made her hair whip around her face, hot air blasting into her like an air horn. The orange flames twisted the air as it hungrily shot out towards its prey.

But instead of moving out of the inferno's path like any rational person might, Taurus stood his ground, blade in hand as the flames struck. Cindy could only watch as his sword glowed with untapped potential as he absorbed the flames, twisting them through the air as if his blade was some sort of vacuum. The few flames that weren't absorbed by his sword washed over a bubble surrounding him as if he had an invisible force field.

Seeing that they were doing more harm than good Cindy cut off her flames, letting the firestorm die out. She kept her hands wreathed in fire, but she wasn't sure what good she would be able to do against someone who could turn her very weapon against her like that. As the flames cleared Victoria dive-bombed the man again with an expression of anger etched onto her features. Once again, against all rational thought, Taurus charged towards the angry Brute.

For a second Cindy feared that Victoria might splatter the man against the ground like a pancake, but at the last second Taurus jumped. He then proceeded the land directly on Victoria's back and slam his foot into the base of her neck. Cindy knew that Victoria was all but invincible while her force field was up, but she had to wince as the blonde lost control of her flight and slammed into the ground, cracking concrete.

Crystal let loose another volley of lasers, but as before what few the man didn't dodge he simply absorbed with his blade. Cindy shot out more blasts of fire, but this time she made an effort to surrounded the man in a ring of flames. The ground glowed red from the sheer heat of the flames as she struggled to keep them under control as so they didn't burn the building to the ground with them inside.

A fierce grin crossed her face as she watched the man flinch for a moment as the flames grew so tall that they nearly touched the ceiling. Even with her resistance, she could still feel the waves of heat rolling off the flames like a tsunami as her prisoners and companions broke out into a sweat.

But her victory was short-lived as Taurus stepped through the flames as if they were nothing more than a stiff breeze. They almost seemed to be smothered under his feet as his protective shield glowed in defiance. Cindy growled, somewhat off-put by the casual display of power and bent the flames so they all came crashing down on the man. There was a brief flicker of surprise etched onto the man's face as the wave of fire rolled on him, but it was quickly schooled away as the flames broke against his shield.

"I thought that you might have been a challenge," Taurus said in a dismissive tone as if he were addressing a group of children. He seemed to ignore the near bubbling ground beneath his feet in favor of giving the three teens a sneer that could have curdled milk. Instead of pushing the attack, the man sheathed his sword, hiding the glowing blade from the world. "I see that I was mistaken."

"I'll show you a challenge," Victoria roared as she charged forward, ignoring Cindy and Crystal's cries for her to stop. Stray pebbles and debris from her little face plant fell out of her hair as the air around her bent with the speed that she was moving. Her expression was filled with such fury that Cindy feared for a moment that Victoria might kill the man if she got her hands on him. But once again, instead of crumbling under the threat of one of the city's most powerful Brutes, the man stood his ground, planting his feet as if he were going to try and take her blow head on. But a chill of fear swept up Cindy's spine as she watched Taurus discreetly wrap his hand around his blade's hilt.

"Victor-," Cindy started to shout in warning, but the blonde Brute was too focused on her prize to head the warning or see the trap she was flying straight into.

Taurus moved.

A streak of blazing red was all that Cindy saw as Taurus lashed out at Victoria. The blade glowed as if it had come straight from the forge, twisting the air around it in a haze just as a figure landed in-between the two combatants. Cindy felt her eyes bug out in surprise as Crystal raised one of her semi-translucent bubble shields to stand against Taurus' assault, the older girl apparently realizing that Victoria was flying straight into a trap.

Victoria served out of the way, almost shooting straight through the roof as she tried to change her momentum from slamming into her older cousin, but Taurus had no such compunctions as his red blade slammed into the glowing shield. While her younger brother's shielding was more powerful, Cindy had seen those shields stand up to concentrated gunfire with little effort.

Taurus' blade cut through it like a knife through wet paper.

Everything happened too quickly for Cindy to keep track of with her amber eyes. There was a shrill scream that made goosebumps break out along her skin as the protective bubble surrounding Crystal popped. The older blonde was sent flying back as if she had been struck with a sledgehammer being wielded by Alexandria herself. There was a sharp crack as she struck a wooden crate, hitting it with such force that some of the planks shattered. Bits of wood clattered to the ground as she slumped down, a dazed expression of pain on her face.

Cindy felt her heart leap up into her throat as she stared at the huge gash on the older girl's chest. The cut started at her hip and cut straight across her body, all the way up to her opposite shoulder. The gash was so deep that Cindy was certain she would have been able to fit her finger inside of it with room to spare. She even thought she saw a little bone poking its way through the flesh.

There was no blood, instead, the wound glowed as if it had been cauterized by a fire, but the scale of the injury did little to ease her discomfort. All she could do was scream in panic, hurling fireballs at Taurus in a mixture of anger and fear. Her heart pounded in her chest and her blood rushed to her ears and all she could see was the monster.

Grinning with far too many teeth, claws dripping in blood Mommy on the flooranddaddygetupandhelphelphelphelp-

Cindy's sudden panic attack overtook whatever sensibilities she had left as she hurdled herself as the monsters, wreathed in an inferno of flames that made the ground boil as she tore at it like a mad dog. All that she could go to get rid of the grinning, nightmarish face.

Her frenzied assault was cut short as something struck her in the forehead and darkness overtook her vision. But as the last of her conscience clung on she could still see the monster behind her eyelids, burned into her retina for all time.

Laughing.

Taurus was angry, but that was almost a given. There were very few moments in the man's life since his Trigger that he wasn't angry. It had been a slow-burning thing back then, mere embers compared to the bonfire it was now.

A pair of guards escorted him through the building, but they all knew that if he so chose that he would be able to kill them without breaking a sweat. They were mere humans, where he was a parahuman.

As they came to the door Taurus braced himself. Not out of fear, but so that he wouldn't do something stupid and try to strangle the man on the other side of the door. He would die by his hands eventually, but not today. His face was blank as he stepped through into the dark room, only lit up by a handful of bulbs surrounding his…boss' desk.

Oh, did he loathe calling this fool his boss.

For a long moment, nothing was said. The man's chair remained turned away from him refusing to give him the respect that he deserved as his status as a parahuman. Smoke wafted up from the back of the chair and Taurus was forced to inhale the man's bad habit as he kept himself as stoic as possible, waiting for the man to finally deign him with his attention.

"You know, I used to think that you actually had a brain in there Adam," the man drawled, his voice low and needling. Taurus allowed his expression to shift just a bit as his lips begged to twist into a sneer. He had left his human name a long time ago when he realized the truth of who he was and what he was meant to be.

"But this?" the man said, clicking his tongue in disappointment. The man's chair squeaked a little bit as he finally turned around to give Taurus the most condescending look he had ever seen. "This was just stupid."

Taurus bit down on his tongue as felt the urge to scream at the insufferable man bubble up. Instead, he managed to hold it in as Roman Torchwick pulled his cigar out of his mouth and shook off some of the ashes gathering on the end. Obviously dyed orange hair covered part of the man's face, but the green eye that remained visible revealed a frightening level of intelligence. For all that Taurus thought him as lesser and pathetic in his goals, he knew that the man was no fool and wouldn't take overt rebellion well at all.

"Are you an idiot, Adam?" Roman drawled, leaning back in his chair with a nonchalant expression. The man's bowler hat slid down a bit from where it was perched on his head, creating the illusion of someone who just didn't care about the world around them.

"No," Taurus managed to ground out between his gnashing teeth.

"And yet here I am, with evidence to the contrary," Roman said as he pulled himself up from his seat and started to pace the room, somewhat hidden by the shadows. "I mean, I understand that you aren't exactly the sanest of individuals, but attacking Little Miss Monster's daughter and her friends? That's crazy, even for you."

"I will not be cowed by a traitorous cur," Taurus growled out. The Fang's movement for parahuman supremacy might have puttered out, but Taurus knew that they were just waiting for the next leader to take the reins and lead them all against the corruption and discrimination that plagued the world. So long as governments tried to put leashes on parahumans, they wouldn't be able to enact the next stage of human evolution as they were. He wasn't going to stop because a powerful parahuman decided to turn her back on her own kind. Roman's only response was to pinch his nose and sigh heavily as if he was trying to explain a simple concept to an imbecile.

"I get it – 'parahumans rule, humans drool', yadda, yadda, yadda," Roman mocked, causing Taurus' fists to clench in anger. "But we aren't worried about that here. The only thing that I care about is making money. And getting Miss Monster all angry with us because of your idiocy doesn't make money, it makes problems," Roman drawled as he took another puff of his cigar.

"As if you would understand. You're nothing more than a human," Taurus growled out, his hand inching closer to his sword. Those six words really summed up all of Taurus' problems with Roman. The man wasn't a parahuman by any stretch of the imagination, he was just a regular man who had gotten lucky. "If it wasn't for those two pets of yours you would be dead in a ditch. You may rule the Fang for now, but we will take back what's ours."

Instead of cowing under the parahuman's threats Roman simply rolled his eyes. "I know they say denial is one of the five stages of grief, but you really need to get with the times. This isn't the Fang anymore, this is my organization. If you have a problem with that you can go talk to the last person who disagreed with me," Roman's mocking smile twisted into an ugly smirk as he wrenched the metaphorical knife into Taurus' heart. "Oh wait, you can't, your little girlfriend is dead, isn't she? My bad, I tend to not remember people who aren't important."

Taurus took a step forward, as his blade started to slide out from his scabbard. The sheer killing intent radiating off the man would have been enough to have given Hookwolf second thoughts about fighting, but Roman remained as unphased as ever, calmly staring down the parahuman with an amused glint in his cold green eye. Taurus was starting to wonder if he was just that crazy when he felt something press up against his throat.

The parahuman froze as the dull pressure against his esophagus forced him to rethink his actions. He still had his force field up, but it had already taken a beating, and it wouldn't be too long before he would have to go recharge it. Getting into a fight while he was vulnerable was not on his list of things to do today. He knew if worse came to worse he could take down Neo with some difficulty, but Roman was no slacker when it came to fighting either, powers or not. Engaging them in this weakened state would be beyond suicide.

"I should have known your little pet would be here," Taurus snarled as he reluctantly let go of his sword and fell back into a less aggressive stance. He didn't flinch as the space next to him shattered like glass, revealing the other main source of his ire and one of the only reasons he hadn't tried to put Roman's head on a spike before.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you not to insult girls who can kill you?" Roman drawled as Neo gave Taurus a rather sadistic smirk of her own. The petite woman pressed her sword parasol a little closer into Taurus's throat, just enough to activate the shield and start draining it of its power.

"What do you want Roman?" Taurus growled out. It was one thing to have to work for the man, but it was quite another to be forced to endure this level of harassment without being able to take his revenge. He would have his day, that he knew, but it didn't look like it was going to be today. The pressure against his throat lessened a bit but was still more than enough to remind him of what would happen if he defied the man again.

"What do I want?" Roman questioned, putting a hand on his chin as he seemingly considered the question being put before him. "Money, that's for sure. Power's a given. Getting rid of my rivals would be nice. I suppose I wouldn't be opposed to buckets of ice cream."

That one earned a vigorous head nod from the man's shadow, her multi-colored hair bobbing up and down as a smile spread across her face. It made her look less like a skilled murderess and more like a little girl, especially with how short she was.

"But you see, the one thing that I don't want is getting Cadmus' attention!" Roman hissed, and for a brief second Taurus was able to get a good look at the Roman Torchwick that was hidden beneath his cheerful act. That green eye was as cold and calculating as they came, and a level of intelligence and ruthlessness that proved why he was in command.

"Tell me, Adam, do you know why we came to Brockton Bay instead of anywhere else?" Roman asked, the pleasant mask reasserting itself as he leaned on his cane.

"No," Taurus answered honestly. He had never understood why Roman had chosen to come to this dying city instead of anywhere else. Surely there were far more profitable locations than this one.

"Well, you see Adam, one of the reasons we came to this dump is because it's a dump. It's always easier to hide crime when crime is already being committed. The police won't care if one more itty-bitty gang shows up on the street, that's business as usual," Roman said, taking a pause to puff out another cloud of noxious smoke from his cigar. "But the other reason I chose this place is that this is the home of dear old Cadmus. No major organization in their right minds would want to fight against her, and with the rest of the gangs in the city on the decline, it was practically handed to us on a silver platter. All we would have to do is to keep our heads down and she wouldn't care, too busy doing other things to worry about little old us."

Adam said nothing, staring at the man impassively as he took in his words.

"But then you had to go and ruin it, didn't you Adam?" Roman asked, a scowl flickering across his features. "You couldn't just let them take the drugs and be done with it, could you? You just had to get into a fight with the Cadmus' daughter."

"They were interfering—"

The man's protests were cut short by a sharp motion of Roman's hand. "We could have gotten most of that product back once it was in the BBPD's lockup. But now because you got involved they'll have the PRT swarming all over the place, which will make getting it back all that harder. An angry looked crossed Roman's face as his grip on his cane twisted, "And don't play games with me, Adam. You could care less about the drugs, and you defiantly don't care about expendable mooks so let's be honest. The only reason you wanted to fight them is because you wanted a fight, wasn't it?"

Taurus didn't bother to try and deny the accusation. It wasn't as if the man was wrong and trying to argue with him would only get him riddled full of holes. It was true that he had been somewhat desperate for a fight these past few weeks, the three heroes had been right there. How could he not resist to get into a scrape and beat those parahuman traitors into submission?

"That's what I thought. You can consider your recharging privileges revoked for now, so why don't you go do whatever it is you do when I'm not around," Roman muttered before turning his back to the man, a clear dismissal. Not only of the conversation but of the idea that he could be a threat. Taurus was almost tempted to take a step forward, but the blade on his throat made him reconsider.

Instead, he beat his pride into submission and stalked his way out of the room with as much dignity as he could muster. Roman would get his due, all he needed was to be a little more patient.

"I don't suppose we can convince these heroes to look the other way, can we?" Roman asked as he considered his options. For all that they claimed to be paragons of the law, heroes were just as easy to manipulate as anyone else. Often even easier since they could become convinced of the inherent righteousness of their actions. What a joke.

A brief head shake was all the confirmation that he needed.

"Lovely," Roman muttered. The only silver lining to this was that the PRT still thought they were dealing with a fragment of the original Fang leadership. His moles had already confirmed that they were looking at this from an ideological standpoint instead of an economic one. But it would only be a matter of time before they saw the leash tugging at Taurus' throat.

Or would they?

Neo tilted her head in a questioning way as a smile started to blossom across Roman's lips. His mind raced as he considered the idea. If they really thought this was a Fang splinter group, who was he to disappoint their preconceived notions? He could get the heat off his back and get rid of Taurus and any of his little friends who still clung to their idiotic ideals.

"I think it's time we cut our rabid dog off his leash," Roman said contemplatively, earning an amused smile from Neo as she caught on to what he was thinking. If it wasn't for the fact that she had no desire to be in charge he would have had to worry about that brain of hers that she kept hidden behind her cute little murderess act.

"I think you should pay a visit to some of our more discontent members. I would be remiss of us not to hear out their pleas," Roman said with a grin. He chuckled as Neo gave him a jaunty salute before vanishing before his very eyes. The only sign of her came from his door opening and closing as she wandered off to do her job.

Taurus had always been a mad dog, but he had been useful in keeping the others in line while he dismantled what little remained of the Fang to serve his needs. But a mad dog was one that was best kept off the leash when it looked like it was going to turn on you, and now he was going to give the man exactly what he wanted. A chance to cut loose.

Taurus wanted to be a martyr, and who was he to stand in the way of a man's dream?

Fang:

In the wake of the NEPEA-5 bill, many parahumans turned towards the newly formed Elite for protection. But as more and more parahuman restrictive laws took shape, more discontent began to grow. Under the leadership of a demagogue, the Fang formed with the intent of resisting what they view as unconstitutional laws and rights violations. But such hatred quickly consumed the group and what was a cry for equality became one for supremacy. The organization made several terror attacks against the PRT, most notably the PRT main headquarters in LA. But these attacks resulted in losing much of their non-parahuman support, and the leadership collapsed in on itself through infighting. the Fang splintered into many factions, most abandoning the political rhetoric for money-making ventures.

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