Taylor strained against the locker for a moment, but gave up gasping. She didn't know how long she'd been locked in her locker for, but it felt like it had b been hours. But then, the locker fell open like it had never been locked in the first place, spilling Taylor out from the filth and onto the tiled floor.
She blinked in the harsh light and looked up at the smiling man in front of her.
"Ello little death. It is a pleasure to welcome u to the family."
The black man in front of her wore a suit coat and pants without a undershirt, and it was the strangest thing but for a second Taylor would swear that the mans face was skeletal and shear bone, and then she would blink, and it it would be stylized white paint on black skin.
The man poked her with a dark stained wooden cain that Taylor would have sworn wasn't there a few seconds ago.
"You a'gonna get up at some point little miss?"
Taylor nodded shakily as she got up. She didn't know if she was hallucinating, in shock, or if the man was a cape, but it never hurt to be polite.
"Thank you for letting me out of there sir."
The man through back his head and laughed, his teeth clacking together in a way that reminded Taylor of an old cartoon skeleton.
"Wasnt me who let you out o' de'r. You got'cherself out."
Taylor had to ask.
"How?"
The man tapped at the ground next to Taylor's head.
"Because you've taken up the offices the Morrigan little death."
Taylors mouth dropped open, her mother had been a devout pagan-ist, giving regular devotions to Gaelic deities. But the one that her mother had rarely, if ever talked about was the Morrigan, a trio fo goddesses who were the Irish mythologies goddesses of the battlefield, the choosers of the slain, and rulers of the dead.
The man nodded at Taylors dumbfounded expression.
"Now you begin to understand, you a've awakened to a miraculous new power, it is amazing, but terrible."
Taylor watched open mouthed as the man slapped his cane onto the ground and the world screamed.
And then then Taylor and the man were some place else. Dark cobbled streets and menacing shuttered buildings surrounded by flickering street lights, all sheltering beneath a dark sky. Taylor turned to regard the dark man, and then blanched.
The flesh from the mans face, hands, and chest had ran, dripping into great wax like puddles, revealing bleached white bone that seemed to be slightly too edged and pointed to be completely natrual.
The skull rotated and the fixed, bleached grin seemed to grow wider, the skeleton spoke, its voice unchanged by its still decaying flesh.
"A'h forgot to introduce mah'self. I am the Baron Samedi, also known as the Baron La Croix. Loa of da crossroads, of celebration, of sex, and of death."
The skeleton spread its arms wide, and the street seemed to rise to meet him. The street lights brightening, doors and windows beginning to creak open, and faint strains of music starting to come from the alleyways.
"Welcome to Bourbon Street little Death. It is time you learn just what you have become."
Scene Break
4 weeks later
Emily Piggot sighed. It had been a long, long, weeks months since the discovery that Shadow Stalker had been tormenting another student at Winslow. They had only figured it out when Taylor had been shoved in a locker that the on sight officers had labeled 'an experiment in bio-terrorism,' and the girl had either triggered to escape, or an unknown cape had rescued her. The problem with that was the cape either was keeping Hebert, or she was already dead since there had been no reports of someone matching Heberts description anywhere on this side of the U.S.
She would know. She'd checked.
She'd checked everywhere.
Just then the phone rang. She answered and as the person on the other end of the line continued speaking, her face became more and more of what one might picture if someone had just bitten into a rotten lemon.
Someone had just found a… Nest of sorts in the forest surrounding Brockton. It looked like someone had been living there for a few weeks. It was the kind of place either a new cape to the area, or a new trigger might make.
She relayed the instructions for Armsmaster to take Assault and Battery to investigate the immediate area with Velocity as a scout to give advance warning just in case the cape was watching them.
Scene Break
Brockton National forest reserves
Armsmaster poked at the giant nest that looked like it had been made by some sort of humongous bird that had been built at the base of a large hill, that looked to be a few stories large, it was interwoven with sticks, bones from both animal and human sources, and what Armsmaster could only generously term as trash. He heard the crack of a twig behind him, and whirled, his halberd coming to bear.
"Woah! Woah, Amsbeard! Its me."
Armsmaster lowered his halberd reluctantly.
"Assault."
He then blinked to pull up a prompt on his helmet.
"Wheres your better half?"
Assault gaped at Armsmaster who suppressed the smirk that threatened to spread across his face. Programing an app for common quips jokes for meeting coworkers had apparently paid off.
Just as Assault was about to say something Velocity sped back into the clearing.
"Armsmaster, I've searched the immediate surroundings, for a couple hundred meters in every direction. I didn't find our mystery cape, but there were some traces of whats either a big cat, or signs that our cape has some sharp talons or claws."
Velocity looked around.
"Wait, where Battery? I thought she was supposed to be with you?"
Assault paled dramatically, visibly so underneath his partial mask.
"I thought she was with one of you."
Armsmaster looked at Assault, his lips tightening into one thin line.
"And we, thought she would be with you, her husband."
Just then the Protectorate hero's heard a birdlike screeching followed by a more feminine scream from the top of the hill. The three male Protectorate heroes looked at each other before sprinting to the top of hill, Velocity speeding on ahead.
Armsmaster rushing behind the speedster comm'd ahead.
"Velocity. Status, who screamed."
Velocities voice came back over the comms with a chuckle.
"The scream was Battery, and she found our mystery cape, who I think like her. A lot."
Armsmaster looked at Assault who just shrugged as they raced up the mountain. When they finally arrived at the top of the hill, they arrived too see a curious, strange, and yes, even Armsmaster had to admit, a funny sight. Battery in her white and dark grey costume was being snuggled by another woman.
The other woman had an animal head with a raven head on top of a runners body, black nails that had lengthened into talons, and a large cloak that covered most of her body. The woman occasionally made crooning noises as she rubbed against Batteries cheek.
The woman turned to regard the Protectorate hero's as they arrived gave them a cheery wave and then turned back to Battery.
Armsmaster coughed awkwardly as Battery frantically motioned for help, her faced red with embarrassment.
"Excuse me miss, I will need you to release Battery."
The raven headed woman turned, and, Armsmaster had to admit, did the best pout someone with a raven head could probably do. Then released Battery who scrambled on her hands and knees to take in multiple great gasping breaths.
The cloaked parahuman crouched down and cocked her head to the side, and then spoke.
"Yes, yes? Why have you three and pretty lady come to home?"
Armsmaster had to surprise the grimace on his face.
Despite her childlike and immature tone, the capes voice was inhuman, croaking, it sent pangs of fear and disgust right to his hind brain. But he had to deal with inhuman capes on a regular basis. He pushed past it, stepped forward, and spoke.
"I am Armsmaster. We were searching the woods for Taylor Hebert. Do you know her?"
He pulled out a picture from a compartment on his suit and showed it to the feathered cape. The cape took one look and then nodded furiously and pointing at the picture.
"Yes yes! Injured girl came four weeks ago, we have been looking after injured girl ever since."
Armaster felt an eyebrow rise.
"We?"
The feathered cape nodded even more furiously.
"Yes yes, I is the youngest Badb, my older sisters be the Macha and Aenad, and together we be the Morrigan!"
Armsmaster turned to the other heroes who all nodded. He turned back to the cape who had turned her head again and was regarding Assault, with a sense of hostility.
Armsmaster coughed to get the part bird capes attention again.
"Can you take us to Miss Hebert?"
The cape nodded again and motioned for the heroes to follow her as she began to almost glide on her way back down the hill.
End of Incarnations of Death
Authors Note
Will continue for another chapter or two which more explanations will be put, but essentially every religions death is real and personified, deaths can die by having the last of their believers, perish, or can retire and pass on their office to someone else. Each death would have a certain base set of powers like higher strength, but really resilience and teleportation. But each specific office would get a set of powers like Samedi's Bourbon street. (Inspiration from Squirrel zombie on SV for Baron) or the Morrigan's powers which will probably end up being flight, changer for an ability to turn into a crow along with some other Itachi esque crow powers. Each part of the Morrigan would also have some different powers and temperaments. For instance Macha is immature and childlike and has a fixation with Battery.