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.

30. Chapter 30

Chapter 20: Will Rise From Within

In her future memoirs that Ingrid was sure to print, Taylor believed there was something to be said about facing down a tornado of razor sharp blades and hooks.

Mostly, that it was a stupid thing to do and that you should avoid doing that. Taylor agreed wholeheartedly with that statement, it was common sense after all, and Taylor liked to think of herself as somewhat sensible.

And yet here she was, a tornado of razor sharp blades and hooks bearing down on her.

So she raised the Keyblade like a shield, almost feeling the protective aura. Then Hookwolf was on her, crashing forward like a ball of death. Countless spinning blades lashed out at her and they bounced back, reflected by the Keyblade. The blades that struck Melody shattered before the superior make of the Keyblade; while those that came near had their cutting power silenced and pushed back, the Keyblade not even needing to touch them to protect her.

Then blades lanced in from the sides, and Taylor ducked, twisting herself sideways to dodge yet more blades. She skipped backwards, trying to buy herself some space but Hookwolf was on her immediately, not giving her an inch. Left, right, right, above. Blades kept slicing at her and Taylor ducked and weaved, sidestepping around the rotating death ball, dodging what she could and blocking what she couldn't. Hookwolf seemed to be probing her though, not overly serious. The blades weren't that fast and…

Three hooks rotated in from above so fast that Taylor barely had time to register them and she dove forward, Under Hookwolf and into the metal storm.

It was like a whirlwind as Taylor shot forward, her hand hitting the ground and spinning her over. The whole world seemed to slow down as Taylor saw a scythe blade coming down towards her head. She barely thought about it, she instinctively knew what to do as the Keyblade dug down, the rose petal teeth biting into the concrete and pulling her out of the way. As more blades shot down at her, Taylor kicked off one of the spears Hookwolf was holding himself up with, shooting her forward. She used her free hand to push herself away from a descending sword, kicked of the first hook which missed her face and she was clear.

As Taylor shot out from beneath the whirlwind of metal she hit the ground back first, moving into a roll that flipped her back to her feet and facing Hookwolf once more. Staring down the whirling ball as it charged her once more Taylor tried to think of how her life came to this moment; how she had come to the point where she was fighting the Empire 88 for dogs that were being used for dog fighting.

Even though she had dismissed Emma and really just moved on from Sophia, Taylor blamed them both for this. They had been the ones to shove her into the locker, the toxic waste, darkness, insects, and stink. Because of them she'd gained the Keyblade and thus was where she was right now.

It was both easy and true… But it was not the whole truth. They were just easy to hate. She also blamed Über and Leet for dragging her here and dumping this problem in her lap. She also blamed Hookwolf, for being such utter scum and abusing animals. There was a lot of blame to share around when you were fighting for your life.

Taylor gritted her teeth and pushed that all aside. She had bigger problems.

Hookwolf charged again and Taylor blocked once more, her feet skidding backwards across the concrete even as she held back the spinning mass of blades. She scowled as she ducked under another scything blade, struggling to hold back Hookwolf's mass of murderous metal. The sound of endless grinding and screeching metal was deafening as the Nazi cape tried to push forward, only to be met with Taylor's stubborn guard, the echoing reverb from the thick walls of the warehouse and the howls of pain from the nearby canines, grating on her ears. As she continued to slide backwards Taylor realized she would soon be trapped, if Hookwolf continued to push her back she would be squashed between the wall and the metal monstrosity in front of her. Being trapped like that would be as limiting as it was dangerous.

Not for Taylor, but for everyone else.

Taylor had a feeling she could crash through any concrete wall in a building as old as this and walk away with only minor wounds, probably not even that once she healed herself. Between her own durability and her costume she was tough. But she didn't really know anything about buildings; she didn't know if smashing a hole in the wrong wall, what with both her and Hookwolf barrelling through, would send the roof crashing down on them.

It was the same reason why she was not just throwing her Keyblade around wildly, like normal. It was too risky, she would be a bigger danger to the dogs than Hookwolf that way, she'd probably end up hitting something vital and bring the roof down, or hit one of the idiot bystanders… Who were still cheering and watching.

Bastards.

Hookwolf snarled then, his voice just managing to be discernible from the churning noise of his whirling body. Taylor grunted and shoved forward while ducking beneath another swipe, actually pushing Hookwolf back for the first time. Now with some actual breathing room, or an arms length at least, Taylor dived sideways into a roll, shifting herself to another part of the warehouse. Hookwolf was following at her heels though, still not giving Taylor time to breathe, to plan, or to even blast him from a distance.

Three things Taylor would have really liked to do.

Hookwolf wasn't as slow as someone moving a ton of dangerous weapons should be, but powers didn't make a lot of sense at the best of times. Like the cape who could summon bears. Ursa something… or the guy in Brockton Bay who looked like a giant snail mutant.

Honestly, turning yourself into a mass of weapons was pretty normal on the power spectrum actually...

After all, it wasn't like Taylor could talk, as her giant key blocked most of the blades as Hookwolf rushed her again. She was supposedly wielding a key to the heart of the multiverse after all… or something like that.

As Taylor continued to dart around, dodging and blocking Hookwolf's assault, she saw that the whirling sphere bulged at the side. As she watched out of the corner of her eye she saw the metal elongate and link together into a giant fishhook. Then the hook was whistling as Hookwolf swung it at her, intending to ignore the Keyblade entirely by hitting her in the back, and stop her dodging by using an attack so big she couldn't… and she didn't think diving under him again would be such a good idea.

That only left her one option.

Taylor kicked off with both her legs, launching herself up and backward, bringing her legs in and curling up so she spun faster. As she uncurled from her back flip Taylor realized she'd made a mistake.

Shooting out of the front of Hookwolf was a massive spear, racing straight for her chest, aiming to impale her. While on her left the hook had unfolded, reaching out towards her, aiming to gut her.

And she could only block one.

As panic began to set in Taylor desperately tried to come up with an answer in the scant seconds she had left to live. She needed protection, something to block with, to protect her, but she didn't know the right spell, the right emotion for protection. She might have been able to do so with Ifrit, Mighty Guard would have worked… but she couldn't recall how it worked! What emotions were needed?! Her memories of that time were muddled and vague.

Out of options, Taylor pulled on what she magic knew, what spells she trusted. As she pulled Taylor felt the energy sing to her, ready to fly. Instead, Taylor reigned it in, pulled it back, let it materialize around her instead of launching forth.

As the spear crumpled against the Keyblade, the fish hook sunk deep into a chunk of ice that covered her left arm, the metal digging in dangerously close to her fingers. The ice kept growing though, a hungering cold that spread over the hook and began racing down the metal chain. Taylor grinned, Hookwolf really had gotten playful it seemed, that swing lacked power.

Hookwolf ripped the hook out and the hook shattered. It seemed to give the villain pause as Taylor landed, watching the remains flatten and sink back into the villain.

Taylor didn't hesitate for a moment, she darted forward, covering the gap between them in an instant to swing the Keyblade while Hookwolf tried to understand what just happened.

Without thinking, she tried to two hand the Keyblade like normal, forgetting her hand was encased in ice, but before she could panic, the ice rippled like water and the Keyblade was suddenly in her grip like normal.

The ice didn't even crack or break, it was as if the weapon and magic existed on different planes and couldn't interact. Passing each other without an issue. No… Not without issue. Even as the Keyblade bit into Hookwolf, metal shards spraying out as she hacked into him, the ice rippled. Taylor pressed forward, trying to shove the Keyblade deeper as Hookwolf shifted backwards and lashed out at her.

Still, Taylor saw the ice still rippling, changing, compacting. As it did the ice was turning from crystal clear and slightly blue to a frosted white. Taylor tilted her head to dodge an errant hook as she felt the ice shift around her fingers. Shoving the Keyblade to its hilt into the metal ball she felt the magic settle into place and got a new feeling as few errant spikes skittered off the ice.

Sadly, the Keyblade was too short to reach Hookwolf's core, or he moved it. But Taylor decided she'd settled for what she could get.

With a vicious smile Taylor twisted the Keyblade and slashed sideways and down, sweeping into a spin as she did and shearing a huge chunk of the ball away. Metal sheets, hooks, and blades pin-wheeled past her head, chunks of metal flying everywhere to rattle and crash against the concrete floor.

Hookwolf shot backwards fast after that, his body quickly re-growing as various weapons reformed and new ones shot out from him. As he regrew his whole body started shifting, the metal hooks and blades rearranging to make a sort of serpentine body, like a monstrous metal snake but with a wolf's head.

Then the wolf opened its maw and Hookwolf's human eyes stared out of the wolf's mouth disturbingly as the Empire cape let out a vicious and grating laugh.

Taylor felt her own lip curl in disgust at the display. In those eyes there was nothing human, nothing good; just anger, excitement, and hunger shining from their depths.

It reminded Taylor of Lung. Just like the dragon, Hookwolf was addicted to the fight, addicted to the blood, and addicted to the domination of others.

Hookwolf watched her and Taylor took that much needed breath and moment to gather herself, the sounds of shouting and dogs barking were suddenly clamouring at her.

Taylor had completely blocked them out, so focused was she on the sociopathic man in front of her.

Well, man didn't really apply anymore, but snake-wolf-made-of-blades was rather a big mouthful.

As Taylor thought quickly she glanced sideways at the howling and barking. The dogs still in their cages. They were her major problem, the dogs, because until they were cleared out, or she managed to lure Hookwolf outside, Taylor felt like she couldn't go all out. The chance of missing, of hitting them or knocking Hookwolf into them was too great. If Hookwolf swung at her, and missed, then hit the dogs still trapped in their cages and unable to move away? It would be as good as Taylor lining them up for the other cape; as good as if she'd killed them herself. She was trying to save them and so even if she beat Hookwolf, if the dogs died… She'd still have lost.

Until something changed, she was stuck with less than half a warehouse floor to fight in and unable to unleash her strongest attacks. So, Taylor would have to make do with what little space she had… Which only felt smaller with a giant evil blender trying to kill her.

Then she was out of time as Hookwolf slithered forward, his weapons carving gouges in the ground as he pulled himself along. Taylor flicked the blade up over her head, holding the Keyblade like a spear or as if she was about to throw it.

This being closed in and trapped thing was getting old.

"Bolt." Taylor intoned and the Keyblade jumped in her hand as yellow lightning gleefully flew from the tip of the rose head with a crack of ionised air.

Hookwolf reared sideways, but he was trying to dodge lightning. Magic lightning. At almost point blank range. While being made of metal.

Taylor watched with a certain amount of satisfaction as the bolt of magic turned on Hookwolf like a snake of her own, rendering his attempt at dodging useless.

Hookwolf let out a animalistic screech as the energy coiled around him, the metal on his body rapidly shifting and spinning. Taylor poured more magic into the spell, keeping the lightning flowing, a blazing ribbon connecting them. The energy circled around and around as Hookwolf pulled his metal body tight around his core. As she watched, the metal shifted, tiny spikes appearing across its surface, then like a shiny chrome bud, the metal spread out like flower blooming, revealing Hookwolf's core surrounded by several layers of meshed metal like chicken wire, but where the wires crossed there was sharp thorns sticking out.

And under the ball was a huge spike driven deep into the ground holding the ball up.

Taylor stared as the lightning splashed across the sphere, spreading across the wire fence, sinking down a few layers before it trailed out the spear. Hookwolf had grounded himself.

More, she'd seen this before, or something like it she thought. She hadn't really liked physics but… a faraday cage?

Okay, Taylor had him twigged as a big muscles, small brain kind of guy.

The metal shifted slightly and from out of the cages depths Hookwolf's eyes peered out at Taylor and seemed to shine with mocking laughter as he spoke.

"You're not the first one to think of trying to fry me, kid. I fought capes for a living, did you really think I never fought some idiot who could wiggle his fingers and shoot lightning?" Hookwolf bragged.

Taylor frowned, she'd been hoping to put him down quickly, she hadn't exactly held back on that spell, but apparently that had been hoping for too much. It made sense, in a grim sort of way; if Hookwolf was that easy to defeat, he would already be in the Birdcage.

Taylor pulled back, letting the energy fade away, leaving the air charged and crisp in its absence, the distinct smell of ozone hanging in the air.

Still, even if the Bolt had failed the upside was that Hookwolf didn't exactly look mobile right now, he was a giant barbed wire mesh ball with a tail. Lightning might be off the table, but if he kept still, he might as well not have bothered.

"Didn't hurt to try." Taylor shrugged, going for indifferent, instead coming off as annoyed. Hookwolf rocked his ball back and forward on his spike, as he spoke. How he did that without a mouth was a mystery to Taylor though.

"I was expecting ice, not lightning, didn't see that in the videos. Tell you what, you're giving everyone a right headache trying figure you're powers out. Heh. Everyone thinks you went easy on Rune, poor runt was bloody speechless when she saw you rip Lung apart." Hookwolf said in his gravelly tone of voice.

Taylor paused at this.

Videos? The only videos were either of her in front of the Dollhouse or Lung. While she used Ice in both, Taylor doubted Hookwolf would care much for decorative ice, so that left Lung.

But, did the Empire watch her fight with Lung? Like… Like a group activity?

Were they... studying her?

"I like to keep people on their toes... or lack thereof." Taylor responded, trying to sound cryptic as she eyed the metal spikes keeping the Hook Ball balanced.

Hookwolf made a noise that could have been a growl or a laugh.

Then, his tail shrank back in and as the ball touched the ground… Hookwolf sprang forward at a much quicker speed than Taylor thought he could manage.

Taylor rolled and the mess of hooks, thorns and wires flew past her and smashed into the wall, shaking the whole building, dust wafting down from the rafters.

As Taylor rolled to her feet and spun on her heel to face Hookwolf she snorted. The roaring crowd of men had shut up altogether, perhaps noticing for the first time that they were standing very close to two superhuman fighters with no protection or guarantee of safety. Taylor spared them a quick glance and saw a shiny object hovering a few feet above them, visible in a slim beam of sunlight that had breached the upper windows.

Leet's camera.

Taylor stumbled slightly and barely managed to roll past Hookwolf again as he just reversed his course without turning.

His core rotated freely and the metal adjusted to his needs, so he didn't really have a back or a need to turn.

He was a beast to fight. Projectiles couldn't pierce his armour, the Keyblade wasn't long enough to reach his core, he was lightning proof, and even in human form, his choice of weapons, both in shape and length made him competent in close to mid-range combat thus rendering her own advantage up close moot.

In other words, a fight with Hookwolf was a bitch.

The camera brought its own worries

Who was watching Taylor flail around, dodging Hookwolf?

Sabah?

That idea made her simultaneously stand straighter and wince.

But also brought back a little relief.

Leet wouldn't leave his camera if he and Über weren't coming back. Taylor didn't think Leet would risk not being able to build another camera due to the chance it would fail. In fact, Leet had seemed quite attached to the little metal ball the entire time Taylor had known them, well... fought them rather. He'd gone out of his to make sure she didn't destroy it after all.

Hookwolf spun on the spot, making concrete chips fly when his metal barbed hooks dug into the ground.

Taylor started to run sideways, quickly moving away from the dogs, aware that if she dodged Hookwolf again where she was now, he would crash into either the audience or into the cages.

And that was unacceptable.

Taylor pointed the Keyblade and fired off an ice spell, the large deep blue chunks crashing against the fence with the same effectiveness as the lightning, which wasn't much.

The round ice balls just shattered upon the metal raining tiny chips on the human core of the Nazi cape.

Hookwolf just seemed to snort, not even bothering to charge her. Instead, the Nazi just yelled at her, mocked her.

"Come on! Show me something worth fighting, bring the demon back, show me that fire form of yours! DO something that isn't absolutely pathetic!"Hookwolf yelled and shot himself at Taylor again.

She hadn't moved far enough, she couldn't dodge.

Bringing up the Keyblade in a guard she felt Hookwolf ram into her… But something was different. The metal ball spun, hooks gripping the Keyblade, yanking her up. Taylor's legs and stomach slammed into the barbed wire ball and she felt the barbs bite into her flesh, felt them try and dig into her stomach, felt them tear into her legs.

Taylor screamed.

Hookwolf laughed in return, almost cheering as he continued to barrel forward and smashed into another wall, crushing Taylor between his metal form and the old brickwork.

Taylor's head snapped back, blood spilling into her mouth as she bit her tongue just as she felt it pouring down her legs. Her hands crackled with adrenaline as her vision swam. She reached down and gripped the mesh with her frost-gauntleted hand and felt the lightning that had been playing over the ice jump from her finger tips and cover Hookwolf, forcing him to slam the steel spike tail down again.

Taylor ignored the dozens of hooks digging into her and using her gauntlet to hold him back, angled the Keyblade to point the tip at Hookwolf.

Who couldn't move.

Taylor needed something that wasn't so easily stopped, something that wasn't stopped by metal mesh.

Ice was her go to damage spell, Taylor was sure that if she could manipulate the element one way, then she should be able to do so another way. She'd done so against Lung after all.

"Freeze!" Taylor snarled.

The Keyblade didn't fire a blast of ice like normal, but instead Taylor pushed the ice out of a single point of the Keyblade, continuous, flowing. Taylor poured her worry, fear, and doubt into the act. Her emotions taking the spell far beyond what she could have otherwise achieved and taking them away, making them less relevant.

Using them before the feelings could sneak into her actions.

She would not lose, she would not falter, and she would not die! Taylor would never die, not while she had people waiting for her.

An ivory mist spewed from the Melody and rushed through Hookwolf's cage, while Taylor's gauntleted hand protected her and kept pouring more lighting into him.

As the white gas touched the metal, a coating of ice quickly covered the steel, while more of the sub-zero mist traversed towards Hookwolf's core of human flesh, all contained within a central sphere. More, Taylor saw something else that made her lip curl in satisfaction. Faraday cage or not, her ice mist conducted her lightning and was quickly carrying it into the core.

As freezing mist and lightning swept over his core… Hookwolf screamed. Pain and rage were seemingly made physical as the villains distorted voice screeched from his metal body. In an instant the metal cape was pulling away from her, his metal ball bouncing back in a slew of concrete chips. As he crashed back down the crowd panicked as he'd leap so far away that the men in the front of crowd him were suddenly getting flayed by his barbs and cut by flying concrete chips. Taylor landed on her own feet with a wince, both from feeling her legs and stomach burn with the cuts Hookwolf had given her… and from the damage he'd done to her costume. Sabah would give her such a chewing out for that… probably sometime after Taylor had finished hugging her though.

As Taylor quickly cast cure, feeling her wounds vanish, the men scattered, some injured and bleeding freely, most not even sure where they were going, and others heading straight for the exit, leaving their dogs in their cages.

The fact that the shabby men didn't even try to take their dogs with them, despite Taylor's warnings, made her feel even more disgusted with them if that was possible. If none of them collapsed then Taylor wouldn't even think of healing them.

No. They could bleed like the dogs they so casually threw into the ring for quick cash. They deserved it.

These men had been their owners, their family and not one of them tried to save them. Taylor didn't even know the animals and she was fighting Hookwolf for them.

If it wasn't protecting underage villains from homicidal dragons then it was protecting adorable mutts from metallic Nazi wannabes. Taylor really needed to get herself a more jaded personality, this saving the helpless thing was going to get her killed, if not by villains then by Sabah.

Still, she had a job to do… and an audience watching.

Taylor spun her Keyblade, dramatically and wildly before slinging it over her shoulder, armoured hand coming to rest on her hip in a cocky pose.

"Come on, is that the best you got? Some beach ball of hooks?" Taylor taunted, her lips tugging into a smile, thinking of how Emma used to smile at her, when she had found another piece of homework drenched in grape juice in her bag. The ink would run and Emma's mouth would too.

Hookwolf shifted, his form whirling to form a proper wolf, his human core still half coated in ice, visible inside the wolfs maw. Swords and spears jutted out as the body took shape and Taylor fired more lightning at him and the head took the brunt of the energy and it sparked off, hitting the ground near the dogs. Taylor hastily stopped firing, and Hookwolf charged her, claws literally spinning like circular saws as more sharped edges appeared from his whirling form.

Taylor snorted and pointed down, releasing a blast of cold. The ground froze instantly, covered by the white sheen of ice. Hookwolf's claws crashed onto the ice and despite their sharpness, lost their grip.

The gun grey wolf slid at her at alarming speed.

Realizing her mistake, Taylor quickly brought the Keyblade up as Hookwolf slammed into her, completely out of control. Taylor felt herself get lifted off her feet, her back once more smashing into the brickwork behind her. Hookwolf didn't stop though, his bulk carrying him forward and smashing them both through the wall in a shower of dust and broken bricks. The warehouse shook violently as the wall shattered, Hookwolf tumbling to a stop after a few scant meters as various blades bit into the floor.

Taylor however, was sent flying. Hitting the ground she bounced once before she caught herself. Tucking her legs up and spreading her arms to control her flight... and lashed out! The Keyblade bit into the ground, Taylor using the familiar move to halt her flight and land perfectly on her feet, if somewhat heavily. A quick look around showed she was now in some kind of adjacent empty space, possibly a loading area based on the oil stains and other marks probably caused by other chemicals on the floor, so old and irremovable they practically were the ground. More, as she kept looking, the sheer amount of dust and cobwebs made this room feel even less used than the last two.

Her eye snapped back to where her sense were locked on, as with a screeching clatter Hookwolf spun his blades back into motion. The villain's legs and claws somehow rotated a whole 180 degrees, going from stuck in the air to pushing him up off the ground. The giant metal wolf seemed to blur and re-form, quickly resettling without needing the time to actually get up or turn around.

Hookwolf glared at her, his eyes glinting from inside the wolf's mouth.

"Let's try that again!" Hookwolf growled almost gleefully.

Then the Nazi's body shifted once again; his head lowered and neck flared, the blades and hooks rotating like a demented mane and his teeth spun up, turning into two rotating bands like a chainsaw. Meanwhile his legs locked, claws fanning backwards until they were circular saws spinning above his… paws?

Then with a howling laugh the claw blades sunk down and Hookwolf rocketed forward while his claws sprayed concrete chips behind him like a demonic exhaust.

Taylor felt her own lips quirk into a small smile. There were no dogs or spectators in here.

No need to keep holding back.

So as Hookwolf bore down on her, Taylor charged!

Her feet pounded across the stained ground as she blurred forward. As she approached the monster of metal, close enough that she could see the whites of his eyes inside his maw, she dived. Taylor's shoulder hit the ground right in front of the charging Hookwolf and she rolled right underneath him, the blades of his mane unable to touch her as she shot past. Then she was behind the villain, spinning on her heel as the Keyblade whistled through the air.

Before Hookwolf could dodge she cut off his back leg, releasing the Melody in a spinning throw that sheared the other back leg. Metal sprayed everywhere as the metal blades that had made up his legs fell apart. Then Taylor was leaping back, flipping back and up to get away, barely escaping Hookwolf's jaws as his head just seemed to shift through itself in a bizarre way to snap at her.

As Taylor hit the ground Hookwolf was already changing shape. The wolf's body dissolving as he weaved forward, seemingly trying to recollect all the metal Taylor has just shorn off. Becoming some kind of twisted centipede or similar with giant hooks jutting out of a long thin body, but like earlier with the snake he kept the wolfs head.

With a deafening clatter Hookwolf weaved forward and around, trying to flank Taylor. She turned watching as he tried to surround her, and she realized he was planning to suddenly snap his body closed, trying to crush and impale her with a constricting circle.

She was having none of that.

Touching the head of Melody of the Lost to the ground Taylor pulled at her magic, feeling it's familiar thrum fill her veins. And she tinged it with her despair, let it take her fear.

"Freeze." Taylor whispered.

The ground around her exploded.

Ice spikes larger that Taylor's whole body burst from the ground in an unstoppable wave. A circle of ice growing larger by the second as more and more spikes burst forth turning the concrete to rubble. She remembered this feeling, this spell, she'd used it against Lung and this time… she didn't hold it back. The ice raced forward in all directions, skewering all in its path. Including Hookwolf.

The metal centipede was washed over and impaled. Ice spike drove themselves through metal plate like paper, steel froze and shattered, the entire body broken beyond repair and the remains frozen solid. Only a timely escape by Hookwolf, some kind of fleshy ball covered by barely any metal shooting backwards from the wolf's head saving him.

As Hookwolf's core bounced backwards, more metal quickly reforming over it, Taylor got the sense that he was afraid. No matter how big he got, how many hooks or blades he threw at her, how thick or thin he made his armour… She could cut through it all. She could hurt him.

As His body reformed his initial ball shape Taylor stood up in the centre of her ice, a patch of calm at the eye of the storm. Still, looking at the ice all around her she knew she could not fight with it still there. Hookwolf possibly could, his hooks and blades able to grip the ice and move him over the spikes, but her boots couldn't, she'd likely trip and impale herself.

So, she spun on her heel, lashing out all around her with the Keyblade in a giant circle. She felt Melody bite into the ice, cut through it as it did all else when she willed it… and let it keep on cutting. It was all one spell, one thing and Taylor somehow knew that if she wanted, if she could cut through more than just part of it… She could cut the whole thing.

Once more the ice exploded upward, the entire circle cut in two, the upper half leaping upwards. As the ice split Taylor pushed, forcing the effect of her Keyblade onto her own spell. Because, it was a spell, magic, what her Keyblade was designed to effect. And even if it was her own spell, normally protected from her own Keyblade… it was her magic and it would always obey her will.

As the ice vanished, it left behind pock-marked and churned dirt, the concrete reduced to almost gravel before her magic's might.

Hookwolf paused then and shrunk down, his rotating ball form pulling back into himself. From the metal half of the man emerged, his torso reappearing along with his head, while his legs changed into a mess of spears and swords, like some demonic metallic spider.

Taylor rolled her neck, slinging the Keyblade over her shoulder. She got the feeling Hookwolf was catching on that being big and scary did not mean a lot to Taylor right now.

Hookwolf snorted then, a giant grin visible on the lower half of his face.

"You're pretty slippery." Hookwolf commented as a large fishing spear formed out from his left side, his face was pale, like he hadn't seen a lot of light, half his torso was slightly blue, where her ice had kissed his skin, and she could see red marks where her electricity had shocked and burned him. Taylor eyed his weapon and frowned. It had better reach than her Keyblade and Hookwolf no longer seemed to be playing, but at the same time he exposed his human body to her.

Taylor couldn't understand it so instead she focused on the spear for a hand.

"You think I'm going to stand there and let you gut me?" Taylor asked with some incredulity.

Hookwolf's shoulders shook as he laughed, although his eyes never lost that spark of anger.

"No, that'd be pretty fucking boring. You challenged me, in front of everyone, in front of that camera and you know what? I can't take that lying down. People will think I can't beat some little bitch, the Empire will think I can't, and I really, really, don't like losing." Hookwolf said and the spear flew forward, the blades elongating, and shifting to drive it onwards.

Taylor smacked it aside with a lazy swipe, the camera was floating high up behind Hookwolf and the shiny metal was more distracting that Hookwolf's words.

"Nobody likes to lose, but guess what? Sometimes you lose anyway, that's life, get over it, move on and deal with it." Taylor snapped and rushed the half-man half-spider, Keyblade ready to strike his exposed flesh. Hookwolf met her halfway.

With sickles instead of hands.

Taylor slid under the first swipe, the curved hook brushing her hood, then slicing off the second as without a thought, the metal giving surprisingly hard resistance compared to earlier, but still not enough to stop the Keyblade. Then as one of the spider leg hooks tried to cut open her stomach, Taylor jumped, launching herself up and over Hookwolf's dirty blonde head.

As she sailed over, Taylor reached out casually and brushed her fingers across the villains shoulder, sending a jolt of electricity through him. Hookwolf stumbled but reconverted remarkably quickly, turning to face her with a snarl. He was fast, but not fast enough to stop Taylor cleaving through half a dozen of his legs before a swing with a forming spear forced her to roll away. Hookwolf tumbled then, the swing over balancing him with his missing legs and began to fall. Yet even as he fell he shot something at Taylor, it was the sickle he'd managed to keep, but it was connected to a chain that was quickly using up Hookwolf's spare flesh, the blade made a cut on her chin as Taylor failed to move quickly enough after her roll.

The chain swung back into Hookwolf then, where it broke apart and was absorbed back into him. Meanwhile Taylor felt the cut on her chin burn, so she reached up and ran her thumb over the cut. Holding her thumb out she looked at her blood, the red standing out starkly compared to icy white of her gauntlet, which was getting a little cold now.

Looking back up at the screech of metal as Hookwolf quickly replaced his missing legs Taylor cast a quick cure while she had the time, feeling the cut on her chin vanish as well as the lingering ache in her abdomen.

As the villain clambered back onto his many feet, Taylor used what little time she left to plan. Hookwolf had more options than Taylor thought he did. He'd already been a nightmare up close; cut, slash, smash, and disembowel were pretty good options, but having ranged attacks on top of that? That was just unfair.

But, as Taylor eyed Hookwolf, she smiled. After all, she could hardly complain about fair when she could easily do all those things and so much more. The air felt drier than she expected, despite her use of ice magic and the ground was now so filled with gravel, broken earth, old damage, and holes, that her feet didn't feel secure, her balance constantly shifting, and Hookwolf was making constant grinding noises that set her teeth on edge.

What if she beat him and she went through to find all the men had just taken the dogs and ran?

The idea made Taylor grit her teeth and unleash a bolt of lightning but Hookwolf quickly slammed the spear he'd formed into the ground in front of himself and snapped it off before in a flurry of motion he turned completely human. Taylor grimaced as despite her intention the lightning ignored Hookwolf, and instead struck the spear and grounded itself. Taylor fired again, trying to curve the bolt around the spear, but it just ended up being drawn into the tin roof when she arced it to high, half of it shooting out a window into the air outside.

Hookwolf bent his head down and charged her, his arm unfolding into a monstrous butchers knife. Taylor met his charge, and sliced through the blade with ease. Hookwolf snarled, his other arm coming up with another blade. Taylor caught it on her gauntlet, jabbing the Keyblade towards Hookwolf who let himself fall down onto his back.

Sensing something amiss, Taylor flipped up and forward as some kind of chain trailing from Hookwolf's foot rammed a hook into where her back had been. Taylor smirked and Toss the Keyblade straight down, causing the Nazi to desperately roll out of the way.

Landing Taylor spun on her heel, whirling around in a series of massive looping swings Hookwolf backpedalling away from her while growing different blades to parry her blows and cursing as each and everyone shattered. Then, as Taylor drew the Keyblade back again, almost on top of the villain, so close she could his eyes widen in panic… She slammed her armoured elbow into his face, rocking his head back and throwing of the aim of sickle he'd been trying to stab her with. Then The Keyblade slammed into him and Taylor sent a jolt of lightning coursing down the blade.

Hookwolf didn't fall though and instead tried to head-butt Taylor forcing her back.

As Taylor skipped back, Hookwolf chased after her swinging wildly, his monstrous spider legs reforming as he chased her, weapons growing from a butcher's knife and sickle to a ridiculously oversized sword and a scythe on a chain. Taylor just continued to backpedal for the moment, content to draw them both back to the centre of the roofed loading yard, weaving around the strikes and swipes from Hookwolf's legs and weapons and blocking those she couldn't dodge. They took a few more steps, almost back in the centre when a globular ball of multi-coloured light slammed into Hookwolf's body, lifting him off his skittering spider legs.

Taylor snapped her head around to see an armoured figure running into the room. Taylor stared as her brain managed to dredge up a name for the image.

Gallant.

Gallant of the Wards.

What was he doing here? Taylor expected wailing sirens or something, for the PRT to come in guns blazing, not a single friendly Ward.

In the case of Hookwolf, Gallant might be a better pick, but still, did he haul ass to get here or what?

Hookwolf snarled as he reformed his human legs. He looked pissed and panicky if Taylor was reading his body language correctly. The last emotion was weird, Hookwolf so far had shown anger, arrogance, excitement and a touch of madness. Not even nearly dying had made him panic. Cautious, yes, but not panicked.

Panic… It just didn't seem to fit. The gears started to grind a little harder, her brain working over time as Gallant rushed to her side.

Gallant... Taylor's brain gave the rest of her a boot to the head as it said 'duh'. Gallant could fire balls of emotion with certain feelings in them and make his target feel those emotions.

The attacks threw people off their game, a sudden wave of fear or lust could make a hardened fighter make mistakes, and really in a fight like this, one mistake was all it took.

Though, Hookwolf seemed to be taking his altered brain chemistry in stride. Maybe he'd fought masters in the arena before?

"Keynote, are you hurt?" Gallant asked, sounding slightly out of breath.

Taylor eyed him, while keeping her 6th sense locked on to Hookwolf, refusing to lose track of him.

"Nothing I couldn't heal, how did you find me?" She asked.

Hookwolf cut in before Gallant could respond.

"Was this your big tactic? Stall for some backup from the kids table? Come on, I thought we were going to have a fun time Keynote? I really hate to have to think you aren't going to finish what you started, challenging me in front of everyone and not backing up your word. That would make me feel bad, and when that happens, people die. Well, this time it'll just be all those mutts. I know you care for them." Hookwolf said conversationally as if his left arm hadn't just formed into a barbed hook.

Taylor felt herself tense up, not out of fear, but anger.

The bladed weapons should be making Taylor be careful but his words, his arrogance, his glee at others suffering… it made her blood boil. She wanted to close the distance between them and smash the Keyblade into that fucking smile.

That smile.

It was that smile that made Taylor sure that gutting dozens of defenceless dogs was not something Hookwolf would shy away from.

No, he would enjoy it. Immensely.

It was that same damn smile Emma used to wear before she twisted another shared memory into Taylor's back.

Taylor gritted her teeth, the words in her head barely rising above the rushing howl.

Smart, not hard. Taylor tried to breath, and Gallant took a step away from her, half stumbling.

Smart.

She needed to do this right. If Taylor couldn't make Hookwolf fight her with everything he had instead of going to make a lesson out of the dogs then Taylor's job became twice as hard. Hookwolf would just charge them, then Taylor would get upset, then she'd get sloppy, and then someone would die.

Taylor knew that she had to be careful, not because of Hookwolf, no. That monster would go down one way or the other. Instead, she needed to be careful of herself.

If Taylor lost it and summoned another Esper, one that was possibly worse than Ifrit, then Taylor would kill the remaining dogs faster than Hookwolf ever could.

Taylor gripped the Keyblade hard enough that her hand hurt. She needed to focus. Needed to get Hookwolf to fight her and stay away from the dogs.

Instead she jutted her chin at Gallant.

"Don't blame me, maybe one of your customers got a little scared that I might beat you, guess they called in the white hats. I don't need help." Taylor said coolly, making the blonde man pause and then she looked at Gallant.

"Do me a favour and piss off, I don't want to be a Ward and I don't want you interfering." She snapped at him, pushing every feeling of desperation and pleading she could at him, then she pushed the feeling of regret as an after taste.

Gallant was an empath. Clockblocker had let it slip on their one patrol together. With the giant mess going on with Paige, she could understand the secrecy surrounding his powers, the fact that Gallant was a Master, not a Blaster.

Even if the blasts were known for changing emotions, if people thought he could read their emotions, sort of read their minds, they'd be far more afraid of that even though it posed far less danger.

Fear wasn't exactly logical.

So, by sending her message with her emotions… Taylor could say a million things and hopefully, Gallant would still get the same message.

Trust me.

Gallant looked at her, his helmet completely covering his face, hiding all expression from her.

Suddenly his other hand raised and pointed at her, the shimmering aura of his powers covering his steel gauntlets like a hazy rainbow.

Taking a few steps back, he spoke, sounding urgent.

"Keynote, think about this. The Wards could back you up here. There is never just one Empire goon around." Gallant pushed, sounding annoyed.

Taylor readied her Keyblade, eyeing Hookwolf.

"Go be a hero somewhere else. You're not wanted here." Taylor said, and rolled forward, coming up just short of Hookwolf before the other cape knew what was happening.

Taylor swiped at his legs, Melody whistling as it bit deep into his flesh in a spray of blood.

Hookwolf howled as Taylor split the flesh of his leg to the bone. As she pulled back, spinning around to take another slash, the cut in his thigh rippled and metal exploded out. Hooks, blades, spears, the wound writhed. A spear shot out at her and Taylor bent low, grabbing it as it went past, letting the momentum carry her back to a safe distance from the flailing cape.

As she flew, a quick glance showed Gallant disappearing through the hole made by Taylor and Hookwolf, back to the dogs. Hopefully he would get them out the warehouse, get them to somewhere where Hookwolf couldn't hurt them.

As Taylor landed on her feet again she saw Hookwolf towering up in spider form again, his cut leg transformed once more into metal. He didn't bother saying anything, his howl of pain and rage a clear enough clear signal of his displeasure as he continued to grow, a veritable forest of steel sticking out from below his rib-cage.

More spears lanced out then, as the villain went on the attack. Taylor swiped one away, blocked another with her gauntlet, moving back and dodging more but a smaller spear sliced her leg, leaving a shallow cut and hole in her cloak.

Hookwolf seemed to take this as a confidence booster because suddenly dozens of spears rushed at her, all different sizes and speeds, a veritable wall of sharp and gleaming metal rushing at her.

Taylor rolled back, but Hookwolf followed, the wave of spears reaching for her. Taylor snapped the Keyblade up from the ground and wall of ice sprang up to follow the Keyblade, it wasn't very large, no higher than her shoulders, but it was thick.

The spears lodged into the wall and as Taylor saw Hookwolf still rushing at her, more spears growing… She kicked the wall. The ice rocketed forward; a solid wall launched forward that swept the spears aside and smashed through the centre of Hookwolf's legs. As the villain wobbled and stumbled, dropping lower, Taylor rushed forward over the clear ground she'd created. In a heart-beat she slammed the Keyblade into Hookwolf's face as her adrenaline spiked and lightning coursed from her fingers.

The Keyblade made contact with an audible crunch and satisfying spray of blood as Hookwolf's cheek split, and Taylor grinned viciously as electricity coursed down the blade and into Hookwolf as she turned her Keyblade into an oversized cattle prod.

Her victory was short lived though, even as Hookwolf jerked backwards spasming there was smashing sound from above. Taylor snapped her head up to see a figure surrounded by broken shards of glass from the high window they'd just jumped through.

The glass around them glinted, making it look as if the figure was somehow divine.

Then Taylor suddenly felt herself go sideways, as if gravity had just slapped her hard.

While Taylor stumbled the figure landed in a roll, avoiding most of the glass on her way down.

She stood and the afternoon light reflected off a metal cage around her head, almost glowing short blonde hair shone in the light, the sides buzz cut short while the middle was slicked back. She was lanky, but in a built kind of way, her tight white shirt and the tight black runner pants showed nothing but corded muscle and her pale skin.

Cricket was an Empire cape that was usually seen around Stormtiger or Hookwolf, the three of them making up the more 'wild' part of the Empire. She was famous for three things that Taylor could recall from when she and Sabah had researched the Empire capes following her battle with Rune.

She had enhanced agility, being fast enough to dodge apparently dodge bullets, or at least a gunman, the second most famous thing about her was Cricket's scars.

Even from where she stood, back turned on them both, Taylor could see the road map of scars covering the woman's exposed skin. Her arms looked like she had been raked by claws of some giant beast, her shoulders looked like they'd been burnt or slashed respectively, and her neck had long looping scars that Taylor suspected went all the way around, like a hangman's noose.

From her waist, hung the third thing she was famous for.

Two mini scythes with handles, like something you might cut grass with, hung from belt loops where Cricket snatched them, and Taylor saw they were connected by some sort of chain between them.

As Cricket turned around to face her, Taylor saw the steel cage hid most of the villains features, the front a mish-mash of crossing wires. It didn't seem to stop the woman from knowing exactly where Hookwolf was though.

She stood there, half hunched over, ready to move at the first sign of being attacked.

Yet she didn't look around or try to see if she was safe. Cricket just stood there, her finger tapping one of her scythes, clicking the metal with one nail.

When she did move, it was like a snake. All deadly grace and fluidity, which was at odds with her appearance which made Taylor think she should be twitching or stomping.

Finally Taylor could move without the world threatening to spin sideways on her again, so she rolled away and stumbled forward to lean against the nearest wall.

There was a rasping sound and it took a moment to realize that it was Cricket speaking

"The hell are you doing? This place is being live-streamed by those losers, Über and Leet, we can't stay." Cricket said in hoarse whisper and yanked Hookwolf to his feet, where he turned to look at her. Taylor saw the visible part of his face was an angry red from where the Keyblade had struck him, the rest was either covered by his mask… or the blood streaming from his cheek, metal shifting amidst the blood, tiny hooks pulling the wound closed acting like stitches.

Hookwolf touched it and without wincing, poked the wound hard.

"I know, the kiddies are here. But Cricket... I'm not leaving." Hookwolf said, shrugging away from her grip.

Cricket paused, considered his words and then looked at Taylor.

"Her? You gonna duke it out with every hero in the city just because you wanna to fight her? Kaiser won't be happy." Cricket said, not sounding like she particularly cared Kaiser's opinion.

Hookwolf snorted.

"Kaiser can tell me how he feels later. But right now me and Keynote have some business to finish up but those Wards... I don't trust them to keep the good scout act up and not shoot me in the back, so go and keep them busy. If anyone else shows up, just whistle and we get out." The metal villain said, his arm turning into a Swiss army knife of blades and curved points.

"Hookwolf, let me just stick a knife in her, and we can go." Cricket said, her scythe twirling in her hand, with an air of an old argument that they've had countless times before.

Taylor eyed them. Side by side, she noticed something.

There was an... edge… to them, something wild, feral, inhuman about their movements. Taylor felt her balance wobble slightly from standing still and shook her head, hopping to clear whatever Cricket had done to her. What other power did the woman have?

As Taylor saw Hookwolf begin to ponder his partners words Taylor realized they might both attack her, or Hookwolf might make good on his earlier threat and simply attack the dogs to 'win' before fleeing the approaching PRT.

She couldn't allow that. Smart. Fight smart.

"Ha. What's this Hookwolf? Scared? Need another cape to back you up? I mean, I get the interruption, Gallant caused one too. But I sent him away. You going to fight me like a man or do you need a woman to help you fight a girl. I should have spent longer fighting Lung, because at least he wasn't a coward like you. Or are you going to prove me wrong?" Taylor snarked, cocking her hip and wobbling slightly, nearly stumbling.

Hookwolf stiffened and the mess of shifting blades turned on the woman.

Cricket stepped back and Hookwolf snarled, the blades and hooks, which jutted out like rose thorns along his arms, rippled like a raging storm.

"Keynote is mine! She challenged me, I don't poach your fights, so do me a solid and don't try to take mine." Hookwolf growled.

Cricket tilted her head.

"I don't fight when the PRT is breathing down my neck, but you're going to let this skinny bitch rile you up? Fine. Just try not to take too long, Stormtiger is here as well. You know what he gets like." The cage wearing villain rasped, then there was a sudden noise that set Taylor's teeth on the edge. She stood, leaned forward and raised her Keyblade, that noise was the same one as before, the one that sent Taylor crashing to the floor. Noise control? There hadn't been a mention of that online

"He's coming in from the side, he's shifting the air already, I hate it when he does that, can't hear properly." Cricket said, running to the hole in the wall and Taylor's grip tightened on the Keyblade. Stormtiger, she remembered him.

He completely outclassed Shadow Stalker with his powers and experience, toying with her, enjoying her futile efforts, relishing her pain.

If Gallant was here by himself, then he would be facing two E88 capes alone. Taylor didn't want to dismiss Gallant, but he couldn't handle the dogs, Stormtiger and Cricket.

So... Taylor would just have to hurry up and win here!

Taylor pointed the Keyblade at Hookwolf and fired more ice, the hard balls of crystallised water smashed into Hookwolf's arm which was already spreading out into a shield to protect his face. He turned back from seeing Cricket vanish through the hole with a smile on his battered face.

He didn't say anything, just charged her. His entire form changing into a galloping wolf, his name sake.

Taylor jumped, soaring high over him and tried a different angle.

The Keyblade ignited at the end, fire rained down on the wolf, the recoil of the blast sending Taylor back into the rafters where she grabbed one of the metal cross beams that kept the building standing. The fire splashed against the metal, blackening it.

Hookwolf turned, spinning on the spot while his head tilted up. Then the left leg of the beast shot towards her in a blur, the metal stretching as the left side of Hookwolf's metal body quickly diminished to feed his projectile.

Taylor jumped forward, landing on another metal bone of the warehouse. Hookwolf dragged his weapon after her, digging deep into the roof and leaving behind a stream of sunlight as he gouged out the roof as his weapon chased her. If this kept up he'd bring the roof down on them, so instead, Taylor leaned back, and let herself fall backward...

And kicked off the rafter, firing herself towards the flail chasing her. Hookwolf must have realized his mistake but it was too late, the Keyblade cut clean through the chain. Quickly the Nazi pulled the metal back to himself but the limb she had detached crumbled down in a clattering of metal.

Taylor landed, her breathing quicker as she pushed off her toes towards Hookwolf . She twirled the Keyblade and the entire length became wreathed in lightning.

Hookwolf back-pedaled, his steel storm moving rapidly to obscure where his core was.

Taylor got in close and the other cape let his mass expand outwards in a fence of thorns. So she jumped and brought the Keyblade down two handed, like axe on a block of wood.

The barbed wall split like paper and so did the layer behind it; the energy flew from her Keyblade into the remaining mess, hitting Hookwolf dead on.

His wolf metal armour writhed wildly and Taylor was knocked to the side as she was slammed by a heavy fish hook, the point dragging across her back, where her cloak tried it's best to damping the damage, but she could feel her skin give under the pressure, her back splitting open even as the cloak held.

Taylor flew, landing in a heap as she rolled.

Hookwolf followed her, the noises he made were anything but reassuring.

Taylor grimaced as she swiped away his metal limbs, intent on skewering her. He pushed her towards the wall behind her by making it the only safe direction to go, the cut on her back burning, it made rolling away to safety or jumping seem risky. If she collapsed mid roll, she would be easy pickings.

Cure would be nice, but unless she got some space, that wouldn't be happening.

Taylor could almost feel the wall at her back and as panic began to set she ducked beneath a slash and threw the Keyblade. Hookwolf tried to move his legs put the way and was partially successful as the Keyblade sent only a little metal flying, but that wasn't the point. Taylor recalled and…

Was back in the middle of the warehouse, spinning in mid-air to land on her feet in a spray of gravel. Looking back as the monstrous wolf turned and charged her again, neck spinning up into a whirling mane, Taylor felt her lip curl.

"Hey Hookwolf, check this!" Taylor yelled and threw the Keyblade.

Melody blurred forward, a spinning buzz-saw of magic that smashed into Hookwolf. As his mane disintegrated, the Keyblade blowing along his side Taylor was leaping into a sideways spin, her arms curling in to spin her faster… and called. Melody appeared in her hand like a faithful friend and Taylor finished her spin, flinging her trusted blade in another blur of metal. Even as her feet touched the ground she was already moving, spinning on her heel, to whip herself around even faster. As Hookwolf stumbled, the Keyblade smashing apart his left legs Taylor called again. As the Keyblade appeared in her hand once more, Taylor felt the Keyblade vibrating, could hear Melody whistling a high uplifting song… and threw the blade again, the Keyblade bursting with a white aura.

The spinning glow smashed into Hookwolf in an explosion of light and music. It blew the villain backwards, scattering metal everywhere. As his core tumbled out Hookwolf desperately tried to pull the metal back to him as his body began to revert but he couldn't pull it back, his body becoming human against his will.

Then Taylor recalled Melody again and she was on him. Even as Hookwolf split his left arm into a shield, Taylor hacked the metal away, spinning around him and forcing Hookwolf to dive away. He landed amidst more of his metal, finally starting to gather it back up.

Taylor was having none of that though, and threw the Keyblade again which smashed through the splintering legs of Hookwolf, hacking the spidery limbs away and sending Hookwolf tumbling, almost hitting the wall. She recalled it again, kicking off the wall to spin her around faster and threw the Keyblade once more. Hookwolf ducked, barely avoiding getting smacked in the head and Taylor appeared behind him in a blur, Melody starting to whistle again as Taylor brought the Keyblade down in a double handed strike.

Hookwolf screamed.

Taylor watched feeling sick as Hookwolf scrambled away from her, his left arm clutching at the stump just below his elbow where his right arm used to be. Blood was spraying out in thick red spurts as Hookwolf hissed and growled, almost crying.

Her stomach rolled, bile creeping up her throat as Taylor looked down at the severed limb lying amidst the shards of metal at her feet. Sure, she'd cut Lung's tail off, but even that had made her feel sick at the time and the tail had vanished in moments. This… She'd hurt someone, crippled them… She… She had had…

There was a sudden screeching and the metal around Taylor pulled together and slammed into her. She felt a crunch that drove the air from her lungs as her back was smashed into the wall. Taylor felt a wave of panic roll up her throat along with the bile as Hookwolf slammed his limbs into either side of her, caging her into a tiny space with a wall of glistening spikes. From amidst the metal Hookwolf's bloody face leered at her, his eyes filled with absolute hate.

Taylor tried to move, to raise the Keyblade, roll or something, anything, but the metal was unyielding and all she felt was the spikes pierce her skin.

There was a shadow of memory as she pushed with no success, the spikes not letting her have any room to swing her weapon, no room to move, the smell of blood filling her nostrils, running down her arms, dripping onto her face… No! She had to… had to think. Bolt? No, the metal touching her would just channel the lightning back into her. Ice? She'd just freeze herself. Fire? No, no, no… Please no! She wanted to get out, out!

As Taylor squirmed, thrashing her head, more of Hookwolf emerged from the wall of blades. His upper torso emerged, his left arm still missing, dissolved into metal. His right arm, though, it ended in a mass of metal, hooks and blades slick with blood.

A single hook caught Taylor beneath her chin then, forcing her to look up and meet the villains eyes or slit her own throat.

AS Taylor looked at him… Hookwolf didn't laugh, didn't taunt her, just breathed harder, faster as his arm of bloody blades grew longer, joining into a single spear.

The spear was rounded, the point ending in a needle tip.

Then he moved his arm, pushing the spear forward and towards her face with a terrifying slowness. Hookwolf seemed to be drinking in her sudden fear, relishing her pain.

More spears shot ward, cutting of her an escape from above, not that she was thinking about it, she was too consumed by panic, worry, and darkness containing insects nibbling at her mind, crawling in her hair while her nose burned with the stink of rotting blood...

Taylor snorted, snot dripping from her chin along with tears while her empty socket twinged, trying to cry along with her present eye. Because… despite the gaps, it was claustrophobic. She was surrounded by a metal prison, trapped with blood and filth and death. It was… She was back… Back in the Locker.

This time… Instead of Emma and Sophia, there was Hookwolf. All barbed in their own way.

She was trapped in a metal coffin with the stink of blood with no way out, no way out, no way out…

No!

She wasn't… She wasn't that scared little girl in any more. She wasn't trapped alone in the dark. She had her light and there would always be a way out so long as she had hope.

Taylor snarled and forced her left arm up, the icy armour snapping the hooks holding her prisoner. She shoved with her elbow clearing some space. As Taylor dismissed the Keyblade she raised her right hand and called. The Keyblade appeared in a flash of light, piercing through Hookwolf's metal to do so. She'd ended up holding the Keyblade so it was facing Hookwolf, mass of metal in front of her so thick, Taylor was sure he had none left on the other side.

Hookwolf had trapped her, trapped in this little cage, no clever idea with magic able to get her out.

Still, she cast cure, ridding herself of the pain on her back, in her legs, on her arm. No need to suffer more so than necessary, right?

Taylor wanted to laugh, she had been caught.

Taylor watched the spear get closer, the metal all around her trapping her, she wanted to scream, pound her fist against the metal. Taylor felt her one working eye go black around the edge.

She was still in the locker, even with her resolve she could feel bugs crawling over her face, in her hair, the stink of blood in nose… She was trapped under the rubble of Sabah's old apartment, she couldn't breathe, darkness everywhere, the dying light of her flickering fire.

Alone, trapped, dying.

Alone, dead.

Alone...

No…

No she wasn't. Taylor felt the fraying edge of mind snap back to focus, her determination funnelling down into a narrow point, focused like she'd never felt before. She was not alone, she already knew this, she'd already learned this lesson.

Taylor Hebert had never been so surrounded by people in her life.

"You're my hero."

"Kick his frigging ass.

"Hurry up and win, make it look good so I can market it!"

" Live Taylor Hebert, live for your friends, but most of all… live for yourself."

Taylor screamed, a noise of fury and anger and gripped the Keyblade like a rapier that she was about to jab, and without thinking…

She moved.

Taylor shot forward like she'd been fired from a canon. She smashed through Hookwolf's body like he was made of paper, the Keyblade carrying her forward like a rocket. In an instant she was on the other side of the room and her entire body pivoted, rotating her a full 180 back to Hookwolf where she pushed again, flying forward, both hands now grasping the Keyblade.

Hookwolf had turned, his half human form trying to hide behind a shield… which Taylor blew straight through, the Keyblade passing through the side of his chest in a spray of blood and metal.

She turned again, and surged back through him, more metal spilling away as she cleaved through the bottom of his rib-cage where he turned to metal.

The attacks were making Hookwolf shrink, his extended metal parts either sinking inside him or falling off, forcing him to become human once more.

Like Lung and his regeneration, each time she struck Hookwolf directly, he lost his ability to control his metal, his power silenced and without it… he was only human.

Another two passes blurred by in sprays of metal and blood until Taylor stopped suddenly, left in the middle of the room.

Turning around she saw Hookwolf crumple, his body human. The damage had caught up to him, and as a human instead of mass of blades he couldn't stand. He just lay on the ground, panting, covered in blood, his wounds steadily pumping out the life giving fluid. Several pieces of his metal near him slide back into him as he move his arms over them, but he seemed to unable to stand.

Taylor took a step and feel to her knees, a wave of utter exhaustion washing over her.

What had she just done? Not even rolling let her move like that, or ignore physical objects.

It was like she went from Trump Blaster to Breaker Mover...

And it was so tiring.

Hookwolf looked up at her, his breath ragged, and his eyes mad amidst the blood.

"You were still… holding out... on me? You think… this a game?! You think I'm… a joke?!" He shouted, sounding more pissed than ever. His hand reached for her, maybe to drag her down and choke her, but covered in his own blood… he just looked pathetic.

Taylor rolled her eyes at the dramatics, if he was going to do anything, he would stab her while she couldn't move.

"No, I think whatever this is, it's done." Taylor panted and pushed herself to her feet.

Hookwolf tried to crawl towards the hole, the metal in his arms barely making it past his skin before it vanished again. The blood loss, sheer amount of metal he had lost, combined with whatever her Keyblade had done, had taken its toll.

Taylor walked after him, the blonde cape swiped at her, metal claws barely appearing. The action sent him tumbling onto his back, where he just lay there, his breathing ragged and shallow. The he looked up at her as Taylor stood over him, blocking the way to the exit.

Hookwolf coughed, and spat at Taylor, his spit pink with blood.

"You going to kill me now? Ha! The Empire will fucking get you for this bitch. I'll win. I always win!" Hookwolf growled, his face twisted into a rictus of hate.

Taylor raised the Keyblade like an executioner's axe.

It crackled loudly as it once again coursed with lightning. Taylor's face was tired, but she managed the smallest of smiles.

"I won't kill you. But Hookwolf?" Taylor said as she dropped the Keyblade's flat side heavily on Hookwolf's head, the force and electricity smashing into the villain.

"I win."

Hookwolf convulsed as the lighting surged through him and his body shifted partially into metal as the eyes behind the wolf mask rolled up.

Taylor stepped away, the slight trail of smoke coming from the Keyblade had struck Hookwolf made her nose wrinkle.

Now that everything was quiet, Taylor heard something she hadn't before.

It was a mix of shouting, crashing and muffled blasts.

Gallant!

Taylor walked as fast she could, running still seeming a little taxing to her. The last thing she was to do was trip flat on her face for everyone to see.

Pausing she turned back down to the downed Hookwolf. He was bleeding pretty badly still, and even though his arm was no longer spurting, the puddle of blood he was lying in was getting pretty big…

Taylor hobbled back, ignoring the urge to just forget about the Empire cape.

Bending down, she pulled at a leg, ignoring any skin that was showing from Hookwolf's total disregard to her own clothes.

She spread his arms and then breathed in and out slowly.

"Cure." Taylor whispered, feeling her muscles cool as the energy left her. The green sparks washed over Hookwolf and his bleeding slowed, wounds closing all over his chest. Even his arm seemed to heal a little, the stump looking less raw and blood flow slowed to a trickle.

Then she aimed carefully with the Keyblade, a second spell wearily called forth. Thankfully this magic was easier to summon.

Ice covered Hookwolf's legs and wrist, only slightly cold, but incredibly solid. She'd even used it to put a cap over his stump as a shackle and bandage in one.

Hopefully they would slow him down if he woke up. The last thing she need now was to be attacked from behind.

It was bad enough from the front,

Taylor tentatively cast cure on herself, the fatigue easing, but at the same time, leaving her even more tired, a bone deep weariness settling in. She was still sore and tired, and she could feel that the wound on her back wasn't fully closed.

Still, it was enough for now, Taylor could rest when she was back home with Sabah fussing over her.

The thought made Taylor smile, the idea of Sabah playing nurse was amusing and the image of Sabah in a nurses outfit… Taylor shook her head even as she felt her cheeks heat. She needed to focus, there were still at least one Empire cape in the building, two if Cricket was to be believed.

Reaching the hole in the wall Taylor stuck her head through the gap and her mouth fell open as she gazed at the chaos of the miniature war that seem to have sprung up in her and Hookwolf's absence.

Everywhere Taylor's eyes snapped to there was something that made her look twice.

The dogs and the bystanders seemed to have cleared out, making the room look larger than what she remembered.

The fighting ring was still set up and it was there that she saw Gallant throwing himself behind the hastily built wooden walls that kept the dogs in. As she watched, the chunk of wood above his head exploded, the splinters showering him from above.

Taylor spotted Stormtiger on the other side of the ring, walking towards the edge of the wooden barrier where the wood suddenly rippled, smashing apart as Stormtiger flicked his hand at it casually.

The loose runner pants he wore seemed inappropriately casual for a fight, the white mask on his face seemed to be for protecting his identity alone as it was made from mere cloth, but a vortex of wind encircled his body and it seemed to keep any projectiles or wood chips away from him.

He seemed completely relaxed, like it was just another day for him to be fighting Wards in a run-down warehouse that was used for dog fighting.

Maybe it was. Taylor didn't know him after all.

His buzz cut hair, brown in the sunlight, and loose open shirt made it look like he just rolled out of bed and walked to the warehouse.

Above them, Kid Win was flying about, but he seemed to be fighting some kind of wind that kept sending his hover-board off course, the thrusters not strong enough to completely compensate for the cape-made wind. He kept trying to aim his laser pistol, but couldn't seem to get a decent shot lined up.

At the far end of the warehouse, another fight seemed to be underway between Cricket and Über.

Taylor blinked as she tried to make her brain believe what her eye was seeing.

Cricket and Über were having some sort of chain fight.

Where Cricket's chain ended in the hand held scythe blades, Über's was a simple linked chain one might reasonably find in a dock warehouse, which to fair, he probably did.

Cricket's weapon flew out and Über neatly dodged to the side, smacking the ground every so often with his own chain.

Cricket seemed to be keeping a distance, which was strange considering her weapon's had blades on them she could use up close where Über couldn't swing the chain at such close a distance.

But as she stepped forward, Über smashed the chain hard against the ground and Cricket hesitated. Hmm, something to do with that weird sound power she'd attacked Taylor with earlier?

Then her eye snapped back to the other side as Leet rushed forwards. He took aim at Stormtiger with his pixelblade and the pac-man glowed, releasing a torrent of the white bullets, they were glowing slightly, but they were hard to see in the bright sunlight.

Stormtiger waved his hand and the bullets only slightly changed direction. The tiger-Nazi seemed to be taken by surprise when the bullets didn't fly off in the direction he indicated, and he moved to dodge but one of the bullets grazed him, making his skin turn red as if he had been smacked hard by an object.

The bullets continued on and crashed into the wall, leaving small pot holes in the brick-work.

Cricket swung her weapons and Über tried to match her, but as soon as their weapons tangled in mid-air, Cricket dropped hers and ran straight for Leet, pulling a knife from a sheath on her lower back.

She was intending to take out the ranged backup.

Taylor tried to run, but whatever that move she had pulled off was, it had made her feel utterly drained, like she had been sucker punched in the energy department.

Still, that didn't stop her warning him.

"Leet, behind you!" Taylor yelled.

Leet spun around to face his attacker and narrowly avoided a knife to the kidney.

Gallant looked up at her shout and saw her. Nodding to her, the Ward stood, began hurling his emotion bolts at Stormtiger, where they bulged oddly against the wind shield Stormtiger was using, making the air around the wind cape turn rainbow coloured before the emotional blasts began to seep in. Stormtiger hastily moved back, letting his air slow the attack as much as he could.

The distraction let Kid Win drop down to the ground, the wind buffeting him vanishing.

Taylor made her way to his side, casting cure on him, tired though she were, unsure if Stormtiger managed to injure him, while also keeping Gallant pinned down.

Kid Win blinked at her, the visor doing more to hide his features than she thought possible.

"Okay, that was weird, nice, but weird." Kid Win said in way of greeting. Taylor nodded, taking aim of Gallant next, the cure quickly washing over him.

He didn't pause to see what the effect was, just kept firing more blasts at Stormtiger, who seemed to have avoided all but one of them, which made him look pained, as if something was hurting him.

A sudden motion made Taylor snap her attention to Cricket who let loose a harsh piercing noise that made Taylor wince. Über, who was closest to her, crumpled as the noise seemed to mess with his body, like what had happened to Taylor when Cricket first appeared. Leet stumbled back, which saved him from Cricket's follow up knife jab.

The suits might have been good for their gig, but Taylor doubted they would stand up to serious damage.

Taylor shot Über a cure as well, the spell almost as easy as breathing.

Über didn't spring back to his feet, but he did stop fumbling about like he was upside down and underwater.

Cricket lunged after Leet, but was flung back with a well-aimed shot from Kid from behind Taylor, the whine of his gun loud in Taylor's ear.

Cricket landed hard, but scrambled away as another shot went over her head.

"Ranged healing is pretty useful, but those two aren't fighters. You need to get them out of here before Cricket gets lucky." Kid said grimly, pointing his pistol at Cricket, leading a shot and Taylor nodded. She gave a quick glance at Gallant to make sure he wasn't in need of healing before she darted as fast as she could towards Leet.

Lifting Leet up from his stumble by his blue collar, Taylor let her hand glow green, the wave of energy flowing to Leet, not bothering to use the Keyblade to cast properly, he didn't seem that hurt.

"What the? Hey! You're alive! I thought you were fighting Hookwolf?" Leet asked brightly and Taylor's mouth thinned.

The urge to smack him rose again, but she pushed it down with a patience that might have been helped by the sheer exhaustion she was feeling.

"I won. Thanks for the vote of confidence." Taylor replied dryly and then she lightly pushed Leet towards the still downed Über.

Leet opened his mouth, but closed it when he saw Über struggle to sit up and ran over to his friend.

"Hey, you alright?" Leet asked and reached down, clasping hands with his friend and using the grip to yank the other man to his feet. Über balanced for a precious few seconds before toppling back over, pulling Leet down on top of him with a yelp.

Taylor shook her head and cast a cure that washed over both of them, it was a pity cure and she hoped they knew it. The feeling in her mind, that felt like a buzzing firefly sudden became very insistent and Taylor snapped around in time to see Cricket yanking her blades free from Über's chain, her arm already swinging the blade towards Taylor.

Intending to gut Taylor, as the villain had offered earlier.

Taylor stepped in front of the two downed geeks and let the chain wrap around the Keyblade.

Cricket pulled, trying to disarm Taylor, but Taylor had just about enough of being powerless.

The Keyblade lit up in an arc of electricity once more, the current traveling the length of the chain.

Cricket apparently seemed to have some early warning system or her hearing was far better than Taylor gave her credit for as Cricket dropped the chain before she could suffer anything beyond a mild shock.

Still, she was unarmed and that was a better state for everyone involved.

Well, except for Cricket, but Taylor didn't care about her.

As Taylor readied the Keyblade she debated whether to either freeze Cricket or taser the Nazi like she had done with Hookwolf. The more people that were out for the count, the easier it would be to contain the situation.

That was until a wave of air hit her so hard that Taylor was lifted off her feet, the wind lacking any edge, but the sheer force sufficient to lift her into the air and fling her a dozen or more feet away.

Taylor grunted as she landed. Her eyesight blurring, but she hung on to the image of Stormtiger moving not far off.

Stormtiger's hands touched the wooden arena, his hands a blur of air and the wood exploded, as if a bomb had gone off near him.

The destruction lifted parts of the arena up and then they began to rain down across the warehouse.

Cricket nimbly sidestepped much of the falling debris with a grace that told Taylor she had absolute confidence in dodging. Gallant tried to fire another blast, but whatever his energy was, it seemed to have trouble staying intact in the rain of wood.

Maybe physical objects made the blasts lose power? Energy loss? Containment breach?

It didn't matter because Stormtiger ran towards them without a care, any pieces of the broken arena that came near him fell to the side like they had hit an invisible umbrella, making Stormtiger a moving eye of the storm.

Aerokinetics could do lots of things apparently, other than throw wind at you. Good to know. It would be nice to have a shield like that, maybe she could ask Mog if there was a similar spell or…

Taylor shook her head and stood, pushing away the blur that tinted everything she saw.

While she had been looking at Stormtiger, her mind, some part in the back of it, had never lost track of where Cricket was.

Like she had constant awareness of where the villain was.

Another thing to ask Mog about, to find out if this was a magic thing or Keyblade thing.

Or both. Probably both.

The important thing though… was that Cricket was standing over Leet, one foot on his throat.

"Drop the weapon, or I'll show him how much a crushed windpipe hurts." She said, her raspy voice was unnaturally loud, as if she was speaking directly into Taylor's ears. Stormtiger had stopped running as well, he stood between Cricket and the Wards, back to having his hands in his pockets, looking completely relaxed.

Was Stormtiger carrying Cricket's voice to her? Could air manipulation do that? The Wards had also stopped, were they getting the same threat?

Taylor mentally bumped Stormtiger up in the Empire threat list.

He could do a lot more than people knew. Taylor should really update everyone's wikis. It was beginning to offend her on some level on how wrong or incomplete they were. Her mother would have worked late into the early morning until was up to date. It would just bug Taylor and her mother unless it was done.

Still, she could do that after Leet's throat was saved from the sound manipulating blonde white supremacist.

Taylor thought about that sentence.

Maybe was Sabah was right. Maybe, just maybe, Taylor attracted trouble.

Still, Leet, Cricket, throat crushing. Taylor gripped the Keyblade before forcing herself to relax, Leet was looking a little breathless, his Pixelblade having fallen out of his reach and Über was face down next to Leet.

Not moving.

Taylor dropped the Keyblade, willing it not to vanish. The last thing she wanted was the two capes thinking she was trying to be smart or plan something. Especially since she kind of was.

Leet was a pain in the ass, for the whole hour or two she had known him, but... he didn't deserve getting his throat crushed, he shouldn't die for doing what he thought was the right thing to do, even if he went about it in a stupid manner.

Cricket tilted her head as the Keyblade clattered to the ground. Listening to the blade settle.

"That was... nice." Cricket commented and idly rubbed her foot back and forth across Leet's exposed throat.

Leet grabbed at her foot, but from his position on the ground, he had no leverage to actually push her away.

Cricket looked down and her shoulders shook, laughing silently at his efforts. Taylor wondered if she could nail Cricket right in her metal cage mask.

One spark and she would be down…

But she wasn't sure how complete Stormtiger's powers were. Did he control the air space between Taylor and Cricket? Could he throw off any attack she could throw magically?

Ice mist would be too slow, the ice balls might work, but if they were blown off course then it would be pointless.

Could he divert lightning? If he could manipulate the air as the magic traveled, would the spell follow the path of least resistance? Or would the lightning be too quick once she'd released it? Could she cast fast enough to avoid it if Stormtiger could?

Any mistake though… and Cricket would make good on her threat.

Taylor gritted her teeth, had she not just said she was done being powerless?

It was a different kind of powerless, but for all it mattered, it was no different.

Leet began to choke and that's when Über stood so fast, Taylor was sure that if she'd blinked she would have missed it

Cricket made that oddly pitched noise again, it made Taylor wobble, but Über pitched forward, his body swaying in such a way that it looked extremely ungraceful, but the kick he delivered was dead on, winding Cricket so that she sucked in breath, stopping her noise attack, and forcing her to step off Leet's bruised throat.

Über stumbled forward, and half dropped, half rolled when the wall over his head was hit with another gale of wind.

Stormtiger lined another shot with his claws, preparing to close in to cleave Über up, but Kid and Gallant were on him before he could even move.

Über stood, his entire body swaying from side to side, feet shuffling about like he was having trouble standing at all.

Had Cricket hit him harder than Taylor thought?

Über moved forward then, stumbling at Cricket who took his unbalanced state as a sign to attack him head on, her fist flying forward, before Taylor could move to the side and use magic, or do anything.

But Über wobbled off to one side... perfectly in time for Cricket's punch to slide off his chest, moving across his rumpled coat with ease..

Using the momentum imparted, Über turned, spinning in a drunken circle, his back hand smacking Cricket's back hard.

Cricket stumbled, but to her credit, she recovered quickly, putting some distance between her and Über.

Über stayed where he was, swaying in a non-existent wind.

Taylor has seen her Dad like that once, he was extremely drunk after a night out with his co-workers.

Her Mom had put him to sleep on the couch with a bucket next to him, and a pity jug of water on the table for him in the morning.

Über seemed to find the lack of balance caused by Cricket a minor problem now… Since he apparently seemed to have none.

She didn't know what technique Über had mastered while pretending to be passed out, but it seemed to be messing with Cricket. She made another noise and Über leaned into the noise, stumbling forward, and Cricket hastily backed off.

Über didn't seem to be going for any particular move, so it was likely he had only managed to learn the rough outline of whatever style he seemed to be going for, and not even beginning to know any of the advanced moves.

If there was any.

Taylor knew she should be doing something, but she was mesmerized by the scene before her. It was like something out of a movie.

Still she moved closer to the wall, calling the Keyblade back to her as she went.

If Stormtiger decided to go after her, he wouldn't be throwing her into any walls.

Gallant and Kid Win seemed to have him on the ropes however, both of them attacking in a pincer formation, a well-timed combo of lasers and emotion blasts.

Über closed in on Cricket, snapping Taylor's attention back to them and she knew what she could do.

Running closer she grabbed Leet's legs and dragged him away from the fight. As he was dragged away, he reached out and snagged his Pixelblade as he went past.

Taylor ignored his protests and set him down near the open doorway to the outside.

Fresh air wafted in and it felt amazing on Taylor's skin, but as much she wanted to go outside and go home, Taylor couldn't leave until she'd finished what she'd started.

Making others clean up her mess just didn't sit well with her.

"I didn't think Über could fight this well." Taylor said quizzically.

Leet smirked, raising his chin a fraction.

"You ain't seen nothing yet." Leet promised.

Über's leg suddenly snapped up quickly, the tip of his expensive looking shoes hitting Cricket in the shoulder.

Then without putting his leg down, his foot moving faster and faster as he kicked again, and again, and again.

Über's foot became a black blur, as his entire body began moving forward from the force of his kicks. Cricket was being hit so hard and so fast, that she seemed stunned. Über gave one final kick and Cricket dropped.

Über lowered his foot and Taylor saw that his lawyer shoe was now bent at an angle from the force of Über's kicks.

"A hundred rending legs." Über said, breathing heavily.

Cricket didn't seem to respond, but Leet did by pulling himself to his knees.

"Lighting Kick!" Leet cried.

Über waved his hand at him without looking.

"Tomato, tahmato." Über said as Cricket's fingers twitched. Über looked down at her and pushed back his hair.

"Don't hurt my bro." The red suited cape said casually and turned to walk back to where Taylor was standing and staring at him, Leet sitting next to her.

Taylor was stunned, she wanted to explain away what she had just seen, but nothing, nothing, jumped to mind.

Über, as in Über of Über and Leet, just demolished Cricket of the Empire 88.

Über could... He could do that?!

Learning a single technique... wasn't as weak as she thought, if a single technique could do that to a person.

"Über's the OP." Leet said casually as he finally seemed to get his balance back, struggling back to his feet. Taylor turned to look at him and he grinned at her.

"Everyone thinks I'll snap and blow up the earth, but I'm way too comfortable where I am. Über... He's only doing this game thing because we're friends. He could do anything if he wanted to." Leet said in a more quiet voice, almost more to himself than to Taylor.

Über seemed to hear this last part just as she did.

"Hey, don't knock the games. Besides… I want to hang out with you, so problem solved." Über answered and Leet awkwardly kicked his feet.

A sudden motion made Taylor snap her head around to look at the middle of the warehouse.

Stormtiger's air claws exploded and sent Gallant hurtling towards them. His armor skidding across the ground in a spray of sparks. He hit a lump of wood snapped sideways and he rolled a few times, his legs twisting in a painful way before Taylor caught him, throwing her body in his path, wincing as he collided with her.

She stood, unable to see where Gallant was hurt under his armor, but she was pulled from her examination before it had even begun.

Kid Win yelled something, but Taylor couldn't hear it over the rushing wind as Stromtiger got angry. Kid Win jumped on to his hover-board and shot towards Stormtiger, firing as he went.

Stormtiger's winds didn't seem to do much against the lasers, but Kid Win was suddenly meeting a wall of air resistance as he tried to get closer. Unable to fly closer, he suddenly jumped off the board, and turning it up sharply with a kick of his foot letting it shoot up, the tinker tech nearly smashing through the roof.

Kid rolled away from Stormtiger and shot his laser pistol a few more times, the shots going wide.

Stormtiger slammed his hands into the ground, where the concrete exploded in a cloud of dust which bellowed towards Kid Win.

Kid let it wash over him, putting away his pistol before Taylor lost him in the hazy dust, his arm resting on a wrist band.

There was a moment's pause

Stormtiger suddenly gave a startled yell and flew through the dust, his entire body flying as Kid Win's hover-board rammed him from behind, the entire flat surface pressed against Stormtiger's back, the thrusters producing so much force that Taylor could see the air ripple as an after effect as the dust was pushed away.

Then Stormtiger smashed face first into a boarded up window, covered by wooden planks, and kept going, breaking through to the outside, leaving behind a vaguely human-shaped hole.

Taylor gawked at the hole where Stormtiger had smashed through the window. The scene was something straight out the cartoons she used to watch every Saturday morning, the slapstick kind of humor and comical villain exit. Taylor wanted to laugh, but at the same time she felt like today had been... very weird and she might end up screaming a little inside when it was all over.

Kid Win casually walked up to the hole and peered up at the material as the splinters settled.

"Cheap stuff, I don't think he's got anything worse than a broken nose." The Ward commented and pushed a button on his wrist. A few moments later Stormtiger shot back through the same hole, breaking more of the boards on the return trip and landed hard on the ground as the hover-board dutifully returned back to Kid's hand.

Leet stared at the unmoving form of the Empire cape.

"K.O." Leet said in a deep voice and held out a fist to Kid Win.

Kid Win eyed it before silently accepting the fist-bump. Über helped Gallant to his feet, who hissed loudly.

Taylor slowly walked over, her tiredness now reaching headache inducing levels.

"You okay?" Taylor asked Gallant who tried to put weight on his left leg. He instantly decided that was a bad idea.

"I think I might have broken something. I landed awkwardly and metal isn't exactly flexible, even if it is tinker made." Gallant tried to joke and Leet suddenly looked interested in the empath's costume. Taylor pointed her Keyblade at Gallant and before he could say anything, she cast cure on him.

"What... What did you just do?" The Knight themed cape asked, staring at her.

Taylor blinked.

"I just... healed you a little. Did I hurt you?" Taylor asked, feeling a little nervous.

It would be a very bad time for her magic to act up.

"Your weapon, it glowed." Gallant said, sounding a little distant. Taylor looked down at the Melody.

It looked fine to her. Taylor held the Keyblade a little closer, she smiled a little nervously.

"Sorry about that, I use emotions for my spel- powers." Taylor corrected herself before she could label herself as the second Myrddin.

He was a well liked hero, famous even, with the power to throw orbs that caused different effects when they hit something but his a tendency to call his powers magic, and playing up the Dumbledore act pretty hard... It made Myrddin that sort of lovable, but kooky uncle that everyone smiled at and indulged.

Which was a nice way in the cape world of saying crazy.

Taylor hastily carried on.

"How's your leg?" She asked nervously.

Gallant tested it.

"Feel's better, but I don't think I'll be running any time soon though." Gallant said, easing himself off Über and onto his own feet.

Taylor was about to offer another round of cure when a familiar voice called out to them.

Taylor felt something inside her relax, before she even registered who it was.

"There you are, Kupo!" Mog cried, flying in through the Stormtiger shaped hole. Everyone stared at him. Taylor banished the Keyblade as she caught Mog before he could knock her on her ass with the force of his tackle-hug.

"Mog?" Taylor asked bewildered by Mog's sudden appearance.

Mog snuggled deeper in her arms as he answered.

"We've been looking everywhere for you! You disappeared and the city went weird at the same time, so I couldn't find you, kupo." Mog said and floated out of her arms, flying around Taylor, checking her for for damage.

"Um… Keynote, you seem to have... Something hovering around you." Gallant said faintly, his head followed Mog as he moved through the air.

Taylor put one hand out and caught Mog as he flew past. The Moogle looked at her and then let himself be pulled close.

"It's fine. This is my friend, Mog." Taylor explained.

Leet peered at Mog, his eyes a little wide.

"Über... get me an empty bottle." Leet said in an excited whisper. Über looked around the utterly wrecked warehouse, his face bemused.

"Uh... Yeah. I'll get right on that." Über said, kicking away the debris covering the ground and sat down with a sigh of relief.

Mog eyed Leet then he froze.

Suddenly Mog ripped himself out of Taylor's grip with alarming strength. Taylor stared at Mog as he floated around Leet, examining him closely.

Leet held the Pixelblade close like a shield.

"Uh, I mean... Um, er. Nice fairy thing?" Leet quickly said and Mog almost went nose to button nose with Leet.

Then Taylor reached out and pulled Mog back.

"Mog? What's up?" Taylor asked. Mog sometimes got like this around new technology that Sabah or Taylor brought home, or he found in the Dollhouse. Like, when he'd seen that cell phone Ingrid had got her despite her protests.

Sabah was sure Mog was ferreting away junk in the attic of the Dollhouse, but she didn't have the heart to stop him.

"Keynote, who is this guy, kupo?" Mog asked seriously.

Taylor opened her mouth, but Leet beat her to the punch.

"The name is Leet, part of the great duo Über and Leet, maybe you've seen my show?" Leet asked, fixing his tie as he smirked. Mog tilted his head as Kid Win leaned in close, staring at the Moogle with squinty eyes.

"...Didn't I argue with you on the PHO once, kupo?" Mog finally said and Leet looked slightly disappointed at his reaction.

"Er, maybe? I argue with a lot of people on there. Still, come on! I mean, I'm famous!" The blue suited cape said with a slight whine.

"Infamous." Kid Win corrected, his phone being put away after pushing a single button.

Leet shot him a dirty look.

Mog shrugged, but held his paw out to Leet.

"I am Mog, Esper of Guidance and Curiosity, kupo." Mog replied and his pom-pom bobbed as he bowed. Leet and Über looked at each other. They both seemed to smile, a sort of unspoken conversation happening.

Mog shook his paw a little.

"I would like to borrow something from you." Mog asked and Gallant poked him suddenly, making the Moogle lose his air of importance as he spun in the air.

"Kupo!" The moogle cried.

Gallant stared at him.

"He's real…" The Ward said to himself.

Taylor glared at the knight.

"Stop touching him, it's rude." Taylor snapped.

Gallant seemed to ignore her as he stared at the finger he poked Mog with.

"He's... alive." Gallant said.

Even Kid stared at him.

"Hey, Gallant, you okay?" Kid Win asked.

The knight looked up at his voice. He looked at Kid for a few seconds then nodded.

"I think... I think I need to go lie down, I feel funny." Gallant said and he limped to the only door to the warehouse and heading outside. Kid Win stared after him, then at Mog, clearly torn. He pointed at Taylor.

"Don't do anything interesting until I get back." The red and gold Ward said and ran after Gallant, concern winning over his curiosity. Both of them vanished outside.

Mog snorted.

"We've been telling her that from day one, kupo." Mog said and Taylor looked at him, her mouth dropping open.

"Mog!" She cried indignantly.

Mog shrugged.

"You get into more trouble than Lord Bahamut on a world with elf wine, kupo." The moogle said bluntly.

Taylor didn't know what that meant exactly, but she took offense to it anyway.

Mog turned back to the duo in suits, he shook his fur out and extended his paw again.

"Like I said, kupo, I want to borrow some power from you." He asked and Leet stared at him.

"Me? I told you, I'm Leet, trust me little buddy, you don't want my power." Leet argued.

Mog tilted his head.

"I'm not borrowing your cape powers, kupo, I want to borrow another power, the one bubbling just below the surface of your soul." Mog asked genuinely.

Leet raised one finger, stopped then lowered it slowly.

"I have questions, many of them. First, and most importantly, do I have to sign a contract?" Leet asked seriously.

Über groaned, burying his face into his hands.

"Leet, bro, you are not going to become a magical girl, for one, you are not a girl. This is not Madoka." Über pointed out.

Leet waved him off.

"Second, soul? Like a spirit or something? And third, I have more powers?" He asked as if this was something he had been waiting for.

Mog thought about it. Taylor felt a sudden chill climb down her spine, as she watched the Esper and Tinker interact.

It was panic, she realized. This must be how Sabah felt whenever Taylor stepped outside without her.

Still, what the hell was going on? Mog wasn't supposed to be drawing from villains, nor should the previous mentioned villains be seriouslyconsidering it.

"What did I miss?" Kid Win said a bit breathless as he ran back in.

Taylor slowly looked at him.

"Souls are real. Leet might be second triggering or something and he might be a magical girl." Taylor said a bit faintly.

The Ward paused.

"Come again?" Kid Win said, his expression not changing a bit, revealed by his now opened helmet.

Mog floated upwards as he thought aloud.

Taylor groaned as Mog slipped into his worldview shattering lecturer tone.

She wanted to go home and ignore everyone. This all was a little too much for a Tuesday.

"Souls are the power that come when our experiences of the world around us echoes off our hearts, creating willpower, kupo. A soul and heart are separate, but work in tandem to create feelings and memory." Mog answered and Leet nodded, accepting this as pseudo fact from the floating talking fairy.

Kid Win looked bewildered as Mog kept talking, clearly wanting to object, but struggling to find the words, Leet waved his hand.

"Okay, but you said I had more powers, cause that'd be great, I like building, but I'm not the world's best at it." Leet explained.

Mog nodded in agreement.

"I know that feeling, kupo. I can build a lot of things, but ask me to cast a spell by myself and I'm worse than a newborn Moglet, kupo." The moogle sighed.

Kid Win looked pained as he looked between Mog and Leet.

Taylor slapped her face, shaking her head. She just turned and walked towards Cricket, idly freezing her limbs to the ground.

She'd let Mog do his thing and come back when he stopped saying things that made her think too hard when she was this tired, or maybe just after it felt like someone had removed the axe from the top of her head.

Next she wandered over to Stormtiger, whose eyes were open, but even if the lights were on it was clear no one was home right now.

Another well aimed ice spell had him stuck to the ground as well.

"Everyone usually has magic inside them, kupo, the people of this world don't seem to, but capes do! But I haven't met any that can use it, kupo. But I can draw that magic and use it for myself." Mog told Leet and Kid Win looked stunned at the causal use of the M-word.

"Magic doesn't...it can't be proven." Kid Win said, his outburst drawing Mog's attention.

Mog stared at him.

"Magic, kupo, doesn't care." Mog said and his pom-pom glowed, making Kid float gently off the ground.

Kid looked alarmed, but took a deep breath.

"This is just an anti-gravity field, close to my skin maybe, doesn't affect the dust below, so maybe…" The Ward trailed off and his hover-board turned on and floated to him at a push of a button.

As soon as he touched the board, the holes at the bottom hover-board gave a feeble pulse and then did nothing.

Kid stared at his board.

"...I've got nothing. My visor isn't picking up any energy readings. You win this round." He grumbled.

Mog nodded, a little smugly, Taylor thought, but she would let the Moogle have his moment of glory.

Taylor was sure that Mog had said that science and magic were supposed to be partners, but he seemed to be having fun poking fun at scientists… Engineers? Hmm. Maybe it was engineering, not science, that was magic's opposite? Food for thought when her temples stopped throbbing.

Mog kept talking.

"Don't worry, kupo, it's pretty simple, it's not that hard, it's just a different type of science, called magic." Mog said and turned back to Leet, who was practically jumping at the idea of magic being real, Über stared at his friend with a soft smile.

Taylor wanted to say it was the 'he's such a nerd' smile but it could have easily been 'I'm happy for you'.

Or it could have been a deeper smile.

Taylor just didn't know that many men to know the range of emotions that were permitted between two supposedly straight bros.

Whatever they had though, it was strong. Taylor was slightly envious of their friendship, they clearly seemed to know each other well outside their masks, the small signs of inside jokes, the conversations with no words, and the sheer trust in one another was a good indicator of how they had lasted so long in Brockton Bay.

Teamwork can do a lot things, like keep you out of jail it seems.

Still, what was a bro?

Would Mog and Jess be her bros? Did Taylor need bros?

She had Sabah, but Sabah was... more than a bro to Taylor. She was…

Taylor searched her brain for the right word.

Girlfriend seemed too informal, partner was closer, but it still didn't fit. Sabah was her... pillar.

It wasn't the most romantic word, and Taylor blushed slightly at the idea of being romantic, but it fit decently.

Taylor stuck her head through the hole she and Hookwolf made earlier, something Mog had said, made her look back.

"-to become a mage requires some innate magic, or a crystal blessing, but those have been lost for awhile, kupo, and while capes do have magic, as most people in other worlds do, it's just basic life energy. So I don't think you can use it, kupo." Mog said, a touch of sympathy in his voice.

Leet sighed, but looked at his Pixelblade and grinned.

"It was a long shot, but if you think I got power then, go for it, it ain't doing me any good just sitting there and also... why do you keep saying 'kupo'?" Leet asked.

Mog looked at him.

"Kupo means everything and all, kupo, it is the beginning and the end, the sun and the moon, the light and the dark. When you say kupo, you say everything." Mog explained.

Kid Win looked at the moogle.

"So it's a single word... with many uses?" Kid Win asked, sounding interested as he slowly spun in the air.

Mog bobbed his head.

"That's a basic way of saying it, kupo. A single Kupo could curse, bless, greet, send off and welcome all at the same time, but you have to be very fluent to do that... kupo." Mog answered.

Über quickly interrupted before Mog could say anything else.

"This won't hurt Leet... or cause him to become a magical girl? I kinda like him the way he is." Über asked.

Mog gave him a thumbs up.

Well Mog, didn't have thumbs, but he did a good impression.

"I swear it won't hurt, kupo!" Mog swore.

Über eyed the Moogle a bit longer.

"And the magical girl thing?" He pushed.

Mog rubbed the back of his head, looking at Taylor, then at Leet's Pixelblade.

"No promises, kupo." Mog said, crossing his arms. Kid Win dropped gently back down and searched for wires, finding none, he began to look over his board for damage.

"I dunno, I know I'd rather not randomly change gender every time a bad guy shows up. The costume thing might get a bit tight too." Über pointed out.

Leet thought about this.

"I guess... but there are so many more shows we could do if I could do be a female for a while... We could finally do Tomb Raider!" Leet pointed out to Über who brightened, then eyed Leet.

"I dunno, just because you'd be a girl doesn't mean you be a good looking one." Über mused aloud.

Leet thought about that, frowning at the mental image.

"I'd hate to be an ugly Lara Croft…" Leet said in a whisper. Über and Kid make noises of agreement.

Taylor gave up, that was her limit. Magic made people crazy; there was some science Kid Win could hold onto.

But a thought occurred to her as she walked further away... She used magic.

Taylor pushed that thought away, and stormed into the adjoined warehouse.

She paused.

Taylor looked around the room. At the far end of the room, was broken shackles of ice, the wall nearby had deep gouges leading up to the window Cricket had smashed earlier

Hookwolf was gone.

The most dangerous of all the Empire capes in this fight was missing.

Taylor turned and ran back through the hole.

She was just in time to see Leet's form glow as Mog drew a shining ball of energy, almost as big as Mog himself.

Mog took a deep breath and the ball floated inside of the Moogle.

Mog began to radiate light as he drew the energy inside. The Moogle got hard to see for a few seconds until the glowing suddenly stopped.

Only Kid Win seemed unaffected by the lightshow due to his visor protecting his eyes.

Taylor scanned the room, expecting to see Hookwolf skulking in some dark corner, like the metal spider he was earlier. Mog exhaled and took a second to compose himself.

"How do you feel?" Über asked.

Leet looked at his fingers.

"Kinda clean." Leet said, sounding a little confused.

Mog slowly dropped to the ground, as if he was suddenly very heavy.

"Kupo…" Mog said sounding dazed. Taylor had to assume that Hookwolf had bailed, it would be the smart thing to do, the sane thing to do.

Okay, so probably not the Hookwolf thing to do, this was a guy who thought a good time involved winning a dismembered hand after all.

So as she approached Mog, she kept an eye out for any sudden mass of metal and her ears alert for the familiar screeching of metal on metal.

"Mog, talk to me." Taylor said quietly and Mog looked up at her. Kid Win came to stand close by, a sign of being on her side.

"This is... Kupo, this is terrible!" Mog said.

Taylor eyed Leet as she picked Mog up.

"What did he do, Mog?" Taylor asked, giving the duo her best pissed expression.

If they had done something to hurt Mog…

"I only got one, kupo! This spell... I only managed to draw one! But it's so good, kupo~!" Mog wailed into her coat. Taylor looked down at him as did Kid.

"What?" Kid Win said eloquently.

"Mog, what spell? Want to show me?" Taylor asked, knowing showing off made Mog feel better.

Mog snapped his head up to meet Taylor's gaze.

"No way! If I used it, then everything around here goes kupo." Mog answered.

Taylor raised an eyebrow.

"Goes... where?" She felt compelled to ask and Kid Win seem to choke understanding Mog's words better she could apparently .

Mog stared at her.

"It doesn't go anywhere, it just... goes. Done, gone, ended, goes to kupo, kupo. Everything... well, everything with a few blocks or a few streets if I cast it right." Mog corrected himself.

Taylor had to fight the urge to hold Mog at arm's length.

"Mog... What is the name of this spell?" Taylor asked slowly, something inside her terrified of Mog's words.

"It's-"

"It doesn't matter, right kid?" Another familiar voice said and Taylor turned to see a bloody Hookwolf standing in the doorway with Gallant as a meat shield.

The large blade at Gallant's throat made everyone freeze, blood dripping along the metal from where Taylor had severed Hookwolf's right arm. The edge of the blade pressed to where Gallants helmet met his armor, but with his head pulled back, Taylor could see a thin line of skin... Gallant hands were gripped into fists, it was easy to see as he was walking like a zombie, arms stretched out in front of him.

"Mog... do you have any spell that can help." Taylor asked quietly, Mog shook his head.

"Nothing right now, my slots are pretty full… kupo" Mog whispered back. Hookwolf moved Gallant forward, his arms held out in front of him, preventing him from simply putting his palm against Hookwolf and firing his blasts into Hookwolf and making him a blubbering mess.

"All this bullshit about magic, it pisses me off, like this is all a fucking joke and that thing is fucking weird." Hookwolf said bluntly, looking at Mog.

Mog puffed up like an angry marshmellow and his paws crackled with some deep blue energy.

Mog quickly realized what was happening and shook his head, letting the spell die away.

Taylor sighed in relief, as bad as Hookwolf was, this was better. If Mog wasn't pulling her leg, then a chunk of Brockton was just about to be... gone. Just like that.

Magic was fucking scary.

Hookwolf seemed to be oblivious to the disaster he had almost caused, instead he kept staring at Taylor, blood dripping down his cheek, and dripping from the blade held against Gallant's throat.

"So here's what's going to happen, you're going to free my comrades there, nice and easy. Then you're all going to lie on the ground while we go. Any funny movements then knight boy here gets the best shave he's ever going to get. Oh, and Keynote? I. Win." Hookwolf said lightly, Taylor tried to set him on fire with her mind, but whatever powered her magic didn't seem to work with eyesight alone.

Yet.

Still Taylor looked at Hookwolf and felt her lip curl in disgust.

"You know Hookwolf… I could have killed you. It would have been easy. I held back so I wouldn't and then chose not to finish you off when I had the chance. I even healed you so you wouldn't bleed out. If we ever fight again… I won't bother holding back." Taylor growled through gritted teeth.

Angrily, Taylor turned and walked over to Cricket. As she looked at the downed villain, she a feeling that even if she freed them, neither Cricket or Stormtiger would be in any shape to walk, let alone escape the authorities in any hurry.

Cricket was looking at some serious bruising and a damaged shoulder. Stormtiger was... Well, he was looking at the ceiling in a daze, and seemed to be having trouble remembering how to blink.

And Hookwolf was still bleeding, and if he moved too much he might reopen his wounds and bleed out despite Taylor's regretted efforts. He'd deserve it too.

Kid Win and Über didn't pull any punches it seemed.

Not that Taylor did, but at the same time, there was a lot of things Taylor could have tried. A few nastier spell combos she was saving as she was absolutely certain that if she used them… someone would die.

Hookwolf snarled suddenly, making Leet jump. Kid Win's face was an expression of anger, his fingers gripping the air, like he was holding his gun

"Faster!" Hookwolf snapped and Taylor could faintly hear sirens in the distance.

Taylor smashed the ice shackles holding Cricket down. The woman rolled her eyes to her freed hands, but didn't do much else.

Taylor looked at Hookwolf and shrugged.

"Stormtiger's even worse off. I think you might as well cut your losses and run." She said with a smile, Hookwolf stared at her, his wolf mask covered by his dirty blond hair.

"Cricket! Get up." The Nazi barked and Cricket struggled to her feet, clearly needing support to even walk.

Taylor winced at her motions. Über had been wearing some very pointy shoes when he cornered her.

Taylor could cast cure on her, but there was no need to help the sociopaths out.

She'd just found out how that turned out.

Maybe when they were all in chains… but probably not even then.

She was sure even Mouse Protector would agree with her on that.

"It's pointless, kupo." Mog's voice called out, causing Hookwolf to glance at him.

"You got something to say? I don't recall asking you to talk, rat." Hookwolf spat.

Mog didn't seem to be affected by what Hookwolf said, in fact, Mog seemed downright... cheerful.

"I know, kupo, but I thought that I, a small rat, should point something out, to draw your attention to something, kupo." Mog replied, Hookwolf paused, his attention between Mog and Taylor.

"Oh and what's that?" Hookwolf asked, with a snort. Mog leaned forward, almost as if to share a secret. Taylor hoped Mog knew what he was doing.

The panic and the tension drained away as she looked past Hookwolf, to the space behind him.

"You're standing in an open doorway." Mog said and Hookwolf tilted his head, not understanding, then an object landed between Hookwolf's and Gallant's legs.

A red boot.

"Duck!"

Everyone stared at it, then Mouse Protector was suddenly next to Hookwolf, pushing the man's elbow in with her palm, forcing Hookwolf's arm to straighten out, the bloodied blades moving away from Gallant's throat. The instant they did, the Ward threw himself to the ground and Mouse Protector vanished as quickly as she appeared.

Hookwolf stood there, without Gallant as a shield. He turned to run, intending to leave Cricket and Stormtiger behind, to do as Taylor had recommended and cut his losses, but paused as he came face to face with Boco. The birds leg cocked back as far Boco could force it to go.

Hookwolf looked up, not believing what he was seeing.

The giant yellow bird looked Hookwolf in the eyes.

"Kweh." Boco chirruped and then his foot shot forward with tremendous force. His claws hit Hookwolf almost dead center, just slightly… lower.

Hookwolf made a noise like a balloon deflating and he flew across the room, past Taylor smashing into the metal support for the building, denting it as he hit it.

Taylor looked from Boco and to the crumpled form of Hookwolf. He seemed to be staying down this time, lying slumped in slowly growing puddle of blood. He was still alive so Taylor had no intention of helping him this time.

Off to the side she could see the boys almost reflexively wince in unison. Kid Win was looking at Boco in horror, while the others were looking at Hookwolf with decidedly pained expressions, Leet even going so far as to cup himself.

Boco gave Hookwolf a little kick as he walked past, making his way over to Taylor and mog. The villain stayed down, lost in his own private world of pain.

As Boco reached them Mog smiled as his friend warbled to them. Turning to look at Hookwolf, Mog tanslated his friends words.

"Boco says 'nobody calls my friend a rat', in case you were wondering." Mog called to the downed Hookwolf.

Mouse Protector poked her head in and looked around, staring at the downed Empire capes, then Über, Leet, and finally Kid Win, Gallant and Mog.

"Apprentice! Are there any remaining threats?" Mouse Protector called and Taylor looked at everyone. Threats? Maybe to her sanity...

"No, everyone is accounted for. How did you find us?" Taylor asked as Mouse Protector walked closer.

"The Mouse Mobile and the Mouse fairy have great sense of things." Mouse declared.

Taylor stared at her.

"Mouse Mobile?" Taylor finally asked, Boco gave a warbled and rubbed his head into Taylor's shoulder, nuzzling her.

Mouse Protector puffed up her chest and patted Boco.

"My faithful steed, whom I ride into battle against the forces of darkness, evil, corruption, and also maybe, donut runs." The mouse themed cape replied.

Taylor just sighed, though she couldn't help but smile.

Mouse Protector was just... good. Good cheer, good fun, and just good to see after everything.

"Boco is pretty awesome." Taylor agreed.

Mouse protector patted her on the shoulder.

"You did a good job, you even brought together the forces of heroes and villains together in friendship that lead to your victory." Mosue Protector said with a smile.

Taylor looked around her to see Leet waving the Pixelblade at Kid Win, who threatened him with his pistol. Über said something to Gallant and they both shook their heads.

"Yeah, sure, let's go with that." Taylor agreed.

Mouse Protector rubbed her chin.

"I must harness this power... for good." Mouse whispered.

Taylor eyed her warily. Mouse Protector might be a force of good, but so was Ingrid, and she was right down evil.

Mouse straightened and stretched with a grin.

"So… Missy is on her way, a few other big names as well, got a call when I got here to say I should lock down the scene, but I have to say... You got everything handled pretty well. Hookwolf is a pretty mean... Son of a female dog." Mouse Protector complimented and Taylor nodded, not sure how to respond, it was her own fault that there was even a fight in the first place.

Kid Win choked.

"M-Missy?" The ward repeated, with disbelief. Mouse nodded.

Gallant and Kid shared a looked, something seemed to be alarming them.

"Yup, me and Missy go way back, knew her before she even met Armsmaster." Mouse Protector confirmed and the Ward looked at her.

"But she's never…" Kid Win began but then paused as a lightbulb clicked on.

"Miss Militia... must hate that name." Kid Win pointed out.

Mouse grinned.

"With a passion." The mouse hero agreed.

Leet strolled up and gave Mouse Protector a once over.

"So... You're Mouse Protector. I've heard about you, usually with the word cheesy added on." Leet said.

Mouse turned from Kid to Leet, eyeing his weapon.

"Ah you must be my apprentice's apprentice, I see you have emulated her well, but you might need a cape." Mouse Protectore pointed out.

Leet froze.

"Apprenti… No. No! I am Leet!" The blue suited cape said, pointing his finger at Mouse Protector, a bit too dramatically for Taylor's patience.

He deserved what was about to happen, Taylor didn't know Mouse Protector well, but she knew enough.

"Leet? Hmm... I think it doesn't work well with our current group chemistry, how about Knight or... Elite... No that's not a good one, taken too... How about Keymaster? It's got a very D and D vibe, but you look like you would be a wicked dungeon master. I know you aren't a girl, but I will try my best to get you into WOMBA!" Mouse Protector out pointed at Leet, her finger almost touching Leet's nose.

Leet took a step back.

"Über! Help!" Leet yelled without taking his eyes off the mouse cape.

Über walked over, unhurried.

"Well... You'll be fine, you might be turning into a magical girl remember? You'll fit right in." Über said, throwing his arm around Leet's shoulders.

Leet glared at his friend and shrunk into himself, trying to become invisible.

"Traitor." Leet whispered and Über pulled him to the side, pointing out the still filming camera. Leet straightened and brightened at the same time. Taylor felt a smile tug at her face at the sight, then stubbornly pushed it down.

She didn't like them... She was just glad they were okay.

That was her story and she sticking to it.

"What now?" Taylor asked, turning to Mouse Protector.

The woman looked at her, one hand to her chin in a thinking pose.

"Lots and lots of paperwork." Mouse answer sadly.

Taylor smiled, after today she could handle that.

Thank Scion or whoever today was done, she really, really, wanted to go home.

If anything else happened today, she would just close her curtains, once she asked Mouse what happened to Paige… and once she got home and reassured Sabah… and once she got into bed.

"Keynote, relax not! For later... We must attend dinner at the Dallon household!" Mouse said slapping her hand on Taylor's shoulder.

Taylor snapped her head to Mouse Protector.

Dallon? Brandish's house?! The pissed off lawyer of Paige?

"I can't... I… Uh need to go home. I left my friend turned on!" Taylor pulled at several excuses at once, before realzing what she'd said and slapped her self in the face, once more glad her hood hid her monumental blush.

Mouse chuckled and wiggled her fingers.

"No need to worry, we'll collect your partner first. It be the first full meeting of WOMBA." Mous Protector smiled.

Taylor drew up her inner Sabah and Ifrit.

"No." Taylor said, glaring hard at the older woman. Mouse Protector blinked at her and then a sly smile came across her face.

"Shall I tell Brandish that you don't think her dinner is worthy of your presence?" Mouse asked in a sing song voice.

Taylor felt her Sabah face break a little.

"I might have plans." Taylor pointed out.

Mouse shook her head.

"Might is not does. If you don't want to come, I get ya. Brandish is kinda... prickly. But I think something weird is going on with her and her kid." Mouse finished in a much quieter voice, one that Taylor had to lean in to hear. Taylor shifted mental gears trying to keep up with Mouse Protectors abrupt shift in personality.

"Weird? It's Brandish of New Wave, she's a hero." Taylor said, the excuse sounding hollow even to her own ears, as she matched Mouse's volume.

Mouse Protector shrugged and watched as Kid Win let Gallant sit on his hover-board to help with his leg.

"Heroes are people too, sadly. They get broken legs, and broken hearts. They can be awesome people, and crazy people, or even shitty people. But if we poke about, we might be able to make things less shitty." Mouse countered.

Taylor blew out a sigh, she knew Mouse Protector was playing on Taylor's helping people thing.

If Victoria or Amy were in any trouble, then she had to least check it out, right?

"You saw the dogs outside, didn't you?" Taylor asked.

Mouse grinned.

"You're a hero, to those cute pups at least." The Protectorate cape teased.

Taylor rolled her eye.

"What if we make things more shitty? That's a possibility." Taylor said.

Mouse smiled a little sadly.

"If you have to think about all the 'if's and but's' of helping someone because it might go wrong, then being a hero is going to be really hard for you. The only thing worse than doing the wrong thing, is doing nothing at all. After all, all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing." Mouse said and Taylor swallowed a little hard at this.

Taylor knew that. Lung had been an experience that she was still trying to learn from to this day.

It was just dinner, it wasn't like they were going to go looking for Brandish's witch book and cauldron. They were hardly the Spanish Inquisition.

Taylor sighed.

"Fine, but I want to go home for a shower first." Taylor begrudgingly agreed.

Mouse Protector beamed at her.

"Great! I'll phone Brandish and get us invited. I think she'll be miffed if we just drop in uninvited." Mouse said with a grin and walked away.

Taylor watched her go, her mouth open.

Mouse Protector had just... She was…

She was just like Ingrid. A smiling devil. Taylor had kind of sorted her close to the Myrddin box in her mind, but she neatly unpacked Mouse Protector and placed her next to Kaiser.

Not for moral reasons, Mouse Protector was definitely the most heroic hero she had ever met.

But she was also an underhanded, scheming, evil genius.

Leet, Über, and now Mouse Protector with Brandish... Was there anyone else who wanted to challenge her view on heroes and villains today?

Jess was having both, a very good day and a very bad day.

The good part was that she finally shut up that little voice in the back of her head.

It was the voice that always said 'don't do that' or 'this is bad'.

It could have been her conscience, but most likely it was mother's Catholic upbringing talking.

God rest her fucking soul.

Still saving a little... what age was Dinah? Saving a youngish girl from fucking Coil, the man who dressed in a frigging snake onesie, had apparently appeased the voice.

The bad part was the fact that one slip up could earn her a damn bullet to her fucking head.

Jess lunged forward, the torch in her hand exploding into a wave of fire that set the man in front her ablaze and screaming, dropping his gun in a panic as he dropped to the ground, rolling around to try and put the flames out.

As he hit the ground she made the fire leap to the woman coming up the stairs next. Predictably the fire alarm joined in on the wailing alongside the security alarm.

Why one building needed two fucking different alarms that both said 'get your ass out of the building' was a mystery to her.

Jess pulled the fire back and slammed the door. Her inner mound of treasure didn't really include anything good to block the door with sadly.

Mentally digging through the pile of bubbles that held her inventory, she wondered why she had stolen a fudging stop sign.

Sure she could empty it all and definitely block the door, but there some things that she would never let see the light of day again.

Buried at the bottom of her bag...

The door buckled as someone kicked it, which budged it slightly before Jess threw her body into it.

"Dinah, hun, can I ask you something?" Jess grunted as the door buckled again, on the other side of the roof, Dinah poked her head up, her brown hair looked messy and frazzled.

"I should be fine, what is it?" Dinah shouted back.

Jess liked Dinah, there were murderous spy men on the other side of the door and she was as cool a fucking cucumber.

Girl had brass ones. Great big brass ones.

"What's the chance of help coming in the next five or ten minutes?" Jess asked as the door bucked much harder behind her. In front of her a hand reached through the newly created gap, so without thinking, Jess bit it.

A man screamed, the hand vanishing in a hurry. Jess cackled, eyeing the fiery torch laid on the ground nearby, blackening the gravel underneath it, that the hotel had covered the roof in.

Jess pulled at it and a part of the flame jumped to her command, nothing bigger than a marble.

She lobbed it through the space and there were more noises of pain. A gun fired, a hole appearing at hip height, almost hitting her.

Dinah's voice said something and Jess reached randomly inside her bag and grabbed something, and threw it at the door, the biggest, heaviest thing she could feel.

Her fainting couch flew out and smashed into the door.

Jess winced, she loved that damn thing. Jess ran back to Dinah, feeling more upset than she thought she would at the loss of a small couch.

Being a hoarder came with its own special ups and downs.

Mostly that it was good to have lots of stuff and really frigging sucky to give it up.

"What was that? Sorry, guns are loud." Jess said as she got closer.

Dinah nodded, gripping the table she was hiding behind tighter.

"In five minutes there is 36.268% chance of someone being here to help, but I already asked myself about ten and that was 79.497%." Dinah reported.

Jess ruffled her hair.

"Good job." Jess grinned.

Dinah shrugged, a bit pink.

"I just talk to myself." The young girl said, dismissing Jess's compliment.

Jess smiled to herself.

What was it about Brockton Bay that had her meeting younger girls with seriously frigging scary powers and no self-confidence?

It must be the water, Jess was fucking happy she stuck to booze.

The fainting couch fell sideways and the door beat at it, ramming the wood as the couch was pushed further and further away.

"Stay down and don't do anything fu… dging stupid. These guys are cold and they will break your arm if they think it will make me stop. So don't go surrendering to save me, don't freeze up like a frigging pansy, and whatever you do... don't ever give up." Jess said.

Dinah looked up at her, the slightest tremble in her hands.

"Got it... If you need, I can ask myself what the chance are that you'll win? It'll only hurt a little." Dinah offered as the first man stepped over the couch.

Jess grinned.

How fucking adorable.

"Never tell me the odds!" Jess said and struck a pose.

Dinah stared at her in confusion making Jess sigh.

"You're making me feel old, kid. Tell ya what I'll re-kidnap you after this and show you a galaxy far, far away... on screen." Jess promised.

Dinah looked at her with a puzzled expression before she spoke.

"So you don't want me to ask?" The little girls said, surprised.

Jess grinned cockily at that.

"Kid, I already know what the answer is." Jess said and her mallet appeared in her hand, which she slung over her shoulder like a bat.

"I'm going to frigging kick ass." Jess told Dinah, who eyed the man coming through the door, with others close on his heels.

"Okay, I won't ask the numbers... So don't let me down." Dinah said with a small smile.

Jess gave her a thumbs up, as she casually walked over to meet the men half way, who seemed busy securing the doorway.

It was the driver leading three other people, two men and one woman.

They all looked like they should be extras in some fucking fairy tale amusement park ad.

Colorful shirts, casual pants, the kind of people who looked like they had children and good houses to go home to after long day of killing and kidnapping children for douche bags.

Jess hated them. It was a sudden thought, and it caught her by surprise.

"Circus, we've be told to offer you a last deal before we all do something you'll regret." Driver said loudly.

Jess made show of thinking about it, her eyes casually moving over their forms, counting guns and burned patches of skin.

Dangers and opportunities. Jess smiled pleasantly at them.

"Well, how generous. Coil is a generous guy I guess, it's the first fucking word I think of when I think of Coil. The second is dick, the third is asshole, and the forth is coward. So here's my counter offer. Fuck. Off. You're at the top of a hotel, with the only way out being filled up with police, swat, probably even the fucking coast guard. Then they'll bring in the capes. You think I'm a pain in the ass? They have capes who could take your guns and shove them so far up your ass, that you'll be spitting fucking bullets." Jess said in a very calm and polite tone. The four henchmen, for that was what they were until their contract ended, didn't move.

Driver sighed as if this was expected.

"We have people in place, once we eliminate you and throw you off the building, we become another family in the chaos. Our sleeping daughter is just so frail… We just need to step outside before more bombs go off, we're just going to look for my sister, I think we see her, thank you officer and so on, so on." Driver said, his gun rising to point directly at Jess's head.

"This isn't my first job, not going to be my last either." Driver said as the other three members of the hired help raised their guns as well.

Jess looked at him, tilting her head slightly.

"You've kidnapped other kids?" Jess asked softly and Driver shrugged.

"They make for good insurance, people get attached to their kids." Driver replied.

Jess nodded.

"Yeah, not fucking happening today." Jess said with a grin, then in front of her, appearing like an illusionists magic trick was a ballistic riot shield.

A gift from her little trip breaking into an army surplus warehouse one time in California.

She charged at them. They all shot at her, but Jess was protected from head to fucking toe. The bulletproof glass window cracked and whitened as the bullets impacted against the shield, but she felt the shield collide with one of the shooters sending him to the ground. She then dropped it on the man, as he struggled to get back up, pulling out her mallet in a split second, swinging directly into a second man in khaki shorts, his arm gave a crunch as his elbow was forced backwards into the other side of his arm.

A small fridge appeared behind her, giving her another shield against any metal gifts. Jess hoped they wouldn't ding it too fucking much, this fridge was... borrowed from a movie set she visited last year.

Crystal Jones... or something like that.

But Driver was quicker on the uptake than she gave him bloody credit for, he rushed around the fridge and tried to grab her.

Not the smartest fucking idea, but she liked his attitude.

Shame it wouldn't do him any favors now, the dick.

Jess nimbly moved out of his reach, his grasping hands easily battered away. Enhanced reflexes were a bitch to fight, well, unless they were yourown enhanced reflexes of course.

She vaulted over Driver, ignoring him as he stumbled. The torch still sat blazing away on the gravel, the idiots hadn't even put it out.

So as she drew the knife that sparkled into her hands and threw it into the shoulder of the woman, making her shot go wildly off target, pinging into the gravel nearby, Jess pulled out a canister.

A spoonful of fuel would make this fire so much better.

The circus act torch ignited into a bonfire.

Normally this would be a bad thing, being that fires were uncontrollable.

Jess didn't have that problem. In fact, she had something opposite of a problem.

The entire field of fire leapt to her control, the heat brushing but never being allowed to burn her skin.

The remaining man, a young skinny guy who looked like he stepped off a catwalk, stared at her. His gun shaking.

"Shoot her!" Driver screamed, searching his pockets, his own gun having mysteriously vanished.

Fucking shame that, Jess grinned, feeling the gun float gently in her space.

Jess remembered something, it had come up when she was watching Taylor fight the nerds. She'd once stole a light arcade machine of Street fighter, a classic game that sadly died away after the company sank with the rest of Japan's industry.

She still had it floating around somewhere...

There was something she had always wanted to try... the fire swam around her, collecting tightly together between her palms where the heat began singe her clothes.

"Ha-fucking-douken." Jess whispered and the searing ball flew at the man, where he was knocked back, the flame splashing over his skin.

Jess let him burn... for a few seconds before she pulled the fire away, leaving the man angry lobster red.

Not for the sake of his fucking health, but for Dinah's mental state.

Watching people burn to death fucked you up.

Jess knew that better than anyone.

The blonde woman stared at her, as her white shirt bleed deeply from where she'd yanked the knife out of her shoulder. Stupid fucking move that.

Still, Jess narrowed her eyes. Her knife…

The knife flashed from the woman's grip and back into Jess's. The woman looked freaked and she bolted for the door, ignoring the two downed men and Driver.

Driver looked pissed, which was refreshing from his usual stoic face.

Jess shot the fire straight up, as far as her control would let her, the stream of flames hurled itself up like a fancy firework.

There Jess spread the flame thin, letting the fire flicker out as it hit the apex of its climb.

Driver stared at her and the two downed men.

"Just run. Coil is going down and you really, really, don't want to know him right now." Jess told the man, a single ember passing between them before it died upon the gravel.

Driver charged her and suddenly stopped, choking as he looked down, a large wooden pole buried in his gut. Jess hadn't moved, the pole was just that large.

Jess smirked, the guy was lucky she used the flat end or he would have been a frigging shish-kebab.

Still that had to hurt like a bitch, Jess thought as Driver crumpled.

That was... four for four. Jess walked over to Driver, giving half a thought of what his name actually was for a moment before deciding she didn't care. With a bit effort her mallet returned to her hand, where she dragged it loudly across the gravel, making Driver stare up at her from where he was curled up.

Jess walked slowly, and when she stood over him, she hefted the mallet to one shoulder, the red stripes and happy face painted on it making it perfect for a sunny day like this.

"I should fucking kill you, you sack of shit. Really, how many people have you hurt? How many kids have you taken away from their parents?" Jess asked quietly, making sure Dinah couldn't hear.

Driver's eyes were wide.

"Don't... I… I can give you the money I got paid, don't do this, please!" He begged, his voice hoarse and his body shaking.

Jess put her hand on her hip and smiled at him.

"I wonder... How many of those kids begged you not to do it too?" She asked brightly and two handed the hammer, pulling it back for a swing. Driver began yell, trying to crawl away.

Jess knew her eyes would be wide, her smile would be stretched and her teeth would be clenched .

She had caught herself looking like that before.

"I fucking wonder, if you know what it's like to have the people you love fucking ripped away from you after you begged so damn hard to save them?!" K-Jess half giggled, memories pushing their way to the fore front of her mind.

They were not happy ones and so she swung her mallet with a half scream, her frustration at Coil, at her job, at her morals, at her friends, at herself, and for not being able to fucking swear when she fucking wanted to, and most of all, she was so fucking frustrated at being forced to admit that she liked being Jess.

She took all those feelings and poured it into her swing.

Driver screamed and screamed, even when he opened his eyes saw the mallet had missed by a small margin. He scrambled away, heading towards the stairs.

Jess let him.

She couldn't chase him anyway, panting, and gripped the mallet tight enough that it hurt, then…

She let go.

The mallet dropped from her hands and Jess followed it to the ground, landing on her knees.

Jess put a hand to her head and cackled loudly, finding comfort in the act.

She really needed to get therapy, this was becoming a bad habit whenever things got personal. Meltdowns were so unattractive.

"Are you okay?" A girl's voice, Dinah's, asked.

Jess peered at her through long blonde hair, her jester's hat dropped... somewhere.

"Kid... I forgot you were there." Jess admitted.

Dinah eyed her warily.

"You went kind of crazy." Dinah pointed out.

Jess couldn't help it as another little giggle escaped her.

"Went? Kid I jumped on the crazy train ages ago and I'm still not sure where it's going. Still... Sorry you had to see that, I uh... Get a little darnemotional sometimes." Jess said breathing deeply, the smell of burning flesh fading from her mind.

Dinah sat down next to her, her eyes downcast.

She was silent before she just suddenly started to talk.

"Sometimes... I ask the numbers about things I was better off not knowing and I can't forget them. Like I asked how much my parents loved me once and I couldn't get a proper answer, the numbers don't understand love I think... but I ask the numbers what are the chances they would like me less if they knew I was a cape and... It was stupid, it was only 2%, but it hurt." Dinah said haltingly.

Jess ruffled her hair and Dinah pushed her hand away looking more annoyed than sad now.

"Sorry, I get that these are your parents, but frig them. You're still you, even if you have a universal calculator in your head. People change, hun, not always for the better, but sometimes people can surprise you to heck. That 2% is just as important as the frigging rest of the 98%. I like you more for every second I've known you... And that's like a whole tooting 30 minutes or something." Jess said quietly and touched her mallet, making it vanish.

Dinah seemed to think about that.

Jess looked at the downed men and had to smile.

Maybe she should kidnap Dinah? She was a good distraction from the mess that was her mental stability.

Still as much as she wanted to sit there and share stories with the young girl, they weren't safe. Not until Coil was named and some guy turned up in spandex trying to save the day.

Pulling herself up and then helping Dinah to her feet, she turned to the stairs leading down in time to see Driver fly through it, landing hard on his back.

Pushing Dinah behind her, Jess stood, knife at the ready.

A man stepped through the door and it wasn't spandex, but Jess liked what she saw; body armor that covered his entire body beneath a near skintight red spandex suit and a red visor, unruly brown hair and a 'devil may care' smile.

Assault was fine.

Jess smiled, a hellish one to match his.

"Here I come to save the day and some joker's already beat me to it, talk about being one upped." Assault said, strolling through the door.

Jess stood aside to show Dinah, unhurt and safe. Assault's fist slowly unclenched and he looked a lot more relaxed.

"Well... You took so damn long getting here I got bored. This hero appearing at the last minute act is really over done... hun." Jess answered smoothly. Dinah grabbed her hand and seemed to relax into her, exhausted.

"My head hurts." Dinah grumbled.

Jess gently pushed her towards Assault.

"Go on, dreamboat here will take you somewhere frigging safe." Jess encouraged.

Dinah eyed her.

"Dreamboat? I think you mean Assault." The girl said sounding like she was amused at Jess's 'mistake'.

Assault's lips looked like they were trying very hard to not to grin.

"Wow, this is going to be the best operation under my name yet, and I didn't do anything. I rescued the hostage, caught the bad guys, took in the villain who wants to reform as a hero... Arms is going to be pissed." Assault mused and Jess sucked in some air like Assault had made a big mistake.

"What?" Assault asked defensively and Jess turned and walked towards the ledge of the roof, staring out at the city.

"You got something wrong there... You seem to think I'll frigging… How do you say it... Ah! Come quietly?" Jess said with a smile over her shoulder. Assault crossed his arms and looked interested.

"Well bend me over, and I guess I did, so tell me, oh madam jester. How exactly are you going to escape or are you just going to be difficult?" The hero asked, one hand on Dinah's shoulder, who looked extremely confused at what was happening.

Jess hopped up on the ledge and balanced perfectly, her heels hanging over the ledge.

Assault lost some of his smile.

"That's not an escape, not the one you want." Assault said, sounding serious.

Jess smiled a bit sadly.

"I'm not going to kill myself, please, give me some respect." Jess said with a soft smile.

"I have warrants out for me in several states, I'm wanted for dozens of offenses for theft, destruction of property, two counts of grand theft auto, four cases of arson, and now, helping with kidnapping." Jess counted off.

Assault shook his head.

"If you wanted to help, to get out of that lifestyle, you'd be surprised what people would sweep under the rug for another hero. Times are desperate." Assault offered.

Jess shrugged.

"I guess you would know." Jess said thinking about it.

Assault pretended to look hurt.

"I have no idea what you mean." He said in mock shock. Jess liked him, which was becoming a problem.

She just liked too many heroes.

Sabah and Taylor were a lesser evil since they weren't government tools, but still… Assault might actually convince her at this rate.

"Well handsome, I gotta get out of here, before I frigging turn into a girl scout. So, point fingers at Coil, he's the dick bag that wanted her. And so remember." Jess said pointing her finger at him, she could hear more feet on the stairs, soon this place would be crawling with people any minute.

Jess bowed and winked at Dinah.

"This was the day you almost caught the phenomenal, beautiful thief, Circus!" Jess exclaimed, allowing for her knife to re-appear in her hand even as she flipped herself backwards over the side of the hotel roof and into open air.

The wind immediately began to rush past her ears and distantly she could hear Dinah's distraught scream.

Jess hoped Dinah would learn that she escaped, if she thought Jess died, then that'd be kind of sucky.

She plunged her knife into one of the long banners that hung from the side of the building, decorated with animals or some hippie shit.

This was a stupid thing to do since if she didn't cut directly down the middle and fall in time to catch the next banner or, if she went off to the side then she would go splat on the concrete.

The banner parted like butter under her knife and she descended down the side of the building with almost effortless ease. Plus the whole super reflexes thing kept her from swaying too much.

The vapid looking banner suddenly ended, proving to be as useful as the product it was trying to sell and Jess grabbed at the metal pole keeping the bottom of the banner tied to the building,

Jess was still about 12 or so floors up. Much to her dismay, there wasn't a second banner, just a sheer drop.

Okay, she could work with this, she told herself.

Jess began to swing back and forth, adding momentum to her body, swinging her legs higher and higher.

A little bit more and Jess would just crash through the window. Fucking easy.

So as Jess let go of the pole she didn't see the blur of green that rushed into the room.

A woman in a circuit board costume, and eyes of pissed of fury stormed into the room, faster than any normal person could.

She seemed as surprised to see Jess flying towards the window as Jess was to see her standing there.

Jess hit the window, but it didn't shatter, it didn't even budge when her full body hit it. Jess began to teeter backwards.

The woman punched the glass, making Jess flinch, making her fingers missing the edge of the window, there was a sensation of fingers grasping at her hand, but missing slightly.

Battery, the woman who teamed up with Assault had just killed Jess.

Jess... felt insulted, the woman wasn't even famous! Still Jess was now falling to her death. Desperately she tried to dig through her treasure for…anything that could help.

Her bouncy castle might have helped but she had to be a damn hero.

Her… a hero.

Jess laughed... which turned into a full blown cackle, her eyes caught a glimpse of Battery leaning out the window, her arm still extended to catch her, horror on the heroes face.

Jess just let go, of her worries, her fears, her doubts, well there was no doubt left anyway. The only thing Jess felt was absolute glee at the look on Battery's face.

It was a bit sadistic, but she had to have a good laugh before she became a Jess pancake.

So she laughed. It was the most carefree thing she had done in years.

But as she laughed, her eyes closed with tears, of joy and sadness.

She never saw her knife, caught awkwardly as Jess fell from the window by the blade, was clutched so tightly that her hand began to bleed… and it was glowing.

Taylor paused mid step. She was just about to leave the warehouse, finally and go home. The dinner invitation hanging over her like an axe, when she felt... off.

Something felt odd, inside her chest.

Like a her heart was hammering, racing, but not beating any faster than normal.

Then the Keyblade appeared in her hands.

It was shaking, just a small tremble at first but it quickly began to vibrate so hard that Taylor almost dropped it.

Below her a circle faded into existence. It was glowing in a familiar way.

It was like when Ifrit had come.

"An Esper circle!" Mog cried in alarm, flying around Taylor. Taylor panicked and tried to stomp it out.

"Mog? What's happening?" Taylor cried, Kid Win rushed over as Gallant half fell on the spot, staring at the circle.

This was the worst thing that could happen short of an Endbringer or Mouse Protector talking to… well… anyone.

Why was it coming now when everything was over?!

The power beneath her built up to the point that the circle was making a high pitched whine. Kid win leaned back, covering his eyes and Taylor wished she could do the same, but she seemed glued to the spot, her hands welded to the Keyblade.

Taylor caught glimpses of red eyes appearing in the circle and then it exploded, knocking Taylor back and sending a dark shape hurtling out the hole Stormtiger left in the window.

The black nebulous form quickly vanished out of sight.

"Kupo... This is bad." Mog said.

Mouse Protector pulled Taylor to her feet.

"Apprentice... do you... release eldritch beasts often?" Mouse asked sounding interested.

Taylor sighed and rushed to the door to see if she could spot where the esper was going.

"Only on Tuesdays it seems." Taylor answered distractedly. Then focusing herself, Taylor whistled.

"Boco, Mog let's go, we have to catch up to it." Taylor called.

Boco rushed from his spot from several cages of dogs, where he seemed to be warbling to them, almost singing to the stressed animals.

Mog saluted and floated to her shoulder.

A hand rested on her shoulder.

"Keynote... I hate to ruin your charge, me of all people." Mouse Protector said, but she was looking back at the warehouse being surrounded by the police.

"But if Hookwolf wakes up or something else happens, we need you here to contain the scene. Armsmaster is on his way, so it won't be long, but on top of that, doing all this and leaving the scene doesn't look good. If you leave now, before getting to share your side of things, then it can become a big mess very quickly." Mouse pointed out.

Taylor looked out at the city where the shadow had disappeared.

Mouse Protector was right… but this Esper might not be a nice one.

"Mog? Can you find that Esper? See what it's up to?" Taylor asked, feeling like a coward. Damage control was a good thing, but it felt dirty.

"Kupo! Got a lock in it, I don't know who it is yet, but it felt... like it was up to something, kupo. It was summoned by someone else, but it wasn't powerful or evil, it just needed you to pierce the barrier." Mog said, whispering that last part to Taylor.

Taylor froze, digesting this.

"Mog... Who else could possibly have magic for that?" Taylor asked in a harsh whisper.

Mog looked at her.

"Not many, it has to be someone you know, or someone who can hide from us Espers' kupo... But the longer you stay here on Earth... The more magical it becomes, kupo." Mog said as he landed on Boco.

"We'll catch them for you, and we'll get Parian to help! Kupo!" Mog cried and Boco flapped his wings, and shot off, quickly disappearing round a corner.

Mouse Protector's hand reached up as if to catch them.

"My mouse mobile…" Mouse said broken heartedly.

Taylor awkwardly patted her on the shoulder.

"You can come to the Dollhouse and see him whenever." Taylor offered.

Mouse grabbed her hand.

"I can? Oh, I can't wait to tell Missy I already have more of a social life than her! I wonder if I should bring her along..." Mouse trailed off with a hum.

Taylor leaned against the wall, thinking of Sabah trying to make army camo dresses for Miss Militia.

She smiled.

Sabah would make it work.

Beep... beep... beep…

Being an ex-soldier, he that had seen some pretty horrific stuff in his days but that didn't make being in a first world hospital any more pleasant for him. The sterile bleach smell made him queasy.

Still a job was a job.

And Coil wasn't a man who accepted failure with a light heart.

Derrick, his fake name on the bank statements, counted off room numbers, the nurse stationed there being distracted by several problems happening on the other side of the corridor.

His backup was spread out, pretending to be visiting, lurking around the exit path they would take, the shortest path from the ward to outside where the van was waiting.

Just turn off the heart monitor, get Danny Hebert into a wheelchair, get him outside and job done.

The blue nurse scrubs he wore, made him less likely to be remembered as odd by the public, his features were already quite forgettable by nature.

Which had made his life somewhat of a challenge for when it came to finding excitement.

Who knew it would have lead him to this? Working for a super-villain because no one else would hire a violent soldier?

Still it was his group, not just him, but it was all details.

Not that most people remembered the times before capes showed up.

Coil did and he made Derrick feel like he had purpose again, he was only old enough to be in the last few years of the Vietnam war, but what he saw there had stuck with him.

But to be holding a gun again, to be entrusted with missions and ops, it made him feel alive again.

He knew it was wrong, but at the end of the day, the job and the money was worth it.

Slipping into the room with D, Hebert on the whiteboard plaque, he closed the door behind him, surprised to see Danny Hebert standing at the window, instead of in his bed like a vegetable as reported.

Derrick walked closed, a sedative in his hands. The way Hebert stood in front the window made him feel a little nervous, the man's outline a little hazy silhouetted like he was.

"Do you know... what happens when I don't think?" Hebert said, making Derrick pause.

He was sure he had been absolutely silent on his approach.

"I jump into portals without thinking where they might take me." Hebert said, turning around, his slightly balding hair and soft features should have make Derrick feel at ease, but there was something extremely wrong. It was the man's eyes.

The look they held was not vacant but sharp and predatory.

When Hebert took a step towards Derrick, the soldier took a step back, to get away.

"So, I got three pieces of advice for ya." Hebert said casually, snatching the sedative out of Derrick's grip so fast, Derrick missed what happened.

"One, Women who sit on beaches are not to be trusted, two, don't think that a title like Esper of Love means they're sweethearts and, finally, three... If you're going to try and sneak up on me, you're gonna have to do a lot better than that." He said with a grin and Derrick felt himself moving, but he didn't understand how.

Then he crashed through the door to Danny Hebert's room.

"Oh and one more thing; don't stand still and just let people hit you! That's a good one as well." Derrick heard as his lungs tried to take in air and struggled, people all around them staring at him.

He pulled out his phone and hit a number.

Hebert walked out as more men burst in from a nearby stairwell, rushing straight for Derrick.

Derrick knew this was going to be a FUBAR plan now, but if they just grabbed Hebert and ran they could hide out... and get Derrick's lungs to work.

Herbet looked at the other men coming at him. Then he was gone.

Derrick blinked, what the fu-

"Fools…" Hebert said, his voice booming from... behind his men?

Hebert stood there, hands in his hospital pants. Derrick's men turned and stared at him momentarily stunned.

Hospital security ran down a hall, making Hebert grin wider.

"Hebert, you're unstable, you need to calm down." Derrick said, trying to play up his nurse guise, his men were just random bystanders trying to restrain a dangerous patient from attacking a nurse, reasonable enough.

"Hebert? Oh... I see." Hebert said, looking at his hands.

"I was thinking everything looked smaller... Trust the Esper of Love to open a portal to the last place I wanted to be…" Hebert said.

Derrick blinked... Esper? Love? What madness was this?

Then Hebert started laughing, a loud belly aching laugh.

"You wish to restrain me? I have no desire to sit in this white hell." Hebert said, with a smile and turned to walk away. Derrick nodded to his men who ran at him, as security turned the corner.

Hebert moved again and had an arm around each of the men's shoulders.

"You think you can fight me? You think you can win?" Hebert said calmly and threw each man clear down the hall, making several people scream.

Hebert suddenly looked like a maniac, standing on one leg, the other cocked up , half leant to the side, one hand splayed out in front oh him while the other was held above his head in some bizarre pose.

"Fools! You face the mightiest swordsman in all the Worlds and Inbetween! You face ME! GILGAMESH!" Hebert roared.

Derrick stared, and for the slightest second, he swore he saw the ghost of a monster.

"Kupo, now I'm getting another feeling…" Mog said with whine and Boco sighed as he jumped another roof, closing in on the first Esper.

Mog focused and shook his head.

"The new one is weak, very weak, kupo, keep chasing this one!" Mog cried and Boco leapt down to street level, making people stop and stare.

"Kweh? Wark…?" Boco asked and Mog tilted his head.

"The spell? Oh, kupo, that's right, that Leet guy was pretty funny, but his soul seemed really unstable, he was like T-Keynote in a way, kupo, kept changing." Mog explained and Boco ruffled his feathers.

"Of course Keynote is cooler, she's our friend, but Leet, his spell was something I have only seen once, kupo." Mog answered seriously.

"Kweh?" Boco pushed, moving around a large bus.

"Shockwave Pulsar… kupo." Mog said quietly as if the words were dangerous enough.

Boco tripped and crashed into a bench, sending Mog flying, the Moogle gave a cry of alarm before righting himself and flying back to Boco.

"Be careful! Are you okay? Kupo?" Mog asked his friend and Boco stared up at him, large baby blue eyes wide.

"Kweh?!" Boco demanded and Mog nodded.

"Leet is... scary, kupo.

Jess... stopped falling, it was such an odd thing to feel she didn't realize that was she was feeling it for several seconds, wanting to stare up instead of down for a last image.

There was something holding her... something soft, something warm. It was wrapped around her ankle, Holding her upside down. Jess raised her head and followed the thing that was holding her back to the building and into two deep red eyes, where something was stuck to the wall.

"Oh... I do like them pretty... Uwee-hee-hee!"

Jess stared and blinked, then looked at the knife glowing in her hand.

"Oh Taylor...I could kiss you right now." she said faintly and the being blushed, his many teeth wiggling as was his many arms.

"So, you're the summoner...ah what the hell I was always a sucker for the pretty ladies. You can call me handsome, good looking or Ultros." The… octopus… thing said winking at her.

Jess nodded, trying to process the fact that a giant purple octopus was flirting with her.

"Circus, or Jess if ya want. I hate to be a pain, but I don't suppose ya want to get us the ink out of here?" Jess asked, as it returned with a vengeance, the feeling like today was both a very good day and a very bad day.

Either way, she'd take the pervert Octopus over Coil any day.

At least it seemed to have a sense of humor.