Between Maid 5.1
Screaming. Terror.
Emma took it all in as she rushed forward- over there, in the distance! By a set of trash cans outside of a jewelry store!
Victoria was flying about, flitting around as she dodged oncoming projectiles from the leader of Chorus- a smalltime Cape gang of three powered members and some unpowered thugs, all of whom took more pleasure in knocking over jewelry stores and mugging people in dark alleys than the loftier ambitions of the main troublemaking gangs in the city.
Two of them were already nursing wounds from Victoria throwing them through the plate glass windows of said jewelry shop from the inside- Friction and Faze, the Striker and Breaker respectively, having been no match for the sudden lashing out of an out-of-costume heroine. Their third (named Frequency), however, was still up and going strong, keeping the flying heroine at bay with concussive blasts of sound while the unpowered thugs began ransacking the jewelry shop and/or pulling the semi-conscious Faze and Friction away while taking potshots at the swooping and diving Victoria, who was largely ineffective while Frequency was keeping her at bay.
For a moment, Emma considered hanging back, watching from behind a thick concrete barrier just like the rest of the few people who hadn't run away as Victoria slowly pushed forward until she was almost within striking distance of Frequency, only barely avoiding the Blaster's concussive waves as she began to get closer and closer.
"Milady- should I assist?" Taylor asked, looking over at Emma with a heavy frown on her face, chewing her lip as her hands crinkled the fabric of her skirt, knives appearing and vanishing as she reached for her thigh holster.
"I- I don't know- it looks like Victoria's got this for the most part?" Emma paused, considering the scene before her and thinking for a moment as she looked around. "I mean, nobody's hurt so far a-and the Protectorate will probably be here in a few minutes at most-"
A shrill scream pierced the air- Amy's voice, high and full of distress. A twin pair of booms- the sonic burst of one of Frequency's waves splashing against Victoria and flinging her into a pillar, followed by the whizzing crack of gunfire and-
"Oh god…" Emma went pale, gorge rising as she held her hand in front of her mouth. Victoria screamed out, hand clutched over her stomach as crimson blood spilled out over Boardwalk, no longer invincible or radiant- just a scared teenager, slumped against a wall half curled into a fetal position. "Oh god oh fuck oh jesus christ oh no oh god-"
"Milady-" Taylor paused, trembling as her eyes flashed vivid, angry red, clutching Emma's shoulder almost painfully as she shielded her Lady from view, keeping the grisly sight from her eyes as she shook Emma back to wakefulness. "Should I assist!?"
"Y-yes! D-do something! Anything!" Emma managed to gasp out, clutching her hands over her ears as she listened to both Amy's and Victoria's screams- the brown haired girl kneeling over her sister, hands covered in blood as she tried to reassure the taller blonde that everything would be okay- that she'd be fine just stay awake- stay awa-
Click.
Taylor let out a shuddering breath as she stood up, the rage in her soul flaring to unbearable heights as she took in the terrified face of her Lady- frozen now in time, pale as a sheet, and halfway sickened to the point of vomiting.
She looked upon the grief stricken expression of Amy, her friend of several months, tears of despair and rage running down her face as she did her best to keep pressure on the wound. She looked upon the face of Victoria, how she'd been so radiant mere minutes before and was now ashen pale, screaming in agony as tears of fear and pain rolled down her cheeks.
She turned away.
Her eyes were bloody red.
And yet-
"No." Taylor shook her head, returning her knives back to their positions on her thigh, gritting her teeth as she remembered her Maid's Oath to Emma. She would not kill- not for this. Would not- could not- break her oath for something, someone as weak and cowardly as a man who hid behind a mask and half a dozen armed men to steal jewelry in broad daylight. "Not today. Not now."
She took a deep breath.
Released.
A ball appeared in her hand- rubber, dyed red, taken from one of the stalls in the nearby flea market. A simple, heavy thing, most likely used for lacrosse at some point.
Taylor clutched it in her hand, ignoring the minor throb in her wrist, and threw-
Ten. One Hundred. One thousand.
A thousand red rubber balls appeared out of thin air, echoes of herself appearing and vanishing as she imagined her singular throw repeated again and again and again. A thousand arcing throws, each with its own spin and path, all culminating in a single point: Frequency's stupid, idiot face.
The goons were simpler. Less deserving of a unique punishment. A single solid kick to each of the men's groins, followed by a hefty, vigorous thwack to the ribs with a baseball bat she'd also retrieved from one of the flea market stalls.
She took their guns, stuffing them into her pockets and sneering as she strode past them into the store proper.
There were no other thugs inside. She pursed her lips, shaking her head again as her eyes burned brighter, bloodlust not yet slaked by such a flimsy display of violence. Friction and Faze were still around- having been dragged into an alley to recuperate from the sudden shock of being slammed through a plate glass window and out into the cold hard ground.
She kicked each across the face, screaming out her frustrations as she drove her shoe into their bodies again and again, until they were battered and bruised and her leg throbbed with sudden pain, having overextended herself yet again from her sheer rage.
It wasn't enough yet, she wanted to make them hurt.
But she had an oath. A Maid's Oath.
Taylor shook her head again, breathing deeply as she leaned against the wall of the alleyway and clenched her fist, gritting her teeth as she forced down her need to drive the meaning of agony and regret into the bodies of the men who shot her friend, who terrified her Lady.
She paced back and forth, then almost snarled as she stormed off away from the jewelry store. She needed to clear her head, and fast, before she actually got angry enough to forget her Oath.
And then, footsteps echoing eerily across the Boardwalk as she walked around in frozen time, she saw… Them.
Three men, dressed in Enforcer's uniforms. Not an uncommon sight but for what they were doing.
There was a girl between them- at least Taylor's age, maybe more. She was being loaded into the back of an unmarked, black van with more men waiting inside wearing very visibly Tinkertech body armor.
There was a bag on her head, and a gun to her back.
AN: Surprise! It's technically not a Coil plot, but it is related to one.
Gilded once
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Oct 24, 2021
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Oct 28, 2021
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Apparently I was exaggerating when I said it'd be delayed. Either way, I think I figured out a satisfying resolution to the Lisa problem.
Between Maid 5.2
"I must confess, this is a… difficult situation," Carol Dallon, aka Brandish, aka Victoria's Mom (to Emma), aka Mrs. Dallon (to Taylor) spoke up finally, crossing her legs as she set down the compiled paperwork before her, rubbing her forehead and grimacing as she looked at the other blonde in front of her. "Notably in that you ran away from home and have been illegally obtaining money with a parahuman power."
"Yes, but at the same time, my parents were the ones who were using me to do the exact same thing… more or less," the girl responded- she'd given her name as Lisa Wilbourn at first, only to confide in Carol that she was still legally Sarah Livsey- yes, those Livseys from out near Boston. The rich ones who the Stansfield conglomerate did business with every now and then. The money grubbing rich bastards.
"Hence the complications," Carol sighed, then stood up and began pacing around the room, trying to think of a way to handle the legal clusterfuck that had all been dropped in her lap two days prior. "Add onto that the need for witness protection given that you were about to be kidnapped by a known Brockton Bay supervillain…"
"I could just stay with the people who saved me, you know," Lisa cut in, raising an eyebrow as she looked around Carol's office, pursing her lips a bit and tapping her foot on the ground. "Because there's no way in hell I'm joining the Wards- this body was made to be cute and fashionable, not parading around in spandex getting into fights with a murder blender in the shape of a Nazi."
"The problem with that is that the person who saved you is a known parahuman and adding you to that household isn't exactly a viable protection option considering that she's already under heavy scrutiny for use of excessive force- of which the incident on Saturday only exacerbated," Carol responded, putting an end to that line of inquiry for the moment. "Add to that the fact that you're still registered as a missing person by your parents, which means that any attempt to put you anywhere other than back with them is going to be a very long, very difficult legal battle."
"One that I can pay for if need be," Lisa smirked, folding her hands in front of her and looking amazingly smug for someone who hadn't had a hot shower in nearly a week before being rescued mid-kidnapping. "Y'know, what with all the money that I-"
"Stole and thus legally cannot use without getting me thrown in jail on charges of bribery?" Carol deadpanned, crossing her arms at Lisa with an unamused stare.
"... Shit, you're right," Lisa hissed, making a face as if admitting it was physically painful, grumbling under her breath as she tried to think about what to do, only to come up blank. "Dammit, I can't go back to them- I won't. I'll run away a thousand goddamn times before I actually stay with the asswipes who made my brother kill himself!"
"And you won't. Not if I can help it," Carol sighed, sitting down again and chewing her lip as she pulled some paperwork from one of her desk drawers, almost grimacing as she tried to think of a way around Lisa's legal situation. "If we're quick and quiet about it, I can potentially allow you to emancipate yourself and prevent the Livseys from taking you back in- it'll be several months, but if you get a GED and can prove self-sufficiency, you should be able to do it. How old are you again?"
"Fifteen… and I've definitely been living away from them for long enough, I think," Lisa muttered, counting on her fingers and furrowing her brow. "Three months, right?"
"Mhmm. Plus the extenuating circumstances of why you left… we might need to get the PRT involved though. Not to take over, but having some connection to the PRT, maybe as a consultant, would grant you a lot of leniency when it comes to the thefts you did," Carol nodded, scribbling out a few things on the forms before her and almost smiling for just a bare moment before frowning once again. "The question is how we're going to work in the protection from Coil…"
"Well, I doubt that being put under a 24 hour guard rotation would work," Lisa snarked, sighing as she leaned back in her chair and stared out of the window, frowning as well as she crossed her legs and bounced her foot in irritation. "That'd just put an even bigger target on my back."
"Indeed," Carol deadpanned, sighing once more as she leaned back in her chair, then shook her head. "It'd be so much easier if we could just ship you off to the other side of the country and just be done with it…"
"... Is there a reason I can't just fly over to LA?" Lisa blinked slowly, holding her chin as she considered the air travel costs. "I don't exactly have a lot of stuff, and it's not like we're on Aleph so I wouldn't even really need an ID or passport."
There was a long moment of silence as both Carol and Lisa thought it over, both of them blinking slowly and making near identical expressions of some unidentifiable emotion at the realization that they really could just offload all of Lisa's problems to the LA Protectorate if they so chose to.
"... I'll go pack a suitcase," Lisa spoke up after a few seconds, clapping her hands together as she stood up and brushed off her jeans. "You can handle the paperwork, right?"
"... I suppose I'll have to," Carol deadpanned, rolling her eyes as Lisa walked to the door. "Seeing as I'm technically your guardian at the moment. I'll let you know when I've got the flight booked."
"Great! Well, I'm off," Lisa grinned in a way that was distinctly smug and reminded Carol of one of those cat pictures teens sent each other as she opened the door, walked out, and left Carol to her devices.
"Tch, damn kids," Carol sighed, rubbing her forehead and trying to push back the urge to down a few headache pills with the half bottle of wine she kept under her desk, reminiscing bitterly about all the things that Lisa had said to her since the two of them first met. "Can't believe Victoria thought it'd be a good idea to keep her in my house… Oughta wring that smug neck of hers- where does she get off telling me that I'm a controlling hag and that I'm the reason why Mark's depressed and Amy's antisocial?"
Heedless of Carol's downward spiraling mood (and ignoring what muttering she did hear on her way out), Lisa all but skipped down the hall leading away from Carol's office and out to the waiting area where Victoria and Amy had been waiting for her- Victoria greeting her with considerably more enthusiasm than Amy, who still seemed pretty shell shocked if her death grip on Victoria's wrist was any indication.
"You're back! How'd it go?" Victoria asked her fellow blonde, grinning brightly as she all but dragged Amy up as she stood, leaning forward slightly to put her at eye level with Lisa, their height difference exacerbated slightly due to Victoria hovering several inches off the floor.
"Well, I can't stay at your house permanently- tears, I know," Lisa sighed dramatically, swooning for effect before shrugging and continuing on. "The Barnes house is out too, for legal reasons-"
"Aww, but you'd look so nice in a maid outfit," Victoria sighed, shaking her head in mock regret. "Wouldn't she, Ames?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah. She's leggy, she'd make a short skirt work," Amy muttered, snapping out of her light funk as she compulsively made sure that Victoria was still hale and hearty, shaking her head before leveling a deadpan stare at Lisa. "If she could ever shut up, she'd make a great maid."
"Aww, too bad, but these hands are too pretty to be wasted on household chores," Lisa chuckled, then sighed and crossed her arms, leaning against a nearby table and poking at the decorative plant set upon it as she spoke once more. "I'm going to Los Angeles. Your mom thinks that, since we're probably going to need to get the Protectorate and/or the PRT involved to make sure I don't go to jail for stealing a bunch of rich shitbags' cash, I might as well get the hell outta dodge and go somewhere that a creepy mercenary hiring pedo kidnapper can't reach, and that my parents will never think to look."
"... Damn. That's pretty far… You gonna be okay out there?" Victoria asked, suddenly dropping her cheerful smile in favor of a more serious, concerned look, putting her free hand on Lisa's shoulder and squeezing slightly. "I mean- you're not gonna… well…"
"Don't worry about me," Lisa shook her head once more, smiling almost a bit ruefully as she gave Victoria an awkward side hug and patted Amy's hair, withdrawing quickly as the brunette snapped at her hand with a half-joking growl of indignation. "Whoa- down girl! Heh, nah, I'll be fine. And hey, when I'm all settled in I'll give you guys a call- maybe I'll come back after a while and we can hang out again, yeah?"
"Yeah… Well, enough of that depressing talk- you're still hanging around for a few days so let's make sure you have enough stuff to take with you!" Victoria grinned, suddenly pulling Lisa and Amy close as she flew out of the law firm's doors and out into the cold November air. "Let's go shopping while we still can!"
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Between Maid 5.3
"Okay! One! Two! One, two, three go!"
At Anne's shout, Taylor immediately sprung into action- fist raised high in the air for but a moment before slamming down and raking the pick held within across the strings of her guitar, a discordant wail screeching from the amplifier as she began shredding out a very loud, very energetic rendition of Black Sabbath's Paranoid, with Emma watching and wincing as she held her hands over her ears, watching as her Maid and her sister jammed out at the tops of their lungs- Anne belting out the lyrics as Taylor headbanged, visibly flickering in and out of view for a few brief moments before ghostly versions of said white haired teen seemed to fade into view around the living room, each one playing a different instrument to fill out the entire band- drums, bass guitar, vocals, even extra guitars popping in and out of existence to add more punch to certain sections. On and on Taylor played, her guitar wailing in her hands as she did her best to make it sing, playing for an audience of one for several minutes before finally finishing off with a dramatic flourish, confetti exploding into the air around her and Anne as the song ended, before all the paper scraps vanished the moment they touched the floor and the ghostly copies vanished all at once, leaving Anne and Taylor standing there as they were before.
Anne laughed, slightly mussed up from the energy she put into belting out lyrics at the top of her lungs, while Taylor simply slipped her (technically Anne's, but she hadn't used it since high school so it was Taylor's now) guitar behind her back and let it vanish into the same place all of the other things she put in her pockets went to.
"Woo! Now that was awesome!" the older girl cackled, rolling her shoulders and flopping down onto the couch with a breathless huff, kicking her feet onto the coffee table and fanning herself while Taylor busied herself with straightening out the living room a bit and answering the door. "I didn't think lil Tay would get so good so fast!"
"Yeah, but couldn't you have chosen something a little nicer to listen to?" Emma grumbled, rubbing her ears and wincing a bit. "I feel like you were trying to make me go deaf there…"
"Ah, you get used to the tinnitus eventually, lil tomato," Anne laughed, ruffling Emma's hair before getting up off of the couch so she could head back upstairs and do her own thing, while Victoria and Amy entered the living room ahead of Taylor a few moments after.
"Man, it sure is a lot bigger in here than I remember it being…" Victoria muttered as she floated over to the couch, taking in the living room and frowning as she tried to connect the inside dimensions of the room to the outside dimensions of the house. "... Wait. Hang on- how the hell is your living room so big? It doesn't line up with anything else on the outside of the house?"
"Magic," Emma deadpanned, motioning at Taylor, who immediately wiggled her fingers and pulled an impossibly long line of tied together handkerchiefs out of the hem of one her gloves, maintaining a picture perfect stoic expression before the colorful mass of fabric vanished with a snap of her fingers. "Or, y'know, just Taylor in general. I've kinda given up on trying to explain how any of what she does works."
"... Riiight," Victoria muttered, then pulled a notepad from her bag and scribbled something down, while Amy sat on the couch and hid the barest flinch as a piping hot cup of tea appeared on the coffee table in front of her. "Yeah okay so- that's… kinda why we're here. So y'know Lisa, that girl Taylor saved last Saturday?"
"The Thinker girl who stared really hard at Taylor for a few seconds before she started screaming, passed out, and then threw up all over my favorite pair of winter leggings?" Emma asked, grimacing a little as she rubbed her knees, still remembering the disgusting feel of bile soaking through the fabric. "Didn't she leave for LA like, a day or two ago?"
"Yeah, she did. Anyway, the point is- while she was still living at our house, she was talking to Amy about stuff, some of which is private, some of which she shared with me too but…" Victoria licked her lips, motioning at Amy as she spoke and then started floating, crossing her legs in midair as she tried to word her next sentence carefully. "Lisa doesn't think Taylor is actually a parahuman- and I think Amy can confirm that. Ames?"
"Right… Okay, so here's the thing," Amy started, picking up her cup of tea and taking a deep swig before continuing on. "I can't say for sure how right Lisa is about anything- we've only known her for a few days and she's gone now and she hasn't seen Taylor since that first time she passed out, but she told us that normally how her power works is that she's basically super Sherlock Holmes and picks up on things based on the tiniest clues- like figuring out that Vicky's Aura might have potential long term effects just from feeling it once-"
"Which, by the way, is kinda scary and I really hope she's wrong about that," Victoria cut in, wincing a bit as she visibly struggled to reign herself in. "Cuz I really don't wanna know what'd happen if it does have long term effects…"
"-right. Anyway, point is- Taylor. Lisa looked at you and started screaming, and later on she said it was because her power basically threw a massive, quote "ANOMALY" unquote, warning into her brain and sent her on an overdrive before she passed out from the Thinker headache."
"... So… how does that have anything to do with you being able to confirm if Taylor's not a parahuman?" Emma asked, watching both Amy and Victoria as Taylor continued to abuse her time stopping power without a care in the world, very blatantly making sure that Amy's teacup remained full and that Emma's coffee stayed warm before appearing directly at Emma's side to retake her proper place.
"Well, I can tell if someone's a parahuman or not just by touching them- part of my power is that I get a complete biological scan of someone down to the genetic level. And parahumans all have these two growths in their brain- the corona pollentia and a smaller growth called a gemma. So… y'know," Amy shrugged, and held out a hand to Taylor, who slipped off her glove and placed her own hand into Amy's.
There were a few tense seconds unfolding as Amy's eyes went wide and her jaw dropped open, and then…
"... You- you aren't a parahuman. What the fuck!?"
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Between Maid 5.4
"... Does it really matter one way or another?" Taylor asked after a few tense seconds, idly withdrawing from Amy's grip and folding her hands back into their usual place before her, tilting her head ever so slightly to the side as she spoke. "Whether I am or am not a parahuman does not change the reality of my abilities, nor does it change my goal in life."
"... Well I guess not but- well, actually- another thing… you uh… still have fractures all over your right arm and leg- they're almost healed, but they seem pretty aggravated all the time. Frankly I'm not sure how you're not constantly in pain right now," Amy pointed out, holding out her hand to Taylor once again.
Victoria hummed under her breath, flipping through her notepad as she went back through to the things she'd jotted down a day or so prior, when Carol had mentioned something about parahuman status to her. "Actually… I think Taylor not being a parahuman has some legal issues, come to think of it. Like, she demonstrably has powers, but the definition of a parahuman according to mom is someone who has extraordinary, usually physics defying, abilities as well as both the corona pollentia and gemma… which, I think means that Taylor isn't technically under the jurisdiction of the NEPEA-5 bill. If you ever wanted to open up a business where your power is the main draw, that is."
"I have no intention on doing such a thing, so I believe that point is rather redundant," Taylor shrugged, taking Amy's hand once again and wincing a bit as Amy seemed to push something into her without moving, the brunette seemingly glowing for a moment in a color that had no color as the aches and pains in Taylor's arm and leg vanished over the course of several seconds, leaving behind only the memory of their previous pain and injury. "... Hm… that was… interesting."
"Hey, so quick question- why's the definition for parahuman specify that they have to have a corona and gemma?" Emma asked, raising her hand as if she were in class for a few seconds before sheepishly putting her hand down, Taylor once more appearing at her side in a flicker of stopped time.
"Well, I don't know the deets for sure, but I remember mom said it was… what was it…" Victoria muttered, scratching her head for a moment before perking up again. "Right! Okay so you know how the PRT has its threat rating system? Y'know, all the parahuman categories and the threat ratings from one to nine? Yeah so, it turns out that if you're really good at, say, doing stock trading… you uh… kinda look indistinguishable from a low level Thinker like a Thinker 2 or 3. Or if you're really good at parkour, it's indistinguishable from being like a Mover 1 or 2. And since there actually are parahumans with those kinds of low level abilities out there…"
Victoria paused and cleared her throat, shrugging and motioning with her hands to sort of vaguely hint at her point.
"Well, the PRT decided that if someone was a suspected parahuman linked to some crime or misdemeanor or another, like a Thinker messing around with the stock market or a Brute or Mover competing in sports, then it'd be easier to just have them go through a brain scan to prove jurisdiction instead of having to go through the mess that happens when they accidentally arrest a normal criminal who happens to just be really good at throwing rocks or something."
"... Has that happened before?" Emma raised her eyebrow, frowning a bit as she tried to think of any incident that her father might have told her about before and coming up blank.
Victoria nodded, pulling out her smartphone and tapping away for a few moments before bringing up an article of some sort, moving closer to Emma so she could actually read it. "Mhmm. In the late 80s there was a cult leader over in Oklahoma that the PRT arrested on suspicion of being a Master. He wasn't, and then there was a big jurisdictional mess between the police and the PRT for a good month. Turns out that he was just an ordinary crazy cult dude running a suicide sex cult. Technically didn't do anything illegal, but still really gross. And that's just one of, like, thirty or so big incidents that made national news, and then there's another like, sixty or so that didn't because they were handled in their own cities and towns or whatever."
"... Huh. You'd think the PRT would know better," Emma mumbled, holding her chin as she stared down at said article for a few seconds before looking up again. "... So, if I'm reading all this correctly then…"
Amy nodded, flexing her hand as she spoke up again. "Taylor's the biggest, worst jurisdictional mess the PRT could possibly have if they ever find out about her not legally being a parahuman."
"Huh. Well, that's… interesting." Emma pursed her lips, then looked over at Taylor, who was currently patching a small hole in one of Emma's older blouses. "Taylor, what do you think?"
Taylor blinked, then looked up, an unreadable expression crossing her face for a brief moment before she shrugged and continued sewing. "As long as I stay by your side, milady, I doubt that any of this will be relevant to my daily life. After all, I have no intention of performing any kind of cape activities, legal or otherwise, so long as I am not ordered to."
"... Well, I guess that answers that… granted, I'm not sure how the PRT's going to react to you constantly using your powers… You don't even pretend to hide them most of the time," Emma shrugged as well, sighing a bit and shaking her head at Taylor's consistent one track mind. "What're we gonna do if they find out that you were lying about your powers the whole time?"
Taylor blinked slowly, mulling that over in her mind for a few moments before deciding it didn't matter in the slightest. "I will go where you go. I will do what you ask me to. If the PRT attempts to separate us, then I will do everything in my power to ensure that they do not."
Emma swallowed thickly, a sudden chill rushing down her spine at Taylor's words- although they were supposed to be comforting, a reassurance that her friend would always return to her side no matter what, she couldn't help but be slightly unsettled at the tone of voice and Taylor's hooded expression as she spoke..
After all- she'd seen that glint of bloody red in Taylor's eyes before.
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Nov 1, 2021
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Between Maid 5.5
January 10th, 2010 was a day that started off like any other. Taylor woke up as soon as her alarm clock rang out at six a.m., rolled out of bed with perfect poise and elegance, and began her morning routine. First, she laid out her clothes for the day- a long sleeved blue dress that went down to her knees, with white ruffles around the shoulders much like the ones around her apron, as well as said white waist apron (the one with the extra large bow sewn onto the straps), along with a pair of slim, white gloves to protect her hands from the winter chill. She also laid out her socks and mary janes, the black leather polished to a near mirror shine as always, then stood, stretched the kinks from her back, and-
[Click]
Teleported down to the Barnes' home gym, which had been created after Taylor had begun expanding the house and the rooms within (with Mr. Barnes' permission, of course). There wasn't much equipment inside- a refurbished treadmill bought from a Goodwill, two repaired and repainted exercise bikes, a small rack of light dumbbells, a punching bag suspended from the ceiling, and a few racks of assorted resistance bands and other such light exercise equipment. Along with the mirrors on the wall and the padded floor, it made for a perfectly competent gym for a family that liked to stay fit, but wasn't concerned about pushing themselves to the absolute limits. Taylor, of course, simply pulled out a mat from the collection in the corner, unfurled it on the floor, and began her yoga session. Her pajamas had been replaced by exercise clothing mid-teleport, and she stretched and contorted her body into what could be described as a human pretzel for the better part of what could be considered half an hour had time not been stopped- the passing of false time marked only by the gentle ticking of her pocket watch. Then, after thoroughly stretching out and warming up her muscles, Taylor switched to the treadmill. Laying her hands on the frame, she allowed it to activate despite the lack of power with a simple flex of will, and began a light jog.
Her feet pounded out a comfortable rhythm on the rubber belt, almost metronome-like in their regularity as she ran, maintaining a level pace for well over an hour as she ran a full thirteen miles based on the treadmill's internal sensors, then slowed to a walking pace and cooled down for several minutes. After wiping down the treadmill and freezing it back in stopped time, she returned to her mat and began her somewhat cobbled together martial arts practice. With her arm and leg now fully healed, her movements were much, much faster and far more efficient than before, with air audibly whistling and snapping as she punched and kicked at an imaginary target for a few minutes before switching to hitting the hanging bag, rocking it with each punch as the impacts rang out across the empty, frozen gym.
After finishing her workout, Taylor stretched once more, drank down a bottle of water, and headed out into the backyard for her knife throwing practice. There, the backyard had been transformed as well, into a quite professional looking course seemingly more suited to military shooting drills than throwing knives.
[Click]
Time resumed- Taylor, after all, needed time to move in order to make sure her accuracy was up to snuff. She took up her spot in the center of the course, closing her eyes and allowing knives to appear in her hands before throwing them out in wide arcs, steel flashing through the early morning air before colliding and ricocheting away from each other, clanging and clattering as their momentum was redirected in ways that were seemingly impossible to perform. Nevertheless- every target in the area was hit with a perfect bullseye, knives lodged point first and embedded deeply into the wooden boards.
[Click]
Time froze once more. Taylor cleaned up her mess, unpaused time, and repeated the process again from a different part of the yard. Again. Again. Again. After a half hour, Taylor found herself satisfied, cleaned up her mess once again, and went back inside. There, she retrieved her skateboard (of which the deck art on the bottom was, of course, a pasted on decal in the style of gold filigree because Emma insisted that her skateboard look appropriately fancy), walked out the front door, mounted her board, and began riding towards the closest skate park. After half an hour in stopped time, Taylor arrived at the empty park, donned her protective pads, and began riding around the park- she was not quite as versed in riding a skateboard as she was her other skills, though the long hours of practice she put in while time was stopped certainly made for quick advancements in her skills. After all, when she started she couldn't even stand on her board without flailing like a fool, and now she was able to perform a perfectly competent dragon flip nine times out of ten.
She continued her ride around the park for several hours- grinding on rails, performing tricks, dropping into the bowl, and occasionally stumbling here and there- a missed kick flip, an unbalanced manual, nothing serious, but still something worth improving. Afterwards, she rode home, allowed time to resume, showered, dressed, brushed her hair, and teleported down to the living room while stopping time once again. There, she picked up her guitar, brought the amplifier into stopped time, and began her guitar practice, strumming out the notes of Kickstart My Heart by Mötley Crüe, practicing scales, performing the guitar sections of several other songs, as well as also practicing her slap technique (Of which Anne didn't specifically tell her to learn, but she did anyway because she personally thought that slap guitar sounded really cool).
After a solid forty five minutes of guitar playing, she stretched out once more, and began the arduous process of cleaning the entire Barnes household from top to bottom, cleaning out every last speck of dust and debris over the course of about three hours (with the help of many, many temporal clones of herself), then began practicing everything else Anne's manga rotted "otaku" brain had led to her picking up- violin, card tricks, card throwing (Anne's justification for buying novelty metallic playing cards for Taylor was that "a battle maid should be lethal with everything she gets her hands on), butterfly knife tricks, doing cool spinny tricks with a pen (Taylor thought that Anne was just trying to live vicariously through her with that one), close up magic (very, very redundant considering Taylor's power set)- as well as her actual skills that were related to being a maid- sewing, knitting, sharpening the knives, etc etc etc.
And then… Taylor took a nap. A nice, long one to recuperate some of the energy she'd spent in the last few hours of subjective time. After that, Taylor allowed time to resume- right on time as usual, the sun barely lightening the sky at seven a.m. and with the household still asleep given that it was a sunday morning.
With that, Taylor prepared a lovely full breakfast for the household- a sausage and cheese frittata, spinach and ham quiche, peeled and diced fruit with yogurt, toast with jam and butter, coffee, orange juice, milk- ate her portion, washed the dishes, placed the hot dishes into the oven to keep warm and the cold dishes in the fridge to avoid spoilage and then…
She walked to the front door, suitcase in hand, notes left at the bedside of every member of the family… and began the long trek back to her home. Her actual home, where her father lived.
Dear Lady Emma:
I apologize for not being here today, but it is my scheduled day off to visit my father.
You are more than welcome to join us after you wake up, we are going to watch a movie at 3pm at the mall.
Should you wish to stay home instead, I will return by the end of the day.
Love,
Your loyal Maid
Last edited: Nov 1, 2021
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The CyberQueen
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Nov 2, 2021
#1,756
Scullery Maid 6.1
"-and Anne has been trying to convince Alan that she needs the money to buy me a real katana from a historical martial arts sword company, but I don't think I really need an actual sword," Taylor rambled on and on as she recounted the events of the past month to her father, sipping her tea while Danny ate breakfast and blearily listened to the events of her life over a cup of coffee.
He said nothing, simply chuckling and shaking his head at the more outlandish stories, or grunting a bit in either approval or disapproval depending on the context of each event. Taylor didn't mind- her father always took a bit to fully come back to his senses after he woke up. A morning person Taylor may have been, but her father was… not.
"Anyway, I'm starting to believe that Anne is mostly just using me as a vicarious method of learning all the skills that should theoretically be impossible to learn due to being from anime and manga," Taylor finished, shaking her head for a moment before slumping back in the creaky kitchen chair, looking around at the surprisingly clean house and chewing her lip. "It's a lot cleaner in here than it used to be… Did you actually bring out the vacuum?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah," Danny nodded slowly as he finally woke up, motioning towards the hallway closet with a shrug. "Figured I should at least clean up a little since you were coming over today. Let you relax for once, so you don't have to spend all day cleaning."
"Heh, like I didn't just clean the entire Barnes house earlier," Taylor chuckled, smiling and reaching across the table to lay her hand over Danny's, smiling a bit as she took in the lines of her father's face. "You look good, dad. Happier. Healthier."
"Kurt and Lacey helped," Danny sighed, grimacing a little as he held Taylor's hand for a few moments, then leaned back in his chair and tapped his chin with his free hand. "And of course, your visits. Alan and Zoe too- they're busy, but we go out for drinks sometimes, you know?"
"I'm aware, yes," Taylor murmured, rolling her eyes as she remembered the times when Alan came stumbling home on Zoe's shoulder, both of them singing some dockworker song as off key as humanly possible and smelling of both cheap beer and the unique mix of ocean and metal that the area around the DWU could never seem to get rid of. "Sometimes Alan throws up on the carpet, and it takes me quite some time to clean."
She shuddered, making a disgusted face mostly for comedic effect. "Revolting."
"Yeah, that sounds like Alan- he tries, but he can't really keep up with the union boys," Danny barked out a short laugh, grinning wide as he adjusted his glasses and sat up straighter. "Heh… I know I say this a lot when you come over, but… well, I'm doing alright, Taylor. You don't have to keep worrying about me. I know I- well… I know I haven't been the best father to you for the last few years, since… since your mother died but-"
"You're doing better. I know," Taylor smiled sadly, squeezing her father's hand before blinking around the table to draw him into a hug. "But you're my dad. And… even when I was with Emma that whole time, I couldn't help but worry, you know? You didn't really… cook for yourself for a while. Or eat much at all… and you were just working all the time…"
"Well, I was grieving. People do… strange things when they're grieving. I'm doing better now. It still hurts- you know as well as I do that it's the kind of thing that never really goes away, but I'm… I'm trying to take it a day at a time," Danny sighed, raising a hand and running it through Taylor's hair, chewing on his lip thoughtfully for a moment before changing the subject. "Anyway… enough of that talk. Tell me again about the fire incident- I don't think I heard that right? You said you were-"
"Trying to learn how to throw fireballs, yes," Taylor sighed, blinking back into her seat and grumbling quietly, rubbing her eyes and breathing out deeply with an air of both frustration and exasperation. "According to Anne's so-called logic I should be able to, and I quote 'do magical girl attacks since you already have magical girl powers'. Which is preposterous to assume, but what do I know?"
"... And how did that lead to you almost committing arson in one of the old parks near Winslow?" Danny asked, furrowing his brow as he tried to imagine exactly what chain of events could have possibly lead to Taylor admitting that she'd almost burned down a section of forest somehow in a snow covered park.
"Well… it turns out that I… um… can… throw fireballs," Taylor winced, raising her hand and making a so-so motion with one hand, then turned her hand over and summoned what looked like a fire frozen in time- about the shape of a torch flame and colored bright blue, though its size was comparable to a football.
Danny stared.
"What."
"... It turns out that um, you know how I can manipulate space?" Taylor asked rhetorically, letting the "fireball" disappear as she pulled a small bic lighter from her pocket. "Well. It also turns out that I can freeze individual objects in time- kind of like that new Ward, Clockblocker? But um."
"Um?" Danny raised an eyebrow, starting to connect the dots as a sinking feeling formed in his stomach.
"... I can manipulate the space inside of a time frozen object," Taylor cleared her throat as she flicked the lighter on and froze the flame, plucking it from the air and holding it in her hand as she expanded its size and shape until it was a glowing orb the size of a tennis ball. "So. Yeah. Fireballs."
"... Taylor, I know as your father I shouldn't use this language around you, but has anyone ever told you that your powers are bullshit?" Danny finally spoke after a few tense seconds, staring at the fireball in Taylor's hand with no small amount of trepidation. "Because I think it deserves to be stated."
"... Many times, yes," Taylor sighed, crushing the fireball in her hand and letting it vanish away. "The long and short of it is that Victoria posited the idea of me trying to make temporal duplicates of the fireballs the way I do with my knives and I did manage that… and then Emma threw a snowball at me."
"And you lost control and the fireballs exploded in a way that knives don't," Danny finished, nodding along sagely.
"I lost control and the fireballs all exploded. It was really pretty for a few seconds until- well. Everything caught fire. And it turns out that with enough fire going everywhere, not even snow covered wood can help but catch fire."
"Taylor, you are so ridiculous," Danny laughed, standing up as he finished his modest breakfast, plate in hand as he walked over to the sink and deposited his dishes. "I'm glad you're living life, though, even if it… doesn't really involve me much these days."
"I still treasure the time we have together," Taylor murmured, standing beside her father and laying a hand on his shoulder. "I have my duties, and you have yours. But it's nice to be able to come back here- to just be a family."
"When did you get so eloquent, Little Owl?" Danny chuckled again, patting Taylor's head once more as he stretched and turned away, walking towards the front door as he retrieved his keys from the bowl by the door. "Well, I guess you always were- but enough of the heavy stuff. Ready to go shopping? School supplies won't buy themselves, you know!"
"Of course," Taylor smirked, already spinning the keys around her finger as she stood by Danny's old pickup truck, the front door wide open and letting in the chill of winter as Danny tried to process what just happened. "Way ahead of you, dad!"
"Wh- hey! Give those back you little scamp! You can't even drive!"
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Well, you guys were right about something bad happening.
It's just not happening to Taylor.
Scullery Maid 6.2
"LAAAADIES AND GENTLEMEN! The Circus is back in town and you all know what that means~!"
"Oh no," Danny muttered, wincing and palming his face as he ushered Taylor and Emma behind the mall directory, watching as the villain known as Circus danced upon a large stage that was supposed to be for musical performances during the holidays, but was currently being used to elevate the jester-like criminal and make them far more visible.
And then Circus shot a plume of fire into the air, cackling wickedly as they hefted a large sack in their other hand, waving it around heedless of the screaming crowd. "C'mon c'mon! Sit down and enjoy the show! Valuables in the bag and no one gets hurt! Don't go running off now, this is a once in a lifetime deal!"
"Is she crazy!?" Emma whispered, hissing as Circus danced around, leaping and kicking off the shoulders of hapless civilians and knocking them to the ground, flinging cartoonishly shaped smoke bombs in wide arcs, covering the exits with smoke and only intensifying the screaming. "Right, what am I saying, this is Brockton Bay, of course she's crazy!"
The crowd's screaming began to quiet down as the people around them finally began to get the message- the few people who'd managed to escape vanishing off into the distance once they passed the doors and leaving everyone else behind to duck low to the ground, kneeling or lying prone in hopes of avoiding serious injury at the hands of the acrobatic villain. Their own group had been jostled out from behind their cover by the motion of the crowd, and they had taken refuge once again near a large potted plant, Danny hovering protectively around Taylor and Emma, even though he knew he could do precious little should an attack come their way.
"Shall I intervene, milady?" Taylor murmured, keeping a defensive guard over Emma as her Lady stayed close to the ground- fortunately, Circus hadn't yet focused on their group, and was currently accosting a group of shoppers on the other side of the intersection for their money and valuables. "Or shall we simply leave now?"
"N-no, let's just-" Emma paused, chewing her lip as she stared at Circus, her cheek twitching as her instincts warred with her desire to keep Taylor out of the spotlight. She didn't want Taylor to be outed- not in the slightest, nor did she want to bring the PRT down on their heads… but.
But Circus had just smacked a man to the ground with a giant mallet for daring to try and play hero. Had just flung a group of fireballs to corral a fleeing woman, barely avoiding hitting the baby in the woman's arms. Had kicked a teenager on the ground just because he only had a few dollars in his pockets.
And, least importantly, ruined Taylor's day off by hitting the mall. Emma mulled it over for a few more seconds, then shook her head, hissing and clenching her fist as she held her pinkie finger up to Taylor.
"Taylor. I need you to do something for me. I know it's your day off, but as your Lady, I need you to do this before it's too late," Emma murmured, her voice low to avoid gathering attention, but just loud enough for Taylor to hear as she entwined her own pinkie finger with Emma's, bits of crimson red seeping into her eyes as she focused on her friend- her Lady, and all sensation bled out of the world, every ounce of her being focused on Emma's next words as if they were immutable law, unbreakable orders- gospel delivered from highest authority.
"I- I need you. To get me and your dad to safety. Get us outside to your dad's car… then…" Emma reached into the shopping bag by her side, pulling out a simple black masquerade mask. It was flimsy and cheap, a thing of painted plastic with fake gold filigree added on top to ape the trappings of high society, but it would do.
"Then… when we're safe, I need you to teach that criminal bitch a lesson." Emma hissed out finally, ignoring Danny's quiet explanation of shock in favor of pressing the mask into Taylor's free hand, green eyes meeting bloody crimson as she let Taylor slip free of the proverbial leash and let her loose upon Circus. "Put on the mask. Put on a show. Beat the crap out of her even- I need you to teach that Circus freak why you are the scariest bitch in Brockton Bay, not some jumped up jester freak who thinks she's hot shit."
"Of cour-"
"... Or we could not," Danny hissed, holding onto Taylor and almost glaring at Emma and Taylor as he shuffled them slightly more behind the plant. "Are you insane Emma!? That's far too risky- Taylor ignore that, just take her out the way you normally do and let's go-"
"No." Taylor took a deep breath, laying her hand over her father's as she drew them both into the frozen world of stopped time. "Not this time."
"Wh- Taylor!" Danny stood suddenly, looking around frantically for a few moments before he realized what had happened. "No! Do not do that! You are not getting into a public cape fight just because Emma told you to!"
Taylor paused, chewing her lip and shaking her head once more, gently taking Emma and Danny's hands as she teleported them to Danny's car, placing the mask upon her face as she allowed time to resume. There were sirens in the distance- but they were too far away. There were people milling around outside the mall, some calling for help, others still getting into their cars to drive away.
"I'm sorry, dad, but… this is a direct order from My Lady. An Oath, sworn by pinkie swear. This is my duty… and… honestly…" Taylor smiled- a terrifying, vicious expression that showed too many teeth and didn't reach her eyes, bloody crimson almost glowing as she turned back towards the mall, knives appearing in her hands as she began walking back towards the doors. "... I've been wanting to cut loose like this for some time now."
Taylor vanished, leaving Emma and Danny alone in the parking lot, a sinking feeling manifesting in Danny's chest as well as a chill running down his spine.
"Don't worry, Mr. Hebert," Emma murmured, gently patting his shoulder as she stared back towards the mall doors. "Taylor's way too strong to get hurt from something like this."
"... Yeah. Yeah, no…" Danny nodded slowly, slightly paler than normal as he began fumbling with his keys, shivering a bit at the memory of those red, red eyes boring into his soul. "I'm uh… I almost feel bad for that Circus girl now…"
Emma paused, then remembered the specific wording of her orders, brought on in a fit of pique, anger, and the need to be as dramatic as possible in her speech.
"... yeah, me too."
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Scullery Maid 6.3
Circus was having a good day- the citizens were compliant, they were raking in cash, and pretty much everyone was too scared to actually try anything now that they'd beat up a couple people and made sure to keep a couple orbs of fire juggling in their off-hand. Still, they could hear sirens in the distance, and they weren't about to stick around longer than they had to- Coil just said something about making a big distraction and then leaving the moment the heroes arrived, after all.
They had noticed that apparently some people had vanished in the midst of their 'performance', but figured that it was probably some wannabe hero who just teleported out a couple people and ran off thinking they did their good deed of the day.
And then…
"Excuse me miss?"
"Huh-"
WHAM
Circus was no longer having a good day. Mostly because they'd just gotten roundhouse kicked in the face by a fucking- wait.
Was that a fucking flying Maid!?
"Who the fuck are you?" Circus spat out, wiping a splatter of blood from their lips and wincing as they felt the sudden tenderness there. Yeah, that was gonna bruise in the morning.
Taylor sneered, an ugly, vicious thing that cut across her face as she descended from her gentle hover, shoes clicking against the tile of the mall floor in a way that was both quiet and yet the loudest sound in the entire area- especially since every single person in the area had just vanished. "I am a Maid, pure and simple. My Lady has instructed me to make an example of you, as you have not only accosted innocent people and harmed men, woman and children alike, but have also ruined both my outing with my Lady, and caused an inexcusable interruption to my day off."
Circus scoffed, hissing as they drew themself up and formed a trio of fireballs over their hand. "Oh yeah? And how you gonna do that you prissy rich bitch? Gonna polish my shoes? Clean my house?"
With a mighty roar, Circus flung the fireballs at the glaring maid, ignoring the dead, bloody red eyes peering out from behind her cheap masquerade mask and aiming to disable- surely, with only a flight power, she'd be defe-
"How droll." Taylor murmured, plucking the fireballs from the air and rolling them around in her grip, shrinking them down until they were the size and shape of baoding balls. "If you wish to assault my person with fire, then you will have to do better than that."
With a flourish of her hand, Taylor cloned the fireballs and let them hover in the air around her, compressing and warping the space inside and around them until they seemed to glow a brilliant blue-green from the sheer energy stored within.
She smiled.
It was not a pretty smile.
Circus felt their heart drop, a sinking feeling of dread that tunneled down through their bowels, out their shoes, and swiftly dug straight down to the core of the earth as six eerie green pellets became twelve. Then twenty four. Then forty eight. Then-
"Don't worry- this won't kill you, but I won't hold back much," Taylor giggled, eyes wide as she cast the rain of firebolts forward at bullet speeds, making Circus shriek and dodge frantically out of the way as they came towards their body- flipping and twirling and scrambling over and around obstacles as they ran for their fucking life.
The entire mall lit up in a hellish blaze of light and color- blues and greens splashing over the walls and impacting in bursts of fire that left scorch marks along the walls that were just as quickly wiped away- not that Circus had any time to actually realize what was happening as they got tagged by a bolt that seemed to curve in mid flight, slamming into their midsection and erupting in a concussive burst, that sent them sprawling into another bolt and another and another and another-
Taylor, meanwhile, watched dispassionately as Circus ricocheted around the mezzanine level, guiding her firebolts to throw the colorful villain off of the railing and out onto the floor below, whereupon the chase resumed.
"Have you learned your lesson yet?" Taylor murmured, appearing in front of Circus with but a flex of teleportation, glaring as she prepared to make her point better known and-
WHAM
Taylor stared coolly as she held a single knife in her hand, digging the point into the head of Circus' sledgehammer as she froze it in time, rendering it inviolable and immovable for just long enough for Circus to realize her blow had done nothing- not even ruffled Taylor's hair.
"I suppose we will have to continue the lesson, then," Taylor murmured, taking advantage of Circus' shock to rise into the air and perform a complicated midair bicycle kick, freezing time mid movement in order to rain more blows upon their midsection and send them flying back into the food court whereupon they crashed to the floor and skidded to a halt in a tangle of limbs. "Let the lesson resume. Where were we now? Ah, yes."
A simple flex of her will caused time to ripple around her and form into the same fireballs that Circus had made before- properly formed as they were by a parahuman power, there was no need to freeze them in time yet. Circus groaned on the floor, wincing and wheezing as they slowly stood up again and held their battered ribs- they were bruised and bleeding, burnt and their outfit bore more than a few ripped areas that exposed the light armor beneath, but they were still cognizant enough, still alive enough to recognize the threat for what it was- no. Not a threat.
A promise- not of death, if only it would be so kind.
The monster in front of them promised pain and suffering beyond anything they could imagine, that cold red glare focused upon their soul and boring through until it found the core of their being and found Circus lacking.
Circus gulped, barely keeping themself from losing bladder control as the fireballs began multiplying again and again, stumbling back and gaining just enough panic fueled energy to run for the doors, slamming into them and pushing only to find that they were locked-!
"Oh no, this isn't how it ends, I'm not dying here no no no no no no no no!" Circus gasped out, frantically pounding at the doors as Taylor drew closer, the heat of the fireballs intensifying as they cast a hellish red light over the area.
Circus whimpered, then pulled out their last resort- they had a precious amount of things stored in their hammerspace and they flung out everything as a weapon as hard as they could manage, throwing bricks and knives and ninja stars and novelty items and spare hammers and tools out in a wall of metal and shrapnel, hoping that they could overwhelm the maid like that and-
An explosion of heat and light rang out, a burst of pressure that slammed Circus into and through the glass doors from the force of the blast and left them riddled with shards and wincing with every breath. Ears ringing, face bleeding, they peered back into the mall, hoping to any deity that would listen that the maid- the monster was down for good-
Their heart stopped.
"Tut tut. And I was so careful to avoid any damage to the mall," Taylor sighed, chewing her lip as she stepped through the ruins of the glass doors, the inside of the mall no worse for wear despite the explosion that had just rocked everything. "Oh well. Another lesson I shall have to beat into you."
The world flickered in Circus' view for a moment, the glass doors suddenly replaced in an instant.
"Much better. Now," Taylor turned back to Circus, who was still laid out on the ground, trembling in fear. She loomed over the thief, face shadowed by the afternoon sunset save for her blood red eyes that seemed to glow with sheer malice, appearing almost a thousand feet tall as if Circus was nothing more than an ant to be crushed under her boot. "Where were we?"
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Nov 3, 2021
#1,917
Scullery Maid 6.4
"Hey! Hey! Cool it! I think she's had enough!" Velocity cut in, zooming into the scene and skidding to a halt between Taylor and Circus, holding his arms out wide and blocking the thief from view as he tried to de-escalate what, to him, looked less like a cape fight and more like a one sided brutal curbstomp. "Look I know she's a criminal but she's clearly in no shape to continue fighting, and if you keep going-"
[Click]
"She, tried to pull a gun on us just now," Taylor spoke calmly from the other side of Velocity, kneeling and putting Circus in a painful arm bar and muffling said criminal's cries of pain with an improvised gag- merely a rag stuffed in her mouth as she bent Circus' arm around behind their back, the mercy quickly leaving Taylor's eyes as she held the gun up for emphasis. "You'll have to forgive me if I don't believe her surrender."
"Wh- how did you-? No, nevermind- here, let me handle this for now- Circus is down, she's not going anywhere, and at this point I really do need to insist that you step away before you cause a serious permanent injury," Velocity shook his head, motioning for Taylor to step away as he pulled out a small confoam sprayer from his belt- just enough per can to tie up someone's hands and feet after an arrest.
"... Very well then," Taylor nodded slowly, then ever so carefully pulled herself up and away from Circus, glaring down at the thief before removing the rag in their mouth, before making a very clear point by summoning a knife into her hand and miming a throat cutting motion with her other.
Circus, now accepting the futility of their situation, ceased struggling and allowed Velocity to restrain their hands behind their back, going limp on the ground as a van full of PRT troopers pulled up and surrounded the pair of capes.
"Thank you for your cooperation, ma'am. Now, if you'd come with-" Velocity blinked as he looked around, spinning around in a full circle before scratching his head and motioning for a trooper to help Circus up and into one of the vans. "... Huh. She's gone. Dammit."
"Who's gone, sir?" one of the troopers- Martins, if Velocity was hearing her voice right- asked, cocking her head and lifting her visor up now that the threat was past, waving at the crowds that were starting to assemble around the area before turning back towards the red clad hero. "Was there an accomplice?"
"No- no, the cape that took down Circus- the maid whose temp name is still being worked on by PR?" Velocity made sort of a motion with his hand, indicating the blank spot where Taylor had been mere moments before, and where Martins was now standing. "She was right there, and then I blink and she's gone."
"... I thought that was a hallucination," Martins admitted, frowning a bit as she kneeled down and touched the ground where she stood. "Hmm… The files do have her on record as having a powerful teleportation ability. Guess she must have blinked out right when we got here."
"... Yeah, and I was about to ask her to come in for an after-action debrief too," Velocity sighed, rubbing his forehead and grimacing. "The Director's gonna have my ass for missing the opportunity…"
"I doubt she would have agreed either way," Martins pointed out, vaguely pointing back out in a vaguely northwards direction. "Y'know, what with the… and the…" She motioned around a few more times with the same hand, wagging her head a bit for emphasis.
"Yeah. Yeah. Well, at least it was a quick fight… though we're gonna need to see how much damage was done to the mall," Velocity muttered, frowning as he looked at the glass doors leading into the mall, noticing how they were visibly much cleaner than the surrounding walls and floor- to the point that one of them even still had a plastic liner attached to the inside, and all four smelled like metal polish and chemical cleaning agents rather than the normal smell of the area just outside the mall. "... That's weird… did the doors here get replaced at some point?"
"... I wouldn't know, sir, I haven't been to this mall in months."
"... Martins, grab some backup and follow me. Let's check out what the hell happened inside the mall, and if there's any bystanders who need help," Velocity commanded, frowning deeply as he edged open the door and slipped into the mall proper, shuddering a bit as the warm air washed over him.
A few moments later, Martins as well as two other squad members- Jenkins and Wachowski- entered the building behind him, all three of them looking around curiously at the food court, which seemed… completely clean, and free of all signs of a cape battle.
"... This doesn't make any sense… Circus was covered in burns- and she's got enhanced reflexes and agility, so you'd think there'd be some evidence of fire damage…" Velocity muttered, sniffing the air and wincing at the chemical scent emanating throughout. "But it just smells like cleaning supplies in here…"
"Maybe super maid cleaned up after herself?" Jenkins joked, chuckling under his breath before Wachowski elbowed him in the side. "Ow- hey!"
"Professionalism please, we're here to check for damage and injuries," Martins deadpanned, then sniffed the air as well. "But Jenkins is right… There's no fire damage, and from the state Circus is in you'd think there'd be more signs of a fight…"
"Unless it wasn't enough of a fight to be considered one- but here's the thing…" Velocity frowned and walked up to the nearest directory, kneeling down and staring at an odd smudge on the metal casing before shaking his head and standing up again. "The eyewitness reports stated that Circus hit one of the larger courtyard type areas- the big intersection here, with the mezzanine above."
He pointed at a spot on the map, almost entirely across the mall from where they were now. "Which doesn't fit the current powerset we have on file for Combat Maid. If her powerset really was just the instantaneous application of damage, then Circus would have been attacked and knocked out over there, well before we could have arrived. But instead, she was terrified into submission, and looked like she'd been thrown through a glass door by an explosion. But the doors weren't broken. And there's no damage anywhere that I can see."
"How d'you figure she didn't just trip over her own feet?" Wachowski asked, pulling a wand shaped device from his belt and waving it around in the air, using the Dragon-made scanner to look for any of the usual exotic energy signatures that came from cape fights, only to come up empty everywhere except for roughly around the door of the food court, and a single spot close to where the mezzanine dropped off at the open entrance of the food court.
"Because there was a streak of torn fabric and blood on the ground, and I was close enough to see glass shrapnel embedded in her back and face, as well as some pretty severe burns," Velocity answered, chewing his lip and holding his chin. "Which means… Jenkins, do you know where the security room of this mall is?"
"Mhmm, it's off near the bathrooms, west wing," Jenkins nodded, pointing the way. "You gonna go look at the tapes, sir?"
"Yeah. Something's fishy, and I wanna know what's going on- I'm starting to think that Combat Maid's got a lot more going on with her powerset than even the techs back on the rig coulda guessed," Velocity muttered, rubbing his chin as he continued to stare at the directory for a few more seconds. "You three- keep looking out for any signs of damage or injured civilians along this route- this area of the mall looks empty, but there might be something we're missing. Follow the route from here to that intersection there, up until the stage. I'll be back when I have the recordings."
With that, Velocity vanished in a blur of red, leaving the three troopers to continue on their task.
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Jsyrin
Nov 3, 2021
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Jsyrin
Jsyrin
The CyberQueen
She/Her
Nov 4, 2021
#1,999
Scullery Maid 6.5
January 14th, 2010 was a day that started off bad for the local Protectorate ENE and pretty much only got worse from the moment that they all collectively filed into a meeting room with Director Piggot, who looked much worse for wear as she nursed a cup of coffee that was almost certainly pumped full of more caffeine than a woman on dialysis should have been allowed to have.
"Let's start off this meeting by cutting to the chase. The Watchdog Thinkers have analyzed the footage Velocity retrieved and, after sending the data back to us, have concluded that Taylor Hebert, current interim alias "Combat Maid" is far more deadly, and far more sadistic than was previously assumed. Along with that, she is far more powerful than even our power techs hypothesized. Not only was she sandbagging, she was sandbagging so much it's comparable to a navy destroyer calling itself a speedboat," Piggot growled out, slamming her fist on the table as she motioned to the reports in front of everyone's seats, glaring off at nothing before rubbing her temples and letting out a long, tired, exasperated sigh.
"For those of you who haven't watched the footage yet…" Velocity spoke up almost hesitantly, pausing for a moment before Director Piggot waved him on. He tapped the projector button in the middle of the table and began playing back the surveillance footage he'd managed to retrieve from the mall. "Combat Maid has displayed shaker, blaster, mover, and possibly trump powers far in excess of what we had assumed upon power testing, and still in excess of what the power techs assumed based on the Boardwalk incident last November, as you can see here-"
Velocity motioned at the screen, which displayed snippets of the so-called "fight" from various cameras, stitched together in a way to provide a multi-angle view of Circus' mad dash through the mall, the panic clearly visible on her face as she did her damndest to avoid the mass of colorful pellets firing through the air.
"... How the hell is she doing that?" Dauntless asked, furrowing his brow as he stared at the screen, scratching his head as he flipped through the report, barely reading it as he watched the recording of Combat Maid floating placidly through the air, hundreds of glowing pellets flying out like horizontal rain, arcing through the air and shifting in geometric patterns as they unerringly headed towards Circus, who barely managed to flip and spin enough to slip between them long enough to dodge behind some large object or another- a cardboard standee, some potted plants, a support column, a vending machine, etc etc. "I thought her power was- what was it, basically just a kill radius and some line of sight teleportation? Even if she was sandbagging, this doesn't make any sense…"
"The most logical conclusion to reach here is that she was lying about every facet of her abilities since the start," Armsmaster answered, gritting his teeth as he analyzed the video himself, playing it back on his visor and going through frame by frame. "Velocity might also have had a point when he mentioned the other day that the mall was left smelling like cleaning supplies. Look-"
He paused the recording, zooming in on a section of wall before advancing frame by frame- a glowing green orb that missed Circus mere moments before splashing against the wall and leaving a scorch mark… one that disappeared the very next frame. "An instantaneous removal of evidence- or at least, fast enough that the camera could not catch it while recording at thirty frames per second."
"So… she cleaned up her own mess while she was fighting?" Miss Militia muttered, brow furrowed in confusion as she leaned forward, doing her own examination as she resumed playback, watching the entire fight unfold- "How is that even possible…? Could she actually be generating physical illusions instead?"
"Maybe, but that doesn't explain the teleporting or the flying- it's possible that she's a grab-bag similar to Circus, but that doesn't explain the Alley Incident she was involved in, nor does it explain how there were no witnesses even during the Boardwalk Incident," Armsmaster shook his head, continuing to observe the video before stopping it once again- "There. The way she stopped the sledgehammer."
"That looks like some kind of brute power… Wait, no- run the frames back a few, something's not right there," Battery pointed at the screen, watching the playback as Armsmaster looped the last few seconds. "Does that movement look familiar to anyone else- or rather, lack of movement?"
"It… looks like when Clockblocker uses his power on an object?" Dauntless muttered, blinking in surprise. "How the hell is that possible?"
"... Are we sure the Hebert girl isn't somehow Dennis' long lost twin?" Assault asked, wincing a bit as Battery elbowed him in the side. "Yow! Hey, I'm just saying! Powers tend to be pretty similar across families, y'know? And most powers that specific tend not to be anywhere else."
"Assault has a point, but no- we're sure that Combat Maid is not secretly related to Clockblocker. Perhaps the actual answer is…" Armsmaster paused and frowned. "... Perhaps she wasn't lying, actually."
"Oh? And how do you figure that?" Director Piggot asked, raising an eyebrow as she spoke again for the first time in several minutes, hands folded in front of her face as she made an impressively intimidating scowl.
"She might not have been lying about being able to manifest damage based on weaponry around her- or at least not fully," Armsmaster answered, turning back towards Director Piggot with an ever deepening frown. "She may, in fact, have a combined Shaker/Trump rating based on copying or imitating weaponry and objects… one that counts parahuman abilities as weapons... And manages to keep them after they leave close proximity."
The room went still.
Director Piggot took a deep breath.
She exhaled slowly, then stared at Armsmaster, as cold and serious as she could possibly be. "Do you mean to tell me. That in the absolute worst case scenario, we might have a second Fairy Queen in this city?"
Armsmaster was silent for a few seconds, then nodded slowly. "I pray to whatever god is out there that I'm wrong, but in the event that my theory is correct… yes. That is my current theory, until we can prove otherwise."
Director Piggot sighed, holding her hands in front of her face as she closed her eyes.
"Shit."
787
Jsyrin
Nov 4, 2021
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