March 30th, 2011 - Wednesday
Afternoon
Vortex's field appeared in the middle of Crusader's ghosts, but their translucent forms seemed completely unfazed by it.
"Of course—" Vortex spoke, though Taylor had a hard time hearing her through Alabaster's swearing. A slam into the ground silenced him for a moment. "—them off me, okay?"
Taylor swung Alabaster at the charging ghosts, knocking the frontmost one into another. The rest started spreading out, and Taylor saw Vortex's field reappear not far from where Ymir was distracting Krieg, Fenja and Menja by throwing ice javelins at them. The field yanked Rune off her feet from where she was running her fingers over the side of a car.
"Dynamic, get Crusader," Webweaver's voice came in through the earbuds. "Upstairs, second door to your left."
Then the ghosts charged them again, and Taylor was too busy to gawk.
Sidestep spear. Swing Alabaster. Ghost trying to sneak past her to get at Vortex, knock another ghost into him. None of the ghosts stood a chance against her, but they just kept coming. They could only back off so far before Vortex couldn't see the other fight and help out.
A particularly large group of projections surged at them, and one managed to slip past Taylor's guard and stab Vortex in the side. Before it could follow through, all the ghosts froze for a moment, then disappeared.
"Just a scratch," Vortex said, holding up her hand, keeping the other near the wound. "What happened to—"
The sound of crashing glass answered the question she didn't get to finish. Crusader came flying out of the building's second floor window, and Dynamic jumped down after him. The spear-wielding twin (was she Fenja or Menja? Taylor could never remember, and there were rumors the two would switch out from time to time) shouted furiously and charged in an attempt to skewer him, but the Tinker narrowly dodged the spear and ran for it, the giantess chasing after him. Taylor noticed Alabaster trying to kick her in the arm, and slammed him overhead into pavement. Then repeated it as soon as he came back to his senses.
While she was at it, Vortex recreated her field around Rune, lifting the girl into the air like she lifted herself back in the fight against Lung. The random chunk of concrete was caught in the field with her, and Rune's attempt to throw it out in an attempt to not get crushed against it didn't even come close to hitting anyone, though a couple of parked cars farther down the sidewalk got crushed. Taylor slammed Alabaster again.
Then the field disappeared.
Sword-and-Shield twin dropped the shield and grabbed Rune out of the air, but the distraction served its purpose. Ymir charged forward, right into Hookwolf's blades.
For a brief moment, the air was filled with the sounds of metal scaping against ice.
Then the sound turned into ice scraping across ice.
Then Hookwolf shattered.
Everyone stared at the scene mutely for several seconds. Then the twin with the sword dropped it, grabbed Crusader, and the four surviving Empire capes ran for it.
"They left me. The bastards left me! COME BACK HERE, COWARDS!"
Taylor looked down and realized she was still holding Alabaster by the leg - the pale man had been so stunned by his teammates' decision, he'd stopped resisting for a few moments, but he was getting back into it. She slammed him face-first into the pavement before his rant could really get going, and motioned for Vortex to pass her some zip-ties.
That was the scene Velocity ran into.
"Oh, hey there! The speedster's late to the fight. How typical," Vortex called out at him.
"What's going on over here?" the hero asked, keeping his distance.
"We are doing your job for you again," a swarm of insects buzzed nearby. "In this case, we're rescuing Panacea. She's unharmed - one of ours was injured in the fight, and we've convinced Panacea to help. She's nearly done." Taylor noticed the swarm was mostly flies and moths - all the combat-capable bugs had been sent into the building.
"Convinced?"
"Not an euphemism. We even offered payment, though she refused. Ah, seems like they're done. Sending them your way."
True to her word, Panacea and Shadowplay showed up less than a minute later. Panacea immediately went towards Velocity, shooting wary glances at the Elite capes along the way, as if she half-expected one of them to try something. Can't really blame her, Taylor thought.
"Kaiser's trapped upstairs, for now. Airtight metal barriers. Cricket, Stormtiger, Victor and Othala are inside, disabled. We'll be taking our leave now - if you ever change your mind, Panacea, you know who to talk to."
Taylor, Vortex, Shadowplay and Ymir took that as their cue to leave, rejoin Webweaver, and drive over to pick up Dynamic and Ibis, who'd managed to chase off their giantess. Their spirits were high on the circuitous trip back to base.
~o~o~o~
March 31st, 2011 - Thursday
Early Evening
Taylor knocked on the door of Kurt and Lacey's house. She'd come alone, this time - it was closer to her apartment than Dad's house, and the neighbours were far less likely to recognize her anyway. Lacey answered the door.
"Hey, Taylor. Danny's upstairs - Kurt and I were just heading out to town."
"Wait, we were?" came Kurt's voice from the kitchen, and the man stuck his head out into the hallway. "Also, hi, Taylor!"
"Yes. We were", Lacey glared in his direction, though Taylor didn't even need her power to tell there was no heat behind it.
Taylor slipped past the couple to head upstairs, looking for Dad. She found him in the guest bedroom, hunched over what looked like Union paperwork.
"Hey, Dad," she spoke. Dad jumped.
"Taylor! Sorry, I didn't hear you come in. Is everything alright?"
"Yes," Taylor answered. She briefly wondered how long it's been since she said that and meant it. Too long, she decided.
"You're not planning to pick a fight with another gang then, I hope?"
"Dad! What gangs are there left to get in trouble with, anyway?" Well, besides the Undersiders and Coil's people? But Dad probably doesn't remember them.
"...Fair point. So the Empire really is gone, then?"
"Kaiser and four others escaped, but what can five capes do that the whole Empire couldn't? Still... it might be safer if you wait a few days before going home." That wasn't just for his safety - Taylor suspected he wouldn't want to see their home ransacked any more than she did, so it would be better if the people she'd hired through Jennifer to tidy the place up would get their work done. With the pay for the Empire job, she could certainly afford that. Maybe I should see about sending a 'thank-you' to Kurt and Lacey for taking care of Dad, too...
"I suppose I see the reason. So, Taylor, what do you intend to do now?"
"I don't really have a plan right now, I guess," Taylor admitted. "Study, train, the occassional road trip when we get hired? Unless another gang tries to settle in, we're just fine where we are. I know I am, at least."
They spoke about lighter topics until Kurt and Lacey got back. It didn't make up for barely speaking to each other for two years, nor did it make up for the chaos of the last few months...
...but when she finally said goodbye and headed home, Taylor was smiling. Things were looking up.