A Skittering Heart

by stewart92

Taylor's trigger was interrupted by a very different source of power. With Keyblade in hand, Taylor must open the way.

27. Chapter 27

Hey guys, I'm not on ffn a lot XD I'm mostly on Spacebattle' . Skittering heart is about...9 chapters ahead there? Come make an account and say hi! I'm using the same user name.

But I'll try to get everything here updated.

Chapter 19: Who Has Seen All

Thanks to Major and Knol, the wait was worth it.

Taylor stared at the villains in their garish costumes. Her legs were still pinned and even as she struggled to get them free without hurting any of the people trapped behind her, she analysed them, feeling her ability to sense others jump from one to the other before locking onto the red one.

Two young men, one perfectly healthy and fairly strong, the other a little sickly and with a weakness to… electricity? Still the odd costumes, the strange technology, the gimmicky entrance? The names clicked into place.

Über and Leet.

A pair of villains who spent their time committing crimes while re-enacting video games and posting videos of their escapades online; usually with them failing spectacularly.

So why the hell were they here?! Interrupting Paige's trial? Did they want to cause a mistrial?! Could they, now that the verdict had been made by the jury?

Then there was no time for thought as Über flew past her head, thrown by Carol… no. Brandish. The soft spoken but passionate lawyer was gone, and in her place was the proud hero. Taylor saw her charge Leet, even as Über groaned on the floor in front of Taylor.

"Über! Damn it, what was the line. Um…" Leet cursed then dived to the side when Brandish charged him.

Whirling around Taylor saw blood dripping down the heroes face as she glared at Leet.

"You're under arrest." Brandish spat as she advanced on the downed, blue costumed villain.

Rolling onto his back, Leet looked panicky before he grimaced and brought the mic back to his mouth.

"Lawyer Brandish, you're a SHAM!" Leet yelled into the microphone and the air rippled.

Then Brandish was sent flying, tumbling through the air. Taylor winced as she clipped her head on a bench and then crashed into the back wall with a thump that made Taylor bones ache, just missing the Judge. She must have been too stunned by the blast and blow to the head to transform into her ball form like she'd done against Lung, Taylor realized.

Or was the twilight area utterly making light powers useless?

As Taylor tried to think of a way out of her predicament that didn't involve shoving the benches backwards and hurting those trapped behind her, or setting stuff on fire… She looked around wondering where the two Protectorate heroes who'd been guarding the trial were.

As Taylor looked around she saw phones out everywhere while people fled, their screams making it difficult to focus. Taylor saw Mouse Protector throw her shield at Über who was climbing back to his feet, before the villain dived into a perfect forward roll spinning around next to the fallen shield. Then Mouse Protector appeared next to the spinning disk and with an odd pirouette like motion, scooped up her shield and smashed her foot into Über's head.

"Boot to the head!" Mouse Protector yelled cheerfully as she drew her sword.

Über once more rolled away, though slightly off balanced this time before coming up fists raised in what Taylor assumed was a martial arts pose.

Behind him Taylor spied the other Protectorate cape Resonance snoring while slumped against the wall, his green renaissance like costume wet for some reason, maybe a bottle had been spilt on him in the rush?

He was a loaner from another city, his unique power set of creating areas where no sound could travel through made him ideal for shutting down Paige.

Like it was need, but it reassured people.

"Today's special is fillet of MOUSE!"

Then Leet blasted the caped cape, the sonic shockwave smashing the front pew. Taylor felt her eyes widen in shock as yells of panic turned to screams of pain. The benches had moved forward, making the space to escape small, causing more panic.

Mouse Protector vanished in a blink of an eye before the blast hit. The mouse themed cape reappeared back near Taylor.

"Brockton Bay is exciting, does this happen often?" She asked casually as she kept an eye on the two villains. Still, the public were now being quickly evacuated out of side doors, not just running for the main one at the back. Security seemed to have decided to leave the Villains to the Heroes and evacuate the civilians as quickly as they could, helping both the public and the heroes.

"Only when I'm around." Taylor muttered and pulled at her legs still trapped between then wall and the wooden bench.

Looking down at her trapped calves, Taylor tugged on them again. There was no pain, just an inability to move as security hadn't freed everyone behind her yet. Cursing, Taylor looked back, seeing a security guard pulling the last person free, the guard gave her a nod as he slung the injured civilians arm over his shoulder and started to run. That was good, the less people she and the other heroes had to worry about, the more they could do.

As Taylor braced herself to push the benches back, a second guard reached for Paige to undo her cuffs and escort her out… When Über batted him aside, two palm strikes knocked the keys from his hand and the guard to ground.

Taylor cursed, looked down at her trapped legs, back up at Paige as Uber advanced on her… and threw the Keyblade, Melody whistling through the air. She didn't have enough time to free herself and save Paige, so… She recalled her last battle, thinking back to Lung and the chaos they'd wrought.

The confidence, the idea, and the magic.

She recalled.

With a flash Taylor felt herself go breathless for a second as everything became wrapped in a warm darkness. Then she reappeared hand grasping the Keyblade, standing between Über and Paige.

"You will not pass." Taylor growled glaring from the darkness of her hood but still feeling a dangerous smile creep onto her lips.

Taylor had teleported. A small cheer went up in her head and she stood there confidently, preventing Über from passing.

Über blinked at her from behind his domino mask as Mouse Protector cheered with her sword raised into the air.

"Hah, you learn quickly apprentice! Now, you two villains of tasteful suits shall now feel the kicking of Justice! For the Truth has got her boots on, and is about to start kicking!" Mouse Protector declared.

Taylor felt herself shrink a little. She was glad she had back up, don't get her wrong... but Mouse Protector was... well… Mouse Protector.

Über stared at Mouse Protector and then back at Taylor then seemed to rally himself.

"Amateurs, upstarts! Trying to out-do us?" Über demanded as he slipped around Taylor, suddenly more graceful than he had been before, running towards Paige.

As soon as Taylor had turned to follow she was hit by Leet.

"OBJECTION!"

Taylor was blown clear off her feet and thrown towards the back wall where Brandish still lay stunned. Unlike the hero from New Wave though, Taylor flipped in mid-air of her own will, turning at the last second to land feet first on the wall. With a groan of splintering wood Taylor pushed down and sprang back off the wall like it was made of elastic, the Keyblade whistling as she swiped at Über who was grabbing Paige's arm, aiming to cause some damage to the cape's arm.

If Lung had taught Taylor anything, then it was to end things before they could start… and the breaking of a non-regenerators arm would finish it. Besides, it's not like it would be permanent. She could hopefully fix it up.

Unfortunately Über dodged backwards and instead the defence table got a decent spider web of cracks in it. Paige fell back into her seat, eyes wide.

Snarling, Taylor spun around, the Keyblade lashing out with a wave of frozen air, as snowflakes formed and flew out, the flakes covering everything they touched in a layer of frost.

"Ice!" Taylor growled as she advanced.

Skipping backwards Über dived under her barrage, rolling on the floor to dodge her follow up flat icicles while pulling something out his pocket.

Shifting back warily as Über pulled some kind of black, grenade like device from his pocket, Taylor stopped in front of Paige. A brief glance back to check on the singer showed that Über had clamped some kind of crackling wrist band on her and Paige was staring at it in horror, unable to remove it due to her cuffs still restraining anything but her mouth. The sparking wires made Taylor think Paige was being smart not to try using that.

Taylor didn't feel confident messing with Tinker Tech, so she nodded to Paige and chased after the two.

There was a crunching sound as Über charged forward, leaving a black box on the ground behind him, lights blinking on it's surface, it vanished between a few benches.

"OBJECTION!" Leet screamed again, blasting a sound wave at Mouse Protector.

But Mouse Protector teleported behind him, landing back on the seat she'd been on with Taylor. Jumping forward, she lashed out with her sword at Leet's unguarded back.

Über saw however and Taylor saw his eyes widen in panic as he raised the grenade like device, though perhaps it was a little slim for that… and with a red button on top?

"Behind you!" Über shouted frantically.

"WWWHHHAATTT?!" Leet cried as he spun around at Über's frantic warning, the microphone powering up again.

He was too late though.

Mouse Protector lashed out at Leet with her sword, the flat of the blade slapping Leet's hand up and leaving her sword tip at his throat while also making his voice blast shoot over the heroine's head.

"I object! Your objection is objectionable!" Mouse Protector shouted grinning like a loon.

Leet gulped loudly as he backpedalled, almost falling tripping over the carved up defence table in his attempt to get away from mouse themed cape.

While Mouse Protector closed in again while the villain steadied himself from his near fall. As Leet raised his microphone once more and pulled the trigger to speak into it… the microphone exploded in a shower of sparks. Unfazed by this, as if it happened every day, Leet threw the smoking machine at Mouse Protector.

"Über! Let's go!" Leet called.

Über nodded busily dodging Taylor as she took swipes at him, attempting to take of his hand and make him drop the device he was holding. Over the course of the battle, Über had gotten much more agile, almost gracefully dodging her Ice blasts, it was some sort of nimble balancing hopping. Taylor didn't dare use Fire inside yet, and Bolt… she was holding it in reserve for now, as she still needed more practice with it.

Then out of the corner of her eye, Taylor spied movement behind the judges chair, the woman was miraculously still here despite the on going battle.

Then Brandish appeared beside Taylor, laying a punch into a surprised Über 's side. Her power still wasn't working, halted by the twilight zone effect emanating from Über's pocket still. That didn't stop Brandish though as she traded blows with Über while Taylor feel back to protect Paige, bound as the singer still was.

Then it clicked. A power she'd only really used once but could be immeasurably useful now.

The Keyblade wasn't just a key in name only.

Turning back toward the trapped Paige Taylor raised the Keyblade a brilliant lance of light shot out. The cuffs gave a soft click, and Paige gave them a gentle tug. With a clatter the steel manacles fell to the ground. Paige looked up startled but with a wild spark of hope reignited in the singer's eyes.

She said something, but in the chaos, Taylor couldn't hear her, Paige looked down at the crackling band and banged it against the table hard.

As Taylor moved towards Paige, intent in getting her out the court room and out of the rest of the shackles keeping her bound, the last of the civilians filed out of the room.

Then Über pulled out and dropped the twilight zone orb. It hit the ground and there was a deafening boom like thunder and flash of something like lightning as light rushed back into the room.

Stunned, Taylor tried blink away the sudden flash blindness, she sensed Über run right past her, a momentary mental switch letting her know he was running towards Leet. Since no one else could possibly know where the villainous duo were Taylor chased after him, raising her Keyblade for an ice blast, trusting Brandish to protect Paige now that her powers would be working again. As she readied her blast Taylor flickered her attention again, making sure Mouse Protector wasn't going to be hit... Who was right behind Leet, holding him against the Prosecution desk at sword point.

As Taylor ran after Über, trying to get a clear shot, as her vision cleared she ran past the ticking black box.

Taylor really hoped the box wasn't a bomb, or something worse. Hopefully it was a camera? Maybe? That was Über and Leet's thing right? The two villains were somewhat of a joke in the cape circles, people who'd do crazy things to try and boost their reputation… But even they wouldn't set off a bomb when they were in the blast radius, right?

Right?

Heavy footfalls alerted Taylor that armed PRT troopers were rushing into the room now, weapons rising up to aim at the two villains even as Über reached Leet.

Taylor felt herself relaxing as she pushed the ice attack down, it was unneeded now. Settling instead for a roll that landed her right beside Über she grabbed the red suited villain by the shoulder, who in turn was busy grabbing Leet's hand.

"That's enough, just surrender and I-" Taylor began speaking but she was cut off.

As Über pressed down on the device, no the detonator, in his hand, a ripple burst from the pulsing black box, a high pitched whine screeching along with it. Waves of bluish light crashed over the room and everyone in it that made everyone slow down, as if moving through thick honey. Über smiled as he then released the trigger and the black box exploded into blinding light.

"Court is adjourned." Über said, his words barely loud enough for Taylor to hear.

Then the world went sideways.

When the world felt like it wasn't trying to suck Taylor through a straw anymore and her head had stop spinning, she tried to blink the greenish purple flashes from her eye. Even as her vision began to clear Taylor immediately noticed three things wrong.

One, her back pressed against something hard and cold, concrete?

Two, it was difficult to breathe with the weight on her chest… Which was caused by Über lying sprawled on top of her, with Leet sprawled on top of him.

Three, as she took in her surroundings, it was obvious she was no longer in the court room, or in a place that was likely to be anywhere near it.

With a grunt Taylor pushed the two stunned teens off her, the need to breathe outweighing her desire to freeze the two villains while they were stunned.

As Taylor rolled away from them and to her feet Über flipped to his own feet in a move Taylor thought would have been more fit for a Kung Fu movie. Über turned to face her then hands raised in lose fists, while standing protectively in front of Leet as the tinker half stumbled, half clawed himself upright.

"What the hell is she doing here?" Über whispered urgently to Leet, the effect sadly ruined by the echoing nature of the large room.

Leet looked around muzzily, then stared at Taylor, seemingly unable to comprehend what she was for a few seconds. Then he shook his head and seemed to pull himself together as panic set in.

"I don't know! I didn't touch her." Leet said, a little high pitched as he backed further behind Über.

Taylor raised her Keyblade threateningly, a snarl on her lips.

"Where. Am. I?" Taylor demanded as calmly as she could, her face strained as she struggled against the urge to blast the two for the hell of it, and make her own way out.

Even as Taylor asked however, her mind was racing. As the final spots cleared from her eye, the large room they were in came more into detail. Grey floor, grey walls and grey roof, all concrete and metal. The high windows that travelled one length of the building made her think warehouse, like the abandoned ones in the Docks. The Docks even made sense as the room was empty, nothing was being stored here and there was familiar smell of salt in the air… along with less pleasant things like rotting meat.

It smelled really bad actually. Looking around for a way out and maybe the source of the stink, Taylor blinked then grimaced when she looked down. There appeared to be old dried blood all over the concrete floor.

Über was also looking about the room, taking it all in as he pondered Taylor's question.

"I... don't know. That's actually a good question. Leet, where the fuck are we?" Über asked, turning his head to look back over his shoulder at the blue suited cape, who's suit no longer looked clean and was still as creased as ever.

Leet looked around just like Über then, scanning the place. However, Taylor got the feeling Leet was looking a lot faster, but taking far less in than either her or Über.

Über just seemed to be able to grasp some sort of calm mind set, his breathing slowing as he looked, while Leet seemed to be getting more worked up, his breathing now so rapid Taylor wondered how he was getting any air at all.

In fact, Über seemed more and more unaffected with every passing second. His breathing was soft and steady with a slow exhale, his eyes half closed behind his red domino mask, a half smile on his lips, and his hands, while they were clenched into fists, weren't clenched enough to grip anything.

Taylor narrowed her eye as suspicion took root. Everything Taylor knew about the two was common knowledge, but she did know enough to realize what Über must be doing.

Über was good at everything he tried and got better at it the longer he tried. If Taylor recalled correctly he once described it as the power to 'git gud', whatever that meant. It wasn't instant and he couldn't punch above his weight class but in a pinch he could begin to learn how to do something, anything really. It wasn't clear exactly what he could do to an outside viewer, but since the two had never come in with advanced tech of normal variety or even repaired Leet's broken tech, it was a running theory from their fans that Über didn't become an expert at his chosen field, rather he became a savant at a single thing within that field.

Taylor had even watched some of their video's on their Youtube channel when she'd first started her preparations to be a hero, her thinking was to get some info on the local villains and to motivate herself. She'd heard of the 'GTA special' that had them supposedly beat up hookers in an attempt role play the game and be loyal to the source.

Taylor had even watched that video, after much hesitation, and to her surprise it wasn't exactly as she'd heard it was or like the public said.

They were real life hookers, the ABB variety, not paid actors or holograms like people speculated. Taylor could tell from her own experience. So, they had been real hookers that were targeted by Über and Leet for that particular stunt. The footage showed Leet threatening the hooker for her money, shoving some futuristic looking bat in the woman's face. Looking unimpressed, the hooker had pulled a gun from her purse and pointed it at him.

There had been a scuffle after that, and two shots fired wildly that thankfully missed anyone. After 20 seconds or so Leet had managed to disarm the woman, showing the guy had some basic self-defence skills, but when he went on and took her handbag, she went wild.

There was a lot of screaming and scratching which ended in Über sucker punching the woman to get her off Leet before the pair had fled without the purse when angry shouts reached them, coming from deeper in the alley.

It didn't change the facts though, Über and Leet had attacked and beaten up a hooker just minding her own business, even if they hadn't managed to rob her. The memory of Cherry, the only hooker Taylor had ever known, made her think that the woman in video had a lot more to lose than her money, unlike Über and Leet.

Still, after that episode and the laughs it had guiltily extracted from Taylor ,which she'd sorely needed back then, had caused her to slightly binge on their video archive. Like, in their golden gun episode, Über was hard at work on a lock, using a hair pin of all things, getting better as he went on until the door popped open. Then in next episode where they'd been robbing a coin mint, Über had actual lock picks to open the safe, which he had trouble with like he'd never used anything like them before.

The fans speculated that while Über had 'learned' how to unlock a door with the hair pin, it didn't mean he was good at lock picking in general; the knowledge just didn't seem to transfer over to his other skills. So, while Über could pick up on things, it was only exactly what he was trying to do.

Anything else he had to learn just like a normal person until his powers kicked in.

So, could Über be learning a calming technique right now to deal with the sudden adjustment to their plan? Or was he faking her out, learning something else that might trip her up while relying on his previous skills or natural talent?

Leet grabbed Über's arm then, pulling the other man off balance.

Taylor tensed to strike, a spell forming on the tip of her tongue… but the sparks coming off a small band on Übers arm caught her attention.

It looked just like the one they put on Paige.

Then Leet cursed.

"Shit, your band is like mine, completely fried. I thought these were good for at least one use!" Leet said quickly, still breathing a little heavy.

Über gently pried his arm out of the tinkers grip, patting his friend on shoulder reassuringly.

"No worries, duds happen man. We'll figure out later what went wrong." Über said cheerfully.

Leet just glared at him.

"I hate when you use that new age skill, you sound like you're on drugs." Leet pointed out, swinging a black briefcase around that Taylor hadn't noticed before in the chaos of the court.

Recalling what she knew, Taylor turned her attention and sense onto Leet. The tinker was on the other end of the spectrum of powers from Über, everything he did, he got worse at.

Being a tinker that could seemingly build anything, or close enough, sounded great. And it was, until people grasped how limited Leet was. Initially when people had tried to guess Leet's specialization, no one had been able to, which was an easy mistake because even if he didn't advertise it, the sheer variety of tech Leet used was amazing.

But, that itself was a clear indication to Taylor that he was constantly forced to adapt to new technology. No parahuman would use new skills or entire technology branches without mastering one first, it was why she still focused primarily on ice magic. To see Leet using such variety meant that for some reason he had to. That meant Leet was either easily bored, or his powers didn't let him get good at a certain branch of technology like other Tinkers.

Taylor tried to imagine being forced to use a new power every time she used one before. To constantly need new moves, new powers, and never being able to master a spell…

It sounded frustrating, and considering how often Leet's devices exploded, it also sounded dangerous.

Über cleared his throat, capturing Taylor's attention again as he brushed back his gelled and dyed white hair, which had lost its bangs somewhere between the court and the warehouse.

"So, Keynote. It's been fun and all, and we should really do this again sometime, you were a blast… But I think Leet here and I will be taking our leave." Über said as he turned to walk away.

Taylor felt like she'd just hit herself with her own icy magic, a cold lump forming in her chest. These two… They attacked people, hurt them, possibly caused Paige to miss her verdict and have a miss-trial… They bullied people and just thought they could walk away?!

She couldn't help the icy tone that slipped from her lips when she spoke.

"Will you now? I think you skipped a few steps there, like answering my questions or maybe the part where you apologize for interrupting Paige's trial with your stupid games? Or even the part where I drag you pathetic dicks down to the PRT in chains of ice?!" Taylor retorted her tone beyond frosty, cold enough for fog to leak out.

Leet crossed his arms and… sulked? While Über raise his hand placatingly

"Hey now, they aren't stupid, we put a lot of work into our show. It takes plenty of effort and planning you know?" Über pointed out reasonably while backing away.

Taylor shot him a look, her frosty glare almost palpable.

Leet made a disgusted noise at that and started speaking before his friend could this time.

"For someone who's playing the video game theme up even more straight than us, I'd thought you'd be a lot cooler. A real girl gamer, you know? But you ain't been a lot of fun." Leet muttered sullenly while Über nodded, seeming to agree.

Taylor blinked. What the hell were they talking about? Video game theme?

"You think… You think I'm pretending to be a video game character? Seriously?! I don't even play video games, let alone emulate them. I read books." Taylor said snidely.

The two villains paused then, looked at each other, looked back at her, then Über face palmed whiled Leet then pointed at her.

Über spoke next cutting Leet off.

"Dude, no. We've already had this argument."

Leet pouted. "Yeah, and I still say it's true. I mean, look, she's got to be role playing, she's like, straight out of a JRPG or D n' D or something. I mean, look, look right there! She's got like, the super impractical weapon that works because of rule of cool and you know, legendary weapon or powers and shit. Then she uses 'magic', even calling them spells and yelling out her attacks like in Mega Man and stuff, it's like she's a magical girl out of one of those old Japanese cartoons, or like Myrrdin being a wizard. Then there's the fact she only shows off new powers after a certain amount of time. She's like, totally pretending to level up! It's obvious. I mean, she even 'summon monsters', gives them names, and even has them act like they're alive." Leet stopped to take a huge breath.

"Then when she finally got to a 'boss fight' she transformed! There was fire and explosions and speeches and everything! Totally straight out of Breath of Fire with Karn, because then she starts showing off all sorts of new skills. Her weapon even upgrades when she gets stronger, you noticed it too! And like, most of all, everywhere she goes, she gets into fights! Like Shadow Stalker, then Rune, then she took on bloody Lung to get some serious views! Hell, she even has a cute mascot fairy pretending to be her tutorial creature, that Mog character that talked about Keynote being his apprentice and her surpassing him. Come on Über , tell me it ain't logical!" Leet said confidently, ticking off one point after another on his fingers. His rant long and at the end of it, Leet looked red in the face.

Über just sighed, hand once more slapping his face as he groaned.

"Dude… She's right here you know?" Über said despairingly.

Taylor was left speechless, her mouth opening and closing unable to articulate the scathing retort she wanted to give to this… this… madness.

Even as she thought about, listening to Leet rant, she felt her blood boil.

While it was all true, even she would admit that, it wasn't correct. She wasn't holding back and 'pretending to level up', she wasn't pretending to do magic, she actually was, and Mog, Boco, Ifrit… They were alive. I mean, if Taylor was going to create magical friends, they wouldn't be as surely as Ifrit...

Raising the Keyblade as a spark leap from her empty hand, Taylor pointed the Melody of the Lost at the pair of villains. Angrily, she motioned for them to step away from the door. Taylor then gritted her teeth and shoved her rage aside, it wouldn't help with anything but setting the pair of idiots pants on fire. Fun, but not overly productive.

"So, now that you admitted all that out loud, you can just surrender. Because if I've been holding back, just 'pretending', then you don't want to fight me, because I'm much stronger, stronger than either of you at least. More, if I'm some kind of 'magical girl', fighting me makes you the bad guys or something. And that means you'll lose." Taylor tried to sound like she knew best. While she'd dearly like to smash their heads together, repeatedly if necessary, she'd rather not get into another fight. After all, Sabah had specifically asked her not to.

More, the pair surrendering was the smart move for them and stopped them getting hurt. Taylor didn't want to sound over confident, but while Über could learn any skill, and Leet could make any device… She had the Keyblade.

Leet spoke up again then, grinning as he spoke which… was more disturbing than any threat really.

"Nah, in this level? You're the boss, and everyone knows that bosses give the best experience." Leet said, cracking his neck and pulled up the briefcase ... only to pause.

"Except for metal slimes." Leet corrected himself.

Taylor sighed, and shifted her aim behind the pair, pointing the Keyblade at the twin metal doors.

"Ice." Taylor whispered.

With a whoosh the steel doors froze solid, a layer of ice over an inch thick coating the surface instantly. A few moments later, streams of mist began to waft from the door, pooling about the base in a miniature fog; the sheer cold radiating from the ice chilling the room and promising a bad time to anyone foolish enough to touch it.

"So… hopefully that will stop any ideas of you two running away before I beat some sense into you." Taylor said with a smirk. If the pair thought she was a 'boss', well there was no avoiding it. Even as her gut twinged with guilt her heart soared at the idea of giving these two idiots the beating they deserved.

The villains looked at the frozen door then back, before Leet spoke up.

"See? Told you so Über. Magical Girl Boss battle. She even sealed the doors " Leet said smugly.

Über sighed, shaking his head before looking at Taylor with an inquiring expression.

"So, how do you plan to get out? That was the only door and based on your last ice sculpture, this one will take days to melt." Über asked, sounding confused.

Taylor opened her mouth then closed it, opened it… and closed it again. Her brain was unhelpfully blank, the traitor.

"I can shoot fire, I'll just melt it." Taylor finally said.

Über scratched his head.

"Wouldn't that make the door too hot to touch?" Über pointed out

Taylor took a deep breath, in through the nose, blowing out slowly through her mouth. She'd promised Sabah. So, while protecting Paige had been one thing, cracking heads out of pure annoyance was a step too far… Even if she was really jealous of Über's calming technique.

"You know what, I'll just knock down a wall, when I have you both bound and gagged." Taylor promised snidely.

Leet opened his mouth once more but Taylor raised her finger, stopping him.

"And if you point out any more flaws in my logic, I will hit you." Taylor promised.

Leet wisely shut his mouth.

Über raised his hands in a shrug.

"So, now what? We don't want to get caught and you want to catch us? Isn't that a game in itself? I mean, you don't think we'd just let you take us in do you? We're on our third strike; I'm not sure what will happen next time we're caught, not the bird cage, but... not something like regular jail either I can guess." Über mused aloud.

Taylor felt her grip on the Keyblade tighten.

"Before we fight, one more question. Why? Why did you have to interrupt Paige's trial? They were just about to Declare her innocent and you interrupted that. There were a number of people you could have annoyed with this game stuff, other trials on today or something, a whole cities worth of people. Why did you have to hurt her chances when it's been such an uphill battle?" Taylor hissed.

Über's lips thinned while Leet frowned.

"Don't go assuming things, we saved her." Leet fired back.

Taylor paused, caught off guard. Were they even having the same conversation? There was only one word that summed up Taylor's feelings on that answer.

"What?"

Paige Mcabee felt like throwing up, bile creeping up throat.

The floor below her was cheap carpet, new and dust free, despite motes in the air, floating in the odd beam of day light that made its way through the heavy white cloth curtains. It was enough, though barely, to tell her that the carpet was green. The walls were an odd brown, the paint peeling in places, and the front door looked thinner than paper.

She stood and fell over again, her insides still shaking and woozy from the feeling of being shaken violently about in a single flash. The court...

Those two villains... Her verdict, ruined… Her one chance at freedom, her only hope… ruined. Paige felt tears begin drip down her cheeks. She'd been so close, almost free, able to go home and cry and sing and just… Those two suited villains had barged in and ruined it.

Despite having been in Brockton Bay for a month know, Paige still knew next to nothing about the Bay's crazy locals, besides Lung. Everyone had heard of Lung.

Swallowing, Paige grabbed the back of a sofa and pulled herself up with a grunt. As much as she wanted to, lying here crying wouldn't help her. She needed to leave, to get back before they declared a mistrial. The judge, the woman was about to say 'not guilty'. She'd been so close!

That… That was something at least? If Paige's head would just stop ringing then she could figure out what to do, how to get back. A white object caught her attention next to the sofa, cheap plastic caught in a sunbeam.

A phone.

Right. She'd just call the police, have them come collect her, wait for Mrs Dallon to pick her up, take her back. Paige remembered the woman was just about to grab her in the court room, promising that Paige would be okay, telling her to just stay calm and not do anything. That she'd take care of it.

Calm. Just stay calm. Paige could do that, she was already strangely calm, as the nausea faded so too did her panic. In fact Paige thought she was dealing with being kidnapped by two young men with weird hairstyles rather well.

No wait... Paige had felt this before, this was shock.

This was bad, she remembered the last time now. When the PRT had come to take her away, when they'd gagged her, then foamed her and locked her away. She'd wailed and screamed, tried to beg, and all they'd keep repeating was that she sexually assault a man. He'd punched her and she was the villain…

Shaking her head, Paige knew she need to use what little time she had left before her panic attack hit. Slowly, her fingers trembling slightly, Paige lifted the phone to her ear, finger hovering over the old style keys.

Nothing.

There was nothing, no sound, no dial tone. Paige stared at the phone as if it would magically work if she stared hard enough.

"Ms' Mcabee, I'm afraid we disconnected that phone prior to your arrival as a precaution. If you would like to take a seat, we have much to talk about." A voice called out from behind her.

Paige spun, the ringing in her ears reaching dangerous levels.

A woman sat in the single armchair at the opposite end of the room.

She was oddly dressed, black slacks, cowboy boots and simple black mask with a lens with a crack across the left side. Black hair fell neatly down to her shoulders in a tight ponytail.

The white shirt was so bright and crisp Paige wasn't sure exactly how she missed the woman.

"Who... are you?" Paige asked robotically, liking her lips. The necklace around her throat made her voice vibrate as the machine auto tuned her voice in a flat, harsh monotone, while also making it harmless.

Paige wasn't sure she'd even be able to use her power if it was unleashed. The idea of controlling another human being, of commanding them was... It was…

Sickening.

Paige prided herself on her voice, her singing. Her voice was the conduit of her messages, her ideas, and her passion. Her voice gave her the ability to spread her joy to countless people, to ask for love and hope and kindness… To use it to utterly rob someone of their senses went against everything she believed in.

"It seems Über and Leet failed to come along with you, I suppose that is a risk of the job." Visor lady said.

Paige carefully moved to the sofa between them, saying nothing.

"I do not plan to give you my name, but for the sake of manners you may call me Defect. It's not the best name, but it suits my purpose." Defect said with a quirked lip.

Paige raised an eyebrow.

"Interesting name, but I really can't stay, so I'm going to leave through that door, scream then run." Paige said, slowly backing up, the woman never even got out her seat and when she spoke it was in a light tone.

"What door?" she said and Paige turned, her hand reached out for... nothing?

The door was gone.

Paige felt the panic attack settle in.

Über suddenly lunged, grabbing Taylor's Keyblade and twisting it, making it fly out her grip, clattering on the ground a short distance away.

Leet rushed her next, his arms open like he was going to tackle her and Taylor aimed low, firing a blast of ice. It may not have been as strong as when she channelled her magic through the Keyblade, but she'd found casting without it was nothing to scoff at either.

Leet yelped and jumped back as his blue suit pants were coated in sub-zero frost. Über reached for her again and Taylor rolled back, until her back hit the solid wall on the other side of the huge room.

Taylor reoriented herself and spotted Leet moving towards her Keyblade, his grubby little fingers reaching for it, the suit case swinging madly behind him.

Taylor held out her hand and the Melody of the Lost instantly responded, appearing once more in her hand.

Über and Leet stopped to stare at her as Taylor got back on her feet, the distance too far for them to try attack while she was down.

"So, surrender? I won't ask again." Taylor offered, walking slowly towards them, her empty hand outstretched.

Über tilted his head.

"You think you can take us?" Über asked, not sounding arrogant, but genuinely interested.

Taylor stopped walking, a wry grin stretching her face. She faced down Lung and nearly won. These two?

With a single thought her fingers erupted into crackling lightning.

"I can shoot lightning from my hands now." Taylor said with wiggle of her fingers causing sparks to fly off.

Leet and Über looked at each other, Leet nodded once, and Über turned back to her.

"Point to you. But what kind players would we be if we just gave up when we reached the hard boss of the game?" Über asked softly.

Meanwhile, Leet slowly put the suitcase on the ground. Taylor kept an eye on him as Über moved away from Leet, forcing Taylor to choose between the two on which to hit first.

Über, would be her choice if it came down to that. He was the dangerous one in this kind of fight, Leet was a tinker and relied on his tech… and he seemed to be woefully unequipped for this stunt of theirs.

"A smart one. No offense to you guys, but I can hit pretty hard and I'm not going to hold back. So just lie down and let me call the police before one of you gets hurt. Fighting me isn't a good idea." Taylor said, offering them one final warning, as she gathered energy to stun them. A bolt at half strength should do the trick.

"A challenge? You heard that Leet? We got a 'hopeless boss fight' on our hands here." Über said, a grin on his face.

Leet nodded his own face splitting into a grin in return.

"So I heard, and you know what? I think we've got a chance, for some bosses, all you need is the right item... or weapon." Leet said and the suitcase at his feet sprang open at a nudge from his foot.

Taylor sprang forward, her vision transforming into the familiar tunnel as she rolled forward, suddenly desperate to stop Leet from pulling out any of his tech. If he'd made something to specifically counter her he might actually be dangerous.

Tinker Tech, from Taylor's own first hand experience, was scary.

Simple looking machines or weapons could violate several rules of nature and laws of physics.

Guns that shot portals? Done and redone until the guy made a Gatling gun version. Machines that could make spiders the size of cars possible… Bombs that could ignite the atmosphere itself… and so much more. So much worse.

Tinkers were bullshit and scary. Leet was considered a joke, but there was always that undercurrent of fear, that idea that no one wanted to acknowledge that he might just lose it one day and make a doomsday device. It would only take one attempt if he put his mind to it. And it would only take one destroy the world like String Theory had threatened.

Über sideswiped her, forcing Taylor to dodge awkwardly as she came out of her roll. As her fingers came up, she shot an arc of electricity at Über, her aim off as he dodged and the awkward pose leaving her unable to compensate. The bolt of lightning lanced above him and sparks rained down off the far wall where the bolt struck.

Über then struck at her again, trying to keep Taylor off balance and making her side step. Snarling she swiped at him, a blast of frigid air launched from her strike. It shoved Über backwards and covered his face in frost, blinding the villain.

With Über momentarily taken care of, Taylor turned back to Leet and…

Found Leet pointing a multi coloured handle at her, the grip around his fingers some odd spaceship. Then with the binging of an 8-bit ring tone, a blade shot out the handle, the point capped in a yellow circle with a section missing form it. The blade was black with unlit light bulbs on it, while the handle and blade connected underneath a grey game controller with bright red arrows and buttons.

A white monster thing sat perched at the top of the blade, forming the teeth and hanging off the coloured blocks that made up the handle was a wire that ended in a coin you would put in an arcade machine, stylized with a "Ü L".

Several other creatures ran down the weapons blade.

Taylor stared at the Keyblade in Leet's hands. Compared to her own sleek and graceful Melody, this weapon was loud and garnish, every line was sharp and every part was a reference and a joke. The whole thing a mockery of her own blade.

It... fit Leet really well actually. Both as a game… and a joke.

"I'm... flattered?" Taylor said, unsure what to do in this case. The lessons with Sabah on how to present herself as cape hadn't covered villains ripping off your thing.

Leet actually smiled at this.

"Thanks, when I saw some of the videos of your fight with Lung, I was inspired. Like, I just had to make it. Usually I struggle to get inspiration, but it just came so easily when I made this. I thought it'd be extremely bulky or awkward, but it's not bad." Leet said, experimentally swinging it.

Meanwhile Über had hopped back a few feet, out of Taylor's immediate reach, while rubbing the ice from his face.

"Leet's been in a great mood since he finished that thing. So... Thanks for that." Über said graciously.

Taylor nodded, feeling speechless. How was she supposed to handle this situation? Say 'you're welcome'? Blast the two and be done with it?

This... This wasn't how it was supposed to go. They were villains for pete's sake. They were supposed to say something vile or do something evil, like kick a random puppy and Taylor would kick their asses before going home.

Simple! But this, they were treating things like… like it was game. Like this whole thing, capes, heroes villains… They were treating it like a game.

Taylor felt her lip curl in a silent snarl.

They thought peoples lives were just a game?!

Lung kidnapped and murdered people, he tried to murder her! Kaiser was a Nazi, and Skidmark… was everything his name implied.

Her dad had been brain damaged by Bakuda, and she'd lost an eye. Armsmaster, Dragon, Clockblocker, Aegis, Vista… They all fought daily to ensure that things like that stopped happening.

Then there was Sabah, struggling to make an honest living and finally doing well at it. Carol working a full time job and going out at night to protect people. Paige just trying to spread her love of music and being persecuted as a result of a single mistake…

And these two thought this was a game?!

"It's a nice fake, but I don't think it can stand up to the original." Taylor said as she raised the Keyblade into a guard. Both hands gripped the hilt as she got ready to flick it in either direction or block as needed. Along the blade, there was a crackle of electricity making the air hum while sparks spat from the tip.

"Sequels can surprise you, some are actually better." Leet said and with a cry, lunged forward, the Pixelblade swinging faster than he had been before.

The clash of metal on metal rang out as the two Keyblades clashed.

And the moment they did, Taylor knew that pixel Keyblade was... empty. Hollow. Nothing. It was such an odd feeling that Taylor felt Leet push her back, the blue suited cape taking advantage of Taylor's distraction. The lights on the pixel Keyblade slowly lighting up, one by one.

Then Taylor growled and pushed back. Bracing her legs to stop her slide, she used both hands to push back, making Leet stumble. Leet stepped back to recover and then swung. Taylor casually flicked the blow away and stabbed at him, aiming to connect and shock him into unconsciousness. Leet stumbled to the side then swung at her again.

A few more exchanges with Leet just barely dodging or Über feinting or throwing a punch from behind, forcing Taylor to dodge. As Taylor cursed, trying to come up with a way to beat the pair beyond killing them with ice… a wild idea leapt into her mind. When Leet next swung at her Taylor swung under handed, hitting Leet's weapon twice in rapid succession, each impact making the villain's arms shake.

Then Taylor met Leet's blade again, locking them against each other.

Work smarter, not harder.

Taylor leaned in, shifting her left hand from the hilt to the back of the blade, and her hand lit up with electricity.

The yellow energy danced across the two weapons, travelled the length of the Melody and down the Pixel.

Leet let out a yelp and jumped backwards, his gelled hair trying to stand on end.

Über stepped in front of him and Taylor spun the Keyblade, trying to taunt him.

"You're stepping in again?" Taylor mocked.

Über shrugged.

"You don't get close in between two people swinging weapons, it's unhealthy." Über replied casually.

Taylor noticed he was still quite calm, despite the mockery of a battle. Taylor pointed the Keyblade at him and fired an arc of electricity at him, deciding that if asking wasn't going to work, and neither was taunting then she'd just have to beat them down. Über moved, the crackling energy traveling the length of the Keyblade more than enough of a warning as he rolled along the floor.

Leet charged her again, two hands grasping his Pixelblade. Taylor noticed that he was counting on power more than her own style of speed and magic.

Then Leet threw the Pixel Keyblade, making Taylor freeze before she dropped to the ground to avoid the flying piece of metal.

There was an odd sense of irony as Taylor stood and promptly got smacked in the back by the Keyblade reversing its flight back to Leet's hand.

Blinking she saw the Pixel hadn't even turned around, it was like it was on rewind, following the exact path it has flown backwards to Leet's waiting hand where he caught it with a curse, switching the weapon to his other hand so he could rapidly shake his fingers when the Keyblade hit a little too hard.

Taylor threw a silent cure over herself and noticed something in the corner of her eye.

A small flying round device that was watching them. A camera, an advanced one, but who would be watching them, she-

"You guys... aren't streaming this, are you?" Taylor asked slowly, a dark chill seeping into her voice.

Über nodded without a hint of shame.

"If we go down for this, then we wanted it to be a good show at least, you don't mind do you?" Über asked.

Taylor looked at him, her head tilted.

"I get a vote? Or is that just a courtesy question since you already started" She asked sarcastically.

Leet spoke up then, the Pixelblade slung over one shoulder.

"We wouldn't turn it off, but we'd make it focus on us instead. Nothing kills a show faster than having someone try to destroy the camera..." Leet admitted.

Taylor just stared at them and struggled not to scream.

Paige sat on the toilet. She huffed, trying not to whimper as she crossed her arms… She was not hugging herself… Even if she could do with a hug. Like, really do with a hug.

She resolutely ignored the shadow under the door.

"Miss. Mcabee... please come out of the restroom. This is childish and I can easily have you removed from there." Defect said from the other side of the door.

Paige glared at the door giving up the pretence the shadow didn't exist.

"I am quite happy in here, thank you. So until you return the exit and leave, I will not be coming out." Paige said stiffly, feeling utterly terrified while the synthesizer conveyed barely a tenth of her tone.

The woman, Defect, had been quite startled to see her run, as if she fully expected the vanishing door trick to defeat Paige. That she'd just sit down and be a good little prisoner and do as her captors said. Well, look where that had gotten her. They'd tried to rail road her and if not for a scheduling mix up which got her trial transferred to Brockton Bay… She'd be in prison, possibly even the… the… B-Birdcage.

Not this time. Not this time. This time she'd fought back.

The bathroom had been her only option of escape besides what looked like a kitchen and there were people in there. At least... she thought there were people.

They'd looked like monsters, case 53s?

"Just talk to me here then. It's not like I can go anywhere anyway." Paige said as snidely as the synthesizer allowed her to.

Defect sighed.

"Fine." Defect said, sounding exasperated by Paige's actions. There was some footsteps moving away and the sound of a chair being pulled over, the scraping of wood on wood.

The shadow reappeared under the door, and the tips of the cowboy boots just visible in the gap under the door. Then Defect started talking again.

"I imagine you are confused Miss Mcabee, I imagine you would like an explanation, to know why we did what we did today, why we had you abducted? I will tell you, but I would like a single answer from you first." Defect said calmly and coolly.

Paige felt a ball of dread settle in her stomach as Defect asked her question.

"Where did you buy your powers?" Defect asked, sitting forward in her chair, the creaking noise making the silence afterwards only louder.

This… This was worse than she thought. Paige thought maybe a crazy fan club had kidnapped her or some anti-master hate group, or those damn cultist from the Fallen.

But this was far worse. Far, far worse.

"I don't know what you mean. I got my powers like everyone else, another bad day, just-" Paige began hesitantly.

Defect cut her off.

"Paige Mcabee, age 27, born in Phoenix, Arizona; moved to Boston when you were 18. Moved by yourself, striking out on your own. Worked in 'Bert's cafe' waiting tables as you spent every spare penny you had on your music career which never took off, you had an on/off boyfriend, one Larry Shells.

You lost your job due to being diagnosed with depression, brought on by your failing music career. Then you vanished, disappeared off the face of the Earth." Defect read, the sounds of turning paper making Paige turn and stare at the door in horror.

That was... That was her life! Read out in a professional tone, but still. That was her life, and someone, some villain, just had all those details about her written down on piece of paper?!

Defect continued, unknowing or uncaring of the horror and shame she was causing Paige.

"For a year neither your parents, your boyfriend, your few friends, or ex-co-workers, could say where you had gone. Then you reappeared with the master power of controlling others with your voice and hair mutations in the form of feathers. You were hailed as the human Simurgh for a while due to your perceived ability to implant suggestions with your power before your new music career shot off; the concerts you gave where deemed safe by the PRT analysts at the time, and concert goers said it was unlike anything they'd experienced ever before.

You gained a large following, almost cult like, and infamously drew praise from Valefor of the Fallen. Valefor released a lengthy video on you, praising you for staying true to the Simurgh and swaying the masses, planting your seeds of corruption far and wide.

That was a blow to your rising career, but you moved on, vigorously rejecting the accusations and condemning the Fallen. You then went on to have a mostly successful carrier until you were about to go international.

Then you had the mishap with your power which caused your former boyfriend Larry Shells to mutilate himself landing you in court. The interesting part though is that from what I have here, you have never explained to anyone, your parents, your friends, or Larry, where you had been for that missing year and have refused to talk to anyone about it." Defect noted as if she was reading some trashy gossip magazine.

Paige ripped open the door and the angry retort telling Defect to mind her own god damned business died on her lips.

Defect wasn't sitting in an old wooden chair, or leaning against a dark wood wall. No. She was sitting in an ornate chair of gold and red plush, looking like it belonged to king. More, the entire room had changed. Gone were the curtains and dusty carpet, derelict walls and cheap furniture. Instead, before Paige there was a marble pillar, stretching high above to a vaulted ceiling with gold leaf and circular windows, sunlight streaming. The floor beneath them was now a series of stone and gravel paths… slowly changing even as she looked in a way that made her eyes water. Looking up Paige numbly took in that the living room, the poky little dungeon where she woke up… was now a large fountain, a woman holding a vase that poured flowing crystal water with a smooth marble bench sitting amidst a raked gravel garden.

It looked beautiful and yet somehow terribly wrong.

"I... don't understand. How are you doing this?" Paige cried, looking aghast at her altered surrounding. How could she escape now?

Defect looked around giving a soft smile.

"This? I know someone who has that effect on the area around them, or did you mean this?" Defect said holding up the vanilla folder. Paige stared at it and suddenly found it hard to breath.

Defect snorted, shaking her head bemusedly at Paige's silence.

"I spent a lot of money digging up everything on you Miss Mcabee. Where were you for that year?" Defect asked sharply.

Paige shook her head, eyes closed and terrified.

"Please. I don't have an answer for you that would make you happy, I... I was on a sabbatical, moving around and then I came home afterwards." Paige said, her digital voice strained.

Defect nodded at this.

"You're right. That didn't make me happy."

Thunder boomed and lightning fell.

Desperately Leet raised the Pixelblade to defend himself. There was a flash and Leet was left blinking. He looked at the Pixelblade and then at the soot blackened spot on the wall, amazed. Somehow the Pixelblade had stopped the lightning form striking him in the face, instead deflecting it sideways into the wall.

Taylor too was equally stunned. How had Leet deflected lightning? Taser strength or not, it was still lightning and it should have earthed through the metal sword and hurt like a bitch. Looking to the side Taylor saw Über hadn't been as lucky; the red suited villain was flat on his back, one leg twitching.

Leet pointed his Pixelblade at Taylor and, to her surprise, the little white alien thing serving as it's teeth glowed. Then white pellets were shooting at her, sprayed from the Pixelblade. The small bullets travelled with 8 bit rocket sounds and when they hit a surface the exploded.

Reacting instantly, Taylor rolled, leaving the target zone behind. As she came to her feet again she saw the concrete where she had been standing had a dozen or so little chipped holes where the pellets had struck.

Leet stared at the Pixel Keyblade, surprise on his face. Apparently they shooting thing had been just as much of a surprise to him as Taylor.

Scowling, Taylor fired another bolt at him but Leet used his weapon as a shield again, and just like before, the lightning reflected off and into a nearby wall.

Taylor frowned at that. She was going to have to avoid throwing more lightning if it would just get deflected, she might hit something flammable.

Then Über was suddenly on her, a pipe in his hand held over his head. He swung at Taylor, aiming for the Keyblade, not her head. Taylor met him half way with a parry… and promptly sliced through the pipe as if it were made of cheap paper. Not missing a beat Über dropped the remaining pipe and kicked Taylor in the stomach.

The impact made Taylor grunt as she was pushed back. But even as she was forced back she reached out with her free hand and grabbed Über's leg before he could withdraw. But before she could drive the bolt she'd charged through the cape's leg, she was hit from the side by more pellets from Leet; the noise of an 8-bit explosion sounding out as Taylor was forced to let go.

Taylor felt the coat soak up most of the damage, the remaining barely enough to bruise her. But the knock back had made her let go and Über wisely used the opportunity to jump and spin, getting distance from her in a feat of acrobatics fit for the movies.

These two... Their team work was solid.

So she'd just have to be better.

Taylor spun and threw the Keyblade at Leet, Melody whistling through the air. Then she lunged at Über, both hands crackling with the light of a bolt spell.

Über smacked her hands away by hitting at her wrists, preventing Taylor from striking him with her taser fingers…

Just as planned.

The whistling of the Keyblades return made Taylor grin before she back flipped, launching herself high into the air, snatching Melody as it flew below her. The lightning in her hands instantly travelled the length of the blade, the Keyblade covered in dancing yellow light, as she fell and slammed the Keyblade into the ground.

A crackling wave of lightning washed over Über, making him squeak and drop like a rock. Leet was too far away for Taylor to hit him too, but he looked a lot more nervous with Über down and twitching.

"Über! Come on man! Get up!" Leet called out and Über flopped slightly, moaning.

Then Taylor waved the Keyblade.

"Ice." Taylor whispered, and manacles of ice grew from the floor, pinning Über's wrists and ankles to the floor.

She'd been careful to make sure it wouldn't hurt him and that he couldn't escape. The magic ice she could make had turned out not only to be warm and take a long time to melt, but also to be harder than steel. Über wasn't going anywhere for the next day, unless Taylor released him that is.

Leet's teeth gnashed together, he was scowling.

"I hate bosses who keep pulling out new moves, it's total bullshit." Leet swore, pointing at Taylor angrily with the Pixelblade.

Taylor just started walking towards him, her anger a literal haze around the Keyblade.

"You know who I hate? I hate people who interrupt court, people who make an innocent woman's life more miserable, people who treat others' lives like they're nothing more than a game." Taylor retorted slowly, angrily.

Leet threw his hands up.

"I told you, we helped her! Just 'cause you don't know why we did it, doesn't mean we were doing it for shits and giggles." Leet snapped.

Taylor stopped walking leaving them a dozen feet apart as she cocked her head.

"Helped her? Helped her?! What stupid reasoning do you have in that thick head of yours that makes ruining Paige's trial, ruining her chance atfreedom, qualify as 'helping her'?!" Taylor shouted and Melody shot out a few fiery sparks.

Leet stared at her and then at Über who was trying to nod. Well, Taylor thought he was anyway, trying to nod that is, he ended up just sort of flopping his head about.

"It doesn't matter if she was declared innocent, she would have vanished within a week, gone, poof, finittio. We stopped that, now, no one will let Canary vanish, not without causing a stink at least. And that's the last thing she wants. Canary's too famous, the rapist master turned innocent hero who laid Lung low, who then had her trial crashed by us, Brockton Bay's infamous video game duo, Über and Leet. It's the story that everyone will talk about for weeks… And as long as that happens, as long as people keep talking about her… She can't take her." Leet said with absolute conviction.

Taylor stared at him, more confused and angry that before.

"Okay, somehow you made even less sense than before. What the hell are you talking about? Who is going to take Paige? Who is 'she'?" Taylor asked, pointing the Keyblade at him to emphasize her question.

Leet looked at Über, grimaced and turned back to lock eyes with Taylor, despite her shrouded face.

"We're trying to save her from the woman with the hat."

"The woman... with the hat?" Paige repeated, feeling like her heart had stopped.

Defect nodded and from the briefcase beside the elegant chair, pulled out a stack of black and white photographs.

Paige numbly thumbed through the photos when Defect handed them to her. Each photo featured a woman, in very expensive suits, wearing the same hat. A fedora. She had slightly Spanish features, short, straight black hair, and a calm expression, almost but not quite a smile. And every shot was obscure, never full on, and never close, and more often than not a shot of a crowd with the woman circled in red.

They didn't need to though; Paige remembered exactly what the woman looked like. How could she not? It wasn't the sort of thing you could forget; the woman who opened a door that should have led to nowhere, just a closet… and instead opened into a steel room, steel doors, steel chairs and it's steel table. With straps.

"This is a gamble, we can't guarantee exact results."

"I don't have a lot of money, I don't think I can-"

"Our payments can be covered in many ways. A percentage of your future earnings perhaps? And a few favors."

"I've seen dead people with more color than that woman. So, do you know why I would show you this woman and claim I'm helping you?" Defect asked softly.

Paige shook her head.

"I don't know that woman! I don't know anything! Let me out!" Paige demanded, her voice rising hysterically.

Defect just stared at her.

"She's coming for you Paige. They tried to put you away quietly in Boston, but that didn't pan out, you got your fair shake at justice, though who knows why. Now the court is going your way, you're going to be free… and when you are, the moment you disappear from the public eye? You'll disappear forever, just like every other cape that could compromise the woman with the hat." Defect said, standing up to begin pacing.

Paige idly noted in the strange clarity panic sometimes brings that Defect was taller than her… not as tall as Keynote, but tall.

Defect continued speaking as she forced herself to stop pacing, leaning back against the marble pillar behind her chair.

"I do not want to upset you, I do not want to hurt you, but you are in danger and the longer you stick your head in the sand, the easier you make it for these people to cut it off." Defect said, throwing another stack of pictures across the coffee table.

Paige stared at the woman, in a variety of angles and steeled her nerves.

"Your silence though, is perhaps the best thing you can offer us."

"What makes you think anyone is after me? The only hassle I normally have deal with is assholes who lost people to the Simurgh, weirdos and groupies." Paige said, making the mental switch to her stage persona, to Canary, the cape.

She wasn't Paige Mcabee, the down trodden waitress struggling to make rent, who cried herself to sleep every night, whose boyfriend beat her, the girl who dreamed of singing. She was Canary! She was the super-star who had thousands of fans, the singer that brushed off the press, and shoved rude interviewers to the side. Canary, whose fans always screamed for an encore, who just wanted to hear one more song, and she delivered. She was the singer who loved the image of a rebel and sang like tomorrow would never come.

This bitch was just another reporter after details that Paige didn't want to share.

If Defect noticed a change in her demeanor then masked woman didn't comment. Instead she reached down next to the armchair again, pulling out several folders from the black briefcase that had been hard to see in the dark, yet was obvious in this light marble palace.

Defect put six folders on the table, each with a picture of a cape in costume.

"Over the last five months, these heroes have all vanished; different cities, different states, different powers. None had any obvious or clear connection to each other and only two had ever contacted each other. Their respective PRT branches investigated the disappearances and all found notes and letters to addressed to loved ones. Each note said that 'their cape career was no longer what they wanted', and 'they needed time to figure out what they wanted by themselves'. Each letter was different of course, each phrased differently, each having other messages, but they all boiled down to the same idea. 'I am gone, do not look for me'. On the other side, many various small time villains up and vanished around the same time with no one claiming credit for the kill or arrest. While that itself is not uncommon, villains retire after all, or die, for it to happen so frequently when these heroes vanish is suspicious."

Paige stared down at the pictures.

Spotlight; Sans Francisco – Stranger; power to shift attention. Gone without notice, leaving behind a partner and family.

Umbra; Kansas, Missouri – Master, Mover: Power to create, control and move through shadow constructs.

Spiritus; New York, New York – Striker, Breaker: Power to create point blank explosions that did not affect her, left behind an apartment and girlfriend.

Flowmotion; Houston, Texas (Russian Immigrant) – Shaker: Power to negate friction on a surface, creating a frictionless surface anything could slide on over an area. Left behind every personal effect.

Moment; Salem, Massachusetts – Shaker: with the power to create time bubbles around himself that would slow the passage of time inside them, besides himself and those touching him. The bubble was very short lived and after joining the Protectorate he was able to put the comparison between Gray Boy and himself behind and have a successful career as a hero. Left behind nothing, house emptied.

Thaumaturge; Tell City, Indianan – Trump: Power to gift people or himself with a form of energy control, the results were random, but he could grant powers up to three times an hour which would last around half an hour, making him a very powerful hero when working with other members of his team.

All of them were... all these Heroes… were missing? There were more files, Villains and Rogues like herself, but… these were heroes, Protectorate heroes, and… they were missing? Just vanished and no one was doing anything about it?

"The villains were harder to measure, since we didn't know their backgrounds, but the heroes, whose civilian names were removed for this meeting, all have very interesting histories. All were normal people, then when their lives were going extremely poorly, depression, money problems, Endbringers and so on. They all had a few weeks to a few years where they completely vanished. No credit card records, no social media postings, no tax records even. What few missing peoples reports were posted themselves went missing. Then one day, each of them reappeared with powers, the heroes normally signing straight on with the Protectorate while the villains immediately started making names for themselves, big hauls, and big wins, raking in the cash. For the heroes, their histories were ignored, their backgrounds barely glanced at. No one asked them where they had been, no one found it suspicious, and no one has looked too hard when they vanished either, at least, not the PRT." Defect's voice grew harder as she spoke, listing out each anomaly.

Paige stared at the faces. Half a dozen Heroes and twice as many Villains or Rogues stared up at her accusingly.

"I... can't." Paige whispered.

Defect sighed, sitting back down.

"It's not just them, there is another group that I think is being preyed upon by this organization, I'm sure you've been called a minor one at one point or another." Defect pointed out.

Paige paused before nodding in understanding.

"Case 53s." Paige said and… She found herself believing that group would do it.

"You hold the answers to some of their questions, and it isn't one or two, they all want answers."

"I have a hard time believing that a woman is running around the world, hidden from the public eyes and controlling everything." Taylor pointed out

Über, freed from her ice and Leet's request, blew out a sigh. How had they talked her into this parley again?

"Well... She's no Carmen Sandiego, but she's... scary." Über admitted quietly.

Leet, who was standing guard over his still jittery friend, picked up the conversation when Über didn't continue.

"We were hired by another party for today and they told us the same thing. And yeah, just like you, we laughed at her, and politely declined the job. It was too high risk, still is really. Anyway, so, she offered us another one. 'Check out this lead, it's not far' she said and paid us a lot of money right off the bat, and offered to double it upon returning." Leet said and he frowned.

Once more they switched, Über taking up the tale when Leet stopped.

"It was this farm not far out from Brockton Bay, up towards Boston but more westward. Our client had said there was a man living there, cape, a pyrokinetic of some kind. We were supposed to go there, watch the guy for the day and come back. Easy job for easy money." Über said with a laugh that sounded hollow.

Taylor looked at the two, these two… They weren't the same pair of joking villains she'd just been fighting. No, just two guys in bad costumes who were scared. Just… people, normal people, who looked like they were very, very tired.

"Nothing happened for a while, me and Leet were sitting around chugging drinks, laughing and joking about how easy it all was for so much cash. Easiest money we'd ever made we thought. Of course, we didn't use the client's ideas or places to spy from. It could have been a trap after all, plenty of people who'll pay big to kidnap capes. But we watched and waited while chugging beers." Über said and finally stood on shaking legs.

Leet carried on as Taylor kept the Keyblade ready, just in case.

"Then the farm exploded man, like it went completely up in flames. A guy comes rushing out, running for all he is worth while on fire and stuff. Then she just appeared out of a door in the air. Suit, hat, black hair, and the most unflinching face I've ever seen. She takes out a gun and shoots the guy from a distance I don't think even Über could manage after a few hours of practice. I mean like, this was through the smoke and trees and shit, but she hit him dead on." Leet said, wiping dirt of the inactive camera in his hands.

They didn't want to share this part with their audience, out of professional courtesy to their client, respect for the dead cape, or fear of the hat woman, Taylor couldn't tell. All she could tell was that they were scared. Still, it didn't sound that scary. Horrible certainly, but… Why were these two so afraid. So Taylor asked them.

"Then what? She shot some guy and left? That's bad yes, but I still don't see how that relates to Paige." Taylor asked, her curiosity growing, as well as her disbelief.

"No... she took him. Another one of those doors opened and people reached out and dragged him in. We didn't get a good look at them though 'cause the hat woman snapped her head to us, almost two fields away. It was fucking creepy." Über said shuddering at the memory.

Taylor startled for a moment, blinking rapidly. The sudden swearing had catching her off guard.

Leet idly spun the Pixelblade in his hand as he sat there. The action sparked a little indignation from Taylor; that was her thing.

"We ran and when we looked back, she was on her knee, gun drawn, and pointed at us. We booked it back to Über's buggy even as she was shooting at us. Took a chunk out of my ear even, good thing still had some of that regen' serum from the Bioshock episode or that would have been nasty. So, anyway, we got the hell out of there. We drove for a few minutes, thinking we were safe and stuff, when she stepped out from like nowhere down the road in front of the car and aimed her gun at us, almost got Über in the head then, but he swerved and she was still close, like, only off by an inch or so. Then we were driving past her pedal to the metal. So, like, she kept showing up though, shooting at us even as we screamed and yelled, you know? But as we hauled ass back to Brockton Bay, she got screwy. Hat Lady's shots went way wide, and she'd appear behind us instead of in front, stuff like that. Then we lost her as we hit the city proper and I don't think I've ever been more glad to be back in this dump." Leet explained, his eyes somehow haunted as he rubbed at his apparently regrown ear.

Über also reached up, rubbing the side of his cheek under his mask… where the bullet grazed him, Taylor realized.

"So the hat lady turned out to be real. Okay, let's say I buy that; how did your 'client' know that they were going to be there? It sounds like you got played." Taylor pointed out. She wasn't going to let them go, even if they believed they were helping, but if they were right and there was another threat, a global one, one out to get Paige… then she had to know. And these two were her only source of information.

Über snorted, then chuckled lightly.

"We asked that ourselves, because, trust us, we weren't happy. She showed us email contact between her and the fire guy at the farm. He was going to tell her where he got his powers, some stuff about how they were committing crimes against humanity and all that. Supposedly that was enough to call down the Illuminati on him. So they know when people are talking about them." Über said amazingly calm for something that sounded like it was out a cheap spy novel and apparently real.

"Got his powers? You mean... He didn't trigger?" Taylor asked, feeling immediate denial at this. The idea that powers could be given or bought when everyone else, had to go through hell to get anything? When Sabah had been ostracized and abused, her father dying. When even she had gone through so much pain to get the Keyblade… even if, according to Mog, she hadn't needed to.

The idea that a number of zeros would let you skip the cause but keep the effect? It made her grit her teeth in anger.

Leet nodded, giving her a humorless smile.

"Seems like it. And not just him either; like, a number of capes got their powers from these people. Heroes, Villains, Rogues, nobodies, celebrities. You even know one of them." Leet said, leaning on the Pixelblade.

Taylor was about to shake her head in denial when her mind kicked into gear.

"We saved her from the woman with the hat."

"Paige..." Taylor breathed out the name.

Über nodded before stretching himself out, working out the stiff muscles getting shocked had given him before leaning back against some empty cages, that looked old, caked with mud and what looked like old blood. This is entire warehouse was giving off bad vibes, adding to Taylor's already bad mood.

"Give the lady a prize. Yeah, so I think you can see where we're coming from now. It's the weirdest tactic, but the more attention you have, the less they'll act. Well... for Heroes anyway." Über finished glumly.

Leet looked at Taylor sadly while Über continued.

"We don't get that luxury, we could be as big as Lung, famous as Jack Slash, but if we vanished? No one would care that much, maybe our fans, but, well… You get the point." Über finished chuckling darkly.

Leet stood up then, looking a little more cheerful.

"Hey, you know we'll be fine, so long as we stay in Brockton Bay and we'll be safe." Leet pointed out.

Taylor shook her head exasperatedly. Now their story just seemed to be falling apart? Why was Brockton Bay safer than anywhere else?

"This is all too much. You're claiming a lot, global conspiracies, buying powers, that Paige bought her powers, but you've got no evidence, you could be spinning all this on the fly." Taylor argued, mostly to keep herself willing to fight.

They were... worried about each other.

Like how she worried Sabah and Sabah worried for her.

Like friends.

Leet coughed out a short laugh, shrugging his hunched shoulders and grinned.

"Got us there, not a single piece of evidence. But yeah, if Canary isn't returned, we'll leak who hired us, and you can take her to the cleaners. Simple. Not like she moves around or something. Anyway, we were told that she just wanted to talk to Canary, know what she knew and move on. I really think they don't want to hurt her. I didn't get that vibe, you know? No slimy feelings or bad after taste like old doritos. To be honest, I was surprised by her, she seemed... really passionate about it." Leet said aloud and then shook his head, still fiddling with the camera.

"Why, why do you give any shits about Paige?" Taylor asked, more defeated by their attitudes than their words.

"They shot at us, first off and second, you don't let shadowy groups get a hold of powers like Canary's, it ends in badly for everyone." Über pointed out and Taylor had to agree on that point, Mass control was not a nice thought if this woman broke Paige.

"We know we can't take you, Über here can barely get close to you without you shocking him, and I don't want him to get a heart attack if you keep tasering him and stuff. Also, well, I really like this weapon and even if it's stopped you handing me my but so far, heh, knowing my luck, it won't last much longer but... I just gotta ask, will you let us go out with a bang?" Leet asked seriously.

Taylor tilted her head curiously.

"On stream? Like one last show? You're surrendering?" Taylor questioned

Über pushed off the wall, standing behind Leet, folding his arms across his shorter friend's shoulders, leaning forward so chin was beside Leet's ear while smiling. The movements seemed sluggish though, like Über was tired.

Leet just smiled and shook his head even while his friend leaned on him

"Nah, we won't lie down and let you cuff us, ain't our style, but we aren't stupid either. We know how this is going to go down, we know when we're outclassed." Leet said, turning his head slightly so he could see Über.

"Knock them dead." The red suited cape said, standing back a little unsteadily on his own two feet while giving a winning smile.

Leet nodded, turning to face Über and raising one hand up which Über grabbed in a firm grip, shaking it hard.

"You sit back and let me do all the hard work, like always." Leet said, smiling broadly, his slightly bad posture somehow less so as he smiled back.

"Bro." Was all Über said in return before he moved off to one side, taking the camera from Leet. With a few twitches of his fingers, the machine coming alive in Über's hands as he looked into the lens.

"Alright folks, sorry for the black out, had important secret cape stuff to discuss with Keynote. Anyway Leet and I don't think we'll get time to edit this before we post it like normal, so everything you see here? It's all fresh, raw, like our very first videos. We're going out as we started guys. It's been an honor, we've had a lot of fun over the years, but tonight's our last, our swan song. One last show and one last game and the theme is... Well, good vs evil, Heroes vs villains, sword against sword, Keyblade against Keyblade! It's a battle to the end folks! " Über cried flamboyantly into the floating camera. Then with a hand gesture it zoomed up into the air, turning to look at Leet and Taylor.

Über kept speaking then, leaning back against the soiled crates as the camera slowly drifted around the other two

"This is it. All that's left is to see who wins. The home team Underdog and the world's coolest Tinker Leet? Or the dragon wrangler herself, Brockton Bay's very own Magical Girl, Keynote! Now the odds may seem stacked, but I know my man Leet is in top shape tonight, ready to give the performance of a lifetime. So mano to, er… womano, the sword fight of the year is ready to start!"

"Sabah, calm down. You're hyper ventilating." Ingrid told the younger woman calmly.

Sabah didn't listen, her eyes glued to Ingrid's computer screen, showing Taylor on Über and Leet's Youtube stream.

"It was supposed to be court, simple and easy. Go there, look good, say hi to Canary, and come home. How did she manage this? How?!" Sabah demanded in a whisper.

Jess leaned in over her shoulder.

"Nice, they just hit the hundred thousand viewers mark; this stream is blowing up!" Jess said appreciatively, her body clad in denim jeans and jacket, her hair loose wild while her makeup was perfect. Ingrid hadn't even blinked when the man she worked with had come in as a woman before saying green would look better instead of red as eye shadow.

"That's what's important to you?! Those two crazy nerds kidnapped Taylor! Can't you... I don't know, tap into a villain facebook and find out where they are and kick down the door?" Sabah asked, sounding a little hysterical.

Ifrit hopped onto the table.

"What's the commotion? I can't see anything from the floor... Is that Taylor?" Ifrit asked, his interest peaked.

Jess pulled out the bottle whisky from Ingrid's drawer, popping the cork in one quick motion.

"That it is; good eye Ifrit. And no, I can't do that, Sabah. Villains don't use fracking, hm that doesn't work, facebook. Wait, frecking? Nah. Anyway, the Merchants can't afford internet, the Empire are painting the frigging roses white on twitter and the ABB all speak different languages. So that's a no go. Even I knew where they were, I am not kicking no fudging doors down." Jess said.

Sabah looked at her, her eyes narrowed.

"Why?" Sabah asked tightly.

Jess didn't even hesitate to bring her feet onto the table, showing off blood red pumps.

"I'm in slut shoes, you don't kick lame ass doors down in slut shoes, it isn't right." Jess said outraged.

Sabah glowered before she grabbed the whisky bottle and took a swig, her face souring instantly, eyes watering.

Ingrid nodded.

"Slut shoes have their time and place." Ingrid agreed as if it was perfectly reasonable.

Ifrit leaned closer to the screen.

"These... names. They mock Taylor, crying for her defeat." Ifrit said with fascination.

Sabah whipped her head to the stream chat box and read the comments.

"Those fuckers." Sabah swore and began typing furiously into the chat-box, sending a torrent of abuse at the other users, defending Taylor and calling for Leet's head.

Jess raised one finger then dropped it.

"I ain't pissing her off now." Jess said slipping off the desk, Ingrid poured Sabah an actual glass this time, which the Arabic girl swiped up and downed instantly despite the coughing.

Ingrid carefully poured another while smiling at her still coughing friend.

"No kidding, this is fun. I haven't seen Sabah drunk before, should be good. And who knew she was so good at internet fights?" Ingrid said with a wink at Jess.

Sabah ignored her and kept typing. Ifrit climbed on to her shoulder, his nostrils flaring in delight.

"Yes, yes! Use your aggressive feelings; let the hate flow through you! Insult that one's mother! Say something about hair, that always gets them. If Taylor fails to win after we defended her so well, then it will ruin our honor, I will have to crack down on her training!" Ifirt said firmly. Jess wondered where Mog was? He was usually here to stop the little firecracker from going loopy.

Sabah grunted, downing the whisky before returning to the keyboard.

Jess stared at them from the window seat and smiled, a soft one for once, not her typical manic grin… Then she frowned, turning away to look out at the sunny street.

"Don't... Don't do this to yourself." Jess whispered.

Ingrid appeared with a drink in her hands.

"That's a serious face for you, what's on your mind, hun?" Ingrid asked softly as she handed Jess the glass.

Circus looked at the glass, amber liquid sparking in the light.

"Nothing important."

Then she downed the drink in a single gulp.

"Paige?" Defect asked softly.

Paige looked up, the softness in the other woman's voice surprising her. The window that was supposed to look out to a normal street, now had a view of lush green rolling hills, sunlight poured into the room along with a gentle breeze, carrying with it the scent of wild flowers.

"They… They would hunt me down if I told you anything." Paige admitted.

Defect nodded and waved a hand to the photos on the table.

"They're probably already doing so. I looked hard for these people, and they were hard to find. But all of them just disappeared as easily as you would have. Your original court case was such a sham it was sad, every jury member against you, every image cast in the worst light, your links to Valefor brought up but not your condemnation, your powers ability but not the steps you took to avoid the risk. There was no advice given to you and your lawyer was so green I'd be surprised if he'd met the bar exam. Corruption is a real thing, and I don't doubt there are those who hold a grudge against you, but it is never so organized, so blatant and yet untraceable. These people wanted you in the Birdcage Paige. Whatever they promised you is gone, and they're going to silence you." The other woman said, leaning forward.

Paige winced as if Defect had slapped her, but the woman just kept speaking softly and gently.

"Just a name, at least give me that much. I've risked so much to do this, gambled it all to help my people and this could be our last chance, eventually they will wise up to us. And then we're gone too. But if you gave us a name, if you help us, we can make sure others would know, more people interested in the same cause, and even if we vanish that will carry on. And… You're safer now than ever before, they won't touch you until everything calms down, and this city... won't calm down. So please... Help us." Defect said, sounding almost desperate.

Paige looked at her; saw the woman's hands digging into the plush material of the armrests, the tenseness of her shoulders, and tightening of her jaw.

Paige thought about what she had said, about why Paige was kidnapped... rescued? She didn't even know what was happening anymore. Still, she thought about the case 53s, the monsters of the cape world, though most were so in appearance only. The lack of memories, the pain it caused them, the feeling of being lost.

She remembered there was a young one, Weld if she remembered rightly,. She'd seen him on the news, all hard abs and metal body, he'd made news as the first Case 53 leader of a Wards team.

He was so young...

Like Keynote, fighting Lung to protect everyone. Like Parian, just trying to save her friend. Like so many others.

"Cauldron. They're called Cauldron. I can't tell… I..." Paige licked her suddenly dry lips, the words she had sworn to never speak now said aloud.

"They found me and I... I... wanted powers. I wanted a… a chance. Something to make me different, to make people listen when I sang. To be someone special who couldn't be ignored anymore. They offered me that chance." Paige continued.

Defect listened, the sound of the rushing water from the fountain filling the silence when Paige paused.

"I'm… I'm sorry, there isn't anything else to say. They put me in a chair and strapped me down. Then they told me to drink the liquid they gave me in a vial and then the next year is hard to remember exactly. I'm… not sure what happened, only that there was metal and tests and… I'm just can't remember. But then I found myself back home and pulled myself together again. End of story, that's the big secret that I had, I have nothing else. I don't know where they are, who they are or how they do it, I don't know anything about the Case 53s either." Paige said quietly, eyes closed in shame.

Defect stood, picking up her brief case.

"Was there anyone else, anyone beside the hat woman?" Defect asked, sounding a bit rushed, turning to look out a window that still seemed part of this world.

Paige blinked at her, was she looking at someone else? The person causing this? Or something else?

Still, Paige tried to remembered, pushing at memories she'd rather not recall. An image briefly swam to the surface of her mind.

A white coat.

"Yes... I remembered a woman. Black skin, average height, black hair, doctors coat; she told me that the results weren't guaranteed and gave me the vial, then I passed out, she wasn't very chatty. Sorry, but I never got a name. I guess it wasn't important to me at the time, not a lot was back then. I got what I wanted and I was happy, but the idea that they might take it away from me, my powers, it made me keep quiet." Paige said softly.

"So... Now you've got what you wanted, what are you going to do to me?" Paige asked, her hands clasped together in an attempt to keep them from shaking.

Defect looked at her, her arms held loosely at her side.

"I gave you my word, which isn't cheap. When you wake up, this will all be a bad memory." Defect promised.

Paige looked at her fearfully.

"When I wake up?" Paige asked, standing in alarm.

Defect placed the briefcase on the table, carefully gathering the pictures and files back into it.

"When you get back and hear your verdict, when you get your freedom… Stay in the city. For whatever reason, this city is becoming a dead end for Thinkers, including the woman with the hat. You'll be far safer in Brockton Bay than anywhere else on Earth as far as I know. The only other advice I can give is make friends, don't fade form the public eye, and keep close to any heroes who aren't with the PRT any chance you get. Because this thing, this… Cauldron. It runs deep. I can think of nothing else that will keep them from coming for you." Defect said as she gathered the last files back into the brief case.

Paige stared at her, Defect was moving quickly now, still talking.

"If you choose to ignore my warning, then... Thank you. Thank you for talking to me, I know that your feelings towards me aren't of good will, but I did what I could to help my people and give you a fair chance. Only time will tell if I helped you, or damned you. So, Paige? Good luck. If we strike gold, I'll buy you a drink one day." Defect said as she walked forward and seemingly vanished into thin air.

"Wait! What's goi-" Paige was cut off as a cool hand touched the bare skin of her neck and the world turned into rainbows.

Taylor winced as Leet swung his weapon at her again and again like a man possessed, forcing her to continuously block and parry, jarring her arms. There was something weird about holding back on using magic.

It was maybe the fact that when it came down to it, Taylor only really knew how to swing the Keyblade about with the most basic of skill, less wielding it as a sword and more just a sharp club.

Having that broadcast on livestream? It was embarrassing.

Hmm… Maybe that's what she could get training from Mouse Protector on if the hero carried through with her promise… Threat? Whatever, with her intention to train Taylor.

As Taylor ducked under another blow, her counter forcing Leet to jump back she found herself smiling. The only good side to this so far was the fact that Leet was just as bad as her. As Leet charged her again Taylor raised the Keyblade in a guard, catching his strike on her blade. Leet grunted as they pushed against each, slowly losing ground to her superior strength.

"Why... is this… so... tiring?" Leet gasped, sweat streaming down his face.

Taylor just grunted in reply and pushed to the left, then sharply to the right, forcing Leet off balance.

As Leet stumbled sideways Taylor seized her chance and leapt up and over his stumbling form, rolling to get distance, Taylor spun on her heel to face Leet as he regained his footing.

Smiling to herself Taylor raised the Keyblade as now it was Leet's turn to guard.

"Ice." Taylor said firmly.

A ball of ice almost as large as her torso shot from the Keyblade, barreling straight towards Leet.

While it seemed certain Leet would be crushed, the blue suited man gave a fairly good battle cry and swung a giant overhead strike as ice reached him… and, miraculously, cleaved the ball in two, each half flying by him on either side.

Taylor grimaced while Leet whooped and Über cheered from the side lines.

"Try this then." Taylor scowled, drawing the Keyblade back behind her. With a spinning leap Taylor lashed out with a cry on her lips.

"Hail!"

A blast of frigif air launched forth, but the dangerous part of this spell were the balls of ice carried by the wind. Wherever they hit froze solid, encased in a sheet of ice.

Leet just gritted his teeth though and pointed the Pixelblade back at her. As he pushed some hidden button Taylor would swear she saw Leet mouth 'please work.'

Then the Pixelblade shot out a stream of white bullets, each detonating in a series of 8-bit explosions and sending more tiny bullets everywhere… and somehow intercepting her hail.

As Taylor landed she found Leet rushing at her again, clearly not keen on allowing her to continue to stay at range where she had the advantage… Though Taylor wasn't so sure of that, given the oddity of Leet's imitation sword.

As they exchanged blows again, Taylor found the battle getting easier. Though, unlike when she face Lung, it wasn't because she kept digging deeper and pulling out new powers in desperation. No, it was for a much more simple and human reason.

Leet was getting tired while she was not, still powering on strong as ever.

Still, with all the magic she'd been using Taylor could feel a small charge built up in Melody of the Lost. While nothing compared to when she'd been fighting Lung, the slight vibration under her fingers and whistling told her she could use her finisher now.

So, when Leet next charged her, Taylor met his wild swing with one of her own… and released.

With a small flash and whistling trill Leet was knocked sideways, sent stumbling as his blow was overwhelmed.

Seizing her chance Taylor leapt up and over the blui suited cape, landing with barely any effort behind him in a crouch. Then without missing a beat she spun on her heel, her other leg lashing out in a low kick which swept Leet's legs from under him, sending the guy flat on his back.

Spinning up to her feet, Taylor found herself standing over Leet , the Keyblade pointed at his neck.

"Yield." Taylor said simply, a smile on her lips.

Über whistled in appreciation as the camera swooped in for a closer look.

"You got your ass handed to you, bro." Über said with warm chuckle.

Leet just groaned, looking up then slumping back on to the stained concrete.

"I was hoping I'd develop amazing sword skills at the last minute." Leet said a bit defensively. Looking up he saw Taylor still standing over him and the Keyblade still pointing at him. "Yeah, yeah. I yield. You win."

Taylor stepped back then. She'd won. She'd won! Well… er, not that it was ever in doubt but still… She'd beat Über and Leet at their own game. On livestream! Huh. Taylor wondered if this sudden thrill was why the two had done what they'd done. They hurt a lot of people… but they hadn't meant, they just been to hung up on their own fun.

Walking past Taylor Über reached down and pulled clasped hands with Leet, pulling the blue suited cape to his feet, catching the camera as it landed in his hand.

"No luck there man, that's my gig." Über said before turning to camera.

The red suited cape shot a glance at Taylor. They both looked done in she supposed, Über looked tired, and sore, though he was still grinning. Leet on the other hand, was wincing and rubbing at his back side. She was pretty sure Leet would have a bruise on his ass for awhile.

Still, Taylor just sighed and gave Über a shooing motion. She just wanted this to be over with already, to be able to go home and curl up on the couch with Sabah and some bad comedy Boco picked out.

Über gave her a thumbs up before looking into the camera, Leet beside him.

"And there we have it guys and girls. Looks like Keynote takes the win. Leet tried his best but it was always going to be a tall ask when going up against a cape as powerful and versatile as Keynote, heck she even gave Lung the best run for his money the dragon-man's had since Leviathan. Still, my man Leet gave it his all and left no trick untried and no exploit unexploited. He got his but kicked, but it was good show. You thoughts Leet?" Über said smiling the whole time, and turning to look at Leet at the end.

Leet grunted sourly before his own face split into a lopsided smile.

"What can I say Über? It was tough. Keynote may be a girl but this is one chick you don't pull your punches on or let strike first. She's like, got a mean arm, and those spells of hers hit like a shotgun to the face. And yeah… it was fun. So, thanks Keynote, for being such a cool chick." Leet said trailing off.

Über nodded at that, before lifting the camera up so he and Leet both had to look up at it.

"So… this is the end. It's been a blast. This Über…" Über said.

"And this Leet…" Leet echoed.

"And this has been Über and Leet's classical gaming showing." They finished together before with motion from Leet's hand the camera turned off and fell into Über's waiting palm.

Rolling her eyes at the grandstanding Taylor still struggled not smile at their antics. Because as much as she didn't like these two… They were human. And yeah, she'd had fun. She just wished Paige hadn't needed to get hurt.

As the two turned back to her Taylor started talking.

"Right, I'm going to escort you two outside, find a pay phone and then we'll wait for the PRT to show up. I want to get out of this place, which reminds me. Where are we? You never said." Taylor asked as she idly smashed the ice covering the door in a single sweep. It was her magic after all, and she'd realized that if she could control fire once released, and bend lightning to her will… Then ice would just as easily obey once cast. Besides, while it had been cold, she hadn't put too much energy into it.

Still, Über and Leet seemed impressed, if also a little wary, and that was the effect she wanted.

"Uh..." Leet managed before Über spoke up.

"Not a clue, the rings were supposed to take us with Canary, to the other box. You must have upset their calibrations when you grabbed ahold of me." Über shrugged as he spoke.

Taylor eyed the pair of them.

"You've done teleporting in a lot of videos, how did you manage this one. I thought Leet couldn't reuse designs?" Taylor said, motioning for the two of them to go through the door first. She wasn't stupid.

Leet shrugged as he and Über tried to open the doors, frowning when they proved stubbornly stuck.

"I can, just barely, or if I tweak the design. But it wasn't my device, we decided to accept a Toy Box loan that our client got." Leet said, lip curling as he looked back at Über.

For his part, Über shook his head in exasperation.

"Look, we didn't even have to pay..."

"I could've made a teleporter, I'd have just had to do it a little differently than all the other times." Leet said hotly.

Über sighed.

"Dude, you were trying to make something that looked like a Narnia Closet before we got that loan. That thing was bigger than both of us." The red suited cape pointed out reasonably.

Leet hunched into himself a little more.

"I can't use handheld devices, I can't use guns, I can't use object swapping, I can't use rings, I can't make the trek teleporters, I tried making a space warper like Vista so we could just step into the safe house through a portal, but it busted. I think we did something similar in our Unreal Tournament gig..." Leet muttered before trailing off into silence.

Taylor looked at him as he gingerly stepped over the scattered fragments of ice and up to the door, struggling to open it.

Leet really had it rough when it came to powers. While he wasn't anyway near the bottom of the list, there were powers Taylor wouldn't touch with a pole at the end of a ladder, Leet's was bad in its own way.

It was temporary, with every success, the chance of failure increased. It was like jumping through a ring of fire and every time you jumped through the same hoop, it got smaller.

She supposed Leet could start branching into different technology areas, and he would probably do fine, as good as when he started even, but, to beLeet, to be with his friend, he had to stick with the video game theme.

The pair mostly went for heroic themes, acting out the part of the hero even if they were villains, though Taylor supposed no one was the villain of their own story. Still, that largely restricted the types of tech Leet could make; swords, shields, magic substitutes, guns, power armor, and other odds parts… There really wasn't much Leet could branch into.

Well, he could probably do bio tinkering, but Taylor had a feeling that would bump him up on everyone's watch list and Leet didn't seem to have the stomach for that. It just… wasn't his or Über's thing.

Still, Leet had managed to do something no other Tinker had managed to do.

He'd created an image of such incompetence that no other gang or group had tried to recruit him, and listening to Leet now, rattling off ideas he had already done, Taylor had to give Leet credit.

He was doing the best he was willing to do, not the best he could do. He had limits and… he wanted to stay with his friend.

As Über finally forced open the door, all three of them were a little surprised to see that the door lead deeper into the building and not out of it. Über leaned forward and stared down the unlit hall.

"We must be in an off shoot wing of the building, storage space basically. This is old docks style." Über said, running a hand over the bare brick wall.

Leet shuffled uneasily from foot to foot.

"Great, it's bad enough it smells of blood, but now it's going to get dark? Should have went with Resident Evil..."

"Biohazard." Über corrected, not looking at Leet.

"Same thing." Leet shot back.

"What's Resident Evil?" Taylor asked, not sure if she truly wanted to know.

Über and Leet slowly turned their heads to look at her. Then Leet spoke quietly, almost in a whisper.

"Zombies."

"Then when I had him distracted with the bouncy castle, I gave him the potted plant of righteousness to the head." Mouse Protector explained to Carol. The mouse themed cape was sitting in the now empty court room, sprawled across one of the empty chairs formerly for the defence, shifted so it was in front of Carol.

For her part, Carol was doing her best to ignore Mouse Protector and yet… it was proving impossible.

"Please... Stop talking." Carol said. Not begged. She would never beg.

Mouse Protector ignored her though, continuing to prattle on. And in the face of such obtuse idiocy Carol found her rigid self-control… fraying. Carol had faced down a lot of hard ass people in life, any number of two bit lawyers who thought money made right, dozens of villains who were kidnappers and murderers, even that monster Marquis in his own home… Mouse Protector had them all beat by a mile in the sheer bloody mindedness and ability test to Carol's will power to not scream.

"Ah, but you haven't heard the best part! For you seen when I hit him and my teammate, Aria, blasted him with her-"

"Stop." Carol said with authority, in the same tone she used when Vicky was young and throwing a tantrum. Mouse Protector's mouth clicked shut and she stared at Carol in confusion, like she didn't quite understand why her mouth had betrayed her so.

Carol sighed internally, toying with the cell phone held loosely in her hands. The Protectorate and PRT were out in full force, questioning people, looking over footage and trying to locate Paige and Keynote.

Paige was of more concern to Carol, not that she didn't feel concern for Keynote, the girl was the same age as Vicky and Amy or around about that at least, but Keynote could take care herself, Carol had seen that first hand. The young hero had guts that's for sure, facing Lung one on one. No, Carol was confident no matter where Keynote landed, whatever was waiting for her would be ill equipped to handle a Trump 7. That was only one rating lower than calling in a missile strike for God's sake!

Paige though… Paige was, for all intents and purposes, powerless.

Looking around Carol noted Miss Militia was still in the room, talking into a phone now, apparently finished with questioning the judge. New Wave didn't really have any authority in comparison to the PRT, so being Brandish would offer nothing here. Still she was a lawyer, and she was Paige'slawyer. As such, she was waiting at ground zero for any news, and if Paige turned up, then Carol would be there to save her from any accusations before they gained traction.

Paige was kidnapped, she did not escape.

Carol repeated these words, pretending the press was in front of her, the sharks and the vultures circling.

Apparently Armsmaster and Dragon had tried tracking Paige through a beacon in her collar when the signal became extremely glitchy, trying to predict that Paige was somewhere off Earth and in the vicinity of Mars before it lost connection and faded to static. That meant whoever took Paige was actively jamming the signal, and were doing so with ease.

Carol snorted at that. Count on Armsmaster to fit a tracking device into such a small device and still be able to fit all the necessary parts for Paige's voice modulator into such a small space. For all the good it did.

"Cheer up, Carol, it could be worse!" Mouse Protector said cheerfully.

Carol cut her eyes to her.

"How, exactly, could it be any worse?" Carol asked, a bit of ice slipping into her tone.

Mouse Protector shrugged, smiling widely.

"Could have been the Empire, it's always worse when Nazi's are involved." Mouse Protector pointed out.

Carol open her mouth, then closed it.

Kaiser would never act so boldly, such a stunt would draw far too much negative attention to the Empire.

But… The annoying cape wasn't wrong.

After all, Nazi's made everything worse.

"Well, they aren't zombies. But Nazi wannabes are just as bad." Leet said, as he opened the door a crack.

Taylor stood behind them, trying to peer over the pairs shoulders as they looked through the door at the far end of the blood stained and dark corridor they'd crept down. It was hard, given that Über was someone taller than her for once, even if only just.

"What's going on?" Taylor said quietly, not that it was needed, the noise of a room full of shouting people on the other side of the door made it impossible for them to be heard. The smell, however, was stronger here than in the other room. Fresher.

The stink of rotting blood would be forever burned into her memory.

It was Über who answered first, his voice conveying his grimace of disgust.

"Lot's of guys around high circular fence in the middle of the room. Cages everywhere, I can hear... snarling and screaming." Über listed, as leaned over Leet.

Leet suddenly leaned back, his face white.

"Fuck! To the left, against the desk with the bookie." Leet said quickly and quietly.

Taylor quickly leaned in between them, squeezing into the gap Leet had left. The room was much like the one they were in before, almost a mirror image, with a single hall leading between them.

Off to one side of the room were stacks of cages, dozens of them piled atop each other in some kind of haphazard pile, the odd moveable ramp leaning against the pile. And the cages, they were filled with dogs. Dogs. Some huddled and shivering, others whimpering, clawing at the air, while others were snapping through the bars at each other… and some weren't moving at all, just lying still. Dead still.

There was an excited cheer from the group as something happened in the ring. Pushing her growing horror aside, Taylor followed Leet's directions and looked to the other side. There, leaning against the only desk she could see was a dirty man wearing a coat, left open exposing his hairy muscular torso, and he was covered in scars. His face was locked on to the ring of noise and screams.

But what made Taylor's breath catch was his face… and the plain metal mask that clung to it.

A wolf's head, or the upper half at least. It covered his eyes, stopping just short of his mouth with metal fangs hanging over his lips, while greasy, grungy blond hair spilled around the edges.

"What is this?" Taylor asked, her stomach cold. There was something horribly wrong here. Screams, and cheers, whimpers and hollering, whines and whistles. She could smell blood, that horrible rotten stench that seared her nose and made her want to retch. She could hear the crying, dogs whining in pain and misery. She could hear men calling, cheering, screaming for blood, for death. She could feel the misery, the pain, the suffering, and the darkness that saturated the very air of this place, and it was so at odds with the gleeful crowd that Taylor's mind just couldn't, wouldn't make the connection.

"That's Hookwolf... Which means this is one of his dog fighting rings." Leet said shivering beside her.

Über pulled back, equally pale and Taylor followed, her heart hammering. The last sight of the wall of cages containing dogs, whoever was looking on that and laughing...

They…

"Uh... Keynote? Breathe. You're scaring me." Über said slowly and Taylor snapped her gaze to him and he stepped back.

They would…

Leet took a step towards her, shaking her by the shoulder gently.

"Like, you know who that is, yeah? Hookwolf?" Leet asked.

Taylor nodded, not answering, the words just not coming. She knew. Hookwolf was the Empire's dirty man.

They would all…

In every way. Hookwolf was Empire's dirty man in every way, their underbelly, their leader for staged fighting, both dogs and men, their enforcer, and their executioner. Hookwolf could become a storm of metal, hooks, swords, axes, scythes and everything in between, all writhing and twisting around a single point. The man had been arrested four times now, and sent to the birdcage twice, but he'd escaped each time, killing those escorting him including one of the Heroes sent to guard him.

Frontline, he'd graduated from the Wards shortly after Battery and Hookwolf had killed him not long after that.

Hookwolf was a butcher. He appeared to fight the ABB and Protectorate whenever he could. Bloodthirsty was one term often thrown his way. Psychotic was another.

Seeing that room, Taylor thought beast or monster would also work. Another screech and the crowd went wild.

Taylor could hear blood bounding in her ears.

They would all pay.

Taylor wasn't a huge animal lover, but she hated this. The idea that people watched this? That people bet on this? That people enjoyed this? That people enjoyed the suffering of others?!

It was wrong. It was evil. It made Taylor grip the Keyblade so hard there was an ominous crack.

"Right, there has to be another way. We can try going back to other room maybe we can reach the windows, and jump down?" Über said, beginning to pull away and creep back down the corridor.

Taylor didn't budge.

"Uh... You coming?" Leet asked as he followed Über.

Taylor shook her head.

"I can't... I can't. I can't just leave those dogs like this." Taylor said.

Über rubbed the back of his head as he heard this, grimacing.

"Keynote, you're pretty good, but Hookwolf… He isn't a nice guy. He's not like us. If you go in there, he isn't going to let you take those dogs away and ruin his business. He isn't going to let you win." Über tried to explain.

Taylor looked at him, her gaze steely and her will iron.

"Lung didn't let me win either." Taylor said, her voice hard.

Leet shook his head.

"Yeah Lung is bad, but Hookwolf is just as bad but in a different way, you know? You go after him and he can bring the Empire down on you, on Parian and the Dollhouse. You want that? To have to fight over twenty capes at once?" Leet asked worriedly.

Taylor's lips thinned.

He was right, if she just walked away, maybe reported Hookwolf to the PRT once she found out the address, they could catch him, put him away proper this time.

It'd be easier, safer and more logical. If she charged in there, Keyblade drawn, then Hookwolf would go into his metal storm and kill most of those men in there, to get to her. She'd been responsible for their deaths, even if indirectly.

But...

More screams this time, and the sounds of cages getting moved, getting opened. Looking through the crack at the door, she spotted a man leading a dog out from the cage, the dog's tail wagging at the sight of its master.

Taylor saw the big fluffy head, the soft brown eyes and the look absolute adoration and trust it had for the sleazy guy leading it. That innocent dog that loved it's master, not knowing that the one it trusted the most was leading it to a butcher, not seeing the man's eyes lingering on the box full on money sitting behind Hookwolf.

Taylor wanted to set him on fire. To burn this man who would betray such trust. Who would take the love someone else gave them and betray it so utterly. The urge was so strong, so violent, Taylor had echoes of Ifrit's power and rage crawling through her veins.

Then another man carried... something out of the arena, carrying it through the warehouse and out the door at the far end. The noises it made, the whimpers, the way the man was barely touching it, like he was disgusted by it, revolted at the loss and not the blood…

He didn't give two shits about that dog, not caring that it had put everything into fighting for him, lost everything for him.

That it had loved him.

It made Taylor's eye water.

Then it made her pissed off.

No.

Play smarter, not harder.

Hookwoolf was a monster, but he was easy to read. He wanted to fight, he wanted to win. Hookwolf's name was connected to several illegal parahuman fight rings. And here she was, the girl who fought the infamous Lung to a standstill, an opportunity almost too good to pass up.

She'd stall but how to...

Taylor looked over at the that two ridiculously dressed capes. It was the most risky thing Taylor had done today so far.

But…

She heard the howling as another fight started. She thought of those soft brown eyes filled with betrayal as her own had once been. But betrayal was overcome by trust; trust in others to do what was right.

So Taylor took a deep breath... and trusted.

"Run, get outside, get this address and get the PRT to come, I'm going to stall him." Taylor commanded Über and Leet.

The pair just looked at her like she was speaking Spanish.

"You're insane, he'll tear you to pieces." Leet whispered harshly, accusingly.

Über put out a hand, resting it on Leet's shoulder. He shook his head when the shorter man looked at him before he then looked back at Taylor.

"We could betray you, not call anyone. Kind of stupid to put your trust in us." Über pointed out.

Now Taylor looked at him.

"You're right. You could. You could also have left Paige, not saved anyone and not put me in this fucked up situation." Taylor fired back and turned to face the door.

Über said nothing for a moment. Then he sighed and turned away, began walking down the corridor.

Leet looked at him then back at Taylor.

"If you die, can I have your Keyblade?" Leet said finally, his tone joking.

Taylor looked down at it, then at him.

"Sorry, everything I have, it already belongs to someone." Taylor said softly, hoping she would she Sabah again.

Leet sighed.

"Don't... die. She'll miss you." Leet finally said awkwardly, then turned and ran after Über , who had already vanished into the darkness.

"Good advice." Taylor muttered to herself.

Turning back, Taylor faced the doors, squared her shoulders and steeled her nerves. As much as the idea of what she was about to do terrified her… it electrified her. She was a hero, and there were people in need… even if those people were dogs.

Heroes saved people.

And villains...they needed to pay.

Then Taylor and kicked open the doors, the sound of electricity crackling along the Keyblade so loud it sounded like angry, chirping birds.

Before the doors had even rebounded off the wall everyone had turned to look at her, shock on their faces, the cheering dying instantly.

The only sound left in the room was the sound of two dogs ripping each other apart, unaware that they no longer had to.

"Hookwolf." Was all Taylor said into the silence.

The blond man tilted his head at her, surprised by the lack of sudden action.

"Keynote? You wrecking my show?" Hookwolf said. His voice was guttural, like he chewed glass for fun, or metal. He walked forward, slowly, sauntering really to the side of the arena, so he was in a direct line between Taylor and the stage. The dogs in the cages started to bark, filling the silence left by the men.

Taylor looked at the arena and walked closer, the men closest to her quickly stepping away.

Looking over the boxes that made the walls made Taylor want to weep, deep lungful sobs. So much pain, so much misery, so much death… and for what?! Entertainment?!

One of the animals, some Rottweiler mix was missing a chunk from his side, the other was some mutt who circled uneasily. Taylor jumped the boxes and landed crouched, her Keyblade held over the wounded dog.

"Cure." She managed to say without a hitch to her voice, the though barely. The dogs side pulled together and she did it again, and again, and again.

The smooth patch of red angry skin on the dogs side made her swallow hard. Hookwolf was looking at her, his arms on the barrier.

"That's cheating ya know? And I really don't like cheating in my ring." Hookwolf growled out.

Taylor slowly turned to look at him, her face shrouded in darkness… Yet all the men back off just the same, terrified of the sheer rage they could feel emanating from the darkness of her hood.

"I want you put those dogs back in their cages." Taylor said in a low, dangerous voice.,

Hookwolf gave a bark of laughter. A few of the braver men around him joined in, reminded they had a cape on their side, the Empire's dirty man.

"Now why would I do that? You're ruining my business, I think I'll just cut you down, take a pound of flesh for each minute wasted. Kaiser has some deal with you, so I won't kill ya... unless my fingers slip." Hookwolf said with a sadistic smile

Taylor stroked the shaking animal under her hand, it's fear filling her with resolve.

"Because, I got a better idea. You. Me. Right here. Right now. I heard you used to be some big shot pit fighter. What do you think? Would these assholes you call customers, want to bet on dogs, or on us?" Taylor said, looking at the semi-circle of white men staring back at her; no other color would be allowed of course, and there were a few women hanging about at the fringes, but it was mostly the general low class man that followed Hookwolf.

Hookwolf stood straighter at this.

"You want to fight me? Heh. Well, I didn't see that coming, I thought you were a pansy ass Rogue now? Not the two-bit vigilante who decked some of Lung's boys. Illegal parahuman fights are really, really, bloody, ye hear me? I don't think your little lesbo sweetie, Parian, would approve." Hookwolf laughed again, but this time no one laughed with him.

They could feel the heat beginning roll of Keynote while electricity screamed along the Keyblade.

"Well if you don't want to, I guess I'll leave you to it. I'm sure no one here would talk. I'm sure not one of your customers would ever dream of saying that Hookwolf was a dickless coward, too scared to fight a little girl." Taylor said, forcing a smirk on to her face and into her voice.

Fight smarter, not harder, but if you could make things hard for them… do that too.

Hookwolf half snarled, taking a step towards before he stopped, visibly reigning himself in.

Then the smile reappeared.

"Fine, I take it you don't want the money?" Hookwolf asked.

Taylor shook her head, then looked down at the shaking legs, the ears pulled and and shivering soft, the big brown eyes staring up at her, pleading.

"Dogs. I want the dogs. All of them." Taylor said with conviction.

Hookwolf tilted his head again, sending the greasy hair creeping over his mask.

"Dogs? You want the entertainment? For fucks sake, you another Bitch?" Hookwolf asked, his mouth twisted into a grimace of distaste.

Bitch? As in the member of the Undersiders? Or a different bitch?

Considering the hellhounds, Taylor bet on the former. It would make sense that girl who's powers worked with dogs, would be against dog fighting rings… or she could be eliminating competition for her own ring, though Taylor doubted it. She'd surely have heard of such a thing.

"Well?" Taylor said impatiently when Hookwolf said nothing further.

In response, several men began to speak at the same time but shut up a moment later when Hookwolf moved.

As the Empire cape stalked forward his hand transformed into several spears and knifes which caused the men to now back away from him.

"If I win, I want a hand. I might take it in the fight anyway, but that's the price I want. The hand of the cape that crushed Lung. If anyone here wants to disagree, feel free to take their mutt, I'm sure Keynote here would love that. I won't stop her... much." Hookwolf said, excitement now coloring his voice with sick glee, the promise of fresh blood for the taking making him sloppy.

Taylor mentally began to reel the bait in.

"If anyone touches those cages, I will cut off your hand." She said, not having to try very hard to sound sincere. The few men near the dog cages quickly jumped away.

Taylor pointed at a guy near the back, who had looked white before she had come through the door, but now looked ashen, and spoke loudly.

"You, get these two into their cages and then get the fuck away from them." Taylor said, pointing the Keyblade at the two dogs she'd healed, who's end lit up with a halo of flames.

The guy obeyed, looking like he might pass out at any second. When he put the first one away and was just finishing up the second Taylor nodded, the leapt over the men, over the crowd, and over Hookwolf, soaring through air at lleast 20 feet of the ground, and landed on cleanish concrete near the enrtance.

Hookwolf took off jacket his, exposing tattoos of a wolf's head over a swastika and an 88 tattoo.

No mistaking Hookwolf's intentions there. The last dog was quickly put away and the man ran from them like they were bombs.

"Not taking any bets?" Taylor asked, and Hookwolf paused, looked around and asked loudly.

"Any bets on Keynote?"

The group of people never even fidgeted.

Hookwolf turned back to her and shrugged, a smile back on his face.

"All bets are accounted for." He said simply and then he was no longer human, but a hellish nightmare of steel.

Taylor had a split second, time for one last look at the wall of quivering animals. Her will was iron, her body would break before she would bow.

Then Taylor rolled, moving away to give herself some space and to drag Hookwolf further into the empty space and away from the cages.

It wasn't even afternoon yet, what else could go wrong?

There was the tap, tap sound of heels on hard wood.

Then Jess walked out of the Dollhouse, a smile curling her lips at the sound of Sabah threatening fucking Über and Leet with dismemberment and fashion crime through the computer screen, red in the face, her words slurred. It got a chuckle from her, though the fight seemed to be wrapping up with Taylor kicking ass and taking names once again… but her phone had fucking buzzed before she could see how it finished.

The memory of the message was enough to wipe the smile off Jess' face.

A car was waiting for her, like he fucking said it would be.

Black, normal, and low key. And all the more conspicuous because of it.

Coil's type of vehicle.

Jess was another mask, one she had no problem giving out to Coil at the start, when their business was done, Jess would be hung in the closet like everyone else. Now...knowing that he knew Jess was here, made it feel like Jess had dirtied the Dollhouse somehow.

Getting into the back, she was bloody relieved to see that there was a black window, tinted so she could barely see the drivers and they couldn't see her. Not that it really mattered, but well, it was the fucking principle of the thing.

"You the agent?" The guy driving asked gruffly.

Jess, opened her large handbag. Colourful material sat at the bottom, the bells mostly wrapped to muffle the jingles.

"You the back up?" She fired back, pulling her slut shoes off.

"Red dawn sets?" Driver asked.

Jess... Circus rolled her eyes.

"White snake rises. God these codes are so fucking stupid." Circus complained.

The other guy in the passenger seat chuckled.

"You can tell the boss if you want?" Passenger offered, his shadowy head half turned to her.

Circus snorted as she pulled on her tight skin outfit, doing the make up in the car would be fucking hell, so best to keep it simple this time. Pity she couldn't put it on with her power like she could take it off, came out mangled every time.

Anyways, white face, red lips, black eyes, full socket.

"I'd rather chew fucking glass." Circus quipped back snidely.

As they drove off, Circus still doing her make-up she pondered Coil's message. The snake had sounded excited, the entire Protectorate and police force was in a shit storm over the Canary trial and the disappearance of Canary and Keynote. A cape kidnapping on live television by a pair of bloody villains was bound to kick the hornets nest she supposed. Circus's lips curled as she tried to apply the lipstick.

Trust fucking Coil to take advantage of an emergency.

The rest of the ride was silent as Circus added the finishing touches to her make up. Another day, another job, and another crime.

And after this... well, it was goodbye Jess. Keynote would be coming for her and like fucking hell did she want that girl actually out for her blood.

So, Jess would have to become a Mona or Ginger, or a Beatrix, or K-...no, she would never be that weak little girl ever again.

Like the one Coil was going after. The Blofeld wanna-be wanted his prize, the one he kept fucking missing out on. He'd even offered to end her contract after this, pay her double to get out of fucking town too.

It was a fucked up thing, Coil had over used her, and now he was worried that she was compromised, to attached to everything to do what he needed.

Circus wanted to snort, but couldn't be bother talking to the suits who would probably ask questions if she did.

Because damn it…

He was right.

Circus… Jess had become fucking attached.

She took a deep breath, she wasn't Jess. Jess died the moment she stepped into this car, Jess died, never hurting anyone else ever again.

Circus was all that was left, the only thing that was ever going to be fucking left. Circus the bloody clown, Circus the mad jester, Circus the joke.

Circus felt the knife appear in her hand, its weight familiar and comforting. It was just a normal knife, with a slight curve, the leather wrapped handle easy to hold.

She stared down at it.

Jess was now immortalized, in a way Circus would never have allowed. Could not allow.

The car parked smoothly in an underground garage.

The building above them was fucking immense, Circus could tell just by the support pillars around them, huge and thick. She tried to think about the job, but her mind wandered back to Sabah huffing at the desk, drink in hand while typing furiously, swearing as much as Circus normally did. She thought of Taylor owning Über, Ifrit roaring approval at the screen, well squeaking, in delight really. Jess thought about the Dollhouse and Ingrid, the late nights where they both slaved over orders, paperwork, employee salaries, worried about Taylor's health and plotted to get her together with Sabah. It would do them both a world of good to if they'd just sleep together already. For fuck's sake they'd lived in the same house for months now!

Jess had liked the nights when Ingrid put on the radio and set it to the good station. Where steel guitars and hardened drums ruled across air waves.

Jess had liked joking with Ingrid, or staying in the office, penning odd things, getting drunk off the good stuff. It was a routine she had never allowed herself before and now that she'd had it… She missed it so much already.

It was normal, it was a wall to lean on when she'd refused every other wall.

Now Coil had come at her with a sledgehammer, Jess had to give up her wall, or there would be no wall left. Not for her.

"We're here; the target is on the 18th floor, room five, two guards stationed outside the door, more in rooms on either side. We've got men in place to take them out. These are PRT soldiers tough, well trained and well equipped, but they won't risk shooting if they think we have the target. The room itself has no guards inside out of respect for privacy. A few of the guards were moved off site to deal with court fiasco going on just now." The driver said as he opened the door for her.

"How do you plan to get to that floor, we're not exactly fucking subtle." Circus said coldly as she slammed the car shut and moved to stand in the shadow of the pillar, in case some bystander drove past and fucking spotted her.

"Employee elevator, it goes up to every floor. Coil apparently managed to bribe one of the chefs for his card, guy's off to Mexico as of this morning. You need to swipe the card in a slot to gain access to the elevator, to stop drunk guests from using it I guess. The door to the far end of this garage goes near the kitchens, a delivery drop off point, the elevator is located just outside. We get in and go straight up then move in." Driver said in that same gruff tone, liked he smoked way too many. Circus idly noted he was a Cuban man, coffee skinned with hard muscle and a hard face. The passenger was younger white guy, laugh lines ran down his face. They ill-suited a guy who worked for Coil.

Circus snorted at the thought.

"Great, but that still leaves us with how many fucking guards to get past?" Circus asked.

Driver looked at her.

"About twelve, two outside, five in each room on either side." He answered.

Passenger spoke up then.

"Don't worry sweet cheeks, we got back up waiting for us, booked in the last few days. Mostly recon, but they can help us." Driver said, his voice warm, almost sugary. He sounded like a fucking asshole.

Circus nodded slowly.

"Let's go then, card?" Cricus asked and driver held up a white piece of plastic.

Passenger opened the trunk and pulled out two gym bags, handing one to Driver.

Without a word they moved towards the door at the far end, leaving Circus to watch them for a few seconds.

Another day. Another job. Another choice.

The numbers lit up as they waited,

10... 11... 12... 13…

Each number that lit up made Jess's heart pump faster.

The two men on either side of her were as cool as stone, passenger even whistling quietly, like they weren't here to kill people. And worse.

It made Circus' fucking stomach turn.

14... 15... 16…

Each man now had two hand held weapons, one in their hands, another in each of their belts, along with a series of black cylinders at their feet.

"Our colleague is going to blow a small explosive in a about fifteen seconds in the main power room, we have about ten or so seconds before the back-up generators come online and about five or so seconds before the first guard comes out the door, gun drawn. When the lights go out we have to make sure these are already pulled and thrown." Driver explained, nudging the tubes at his feet.

17…

Grenades? No...

"Flashbangs?" Circus asked, trying not to sound completely fucking freaked out.

Passenger nodded.

"When the lights go out, the eye expands to see in the dark, so sudden light can make you blind for a second or two. Imagine what these puppies would do?" Passenger held one up while smiling.

Circus eyed it.

Sounded like a pain in the fucking ass.

18.

The doors opened and they waited for a few seconds, and the hall was plunged into darkness as the building shook.

There was a clink and Circus's hadn't adapted enough to see what was going on.

"Get back." a hand roughly yanked her into a wall face first. A burst of panic over came her as she squeezed her eyes shut fucking tight before there was the loud boom of explosions outside the elevator and a lot people began shouting in panic.

Jess blinked as the lights flickered back on, her eyes straining at the dull light, a few spots dancing in front of her eyes despite closing them. Stepping out of the elevator before the doors could closed, Jess looked about and felt her fucking stomach rebel again.

Driver and Passenger, in their black cargo army get up were calmly shooting the PRT troopers one by one as the they tried to fight back, a guard rushed out of one of the rooms, his vision untouched and a woman emerged from the stairs, raised a pistol and calmly shot him in the back. She was in plain clothes.

Plants. Coil had planted people in the fucking hotel.

Driver and Passenger looked at each other and then moved into the room on the left, while the woman was joined by a man in khaki shorts and together they went into the other.

Leaving the middle room, number five, for Jess.

Jess didn't look down at the faces of the men and woman, they were covered in full face visors anyway… Why was she even here? Why did Coil sendher to this place, when his own men were clearly capable? A test? A sick game?

A test of fucking loyalty before he got rid of her?

Jess opened the door, stepping over the last of the bodies, the last of people just doing their damn jobs.

The room was nice in a catalogue kind of way, in another time, in another place, Jess would have enjoyed ransacking the place. But now… Now she just felt numb.

Numb to the death, numb to the gun fire, numb to the blood on her feet.

Sitting on the couch, facing her was a young girl.

The target, Dinah Alcott. The girl she was supposed to steal… and wasn't sure she could.

She looked at Jess, then behind her at the bodies and her face paled, eyes widening like fucking dinner plates. But she didn't run, didn't cry.

"Where're your parents?" Circus finally asked, the silence becoming uncomfortable.

Dinah looked at her with serious eyes, despite their size.

"I convinced them to go to work today, there was a 89% chance they would have died today if they stayed." Dinah said, her voice steady despite her obvious fear.

And then… Jess understood.

Everything.

Every-fucking-thing.

"You're a thinker. A powerful one, aren't you." Jess phrased it as a question, but her tone was that of a statement. She already knew the fucking answer.

Dinah nodded anyway, slipping off the couch and onto her feet.

"That's what the PRT people say. They say I can help a lot of people with my power, but my parents put their foot down, they didn't want me becoming some 'government tool'. But I guess... the man who wants me, the snake man, he won't take no for an answer, will he?" Dinah asked softly.

Jess shook her head sadly, bells clinking almost mournfully.

"He's a real fu-dge head. He's evil; he'll do bad things to you." Jess said, more to herself than to Dinah really.

Dinah looked out the window, as if saying goodbye to the sunny afternoon.

"If he gets hold of me, there is an 86.76% chance I will never see my parents again, 85.34% chance I'd never see the sky again…" She said and a light hiccup escaping her.

Jess didn't know what to say.

She tried anyway.

"I'm sorry."

Dinah nodded slowly, her lips moving as if asking herself a question. Maybe she was.

"There is a 97.87% you are." Dinah said, sounding surprised at her own words.

Her brown hair looked ruffled like she hadn't slept, Jess thought a comb could fix that. Pity they didn't have the time.

"I... I didn't kill anyone out there, but there are men here and…" Jess began but was cut off when Passenger came in.

"Yo, sweet cheeks, let's go. Times a ticking." Passenger drawled.

Dinah backed away from him, first behind the couch then towards the widows that formed the back wall. Passenger turned to her, smiling like an angel.

A fallen one.

"This her? Grab her and lets go cupcake." Passenger said, motioning for Circus to step forward.

Circus did so and looked down at the little girl she was looming over.

"Don't struggle and this won't hurt." Circus said, looking at Dinah. The girl was pressed against the window glass, almost looking like she'd rather pass through and fall to her death than go with them.

Maybe she would.

Passenger snorted.

"Nice of you to warn her, but seriously, let's go." He said, turning to leave.

Circus looked Dinah in the eye and then... Jess winked at her.

"I wasn't talking to her." Jess said. Spinning Jess grabbed the table lamp, and still in one smooth motion smashed it against the mans unprotected head, reaching forward and grabbing the gun from his waist band as he fell to the ground unconscious.

Jess turned wiped her sleeve over her face, the make-up smearing in a horrible way, pulled to one side… but actual skin now visible on the other.

Jess held out a hand to Dinah.

"Come with me if you want to live!" She said and cracked a smile.

"Always wanted to say that." Jess mused.

Dinah, smiled weakly and took her hand.

"You're rescuing me?" Dinah asked confusedly.

Jess looked around for another way out. No luck sadly. If she had to commend Coil on anything, he was at least a fucking good planner.

"I know, terrible, right? I used to be a badass until I made these friends, well, Sab doesn't think I'm her friend, but I know better." Jess said, talking to Dinah in an attempt to keep her own heart beat steady.

Jess poked her head out the door and saw Driver come out the room next to hers. Jess quickly pushed Dinah behind the door and looked annoyed.

"So how long am to I stand here? Smiles ran off with the girl down the long ass stairs." Jess said, sounding pissed. Driver looked at her and pulled a phone, moving towards the stairs, the moment he turned Jess poked his back pocket, the little white card inside, and it vanished into her bag.

Jess smiled. Stealing for a good cause for once, just call her fucking Robin Hood. As she retreated briefly, she shook her head. That was something she never thought would happen.

As the pounding of feet let Jess the know the guards had fallen for it, at least for now, she grabbed Dinah and bolted out the door, pulling the little girl behind her. Jess hoped Dinah didn't look too hard at the bodies, but they didn't have time to waste.

Reaching the elevator Jess swiped the card, reached inside and pushed basement before jerking back out again. Then she turned and ran, moving down the hall as fast as she could manage with Dinah in tow. Just as they were reaching the far end she heard Driver shout a warning, and steps coming back up the stair well. Turning Jess spotted him and the two plain clothes aiming guns at them.

Placing herself between Dinah and the bullets, Circus knew this was a bad idea, but Jess told her to shut up and fucking deal wit it.

"Good gentleman and single lady of the audience, I present to you my final trick of the evening!" Jess cried, making the three stooges wary.

"The boss won't be happy about this." Driver warned her.

Jess ignored him.

"I shall make my young assistant here, disappear!" Jess said and in her hand appeared a giant inflatable bouncy castle, completely filling the hall, making it impossible to pass.

"Let's go!" She urged and punched the button on the civilian set of elevators there, making the doors open. Huh, who knew they'd actually still be working on emergency power? Again pressing down, this time she selected ground floor. Couldn't hurt to try the trick again right?

"What was that?" Dinah asked, panting as they jogged upwards. Jess blew out a sigh as she pulled Dinah into the stairwell next door, much nicer that the service set at the far end.

"My favourite bouncy castle, got it in Boston for a great deal." She said while pulling out her phone.

Tapping in a number she waited.

"Circus, is the mission done?" Coil asked smoothly.

Jess rolled her eyes at the dark sinister tone Coil like to use. Fucking wanna be.

"No, but I am. This is my final notice and for the compensation of having to put up with you longer than five fucking minutes I think I'll take this awesome thinker I found in this hotel for myself." Jess said gleefully.

Coil made a noise like a deflating balloon, all farty like.

"Circus, you are making a huge mistake. I could make you rich, I can have anything you want found and brought in, just tell me what it will take. What is your price?" The villain asked.

Jess was sure he was standing now, probably pacing back and forth in front of some big mahogany desk, probably even had a book case with a secret exit in behind him too.

Still, she made a sound of thinking, a deep 'hmm' sound. Dinah looked up at her sharply. Jess raised an eyebrow. Dinah shook her head fiercely, which Jess nodded at with a smile.

Dinah rolled her eyes and kept running.

"Alright, Coil, you got Google open?" Jess asked curiously.

Coil seemed to relax at that, his breathing sounding controlled again. A few clicking noises echoed over the phone.

"Continue." Coil said, as if he had anticipated this.

What a fucking amateur.

"Right, what I want is on this site, but it's got a code name, so type in blue wa..." Jess finished the word in a whisper so Dinah couldn't hear. Coil read it aloud, a tone of amusement in his voice.

"Right, yeah, it's the first link." Jess said as they passed floor 22, the top floor, and kept going.

"Right, I will se-... Oh God! What the hell is that?!" Coil... Heh, recoiled on the phone.

Jess laughed wildly, feeling vindictive and for the first time in so long… free.

"It's my feelings for you Coil. I fucking quit and I'm taking Dinah and I hate your stupid code words, they're stupid!" Jess said and then hung up. The phone immediately lit up again, Coils number. Jess dropped it over the side and into the void between the stairs… All 22 stories of it.

"Who was that? The numbers said you'd be making him angry." Dinah asked, wanting to know.

Jess looked down at her and beamed.

"That, my dear Dinah, was a turd."

There was a thundering of footsteps behind them then, and Jess urged Dinah out onto the open roof. Pity they hadn't fallen for the elevator trick. Some mercenaries were too smart for their own good.

Following Dinah through the door, Jess came out onto the roof. It was a flat piece of concrete, with nothing much on it, just a few air con-units and a water tower too far away to be of any use.

The three stooges had probably followed the elevator down, when someone actually used their brain and realized she'd sent the other elevator down too. She probably shouldn't have tried the same trick twice, but hindsight was 20/20 and all that shit.

Still, today was a brand new day, Jess thought as she turned back towards them, her knife in hand.

Pushing Dinah behind her, she dug through her bag in her mind and found a metal table. Pulling it out Jess set it down like a barrier, steel top facing the door.

"Get down and stay down, if someone grabs you, bite and scream." Jess told Dinah firmly, pushing the little girl behind the impromptu cover.

Dinah looked up at her with wide, worried brown eyes.

"What about you?" Dinah asked shakily.

Jess gave her a smile, walking so she stood in front of the table, waiting for any sign of a rescue. Going down would mean getting trapped in a sub-basement, but up here, it gave Jess… options.

"Me? I'm going to be a fucking hero."