The sound of laughter stubbornly penetrated through the closed windows and thick curtains, assaulting her ears. Taylor pressed the pillow more tightly to her head, half tempted to teach these drunk revelers a lesson for this racket an hour past midnight.
She sighed and sat up in her bed; people had a right to celebrate after all, an Endbringer was dead.
Her inability to sleep hadn't been because of the week-long celebrations or excessive noise or even the infrequent power disruptions because of all the rebuilding work. Something else had snatched it away.
She poured herself a glass of water from the jug on the side table, thoughts in a frenzy.
An Endbringer dying didn't solve the rest of the problems in the world did it? Dinah was still a captive, several thousand civilians were dead, more than half the city was in ruins. Ideal circumstances for increased gang activity in the long run, turning her hometown into an even more of hellhole.
Worst of all, Bitch had died in Leviathan's final attack, and Taylor didn't know how to feel about it yet. Did she have an obligation to mourn someone who could have been a good friend but wasn't really? Did she owe it to herself and the time spent with the deceased? Could she allow herself such feelings when there was so much she could still be doing to help?
The celebrations only made her feel hollow inside.
She sensed movement downstairs; her father was back. Late tonight which had been the usual this week. Plenty of company was to be found in the various bars around the city for Danny and his friends recently. She supposed the encouraging thing was that he was being responsible, and only drinking as much as he could handle judging by his complete lack of hangovers each morning.
She stood up and started pacing.
Lisa had tried to catch her eye at Rachel's funeral, and contacted her afterwards, but Taylor was in no mood to entertain her. There was nothing else to discuss between them, the Undersiders had made their choice regarding Coil and as far she was concerned, that chapter of her life was closed.
New options – that's what she needed to find. So much work yet lay ahead of her, waiting to be done. An action she'd already taken was breeding of extra insects; an Endbringer battle wasn't kind on insects either especially in the areas where battle had been rampant. And while she'd had an influx of mosquitos recently, more variety meant more options.
She briefly contemplated leaving for one of those abandoned sites where she'd been breeding her swarm—an apartment building and a house that were declared uninhabitable—but thought better of it. A remote and quiet inspection from her bedroom while sitting in a comfy chair appealed more to her.
Both locations were at the opposite ends of her increased range, and everything there was on track, undisturbed. No break-ins or suspicious activity by anyone that she could tell.
Since the end of an unprecedentedly long truce a couple of days ago, gang activity had slowly begun to pick up once again, although it was relatively subdued for the time being. A significant reason for this was that at least one member of the Triumvirate had been regularly sighted in the city over the past week. Legend made daily visits from New York, focusing on encouragement and aiding in rehabilitation efforts—mostly PR work—but it had successfully discouraged the gangs from being too active. Her own patrols had been uneventful during the three nights she had been out.
Following the attack, the PRT and the government had come together to create a memorial for those who lost their lives. While the number of combat casualties had remained a record low for a Leviathan attack, an overwhelming majority of dead was the non-cape civilian population, drowned in underground shelters or crushed by the rubble when the lightning storm hit their shelters and collapsed it on top of them.
Eidolon had been officially awarded the ceremonial title of "The defender of Brockton Bay" by the mayor. Unofficially, the forums were buzzing with another moniker for him, 'Endbringer-slayer.'
Then there were all sorts of rumors floating about on PHO, the entire internet rife with speculation. Some claimed Eidolon wasn't the one who killed Leviathan and it was another unknown cape. Another rumor suggested that PRT had recruited defector Yangban members to its ranks and they were staying in Brocton Bay. Some made leaps of logic, connecting the dots and holding said Yangban members for Leviathan's fall. She'd also read something about aliens but didn't pay much attention. They appeared to be the usual theories about the Endbringers; aliens come to destroy earth and blah blah.
Of course, she knew the truth about Leviathan's death. Majority of her swarm had been reduced to the last few resilient bugs during the battle but she had managed to get an idea of how battle had unfolded. Leviathan had been penned by some capes and that had allowed Eidolon to deliver a killing blow.
Not that any of it mattered now; her mind was only wandering aimlessly, for there seemed no apparent way she could extricate Dinah herself from Coil's confinement in her current state. The fact that she hadn't been able to do much at the battle continued to gnaw at her. Having seen how overwhelmingly strong the Endbringers already were and how high they could escalate, she had been feeling inadequate deep in her bones.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Danny coming up the stairs, straight to her room.
The footsteps paused just outside and after a while, a knock sounded from the door.
"Taylor, are you awake?" Her father asked.
She didn't want to answer as she had no desire to strike up a conversation with him or anyone right now.
"I know you aren't asleep kiddo, and we haven't talked, not for many days..."
Silence.
"You know I'm here if you're hurting." He said, hesitance radiating through the door.
Goddammit. Well, at least he was trying. Too late, some petulant part of her thought, but she ignored it and went back to sit in her bed. "Come in, it's open."
The doorknob turned with a quiet click, followed by a subtle creak as her father gently pushed the door open, before closing it behind him. With the lights off, only his silhouette was visible, but he stood there for a moment, fidgeting with his hands.
Taylor reached out and turned one of the lamps on.
"Sit down, Dad." She said.
Danny perched himself on the edge of her desk. Still not entirely comfortable, any time that you lose is really gone. She didn't let her thoughts affect her expressions.
"Have you eaten something?" he asked, then followed up, "I can fix a sandwich if you want."
"Uh…no, I ate earlier. It's fine," she reassured him. Then raised an eyebrow, "you can take the chair you know. No need to…" she waved her hand at him and the desk.
He smiled sheepishly before getting up and settling himself in the chair at the foot of her bed.
"So how is…um, the work at the docks?" Taylor asked.
"It's coming along… it's coming along nicely." He stayed silent for a few moments, "I saw that cape, what's his name… Legend, wasn't he your favorite? No, it was the woman, Alexandria yeah. Anyway, he came to our site, gave a big inspiring speech. I'll say if anyone wants to learn how to talk, learn from that guy."
Not the direction she thought the conversation would go but interesting nonetheless.
"Uh huh. Sounds like an event."
"It sure was, all the fellas I talked to were impressed. Guy is a cape after all."
Taylor didn't want to talk about Rachel or her sleep deprived nights. She continued her questions.
"And what about your work? Any changes?"
"Funny you ask," he started, a little animated now – strange that he'd come upstairs to ask about her well-being but it looked like he also needed to talk to her, "we've had quite a few out of towners come in this week asking if there's any work. Used to be you couldn't find skilled workers for your life and those who did come left for one reason or another. But now," he said with a chuckle and a shake of his head, "too many guys and gals looking for work in Brockton Bay, an influx of people, not just here but I'm hearing in New York and Boston too. They're saying international sea routes could be back open soon. Hell, I might even get a promotion, been lookin' after simple admin and hiring for some time, now they might put me in charge of everything at the new docks. It's not a sure thing yet but I don't see anyone better qualified."
As he went on and on, Taylor was having a hard time not showing surprise on her face. This was a different side to her father altogether, or it'd been absent for some time.
Danny also realized he'd been rambling. He stopped with a grimace, "look at me forgetting why I even came up to your room. How are you holding up?"
That's what she wanted to avoid talking about, but it didn't feel right to shut down her father after he'd made consistent efforts to rebuild their relationship.
"I'm okay really, you have nothing to worry about."
He looked at her with an expression bordering on pity which pricked her pride. "You haven't been getting much sleep, have you? I can hear you walking in your room when I'm in bed." He said.
He must've heard her come and go at nights, and admittedly, pace around in her room when she couldn't sleep.
"It's normal after… you know."
She didn't say more, letting him digest the implied meaning. You've only started paying attention now, even if you're right.
It dawned on him immediately. An ashamed look crossed his face and he looked away.
His embarrassment made her regret her words, she decided to throw him an olive branch, "Look Dad, I'm fine. I'm eating and sleeping enough, growing taller every day. Check the pantry if you don't believe me," she smiled at him. "People die and life goes on, you and I both know; besides it wasn't like Rachel was my best friend, I just knew her because of others."
Such transparent lies we tell ourselves. She shut the thought down, and reached out for a reassuring pat on her father's hands.
He squeezed her hand slightly. "I'm sorry your friend's not with us, I really am. And I'm glad you're doing okay, but promise me you won't shut out people from your life. You may not feel it now but loss affects us, it changes each one of us in tiny ways. I got to make sure my daughter is okay. I've already been a bad father to you…" his voice became shaky for a moment, he swallowed, "can't afford to do that again."
He patted her shoulder gingerly and stood up.
"I'll leave you be, let's get some rest, why don't we?" He left the room, shutting the door after him.
Thanks Dad, Taylor said silently.
A distant sound of a crash reached her, followed by another. It had started in earnest; the truce was truly over and a cape was fighting another.
She looked at her phone for a few seconds, before picking it up and typing a short text.
I'm listening, it said.
Then she took her costume out from under her bed and began donning it.
The Next Day
"You're serious?" Taylor asked. She put her coffee cup down on the table and watched the waiter pass by. It was Lisa's idea to meet in a public place that wasn't too crowded either. They were sitting in a café near the boardwalk that had almost got wrecked in the Endbringer battle. But the owner – who was some kind of artsy type – was going ahead with the demolished look and made that a part of the café's charm, or maybe he lacked the funds to renovate fully. In any case, the exposed brick walls, graffiti-inspired murals on the outside, and rustic furniture gave it a trendy, post-disaster vibe that somehow worked. Lisa had always had a knack for finding these hidden gems.
Speaking of, the blonde girl pouted, a mock frown replacing the smile on her face. "I thought you'd be happier," she said, "didn't you want to go after… you know?"
"That's because I see a few problems in your 'plan,'" Taylor started counting on her fingers. "One, we don't have a clue about these guys. You met him what… for five minutes? He and I shared like two sentences when I was helping the wounded, it doesn't mean anything. Two, now you're telling me they're from another earth? Or your power is telling you, which has been wrong before." She lowered her voice even further at the word power. "What if they are some crazy capes from Europe or Asia?"
"Three—and it's a PHO rumor but pretty reliable—one of them has already been seen patrolling with PRT. Oh and they are insanely strong so if they decide to arrest us, good luck getting away. Do you want me to keep going?"
"Hey!" Lisa protested, "the plan as you so derisively said is not to become friends with them. We'll just find and approach one of them for now, preferably Lindon as I felt we had good a rapport going," she wiggled her eyebrows, "preferably in public and… how should I put it, let's see how they respond to some… ideas. It's a rescue mission we'd be proposing after all, potentially speaking." She sounded confident, but that was always the case with her, you had to ignore that and really focus on what she was saying.
"What's your pitch for them?" Taylor asked.
"I am thinking we send a note first, tell him we'd like help to rescue a kidnapped child and not to involve the PRT. Maybe I'll put in an obscure reference to our serendipitous meeting last week, I'm sure he'll catch that." Lisa attempted to give her a dazzling smile. "See, not so dangerous."
Taylor shook her head, not sure if she liked what Lisa was suggesting or hated it. The lunch rush was gradually filling up the café, people passed them by to occupy the other tables, which gave her time to think before replying. She looked around, most folk were visibly in a better mood than she'd usually seen before the battle. At least there were some silver linings to an Endbringer dying, or maybe that was just confirmation bias.
"Do Brian and Alec have a clue about any of this, have you discussed your plan with them?" She asked, raising her voice to be heard over the buzz.
The other girl shrugged in response.
"Even if they have any objections once I tell them, they'll come around," she said. "Brian's been busy with his family, their house got destroyed. Alec seems depressed since Rachel, so you know some adventure might cheer him up." She smiled, a hint of sadness breaking through from her eyes.
Something inside of Taylor, a small part, felt bad for abandoning her friends—old teammates rather—when they were all going through so much personal shit. Especially after one of them had died just recently, but she forced herself to look ahead. If she could save Dinah somehow and take care of Coil in the process, they would all be free of his corruption, out from under his thumb to hopefully pursue better goals.
That thought led her to another more ambitious one but she set that aside for now for the most obvious and perhaps just as important a question.
"And your employer? He doesn't suspect your conspiracy? Also, nobody's told him I'm done with the Undersiders?" She gave Lisa a searching look, whispering the last word. "Right?"
A brief silence lingered with Lisa slowly shaking her head in what looked like disapproval. That irked Taylor.
"Make no mistake, I am done, unless we can all get the little girl out somehow." She said strongly.
Lisa sipped from her cup. "Hmmm, he is always suspicious, but I don't know if he has any idea about this in particular. Pretty sure even in his wildest paranoias he wouldn't suppose that we'd ask for help from someone loosely PRT-adjacent even if they aren't openly affiliated."
"I have a hunch of my own as well," her friend said, "there's no way he doesn't know what happened at the battle and about our new interlopers. I mean he must suspect something, so I wouldn't be surprised if he is keeping an eye out to recruit them for his purposes in some roundabout way."
Taylor was puzzled. Did Lisa not see the risk if Coil was also planning to get the same capes in bed with him?
"How can you be sure he hasn't reached out to them anyway?" She asked, trying to keep her voice even.
"He is too cautious for that. Also the PRT angle has gone in our favor with this, they may not have acknowledged these new capes in their formal celebrations as Leviathan slayers but you bet your ass that's because they got something from PRT in return. If I can deduce that so could our boss and so he wouldn't dive in head first into this situation. He would observe for now." Lisa concluded.
Your boss, Taylor thought. "Okay, let's say they or this Lindon, agrees to listen to you, or a meeting, what if they let slip to Co… your employer about our role? Or maybe even side with him? I don't like putting this much trust in complete strangers?" Taylor said, then added quickly, "don't get me wrong, I appreciate you've seen the light you know, that you changed your mind about this and I am not trying to poke holes in your plan just for the sake of it. I want to save her, but we have to do it right the first time, we probably won't get another chance." She leaned back in her chair.
Lisa shook her head, "We are minimizing the risk as much as we can Taylor. You also have to put at least a little trust in other people, calculated yes, but it's important. You see that?" she turned sideways in her chair, looking out from the newly installed glass window behind her. She pointed at a tall building, four or five stories, and said, "That's where Lindon found me, god knows from where, just because I had muttered a few words about Leviathan. He had this whole thinker projection thingy to show me slowed down movements of Leviathan, you saw what he and his friends did at the battle. If we get someone like that on our side for this… mission of yours, it doesn't matter what the boss does, he'd be small fry in comparison."
Lisa didn't usually say so many words without turning to sarcasm or ridicule. Taylor began to reply but apparently the other girl still wasn't finished, "if I hadn't talked to him myself, I wouldn't be proposing this at all. But sometimes you get a sense of someone and my intuition is telling me there is something here for us." Lisa tapped her temple as she finished.
Taylor wondered if this really was the fresh option she was looking for, it came with serious risk but Lisa sounded adamant.
"If you are so sure then Initiating contact anonymously should be okay," she said slowly.
Something bugged her, so she narrowed her eyes at Lisa, "what else? There's something you aren't telling me? Spill."
Lisa gave her a grin which soon turned into a pensive expression, "You and I roughly know the details of how the battle went. I've also seen some grainy footage, I bet you have too. Tell me, how come Vista showed so much more ability and those insane reflexes to keep up with Leviathan? She's never done it before. Only when she was with Lindon did this happen. My power tells me the same. So I'm very interested in figuring out whatever kind of Master or Trump shit is going on with him you know. But that's beside the point, a side quest let's say. I am not stupid enough to approach a triumvirate level cape only for that. Our main goal is as I said, rescue."
"What do you want with their trump effect?"
"I'm just curious t…"
"To see death by migraine?"
Lisa laughed, "I'll be fine."
"There's a chance you won't be, and neither will the rest of us if this harebrained scheme goes sideways."
"Don't you want more? We're already stuck with one fucker, I don't want this arrangement to go on indefinitely. One trap after another…"
Lisa was quiet for a second, then continued, "Also, sorry about this but I did my thing, "she waved at Taylor across the table, "you are frustrated. You fancy yourself nobler than us, looking to do some good in the world, but you can't. You know I'm right. Why wouldn't you want to get some advantage from this opportunity?"
Lisa gestured to waiter passing by and ordered a refill when she was done. The whirring and rumbling sound of machinery from the outside was now distinctly audible with one side of the wall almost-nonexistent. That meant the construction crews were back on the job after lunch.
Taylor checked her wrist watch, she had to get going soon too.
"Your assumptions are inaccurate, and I'm not liking the speed with which…"
A loud roar from behind them made her go tense as she was speaking, but upon a glance it turned out to only be a group of friends having a merry time. She relaxed her control of the swarm and it went dormant once again. She couldn't muster much here but whatever there was, had been ready for action in an instant.
Was it healthy to be on edge so much of the time?
"Anyway, I hope that wasn't the universe having a laugh at me by the way," Lisa said with a playful smile but her eyes watched Taylor.
"The universe will have plenty of opportunity to mock us if we handed ourselves to the PRT." Taylor forced a chuckle.
"Oh cheer up. We'll be the ones laughing."
"On that note, let's get going now," Taylor said and stood up to go. "I guess we know what we're doing."
"Yeah I gotta talk to those two airheads and expla..."
"No!"
Lisa jerked her head up at that, "what?"
"I mean don't tell them yet. Let's see if there's some response to your 'overtures'. If it doesn't pan out, then this plan is null anyway."
Lisa's expression grew stern, "That's a slippery slope Taylor, I didn't tell them anything so far more because I couldn't get a hold of them and less because I didn't know what your answer would be, we'll trying something radical."
Taylor took a deep breath and said, "I've been onboard since the start, so let's please not go there. I'm just saying get some feelers from the Lindon guy or whoever he is, before you make an actual plan. I think it's best. Hell, make the plan with their full input, I don't care. But after." She met her teammate's gaze evenly.
Lisa observed her silently from her chair then rolled her eyes, "so dramatic for no reason. I'll do as you say, happy?"
A thought crossed her mind. "Actually…"
"Now what?"
She sat back down, "I'll go with you, not just when the meeting is, if the meeting happens. But when you reach out to them, or send your messenger bird or whatever, I'll be there. I want to see their response, I can do it without them knowing."
If there was a way to impress upon these capes the need for Coil to be dealt with, she was confident she could make that happen. This won't just be a rescue mission, a cancer like Coil had to be treated thoroughly.
Meanwhile Lisa exhaled loudly and fixed her wind-tousled hair. "As you wish," the girl said. Then after a second's pause she added innocently, "why don't we use the swarm to make contact?"
Taylor snorted. "And tell anyone close by who the message is from? No thanks."
With a tilt of her head, Lisa wiggled muttered something that sounded like you never know.
A slight smile spread across Taylor's lips, indeed you never know. "But in this case, we do."
They both stood up to go this time. "I'll call you when we move. Pick up your phone. Don't ghost me this time," Lisa said.
Taylor left first, heading straight home to plan for tonight. Perhaps some discrete surveillance of her potential partners was in order tonight, they had supposedly been seen a few times near the PRT HQ. She'd start somewhere close to that and decide from there.
