March 30th, 2011 - Wednesday
Late Morning
Taylor's morning was positively mundane after yesterday's excitement, which she took as a chance to catch up on her online studies. The humor in the fact that she willingly went to study almost first thing in the morning as a teenager living alone did not escape her, but deciding to check PHO first for news quickly derailed that plan when she saw the most active threads in the Brockton Bay section of the boards.
The older one discussed the Empire assaulting the PRT HQ to break Othala and Rune free - at about the same time Taylor was waiting for Ibis to give her a lift to base. There was no official tally of casualties, but injuries on both sides were confirmed, and there were rumors of dead PRT personnel. The Empire capes managed to evade the Protectorate before it could bring enough reinforcements to bear.
The leading headlines, however, were about Panacea's disappearance several hours later, near the end of one of her apparently unscheduled trips to the hospital. Neither the PRT nor New Wave released official statements, and there were no public demands or anyone claiming responsibility. Fingers were getting pointed everywhere, of course - even at the Elite, to Taylor's amusement. She couldn't see Jennifer turning around and pulling that when she vetoed the idea of having Othala heal Taylor's arm before dropping her off with the PRT. "There's always a catch with these kinds of powers," she'd explained. "At least, often enough to keep the possibility in mind."
After skimming the threads for a little more, Taylor sent a questioning message to Jennifer before getting back to her schoolwork. News won't come faster if I sit around waiting for them.
An hour later, she received a reply.
Meeting in two hours. Cameron's picking you up.
~o~o~o~
March 30th, 2011 - Wednesday
Afternoon
"Told you we'll be on time," Cameron said as they entered the warehouse. She was smirking at Taylor's irritated expression.
"Get over here already," buzzed every insect in the ground floor of the warehouse. The two hurried their pace until they made it to the office, which was far more cramped than usual. Besides Jennifer, Martin and Earl, there were two newcomers. One was a very Nordic-looking man. Taylor couldn't even guess his height, but even sitting down he looked tall. The other man - at least, Taylor guessed that was a man - was in costume, doing a half-decent Grim Reaper impersonation, including tall and thin, but not including the scythe. Taylor wasn't sure, but it almost looked like his shadow was darker than it should be.
"Ymir and Shadowplay, Vortex and Eris," Jennifer introduced them. "Now that that's out of the way, we have a situation."
"The Empire or Panacea?" Martin asked.
"That's the same situation. I managed to get some spiders on Othala during the escape - black widows and brown recluses, keeping my special ones near the PRT building was too much of a risk - and managed to have them bite her when it became clear they'll manage to escape with her."
"So you assassinated her instead?" Taylor asked warily. She knew things can happen in a fight, and Sophia was going after her father, but executing a prisoner...
"If the Empire gets her back, it could extend this gang war by weeks. How many people will die in the meantime?" Jennifer asked. Her voice was level with a curious note, but Taylor could tell she was angry. Taylor dropped the subject, and she continued.
"Now, while deaths to either of the species is rare, that's for single bites, not a dozen spiders going at it until they're dead or dry. Othala would be dead or at least in critical condition soon. That's where the Panacea situation ties into this."
Jennifer turned her laptop around. It displayed a map of downtown, with several buildings circled.
"A member of the Undersiders, Tattletale, contacted me earlier this morning. She identified Victor as the one behind Panacea's kidnapping, and offered to sell me the possible locations of the Empire hideout she was taken to."
"Because that didn't look like a scam at all," Cameron noted.
"She was quite happy to offer the information with the promise I'd pay her if any of the leads turned out to be true. I'd say it's nice to have such a reputation for trustworthiness that she agreed to the deal, but it was the typical Thinker posturing at work there. Regardless, one of the leads checked out. Panacea was there, as were the rest of the Empire capes. Kaiser, Krieg, Hookwolf, Alabaster, Fenja and Menja, Rune, Victor, Cricket, Stormtiger, Othala. Othala appeared to be comatose, Cricket and Stormtiger showed no signs of having been healed, Victor was partially healed but still had some injuries. Of course, with Panacea as a hostage, that can all change."
"What about Purity?" Taylor asked. She was wondering why the Empire's heaviest hitter was staying out of the fight. Jennifer shrugged.
"She didn't show up to work the day of the reveal. Hasn't been seen since - though there were rumors in Boston. She's unlikely to be a concern."
"Assuming you didn't jinx us with that," a dour feminine voice followed. It took a moment for Taylor to realize it was Shadowplay talking. Wait, she's a woman?
Jennifer ignored the remark.
"The goal here is simple enough. Get Panacea out, and take down the Empire if we can. Here's the plan..."
~o~o~o~
March 30th, 2011 - Wednesday
Late Afternoon
"They're all there," Webweaver announced. "Panacea's alone in a room on the second floor, the Empire capes are spread across the building."
"The injured?" Ymir asked. He was clad in plate armor and a cloak, all made of smooth ice. No horns on the helmet, despite the Nordic theme he seemed to be going for. Then again, Taylor remembered, actual Vikings didn't wear horned helmets to battle either.
Between Ymir, Ibis, Vortex, Webweaver and Taylor herself (Dynamic and Shadowplay were driver and shotgun, respectively), the back of the van was rather cramped. Vortex had spent most of the trip chatting, or rather flirting, with Ymir - apparently this wasn't the first time they worked together. The man seemed either oblivious or good at faking it, however.
"Othala seems to be comatose, but not dead. Partial healing by Panacea, it would seem?"
"Panacea can't do brains," Taylor interjected. "Maybe she couldn't wake Othala up even if she tried."
"Could be you're right," Webweaver nodded. "The other injured... Victor's up and about, Stormtiger and Cricket seem to be asleep and bandaged, so we can presume they're still injured." The gold-clad villainess pulled her phone out, typed out a message and sent it.
"Message out. Let's go, people. Your job is to clear out the rooms on the ground floor facing us - we don't want Panacea or Ibis getting shot on the way out."
They got out of the van and started heading towards the office building. Once they turned the corner, the civilians noticed them and started getting out of there, some reaching for their phones. Ibis started sprinting and took off the ground, heading towards a window on the second floor that was covered in insects. When he was halfway there, Taylor sensed the reaction from inside.
"They've seen us," she called out. Dynamic took something out of his pocket that started blinking and beeping.
"Pick up the pace, people!" he commanded, and matched words with actions by starting to sprint ahead. As everyone else ran behind him, they stepped over more than a few bullets that had simply dropped out of the air after coming too close to him. Ymir was running next to him, conjuring a tall shield of solid ice in his left hand and a spear in his right.
When they were a dozen feet away from the window under Panacea's, the skinhead inside popped out of cover and unloaded with an assault rifle. Dynamic's device exploded, and Ymir jumped into the front to cover them instead. A half-second later, the skinhead was dragged out into the street by an invisible force, dropping his weapon. Shadowplay chuckled darkly, and Taylor noticed her shadow was of something with far too many tentacles, dark as night, and fell towards the building, in an almost completely opposite direction from every other shadow around.
"I've got this window," Shadowplay spoke. Taylor couldn't shake the feeling she was trying too hard to sound badass.
"And I've got the healer," Ibis' voice came from above. "So once you guys give the go-ahead..."
"Still a few rooms on the ground floor to clear out", Webweaver spoke through the earbuds. "I have the second floor covered."
The team split up, Taylor and Vortex heading left, Ymir and Dynamic heading right. Taylor stopped to the side of the next window, and gestured at Vortex. The woman created her field right in front of the window, causing Taylor to stumble - but she was expecting it. The two skinheads inside the room didn't, and Taylor broke through the window and grabbed them both, guided by her anger sense. She knocked their heads together, then climbed inside, kicked their weapons aside, then kicked each of them in the stomach to make sure they wouldn't hurry to get back up.
Taylor pressed her finger to the earbud and spoke. "My room's clear."
"Clear here," Ymir spoke.
Fifteen seconds and a loud crash later, Dynamic's voice buzzed through the comms.
"Clear."
"All clear. Go, Ibis!" Webweaver commanded, and Taylor felt one of the angry people on the upper floor moving out the window. That left a handful of people staying put in the upper floors, and seven heading down the stairs in the middle of the building, according to Taylor's anger sense. These must be the Empire capes, Taylor decided.
"I'm keeping Kaiser busy upstairs," Webweaver buzzed through the earphones. "The rest are yours to deal with. Good luck, everyone."
That meant the one angry person still flailing around upstairs was Kaiser, then.
The remaining Empire capes reached the floor they were on, paused for a moment, and all headed in the same direction - towards the room Shadowplay was supposed to hold.
"They're coming your way, Shadow!" Taylor shouted, and turned towards the window to leave. Trying to flank three against seven didn't look like a decent idea. A few moments later, the angriest of the Empire capes dashed into Shadow's room, and a gunshot rang. Another spike of anger, and the cape was tossed back out, his anger dimming as he hit the wall with a slam Taylor could hear while Shadowplay screamed in both anger and pain. Taylor was already out the window, and saw Shadowplay clumsily climb out the other window, while the Empire headed towards the building's main entrance instead. The woman ducked low to the ground, clutching her shoulder.
"Victor sh-shot me in the arm. The- the fucker... I got distracted by- by one of Crusader's ghosts poking its head thr-through the wall and..." she gritted out through clenched teeth. Her costume's black color made blood difficult to see, but the bleeding was bad enough the blood dripped, and the arm hung uselessly by her shoulder.
"Get out of here, then circle towards Web. See if she can help with first aid. Go!"
Shadowplay nodded and walked away, going to the side. Her shadow trailed behind her, spreading across the bottom of the wall to encircle that side of the building. Crusader's ghosts started spilling out the windows, and the Empire capes left the building to face them. Hookwolf was the first one out, followed by Alabaster, Krieg, Fenja, Menja and Rune. The twins started growing the second they had the room to do so. Taylor and Vortex backed away, but the ghosts started chasing them.
Then Shadowplay's shadow yanked Alabaster off his feet and tossed him at Taylor before dissipating. The man rolled across the pavement, his gun clattering away. He managed to stop himself a couple of feet away from Taylor, and she knocked him down and grabbed him the same way she did what seemed like a lifetime ago.
"OH FUCK YOU!" he shouted. Vortex laughed. Crusader's ghosts charged.