One of the things that always surprised me while writing was the reader reaction to Allfather. People really liked him, despite being a racist, Nazi asshole. Frankly, I liked him. He's a lot of fun to write. If I would do it again, he'd definitely be toned down some- he doesn't really read like a real person, but a lot of him would stay the same.

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1.2

"Rain?" I said. The way he'd said it made it sound like a name.

"Daughter… you." The knight said. He was still hugging me. My face was mashed against his breastplate, and I was getting short on air.

"Who are you?" More importantly, why did he think I was his daughter?

"…father."

I squirmed against his hug. The knight seemed to notice my discomfort and reluctantly let me go. I sat back on the sidewalk, catching my breath. …why did I still have to breathe? None of this made any sense.

I rubbed at my eyes tiredly. But how could I even be tired because… I sighed. Being a ghost was frustrating.

"You're not my dad."

"You… Iron… Rain." He stood slowly, his armor creaking. Why was he so choppy? I didn't have any trouble talking.

"You're a ghost too, right?" I asked. The knight cocked his head at me. It was hard to get a read on him when all I could see was one eye. He didn't answer.

I tried again. "Who's Iron Rain?"

"…daughter."

Iron Rain sounded like a cape name. I blinked. Of course.

"You're not a knight- you're a cape!"

He stared at me for a moment, and then nodded. I'd never heard of any capes in Brockton Bay who dressed like knights except for Kaiser.

"Do you know Kaiser?"

His eye narrowed to a slit behind his visor and he tensed. He knew Kaiser then. I closed my eyes to think about it. I had a dead cape in armor, who thought I was his daughter, who was apparently named Iron Rain, and- I could feel him.

I hadn't noticed it until I closed my eyes, but I could faintly sense the other ghost. It was vague; just a loose bundle of feelings and sensations that sat at the back of my mind. They felt muted. Like they were too… like they were impaired in some way?

"Can you walk over there?" I pointed randomly. I heard the clank of armor as he strode away. And through the connection, I could feel the… energy of the ghost move away from me. It didn't matter that he was farther away now- I could still feel him, and I still knew where he was.

However, now that he wasn't so close, I could sense a sort of… connection between us. It wasn't just Me/Him. There was a conduit- a flow of… was that energy? I looked closer.

My energy flowed down the bond, and became his energy. What the hell? Why was that happening? Was he stealing my lifeforce?! There was no way I was letting him use me as a battery when I'd nearly died a few minutes ago!

I pulled on our connection. I couldn't say how I did it, I just knew that I could, and so I did. I willed my energy back to me- to stop flowing into him. There was resistance. The energy wanted to keep going to him. I pulled harder, putting more of my will into the effort. It was my energy. I was in control.

The connection parted slowly, fraying apart like thread. Little by little, it separated and then finally snapped. I felt a sudden infusion of energy into me; more than I'd imagined. Heat blossomed inside, and I felt stronger.

I opened my eyes to see what the knight was doing. The sidewalk was empty. He was gone. Had he disappeared because he didn't have any more energy? Or had he gone back to being a shape like he'd been in the alley. I glanced around, looking carefully, but I didn't see him.

I turned my attention inward, examining my new store of energy. It was separate. There was my energy, and then there was the new section. But why? I pushed at the new part. It was like a portion of energy had… crystallized? It was hard to describe, but that felt like the right way to think of it.

The crystal felt odd- almost familiar. I pushed at it harder, and it moved within my flow. Another push and it kept moving after I stopped. The crystal moved of its own volition, heading away from my store of power. It strained, fighting onward, and I nudged it one final time. With a rush, the entire section disappeared from my reserve. At the same time, the knight appeared in front of me, his arms crossed.

What.

"…Rain?" The knight said. He sounded confused.

I ignored him. There was too much to think about at the moment.

So, I could absorb other ghosts? I inspected the knight. Once more, my energy was flowing into him. But if I cut it off… he would disappear. So, I wasn't just his battery. He was dependent on my energy to stay around. And forming him a second time hadn't drained all my energy like it had before. Did that mean once I gave him form once, he was set?

I pulled my energy back and he disappeared again. I reformed him. I was right. It hadn't cost my any energy to reform him. It was just moving his energy outside of my well. There was a small trickle of energy linking us, but it seemed to just be maintaining our connection.

"What… are… you…" He said slowly.

What would happen if I increased the flow from me to him? Instead of pulling on our connection, I pushed, forcing energy down the link. The knight stiffened, and then looked me straight in the eye.

"Rain, what are you doing?" He said. His voice came out entirely differently from before. Where he had whispered before, now he spoke in strong, commanding tones.

He approached, his steps now smooth and measured. I was still crouched on the sidewalk, trying to figure things out. He towered above me.

"Wait. You're not Iron Rain." He reached down and grabbed my wrist, pulling me to my feet with ease. I tried to stand, but my legs folded under me. The knight caught me, holding me steady.

"What's your name, girl?" He said.

"Taylor." I said weakly. He'd gone from odd to intimidating in a matter of seconds, and I hadn't caught up yet. He shook his head.

"Not your Christian name. Your cape name. For example-" He lifted a fist over his heart. "I am Allfather, leader of the Empire 88."

"B-but I'm not a cape." I said.

Air hissed between the slit in his visor as he snorted derisively. "Of course you're a cape. How else would you have summoned me? I distinctly recall dying."

"You're a ghost." I pointed to the alley. "You died over there, I think. I'm a ghost too."

"Don't be a fool. There's no such thing as ghosts. You're a cape, or a parahuman, if you prefer."

"But I'm invisible and I walk through walls, and-"

He waved his gauntlet dismissively. "Parahuman." He lifted me into a bridal carry. "Come, let us walk. You can tell me of the state of my Empire."

It was a little uncomfortable getting carried around like a princess by a weird not-ghost knight. Allfather carried me effortlessly as he strode down the street. As he walked, his helmet swiveled from side to side, surveying everything around us.

"Brockton Bay is distinctly dirtier than I recall. How long has it been since I died?"

"When was that?"

"1999."

I blinked. "You've been dead that long? It's 2011!"

"I see." He said simply. "What of the Empire in my absence?"

"You said you were the leader of the E88, didn't you?"

He nodded. I had the power to control Nazi ghosts. Wonderful.

"They're pretty big. They control about a third of the city, and they've gained a lot of parahumans since Kaiser took over."

Allfather froze. "What did you say?" He said, his voice too calm.

"Kaiser took over-"

"Kaiser." He growled. "My worthless traitor of a son in charge of the Empire. What happened to Iron Rain?"

"You mentioned her earlier. She was your daughter?"

"My firstborn child." He looked down at me. "You look like her. In my… impaired state, I was mistaken."

"I've never heard of anyone named Iron Rain."

His gauntlets tightened painfully against me. "Then she is dead. Kaiser betrayed her as well."

I stayed silent, not sure what to say. Kaiser had been the head of the E88 for as long as I could remember. I didn't know much about him, but a white supremacist supervillain wasn't going to be anyone good. I'd seen too many fights at school started by kids in Empire colors to have any trust for the E88.

Allfather began walking again, covering huge swathes of ground with his long strides.

"This." He jerked his head at the rundown buildings surrounding us. "This is not what a city under the Empire should look like. Kaiser has failed."

We turned a corner and came upon the first people I'd seen since I met Allfather. It was a bunch of ABB sitting on a stoop. I was about to ignore them, when I realized that they were looking at us. Could they actually see us? Was I somehow visible now?

"Who are they?" Allfather asked. "They look like gang members."

"The Asian Bad Boys. They hold a lot of the Docks and stuff."

I could hear the sneer in Allfather's words. "Oriental filth. How much harm have they caused Brockton's citizens?"

"The fuck did you say?!" One of the ABB yelled. They were getting to their feet, all of them looking angry. Several of them pulled knives, but most of them looked scared of Allfather.

"It's a cape." One whispered. "That's Kaiser!"

"I am not Kaiser!" Allfather roared. "Kaiser appears to tolerate your presence. I will not." He set me down gently. I wobbled a little, but managed to keep my feet. "Watch and learn how a true leader of the Empire handles the lesser races!"

Allfather drew his hands together in midair and made a motion like he was pulling something apart. The air split, and he unsheathed a gleaming broadsword from nowhere. Holy shit, he was definitely a cape.

"Allfather wait!" I cried, but he marched forward, his sword held to one side.

"Oh fuck. Run!" An ABB thug screamed. Most of them scrambled away from Allfather as fast as they could. Only a few remained, brandishing their weapons at Allfather.

I couldn't believe it. Were they honestly going to stand and fight against a homicidal knight with a sword as tall as I was? How could they be that stupid?

Allfather didn't waste any more words. He just waded into the fray. Sparks flew as the thugs' weapons glanced off his armor. One man swung a pipe and Allfather sliced it in two with a lazy swipe. His counterattack took the man's arm off at the elbow. The thug fell screaming, his blood pouring into the gutter.

Allfather grabbed another ABB member by the collar and smashed him in the face with the pommel of his sword. The ganger crumpled, joining his friend on the ground. A few more thugs broke and ran, fleeing into the night.

I'd only ever seen a few cape fights on Youtube, but I could tell just by watching him that Allfather was someone serious. He fought methodically, not showing at fear at the men surrounding him. Every motion was smooth and calculated; offense and defense at the same time. He fought like he'd been born with his sword in hand. The ABB didn't have a chance against him.

"Stop!" I shouted, grabbing at his arm. Allfather pushed me behind him.

"Stay out of the way, child."

One of the ABB walked straight through me to get at Allfather. I was still invisible then. They could only see Allfather. They couldn't see or touch me, but they could touch him, and vice versa. That was abundantly clear.

"Allfather-" I tried again.

"I said stay behind me." He held me back, swinging his sword easily even with one hand. He blocked again and then swung his sword overhead. The stroke passed cleanly through a thug's arm, sending the limb flying off. Blood splattered hot and heavy across the scene. The last of the ABB turned and ran, leaving their wounded lying on the sidewalk.

I struggled not to vomit as I looked at the gore surrounding us. Allfather's shining armor was flecked with blood now, and his sword was drenched in it.

He chuckled. "First battle? It'll be over soon." He raised his sword, moving toward the injured ABB.

"You- you can't!" I gasped.

Allfather studied the ABB members. "Why?" He sounded almost amused.

"Because you can't just go around and kill people!"
"Chinks are not people, Taylor. If it were you or me lying down there, it'd be different. Whites need to stick together. Chinks however…" He hefted his sword.

"No!" If I was a cape, then he was part of my power- I should be able to control him! I willed him not to attack, putting all the force I could muster behind it. Allfather continued like I wasn't doing anything.

"I order you to stop!" I shouted. Allfather turned his head to look at me.

"You'll do no such thing. I don't take orders from you, child."

I yanked at our connection, cutting into the flow of energy from me to him. Allfather's movements slowed a little, but he was still going. He aimed his sword and brought it down-

I was not going to have my power be used for murder! With a colossal effort, I tore into our connection and pulled at the same time.

Allfather vanished, his sword inches from one of the ABB. He was there one second, and then gone the next. The man lay panting on the ground, trying to staunch his wounds with his shirt.

I heard sirens now, their wailing carrying through the gaps in the dark buildings around me. There was nothing I could do here. I couldn't call for help or provide medical aid. I saw flashing lights in the distance and knew I had to run for it. The police couldn't see me anyway, but anywhere was better than here.

My feet barely kicked off a ripple as I ran through the blood.