no ex neoto Chapter 7: deth, a book x-overs fanfic

He awoke to his communicator.

"Armsmaster here." He answered, his training allowing him to awaken at a moments notice.

"Colin, they got her." Miss Militia responded "The Wards got Samedi."

That got his attention. The newest bogeyman of the Brockton Bay cape scene, she was responsible for 15 murders. All parahumans. Each had their corpse mutilated and most disturbingly had their brains missing. The thing that set her above all other cape killers was the fact that several of the crime scenes had evidence of previous victim's abilities. After Glastig Uaine the PRT wasn't taking any chances. She had been priority number one for weeks, and now they had her in custody.

Armsmaster rolled himself out of bed and dressed. He moved with a purpose toward the lower levels where the interrogation rooms were.

Arriving quickly Armsmaster nodded to Miss Militia. He looked out the one-way glass at the girl sitting there.

"How they get her? She has been quite elusive." He asked frowning slightly. Samedi had been registered a class A threat, the Wards shouldn't even engaged her.

"By chance it seems" the scarfed hero answered. "She was engaging a group of minor villains called the Undersiders. The fight attracted the attention of Kid Win and Vista who were patrolling nearby. The actual take down goes to Shadow Stalker. She got a tranq dart into Samedi. She was even able to ID the girl."

"What of the Undersiders?"

"They fled during the fight. Kid Win prioritized Samedi's capture."

"Hmm." Armsmaster frown deepened. It was a good call, Samedi was too much of a threat to let get way. It did irk him though that she was brought in by several junior heroes by near accident.

Another thought nagged at him. Why the Undersiders? On the surface it fit with much of her MO. All previous victims of Samedi were low level criminals. Most were only set apart by their powers, and most only barely. Low rent thugs with low rent abilities. The Undersiders were bigger fish, and she had never gone after a group before preferring to take her victims while they were alone. Was this a sign of escalation? Confidence in her strength? Or something else? So much of this case was filled with blanks. Hopefully now that she was in custody he would get some answers.

"Director Piggot is going to do the initial interview" Miss Militia informed him.

"I'll admit she doesn't look like a Samedi." He noted, truthfully she didn't look like much to the armored hero at all. Pale and drawn. Her hair was greasy and matted, unevenly cut. It was evident that she had been on the streets for several weeks. Far younger than they had anticipated too. Still in their world appearances could be misleading, dangerously so. The veteran hero had seen his fair share of good people die from underestimating the threat they were faced with.

"Where she get that name anyway?" A voice from behind him asked.

Turning the head of the Protectorate saw Dr Phillip Jones leaning on one of the walls. Middle aged and pudgy, Dr Jones was one of the psychiatrist attached to the PRT. He was competent enough Armsmaster supposed though he wondered why the doctor was here. His confusion must have been evident to Miss Militia as she answered.

"The director wants to get a ruling on the sanity of the girl before handing her over to the courts."

"And I told the director that it would take time and likely several one-on-one sessions with girl before I made a call one way or the other. Watching the Director interrogate the girl will help to give me good starting point. You never answered my question by the way. Where does as skinny white girl get the name 'Samedi'?"

"The grandfather of one of her victims" Armsmaster flipped thought the files to find the relevant picture "A Claire DeBrois. Her grandfather was an immigrant from Haiti. Senile. He wandered into the middle of the crime. He was understandable upset and confused what he saw. Told the papers that it was the Baron Samedi that killed his granddaughter and preformed some ritual to steal her soul. The press ran with it, called her crimes 'The Samedi Murders'" He paused to shake his head at the absolute circus the papers made of the whole thing.

"So the name stuck hmm?" Dr Jones said to himself.

XxXXxX

Once again Director Piggot marveled at the insanity of this world. Entering the room she looked at the murder of over a dozen people. Tall and whisper thin, the girl didn't look like she would be a threat to a fly much less some of the most dangerous people on the planet.

The girl seemed to be looking at the manacles on her hand in almost a daze. Had she not know better she may even had felt bad for the girl. As it was she merely took the seat opposite the girl. It was time to get this farce over with.

"You can't break those. They're made to withstand an anything someone like you could throw at them." The girl nodded.

"I could tell. They're pretty heavy. Feel like some kind of alloy. Rather simple lock though." She said with a slight smile. The girl was rather nonchalant for someone who was as deep in shit as she was. The director decided to shake her up.

"So before we start do you prefer Samedi or Taylor." That got her attention "Yes we know your name. An old friend of yours from school helped us to id you. Also helped to take you of the missing persons list. I doubt this is the call your father was hoping for though." The girl didn't respond beyond glaring. "We'll start with why. So why did you kill all those people? Were you power mad or do you like killing?"

"What!? No that's not it." The girl seemed genuinely upset "I'm going to be a hero."

That got Piggot's attention. That was not what she expected.

"OK that's a new one. I've never heard of a serial killer wanting to be on the other side of the law." She shook her head "I was so hoping that you weren't crazy"

"I'm not a serial killer and I'm not crazy!" The girl was becoming hysterical

"Fine you're not crazy, but you still killed a lot of people and I think that deserves an explanation." The girl started to shift uncomfortably.

"It all started when I first triggered. I was so happy to get powers." she gave a bitter chuckle "Turns out I wasn't as special as I thought. My power let me see how things worked. I was so disappointed. I tried for weeks to find someway for me to do some good on my own. Fixing things, even trying to build things of my own. It wasn't enough. I need to do more. Eventually I tried to find someone who might be able to help me. I got this message from someone who said they could help. Said she wanted to meet at her fathers antique store. She was the first."

The PRT director looked at the relevant file. "Elisabeth Vanhousen aka Rune. An up and coming member of E88. Took a while for us to pin her on you. I'm guessing that's where you got the telekinesis." Samedi nodded "So why did you kill her?"

"I didn't mean to. I was just so angry with her. When we met all she did was try and recruit me into the Empire. I didn't even know she was a criminal. All that power and all she wanted to do was hurt people. I couldn't believe that someone with her power would abuse it like that while someone like me got stuck unable to do anything." The girl took a shuddering breath before continuing "I didn't mean to kill her. I just hit her that once, but she fell and hit her head on the counter. It split her head open. I saw it then, how my powers could do some good"

"How exactly?"

"With her powers." The director raised an eyebrow. "I knew then what made her special. How she was able to do what she did and what she could be capable of. Things she didn't even know she could do. The limits that were holding her back. It was so simple to make me just as special as her, better even."

"That explains murder number one but not the other 14. Not exactly the resume a hero would have."

"I need to be able to do more. Be strong enough to help people. Telekinesis wasn't enough. I needed more. Something to make me a real asset. I made sure to restrict myself to criminals. People who only abused their powers." She looked away "Bullies." She looked back at the director "It would balance in the end wouldn't it. Maybe not right away but if I save enough people, was as good a hero as the Triumvirate, as Alexandria, then I would make up for it. Right?" She sounded like she was holding back tears.

Director Piggot marveled at the girl. Her detachment to what she had done was astounding. The world must truly be mad if a lunatic like this could have so much power. She stood then having heard enough. Marching out of the room she decided to enlighten the girl. Turning to face the girl.

"You are a monster." The killer's eyes widened in shock her mouth falling open. The director continued

"I don't know what will happen to you, but if there is even a sliver of reason in this world you'll be buried in the deepest hole we can find and left to rot. "

She left her sitting there wide eyed seemingly uncomprehending what was happening.

XxXXxX

"That went well"

"Can it Jones I'm in no mood." Piggot sat down looking at the girl though the glass "So in your opinion: nut job?"

"Well she certainly would benefit from having psychiatric care, but legally?" he shrugged "She is sane."

"Truly?" Miss Militia wondered

"She understands her guilt, and wants some form of absolvement. Her insistence that she is a hero despite her crimes and her need to be validated creates something of cycle. She hates herself for hurting others so she resolves to do better, to help more but in order to do that she needs more power, and the only way to get more power..."

"Is to hurt more people." The director finished "Christ. Well at the very least she'll fit in at the Birdcage"

"Is that wise?" Armsmaster asked "She has shown no resistance at hurting people she sees as evil and

seems unable or unwilling to stop. Putting her in the Birdcage is like locking an Alcoholic in your wine cellar"

"Well let's hope she meets a bigger monster in there. We'll have to be careful when tran-"

"NO!" a yell interrupted the Director "I won't go"

"She can hear us!?" Armsmaster yelled. As the girl took several deep breaths a name came to the armored hero, Jewel Standford, 'Banshee' "Cover your ears now"

A piercing scream filled the air. The sheer volume staggering everyone in earshot. A large crack split the mirror before them. Then the scream slowly ended the girl pulled her hands free of the now ruined cuffs.

Armsmaster held on to consciousness long enough to watch her pull the door off wither mind and flee down the hall before darkness filled his vision.

Last edited: Mar 9, 2015

126

Hugs

Informative

Winter

VolantRedX

Jun 26, 2014

View discussion

Threadmarks 1.2

View content

VolantRedX

Official Conscience of Worm Fanfiction!

Jun 26, 2014

Her Name is Death 1.2

Brian's hands were still shaking when he slid off the the dog. He had been through a lot in since triggering. Before even, but tonight was a different level of fear. He looked back at four members of his team. Thankfully the Undersiders had made it through without anyone dying. As far as Brain was aware that was a first for people who meet Samedi.

'Alive but not uninjured' he reminded himself. He and Rachel were covered in bumps and bruises. Lisa had gotten away without a scratch. Emily, the newest member, was holding her side. Cracked ribs most likely. It was Alec that was the most worrying. He gave a soft moan when Brian pulled him down from Brutus. His body was shaking. Brian didn't know how many volts Samedi hit him with but a full blast of lightning was never a good thing. He was about to help his teammate inside when he saw Emily march toward Lisa with a purpose.

"Rachel help Alec inside" He ordered the girl. She gave him a look but thankfully obeyed. Brian didn't need an argument right now. From the looks of things with the other two he was about to have his fill.

As he approached Emily was already laying into Lisa. While normally she had an even temper she had more than earned her cape name.

"What the hell was that?" She asked roughly. She kept her voice low.

"What do you mean?" Lisa was playing coy. A habit that Brain was sure was going to bite her in the ass one of these days.

"You know exactly what I mean. You said that Samedi would go after groups. That we'd be safe if we stuck together." Emily brushed back some of her brown hair. "I agreed to work with you despite you guys not exactly being money because you promised I'd be safe from that psycho. No more though. If hanging with you means that I can get jumped than why stick around?"

"You're going to be safer in a group than alone."

"Yeah? Well it doesn't have to be you." Emily made to move. Brain went to stop her. He didn't want anyone quitting. Not now. They needed to stick together.

"And whose going to take you in?" Lisa chimed in, helpful as always. "Lung's not interested in new hangers on. Coil doesn't work with Parahumans. Whose left? The Merchants are bleeding people to Samedi, Faultline left town weeks ago. You planning on joining the Empire? I'm sure they'd love to have Emily Vasquez on their side."

"Better them than here if I got to watch out for Samedi. I might as well be on my own."

"She shouldn't have gone after us. It broke her pattern." Lisa closed her eyes for a second. Thinking. Putting things together at speeds no normal person could imagine. Brian always wondered what that was like. "It must have been an accident."

"An accident?" Emily was incredulous "We could have all been killed. That sure didn't feel like an accident"

"Samdi has a set pattern. She must have stumbled on to us. We were trying to lose anyone following us from the casino. It was blind luck. She must have thought to take advantage when she could. I doubt we have to worry about her coming after us soon."

"Look Emily" Brian jumped in cutting off the brown haired girls response. "I know you're scared. I am too, but Lisa has a point. If you try to go solo again you'll be in more danger than staying here. We survived tonight because we worked together. If we stick together, play it safe, and fly under the radar we'll be fine til she gets 'Caged."

Emily stared for a long moment. Then she huffed and turned to walk into the headquarters. Brian decided to count that as win. He turned back to Lisa.

"You could have at least avoided antagonizing her." He chided her

She gave him her little smirk.

"Sure but it wouldn't have been as much fun."

"Lisa." he warned.

"Look I knew she wouldn't leave. Like you said she's scared of the Bogeyman."

"And you aren't" He asked raising an eyebrow.

Whatever she was about to say was cut off by a cell phone ring.

"I got to take this." The blond said "Take a look at Regent. The doc will be here soon but make sure he didn't flatline."

Brian shook his head and went inside. Lisa was never the most plesant person to be around but the last few days she had gotten nearly unbearable. Thinking on what could be digging at her he ascended the stairs. The main living area was filled with a dim light. In one corner Rachel sat with her dogs, now all normal size. Emily was nowhere to be seen. If Brian had to guess she was likely sulking in her room. On the couch Alec was laying down. His color was back but he still seemed shaky.

"How you holding up?" Brian asked looking down at his friend.

"I'll tell you this much: I'm not playing lightning rod again. Let someone else handle that shit."

Brian smiled in spite of himself.

"The doctor should be here soon. I'm not sure what he might be able to do, but he should have painkillers"

"Yay." Alec groaned weakly "Ask him if he can bring a cute nurse to help tend to me."

"I'll see what he can do" Brain said glad that Alec had some humor about this. Alec shot him a weak grin that was soon replaced with a grimace. As he closed his eyes Brian decided to give him some peace.

He headed over to where Rachel had settled down with the dogs.

"You OK?"

"Fine" She said

"The dogs?"

"Fine"

He stood there awkwardly for a few seconds before turning back to head toward the kitchen.

"You hungry?"

"No"

"Alec how about you?" Brian asked as he pasted the couch.

The only response was a faint groan.

'All right than. Breakfast for one I guess' Brian thought looking through the cupboards. Behind him he heard the door open.

"Lisa you want food?" he asked not turning around.

When he got no answer his heart skipped a beat. Turning quickly he saw Lisa seated at the table. Chastising himself for acting like a kid after a horror movie he let himself relax. Looking at Lisa though his concern rose. She looked like she had seen a ghost. Pale and starring at the wall.

"Lisa everything OK?" Still no response "Lisa?"

"hmm, oh um food. No I'm- I'm good."

She looked anything but. Brian knew better than to pry however. That never ended well with Lisa. As open as she was with others secrets the blond keep things close to vest. Instead he headed back into the kitchen to start his meal.

Last edited: Dec 3, 2014

114

Hugs

Winter

VolantRedX

Jun 26, 2014

View discussion

Threadmarks 1.3

View content

VolantRedX

Official Conscience of Worm Fanfiction!

Jun 26, 2014

Her Name Is Death 1.3

Armsmaster took his spot at the front of the long table that dominated the Protectorate's debriefing room. The rest of the Brockton Bay team had already assembled. Assault, Battery, and Miss Militia sat on his right while Triumph, Dauntless, and Velocity were on his left. After Samedi's escape the rest of the team had been called in. It had been several hours, almost dawn, but his ears were still ringing.

"So Boss what's so important that we needed to come into the office before dawn?" Assault asked yawning

Closing his eyes behind his visor he briefly considered how to approach the situation. He settled on the direct route

"Approximately six hours ago the Wards captured the serial killer Samedi, and approximately five and a half hours ago she escaped custody." He gave them a moment to take stock of that information. The armored hero felt some pride that they managed to remain professional, looks of shock and disbelief were exchanged, but they subsided quickly and he continued on with his debriefing. "Attempts to track her escape were unsuccessful and she has likely gone to ground."

"So we're back to square one then?" Dauntless questioned irritated. This case had hit close to home. One of her victims was an informant of his, someone he truly thought he was close to changing for the better.

"No. We now have a name for her as well as an identifiable picture to work from"

"So who is she anyway?" Triumph asked.

"Taylor Hebert" Miss Militia answered. "A former student a Winslow High. Reported missing a little more than a month ago. Time-line puts her disappearance around Samedi's seventh murder."

"Wait" Battery interrupted "Winslow High? Just how old is this girl?"

"Fifteen, soon to be sixteen."

"Fif-fifteen? You're telling me that one of the most prolific killers in this cities memories isn't even old enough to drive?" Battery stared in disbelief. It was somewhat understandable, what little evidence they had on Samedi's appearance gave the impression of someone older.

"If we could get back on topic." Armsmaster said tersely. "Right now the news of her capture and escape are being kept from the press, but we can't guarantee that will last long and both the PRT and the Protectorate must be seen making headway. Suggestions?"

"Has Piggot decided to up her threat rating?" Velocity spoke up for the first time

"Making a fifteen year old an S-class? That's a step isn't?" Battery asked. She was right too. At A-rank Samedi was still listed as wanted dead or alive, but if they listed her as S-rank it was a death sentence. A kill order. The number of S-rank threats in the world barely reached the mid teens. Of them the number of them underage was two.

"Director Piggot after some consideration has decided not to reclassify Samedi." Armsmaster stated

"However her bounty has been increased. We need to make head way on this before a cape hunter ends up giving her even more power."

There was a period of silence. Then Triumph spoke up.

"The fact of the matter is that we really aren't that much better off then when all this started. We still don't know where she is hiding. Hitting the pavement on this one ain't going to help us. What we need to do is catch her in a trap. As long as she can set the stage we'll always be late on the scene."

"How do you suggest we draw her out?" Asked Miss Militia

"Bait" was the response. The others' faces had looks of shock to one degree or another. Except for Armsmaster's, he rubbed his beard and considered the notion.

"Look if there is one thing my dad taught me was when you're hunting the easiest way to catch prey is set out bait they can't refuse. We know her type. All we need to do is give her a target that she'll go after and wait."

"It would have to have some kind of time limit." Velocity said calmly "We find a target that will be out of her reach, she'll either have to act or lose her prey."

"What if we're too late?" Assault asked "We were just talking about making sure she doesn't get stronger. If we screw up we've practically fed her."

Several of the heroes turned slightly green at his word choice. It wasn't a pretty thought. No one really knew what Samedi did with her victims' brains, but the popular opinion among the PHO was that she ate them. Like a super powered Ed Gein.

"Also don't forget about the live bait" Battery chimed in "We'd be asking them to take a great risk."

"Noted." Armsmaster replied "But so far it is our best option. We'll cover more ground if we work individually. Time is a factor here. The faster we get her off the street the more lives will be saved. Miss Militia you debrief the Wards, see if you can't get them to remember any more of their encounter." The scarfed hero nodded "Assault, Battery, I want you to see if any thing about her life before can be dragged up. Start with her father, he may still have a way to contact her." Assault acknowledged quickly, Battery looked uneasy before nodding as well "Triumph, you and Velocity's job will be crowd control. We need to keep this from becoming a circus. Dauntless we need more information on Samedi's combat style. Find a way to meet the Undersiders, see if they are willing to share anything."

"What about you boss?" Assault asked

The armored hero took a deep breath before answering.

"I'll be finding our bait."

Last edited: Dec 3, 2014

121

Hugs

Winter

VolantRedX

Jun 26, 2014

View discussion

Threadmarks 1.4

View content

VolantRedX

Official Conscience of Worm Fanfiction!

Jun 26, 2014

Her Name is Death 1.4

In Brockton Bay if someone wants to not be found everyone knows the place to be is the Boat Graveyard. This fact is so well known that ironically it has become one of the most watched parts of the city. Runaways, gang bangers looking to lose heat, the city's homeless looking for a dry place for the night can all be found around the rotting carcasses of the ships. If you were looking for someone you could almost guaranty that that the Graveyard is the placed they'd hide. The one place no one would look is in a place no one can be thought to reach. Deep inside an derelict half submerged is something of a grotto. Inaccessible from anywhere but through a hole in the ship. It is here Taylor Hebert has made her home.

Pulling herself out of the water she stood up. Taking a deep breath the young girl turned around. Kneeling down by the entrance she began to heave. While breathing underwater has come in handy several times, there is a rather unpleasant downside. All the water she drew into her system has to leave when she is on dry land again.

Throwing up the last bit of water back into the bay. Taylor started her nightly ritual. First she took off her wet clothes. While she hasn't really felt the cold since her ninth target the wet sensation becomes unpleasant after awhile. Her coat especially. Taylor liked to old pea coat the moment she saw it at the second hand store, but the sturdy old thing got heavy when wet.

Now in fresh clothes she sat on her cot and stared at the rusting ceiling. Taylor didn't bother with turning on the lights. Her last target made them unnecessary thanks to his enhanced senses. Perfect night vision, and if she focused she could hear the faint sounds of people across the bay.

In the still dark of the hull Taylor had plenty of time to think. For all the good it did.

'They didn't understand' She thought. A part of her knew they wouldn't. Not right away. Not until she proved herself.

'I'm still not strong enough.' Tonight had proven that much. If she couldn't even take down the Undersiders, what chance did she have handling the big threats. She couldn't even beat the Wards. Though with them she held back. It wouldn't do to kill her fellow, well soon to be fellow, heroes.

One thought kept nagging at her. What if the Protectorate never came around? What if they never accepted that she was a hero? It hurt to even think about. She had given up so much. Had done too much to stop now. If they thought she was a monster then where would she turn? The only option left would be to-

'No!' Taylor scolded herself 'Don't think like that. Not again.'

She almost did it once too. Right after her fifth target. She had been washing up after dinner when she noticed a small bit of red on the edge of her finger nail. Thinking it was sauce from the pizza she licked it off. It was blood. Her targets blood. She was nearly sick. In that moment an almost clarity settled on Taylor. All the things she had been doing overcame her. She had gotten as far as breaking open her razor and getting the blade out. She couldn't go through with it. A part of her wanted to live. To make right the wrong she had done. Taylor thought that was the moment where she truly started to be a hero. No matter how hard it got she would see this through to the end.

That night she left home. Taylor may become a hero one day but not until she was strong enough, and that took more power than she had. No matter what the PRT thought Taylor wasn't an idiot. She knew what she had done. That people were dead because of her. How could she look her father in the eye if she had blood on her hands? She couldn't stay there. Maybe one day she could go back. After she redeemed herself. All she needed was a little more power.

'Tomorrow' Taylor thought 'tomorrow, I'll start to look for something that will really help convince them'

All it would take is the right power. The perfect power to make her so strong she could stop anyone. Then the Protectorate would have to accept her.

'Just a little more, and then I'll be good enough.'

One more she thought. Maybe two. Then she could stop.

With that the girl known as Samedi slept.

Last edited: Jul 3, 2014

154

Hugs

Insightful

Funny

Winter

VolantRedX

Jun 26, 2014

View discussion

Threadmarks 2.1

View content

VolantRedX

Official Conscience of Worm Fanfiction!

Aug 11, 2014

#138

Finally, the long wait is over. The action packed next chapter of Her Name is Death. And by action packed I mean a bunch of people sit around an talk. Hopefully 2.2 won't take 3 months to get out.

Her Name is Death 2.1

Hannah idly toyed with the green revolver. It had been several hours since Samedi's escape and she was sitting in one of the Protectorate's conference rooms waiting for the Wards who encountered the killer to arrive. While there was some urgency to the debrief Hannah had long come to understand the benefits of letting her allies sleep. She had informed them to be here at 7:00 am as it would allow for some rest and give them the chance to attend school that day. Though Hannah doubted that any of them would.

Chris was the first to arrive. He greeted Hannah politely before sitting at the table. He seemed to be trying to keep from falling asleep. Missy was next. The young girl likely was as tired as Chris. Years of late nights however had trained her to ignore the lack of sleep. Unsurprisingly Sophia was last, and nearly five minutes late. Confronting her wouldn't get anywhere so Hannah choice to ignore it.

"Good morning." Hannah started "I understand that it is early. With luck we can finish here quickly."

"What's this about anyway?" Sophia asked as she took her seat.

"Last night."

"Samedi," Missy stated.

"Yes, We are hoping to gather as much information on her capabilities. You three are the only ones to have fought her successfully. Anything you can give us would mean a great deal."

"Why?" Chris asked "We have her in custody."

Hannah glanced away from him.

"She is in lock-up right?" Chris asked nervously.

"Samedi escaped last night during her interrogation."

The Wards stared at the older hero mutely. Then Sophia burst out laughing. The others stared worriedly at the cackling girl. The teen slowly regained her composure.

"Shit" Sophia muttered between gasps.

Hannah narrowed her eyes at the obscenity. There were bigger issues to face at the moment. Turning toward Chris and Missy she asked them to go over the events of last night. Chris began:

XxXXxX

It was a bit past 11 when I first smelled the smoke. About a block up was an alley. I had gone down it before on my way back from base. Anyway there was this light coming from it like fire you know. I figured you know a house fire or something. So me and Vista ran to help, and then we heard the shouting like people were fighting. Then more fire. At this point you know it was obviously a cape fight.

"You take them from the front" Vista told me. "I'll go around and cut off anyone who tries to get away."

So she took off. I figured it'd take like a minute for her to round the block. I kicked my board forward at this point.

That's when I got my first look at what was going on. There was all that black smoke stuff Grue spreads around covering the back alley. Like the corner where it turns up. Anyway then I saw all the fire. It was making this circle around This one girl. Samedi though I didn't know that at the time. She had the girl that shoots fire out of her mouth in the air. Hellhound's dogs were all over the place but I guess they couldn't really get at Samedi.

"Everybody stand down." I said

That's when one of them shouted at me.

"Run! It's Samedi." I guess it must have been the blond one. Anyway at that point I kind of focused on her rather than the others cause you know Samedi's the really dangerous one. So I fire off a few stun rounds at her, but she throws the green shield thing up. Totally blocks my shot. Then she's all like:

"Why are you shooting at me?"

It's really weird because she like trying to kill people. Of course I'm going to stop her. I don't say anything though because Armsmaster is always on Dennis for talking too much in fights so I try and stay focused.

So I try again to hit her. The shield is up again. It's around her that the Undersiders must have taken off. Anyway Samedi tries to throw this dumpster at me. Like who does that? She's like: "I don't want to hurt you" but she tossing dumpsters at me? Doesn't she know how dangerous that is?

Anyway the dumpster lands like way short 'cause that's when Vista gets there. Then it's the normal game of stretch space to make range fights work better. Then like a minute in Shadow Stalker shows up and does her thing and down goes Samedi.

XxXXxX

"How did you know to show up Sophia?" Hannah asked.

"I got the emergency beacon on my little radio thing"

Hannah nodded, but then a thought came to her.

"Chris when did you have time to trigger the emergency beacon?"

The boy looked started.

"I didn't. Missy did right?"

"Not me. I didn't even know she was Samedi until it was all over."

That was...troubling to say the least. The only people that had access to the emergency beacon were PRT members. If they were able to send the signal than surely they would have come forward to aid in the fight. The only other explanation was someone else must have gained access to their systems. Hannah resolved to bring it up to the security director after they finished here.

"Sophia how did you manage to bring down Samedi anyway?"

"With my crossbow." The Ward said in a tone managed to convey the unspoking moron.

"Was Samedi's shield up?" Hannah hoped she was right about this.

"Yeah I guess. Why?"

"The green shield is reminiscent of a man named Salvador Romano. Better know in some circles as 'Bubble Boy'. His force field is supposed to be one of the strongest in the world. If your bolts can go through it then it's a weakness we can exploit." Hannah explained.

That seemed to bring up the Wards. Pride at taking down such an enemy was certainly warranted. Now however came the harder part.

"I first want to say you three handled this whole situation very well. However, due to Samedi's escape the director believes it would be best if the public didn't know she was captured in the first place. She feels it might cause a panic that-"

"Bullshit." Sophia growled. "She's just covering her fat ass."

"Sophia control yourself."

"No. I take down the fucking Grim Reaper, and your telling me I got to keep it all hush hush just 'cause you couldn't hang on to a villain if they were stapled to your hands." Her anger was so thick it could be cut with a knife.

"Look I get it. Really. If it was up to me you'd be getting a medal. You've more than earned it. Unfortunately sometimes the greater good calls for us to give up the things we deserve."

Sophia glared for a few moments more. Abruptly she stood up and marched toward the door.

"Fuck the greater good." She growled out without turning around.

XxXXxX

A few moments later Missy found Sophia changing in the locker room. The older girl was angrily shoving her costume into her gym bag. Normally Missy would ignore the other girl but a part of her felt compelled to talk.

"Sucks about the cover up." Missy started cautiously

Sophia merely grunted in response. Not good. Missy tried again.

"So you knew Samedi from school?" She asked

"Yeah."

"Well what was she like?"

"She was a loser." Sophia smirked a little "A total coward. I guess you never really know a person."

Sophia zipped up her bag and paused, then turned to face Missy for the first time.

"Did you want something squirt. I got shit to do."

Missy ignored the insult in the name of camaraderie. Battery kept telling her that it is important when dealing with difficult people.

"I just want to say thanks. You really saved us last night. It was kinda cool actually."

"Everything I do is cool kid. You should know that by now." Sophia said, standing and leaving.

XxXXxX

Sophia is a lot more fun if you think of her as Gilda the Griffon. Also thank you to Emperor Tippy for the Beta read. It's rather embarrassing how often I forget to actually type the words in my head.

Last edited: Dec 3, 2014

129

Hugs

Informative

Insightful

Funny

Winter

VolantRedX

Aug 11, 2014

View discussion

Threadmarks Target 5

View content

VolantRedX

Official Conscience of Worm Fanfiction!

Aug 17, 2014

#164

So I realized early on i wouldn't have Interludes given the nature of the narrative. Instead I thought of an idea. I'll have little mini-chapters where I show Samedi and her targets. Here's the first one.

Target 5: Faraday

The night was warm for February. That still meant that Bobby and Faraday were freezing their balls off. They were being lead to the buyers. At this point it was mostly a formality.

Their seller was an older man. Huge he carried him self with the "don't fuck with me" attitude the boys associated with the ideal man. He stood toward the back of the blue shipping crate full of their merch.

It's a common joke that shipping in Brockton Bay was gone. In truth it was merely diminished. It was bad for the local job market sure but it also meant that the dockworkers didn't really have the luxury of morality. That made middle men like Bobby and Faraday's lives easier.

When they approached one of the men in heavy coats stepped forward.

"You got the money?" His English was good but the Eastern European accent still gave away his origins.

"It's in my bag." Bobby kept his eyes on the seller when he answered. He had been in this business long enough to know that the seller would never talk. Bobby didn't even know if the man knew English. Adjusting his coat he nodded to Faraday. He moved towards the container. His large metal suit clanging as he walked.

The seller's men shifted around the cape uneasy. For what Bobby paid him Faraday was usually worth his weight in gold.

"My boy here's gonna check the merch and we can get out of the cold."

The Seller nodded. Faraday placed his hand on the container and focused.

"Hey Bobby." He said his voice echoing from inside his helmet "I only count 10."

"10? the deal was for 11." Bobby said "you wouldn't be skimping me?"

The translator turned and rattled off something in their native tongue. The seller said something back his voice low.

"My employer says your friend must be mistaken."

"Maybe. Hey Faraday do the thing. Let's make sure."

"Right." Suddenly sparks emerged from his hand and shocked the container. Several shiriks eminated into the cold night air. "Hm. Guess it was 11. Sound like screamers too."

"Good" Bobby smirked "Screamers make more money"

"One of ems got a bad heart though" Faraday said as he walked back toward Bobby "may not last long"

"She ain't got to last a day past pay day. Then she's Kaiser's problem" Hopefully the Nazi bastard wouldn't try and cheat him again. On Tuesday he had a bunch of Japs he had to off load on to Lung and he was barely getting his 10% without having to deal with his "Dragon discount".

"So deal is done then?" The translator asked.

Bobby handed him the money.

"Good. Now when you are next in the market my emplo-" What ever the man was going to say was cut off when he was violently thrown into one of the containers.

"The hell?!" Faraday shouted

The Seller shouted some orders, then gunfire exploded into the night air. The gunmen may as well have started dancing a jig for all the good it did. One by one they were thrown like dolls all over the dock.

Soon it was just Bobby, Faraday, and the Seller. The older man shot the boys a shocked look before he too was thrown back, into one of the ships.

A shadowy figure dropped down in front of Bobby and Faraday. As she stood her dark hair fell about her shoulders.

"Wh-What do you want with us?" Bobby stammered out.

"With you? Nothing" The girl said and with a quick gesture Bobby was thrown away.

"OK girly let's dance" Faraday shot his hands forward. Electricity screech towards the stranger only to smash against a green wall of energy.

The girl rolled her eyes at him then spoke

"Why do you do this? All your power you could have been a hero. Why do use your gifts to hurt people?"

"A clean conscious doesn't spend." Faraday said. He got this same shit his first time in the can.

The girl seemed disappointed with the answer. Shaking her head she made another quick gesture. Faraday felt a force throw him against the blue container the merch was in. His helmet was rip from his head as the girl approached.

"Hey-hey what the hell. Aren't you hero types all big on the mask thing?"

"Hero? I'm not a hero. Not yet anyway. Maybe after tonight. Maybe it can stop with you?"

"What could stop? The fuck you talking about?"

The girl quirked her eyebrow

"Haven't you heard? It's all over the local papers"

Faraday racked his brain when suddenly a horrible thought came to him.

"No no way you can't be the cape killer." The girl started to advance on him. "Wai-Wait please don't do this. Please let me go. No n-" His begging was cut off into a scream as he felt a pain unlike any he had felt before tear at his head. Sparks shot out his hands as he fought in vain to stop the attack. Then darkness.

Samedi finished her work quickly. She was ashamed at how good she had gotten at it. However she felt the rush of Knowing and soon lightning danced across her fingers. Distantly she heard the approaching sirens and made a break for it.

Last edited: Dec 3, 2014

113

Hugs

Winter

VolantRedX

Aug 17, 2014

View discussion

Threadmarks 2.2

View content

VolantRedX

Official Conscience of Worm Fanfiction!

Sep 27, 2014

#182

Man was this hell to write. Nothing kills motivation more than trying to find an interesting way to do something you personally don't find interesting. None the less here's the newest chapter. Kudos to my Beta Major Session on SB.

Her Name is Death 2.2

Charlie had always liked this kind of work. Connecting data points, following leads, trying to make all the little pictures make one big one. It reminded him of before when he still was on the force. It felt more real than the photo-ops and charity balls. Going out in costume and trying to be the hero everyone would look up too. He knew as Dauntless he could do some real good handling things that no normal man could but still this felt like real work.

An annoyed huff from across the table indicated that his feelings were not shared with his coworker. Robin was cut from a different cloth. Despite his military training, Velocity was never good at sitting still.

"Getting anywhere?" Charlie asked breaking the silence.

"Going in circles more like."

"Well a smart man said 'start at the beginning and go until you reach the end.' Luckily Samedi was polite enough to target people with records. That at least lets us guess at what she stole. If we got that then we don't go in blind. Then we can take her down."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

Robin shifted slightly in his seat. "Why bother taking her down? Reading her files she seems to be doing our jobs for us."

Charlie's eyes narrowed. "Our job isn't murder."

Robin shook his head. "No, we have to use the kids gloves. I mean have you seen the guys she's taken down? Bubble Boy was in an out of jail all his life. Even before he triggered. And this Faraday guy, have you seen the shit he was up to? Is the world really a worse place without these scumbags walking the Earth?"

Charlie frowned. "Jewel Standford didn't deserve to die. She may have been a thief but she never hurt anyone. Samedi didn't care, left the woman's three children orphans. So far the state hasn't found any next of kin. It's likely they'll be left in the foster system. Claire DeBrois was little more than an off the books courier system. With her dead her grandfather is no longer able to live on his own. Samedi isn't a force for justice."

"I just think we should focus on the real problems in this town. Some wannabe cape killer with less than 20 murders isn't really the top of our priority list." Robin replied.

"I understand that, but she's already ruined at least one of my investigations when she took out Aqualung." Charlie opened the corresponding file, "Kevin Blake was a key witness in helping me take out a smuggling operation. Kid just wanted to get in from the cold and was giving everything we needed. Now? I can get a handful of small fry but none of the fish I was aiming for."

Robin sat back in his seat and took a slow breath.

"Let's just finish this report. I need some air." He said in a low tone.

Charlie fought the urge to continue and nodded diplomatically.

XxXXxX

...Along with the previous analysis of Samedi's MO and Target preference we submit the following study of her possible powers. Several victims' powers were never fully uncovered thus may only be guessed at. While a threat assessment is likely impossible until further surveillance in combat scenarios it should not be assumed that previous victims assessments reflect current levels expressed in Samedi. Victims are listed by cape name to avoid possible privacy leaks.

Rune: high level TK abilities. Samedi has shown a great deal of skill in the application of this power and seems to lack some of Rune's limitations.

Crusader: able to create non-tangible replicas of himself for a short period of time.

Bubble Boy: Able to create dome like energy shield. Considered to be one of the strongest recorded. Shield was limited to 5 feet in diameter and was not air permeable. BB was also unable to move whilst projecting shield. According to reports filed by SS, KW, V, Samedi's shield was not domed.

Ratfink: Increased flexibility and agility.

Faraday: Electrical current generation and projection. Also showed possible electrical sensory abilities.

Vite et Libre: limited precognition based on danger or immediate obstacles.

Trainwreck: Generation of energy based on touch. Able to power nearly any object.

Badger: Adaptive homeostasis. Enhanced durability and pain threshold

Aqualung: Underwater breathing. Body able to withstand pressure of water levels.

Freezer Burn: Striker able to generate intense cold.

Trajectory: Able to predict the path of thrown or fired objects.

Sonar: Heightened senses. Near perfect night vision and hearing far superior to a baseline humans

Muffle: Created a silence field of 15 feet.

Banshee: hyper Sonic scream that with proper vibration pitch alter the movements of molecular forces to change states of matter without application or generation of heat. Scream could also incapacitate humans.

Calcatron: Statistical projection and pattern recognition. Able to project stock trends with near 100% accuracy barring sudden changes.

Last edited: Nov 21, 2014

111

Informative

Hugs

Winter

VolantRedX

Sep 27, 2014

View discussion

Threadmarks 2.3

View content

VolantRedX

Official Conscience of Worm Fanfiction!

Oct 2, 2014

#202

Now you may wonder what fell creature I swore myself to in order to get a new chapter out in a week. Luckily I made no pacts. For this anyway. Other deals are still stuck in legal.

Her Name is Death 2.3

"I don't feel comfortable with this," Assault informed his wife. "Intruding on a cape's personal life like this."

"We need answers. Besides Samedi has shown that she doesn't play by those rules." Battery sounded less than convinced of that herself.

The two of them sat in a PRT van watching the Hebert's house. They had arrived early in the morning and were making a game plan when Assault had voiced his objections. Battery took a long sip of her coffee then spoke again.

"Look someone needs to inform her father. Doing it this way we can also ask him some questions. It's a win win."

"But doing it in costume? That's going to cause some questions for him. Ones that he may not be able to answer."

"Maybe, but we need him to see us as high enough on the food chain that he'll be open. We need to catch Samedi before the shit really hits the fan."

"She's just a kid," Assault murmured.

"I know. Her age caught me off guard too, but we can let that hold us back. Youth isn't the same as innocents. Look at monsters like Rainmaker or Bonesaw or-"

"Madcap?"

That stopped Battery short. The heroine looked away from her husband.

"That's different." Her voice was soft "You were different."

"Yeah," the reformed villain snorted. "I didn't have delusions of morality. I was in it for the money."

"You've changed."

"Why can't Samedi? If we burn our bridges without even talking to her." He shook his head. "She could be so much if we'd let her."

The van was quiet after that. The mood was broken a few moments later when Daniel Hebert walked out to retrieve the paper.

Assault sighed "Let's get this over with."

The two of them moved slowly to the front door, not in a rush to ruin the man's life. After a few knocks the door opened and Assault got a good look at Samedi's father.

Tall and rail thin Danny Hebert was spectacularly average looking. His hair line was receding and dark circles hung under his eyes. Blinking owlishly at the sight of two heroes at his door the man seemed struck speechless. Assault decided to take the lead.

"Daniel Hebert?"

"Um yes that's me." Daniel swallowed thickly "What can I do for you."

"You have a daughter named Taylor correct?"

"Oh God has something happened to Taylor? Please tell me she's alright." The worry in the man's tone was painful.

Assault wished he was anywhere else right now.

"May we come in?" Battery asked "We need to tell you something and it'd be best if you were sitting down."

XxXXxX

"There must be some mistake." If Daniel Hebert looked old before he seemed to have aged a hundred years since they sat down.

"I wish there was Mr. Hebert truly, but we've confirmed that Taylor is the cape the papers are calling Samedi." Battery had taken the lead since they sat down. Assault didn't envy her.

"I had thought..." Daniel paused, "When I got her note I had prepared for the worst. I hoped that I would wake up one day and she'd be downstairs eating breakfast. But I know this town, pretty young girl like her all on her own? I was expecting to hear they found her in a ditch somewhere or the hospital. This though, how do you prepare for this?"

"I-I don't know." Battery paused to gather herself "I won't say I understand. I can't. But with your help we may be able to help your daughter."

"How? What could I do?"

"We need to ask you few questions. If you don't feel up to it or want to stop we understand." Battery's tone had gained a crispness to it. Like she was trying to get some distance from all this. "We need to know if Taylor had faced any troubles recently."

"Trouble, why? What does..." Hebert seemed dazed.

"How much do you know about triggers?" Assault spoke up for the first time since they sat down.

The older man shook his head helplessly.

"Not much more than anyone else," He answered. "It's when capes get their powers right?"

"That's right. They tend to be traumatic moments. Moments of intense mental stress or physical danger." Battery informed him. "What we need to know is what may have caused your daughter's trigger. In cases like Taylor's it's likely emotional trauma. Likely long term."

"Her mother passed away a few years ago. Taylor, she never really was the same after that."

"That's likely too far back. In her interview Sa-Taylor indicated she triggered not too long ago. Think back. Is there anything more recent."

"She was having trouble at school. She didn't talk about it much."

Assault and Battery shared a look. That sounded promising.

"OK, now was there anything big. Something that might have been the tipping point. Around three months back?" Assault prompted.

"There was something. Right after New Years. She went out to the mall with some friends. When she came home she was crying. Locked herself up in her room for days. I let her skip the first few days of school to give her a chance to recover."

That sounded promising.

"Mr Hebert I need you to think back, is there anything more you can tell us about what happened?"

"I don't know. I just thought it was the girls at school again. Taylor would just clam up if I asked. She seemed to bounce back a few weeks later I...Hadn't..." Daniel's eyes widened "That's when she started killing people isn't?"

It certainly fit the time line. Taking their silence as a yes Samedi's father seemed to wilt more.

"I should have seen it." He murmured to himself. "I should have known."

The hero duo shared a glance. They weren't going to get more out of him. It was time to go.

"Thank you for your hospitality," Battery said. Daniel Hebert merely nodded absently. The two of them let themselves out.

"OK, so that sucked," Battery commented.

"Yeah." Assault ran a hand through his hair. "Let's head to Winslow. This bully thing is going to be our best lead."

XxXXxX

Assault felt more than a little awkward sitting in Principal Blackwell's office. It was eerily similar to his high school pricipal's office. He wondered if they had the same decorator.

Principal Blackwell herself was a thin woman in all black attire. Assault almost thought about bringing Sammy here just to watch her reaction to the principal's dress sense. It might drive her to drink. Well more than usual. The woman was currently going through her filing cabinet. Standing she pulled a file out.

"Ah here we are. Miss Hebert's records." The principal placed a thin file on the desk. "What exactly were you looking for?"

"Incident reports, complaints, we heard from her father that she was the victim of bullying." Assault used the same dull tone for the paper pushers back at the PRT offices.

"Ah well let's see." She flipped through the file "hmm well I see some reports filed by a few of her teachers. It seems that she was having a few issues with her classmates. Beyond that I'm not seeing, oh."

"Oh? Oh what?"

"Hmm, well there was an incident a few months back. Shortly after our Winter break. Someone had filled her locker with refuse. I didn't realize this was the same student." The principal furrowed her brow.

"Locker filled with garbage? How did she take that?"

"If I recall correctly she was absent that day. Many students tend to miss the day after break."

That meant it was after her trigger. Assault absentmindedly rubbed his eye. This was starting to sound like a wild goose chase. Still better a thin lead than no lead. "Can you give the names of the students involved in this prank?"

"I would if I could but unfortunately we never turned up any names."

"None?" Assault really wished that this shit surprised him more.

"Well many of our students come from...less than advantaged situations. They develop a certain degree of mistrust of authority. It can be difficult for us to get them to cooperate with us. In situations like this, where there is little lasting damage, we find that it is more productive to simply move on."

Translation: it was hard and we gave up. Hopefully Battery was having better luck getting info from the teachers directly.

"Can I at least get a copy of her file? It may help." He was willing to take any bread crumb at this point.

"Sorry. Student records are confidential. If it were up to me..." Principal Blackwell shrugged. A bureaucrat to the end. Assault wished she at least feign interest in her students. He'd seen enough of her kind to last a lifetime.

The hero nodded. He expected that. Hopefully Battery got something useful or they'd have to waste more time getting court orders. That's really the last thing he wanted right now. Getting up he tried not to let his frustration show. This day was getting worse all the time.

As he headed for the door the principal asked, "If I may, what exactly is your interest in Taylor Hebert?"

"I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to discuss." He answered without turning around.

"Oh? Does that mean that we can expect a new hero?" Her tone turned gossipy.

Assault paused with his hand on the door. "I hope so."

Exiting the office he saw his partner leaning against the opposite wall. If he had the energy he'd point out that she looked like a student that got sent out of class. Her face scrunched up in the cutest way when he mentioned how young she looked.

"Have fun?" She teased.

"Please tell me you got something."

"Oh yeah. I got us a name." A slow grin appeared on her face.

XxXXxX

Last edited: Dec 3, 2014

127

Hugs

Funny

Winter

VolantRedX

Oct 2, 2014

View discussion

Threadmarks 2.4

View content

VolantRedX

Official Conscience of Worm Fanfiction!

Oct 28, 2014

#295

Her Name is Death 2.4

In a small side room in PRT HQ the pair of heroes sat across from the Wards' resident black sheep. The room officially was a debriefing room. A small table with a few chairs. Sophia herself sat with her arms crossed, attitude radiating off her.

A part of Assault couldn't help but feel for the girl. A few years ago he was in the same place. A bigger part, the part that Battery had help bring out of him, was angry that someone was willing to throw away their second chance just to hurt someone.

"We visited Winslow today Sophia," Battery began. "Asked around about Taylor Hebert. Some of your teachers had some very interesting things to say about you and her. Do you know what they might have said?"

Sophia shrugged, looking quite bored, but Assault noticed that she seemed quite unwilling to meet his or Battery's eyes.

"Well it seems you and Samedi had more of a history than you let on."

"So I may have known her a bit. So?"

"It was more than just a bit." Sophia merely folded her arms and looked away. Battery's face didn't change much but Assault knew his wife long enough to know she was getting pissed. Most of the time he found it cute. Not so much right now. "Here's your options right now Sophia, either you cooperate like a good Ward or we start taking drastic measures."

Sophia growled under her breath. "What do you want from me? So I knew her. Lots of people knew her. Why am I getting-what's it called-the third degree?"

"Because none of them are Wards."

Sophia looked like she was going to say something in response, but Assault jumped in before this could get ugly.

"Listen maybe we can try and stay on task. Sophia's issues aren't why we're here. Samedi is. All we need from you Sophia is to find out if you know what may have happened over last winter to cause her to trigger."

"Last winter? I don't- wait that's what triggered her? Shit I knew she was pathetic but that takes the cake," Sophia answered in an amused tone.

Battery was far less amused. "So you do know what happened."

Sophia at least had the sense to look abashed at Battery's tone.

"Yeah but I didn't have anything to do with it. I was out of town. My mom took us to my grandma's for a big family Christmas. I even had to clear it with Piggot."

Assault didn't know how a person could go from panicked excuses to thinly veiled aggression in less than a sentence, especially when talking about Christmas with the family but Sophia managed it. That was...worrying.

"But you do know what happened? Right?"

"Yeah, but this is all-what's the word-con-something? The thing doctors do? All secret like."

"Sophia you know as well I do that we can't promise that." Assault told her "If something criminal happened we have to report it. You swore the same oath. Just start at the beginning and tell us everything. The more you try and hide the more we have to assume. And from the look of things you're not going to like our assumptions."

"OK jeez. It wasn't a big deal. It was just after Thanksgiving some new girl comes to school right? And she starts to hang around Hebert. Don't ask me why. Now I really didn't care, but Emma sure did. She decided to talk to her. Tell her how stupid it is to hang around Hebert. I come back to school and new girl has stopped being around losers. Emma said they had words. See no big deal. Nothing worth going nuts over. I didn't even think about it 'till you said something."

"Why?" Battery asked in a strained tone. Most people wouldn't be able to tell but Assault knew his wife well enough to know she might as well been shouting.

"Hmm?" Sophia however lacked such insight.

"Why do you hate this poor girl this much? What did she ever do to you?"

"It wasn't my idea alright. I didn't give two shits about her 'till last night. It's mostly been Emma's thing."

"Emma's not a Ward. You are. Why did you follow her despite your status?"

Sophia shifted uncomfortably for a moment before looking down at her hands.

"She's got a great ass."

Assault let out a chuckle that he tried covering with a cough. Judging by the glares he was less than successful.

"Look can I go?"

"Go on." He said, the girl started to leave "But Sophia, we'll be informing Piggot about your conduct at school. She'll want to talk to you about this."

The teen simply scowled and left.

"Jesus, can you believe her?" his partner slouched back in her chair. Pulling off her mask Kristine shot him a glance. Following her lead Ethan pulled down his own mask.

"You never were her biggest fan," he pointed out.

"She's just another thug with a badge. We have enough of those," Kristine folded her arms. "You were always quick to give excuses to the hard cases."

"You've read her file right?" She nodded. "Well let's just say I can empathize."

His wife shook her head slightly.

"It's not the same and you know it. Sophia is just looking for an excuse to lord her power over others. She doesn't belong with the Wards. People like her don't change."

"I remember a stunning brunette who said the same thing about me. I changed once upon a time."

"You wanted to change. She doesn't."

"She needs someone to show her the better way to do things." Ethan knew that much.

"She has enough people doing her favors. She needs more people telling her no."

Ethan knew better than to continue. Kristine would never budge from what she thought was right, it was one of the things he loved about her. It helped him see north in a fog of grey he used to live in.

"Well it's in Piggot's hands now. Sophia is in for a unique hell soon enough." He placed a kiss on his wife's forehead. "Now puppy let's head to bed. I'm exhausted."

Kristine gave him a soft smile. It was like looking at an angel.

"All right. It's been a long day."

He couldn't agree more.

XxXXxX

Spoiler: Sophia's sexulaity in this fic

Last edited: Oct 29, 2014

Funny

Hugs

Informative

Winter

VolantRedX

Oct 28, 2014

View discussion

Threadmarks Target 14

View content

VolantRedX

Official Conscience of Worm Fanfiction!

Nov 21, 2014

#320

Short little target interlude to get some creative energy back. A thank you to my beta Ridtom who helped to flush out the chapter more.

Target 14 Banshee

Jewel's throat was sore. Even after years of working, her voice still wore her out after a job. Still, she couldn't deny that the pay was worth it. Heading into her house, she noticed Allison - her baby-sitter - sliding on her shoes.

"Hey. I saw you pull up," she said as she slid on the last shoe, "I got my Econ final tomorrow and I'm pretty exhausted, going to go home and hit the hay." She nodded in the direction of the kid's rooms, "They're all set up for the night."

Jewel nodded as she placed her purse on the counter-top, "Thank you. How were they?"

"Great, Sarah even helped me study."

Jewel quirked an eyebrow, "Really?"

"Well she flipped the flash cards." Allison chuckled and Jewel rolled her eyes, "And Billy has decided that Dauntless is his new favorite hero. He sure was excited to explain why."

Jewel smiled. He son always loved the big flashy heroes. The irony was not lost on her. "Well hopefully he'll be happy to tell me tomorrow. You need a ride?"

"Nah I brought my bike. Weather is finally starting to warm up."

"Alright. You'll be at Katie's recital next Saturday?" Jewel asked. Her youngest looked up to Alison as an older sister. She'd been asking to have her sitter come to her first ballet recital.

"Yeah, just shoot me a text."

"Will do."

After a little more small talk Jewel let the girl head home with her pay and watched as she rode off into the distance. She sighed to herself. As much as she liked the girl Jewel hoped that her payout from tonight's job would mean that she could spend a few nights home. The last few weeks had been busy in Brockton Bay. Free lancers were skipping town which meant more work was available for her, though she had to be careful to keep her head down even more than usual. The Protectorate didn't really pay her much mind, but that didn't mean there were other dangers in the city. Heading into the kitchen she went to grab herself a drink from the fridge.

Stick to soda or should I treat myself to something stronger? Hmm, decisions, decisio-

The floor-boards behind her creaked.

She spun around, acting on instincts gained from dozens of jobs, but lost as control as she was suddenly slammed against the metal door of her refrigerator. She hissed in pain, feeling the metal handle jab into her side. Her watery eyes darted around looking for her attacker.

Out of the shadows stepped a figure. Tall and thin in a lanky way, the girl walked up to the restrained woman, her feet dragging across the floor. The stranger moved slowly almost reluctantly toward her. Taking a deep breath Jewel prepared to let loose with her scream. It would undoubtedly wake her kids, but like hell she was going to let this girl who had attacked her stay in the same building. However before she had a chance Jewel her jaw being pinned shut, her scream dying in her throat.

Damn telekinetics.

The strange girl pressed her finger to her lips in a shh'ing motion. "None of that now."

"Who are you?" Jewel forced out from her lips. It hurt to move her jaw and she had the suspicion that the girl was allowing to breath just enough to speak.

"That's not important right now. I know who you are though. Banshee, a villain. Uses her scream to knock out guards and burn melt safe doors off their hinges. All that power and you use it to steal? It's not right." The girl took on a scolding tone and her eyes zeroed in on Jewels. She seemed to stand up straighter as she spoke, "You could have been a hero. Respected. Why turn to stealing?"

Jewel simply stared at the girl. What did she know about her life? What she did to feed her children? It wasn't like she hadn't considered joining the Heroes, but she had started young and already had a long rap sheet. She would most likely be jailed, and where would that leave her kids?

The girl seemed to take her silence as an answer, "Well it doesn't matter now. I'll be sure to put it to good use."

That got Jewel's attention. Use her power? That would mean the girl was- "Samedi. You're Samedi."

The killer flinched at that. Jewel was struck by how uncomfortable the killer seemed to be at the name, "Some call me that. I suppose it doesn't matter coming from a villain." The killer stepped forward, her eyes intense, no longer dragging her feet across the floor.

"Please," Jewel begged tears stinging her eyes.

Samedi hesitated at that.

"My kids," Jewel pressed on, "I'm all they have. T-They'll be scared and l-lost and I don't want this! I love them, p-please."

The girl's eyes softened and she turned to were her kids were sleeping the next room over. She bit her lip, glancing between Jewel and the room. Jewel noticed how young she seemed then, her face a mess of conflicting emotions. Then her features hardened.

"I'm sorry, but I've come to far to turn back now." Jewel's eyes widened as Samedi spoke, "I-I'm sure they'll be taken care of. They're young, it'd be harder if they were older. But they'll learn to cope. Maybe turn out better than before. It'll work out. It has to. I'm sorry but it has to be this way."

Jewel didn't even have a chance to respond before her world exploded in pain. She couldn't even cry out it was so extreme. The world grew blurry and Samedi moved in and out of focus as a blanket of pain overwhelmed her.

The last thing she heard was, "Please don't ha-"

Jewel didn't even have a chance to respond before her world exploded in pain. She couldn't even cry out.

Woohoo still meeting the deadline set at New Years to update a fic a week. Luckily this is far more thought out than the other ones. So I think I be working on this a lot more. Sorry about the long wait. Hope you haven't given up on me yet.

Her Name is Death 2.5

If there was one source of solace Armsmaster took in this world it was that everything could be broken down into smaller parts and studied. Everything had patterns. They could be relied on to follow the same method of behavior every time. Even people could be expected to follow roughly the same mentality once they had been studied enough. The frustrating part in his experience was that people were too diverse to allow for assumptions. Unlike machines which reacted to the same action regardless of who built it or where, each person needed to be treated as if all prior experiences were wrong. This went double for Parahumans. Still patterns were everywhere.

Parahuman murders tended to follow a particular methodology. The ones that weren't just hired guns typically were spree killers. They'd lash out killing as many people as they could get to with their powers. Those cases were always pains to clear. By the time the heroes had arrived there was little to be done for the victims, and every case made every parahuman look bad by association. Refreshingly the Samedi girl followed a different mentality. Serial killing.

She fit the profile so well that had Armsmaster been more paranoid he'd suspect her actions were to cover up a different crime. As horrible as her crimes were they thankfully didn't require much study to find the pattern. With the exception of two, all of her victims were non-affiliated. All had criminal records and many had been in and out of the system. Most had been taken in their homes and out of costume. And all of them had limited signs of a struggle.

All this suggested three things. One, that she targeted people who had limited chance of back up or revenge attacks. Two, that she was mission focused limiting her targets to the criminal element. Her rambling in the interrogation pointed to this being an aspect of her delusion of heroism. Third, that she attacked by surprise.

In order to catch her the Protectorate needed a trap. With that they needed bait. Someone that fit her profile and would be willing to put themselves in harms way to aid law enforcement.

That led Armsmaster to only one viable option. He sighed. Director Piggot was not going to like this.

XxXXxX

He always hated waiting. Shifting slightly Armsmaster tried to get comfortable against the wall. While he had fewer complaints about the director than his fellows her tendency to make him wait until she called him in was very tedious.

After an intolerable amount of time Director Piggot's secretary gave him a small wave signaling that he was now permitted to enter. After a small roll of his eyes hidden beneath his helmet he entered the woman's office.

A large room with high windows the director's office was lit well by the mid day sun. Despite the open décor the air hung heavy and carried an odor of sickness. The director herself was seated behind her desk. It was a monstrous construction, the hero couldn't help to think of how unnecessary the size of the whole thing was. He moved to stand in front of it facing his superior. It was never comfortable to sit in full armor.

"Ah, Armsmaster, to what do I owe this pleasure?" Director Piggot asked rhetorically.

"You were briefed on the plan to catch Samedi." The hero more stated as fact than asked.

The woman across from him gave him a wide smile. Despite the gesture there was a sense of malice behind it.

"Oh yes, great stuff. And I take it you have found a... possible volunteer?"

"Yes," He placed the file on her desk. Pulling it toward herself the director flipped open the the cover. She barely scanned the first page before snapping it shut with a glare.

"You must be joking." The woman's voice was sharp. "The courts are about to crucify the girl, and you want to offer her a deal?"

The Tinker held back a sigh. He knew this would be a hard sell.

"She's certainly desperate enough to take what we offer. And we both know that she is getting a raw deal. I have the basic outline of the offer on the third page. It's a risk, but taking risks is what we do. It's why we sign on with the Protectorate."

Director Piggot turned to the page and read.

"The public won't be happy." She said without looking up. "Even if she says yes we'll still need to deal with the backlash."

"I'll leave that in the hands of Miss Hendrickson. I'll need to speak to her anyhow to arrange for the information to reach the right ears." That was a chore he was not looking forward to.

His superior let out a small laugh.

"You hate Samantha."

"While she may have many appalling personal failings. I will admit she is... competent at her position." Armsmaster said grimacing.

"High praise coming from you." The director said sarcastically, and placed the file down. "I'll make some calls, when the meeting is set I'll let you know. It'll be a few hours."

Armsmaster nodded his head in agreement and left. He had arrangements of his own to make.

XxXXxX

Several hours latter the hero and the director found were seated in a small interrogation room in the local jail. Beside them were two PRT officers in special helmets designed to block out sound. After a moment the other party enter flanked on either side by guards. Shuffling best as she could given the heavy chains on her hands and feet Paige Mcabee took her seat awkwardly.

"Remove her gag." Director Piggot ordered.

"Ma'am we have-"

"Remove her gag." The director repeated in a tone that would take no argument. Sharing a look the officers seemed torn. One of them reached over and removed the gag from Macabee's mouth. "Good, now leave us."

"Ma'am-"

That time Director Piggot merely glared. Despite her obvious physical limits the director could be a very imposing woman. The men made themselves scarce quickly.

"Now isn't that better?" Holding up a hand the director stalled any answer. "Before you say anything I want you to know the two gentlemen behind me are wearing headgear that will block all sound. Any sign from you that me or Armsmaster are in danger they will react with extreme methods. Do you understand me?"

"Yes," The girl's voice was raspy from lack of use.

"Good, now I'm going to brief and I'm going to blunt and I hope you will forgive both. Now, you don't strike me as terribly stupid so you must understand that you're screwed."

"Wha-what?" Mcabee's eyes widened in fear.

"I know people who can go on for hours about public perception and past tragedies but let's save time. Your case was doomed the second it went to court. It's rare Masters who can affect people get caught. That plus your...unique features means that the court's looking to set an example. An optimistic person would say your looking at decades behind bars." Director Piggot propped her arms on the table and steepled her fingers. "I gave up optimism a long time ago. I'd put my money that you get set up as the newest resident of the Birdcage."

"What?!" The singer was near hysterics now. "I can't go there! It was an accident. I never meant to hurt anyone! Please you can't send me there!"

"Well lucky for you that is the exact reason we're here today. You see we have need of you. If you play nice and do what we say, we'll place you in protective custody. You'll be set up with a new life." The director knew how to get a deal done Amrsmaster had to give her that much.

"A new life?"

Piggot sighed slightly. The Tinker knew she hated having to explain things she thought were obvious.

"That will be easy enough. A fake id and such. We've gotten good at creating paper trails." Armsmaster interjected. The girl's eyes snapped to him seeming to notice him for the first time. "As for your appearance there is a doctor connected with our organization out in San Francisco. He specializes in plastic surgery. He has made great strides in cases such as yours."

"And what will I have to do?" There was a note of hope in her voice now.

"Truthfully, nothing. We are hoping your presence will attract our true target. It's not without it's risks. There is a chance you may be hurt. Even killed. I can only ask for you to trust me. My team and I will be in place, but...well I leave the choice in your hands." The hero told her.

Macabee looked down at her shackeled hands.

"I'm sort of in a bad way already." She looked back at him "And you think there is a real chance I could be sent to the Birdcage?"

"I do."

"Well, m-my luck's got to change sometime right?" Her eyes glistened with tears.

"There is one more thing." Piggot said ignoring the other woman's happiness. "We in the PRT like to cover all our bases to ensure dangerous powers are of limited threat to the public."

"Oh, you don't have to worry ma'am. I'll never sing again." The chance of freedom had boyed her spirits it seemed.

"I know, because you will not be able to." Director Piggot informed her.

"W-what?" Macabee's voice shrank again.

"Well, during the operation to alter your features the doctor will also sever your vocal cords. Given that your power is based in your voice this will give us some assurance that an incident like the one that landed you here will never happen again." The director coldly explained.

"But, but how will I talk? How will I do anything?" The girl sounded aghast.

"People have overcome far worse. I think you'll manage. If your voice is that important to you, well you can always take your day in court."

Tears welled in the girl's eyes at that. Taking a shuddering breath she managed to keep them from falling.

"You're right. I'll mange. Somehow." Steeling her features she faced Armsmaster "I'll do it."

XxXXxX

After finalizing the deal with Macabee Armsmaster found himself again in Director Piggot's office. The sun had begun to set, casting long shadows in the room.

"That went well," the director said flatly.

"Somehow you hardly seem happy with that." Armsmaster pointed out.

"You know me Colin, always waiting for the next bit of nonsense to ruin my day. I find it best not to get my hopes up."

Armsmaster was saved from responding by the pager on thee desk buzzing. Piggot shot a look over her shoulder at him and walked over to the speaker.

"Yes? What is it?" The woman barked.

"Umm Director Piggot ma'am Battery is here to see you. She says it's about Shadow Stalker. It, umm, doesn't sound good."

With a sigh she looked at Armsmaster.

"And there it is." Turning back to speaker she spoke. "Send her in, might as well get this over with."

Armsmaster took that as his moment to leave. He disliked dealing with the Wards' issues. Especially a trouble maker like Shadow Stalker.

XxXXxX

There was one last stop Armsmaster had to make before he could return to his workshop. He'd been dreading it all day. A visit with the PRT East-Northeast PR division head, Miss Samantha Hendrickson. Still he needed her help and there was no reason that he had to be as unprofessional as she was.

Entering her office, he found her hunched over her design board sketching. Her long blond hair falling about her head. He coughed lightly to alert her to his presence.

"Hmm?" Miss Hendrickson mumbled turning to face him. "Holy shit Colin? What are you doing here? You never come by."

She gave him a broad smile. Armsmaster could admit, in his head at least, that she was a beautiful woman. Long blond hair, full lips and deep blue eyes she was a woman who knew she looked good and did all she could to make others think that too.

"I need your assistance on matters involving the capture of the criminal known as Samedi." He tried to maintain his professional tone. For all her strengths that let her rise to her position by her early forties her total lack of anything resembling tact meant she'd never leave it. Her lack of ambition was appalling.

"Shit, and you're asking for help. Did I fall into a different universe or something?"

"Yes I am. And I would appreciate it if we could keep this brief. I have things to attend to." Armsmaster stated briskly.

"Alright, man you gotta relax. So what's the big project that you need me to help you with?"

"Information dissemination." She snorted which he ignored. "I'm planing to lay a trap and I need Samedi to take the bait."

"So you want me to put bells on it?" She shrugged, "should be easy enough. So long as your girl catches the 5 o'clock news."

"She will. She'll be looking for the new target." Armsmaster informed her.

"Well alright, if you say so. Who the fuck did you sucker into playing bait anyhow?"

"It's all here in the file." He said handing her a copy of the file he'd given to Director Piggot. If she'd just read it he could get out of here and get some real work done.

"Well tell it to me anyways. I like the sound of your voice." The blond's tone toed the line of flirty.

Armsmaster heaved a sigh. He really didn't need this right now.

"Paige Macabee."

"No fucking way!" Miss Hendrickson gasped, "Shit man, you couldn't give me an easy job?"

The hero declined to answer.

"No, it's fine don't worry. I'm just fucking with you. I'll whip something up in the next few days. Hey, you pull it off, and I'll get you guys a round."

Armsmaster turned and left. He had enough of Samantha Hendrickson for one day. Several if he was lucky.

"Hell, I tell you what." She called after him, "If you guys lose I'll buy you a round anyway. May need it more then."

"I don't drink" He said without turning around.

"You poor fucker!" She yelled down the hall. Several of her staff turning to look at the disturbance.

Last edited: Jan 25, 2015

110

Hugs

Funny

Winter

VolantRedX

Jan 17, 2015

View discussion

Threadmarks 2.6

View content

VolantRedX

Official Conscience of Worm Fanfiction!

Feb 1, 2015

#376

Man this was a hard one. I've got to start to realize what's in my head is not going to be on the paper and just let the chips fall where they may. So a lot late here is:

Her Name is Death 2.6

It was past three in the afternoon when Taylor woke up. Her sleep schedule was all messed up recently. Her little grotto had no sunlight and a clock would be a waste of what her generator could hold. If she was honest with herself it didn't matter. It's not like she had anywhere to be. Taylor just could never shake the feeling she was wasting her day if she slept in. Something her dad always tried to teach her.

Thinking about her dad always gave her pause. She wondered what he was doing right now. Wondered if he was thinking about her. If he missed her. If he hated her for leaving. Taylor was all he had left.

'It's better this way,' the girl told herself. 'I couldn't risk him finding out what I was doing. Once I'm strong enough to help people I'll go back. I'll tell him everything. He'll understand why I did it. He has to.'

Pulling herself off her cot she stretched her stiff muscles. She grabbed her bag from the floor and stuffed her change of clothes into it. Her hidden money was next. The metal suitcase was still half full, the power she got from the money launderer said it was about two grand. Taylor knew technically she was supposed to report money over 500 dollars to the PRT, at least that's what the people on Parahumans Online said, but she needed the cash. It didn't take long after striking out on her own to realize how hard it could be to not have any money.

She took a stack of ten dollar bills from the case and put it back. Stuffing them in her coat she took a deep breath and dived into the water.

XxXXxX

It didn't take long after leaving home for Taylor to miss a lot of the comforts of civilized life. Well, one comfort really. She could take to sleeping on a cot, having only a few pairs of old clothes, and even not having heat after she gained the powers from that Badger guy. No the one thing Taylor truly missed was a hot shower.

After a few attempts at sneaking into the local schools to use their showers ended with her nearly being seen naked by the entire Arcadia JV volleyball team she hit upon a far easier solution. There were about twenty gyms all around Brockton Bay. For most a day pass cost about ten bucks. All of them had showers.

She'd make a token appearance at working out to avoid the staff asking questions and then have twenty or thirty minutes of bliss.

Standing under the hot water she began to think. If last night proved anything it was that the heroes couldn't be trusted to see what she could do until she had started to show them. And for that she needed more powers.

Taylor's breath caught slightly at the thought of more killing.

'If only there was another way.' She had come this far though. To stop now would mean all of it was for nothing. No matter what Taylor would not let that happen.

Perhaps it was time to go bigger. Find someone who was really misusing their gifts and make sure they get put to real use. Most of the gangs were out of reach though. If the real heroes couldn't take guys like Lung or Kaiser out she didn't stand a chance.

The Undersiders might be a possibility given what she saw last night, before the Wards got involved. She had gotten so close to taking out the fire girl.

'If only they had let her explain.' Taylor's fists clenched as her anger built up. 'No, it's not their fault. They didn't know. If I'm going to be on their side I can't get angry at them for trying to do their jobs.'

Still her mood now soured she turned off the shower and headed to the lockers. As she got dressed she looked at herself in the mirror.

Taylor couldn't help but sigh. She was never an attractive person but the last few weeks had really done a number on what few looks she had. The lack of good food meant she was skin and bones now and she had even gotten paler somehow. The worst of it was her hair. Once her one point of pride the water from the bay and Taylor not having the time to care for it made it matted and greasy. Once she got everything settled she was going to go to one of the fancy hair places girls like Emma always got to go to and have them fix it up.

Thinking of her once best friend ensured the girl's poor mood. It had been a long time since she thought about school at all. The bitch must have thought she ran Taylor off. Taylor hoped she choked on it.

Standing up she all but stormed out of the locker room. She needed a walk.

XxXXxX

By the time the sun had set Taylor had calmed down considerably. She did face a new problem. A low rumble from her belly brought on just how hungry she had gotten. Taking stock of her surroundings she guessed she was on the edge of the Market. That made dinner a lot easier.

Time on her own had taught her the value of finding a few good places to eat and sticking to them. Brockton Bay had no shortage of runaways. As long as she paid for her food no one bothered to question her.

The nearest place she knew of was Easy E's. A hole in the wall diner it had good pie if nothing else. And she always got a table.

XxXXxX

Two burgers, a milkshake, a slice of pie and a salad later Taylor finally felt full. Honestly she wished she had brought a book. Her only source of entertainment was the TV behind the counter but the only way she could hear it was to focus the hearing enhancement she got from the safe cracker.

"Good evening Brockton Bay, this is your channel 26 news team with your eight o'clock news update," a voice said from the TV.

'Eight already?' Taylor really flew sometimes. She refocused on the news anchor.

"In our top story," she began, "there are some recent developments in the trial of Parahuman celebrity Paige Macabee, otherwise known as the Canary. For that we join our correspondent James Johnson for more. James?"

"Thank you, Mary. This has just been given to us by local sources inside the PRT but it seems that tomorrow night the alleged criminal Paige Macabee is being transferred from civil custody and into the custody of the PRT. "

"Interesting, do you have any information on what may be the reason for this?"

"Well I can truly only speculate given the details we have at this time. We know that there has been no guilty plea, but it's possible that a deal has been made. Or it could simply be a matter of containment. But again, at this time it is mere speculation."

Taylor tuned out the rest. Her fists clenched again. Canary had been in the news on and off for the last few weeks. The singer could control minds or something like it and had used that to get revenge on her ex-boyfriend. All that power and she used it for petty revenge. It made the girl sick. If Taylor had that kind of power. Taylor paused, with that kind of power she could really do some good. She wouldn't even need to fight guys like Lung. They'd have to do what she said.

Almost leaping with giddy joy she got out of the booth. Taylor needed to plan. No way would the route be public knowledge but there would only be so many ways to go. Calcatron's powers could narrow them down. She'd just need to wait. This was perfect. She practically ran out of the building.

The girl got a block before a shriek got her attention. She stopped and listened.

"Help!" Someone was in trouble. The voice was coming from down the alley. Taylor turned and ran towards it.

After turning the corner she saw who was yelling. There was a woman had to be about college age. Surrounding her were three men. The leather jackets and shaved heads said E88, or at least wannabe members. One was holding her in a headlock, to her left another was holding her arm. The last was standing in front of her wielding a knife.

"Come on girly," the one with the knife said. "No more screams yeah?"

"Hey!" Taylor's yell got the trio's attention. "Let. Her. Go."

Knife boy snorted.

"Why? Jealous?" His buddies snickered at that.

"Last warning. Let her go or else."

The man advanced toward Taylor.

"And if we don't?" He mocked.

With a quick gesture of her hand the knife wielding thug was thrown against the wall. A loud crack sound followed the impact. A quick glance told her that he had a broken collar bone and his hip had popped out.

"Shit! Cape!" The one to the left of the girl shouted and let go of her.

Another quick movement with her hand and an arc of lightning shot forth and sent the thug to the ground convulsing. A dark wet patch spread over his jeans.

The last man didn't even bother to say anything. He just turned and tried to run. Another movement and he was sent face first into the wall. Blood started to pour from his broken nose.

"Oh my god!" The girl cried in disbelief. "You saved me. I-I don't know what...what."

"Are you hurt?" Taylor asked.

"N-no. Thank you."

"You may want to call 911 to get these guys arrested." The Parahuman paused. "Or to the ER I guess. Then arrested."

"Yeah. Yeah, I can do that." The girl seemed to be calming down.

Taylor began to leave, the would be victim didn't need her around for this.

"Wait! Who-who are you?"

'Good question,' Taylor thought.

She gave no sign that she even heard the girl. She didn't have time to talk. Samedi had to start to planning.

Last edited: Feb 1, 2015

100

Hugs

Funny

Winter

VolantRedX

Feb 1, 2015

View discussion

Threadmarks 3.1

View content

VolantRedX

Official Conscience of Worm Fanfiction!

Feb 13, 2015

#403

I'd like to thank my betas Solusandra here on SB and Prezombie on SV for all their help on this one.

Her Name is Death 3.1

Paige tried not to yawn, the gag really hurt every time she yawned. That was hard given the dreams from the last few nights keeping her from sleeping. Ever since making the deal with the PRT she had one nightmare after another. At first she'd wake up screaming the images of a blood drenched Samedi ripping open her skull. Soon a new fear took over. She was worried that Armsmaster would come back and tell her they caught the killer and she'd have to go to prison forever.

"You alright?" The hero; Assault if she remembered correctly, asked from behind her. The two of them had just entered the elevator to head down to the prison docking area before she headed out. To face Samedi.

Glancing at him, she tried to look brave, but she could hear the rattling of her wrist restraints from her shaking hands. He put a hand on her shoulder and smiled. He had a nice smile Paige felt.

"I know you're scared. I would be too, but don't worry, we'll be with you the whole way. If Samedi shows her face our team will be right there to stop her."

Paige tried to take solace at his words, but as the elevator slowed to a stop her heart started to race. The doors opened to the docking bay area of the station. Set on the lower level Paige had past through went she was being taken from the courthouse and back. It reminded her of a parking garage with its bare concrete walls. The bay was split between an asphalt level for the prisoner transports to park and a large open area set above it. She didn't know why the bay needed so much space if it was left empty until now.

The whole area was a hive of activity. Men and woman in full battle gear, and several plain dressed people at computers or looking over maps. A dozen different conversations all going at once filling the bay with noise. That was until Paige stepped off the elevator. She could feel the force of a dozen eyes all on her. Instinctively, she looked down to avoid everyone's eyes.

'They must hate me' Paige thought morosely, 'If they didn't need me I'd just be another criminal.'

"It's alright," Assault whispered into her ear. "Deep breaths. Armsmaster is going to debrief you. After that we'll move out."

Paige swallowed and followed after him. The restraints they had on her cuffed her hands and a chain ran down to her legs which were cuffed as well meaning that she could only shuffle slowly behind him. It did help take her mind off things by having all her mind focused on not tripping. As she moved people turned back towards their work, giving her a chance to glance about. The only vehicles in the bay were two large black SUVs. The night was cool and the bare concrete walls seemed to radiate cold. Paige repressed a shiver. She was so caught up looking around that she nearly ran into Assault's back.

The other heroes were standing toward the back of the bay separated from the chaos of the rest of the room. Paige did her best to remember each of them. The two women she knew from the news, Battery was sitting cross legged on a crate with her eyes closed taking deep breaths the lights on her costume seemed to surge with each breath she took. Miss Militia was overlooking the other groups, her eyes darting around the room to take in everything. Dauntless was hunched over a table by the wall looking at his equipment. Paige couldn't make out what he was doing with it but it must have been important. Velocity nodded from his position, leaning against the back wall where he and Triumph seemed to be deep in conversation. She nodded back in appreciation. In the center of all this though was Armsmaster himself. His armor gleamed under the lights of the bay.

"We made it," Assault said, smirking at Armsmaster, who merely nodded. Shooting Paige one more smile, he went to stand by Battery. Paige knew they were partners, or something like that, according to the gossip shows.

"Are you ready?" Armsmaster asked. His voice sounded rough, like he hadn't slept for awhile.

Paige tried to answer, but the gag made it come out as a bunch of garbled sounds. Sighing internally, she just nodded. To be honest she wasn't really ready, but she was resolved to stamp down her fear and focus on the new life she'd have soon. That would make anything worth it.

"I apologize for the restraints, but we need to maintain the ruse as much as possible," the armored hero told her. The former entertainer didn't know if he was telling the truth or not. "How much were you told about the operation?"

Paige gave an awkward shrug. No one had really told her anything. They likely thought it didn't matter if she knew or not.

Armsmaster gave a slight frown. "It will be fairly straightforward. You will be taken in one of the official vans to the ferry. Publicly, this is a transfer from BBPD holding to our more secure facility on the Protectorate headquarters. The route has been planed to pass through much of downtown, and we have blocked off access to the roads. The isolation should minimize risk to the public should Samedi make an attempt to fight us. Your transport will be monitored from this location. My team will follow behind at some distance, but we will be in a position to intercept in the event of an attack. Should you be in any danger, we will extract you, and take you to one of several checkpoints set up to offer assistance."

Paige tried to absorb his words, but the fear had started to grip at her heart again. The idea of being face to face with a monster like Samedi stole her breath. She had heard rumors of what the girl did to her victims. It turned her stomach.

Miss Militia approached the pair, taking Paige out of her thoughts.

"They're ready," she informed her leader.

"Thank you," Paige couldn't see Miss Militia's mouth due to the scarf, but she seemed to smile at the Tinker's words. "Miss Macabee if you'd please follow Miss Militia to your transport."

Nodding, she moved to follow the other woman. The hero noticed Paige's awkward shuffle, and kindly slowed her pace to let the girl slow down. Reaching one of the SUVs Miss Militia opened the door. Before she could climb inside Miss Militia touched her shoulder to get her attention.

"I know not many would have said it but this is very brave." Paige was shocked at her words. "Putting yourself at risk like this to help others isn't something everyone is up to. I want you to know my team won't let you get hurt. The world could do with a lot more people like you."

At that, the hero moved away, and Paige climbed into the back seat. Her eyes stung with tears.

'You're wrong,' She wanted to tell the hero 'I'm not brave at all. I'm a coward. Just a selfish coward dodging jail.'

Paige was pulled from her thoughts when the front doors opened. A pair of PRT troopers climbed into the front. She couldn't really make much detail given the uniform's face covering helmet. The driver looked to be a tall woman with broad shoulders. The passenger meanwhile was a somewhat stocky man.

"All set back there?" The one in the passenger seat asked.

"You realize she can't talk, right?" The driver pointed out to her partner.

"I know that, I'm just trying to be nice. You could try it too from time to time."

The driver sighed lightly. "Fine, you all set back there?"

Paige knew it was rhetorical but she nodded anyway. The banter managed to put her at ease.

"Good, let's get this show on the road," the driver said before she started the engine and drove out of the docking bay onto the street.

"So now for introductions," the trooper in the passenger seat declared. "I'm Tom and this Beth. We're your detail for tonight."

"If you're wondering, we're the only two dumb enough to risk being in spitting distance of Samedi," the driver, Beth, grumbled.

"That, and they want to keep the number of normal people in this fight at as low as they can get it." Tom informed her. That was not as comforting as he must have thought.

Paige turned toward the window, watching the buildings of downtown pass by. The few skyscrapers of the city were lit up against the night. It was a pretty sight she had to admit. In this part of town, it was easy to forget the troubles the city faced.

"Why do we always gotta do these transfers at night?" Beth complained. "I'd like to see my kids sometime."

"You'd rather try and drive in downtown traffic during rush hour? 'Sides it's not like we do this every day."

"You say that, but the way the town is going, I'm starting to doubt it."

"Calmer now than a few years ago. More heroes in town than ever."

"I'm not sure how you think that means less work for us."

"Come on, the way the city's going we may finally start gaining some headway on the crime around here. Pull a Seattle."

"Seattle had Nightingale. We don't got shit." Beth turned down onto Fourth Street. Paige tried to pull up a map of the city in her head. They had gotten about five blocks from the police station. The lack of lights and traffic meant they were making good time. She tried to spot one of the checkpoints, but either they haven't passed any, or they were very well hidden. Her focus started to drift back towards her escort's conversation.

"I'm telling you; between the director and Armsmaster breathing down my neck, I've really debated a lot of my life."

"Aw, don't say that. Where's your sense of job satisfaction?"

"I lost it last time we had to transport Kreig to holding. Asshole would not shut up."

"Yeah that sucked, but on the plus side you got to slam a cell door in his face."

"He broke out a week later."

"That's not point, you've got to foc-"

Whatever he was going to say was cut off as the SUV was yanked roughly sideways. Paige was thrown against the side door letting out a cry of pain. Then just as suddenly the car slammed into a concrete platform leading out of one of the buildings in the alley.

"Stay low!" Tom yelled back at her before throwing his door open. He leapt out and Paige was blocked from seeing him. She heard him say something she couldn't make out before a loud yell and a thumping noise left a moment of silence.

Beth made a rough croaking noise from her seat. "No! Tom! Damn it."

She pulled her gun out and pulled herself up so she was halfway out of the window of her door. A shattering bang of the gun made Paige give a muffled screech. Then a bright light lit up the interior of the SUV along with the sound of electricity arcing. Beth's body spasmed before falling limp.

Paige was close to tears, from watching her would be protectors fall. The terror from earlier was nothing compared to now. Then the sound of grinding metal filled the SUV and the door was ripped roughly away. The prisoner could feel a force pull her out by her shoulders. She was slammed into the brick wall of the alley. Eyes darted about in the dark as she tried to find the source of the attack. There! Out of the corner of her eye she saw a figure walk toward her and into the light. Samedi.

She was not what Paige was expecting. Tall for a woman, but lanky. Her long hair flowed down past her shoulders. Her face was drawn with deep circles under her eyes. Dressed in an old pea coat and ratty jeans, this girl didn't look like the blood soaked monster Paige was expecting. Then she spoke.

"Canary," Samedi had a hard voice for a girl that young. "That's what they call you. Used your powers to make a nice singing career. And take revenge. You could have gotten every villain in the city to walk themselves into a jail cell. Instead what do you do? You use it for fame and fortune, and when someone pissed you off enough, you make them hurt themselves."

'No! It wasn't like that!' Paige tried to scream past the gag 'I didn't want to hurt anyone. They never told me what the vial would do. I didn't know. Please, don't kill me. I don't want to die.'

"I suppose it doesn't really matter." Samedi muttered, "I can make sure your power gets used the right way. To help people."

Where were the Protectorate? Did they leave her to die? Was that the plan? Wait until Samedi was busy with her and take her by surprise? Paige didn't want to believe that. Didn't want to think that she was left to die by the heroes. But why should she expect them to care about her? No one else killer raised her right hand and pointed a finger at Paige. Suddenly her forehead exploded in pain. She clenched her eyes on instinct even as the gag swallowed her screams. The as quickly as it started the pain stopped and she could feel herself falling. A pair of arms wrapped around her.

"Miss me?" Assault asked, as Paige tried to understand what was happening. "No time to talk, just hold on."

With that, he raced out of the alley. It wasn't as even as running but to Paige it felt like they were flying. After about a block or so, they stopped, and he carried her into a nearby office complex. Hidden in the lobby was a collection of PRT troopers, and what looked like EMTs.

One of them raced up to the pair. Supporting Paige between himself and Assault they carried her over to a waiting bed. Laying down, she watched as the hero and one of the troopers began to talk in low voices. They were too far from her to hear what they were saying. The doctor from before returned and began to examine the cut on her forehead. Everything seemed so distant now, all the pain and fear seemed to drain away leaving her feeling numb to everything.

After a few minutes Assault came back to her bed. The way he carried himself gave off an air of tension.

"I need to go back and help my friends, but when this is all over we'll all come to see how you're doing alright?"

She gave him a nod. He shot her another smile then turned to leave.

'Be safe,' Paige thought watching the hero leave. 'I need a chance to say thank you.'

As soon as he left, she found herself drifting into a deep sleep.

Last edited: Feb 14, 2015

Hugs

Winter

VolantRedX

Feb 13, 2015

View discussion

Threadmarks 3.2

View content

VolantRedX

Official Conscience of Worm Fanfiction!

Feb 27, 2015

#421

Her Name is Death 3.2

'Stupid,' Samedi berated herself. Her head was pounding from Assaults blow, still she couldn't let it get to her. Standing on shaking legs she looked at the other two figures in the alley. Armsmaster and Velocity. The rest of the Protectorate must be around here waiting. This was a trap. The whole thing must have been set up just to get her. It spoke volumes about the way they saw her. She put it out of her mind. Right now she needed focus.

"Samedi," Armsmaster's voice cut through the night air. "I'm placing you under arrest for murder, I ask that you come with me quietly. There is no reason to escalate the situation."

Samedi didn't even bother responding. She knew she should run. Vite's power could show her the way out, between Ratfink and Rune she could find ways to avoid capture, ensure no one could follow her. Not tonight though. If she escaped they'd only find new ways to interfere. Tonight she needed to make a statement. So she stayed silent.

Armsmaster seemed to take her stillness as surrender, and approached. With one hand on his halberd he reached down to a pair of restraints on his belt. His footsteps were heavy in the night air. Samedi could hear the minute mechanical noises of his suit. To any other it would be impossible to perceive, but Samedi had long stopped being any other. Her power, her true power, told her the workings of the suit like she had built it herself. The little clockwork of the gears and gyros maintain balance. The hydraulics granting him strength. Almost all of it geared toward moving the half ton of metal armor. For anyone trying to imitate such power would need to be housed in a suit another ton heavier. Still it mattered little. Another few steps and he will be right where she needed him. Reaching out with her mind she felt without feeling the cold metal, the texture of the suit almost impossibly smooth. Then at the right moment she struck.

With a quick gesture she pulled the hero off his feet and into the wall of the alley. He hit hard but his experience meant that he barely flinched.

"That was foolish." He chided as he stood. However he almost missed her follow up. The SUV that had been transporting her target slammed toward him. Here all his experience meant little. All the equipment in the world, one of the best minds in history, but still human. Armsmaster had managed to put his hands up in an attempt to stop the 6,000 pounds of steel from crushing him. It was his luck that Samedi didn't want him crushed. They may have misunderstood her, may have seen her as the enemy, but her foes were still heroes. They deserved the respect that title earned them.

Armsmaster didn't take long to realize his predicament however. A suit built to protect his body, with over half it's strength built inwards. Designed to lift and move half a ton of metal. Not three times that. To his credit he struggled valiantly. Another quick gesture on the part of Samedi and the vehicles ties gave a loud popping. Wheals can be made to turn, flats will only hinder that.

A spark of energy in her mind alerted her to Velocity's reaction. He was fast, faster than her. He rushed her, a sharp blow to her stomach kept her on task. Fast, but not strong. He could sacrifice speed for that strength though. Samedi needed to discourage that. His speed meant she couldn't focus on him long enough to get a grip on him with her mind. He was fast, but nothing was faster than lightning.

Tracking his telltale electrical signal she used that to predict his next move. Lashing out with her arm a bolt of lightning arced. It missed but she wasn't expecting a hit. She needed him moving. Another flash, and her attacker learned the need for distance. In this cramped alley she was at the disadvantage. Here he could surround her without having to fear her reaction, and always be in striking range. She bolted toward the street. He followed. His signature giving her warning of his next move. A quick wall of green energy cut him off. Without a seconds hesitation he arced around. Another wall blocked him. She retaliated with another bolt but again hit only brick and mortar.

The two of them both rushed out into the street. Velocity ran in wide circles around her, the dust from his passing kicking up from the cool asphalt slightly.

"Why don't you just give up?" His voice came from everywhere and no where, "you can't beat all of us. You're tough, but we've fought worse. You're just going to get hurt here."

Samedi pushed the taunts out of her mind. They were nothing. Nothing compared to what she'd heard before her life started. Why? That was the question. Did he truly think that such minor thoughts would be enough to force her to give up?

'They're not that stupid. There must be a reason.' She thought to herself. She focused her ears listening. A few heartbeats, from the rapid pounding of her attacker to the slower steady beat of others. A deep breath could be made out by her hearing, a deliberate slowing of the heart rate. Sniper. A muted crack echoed in her ears. Muted but not enough for her ears.

The bullet was easy enough to block with her shield. With a focused eye Samedi traced it's desired path. Low, aiming not for her head or her heart, but her legs. They wanted to wound her. Following it back to the source she could see its path lead up. The roof of a nearby boutique was the source. That explained the taunts. They were a distraction, to stall her while the shooter made the climb into position.

Rapid footsteps and a burst of electrical energy promised another blow. This time she let it connect. Painful but unbeknownst to Velocity it was enough to get a grip on him. She waited though. Waited for the next shot. Her mind was already telling her the next path. The aim, the trajectory. So she waited.

'Now!' Her mind shouted. Her second trap was sprung. Pushing the ground with her mind and pulling an unwilling Velocity in the path of the shot. It was dead on, a perfect impact that pierced flesh and blood. Just not the right flesh and blood.

"FUCKING HELL!" Velocity screamed clutching his bleeding calf. The shooter was kind enough to aim for wounding shots. Samedi would repay the kindness.

'Sorry, but it had to be done.' She apologized for the hero's pain silently. Maybe when they stood side by side as allies she could seek his forgiveness out loud. It was just one more sin to remember. Someday she'd let herself count them all, and seek to balance the scales. Not now however. Not until she was strong enough to carry the weight of them all, and to bear the weight of the penance.

Still she was not done yet. The heartbeats of four other heroes meant that she was not done yet. Her shield flared to life, an impenetrable wall of emerald between her and the shooter. Miss Militia, for their was only one hero on the team that would have a gun, hadn't moved. Likely thinking that Samedi was trapped on the ground. A foolish error.

With a moment's thought Samedi could feel her feet leave the ground. Her powers lifted her into the night air. Part of her thought about simply leaving, but something compelled her to stay. She needed to prove that this night could only have ended one way. To whom this lesson was directed Samedi didn't know.

Pulling herself up she went higher then flew straight at the roof top. To her credit Miss Militia reacted quickly. Her rifle morphed and warped, turning into a large rifle. Samedi's mind rebelled slightly at the sight. The rifle was and wasn't real. There were no parts, the clockwork was nothing more than an imitation. It was like looking at a picture of the gun, pulled out into life. A volley of shots rang out, impacting harmlessly on the shield. The bullets faded into nothing.

A bolt of lightning lanced out at the firing hero. The woman rolled back out of the way ending the roll in a crouched position opening fire again. Samedi reached out with her mind then. Grabbing the hero she lifted the woman into the air. The hero struggled against the grip. The rifle in her hand was made useless as her arms were pined to her sides

Samedi closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. Reopening her eyes her arm lashed out with electrical power again. This time she didn't miss.

"Gaah!" A cry off pain escaped Miss Militia clenched teeth. Her muscles seized and spammed before she fell into unconsciousness. Her body was laid gently onto the rooftop.

As Samedi looked down at the fallen hero a blast of energy took her by surprise, slamming into her back. The blow nearly knocked her out of the air. She whirled around in time to block the follow up with her shield.

"You're not the only one who can play with lightning, you maniac." Dauntless declared as he floated above the street behind her. "You've hurt too many people, too many of my friends. It ends tonight."

At that he aimed his lance at her once more, and once more energy shot forth only to be blocked by her shield. Samedi responded in kind. Lifting his own shield Dauntless formed a barrier of his own, blocking her strike. The circled in the air, like two boxers waiting for the other to make a move.

Samedi forced her heart to slow again. Between their shields it was unlikely that they could win with an exchange of blasts. If she were to end this she'd need to go with another plan. Her mind raced through several different ideas, then a plan formed in her mind. Banshee's Wail would be enough to put him down. Not here though, the fall would be too much to expect survival.

Diving quickly she flew through the air, down towards street level. She aimed for the far street, away from the earlier fight. One of the heartbeats was back where she had left Armsmaster. The second one had disappeared. That was worrisome. It could have been that they had left to seek help. Unlikely though. Samedi couldn't allow for another surprise tonight. She had been getting sloppy. Using Vite's power to find a route she could see the shimmer plot out a path towards a safe place.

"Oh no you don't." Dauntless called after her, "No way I'm letting you escape. Not this time."

He raced after her as she followed the path to freedom. Samedi could hear his heart with every second. He was faster in the air, and soon he was close enough that she could make out the electrical signal of his body as he closed in.

Once they were less than five feet from the ground Samedi spun on a dime, facing her pursuer. His lance struck out colliding with a hastily raised shield. At this distance he wouldn't stand a chance. Taking a deep breath she let loose a screech. Piercing beyond all reason, the screech warped the metal of the nearby street lamps as the steel melted from the sound. Dauntless didn't stand a chance. His mind went blank as his head filled with the awful noise. He fell unconscious to the ground. His armor giving off a clang as it hit the cold concrete.

Samedi herself landed too. She was sweating heavily, her breaths coming in harsh gasps.

"Not a bad set of pipes." A voice said from behind her. Turning she saw the lion shaped mask of the Triumph. "But you're not the only one that can shout."

With a mighty bellow he let out a blast of sound. Samedi's shield flared up again, but it was little protection against the noise. She collapsed onto her knees, ears ringing.

"Yeah that's not going to work." Triumph pointed out, "see your little force field may block out the physical but it's no good against something like noise, and with hearing like yours it must be like having a bomb go off in your head."

At that he let out another yell. The pain of it blurred Samedi's vision. Her hands shot out to keep her from collapsing against the ground.

"If you give up now we-" Triumph suddenly was silent. Every little noise of the city's night was gone as well. The whole area was made mute.

Triumph made another attempt to shout, but there was nothing that could break the unnatural quiet.

Samedi stood, and with a smile tugging at her mouth she raised her finger up to her lips. Understanding his danger the hero lunged at her. His attack was stopped as he found his body held still. With a flick of her fingers Samedi sent Triumph flying down the road. He landed in an uncoordinated pile of limbs.

Turning from him Samedi called up another path of escape. Following the shimmer she started to run away from the two fallen heroes. She got to the end of the block then took a left toward the bay.

She got some distance before another heartbeat flared up into her hearing.

"Eyes sideways," a cocky voice called out as a figure jumped in front of her stopping her run. It was the one that had stopped her from getting her target earlier, Assault.

Raising her hands she prepared to defend herself, but he did something she wasn't expecting. He put his hands up.

"Hey now, let's calm down." He said in a low tone.

"You're...not going to fight me?" Samedi wondered aloud.

"Not if I have to. I have a feeling that it's not going to be a good plan. I'd rather talk."

"Talk?"

"Yeah, talk." He put his hands down as his posture became more relaxed. "We looked into your past. I get the feeling not a lot of people in your life tried to talk to you. Really talk. Not just say things at you and hope that fixed things."

"You don't think I'm a monster?" Hope flared in her chest.

"Kid, I've learned a long time ago that there aren't a lot of monsters out there. Most are people who've been through a lot of shit. Now, you've done things. Bad things, but that doesn't have to be the end of the story. You wouldn't be the first to turn it all around. Trust me."

"I-" Her response was cut off by distant shouts from behind. Turning she saw Armsmaster, Battery, and a recovered Triumph racing towards them.

"Ah hell," Assault muttered. Stepping past Samedi he called out to his comrades. "It's alright, we're okay."

In moments the trio of heroes reached them. Battery and Triumph stayed back, subtlety forming up to be ready in case of attack. Armsmaster approached the two, Assault stepping forward.

"It's alright, I've got it covered." Assault told Armsmaster.

"Get out of the way." Armsmaster ordered harshly.

"What?"

"I said out of my way." Armsmaster growled. When Assault stood his ground the armored hero pushed past him. "Samedi, I am here by placing you under arrest. You have been charged with murder, and with assaulting officers of the law in the course of duty. Anything you say can and will be used against you. You have the right to legal counsel, should you be unable to afford counsel it shall be provided for you. Do you understand these rights as I have given them to you?"

Samedi didn't respond, merely starred passed him seemingly unseeing. Armsmaster fought a frown as he reached out toward her, restraints in hand. When his hand grabbed her shoulder however it went right through, her body fading into nothing.

"Damn it!" Armsmaster ground out in frustration.

"Crusader," Battery muttered.

"Spread out," Armsmaster barked. "She can't have gotten far."

"Spread out? Boss she just took apart six of us. I don't see four of us being better odds." Assault chimed in.

"We wouldn't be in this situation if you had done your job." Armsmaster said to Assault.

"Excuse me?" He responded, his voice laced with anger

"What were you doing talking to her? She was right there. Had you attacked-"

"Had I attacked I'd be on the ground too. I had this handled. She was talking to me. If you hadn't come storming up here there wouldn't have been an issue." Assault cut him off.

"I was doing my duty. If she hadn't run we wouldn't have resorted to force." Armsmaster explained.

"If she hadn't run? Are you listening to yourself? She's a scared fifteen year old. Of course she ran from you."

"That scared fifteen year old has killed over a dozen people."

"I..." Assault lowered his voice, "I know what she's done, but don't you see this isn't the way to end this? She wants to be better. I know she does, but she won't if we don't give her a chance. If we keep treating her like some monster, that's what she'll be. We need to trust that she can change for the better."

Armsmaster stared at him for a moment. "Do you really believe she is capable of change? Or is your own past blinding you to what she is? And what needs to be done with her?"

Assault opened his mouth to speak, but Battery placed an arm on his shoulder. "That's enough, we can talk more back at base. We need to look to our wounded. Arguing in the street won't solve anything."

Assault nodded and followed his partner back toward the battleground.

"You're still thinking of trying to find her, aren't you sir?" Triumph asked Armsmaster.

"Of course, someone needs to look for her."

"But we need our leader more. You on your own out there is just risking trouble. We'll have another chance. That's the one good thing about villains. They keep giving us a shot at them." Triumph shot him a smile and jogged after the pair.

Armsmaster didn't respond in words but slowly he began to walk after his subordinates.

Unseen by the heroes was a near by storm drain, and from inside watched Samedi. Waiting for their footsteps to fade into the night she pulled herself out of the narrow opening, using her enhanced flexibility to fit, and head off slowly toward the slowly rising sun.

Last edited: Feb 28, 2015

104

Hugs

Funny

Winter

VolantRedX

Feb 27, 2015

View discussion

Threadmarks 3.3

View content

VolantRedX

Official Conscience of Worm Fanfiction!

Mar 4, 2015

#469

Her Name is Death 3.3

Consciousness burst to life in Hannah's mind. Bolting up her stiffened muscles gave a cry of protest. Collapsing back down she took in her surroundings, the cold sterile air mixed with the clinical white light told her exactly where she was. The Protectorate medical facility.

'Safe,' she told herself, 'I'm safe.'

She took a deep breath, calming herself. She thought back to her last memories, the feeling of floating helpless in the air. The flash of light, filling the air with the smell of ozone. The pain lacing through her body, then the darkness. Samedi, what had happened with Samedi? If Hannah was here that meant the theory about her not killing heroes held true, or just that she hadn't thought Hannah worth killing. She needed answers.

Slowly she pulled herself into a seated position, ignoring the protest from her body. Her weapon flared to life, changing rapidly until it settled into the shape of a revolver. She tucked into her belt, and prepared to stand when the door to her room opened.

"Oh," The newcomer mumbled. Panacea of New Wave stood there in full uniform. "You're already awake. Good, that's a good sign."

"A good sign?" Hannah asked.

"Yeah, you took a nasty shock. They were worried that you may have suffered some brain damage. If you had, well..." The girl trailed off. Hannah knew what she was going to say. If she had then there was nothing that Panacea could have done.

"Do you still want me to look at you?" The girl asked, "see if there is anything that might be wrong that I can help with?"

She sounded worn out, or worn down. Hannah didn't know which would be worse. "I should be fine. Nothing some rest won't fix."

Panacea nodded, "I should check anyway. If you're more hurt than you think it could become an issue later."

Hannah responded with a shrug holding out her arm. The girl took hold of it. They stood in silence for a few moments before Panacea let closed her eyes to focus. Suddenly the pain in Hannah's body faded into nothing. Hannah smiled, the scarf would obscure it, but her parents always told her the value of being polite. "Thank you."

"It's nothing," she murmured. "Just doing my job."

"You were here for Velocity, correct?" Hannah needed to remember to apologize the next time she saw him.

"Yeah, him, and Dauntless."

"Dauntless too? What happened?" Hannah asked concern lacing her voice.

"His eardrums were ruptured. Some kind of sonic blast."

Hannah could feel her eyes widen.

"He's fine now, really. The eardrums are all bone, and bones are some of the easiest things for me to heal." Panacea reassured her. "He should be awake if you want to talk to him."

"I'll do that, but later. First I need to speak with the rest of my team. Do you know where they are?"

Panacea shrugged helplessly. "Sorry, but other than Battery I haven't seen anyone since I got here, and that was almost an hour ago."

That was about what Hannah expected. Panacea may be a valued asset, but her family wasn't part of the system. That kept her on the outside for a lot of things. Hannah could understand that feeling, especially with both of them being orphans. At least they both found families to care for them. Still that feeling of being on the outside never truly left.

She pushed that thought away for now, it wouldn't do to dwell on it. Refocusing on Panacea she asked where Battery last was. She'll need to start somewhere.

"Umm, I passed her when I got off the elevator, she said something about heading to the gym? I'm sorry I can't be more help."

"It's fine. I'll head there, unless you need a ride home?" A part of Hannah hoped she'd say no. The woman really needed to see her team. Thankfully the girl shook her head.

"No it's fine. Vic-Glory Girl is coming to give me a lift. It's Saturday so at least I won't miss class this morning."

Hannah nodded and headed to the door with Panacea. They were halfway to the elevator before she realized the full extent of what she said, "Morning?"

"Yeah, it's six or so. Why?"

"It was a little after three when we were attacked." She had been out for almost three hours? What had happened since? She really needed answers. The reached the elevators, and they waited several minutes without the elevator arriving before Panacea spoke again.

"I'll just take the stairs. It was nice seeing you." The words came listlessly. In theory the elevators would be quicker to get to the roof, unless Amy was planing to use the old helicopter pad. Hannah guessed the girl didn't feel comfortable waiting with her, or she was just sick of waiting in general. It wasn't really an issue one way or another. As much as Hannah appreciated the girl's work she wouldn't call them close. Giving an offhand nod the girl left Hannah alone to wait.

She thought back to last night. Samedi wasn't what she was expecting. What any of them were really expecting. They knew she'd fight back, but given the Wards description she'd only do so defensively. They all thought that she would've run at the first opportunity. Not take the fight to them the way she had. If Hannah was a different kind of person she would try and find some excuse, but she had always held that honesty was paramount. The truth was they let themselves get cocky. It was lucky their egos didn't cost them their lives.

A soft ding from the elevator broke up Hannah's brooding. Stepping in she pressed the button for the 5th floor, where the gym was located. She hoped Kristine was still there. A soft rumbling in her belly suddenly reminded her that she hadn't eaten since last night. Now that she was aware of it, hunger pains formed in the back of her mind.

The ride down took several moments, the elevators ran slow outside of emergencies for security purposes. Normally Hannah found it relaxing. They were built to be gentle, most would hardly even notice the motion was happening. Today however her impatience made the ride seem to take forever. It drew her back into her mind, to memories about last night. The way Samedi moved, the way she fought. There was no wasted motion. She was efficient, taking down whoever was in her way quickly. Most villains, and far too many heroes treated fights like it was all just a show. Flashy moves, and pointless banter. Samedi ignored the show. That made her dangerous. The girl too often broke tradition, either wittingly or unwittingly she was upsetting the balance. Hannah didn't know if that upset was going to fall in their favor or come down on the side of evil. She would pray for one, and expect the other.

The elevator stopped and there was a pause before a green light filled the inside and the doors opened. Thankfully the system recognized her clearance to be in a mask off area. Once Charlie had been stuck inside for ten minutes when the system didn't read him.

Getting out she could hear a distant thudding sound from down the hall. Following the noise she soon reached the sparring area. Inside Kristine was working over a sparring dummy. Sweat covered her entire body. She must have been pushing herself to the limit. Hannah had to admire the younger woman's dedication. Few realized that Kristine was perhaps the second or third most skilled fighter in the group. For her part Hannah rarely relied on her fists. What skills she had were learned through time, or experience. Clearing her throat gently she got Kristine's attention.

"Huh?" She said turning, her breath came in short gasps. "Hannah! You're up. That's great. I saw Panacea in the hall earlier, guess she was able to get you up and about. Are Robin and Charlie up?"

"I'm not sure," Hannah informed her. "You're the first person I've seen. I was hoping to get caught up on what happened."

"Oh, um, I'm not sure I'll be any help." She looked away from Hannah. Mumbling she added, "I certainly wasn't last night."

"What do you mean?"

"I never even saw Samedi, not up close anyway." Her tone was bitter.

"You were the farthest away, it makes sense that you would have been behind her."

"You don't get it. I could have caught up with her. If I didn't stop to help Colin up I could have caught up before she hurt Charlie. I would have made it before she beat Roy. I was close. We were right on her and she slipped away."

"You prioritized helping a teammate. Given the skill she displayed it's likely that you'd only have ended up hurt." Hannah tried to comfort the other woman.

"Or I could have captured her." Kristine pointed out.

"Or that," Hannah agreed. "Either way it is over with. We can never change things that happened. If you think you made the wrong choice then next time pick the other option."

"You make it sound so simple. Being better later won't change how I feel now."

Hannah only gave a half shrug in response. Things like that would need to be worked out on her own. Deciding on a change of subject she asked, "have you seen any of the others?"

"Roy headed home, his sister has a ball game or something. Ethan," She paused again before sighing. "He said he needed to do some thinking, so he went for a walk."

"And Colin?" Hannah knew the answer as soon as it left her mouth.

Kristine smirked a bit. "He's in his lab. In a mood too. I think he's taking this worse than I am."

Hannah could understand that. The longer Samedi went free the worse it reflected on them. Not to mention what would happen should the villains decide to take matters into their own hands. For someone that worked as hard as Colin did to help this city the idea it could sink into open war on his watch would be a real blow to him.

Her stomach chose that moment to let out a low growl. Hannah blushed slightly, but a small smile threatened to break out on her face. Kristine giggled lightly.

"Hungry?" She asked cheerfully.

"I haven't eaten since last night."

"I figured, the mess should still have something."

"Good idea, but I still want to check in with Colin. Do you want to join me?" Hannah invited. "I can see him after."

"No, thanks. I got something to eat with Ethan when we first got back."

Hannah nodded and turned to walk away.

"Oh, wait," Kristine exclaimed. "Colin went straight to the lab. I don't think he's eaten yet. You should invite him."

Hannah shot the other woman an annoyed glance back over her shoulder. Kristine did her best to look innocent but the image was spoiled by the impish grin.

"I know what you are implying."

"Oh? I wasn't implying anything. I just think it would be a nice gesture on your part."

"I'm sure," Hannah said deadpan.

"Well you were going to head down there anyway right? No harm in asking." Kristine insisted.

Hannah merely rolled her eyes and headed out of the room. After a few feet the soft thudding of Kristine's punches returned. Reentering the elevator she tried to put the other woman's words out of her mind. Hannah liked Kristine, and would consider her a good friend. She was however sick of her thinking that Hannah had any romantic inclinations toward Colin. She admired him, thought of him as a close friend and confidant, but that shouldn't imply romantic feelings. No amount of protests on her part seemed to convince her friend of that. The idea wouldn't be so troubling if she didn't feel the need to meddle on Hannah's behalf. She was not a child anymore. If she did have feelings for Colin she would be able to act on them herself.

'Maybe she just wants to have someone to talk about relationships with?' Hannah's mind supplied. Kristine didn't have many female friends, their lives were not conducive at making outside connections. The only other women Hannah knew Kristine was friends with was the staff psychologist Dr. Walker, who was divorced, and Miss Hendrickson, who never had a relationship that couldn't be measured on a watch. Both of them were also almost a decade older than either of the heroes. It must have made things awkward for her friend.

'I just wish she didn't feel the need to force the issue.' Hannah was never one to feel the need for romance in her life, but even she could admit it had been a long time since she had a real relationship. Still she didn't need to have the pressure from Kristine about it.

Once more her thoughts were broken up by the elevator doors opening with a green light. Hannah started to head toward Colin's workspace.

"Stop!" A voice barked, stopping Hannah short. "Rewind...stop."

'He must be reviewing a video, stop being silly.' Hannah berated herself. Heading deeper into the lab she saw Colin seated at a bank of monitors, his focus intent on the screens. It took her a moment to recognize that it was a simulation rather than a real video.

"Is it going well?" She asked in way of greeting.

"Miss Militia," Colin greeted without turning. "I didn't realize you were awake. It's good that you're not badly hurt."

"Thank you," she smiled behind her scarf. "You didn't answer my question though."

"It's going slowly. I'm attempting to create a simulation of last night's battle using what data I could gather. With you, Velocity, and Dauntless unable to give your report I've had to make do with only Battery and Triumph's reports. It's been missing a lot of data. Once you have recovered it should be easy enough to fill in the blanks. Next time she won't be able surprise us."

"I hope so," Colin only grunted at that. She paused for a moment before asking, "What about Ethan?"

"What about him?" His tone was clipped.

"You mentioned Battery and Triumph, but not Assault. Did he not make it back in time?"

Colin snorted, "oh he did, but he felt it prudent to disregard his duty."

"W-what? How?" Ethan was rarely anything other than a perfect member of the Protectorate, despite his past.

"He refused to engage Samedi while he had a perfect chance." For the first time since she arrived he turned to face her. "He seemed to think he could play therapist instead. It proved ineffective."

"Did she attack him?" Battery hadn't mentioned him being hurt.

"No. She fled when we arrived as backup. Like a coward."

Hannah didn't say anything. Last night Samedi proved to be a lot of things, but a coward was not one of them. Still it wouldn't do to argue with Colin when he was like this. She felt a change in subject was in order. "Have you eaten? I was about to head to the mess hall."

"No, thank you. I have far too much work to do." Colin said turning back to his work. She tried not to feel upset at the brush off.

"Well if you are sure."

He simply grunted. Taking that as her leave Hannah headed out. She almost reached the door when Colin called out, "Miss Militia wait."

"Yes?" She asked looking back. He had turned around to face her.

"When you are finished come back here. I need to take your report."

She paused, "of course Colin. I won't be long."

Armsmaster however had returned to the screens. As she headed back to the elevator she could hear his voice giving orders to start, then stop, then rewind.

Last edited: Mar 5, 2015

Hugs

Insightful

Informative

Winter

VolantRedX

Mar 4, 2015

View discussion

Threadmarks 3.4

View content

VolantRedX

Official Conscience of Worm Fanfiction!

Mar 11, 2015

#501

Her Name is Death 3.4

There was a slight chill in the air as Victoria flew casually over the bay. Her power kept her from getting too cold, but she could still feel a slight change in the weather. It had been a cold winter so by now she was getting really sick of the cold. Hopefully spring would start soon. Still as the morning sun passed a cloud and the light hit her face she couldn't help but smile. As she started to approach the Protectorate's floating base she could make a lone figure in white standing on the big helipad. Her smile widened, the last few days had been busy for the two of them, but maybe today they could hang out a bit.

When she got closer however her smile faded.

"I thought you said you were going to try and quit," Victoria tried to keep her annoyance out of her tone.

Amy took another drag on her cigarette before stomping it out on the ground. "I know, I'm sorry. I've had a bad few days, they help me relax."

"But they stink, and you know what they'll do to you better than anyone. Not to mention what mom would do if she caught you."

Amy just snorted, and Vicky decided that the fight could wait. Amy didn't seem in the mood to listen. Landing next to her sister Vicky gave her a quick look over. She looked tired.

'Maybe a movie night or something.' Victoria thought 'Amy earned a day just vegging out.'

Amy seemed lost in thought, and stood staring out over the bay.

"Sooo," she drew out the word getting Amy's attention. "What was so urgent that Protectorate needed to wake you up at the crack of dawn."

"Samedi,"

"Oh god. Did anyone die? I mean um was err did they all make it?" Vicky bit her lip at her little slip up. Aunt Sarah kept saying she needed to practice more tact. Even when alone. New Wave didn't need the PR issues.

"No," Amy told her, and she let out a sigh of relief. "But she could have. All of them were out there, and she walked right through them. Seven Protectorate members against one lunatic and three of them were put up in the hospital."

Victoria shivered again, this time for reasons other than the cold. "So she got away?"

"Yeah," Amy was fidgeting at this point.

"Well then, you got to be more careful. No more going out alone, OK?"

"Me?" Amy asked incredulously.

"Yes you. You're the only one of us that can't fight if she comes after you."

"Samedi doesn't kill heroes."

"Yet. Samedi hasn't killed any heroes yet. I don't want you to be the first. Just...promise me you'll be careful. No going out alone. Please?" Victoria pleaded with her sister.

Amy let out a soft sigh, "alright, but you got to promise me something too."

"Anything."

"If you see her, run," Amy cut off her protests with a look. "She just took out seven heroes. I know you'll want to fight her, but don't. Just run. I can't lose you."

Victoria paused for a long moment. Then she nodded, "ok, I promise."

"Good," she held out her hand. "Then let's head home."

Victoria grabbed her sister's hand and felt herself smiling again as she lifted both of them off to head home.

XxXXxX

If there was one thing Sophia hated it was waiting. Not that there was only one thing Sophia hated, but waiting would be up there. Worse still was waiting to do something she didn't want to do. She never knew what to do with herself when she had to wait. Terry was watching some dumb show downstairs so she couldn't even watch one of her nature shows. So she was stuck laying on her bed with nothing to do, but wait for the time to run down.

'Stupid fattass,' Sophia thought bitterly. 'where does she get off acting so high and mighty? I didn't do anything wrong.'

Her thoughts were interrupted by her cell going off. She rolled over and grabbed the phone off the bedside table. A look at the caller id caused her heart to speed up just a bit. Taking a second to steady herself she pressed the phone to her ear.

"Hey there hero," Emma's voice called out cheerfully.

"Hey yourself," Sophia was a bit confused by the call, not that she was going to complain.

"So you ready?"

"Huh? Ready for what?"

"Duh, the mall. We're heading there with Madison, we've been planing it since Monday."

'Oh shit,' Sophia had forgotten about that completely. "Oh man, I totally forgot."

"That's fine, Anne's giving me a ride. We can swing by your place."

"I can't make it." Now she was really pissed at Piggot.

"What?" Emma practically shouted. "Why not?"

"It's Wards shit. I got to work monitor duty all day."

"You never had to work on Saturdays. What gives?"

Sophia debated how much to tell her. "It's all Piggot's way of punishing me. They found out about some the things at school, so she's decided she's gotta-what's the word?-castigate me? She's trying to prove she's still the boss of me. No more going out alone, monitor duty on the week ends, double therapy, and I even got to go to all those stupid 'stay in school' bullshit feel good things. Like I don't have better things to do than talk to a bunch of nerds and losers about life."

Emma gave a low whistle. "Man what did they find out about to earn you that?"

"I...can't say exactly," Sophia told her. "It's about Hebert, and I really can't go into it more so don't even ask. Trust me, you're better off."

"Hebert?" Emma snorted, "did they find that loser in a ditch somewhere or something?"

"Or something," Sophia rubbed her face and tried not to think about the truth she learned that night. Hebert might still be a weakling given how fast she went down, but still Sophia couldn't help the feeling in the back of her head that she could be in danger. Samedi didn't play the game like everyone else. She didn't go around in costume, she came to your house. Scary shit.

"Well if it's something like that can't you beg out of it? That Dr White guy said you had to hang out with people more, right?"

"Miss Piggy isn't the type to take 'my doctor said I had to go to the mall' as a valid excuse."

"I could always ask daddy to make a few calls."

That thought nearly made Sophia gag. She was grateful for all that Mr. Barnes did, but she didn't want to run to him with every little issue. "I really can't make it," Sophia told her.

"Oh, even if I said we were thinking of swinging by Victoria's Secret?" Now she was playing dirty.

"Tempting but that doesn't change my answer."

"Not even if I promise to model some stuff?" She teased.

'I don't deserve this,' Sophia thought burring her head in her pillow. She cleared her throat into the phone, "don't tease."

"Aww," Sophia could almost sense the girl's pout. "Sorry, still if you're sure."

She sighed, "yeah I'm sure."

"Well I guess it's just me and Mads. The two of us can figure something to do. Might even find some cute boys."

"You deserve better than some mallrat." Sophia said before she could stop herself.

There was a long pause on the other end. "Uhh yeah, thanks, look I, um, I got to go. Anne's gotta be tapping her foot."

Sophia just grunted and soon the line was dead. With a harsh growl she threw her phone into the wall. Life sucked.

XxXXxX

There was something about Somner's Rock that always made Grue's skin itch. He couldn't explain it, usually he chalked it up to paranoia. Not that anything about the last few days had been good for his nerves. The entire group had been on edge since their run in with Samedi. Twice he had to convince Spitfire not to quit, Regent had either been really out of it or was latching on the excuse to do even less work, and Bitch had been away for most of the time. As it was only he and Tattletale had the inclination to head to this meeting. Not that the others would be allowed. Coil called the meeting and he set the rules, the boss and one bodyguard. Things had been tenser than Grue could remember, Samedi was turning this city into a powder-keg. One wrong move and the whole thing could go up in flames.

He and Tattletale had gotten there early, an old habit from his days as hired muscle. They took a table toward the door. If something went down they needed to be able to book it. Somehow despite being early Coil had already been seated at the table in the centre of the room. Behind him stood a woman dressed in full body armor. Grue had to give the man this, it took guts to go about setting yourself as a ganglord without using capes.

After a few minutes a few independent villains filled in taking up more seats. Normally small fry like them wouldn't get an invite but given the situation they had the most to gain or lose here. Grue tried to pick out a few familiar faces. Circus was seated alone in the back corner. Majestic and her latest boy toy were as close to the main table that they were likely to get away with. Dollface had somehow fit herself into a booth, she was likely looking to get help to kill her brother's killer, that at least Grue could understand. The rest he didn't recognize. Most of the one's that could leave, had. Oddly Uber and Leet hadn't shown. This was the kind of thing they always loved. Strange, but Grue pushed it out of his mind. He'd ask Tattletale later.

It wasn't until five minutes before the meeting was supposed to start that Kaiser walked in, his heavy metal armor clanking with every step. He was followed by one of the twins, Grue couldn't tell which. He sat to the left of Coil, giving the man a nod as a greeting.

After a moment Kaiser spoke, "he'll make us wait you know. His kind have no sense of courtesy despite their airs."

"More like he will simply like to prove we will wait for him." Coil replied, he smooth tone giving no indication he was offended by Kaiser's words.

"Either way he will make us wait."

"Of course he will. That's why I informed him that were planing on starting ten minutes ago."

"Clever."

"Not especially," during the entire exchange Coil hadn't taken his eyes off the front door.

After a few more minutes the door swung open, and in strode Lung followed by Oni Lee. His entrance seemed to drop the temperature of the room by several degrees. He stood scanning the room, and when his eyes fell on Grue there was a moments pause. Long enough to send the message, Lung hadn't forgiven or forgotten. Grue tensed but refused to show his fear. In a place like this that could mean worse than what Samedi promised.

With a deliberately slow pace Lung walked to his place at the table and settled his massive bulk into the chair, which gave an audible groan of protest.

"Good we are all here," Coil opened.

"The Merchants still haven't arrived," Lung pointed out, spitting out the word Merchant like it was a dirty word.

"Yes, well they declined my invitation. They claimed they would handle these issues in their own way. Though they were less...delicate in phrasing."

Kaiser let out a chuckle, "typical."

"It does not matter," Lung stated. "We are already filled up with vermin." He scanned the crowd while he said this, his gaze holding on Grue and Tattletale for a moment, long enough to make his point.

"Gentlemen," Coil cut in. "If I could bring us back to the issue at hand. She has become a problem. I don't think I need to clarify of whom I'm speaking of."

There was a rumble of voices in the crowd. Coil let the noise die down before continuing. "We can no longer afford the luxury of hope. Samedi poses a threat that we can not ignore. Some of us have lost business partners, others have lost friends, some even lost family to her actions. She needs to be stopped, permanently. If not, well it could be a second coming of the Fairy Queen."

That brought back the murmurers. The idea of another Fairy Queen, right here in Brockton Bay, sent a shiver through the crowd. Soon another noise could be heard, the sound of laughter. Lung's laughter.

"I had never taken you for a coward Coil." Lung said coolly, "and I see no reason to be so alarmed. This Samedi is nothing more than vermin. The fact she feeds on other vermin will not change that fact."

"You're wrong," Tattletale spoke up. "She is much stronger than you think. I have information, last night the heroes tried to take her in. She didn't even break a sweat."

"And how good is your source, Tattletale?" Coil asked.

"The best."

Coil nodded, "I've heard similar reports. At first I was going to dismiss it as rumor, but if Tattletale has had similar info then it can't be dismissed."

"Feh," Lung snorted. "Defeating these so called heroes mean nothing. They are weak. This Samedi has never faced a real fight. Until she does I will not quake at a shadow."

"Perhaps," Kaiser spoke in a calm voice. "If you are so mighty you could point this strength at the girl's direction. Do us all a favor."

"I will not waste my energy killing rats. If she were stupid enough to menace me, I would destroy her without mercy. She has not proven that foolish." Lung leaned forward over the table. "Unlike you I do not let challenges go unanswered."

"It is mere luck that you have so few followers worth her time."

"You call it luck? I say it is because I do not let weaklings hang off my back for the sake of numbers. Though fewer numbers now, after your woman left. Did she also take your manhood with her?"

There was a loud thud as the woman behind Kaiser slammed her spear on the ground. Before she could do any more Kaiser held up his hand.

"Peace, Menja, we will not give him the satisfaction of rising to his taunts. His kind are capable of little else."

Lung growled slightly at his words. Before the two could come to blows Coil stood.

"This is wasteful. We will solve nothing if we sit here and bicker. I can see a general merging of forces will be unlikely, so instead I offer this solution. The PRT has already offered a small sum for the capture of Samedi alive. Given their inability to hold her I have my doubts for this solution. Instead I say we offer a bounty of our own, for her death. We make it large enough to make the danger worthwhile and we all contribute an equal amount. Can that be agreed on?"

Kaiser was the first to answer, "it sounds like a fair arrangement."

"I agree," Lung added.

"Excellent," Grue couldn't see it but he had a feeling Coil was smiling under his mask. The itching feeling had started again.

XxXXxX

Madison hummed to herself as she entered her room, Pop-Tart in hand. Taking a little nibble she started her computer up. Today had been so much fun, it had been awhile since she got to just hang out with Emma without Sophia lurking in the background. She could be funny, but man she was such a weirdo sometimes. Plus Madison could see the way she looked at Emma. That was so not cool. Like she wasn't a bigot or anything but there should be rules about that sort of thing. Especially when it came to things like dressing rooms, or like the gym looker room. It was just like common sense. Like they wouldn't let boys in there. So why let girls like Sophia in?

Madison's thoughts were interrupted when her computer finished booting up. Quickly getting online she headed to the PHO boards. She hadn't gotten a chance to get on all day. She wasn't like a nerd or anything, having to be chained to the computer all day, not like her geeky little sister, but still she liked to keep up with the news.

Welcome to the Parahumans Online Message Boards

You are currently logged in, Specific Protagonist

You are viewing:

• Threads you have replied to

• AND Threads that have new replies

• OR private message conversations with new replies

• Thread OP is displayed

• Ten posts per page

• Last ten messages in private message history

• Threads and private messages are ordered by user custom preference.

Click to expand...

Madison did a quick scan of some of the newer threads when one jump out at her.

Topic: Uber and Leet dead!

In: Boards ► Boards ►America ► News

A cold feeling spiked through Madison. Uber and Leet were losers, but at least they were funny losers. Like clowns. Who would want to hurt clowns? She clicked on the thread.

► Corps_Control (Original Poster)

Posted on March 9, 2011:

Link to their stream here. Warning it gets pretty gruesome. NSFW definitely. Last 10 mins is all you need

► ZoneEnder

Posted on March 9, 2011:

Holy shit!

►Block_Buster (Veteran Member)

Posted on March 9, 2011:

What did they expect when they went after Samedi? These guys always bit off more than they could chew. I guess it caught up to them.

Click to expand...

That caught Madison's breath in her throat. Samedi? Uber and Leet went after her? That's crazy. She scrolled down the page to read more.

►Night_Bear

Posted on March 9, 2011:

These scum bags got what they deserved. Guys like this are why it's not safe to go out at night. At least Samedi is cleaning up the streets.

►Inzayne

Posted on March 9, 2011:

Hey bigger question, this bounty they keep going on about. Is it legit? Samedi's really got the PRT that scared?

►Shh!

Posted on March 9, 2011:

Yeah it's legit. Also Night_Bear could you tone down some of the crazy? Two people died.

►Tin_Mother

Posted on March 9, 2011:

Indeed. I know that Uber and Leet were hardly the most stellar people and tensions are high since they kidnapped those zoo turtles a few weeks back, but two people are dead, let's not cheer on their murder.

Click to expand...

Madison skipped the rest of the argument. Instead she clicked the link. She quickly slid the little bar thingy at the bottom to the end to see what happened. It was hard to see what was happening but they looked like they were driving like crazy, their camera was shaking all around, and they were yelling at each other.. Then suddenly a wall appeared in front of them. The screen when nuts for a second before it settled back down. Madison jumped back when the picture came back. Leet had his neck bent all wrong and blood and stuff was all over his face.

When Uber got out the camera swung around to match his movements. After a second Madison realized she couldn't hear anything. The crash must have broken the microphone. On screen Uber fell to the ground. He looked really hurt. There was a bright flash, and Madison realized it was his gun going off. Suddenly it flew out of his hands, and he got real still. In front of him she could almost make out someone. They looked like the two of them were talking. Madison really wished she could hear what they were saying. When Uber started to thrash she moved away from the screen. Part of her wanted to turn it off right there, it was too freaky, but she wanted to see what happened after. He stopped moving after a second, but when he skull fell off Madison thought she was going to throw up.

Then her heart nearly stopped. Samedi crouched into frame. Madison could see her face. She knew it, she almost laughed. This had to be a joke somehow. This couldn't be real. Quickly she went back into the thread to see if someone else figured out it was all some big prank. The last posts in the thread stopped her dead. As she read them over and over, she thought she was going to be sick.

►XxVoid_CowboyxX

Posted on March 9, 2011:

Holy shit guys. I-I know her, she went to high school with me. That's Taylor Hebert. I thought she was dead.

►MaroonX

Posted on March 9, 2011:

Dude you've been here long enough to know posting cape names is a big no-no.

►ZoneEnder

Posted on March 9, 2011:

Does this count? Samedi doesn't wear a mask. I don't know if that's against the rules.

►Tin_Mother

Posted on March 9, 2011:

It's irrelevant now anyway. The PRT just put out a notice. They're confirming it. Samedi's real name is Taylor Hebert.

Click to expand...

Last edited: Mar 13, 2015

120

Hugs

Funny

Insightful

Winter

VolantRedX

Mar 11, 2015

View discussion

Threadmarks 3.5

View content

VolantRedX

Official Conscience of Worm Fanfiction!

Apr 9, 2015

#605

A special thanks to my Betas LiamOfOrmonde and Solusandra

Her Name is Death 3.5

Max Anders loosened his tie as he and Nessa rode the elevator up. His niece absently looked through her phone as she had been since they'd dropped their uniforms off.

She had been sullen the whole ride home, ever since she expressed her irritation to him about the deal to bring an end to Samedi. Of his two girls, she was the more fervent in her desire to crush their inferiors and ensure the Aryans gained their rightful place in the world. For her, working with the likes of Lung and his horde reeked of betraying their race. Max was not unsympathetic to her, but she needed to learn that pragmatism is sometimes required to lead. Hopefully, her sister would be able to act as a counterweight to her passion, as she would in turn ensure Jessica's commitment to the cause remained strong. Should the worst happen, they'd need to be ready to take their place as the heads of his empire. Lord knew he couldn't trust his son with power.

The elevator doors opened and the pair stepped out, Nessa headed straight to her room while Max moved into the living room. His son was seated there watching some insipid cartoon. Theo had likely been sitting since he arrived home from school. With his wife still pretending to be independent, Theo had been spending most of his nights at her new apartment, watching over his sister. If he was here that meant his wife must have planed on staying in. That suited him fine. With that lunatic running about it was better that she remain careful.

"Have you finished your class work?" He asked his son while moving over to the bar and mixing himself a small drink.

"Yes, sir." Theo said, turning the sound on the TV off and facing Max. "Did you have a good meeting?"

"Good enough, there is a plan in place now to deal with Samedi."

"That's good, she seems scary."

Max's eyes narrowed at his son's statement. "You needn't worry. She only targets Parahumans."

"Yeah, but... never mind." Theo turned away from his father, and turning the sound back on.

Max felt his anger rise at the disrespect from his son. Taking a sip of his drink he prepared to discipline his child when Nessa came racing into the living room.

"Uncle Max you got to see this." She snatched the remote from the couch, and started changing the channel.

"HEY!" Theo protested. "I was watching that."

"Shut up, this is important," Nessa responded before finally finding a local news broadcast. "Here look."

Max turned to face the screen, and saw what his niece was talking about. On the screen the anchor was sitting grim faced, beneath him were the words: "Samedi's Identity Revealed?" Giving the TV his full attention he listened to the report.

"...With this newest information coming out of the PRT we can now confirm that the earlier reports are true, the killer known as Samedi has been identified as local Brockton Bay resident Taylor Hebert." The newscast put up a photo of Samedi standing in front of a slumped form, her face in full view of the camera. "As Samedi, Hebert stands suspected of at least sixteen murders. These most recent deaths of Micheal Horton and Shawn Sanders, better known as the team of Uber and Leet bring the count up to 18. Stay tuned as we bring you more on the story as it develops."

As the broadcast cut to commercial Nessa shut the TV off in disgust. Throwing the remote down she crossed her arms. "Hard to believe that little bitch took out Liz and Justin."

"Looks are deceiving in this world," Max reminded her. "I'll need to address this."

With that he walked off to his office. Entering he locked the door behind him, and headed to his desk. Reaching down to the secret compartment he pulled out a fresh phone. He dialled quickly. Putting the phone to his ear it didn't take long to be answered.

"Hello?" The rough voice of Hookwolf answered, the slight drawl in his voice more pronounced.

"Samuel, it's Max." The phones should be safe, but his father always taught him to avoid any chance of discovery.

"Boss, what's up? The meeting go well?"

"In a way, no group effort but we were able to agree on a bounty, we'll need to speak on that soon. More importantly, have you heard the news?"

"Uh? Recently? No, something come up?"

"Yes, it's about Samedi. She let her face get caught on camera. The PRT has given out her name."

"Great," Samuel exclaimed. "Let's go hit her like she hit us."

"No."

"No? What the hell do you mean no?"

"I mean no. If we go after her we'll only draw her eye down on us. We must ensure she is dealt with before we take that sort of risk. Once she is dead, we'll move on to sending a message."

"So what's the plan on killing her? You do have one right?"

"Of course, with our numbers low after my wife's little tantrum we need to keep from leaving ourselves open to attack. No matter the agreement we can't trust Lung to hold to it, treachery is in his blood." Samuel grunted in agreement. "What we need is outside support. I was hoping you might have a suggestion from your earlier life."

There was a long pause from the other end, then, "Yeah, I got a guy. Real intense guy, but he's a tough son of a bitch. He might be able to pull it off. It's just, well, it might be awhile before I get in touch. Guys like him don't really leave a forwarding address."

"That's alright, we have time."

XxXXxX

Emily Piggot was not having a good day. Not that last night was a treat, but this morning was proving even more challenging. PR was still giving her grief about giving up Samedi's real name without running it by them. Even after she explained that she either confirmed the truth, or some random amateur detective did so, and made them look like morons in the meantime. Legal was getting in on it too, talking about liabilities with effectively announcing Hebert guilty without her being tried. This was despite her being on camera killing someone. That was not even counting the dozens of reporters demanding interviews.

She had hopped to get a few minutes of rest, but unfortunately it was not to be. A light buzz sounded from the speaker on her desk. Emily let out a sigh, and pressed the button on the machine.

"Yes, what is it?" Her tone was sharper than she intended.

"Director, a call on line one." Her secretary informed her, unfazed by the tone.

"I said to hold my calls."

"I know ma'am, but I think you'll want to take this one, it's the Chief Director."

'Damn,' Emily swore internally 'That's just what I need.'

Taking another few seconds to compose herself she picked up the phone.

"Hello, Director," She greeted.

"Emily," the Director returned cheerfully, but Emily could sense an undercurrent of insincerity to it. "How has your morning been?"

"Difficult," Emily knew she shouldn't be short with the Director, but she had little patience for social niceties during a time like this.

"I can imagine, but I do have some good news. You'll be happy to know that Paige Macabee has arrived into Legend's custody. She'll be entering surgery tomorrow. Dr Fix-it has high hopes for her case. With luck she'll be ready to be relocated within the month."

Emily merely grunted. She hadn't really thought about the girl since the failed trap two nights ago. She doubted she was the only one given recent events. Still, there was a silver lining, with the media circus surrounding Samedi's identity no one would think about Canary. One less thing to worry about.

"However, that's not why I'm calling."

"Samedi." Emily said.

"Yes, giving her name to the press will stir things up. I've already gotten word of distant rumblings. Even some from within the PRT."

"The girl's face was caught on camera, and she's a local. It wouldn't be long before word got out. If it wasn't us than it would have been someone else, and if that happened we would have looked like morons for not putting two and two together, or worse, we'd be accused of protecting her."

"Has that been a rumor?" She sounded concerned, such a rumor could rapidly spin out of control.

"No, but it rapidly could if it seems like we're not doing all we can to take her down."

"Still, releasing the girl's name was a bold move Director Piggot. There is a lot of ways this could have gone wrong." Director Costa-Brown informed her.

"I'm aware of the risk, but I felt it was the best of a lot of bad options. Should this blow back, I'll take full responsibility."

"Very well, I'll trust in your judgment. Just be aware that the situation with Samedi has drawn a lot of eyes, and after last night we will be paying far greater attention. Should we feel the situation has gone far enough we will step in."

"I understand."

"Good, be careful out there director, I think things are about to become very interesting for everyone." With that the line went dead.

Emily once more closed her eyes, doing her best to suppress the pain stabbing at her head. Her attempt at relaxing was cut short seconds later when the door to her office slammed open with a bang. Her eyes snapped open, and she had to force her instincts from forcing herself into cover. It was Assault, out of costume, who was storming into her office, a dark look on his face.

Her secretary was following close behind, chastising him. "Sir, if you would just wait, I would have told the director-"

"Why'd you do it?" Assault demanded, ignoring the other woman entirely.

"Sir!" Her secretary began to protest, but Emily held her hand up, cutting off further argument.

"Madeline, you may leave. I can handle it from here." The other woman seemed shocked, but left as instructed.

The entire time Assault never took his eyes off the director. His eyes filled with anger, judging her.

"Why'd you do it?" He demanded again. "This? It's over the line."

Internally Emily growled, clearly the man needed to remember who was in charge here.

"Sit." She ordered.

"I'd rather stand."

"And I'm telling you to sit." For a moment they stood in silence. "You want to talk? Fine, but we do this like adults. I'm not going to talk if you insist on throwing a tantrum."

Assault glared for a few more minutes, but slowly moved over to the chair across from the director and sat down.

"Good, now what is it exactly that has your dander up?"

"You know what."

"Let's say I don't." She could guess, but she felt it best if he was the one to say it.

"Samedi...Taylor. You gave away her name. It's all over town."

"Oh, yes, that. Well, given that she was the one who got caught on video I think a lot of this can be laid at her feet. Don't you?"

Emily could almost hear his teeth grinding. "You're still the one that made sure everyone knows her name. That's on you."

"Is it?" Emily tried to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. "I think that even if I did nothing someone would have seen the tape, and put a face to a name."

"You could have suppressed it. Kept the public from finding out."

"And I would want to do that why?" She asked raising an eyebrow.

"Why! Because-" He paused, lowering his voice before continuing. "Because you've just ruined her life."

"Me? How is her life my responsibility? I didn't force her to kill over a dozen people. I didn't make her into what she is. She made her choice, now she has to deal with the consequences."

"It won't just be her dealing with this shit. What about her father? I can't imagine what the press is trying to get out of him. Or hell how long until someone goes after him to get to her? If he dies is that on you or her?"

"I've sent some people over to run off the press, and they've been instructed to offer our protection from anyone trying to get at Samedi through him."

Assault leaned forward in the chair. "And do you think that he'll accept our help? After what we just did to his daughter?"

"That's not really my problem. Either he sees sense, or doesn't. If not then his fate is out of my hands."

Assault stood suddenly, his chair falling over from the speed of his movements.

"Don't you see what you're doing? What you'll push her to? If you...if you'd just give her a chance..." He trailed off looking away from the director.

Emily simply shifted in her seat, steepling her fingers, and leaned toward the hero. "Armsmaster did say that you had been most insistent on her possible rehabilitation. I have to say you seem oddly attached to the idea."

Assault was silent for a long time before finally murmuring, "She's just a kid."

"Wrong." Emily informed him. "She's a murderer. No matter how much you want to pretend otherwise. She's a maniac who has been given far, far too much power. If we don't stop her soon, well we may not have a chance later."

"Director-"

"Enough," She ordered cutting off his protests. "I've noted your concern but I've elected to ignore it. Disagree with me all you want. Rail against the injustice of it if that soothes your conscience, but I expect you to do your job. Understood?"

Assault remained silent.

"I want to hear you say that you understand."

"...Perfectly," he finally spat out.

"Good, now since you're here I have a job for you. Something I think you'll appreciate given your stance on second chances."

"What is it?"

"Well given what you and Battery dug up at Winslow I feel that it would be best if we had someone keep a closer eye on our dear Shadow Stalker. Someone like you."

"Me?" Assault asked in disbelief.

"Yes, I think the two of you will have a great deal to talk about. I'm not asking for around the clock surveillance, just get a feel for the girl, mentor her, so to speak. Impress on her the need to play nice with others. Surely that isn't beyond you." Emily had to hold back a smirk at the look on his face.

If he was going to protest further it was cut off by the noise of his emergency beeper. He pulled it out and gave it a quick look. "It's the Undersiders. They're robbing Bay Central."

At that he started to leave, Emily cleared her throat. "Where are you going?"

"To stop the bank robbery," The words 'you idiot' were left unsaid.

"By the time you get in uniform they'll be long gone. The Wards go to school a block away. Let them handle the Undersiders. It'll make for a good press release."

"Somehow, I don't see it making the front page." Assault stated bitterly.

"Heh, I have a feeling you may be right. Still it might make for a good morale boost. Oh before you go," She called out as he neared the door. "Sophia has patrol duty after six, I expect you to join her."

Assault paused, then with a short nod wrenched the door open and left. Emily felt another smile pull at her lips. Today was starting to turn around all things considered.

Last edited: Apr 10, 2015

Hugs

Funny

Insightful

Winter

VolantRedX

Apr 9, 2015

View discussion

Threadmarks 3.6

View content

VolantRedX

Official Conscience of Worm Fanfiction!

Jun 29, 2015

#641

I know, I know. I'm sorry this took so long. Even after I thought I'd gotten back into the swing of things I still had trouble getting this done. Now hopefully with my new job I won't feel so listless getting new chapters out. Plus the action should be picking up a lot more now. This one is extra long and extra unbeta'd. So hopefully my grammar didn't totally shit the bed. So without further stalling for time

Her Name Is Death 3.6

"You know why this whole assignment sucks?" Maria asked her partner as she turned the black car down the suburban road.

"No, but I'm sure you'll tell me," her partner, Christine, responded in a flat tone as she flipped through the file they had been given.

Maria sent the younger woman a smirk. "Well a kid like you wouldn't get it, but this whole thing sucks because we're being set up to fail."

"How do you figure?"

"Well think about it, Piggot sends us out at the crack of dawn to drive over to this Herbert guy's house to try and get him to accept PRT protection. Now I don't know about you but given we just told the whole world that his daughter is a crazy cape killer I don't see him being positively inclined to us. So he'll say no, and we'll get chewed out for failing to get him on board." With that Maria reached down and grabbed her coffee and took a sip. Then she grimaced. It had gone cold.

"I doubt it's that. I mean I don't think Piggot is hoping we fail. We haven't done anything to make her mad." Her partner was still looking down at the file, as if she was trying to memorize it.

"Oh trust me, with Piggot there's always something that pisses her off."

"You're still mad about the two week probation she put you under? That was six months ago."

"Two weeks I'm not going to get back, not to mention what that's going to look like to the brass upstairs."

"She could have fired you. If Micheal had pressed charges she'd have to fire you."

Maria ground her teeth at the mention of her ex's name. "It was just a misunderstanding."

"You broke a restraining order."

"It was my kid's birthday, damn it. I have a right to see my kids, no matter what some asshole judge says. If I had a slick lawyer I could've-"

"Hey!" Christine shouted, cutting the rant off.

"What?!"

"You just passed Lord street. That's our turn."

Maria turned and looked through the back window. She could faintly make out the street sign against the glare of the morning sun. Sure enough, it read Lord street.

"Fucking, piece of shit," she growled under her breath while jamming the shiftier into reverse. "Stupid, dumb, road signs." Pulling into a driveway she slammed the car into drive, and pulled out toward the missed turn. "Make them so fucking small."

Christine let out a small snort, prompting another growl from Maria.

"Don't you start," she snarled glaring.

Christine put her hands up in surrender. "Alright, I'm sorry. Rough morning. I get it."

"Yeah, I don't need your attitude on top of all this shit. I-" She cut herself off as she barely avoided rear ending a parked van. "The hell? Whose the dipshit who parked in the middle of the road?"

Christine looked out the side window, and her jaw dropped. "Holy..." Parked along the curb were dozen of news vans, mostly from local stations, but she spotted a few from the national networks. All along the curb were dozens of reports, cameramen, and other assorted personnel. All of them crowding around one house. A very particular house.

"Ah fuck. I knew this would be a circus," Maria groused. "Alright kid it's show time. Let's run off some vultures."

With that she slipped on a pair of sunglasses and slid out of the car. Christine followed her quickly trudging through the grass. As they approached several of the news crews turned to face the newcomers. Maria was quick to make herself the center of attention. Putting her hands on her hips to make sure her blazer was kept open, she cocked her hips to make sure all eyes were drawn to her prominently displayed PRT badge, as well as her side arm. She cleared her throat and began to bark orders.

"Alright folks let's move this along. I'd hate to have to bring you all in for harassment."

Her pronouncement was met with angered shouting from all directions. Maria did little to hide her grimace.

"Hey! Hey!" she shouted, but it did little to stop the yelling. "Everybody shut up!"

A sudden movement to her left caused her to jump back, her hand reaching for her sidearm. After getting a better look Maria realized it was just a reporter.

"Excuse me officer, Jamie Roberts channel 9 news, I was hoping you could answer a few questions?" Before Maria had a chance to respond the reporter began. "Now, is the PRT's presence here to interrogate Mr Hebert about his daughter's actions? Does the PRT think he has something to do with the killings? And if not what is it that you hope to accomplish here?"

"I-um...well-"

"Officer!" Another reporter shouted from the crowd. "Care to comment about the rumors that Samedi has already tangled with the local heroes and won?"

"I don't really-"

"Can we get a word from you about the decision to release Samedi's name to the public?"

"What about the bounty rumored to have been placed on her by the E88?"

"Many of our viewers feel that the PRT is responding slower to these killings since Samedi has so far only attacked criminals. Do you feel that is a fair assessment?"

A shrill whistle broke through the noise, the reporters startled turned towards the source, Christine. Maria shot her partner a thankful glance as she strode up next to her. Despite being the shorter of the two Christine was able to cut just as big an image as Maria.

"Now I understand you all have many questions," she began. "However I will ask that you go through the proper channels. If you have an questions about the Samedi case please contact the PRT press offices or try to contact Director Piggot. As for Mr Hebert, if you have any direct questions I'd suggest talking to his lawyer. In the meantime we'd ask that you vacate the premises or else relocate off the property as your presence will be considered trespassing. If you choose to stay you must remain at the curb." Adjusting her jacket slightly she smiled at the crowd. "Thank you for your cooperation."

Without another word she turned and headed toward the house, Maria following closely after her. The two approached the door. From the look of the outside the house had been in a bad way for some time. They had to be careful not to trip climbing up the steps as the first one was broken badly, and from the creaking groan the other two weren't far behind. The paint on the siding was faded and pealing in places. The whole place smelled faintly of rot and the porch was covered in dead leaves which made a faint rustling noise when the wind picked up.

"Man to think a serial killer grew up in this palace," Maria joked.

Her partner shot her an exasperated look, but said nothing. Reaching out she rang the door bell, the sound could be heard echoing throughout the house. The two stood there waiting, but no signs of life came from inside.

"You think he skipped town?"

"I doubt it, according to the file he's got a lot of connections to the union. Guy like that seems like the type to stick around through the worst of things," Christine stated before reaching out to ring the door bell again. This time they heard the sounds of someone from inside. "Mr Hebert? We need to speak to you," Christine called out loudly.

"Isn't it Herbert?" Maria asked in a whisper.

"No, there isn't a r. It's French. Mr Hebert can you hear me?"

"Go away," a voice from inside called back. "I said no interviews. Just leave me alone."

"Mr Hebert, we're with the PRT. We need to speak to you. Your life could be in danger."

There was a long pause, and Maria began to think the man was ignoring them. Suddenly a loud thudding came from the door as the deadbolt was thrown back. A few more sounds of locks being undone and the door was thrown open. Standing there in the doorway was Daniel Hebert. If Maria had thought the house was in rough shape it had nothing on its owner. She knew the man wasn't much older than her, but he looked almost a decade older. His skin was pale and drawn, and his bloodshot eyes were sunken into his face, giving him an almost skull like appearance. He was half dressed, wearing little more than an old pair of boxers and a white tee.

"You said you were with the PRT," his voice was like gravel, but he was clearly unhappy with their appearance.

"Um, yes I'm officer Christine Gemaco, and this is Officer Maria Black, may we come inside?" This was not what Christine was expecting.

"No," he said tonelessly.

Christine blinked owlishly at his answer. "Oh, ok well we can talk here I suppose. Ehm, well we're with the PRT, and we're here to offer you protection."

"Protection?"

"Yes, after last night's revelation about you daughter we in the PRT feel there may be a threat to you. So for your wellbeing we ask that you allow us to station a guard detail nearby to respond in case of trouble."

"Let me get this straight," Hebert started with a glare. "You people tell the whole world that my daughter is some mad killer, ruin her life, and now you are concerned with my wellbeing, is that about the size of it?"

"Mr Hebert-"

"Do you have kids?"

"I...what?" This was definitely not what Christine had in mind for this little talk.

"I said do you have kids?"

"No, no kids."

Hebert nodded for a moment, than turned towards Maria for the first time since opening the door. "What about you? Do you have kids?"

"Yeah, a boy and a girl," she couldn't help but smile at the thought. "The oldest is nearly 13."

"They grow fast huh?" The man had turned away from both of them to idly trace patterns on the door with his finger. "It seems like just yesterday she was just a little girl, heading off to her first day of school." He took a shuddering breath. "Can you imagine what it's like to wake up and see her face all over the news? Hear people call her a killer, a psychopath, a-a monster."

"You right that we can't imagine what you're going through right now," Christine said softly. "But you need to think about your own safety. You need our protection."

"What do I have that's worth protecting?"

"Your life?"

Hebert chuckled darkly. "Yeah well that's going down in value by the hour."

Maria could only stomach this for so long. "Look, I shouldn't need to tell you that your daughter has really deeply pissed of some really nasty people. The kinds of people that if you're really really lucky they'll only kill you. The PRT is the only line of defense for normal people for the likes of them. Now we can't force you to accept protection, but when you're being skinned alive by Hookwolf don't say we didn't try."

"I thank you for your concern," Hebert sneered. "But my answer is no."

"Very well," Christine stated managing to sound both regretful and disappointed. "If that's your decision we will accept it. Thank you for your time."

Hebert stepped back and began to close the door, but before the door closed all the way Christine called out. "Mr Hebert, one last thing, I suggest you see about contacting a lawyer, because this," she gestured to the row of news vans behind them, "isn't going away soon."

Hebert merely nodded and shut the door.

"Well that went about as well as expected," Maria joked as she headed toward the car. As she crossed the lawn she noted that most of the crews seemed to be hanging back, lounging on the curb while the reporters seemed to be all making phone calls. Bitterness flashed through her mind, but she ignored it.

"I wish we could have done something," her partner said from behind. "He seems like he needs help."

"Well you know what they say about horses and water," Maria told her as she entered the car.

Christine's only response was a dull "hmm" noise as they pulled out and headed back to HQ.

XxXXxX

Danny threw himself down on the couch, ignoring the groan of protest from the old frame. He had gotten good at ignoring when things were falling apart around him.

'First the city, then the house, then Taylor. The couch might as well be next,' he joked internally.

He didn't know how long he laid there, staring up at the ceiling. He'd like to have said that he was debating the PRT's offer, or railing against all the injustice in his life, but really he was just laying there staring at nothing. It was something he'd been doing a lot of lately. Ever since those capes had come to his house and left with what little hope he had going for him. When they told him what Taylor had done. It made him sick to even think about. He wanted to shout at them, call them liars, but deep down he knew they were telling the truth. His sweet little girl had become a killer. It had to be true, it was too horrible not to be.

A low growl and sharp pain from his stomach reminded him he hadn't eaten since last night. Looking at his watch he saw it was nearly noon. Danny knew he should eat something, but honestly he couldn't bring himself to sit up. He wondered how long it would take to starve to death. Days maybe even weeks. Would anyone notice? Would he last that long or would some psycho with powers and a grudge get him by then? And would that be so bad?

'At least I'd get to be with Annette again.' There was some comfort he thought, in not having to deal with this anymore. What was he really holding on to? Taylor used to be the immediate answer, but now? Now the next time he saw her would be on the six o'clock news. His city? He almost laughed at that. The city gave up on him first, and now what point would there be in trying to save it?

'Better off this way. Saves everyone a lot of time. If nothing else it would make for a good sound bite for those vultures out there "Samedi's father gives up, takes the easy way out. Pictures after the break." Scumbags.'

The more he thought about them the more pissed he got. He wasn't going to give those assholes the satisfaction. Danny didn't know if spite was a good reason to live, but given how hope and love failed to inspire spite was better than nothing. At least he wouldn't run out of spite. The world wanted to call his Taylor a monster? Fine, but he was going to fight tooth and nail to spit in its face when it does.

'What I need is someone who can take the fight to them, who can fight their game,' Danny mused. 'I need someone amoral, and who'll use every dirty trick in the book.'

With that thought in mind he gave Alan a quick call.

A few quick rings and Danny heard his old friends voice. "Hello, this is Alan Barnes."

"Alan, it's Danny," he did is best to put on his practiced professional tone.

"Danny!" Alan nearly shouted over the phone. "Jesus buddy, how the hell are you holding up?"

"It's been rough."

"I can't even imagine. First Annette and now Taylor. You should have seen Emma when she heard the news. It was like someone walked over her grave. We had to keep her home from school, poor girl had a panic attack, The wife is home with her now."

"Yeah, poor Emma."

"I know they were on the outs but I think deep down she still loved Taylor like a sister. To hear something like this happened...well she's a strong girl she'll get through it." Danny almost reconsidered death, but Alan seemed to remember himself. "So what can I do for you?"

"I need a lawyer."

"Oh...umm, well I'd love to help buddy but I'm a divorce lawyer, not a defense lawyer. Especially with capes. It's a whole different thing. I know some people that you could call and have them take Taylor's case."

"It's not Taylor who needs help."

"Then what...?"

"Well I'm looking out my front window at about a dozen reporters."

"Oh?" Alan noticeably perked up at that.

"Yeah, and what I need is someone to help me take them all down a peg. These people have been running story after story about what kind of monster Taylor is, my own daughter. They're treating her like she's the next member of the Slaughter House 9. So I'm going to take their words and ram it down their throats. I need to make them pay for ruining my daughter's life."

"Now that my friend is something more up my alley." There was a pause on the other end of the phone. "Still I can only do so much. What you need is someone more trained at dealing with the press."

"And do you know such a person?"

"As luck would have it I do, and I know she has been hoping for a case just like yours. Stay on the line and I'll bing her in here...but before I do I should warn you this might start to get a bit pricey. You may be a friend but well I'm not sure this will be in your price range."

"Don't worry, I don't care what it cost, even if I have to sell the house, I'm going to fight them with everything I got, and I'm going to win."

"Danny, buddy, you're starting to speak my language. Now don't move I'll be back in a sec with our third musketeer."

XxXXxX

It had been a rough morning for Taylor. She had slept far later than normal, even taking the late night into account. She wasn't sure why Uber and Leet decided to come after her, but they seemed intent on killing her. It was an odd feeling being the one attacked, she wasn't used to being on the defense. The last few days had proven that she couldn't count on always being the one to pick the battles. First the Protectorate and then those two idiots. Still given who they were she at least didn't need to worry about holding back. A lot of people cheered them on, but deep down they were scum. Between those whores on 5th street and those poor zoo turtles Uber and Leet earned what happened to them.

What shocked her after she took Uber's power was just how much potential they were wasting. With just a thought she could understand how to play music, or paint masterpieces, or even preform surgery. He could have done anything, made the world a beautiful place or helped the sick, and what did he do with his power? Bully people, lord it over the weak or helpless and laugh when they got hurt. There was no doubt in Taylor's mind, they deserved to die.

It was frustrating though that Leet died before she had a chance to see how his power worked. Tinkers were almost a class to themselves when it came to being heroes. Dragon, and Armsmaster proved that, and thanks to her other powers she didn't need to worry about her gear failing in a fight. It was frustrating to come close and lose it at the last second. The worst part was how close her power, her first power, was to it. At first, when she first read about powers she was certain that was what she was. Seeing how everything fits together, like blueprints in her head, sounded exactly like what the Internet said being a Tinker was like. Unlike Tinkers she couldn't make anything though, sure give her a bunch of parts and she could figure out how to make a car out of them, but she couldn't do it from scratch.

She couldn't even really repair Tinker tech most of the time. After Leet and Uber died Taylor had taken the radar thing that they had used to find her. It was some sort of cape finder, and Taylor had hoped that if she got it working again it would help her track down her targets. Try as she might though she couldn't get the thing to work. There were pieces that seemed...wrong somehow. Something her power couldn't identify. It was like looking at an optical illusion. The more she tried to make sense of it the less sense it made. By the time she finally gave up it was already noon.

Angry at the lack of progress and without much else to do she decided it would be best to get away from her hideout and get some fresh air. That was when she first started to feel like something was off. Normally as she weaved through the rows of abandoned warehouses and makeshift shelters the people that made the Boat Graveyard their home paid her little heed. To them she must have looked like any other runaway in the city. There were plenty like her in the Graveyard. Today though a few seemed to take an interest. Normally the stares wouldn't bother her, she had long guessed what many of them would want with a young girl with nowhere to go, but given her power there was little to fear if any should try anything. Today though the looks were different. More focused, and inquisitive. She doubted that they meant anything by it, but still it set her on edge.

In the hopes of getting her day back to normal she headed to the gym to get a workout in. If she just stuck to her routine she'd be able to put her mind to rest, and if there was trouble it be easier to spot in places she knew well. While there she found another use for Uber's power. It turned out that with it on she could understand a bunch of different ways to get a work out in. It was fascinating to use his power, even on something that mundane. She only wished she could keep each new skill, but as she started to learn a new one the older one would slip away. Still being able to run with the skill of a marathon winner, if not the endurance, and then the next second being able to craft a total work out better than any of the trainers at the gym was deeply satisfying.

'This explains how such a nerdy guy was so built. I wonder if I could do this with other stuff? It'd be interesting to experiment,' Taylor thought as she finished her workout.

Taylor started to head to the locker room feeling worn but oddly invigorated. As she got to the door she noticed a couple looking at her. From the looks of things they were frequent costumers. The girl was slim, but in a healthy way instead of the half-starved look Taylor knew she had. The guy with her though was all muscle, looking like he was chiseled out of stone. He gave her a smile when he noticed her look. Taylor almost smiled back but noticed the look on the face on the girl next to him. She was frowning, but not in anger. Rather she seemed to trying to place Taylor.

Hurriedly Taylor ducked inside the locker room and out of sight.

'Stupid,' Taylor thought. 'What if they went to school? You've been missing for weeks. They'd know you ran away. They'd have to call the cops.'

A part of her knew that she was being paranoid. The odds of her being recognized by anyone were almost zero especially on this side of town. The girl was likely just mad Taylor was checking out her boyfriend.

'What were you hoping would happen?' she asked herself as she started the water on the shower. 'Do you really think a guy like that would want to have anything to do with you? Would anyone after what you've done?'

As the warm water slid down her body she countered, 'I did what I had to. I needed to get stronger. To be a hero.'

'Do you really think that will make up for everything?'

'It has to.' With that final thought she tried to drive out the distant voice. By the time she had gotten it to quite down the water had long gone cold. Quickly dressing she headed out. The sun had started to set by now. The library would be closed by now meaning she couldn't even get access to the computers. That meant she had little to do with the rest of the day except wander aimlessly.

Her walking eventually wound up bringing her to the docks. Most of the shops had begun to close up for the night, and the people were filing off. With such a crowd it was easy for her not to notice that she was being followed until someone grabbed her shoulder. It took all of her self-control not to blast her attacker the second their hand came down.

"You," turning she saw the attack was one of the dock's enforcers glaring at her with beady eyes. "We don't want your kind around here."

"My kind?"

"You know what I mean, move out of here. You'll drive off paying customers," he practically spat

"I'm not-" Taylor paused unsure what to say.

"Just get out of here before me and the boys have to run you off."

With that the man shoved her roughly, nearly knocking her to the ground and stormed off.

'He's just another bully,' she thought. 'I could take him down in a second.'

Still she did nothing, but watch him go. She knew she had the power to tear him apart, but he didn't deserve it. Not really. If she was going to be a hero she couldn't just use her powers on anyone who pissed her off. That's what villains did. So instead she stalked off, back toward the rougher side of town. First she should find a place to eat.

XxXXxX

One salad, three burgers, and a slice of cake later Taylor let out a soft sigh of contentment as she leaned back in her booth. She was lucky when she found this little hole in the wall diner. Tonight was shaping up far better than last night. At least no one had attacked her yet.

"You all set?" the waitress asked as she approached the table. She was an older woman, with hard features. Yet she had an easy smile.

"Yeah, thank you," Taylor said reaching into her pocket. "How much do I owe you?"

"Oh don't worry about it sweetheart. It's on the house." The waitress gave Taylor another smile as she took away the last of her plates.

"I can't accept that," Taylor protested.

"Don't worry about it. You look like you could use the break. I know how hard life can be for someone in your position."

"I-" Taylor began to call out when something caught her eye. Left at one of the tables was an old newspaper, folded so that she could only see the bottom half of the picture on the front page. It was a close up of a face, but something about it seemed familiar. Reaching out with trembling hand she grabbed the paper and unfolded it. Plastered across the front was her face. Above read one line:

Samedi Reveled!

Her heart almost stopped. Her veins turned to ice. All over the restaurant things began to shake as her breathing became more and more erratic. Eyes darting around the nearly empty diner it didn't seem like anyone was paying any attention to her.

'I need to calm down,' She told herself. Standing on wobbly legs she walked back to the bathroom. Stumbling inside she clutched the sink. Turning on and splashing her face with some water she tried to get her head back together.

"This is bad," she said aloud. "But it's not like the heroes didn't know who I was already. I just need to get back home and think."

Home. It was strange to think of the little shelter she found in the Boat Graveyard as home. It was always meant to be temporary. A place to rest and hide between her targets. Somewhere that wouldn't lead back to dad.

"Dad!" Taylor shouted. If they gave out her name then her dad certainly had heard by now. God this would kill him, if the villains didn't first. She needed to find him make sure he was safe. She burst out of the bathroom, and ran out the exit. Focusing she used Vite's power to form the fastest way home, and with a touch of Uber's power to perfect her running technique she sprinted at full speed towards her house.

The blocks flew by her, all she could see was the path in front of her as she ran. It didn't take long until her body began to scream in protest. She pushed it out of her head. Nothing mattered but making sure dad was safe. It didn't matter if her lungs felt like they were breathing fire, or that her legs felt like she was running through battery acid. None of it mattered, because if her dad was hurt or worse...she didn't know what she'd do. If she could forgive herself for it. How could she be a hero if she killed her father? So she ran as fast as she could.

XxXXxX

It took her twenty minutes to reach Lord Street. She felt like vomiting, but she couldn't stop now. Not when she was this close. As she got close enough to see her house she allowed herself to slow down. Taking deep breaths she considered her options. The lights were off, but otherwise the house seemed to be normal.

'Ok, now what?' Taylor asked herself. Going through the front was out of the question. She wanted to see her dad desperately, but she knew she couldn't face him. Not yet. She had left the first time specifically to avoid having to explain to her dad where she went at night. She didn't think she could stand it if he looked at her the way the heroes had. Maybe when she made up for everything, when she became a hero she could see him again. Make him proud, but not yet.

Still, standing staring at her house her heart yearned to go back to the house. To try and recover some part of her before she started this whole mess. She couldn't go in the front, but there were other ways into the house. Ones that wouldn't alert her dad that she had come home.

Quickly and quietly she headed into her back yard, using some quickly learned stealth techniques. Getting to the window she was looking for she carefully used her telekinesis to pull herself up towards her bedroom window. A quick motion of her hand unlocked the latch and slipped inside. Her room was dark but that mattered little to Taylor as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. In moments the room was as bright as it would have been had it been a sunny morning.

She took in the room. Nothing had changed since she had left. Almost unconsciously she began to wander about her old room. Her books still sat on the shelves, dust covering them. Her desk was littered with old school work that was left undone. Had she not known better she would have said it was like she had never left.

Laying back on her bed she stared up at the ceiling. Closing her eyes she tried to imagine that none of this had ever happened. That she could be the Taylor that had lived in this room. The things that she had done, and the things she was still going to have to do before it was over, had made her into someone that didn't belong here anymore. She knew that now more than ever. Too much had changed. There was no going back.

Rolling over on her side she noticed something on the bedside table. Such a little thing, though it meant a lot at the time. Picking it up she looked over the carefully done wrapping paper. A present she never got to give. Her fingers traced the name: Maggie. Taylor had thought she was different. Someone that wanted to help her against Emma and the rest. She should have known better. Rushing out to get her something nice. That was something friends did. It was nice for a while to think she had a real friend. Taylor didn't know what Maggie and Emma had planned, but from what she overheard when Maggie was one the phone was enough. Looking down at the present she should have thrown the stupid thing away, but she could never bring herself to. It may have been a lie, but it was a nice lie.

Floating it back to its spot on the table Taylor couldn't help but laugh a little. She never did seem to learn her lesson.

Suddenly a distant rumble like thunder drew her attention to her window. Distantly she could make out a bright glow in the direction of the Boat Graveyard, lit against billows of dark smoke. Reaching out with her hearing she found the sound she was looking for across the street.

"This is Micheal Marcus and for those of you just joining us here at channel six we are confirming reports now that what has been termed an all out assault by several villains seemingly under the direction of the Bridge Street Merchants in the area know to local residence as the Boat Graveyard. We have no word yet on the motive behind this seemingly random attack or if any of the city's heroes are currently in response. The local PRT has called off fire and rescue efforts until the area is deemed secure. They are also urging any residents in the area to evacuate in an orderly fashion. The following locations have been cleared as emergency care centers: The 13th Precinct, Anderson urgant care center..."

Slowly Taylor focused her hearing back to normal levels. She knew what the Merchants were after. There was only one thing in the whole Graveyard worth their time. Her. People were out there dying because they wanted her to show herself. Because of who she was. Because like the present, this room, this life had become a lie. This room belonged to Taylor Hebert, but Taylor Hebert was no longer a person. Not now. There was no place for her in the real world, in the world where good people suffered at the hands of those lucky enough to be stronger than them. She was too weak to survive there. Samedi though? Samedi could survive, and she'd make people like that pay.

Opening her window she slid out, but rather than falling she held herself in the air. It would be faster to fly. She wasn't a hero. Not yet. The Merchants didn't want a hero though. They wanted Samedi. So she'd indulge them.

Last edited: Jun 30, 2015

103

Hugs

Informative

Winter

VolantRedX

Jun 29, 2015

View discussion

Threadmarks 4.1

View content

VolantRedX

Official Conscience of Worm Fanfiction!

Oct 4, 2015

#696

Well this took forever. Thanks goes out to MRouz and Solusandra on SB for all their help betaing.

Her Name is Death 4.1

The buildings rushed by Samedi as she flew low across the city. Creative use of telekinetic fields kept the worst of the elements from her body as she sped toward the distant fires. A small part of her heart thrilled at finally being able to use her powers this way. The wind blowing through her hair, the odd feeling of weightlessness mixed with the pull on her body by the Earth. All of it made her feel freer than she had in a long time. Deep down another part of her reveled in the reach of her powers. Rune's telekinesis, Vite et Libre's pathing to create the fastest flight path, Trajectory's prediction abilities to compensate for any in flight hazards, and even the slight pull on her body as Badger's powers helped to deal with the cold thin air. It was an odd feeling to use so many powers at once, but it was a good feeling. It was like the satisfying feeling of stretching after sitting too long.

It was hard to keep focused on what was ahead of her, but Samedi couldn't afford to let herself get distracted. There was only one reason that the Merchants would attack the Boat Graveyard so brazenly. Her, they were after Samedi, and it was clear that they had no regard for who got in their way. Even blocks away she could smell the smoke, and soon an awful smell like burning rubber filled the air. Focusing her hearing she could make out shouts, some of pain, some of fear, and some in anger. People were dying, because of her. She focused hard and was able to gain even more speed out of her flight. In moments she was on the edge of the abandoned warehouses that marked the start of the Graveyard. Her first instinct was to fly in and crush the Merchants, but the fight with the heroes taught her that she needed to be more careful. She wasn't strong enough to take on many capes at the same time. Landing on a metallic roof of a nearby warehouse she took a calming breath and took in the scene below.

Samedi had spent a great deal of time studying the Merchants, and once she had enough power, they seemed like a good place to start to be a real hero. They were some of the worse the city had to offer in terms of capes, and unlike the E88 and the ABB, the Merchants were less a cohesive whole. They were more a lose network of dealers, pimps, and thugs united in only their inability to fit in any other group. Thankfully they were hardly the most skilled at avoiding capture, so information on them and their powers were easy to find. It didn't take much to figure out who she was up against.

The first thing that caught her eye was the massive tank, almost as wide as the whole street, which meant Squealer was here, along with the rest of the Archer Bridge Merchants most likely. A flash of bright white light caught her attention. Skidmark was lounging on the top of one of the treads, fidgeting slightly. Samedi guessed he was sick of waiting. Mush she couldn't spot but assumed would be nearby.

A loud boom broke up her train of thought. Looking, she saw a man in the distance throwing what appeared to be fireballs into one of the warehouses. A moment after the fireball was launched into the window, there was a small blast and flames poured out the broken windows. Screams followed the flames and people ran past. The arsonist himself was hard to read anything into. He was covered in what appeared to be a pile of rags, and his face was blocked by a rubber mask depicting a growling goblin face. That'd be Ghoul, leader of the Dega Street Merchants. No doubt Angel Dust was with him, though her powers would make seeing her almost impossible.

A bright flash from her side drew her attention. Around the corner of the street stood a black teen dressed in an old jersey and wearing little more than swimming goggles to hide his face. Deuce Deuce, leader of the Lincoln Street Merchants. It be just him and Knux since Vite et Libre's death. The man himself was occupied firing at the people fleeing the fires. He'd point, and half a second later a flash of light would shoot from his hand, punching holes in whatever it hit. Judging by the number of bodies he'd been at this for a while. Samedi dug her nails into her fists watching him. His face showed no emotion as he fired. Almost bored with the whole thing.

An old man raced past Deuce Deuce, who fired, but only managed to clip the man in the leg. He let out an agonized scream and fell to the ground. The teen watched the man slowly try to drag himself to safety, before raising his hand to point at the fallen figure.

"Please," the man sobbed. "I ain't done nothing to youse. Ain't none of us ever done you wrong. Why you got to do this?"

"Ain't about you," Deuce Deuce told him frankly. "Just wrong place and time."

"You an evil man. All of you devils. God'll make sure you get your due."

"Evil got nothing to do with this, God neither. It's just how it is." He pointed at the man and a small ball of light appeared at the end of his finger and second later an arc of light raced to the old man punching a baseball sized hole into his heart. The man was dead before he could scream.

Another teen raced to Deuce Deuce, his hands standing out against his skin, dark as coal. As he approached, the color on his hands faded back to the same tone as the rest of his skin. Knux finally made his appearance.

"Deuce, man, I don't think she'll show," he said trying to catch his breath. "We'd have found her by now right?"

"Yeah, maybe," from her vantage point she could barely make out the boy's shrug. "Maybe Skids got the wrong info."

"You think we should ask?"

"I ain't wasting my night here. 'Specially if I ain't gonna get paid." With that the two capes moved toward the others, stepping over the corpse of the old man.

Samedi could feel herself shaking as she watched the boys walk. She had no illusions about the kinds of people that lived in the Boat Graveyard with her. Most were likely no better than their killers. Not all of them were, though. While she never shared in their company she could hear their voices from her little grotto if she truly listened. A lot of them were just people. People that had a bad hand in life, or had fallen down a long road. The part of her that was Taylor Hebert understood that, understood what it was like to have everything in your life slowly slip away, and having the whole world seeming to look on with no more concern than a shrug. Now they were dead or dying, all because of a few punks who had more power than them decided to hurt them, and there was nothing anyone could do.

Until now, anyway. In that moment Samedi knew what she would do. These...monsters were not getting out of here alive. Perhaps a true hero would tell her that she needed to bring them all in, to be tried and judged, but Samedi wasn't a true hero yet, and tonight she was glad of that. Tomorrow there wouldn't be any photos in the papers of guilty villains being loaded into vans, no talk of prisons or trials, no heroes standing proud in front of the people that they protect. Tomorrow there would only be more blood, more nightmares of people screaming, more proof to the world that she was a monster, but tomorrow the world would be a better place for what she was going to do. In that, at least, Samedi could take some measure of comfort.

Creeping along the roof as quietly as she could she moved to watch the two boys approach the giant tank, and with it Skidmark. Ghoul was already there standing with his arm folded.

"You two find anything?" Skidmark asked standing on the tread.

"Fuck no," Knux replied. "Nothing here."

"Well keep looking. Bitch gotta be around here."

"How the fuck you know that?" Knux questioned. "You got a magic ball or some shit? Seems like this was nothing but a waste of our fucking time."

"That's 'cause you give up too easy. Shit man, think, Samedi bound to show and we got to get the drop on her stupid ass."

"You say that," Deuce Deuce spoke up. "'Scept how we know that gonna happen at all. How we know this shit ain't nothing but a waste of time. Or a trick."

"The fuck you say to me?"

"You heard me. You drag our asses out to this shit hole 'cause some tweaking fuck up says he sees Samedi walking around here. Then you tell us to start some shit just to get her to show and she ain't show. You know who gonna show? One time. How long do you think they'd let this fucking mess go on?" He asked gesturing to the fires. "Then they come and bust our asses. I bet you gonna somehow slip out in the fucking dust up."

"Is that what you think I am?" Skidmark demanded, voice low. "You think I'm some rat gonna let One Time do my dirty work?"

"I ain't just thinking it, I'm saying it."

"Well if you're so fucking insightful all the sudden why the fuck you not just step to then? Or is it you just wanting to flex nuts like some tough nigger and you acting all hard and shit." With that Skidmark jumped off the tread to stand almost chest to chest with Deuce Deuce. "'Cause last I heard Lincoln Street ain't nothing but a bunch of punk bitches. Always have been, always will be."

While Deuce Deuce's face betrayed no change in expression Samedi could see, his body tensed, like a tiger about to attack. If things got heated between the two of them, it'd make for a perfect distraction for her to launch her attack. Before they could come to blows however Ghoul stepped in between them.

"Look you two want to kill each other, fine." He said a slight accent to his voice. "Just don't do it on my time. Deuce Deuce is right about one thing. The cops and heroes will be here soon. I say we wrap up here and get a move on."

"Yeah," Skidmark said nodding. "Yeah, fine we get our shit together and take off. Next time though." he said pointing at Deuce Deuce.

"If you think it's gonna be that way, you ain't know nothing."

"Deuce, man come on," Knux muttered tugging on his friend's arm. "We ain't got time for this shit."

Whatever his reply was, Samedi didn't get the chance to catch it. Her focus became diverted when a soft sound came from behind her. It sounded like paper sliding across a wooden table, or...shifting sands. Eyes widening with the realization she was barely able to construct a shield behind her before it was blasted by a wave of sand. The sand curved unnaturally around the shield forcing her to create a total bubble around herself. The sand seemed to flow all about her searching for a weakness. After a moment it withdrew condensing into the shape of a woman. Said woman was tall, with a light tan, her hair was nearly as long as Samedi's own. Taking in the figure before her Samedi felt herself flush slightly. The other woman had forgone a traditional costume or any clothes at all, instead her body was covered in swirling designs. The other member of the Dega Street Merchants, Angel Dust.

"Mierda," the woman cursed. "She's up here!"

Growling in frustration at the loss of the element of surprise, Samedi shot her hand out at the villain. Lightning arced through the air, but hit nothing as Angel Dust dispersed herself back into sand. Suddenly an explosion rocked the area of the roof next to her.

"You hooked it too much," Skidmark yelled. "You told me this piece of shit would tear right through her."

"Fuck you Skids," a voice echoed from the tank. "This ain't exactly military grade shit I got loaded back here."

"Both of you shut it," Deuce Deuce ordered. "I'll deal with her."

With that he pointed up at Samedi's position. She barely had time to lunge out of the way before a beam of white light sped past. Pushing herself to her feet she watched as the area in front of her was rocked by another explosion from the tank. Ears ringing from the blast, she nearly missed the groan from the metal roof before it suddenly fell away, leaving her falling to the ground.

Catching herself with her telekinesis, floated the rest of the way down. The warehouse she had fallen into was nearly pitch black, but her eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness. All around her were the remnants of a squatter's residence. Crude tents and forgotten belongings laid strewn about. The people living here had likely tried to run at the start of the attack.

A metallic grinding noise drew her attention toward the loading bay entrance. There was another harsh noise, louder this time, then suddenly the door was pulled off it's hinges collapsing to the ground, the sound echoing all through the empty building. Light flooded in from the entrance as the Merchant's tank slid in, surrounded by the Merchants.

"Well well well, looks like we cornered us a shit head," Skidmark sneered. Samedi locked her gaze on him as his face grew less and less sure. "Ice the bitch."

With that the tank lowered its turret towards her, and fired. Samedi quickly drew up a barrier as the shell collided with the green wall. The explosion rocked the entire area and the area filled with smoke and dust. Eyes stinging Samedi tried to peer through the darkness. Suddenly the smoke became lit by a white light. The incoming beam slammed against her barrier, but unlike any of the other attacks the beam ricocheted off into a random direction. Dimly her mind started to work at trying to analyze the interplay of the two powers. She shook her head, she couldn't afford distractions at a time like this.

As more of the smoke cleared she could make out three figures standing at the tank. Her brow furrowed. Someone was missing. The remaining smoke and flood lights from the tank made it difficult to make out the who it was that was missing. She didn't need to wonder long, as the sound of something sliding across the ground to her left gave her a split second of warning. Throwing up a barrier on instinct she was just able to block a bunch of incoming debris.

As the remains of an old shopping cart slammed against the impenetrable wall her eye caught another flash of light, but this time she was too slow on the shield. Using her telekinesis to throw herself out of the way the beam of white light missed impacting her chest, still managing to graze her shoulder.

Hissing in pain she started to pull herself to her feet. A feeling of heat came from behind her, and she threw up a full dome to shield herself. Ghoul's fireball landed on the top of her shield and exploded covering her barrier in flames. If she dropped the barrier she'd be covered in flames, but if she left the shield like this she'd run out of air in moments.

There was a metallic grinding sound as the tank started to aim at her new position. To her left Skidmark was looking for more ammunition to toss at her. Between that and Deuce Deuce repositioning himself she'd be surrounded soon. She needed to gain more distance or else they would have her totally surrounded. Taking a deep breath of the last bit of air left in the shield, she stretched out her mind, then dropped the shield. Rather than falling on top of her the flames held steady in the air above her, with a flick of her wrist the flames flew outward.

Amidst shouts of anger and surprise from the Merchants Samedi ran deeper into the darkness of the warehouse. Taking cover she listened in on the Merchants. With luck they'd take the bait.

"...therfucking cunt," Skidmark cursed. "Just wait until I get my hands on her."

"You're going to need to find her first," Ghoul pointed out.

"Fuck you smartass. Where the fuck your girl get to anyway? She'd be able to find her."

"Angel isn't my girl, and she's around. She never liked closed spaces."

"It's a warehouse."

Samedi couldn't hear anything in response, so she assumed any response must have been non-verbal.

"Well fuck it. Someone's gonna have to flush the bitch out."

"I'm not about to run around blind though. I say we torch the place and catch her as she runs out."

"Fuck that," Knux responded. "I'm sick of this pussy shit. I'm gonna find her and bust her stupid fucking head in."

Distantly Samedi could hear footsteps heading deeper into the darkness. She realized that he'd be able to find her quickly. The attack from earlier had left her bleeding and the drops had slid down her arm leaving a trail right to her. Using her telekinesis to stop the drops of blood she moved quietly, hopefully he'd follow the trail and go the wrong way. Hiding in the cover of a pile of old rags she watched as Knux slowed his run down as he came to the end of the blood trail.

"Alright you bitch," he called to the darkness. "Where'd you run to?"

Moving into better position she raised her arm to take aim. Reaching out with her mind she could feel the weight of him with her mind. With a flick of her wrist slammed him against the wall nearby. Letting out a yelp, more of surprise than pain Knux tried to push himself up, but he barely had time to recover before Samedi raced towards him, her mind stretching out again. This time however when she began to pull against him he shifted most of his body into the same dark material that had covered his hands earlier, changing his weight entirely and throwing her hold of him off.

Quickly shifting back to normal Knux rushed up at Samedi. He was moving far too fast for her grab again with her telekinesis, and with the others still nearby she couldn't risk using her lightning. The solution seemed obvious, if a little dangerous. As Knux reached her position his fist lashed out at her, shifted into rock hard material she knew she couldn't afford to get hit. Tracing the path of his punches with Trajectory's power she deftly avoided each attack. Knux's face contorted in rage as he kept hitting nothing but air.

"Fucking cunt, stay still."

Samedi ignored his taunt and finally found an opening for her attack. A quick step to the side and she grabbed his arm at the elbow. With a thought the area she grabbed quickly froze to solid ice. A quick jerk of her hand separated the lower arm from the rest of his body.

"AGHH!" He screamed gripping at the stump. "JESUS! FUCK!"

Flashing her arm out again she slammed him against the wall, pinning him in place. As he struggled in vain against the invisible bonds holding him in place Samedi moved in closer.

"Let me go!"

Samedi wordlessly raised her index finger and pointed. Slowly she dragged her finger in the air in front of him. She could feel his skin and bone slowly cut apart through her connection to her power. Suddenly the cut met with great resistance, like trying to cut granite. He had hardened the skin of his face to prevent her from cutting. Smarter than she gave him credit for. Before she had a chance to think of a way to force him to change back she heard someone running towards her.

She considered for a moment. As it was it was unlikely that she was going to be able to get Knux to revert his head back to normal, meaning that she'd be unable to get at his brain. If he thought he was going to be saved though he might return to normal and she'd be able to get what she needed then.

Course of action set she slipped back into the darkness, and waited. Soon Deuce Deuce came around the corner. Approaching the body of his teammate he was eerily calm about it. His face betrayed no emotion as he crouched down. As she thought Knux returned to normal in order to talk to his friend.

"Shit man," he panted out, blood and sweat dripping down his face. "I can't tell you how glad I am to see you."

"You good to fight?" Deuce Deuce asked calmly.

"The fuck? Man look at me." He pulled the remains of his arm up. "Bitch got me good."

"Hmm," Deuce Deuce stood up looking down at his friend. "Well you had a good run."

"Wha-" his question was cut off as Deuce Deuce raised his finger and with a quick flash of light destroyed Knux's head and much of his upper body. Samedi growled at how callous the gangbanger was. They were part of the same gang, friends even, and he killed him the second he had become dead weight. All those years meant nothing. Trust, love, all of it wasted. He wasn't a person, not really. More like a reptile in human skin. He needed to die.

Raising up she reached out with her mind and felt her powers grip old shopping carts laden with what felt like metal pots. Flinging them off at Deuce Deuce's position they unfortunately gave off a massive racket altering him to her attack, allowing him time to dodge. Pointing at her he fired off a blast. She drew up a barrier to stop his attack and again it bounced off this time colliding with one of the walls off in the distance. He fired another blast, this time aiming towards the ground beneath her. Dodging this time she rolled away to gain more cover. Finding a raised bit of concrete she caught her breath, then stood readying a second attack she shot her arm out and lightning arced out toward the reptile. He barely flinched as he ducked her attack. Another motion fired off a series of blasts, each destroying the cover she was using. Forced out of cover she flung a bit of debris at him, one of the pieces clipping his shoulder as he dodged.

"That's it," he growled. Raising his whole fist at her his hand was filled with light. Then a blast larger than any he had fired at her raced toward her. She had no choice but to use a shield to block it. It collided right with the barrier and bounced off shooting straight up. There was a tremendous crash and pieces of the ceiling came falling all around them. Samedi's eyes were drawn up, almost by instinct, and her power, her first power started to ring alarm bells in her head. The building had been in poor repair for years, and all the damage in the night had done a lot to weaken the integrity of the structure. It was coming down, soon.

As much as she wanted to handle Deuce Deuce herself she really didn't have time. Turning and running she raced to the closest thing to an exit, the hole made earlier by on of Deuce Deuce's attacks.

"You running already?" Deuce Deuce shouted after her. Suddenly a piece of the ceiling fell several feet behind him, then there was a loud groaning noise as the roof started to shake violently. "Huh."

Samedi raced out the hole just seconds before the roof fell in. The sound was louder than anything she had ever heard. Dust flooded her vision. As she made her way away from the wreckage blind and half deaf she stumbled out into the open docking area.

A second later her back was slammed hard, leaving her feeling like she'd been hit by a firehose. She was knocked off her feet, and the blast shifted slamming down on her chest, driving the air from her lungs. Pushing out with her mind she hoped to stop whatever force was hitting her. Turning over she coughed violently. Her vision spinning she could make out two figures in the dark.

"I got to give the Puta credit," The slimmer of the figures spoke. "A hit like that would put down anyone for the count."

"Bitch is tough, I'll give her that. Still nobody is tough to avoid burning to death." The male figure, Ghoul, said as he lit a fireball up in his hand. Before he had a chance to throw it Samedi threw her arm out, the force of her telekinesis throwing him down the street, where he collided with the side of an old shipping container. He didn't get back up.

"pequeña perra estúpida!" Angel Dust shouted, transforming into sand again. Samedi could barely get to her feet before the loose cloud of sand sped past her. Each grain feeling like tiny knives cutting any exposed skin. Never had she been more thankful for the thick coat around her body. That however left her face open, and the sand targeted that area more than any other. Tiny cuts opened all over her face. After a few agonizing moments the assault stopped. She could make out the sounds of the sand spinning in the air to come for a second attack. This time she was able to get her shield up. However that was only a temporary fix. The barrier was airtight so she couldn't just huddle here forever. She needed to stop Angel Dust. She pushed out all distractions and started to think. As sand Angel Dust would be almost totally immune to any attack Samedi could use...though she still had all the physical properties of sand. Like being lightweight, light enough to be carried away on the wind. Reaching out with her mind Samedi focused, not on holding anything, but on creating a spinning force. Faster and faster the air spun creating a powerful vortex. Within moments the sand cloud was trapped. Unable to solidify as the wind sped about scattering the particles all over the area. Samedi didn't know for sure if the woman was truly dead or if that was something that she could recover from, it did however prevent her from being an issue now.

Dropping the shield once she was satisfied that the threat was eliminated she made her way over to the prone body of Ghoul, who was trying to desperately crawl away. A quick glance told her that he had broken his hip in the fall, along with a lot of internal damage.

"Aw, shit," he muttered as she reached him. "Hey, hey before you ice me, how about a deal."

"What could I want from you?"

"Information, I can tell you where Skids and Squealer ran off to."

"They left?"

"Yeah, little pussys took off the when they heard Knux screaming." Turning his head he pulled off his mask to spit some blood on the ground. "What do you say, deal?"

"I'll consider it."

"Cool, cool. Look they got a chop shop a few miles down the road. Fifth and New York. Can't miss it, the only place in that shit hole with the lights on."

"Thank you," Samedi said before pinning him to the ground with her mind.

"The fuck? You said we had a deal."

"No I didn't, I said I'd consider it. I did, and I decided that you don't get to leave. All the pain you caused tonight, everything you and the others did to the people here. All of you have to pay." With that she reached her finger out and started to cut

Hugs

Funny

Winter

VolantRedX

Oct 4, 2015

View discussion

Threadmarks 4.2

View content

VolantRedX

Official Conscience of Worm Fanfiction!

Dec 27, 2015

#728

Alright here's the next chapter. This was a real pain to finish, and is a lot shorter than I wanted, but it was unlikely to be done otherwise.

Her Name is Death 4.2

"This is fucking bullshit," Skidmark yelled as he paced wildly. He'd been like that since they left the Graveyard. "Those fucks knew the plan. We all had to fight together. We had no chance one on one."

"I know babe," Squealer cooed. "You played it smart. Now would you relax? How about we break out the good stuff, and we take some time to ourselves."

Grasping his shoulder lightly she led him over to the couch that sat in what used to be the office of the garage before they took it over. A few of their boys were already hanging out, watching some old show on the TV. The second Skidmark sat down however, he shot back up.

"Nah, we ain't got time for that," he began to run a hand through his hair.

"Huh, why's that?" she asked curious.

"Why? Let me tell you, how long do you think it's gonna be before that crazy cunt gets done munching on those other fuckers and heads here?"

Squealer paused for a moment thinking about it. Given the state the others were in when they left it wouldn't take all that long. Plus with the tank parked out front... "Oh shit."

"Yeah, 'oh shit'. So we got to get a move on. I say we grab what stash we have and get the fuck out of the city. We swing by New York, grab Mush and the product he was picking up, and move on. I still got buddies back in St. Louis, we can set up there."

"Sounds good babe, but like how we gonna get there? The tank's is outta gas."

Skidmark looked at her wide eyed for a moment. "What about that car downstairs. It runs right?"

"Well yeah, but it ain't done yet. I still need to add in a bunch of features. I haven't even got the flamethrower mounted."

"Bitch does it fucking drive?" asked Skidmark growling.

"It can sure," she told him, not sure where this was going.

"Then it don't need all that shit," Skidmark yelled going back to where they hid the stash.

"The fuck it doesn't. You might be fine driving around in a half finished set of wheels, but I got standards."

Skidmark grabbed a nearby wrench and threw it at her head, missing by inches. "Bitch I swear to fucking god that one of these days-"

"Hey boss," one of the boys said looking out the window.

"The fuck you want Don?"

"There's someone out there," he pointed outside.

"Who?" Skidmark asked his voice getting low.

"I don't know, can't make them out. Tall though, got a coat on so I can't see much."

The two capes paused. A quiet settled over the room. Suddenly Skidmark pushed everything off the nearby table and pushed everything onto the ground.

"Fuck!" He screamed. "Fucking bullshit...alright here's what's gonna happen. Squealer you take Ron and Don and you head downstairs and get that piece of shit started, and I don't want to hear a fucking word. I'm gonna grab the stash and follow you."

"Babe," Squealer said softly walking to him and wrapping her arms around him.

"No, I don't want to hear it. Get out of here and don't stop got it?"

"Yeah, I got it."

"Good," with that he gave her a brief kiss before letting go and nodding to Ron and Don. Nodding at Skidmark one of them grabbed her lightly by the arm to lead her out of the main room. The garage they needed to get to was two floors down, and they needed to hurry. The lights were all out, most of them were busted a long time ago. It never bothered her before now, but with the street lights pouring in through the windows and the eerie silence in the building, Squealer had to hold back a shudder.

"This is super fucking scary," she whispered.

"Don't worry," Don told her. "We're not going to let anyone get to you."

The second he finished speaking he was pulled backwards, flying out the window, barely able to do more than let out a yell. The two Merchants stood in the hallway staring for a moment before rushing down the staircase.

As they reached the entrance for the garage, Squealer felt a force shove her forward the last few feet, causing her to fall onto the hard concrete. Behind her the door slammed shut with a resounding bang. She let out a small whimper of pain as she picked herself off the floor. Behind her she heard a shout and the sound of a gunshot followed by a sound like thunder and a deafening scream. Limping slightly she raced as fast as she could to the car. Built like a dune buggy it was made to be able to get over any terrain. Best part was that it didn't run on gas. Wrenching the door open she clamored into the driver's seat and pressed the ignition. Nothing happened.

"The fuck," she moaned. "Oh no baby, no not tonight. Please."

Trying again the car refused to start. Tears fell down her face as she wrenched open the dashboard and tried to manually start the engine. Still nothing. Suddenly the car door ripped off the frame and flew across the room. Feeling a force grab her ankles, and began to pull. Letting out a scream she tried to find anything to hold onto as she was dragged out, her nails tearing tracks into the leather seats as she was pulled out of the car and dumped onto the floor next to it. Blinking away her tears she looked at the figure standing in front of her, the old boots and ratty coat seeming clash with the sense of fear gripping her heart.

"Powers are amazing," the girl said absentmindedly. "For example I can see how things work, but never why. For instance" she made a slight hand motion and the fusion core that ran the car floated in to Squealer's sight. "I know that this is important, that this is the beating heart of this thing you built, but I don't know what it is. Can you imagine how frustrating that is? How hard it is to just not know? You on the other hand, you know everything. You don't even need to study this sort of thing. Just close your eyes and picture it all in you head. Amazing, I wonder what it's like to be able to know anything. I guess I'll know in a minute. Shame about your boyfriend. I'd love to make him pay for what he did to the docks tonight. Oh well, he can't have run far."

At that Squealer let out a cry. Of fear, pain and sorrow all wrapped up in one. Her body was suddenly forced full against the side of the car.

"Stop that," Samedi barked. "You don't have that right. You've earned this. Don't think you haven't. Normally I'd say this won't hurt, but I know it will and it's nothing less than you deserve."

Suddenly pain exploded in Squealer's head and she let out a shriek before darkness filled her vision.