And Chapter 10. Disclaimer: I do not own Worm or Warhammer 40k. Although I wonder if I could get work as a 40k author...the Black Library doesn't seem to have standards that are too high...

Taylor, having returned to her home, taken a shower and made her way to her lair, was faced with the question of which piece of gear to work on first. Probably the staff, she decided, followed by her armour. But before that, there was the paper that Tattletale had slipped her. She plucked it from her armour and laid it on her workbench, sighing and leaning on the wood for a moment before she unfolded the note, smoothing it out and bringing it into her eyeline. It was a short note, just a location and a time, with a single line underneath.

'Laser shipment.' Taylor mused thoughtfully. She peered at the writing, noting that it was printed and looked as though it had been carefully done to disguise the handwriting.

'You think that this is correct? Tattletale giving us the location and time of a deal Coil will be making?'

"I DOUBT THAT IT WILL BE COIL HIMSELF. HE STRIKES ME AS THE SORT OF MAN TO WORK THROUGH MANY LAYERS OF INTERMEDIARIES."

'That's true. But still, this could be an excellent opportunity. We get to strike a blow against Coil and maybe restock on important pieces of equipment at the same time. I think it might be worth it.'

"OR IT COULD BE A TRAP. TATTLETALE INDICATED, WHEN WE FIRST SPOKE TO HER, THAT SHE HAS ATTEMPTED TO ESCAPE COIL BEFORE AND BEEN FOILED. WITH HIS POWERS UNKNOWN TO US HE COULD VERY EASILY BE USING HER TO DRAW OUT HEROES."

Now that was an ugly thought. Taylor tapped her fingers thoughtfully against the bench as she considered it.

'You didn't seem too concerned about going off and facing the Empire or ABB alone.' She noted. She didn't disagree with the Emperor's urging of caution, but she wanted to hear his reasons.

"THE EMPIRE OR ABB WOULD ONLY KILL US- AND WE KNOW THAT WILL NOT BE PERMANENT. COIL SEEMS LIKE THE SORT OF PERSON TO PREFER BREAKING US TO HIS WILL, JUST AS TATTLETALE FEARED THAT HE WOULD BRING DRUGS AND BRAINWASHING TO BEAR UPON HER."

'You're worried that he wants to lure us into a trap so that he can find some way to leverage us into his service.' Taylor summarised. She frowned.

'It's not a bad point. But what do we do about it? Have backup waiting and ready, perhaps?'

"PERHAPS. WHAT IS THE PROTECTORATE POLICY ON LOOTING, I WONDER?"

'They probably don't approve of anything called looting. But we can at least try, have some of them ready in case things go wrong. And I don't think there's any harm in at least scoping the place out once our equipment is repaired.'

"YES, TRUE."

Taylor nodded, turning back to her bench. Really, repairing her staff was a simple matter. Some of the connectors and emitters had burned out from the last surge, but it was mostly just standard maintenance and recharging the battery. Her armour was slightly more of a problem, but it wouldn't take that long to build a new torso piece. It was relatively quick and easy; the time-consuming thing would be carving the appropriate runes into it but that could wait until the armour was actually synthesized. Her pistol, however, was ruined. Or at least the power cell was destroyed. If she wanted to use her pistol again she would either have to convert it to run from her backpack cell or build a new, small cell.

And building the smaller cells was out of her reach with her current resources. Which made the prospect of attacking a laser weapon shipment all the more enticing. Taylor frowned at her workbench. What if Coil had access to PRT reports? He was likely to know that she had lost her power cell, and that would explain how he seemed so good at avoiding clashes with the PRT. Maybe she was being paranoid.

'I just wish that we had enough to finish the armour. Without my powers…well, I'd feel a lot safer inside gear rated for heavy combat.' She noted. Truth be told, she had almost finished a very basic version of Imperium power armour. She just didn't have a power source that was good enough.

Microfusion generators weren't exactly easy to put together, after all. Perhaps she could build a better power cell? She was aware that even the cells used by the Imperium weren't actually the most powerful version, they were just the one that struck the best balance between power and being easy to build and charge. Efficient. But if she used one of the solar power cells to power her armour she would have to make cutbacks on some of the more energy intense systems, and even then she would have limited time of use. But it might be worth it to have access to the force multiplier that was power armour…

"PERHAPS WE SHOULD LEAVE THIS CONSIDERATION FOR AFTER WE HAVE MORE RESOURCES. AS IT IS, I DOUBT WE COULD CREATE A POWER CELL STRONG ENOUGH TO POWER THE ARMOUR FOR ANY USEFUL PERIOD."

'I suppose that's true. So I need to deal with the armour I have…I wonder if I can just clean away the destroyed layer and replace it. That would make things a lot easier.'

Taylor closely inspected her damaged breastplate, brushing at it. The assessment that she and the Emperor came to was that the damage had been caused by a mixture of her own psychic power and the runes absorbing the electricity being overwhelmed. As a consequence, the runes had burned out, leaving most of the top layer and quite a bit of the second layer irreparable. Taylor searched out a knife before scraping away at the armour, peeling some of the layers with a considerable effort. She rapped a knuckle against the third layer, thinking.

'I think that I can peel away the layers and replace them. It won't be as good as building a completely new set, but it'll be a lot faster.' She concluded. Fortunately, the rest of her armour wasn't damaged: the other armour pieces were intact, since the runes were all on the torso piece. Even the helmet had held up, though she suspected that she should replace that as soon as possible. In fact, an entirely new set of armour- as a backup for any future issues, at least- probably wasn't unreasonable.

"AN EXTRA SET OF ARMOUR SOUNDS LIKE AN EXCELLENT IDEA. YOU SHOULD TRY TO AVOID DAMAGING YOUR ARMOUR ENOUGH TO NEED IT, OF COURSE, BUT WEAR AND TEAR IS TO BE EXPECTED."

'It seems like I can't avoid taking armour damage. Keep running into people who are faster and stronger than me.' Taylor complained as she fed a load of ingredients into the armour manufacturer. It would take time, though, which meant that she had time to simply sit back and relax. She tilted her head back, closing her eyes.

'You said that we had to discuss Biokinesis. And it would be something that I needed to consider…hmm. Wait, you said that I had to think more. Biokinesis allows for general control and manipulation of flesh, although it has a slightly wider field of application, including the generation of lightning depending on definition. But I doubt we're talking about lightning, so manipulation of flesh. We talked about creating chemicals and altering body chemistry in other people, so self-manipulation. But why would that be…wait. I remember- you used biokinesis to go from barbarian hero to young adult novel demigod, didn't you?"

"PERHAPS NOT QUITE THE TERMINOLOGY OR REASONING THAT I WOULD HAVE EMPLOYED, BUT YES. BIOKINESIS GENERALLY RUNS INTO ISSUES WHEN HEALING OR ALTERING WITHOUT DAMAGE BECAUSE LARGE SCALE CHANGES REQUIRE AN IN-DEPTH UNDERSTANDING OF BIOLOGY. FORTUNATELY, I HAPPEN TO HAVE THAT UNDERSTANDING."

'You're saying that I can, with your help, turn myself into a Space Marine. A Primarch. Even further beyond?' Taylor asked, her chest swelling with anticipation. The Emperor made a noise of affirmation.

"NOT IMMEDIATELY. WE DO NOT CURRENTLY HAVE THE POWER TO MAKE A FULL TRANSFORMATION. BUT PIECE BY PIECE, INCH BY INCH, WE WILL GET THERE. AFTER ALL, EVEN IF YOU ONLY IMPROVE BY A SINGLE PERCENT EVERY DAY…"

'After a year you have improved by three-hundred and sixty five percent, at least. I wouldn't mind being stronger, faster and tougher, I have to admit.'

She paused, running through her options.

'Though we will have to keep it low key. I can't really afford to end up looking like a Space Marine. Would blow my cover.'

"NATURALLY, YES. MINOR CHANGES FIRST, OF COURSE, ONES THAT WILL NOT SHOW EXTERNALLY."

'Well, let's get started then.'

As it turned out, even with enough intimate and exceedingly detailed information on the human body to carry out the sort of advanced changes she and the Emperor were looking at, the actual act was not the most pleasant thing. Though she had to say, the agony of altering her nerves and bone structure was…exquisite. Somehow, the sensation was so terrible that it transcended pain, almost coming all the way around to pleasure. Almost, being the operative word.

Taylor was extremely glad that she had made sure to put a gag in place. Screaming like she was being tortured to death would probably draw attention, she reflected as she shakily pulled the gag from her mouth and collapsed into a boneless sprawl.

'Fuck.'

"MY APOLOGIES, TAYLOR, BUT I HAVE FOUND THAT NO WARNING TRULY SUFFICES. IF IT IS ANY CONSOLATION, FURTHER CHANGES WILL BE MCH LESS UNPLEASANT."

'Because I'm too old for it to be easy.' She managed, wiggling an arm underneath herself and forcing herself upright. The pain had already faded, but her limbs were like jelly. Or noodles. Jellied noodles. It took a good ten minutes for her to stand up and wobble across to her chair and her laptop. She might be all but useless at this point, but she could still carry out some research. Now that feeling had returned to her arms.

Browsing PHO was technically research, right? And there was some very interesting things to see, as it happened. The Emperor wasn't paying attention: he was busy planning the best way to alter themselves in order to maximise efficiency. It didn't really matter, she could inform him once he was finished. She took her time examining the article that she had found, searching for additional information and, once done, leaning back in her chair and thinking on it. She thought it through before stopping, just sitting and sinking into contemplation. The Emperor eventually finished his planning, focusing his attention on her.

"YOU HAVE FOUND SOMETHING, I ASSUME?"

'Just a little. Canary- Paige Macabee. High level Master, with the ability to control others through spoken word. More specifically, seems to be that she can control people who have been exposed to her singing for above a certain amount of time. '

"OH?"

'Yeah. Apparently her boyfriend cheated on her, things got heated. She told him to go fuck himself, didn't realise her power was on. Castration and sodomy in one fell swoop. Still, she doesn't deserve what's happening to her.'

"YOU THINK SHE DOESN'T DESERVE PUNISHMENT?"

'Hmm? Oh, no. She definitely deserves jail. Accidental or not she caused severe harm to someone. But looking at the trial transcripts…she would have been better off with no lawyer. She was brought into the trial in restraints rated for a high-level Brute and gagged, according to a leaked copy of some journalist's notes. They didn't even let her speak in her own defence, biased the whole thing against her. She was railroaded, all the way to the Baumann Containment Centre. And, of course, a triumphant statement from Director Tagg, who pushed for a sentence normally handed down to triple murderers or rapists or the like. Looks like hating Parahumans isn't the sole province of our beloved Director Bigot.'

"YOU AREN'T GOING TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT."

Taylor sighed.

'No. I'm not. What could I do, in any case? Poor girl, she'll be dead within a week I expect. The canary going to the Birdcage to die. There's some kind of irony in that, I think. But the general thing is disturbing, sets a bad precedent. A very bad precedent.'

"BECAUSE IT INSINUATES THAT THE AUTHORITIES ARE WILLING TO STACK THE DECK IN A BLATANT FASHION. IT INCREASES THE FEAR AROUND MASTER CAPES- WHICH WE CAN BE CONSIDERED AS IF YOU SQUINT, ONCE OUR POWERS RETURN- AND IT SETS AN ASSUMPTION THAT BEING A CAPE IS ENOUGH TO EARN A HARSHER PUNISHMENT THAN A NORMAL CRIMINAL."

'Exactly. Modern day racism, I suppose. Or maybe not quite racism, but…y'know. You'd know better than I how tyranny and oppression can start innocently, right?'

"WHILE I CAN'T SAY THAT I APPRECIATE THE IMPERIUM BEING REFERRED TO AS A TYRANNY, YOUR POINT IS WELL MADE AND NOT ENTIRELY INACCURATE. BUT THERE MUST BE SOMETHING THAT WE CAN DO, AT LEAST TO DRAW ATTENTION TO THIS CASE."

Taylor grunted sourly.

'Not much, exactly. I don't really have the political power or the fame to be making wide-reaching statements.'

The Emperor was quiet for a moment before he spoke again.

"WHILE I DO HESITATE TO SUGGEST THIS, THE THOUGHT STRIKES ME THAT, IN ADDITION TO MY PRIOR RECOMMENDATION THAT WE SHOULD ATTEMPT TO BUILD A BUSINESS AROUND OUR TECHNOLOGY, GETTING INTO THE GOOD BOOKS OF THE CITY POLITICAL ELITE WOULD BE HIGHLY VALUABLE. RESCUING DINAH ALCOTT- A FAIRLY CLOSE RELATION OF THE MAYOR- WOULD BE IDEAL, BUT IN ADDITION THERE IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO MEET THE MAYOR, AT LEAST. ONE COMING UP VERY SOON."

'Very soon…the celebratory gala. Really? Something like that is…it would be awful.'

"WE MUST ALL MAKE SACRIFICES SOMETIMES. CONSIDER, AT LEAST, WHETHER ESTABLISHING INITIAL POLITICAL LINKS ARE WORTH SUFFERING THROUGH A MERE FEW HOURS OF SMALL-TALK AND POLITICAL CHICANERY?"

Taylor grumbled wordlessly but knew that The Emperor was right. She should, at the very least, think about it. She sighed, turning her attention back to the laptop and more of her research. This particular bit of research was quite important for her future plans: The Endbringers. Three beings, possibly once Parahuman, possible something else entirely, none of them looking human. All of them attacking cities on a regular basis, with the massive cape and non-cape casualties that their rather ominous name implied. Behemoth, Leviathan and the Simurgh- or Ziz, depending on who you asked. All very biblical, she noted darkly as she read through a brief synopsis of the latest Endbringer emergence and began to plan a way to face them. She had to. It was her duty, as a protector of humanity, and she fully intended to be present at the next possible confrontation.

"TAYLOR." The Emperor interrupted. Taylor paused, forcing her attention away from her thoughts and focusing on the Emperor. Somehow, his monotone sounded deeper, stonier, even more implacable than usual.

'Yes?'

"LAUDABLE AS YOUR DESIRE TO PROTECT THE WORLD FROM THESE ENDBRINGERS IS, I CANNOT ALLOW YOU TO GO FORTH AND DO BATTLE WITH THEM. NOT AS YOU ARE."

Taylor went still for a moment, almost unable to understand what she was hearing.

'Cannot allow me to fight them?' she echoed numbly. Surely she must have misheard. The Endbringers were an absolute threat to humanity, one almost as great as the Parasite itself, surely the Emperor couldn't be suggesting that she not fight them. The Emperor's tone didn't soften.

"I CANNOT ALLOW YOU TO FIGHT THEM. SO FAR I HAVE NOT HAD ANY SERIOUS CONCERN WITH YOUR ACTIONS: NO-ONE IS PERFECT, ESPECIALLY NOT I, AND WE HAVE BEEN WORKING TOWARDS OUR GOAL WHILE AIDING HUMANITY ON A SMALLER SCALE. HOWEVER, TO FIGHT THE ENDBRINGERS AS WE ARE NOW IS SIMPLY STUPIDITY. I CANNOT LET YOU MAKE SUCH A MISTAKE."

'Such a- we've gone into plenty of fights that were stacked against us! And besides, you said just minutes ago that the Empire and ABB could only kill us. How is that different from the Endbringers?'

"DO NOT BE FOOLISH, TAYLOR. WE TOOK RISKS, BUT MOST OF THEM WE HARDLY HAD A CHOICE. LUNG WAS A MISTAKE, BUT THERE IS QUITE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A HUMAN VILLAIN- MOST OF WHOM WILL NOT ACTIVELY ATTEMPT TO UTTERLY DESTROY US, NO MATTER WHAT WE MAY RISK- AND THE ENDBRINGERS. THEY DESTROY. THEY KILL. THAT IS ALL THEY DO, THEY WOULD NOT HESITATE. CAN YOU TRULY THINK THAT WE WOULD SURVIVE, THAT WE WOULD BE ABLE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE? SHOULD WE FACE THE ENDBRINGERS AND DIE, HOW MUCH TIME WOULD IT TAKE BEFORE WE COULD RETURN? HOW MUCH WOULD HAPPEN THAT WE COULD PREVENT?"

'How many Heroes could we save by going to an Endbringer fight and helping? How many lives could they save? Your own arguments work just as well for me!' Taylor argued. She felt the Emperor shift somehow, some realisation coming to him.

"THAT MIGHT BE TRUE. IF IT WERE WHAT YOU TRULY THOUGHT. I KNOW YOU, TAYLOR. I KNOW YOU JUST AS WELL AS YOU KNOW YOURSELF. THIS IS NOT ABOUT SAVING LIVES BY SAVING HEROES, THIS IS ABOUT YOU. YOU THINK THAT YOU MATTER LESS, JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN COME BACK? YOU TRULY THINK THAT THE HEROES YOU SAVE CAN DO MORE THAN WE CAN? OR IS IT JUST THAT YOU CANNOT STAND THE THOUGHT OF THE POTENTIAL GUILT?"

'I…'

"NO, TAYLOR. THIS ARGUMENT…THIS IS SOMETHING I CANNOT BEND UPON. IF YOU TRULY WISH TO LIVE UP TO MY LEGACY, IF YOU TRULY WISH TO BECOME THE PROTECTOR THAT THIS WORLD NEEDS, YOU MUST BE ABLE TO MAKE HARD CHOICES. UNPALATABLE CHOICES, MUCH AS I WISH IT OTHERWISE. MUCH AS I HOPE THAT YOU BECOME POWERFUL AND WISE ENOUGH THAT YOU ARE NEVER FORCED TO MAKE THOSE CHOICES."

Taylor leaned her head on her hands, boiling with frustration as she squeezed her eyes shut. She could barely bear the thought, to sit passively at home while others fought and died when she could help. Surely that wasn't wrong? Surely it was only understandable?

The Emperor gave a deep, hollow sigh.

"TAYLOR. WHEN I FACED HORUS…WHEN I SAW SANGUINIUS, BROKEN AND DEAD AT HIS FEET, YOU KNOW HOW I FELT."

Taylor knew. She had known, intellectually, but the waves of sorrow and rage that washed over her were new. She was feeling it just as The Emperor had, she realised a little numbly. The Emperor continued, his booming monotone softening slightly, leavened with emotion.

"And yet, I could not bring myself to destroy Horus. I fought him, but in my mind I thought I could bring him back. That he was possessed, that I could free him and return him to the son I remembered, so I locked away my rage and my grief as I faced him. Every blow that I could not block, every time I hesitated I wavered, but would not bend. I could bring him back, even if it meant allowing him to cut me down. And then, as I lay broken upon the floor and he stood over me, Ollanius entered."

Ollanius Pius, Taylor remembered. Another Perpetual, and at that time a member of the Imperial Guard who had fought his way through the nightmare that was Horus' Battle-Barge.

"He took a glance at the fight. He was younger than me and I believed less wise, but at that time he saw more clearly. He stood before me, between Horus and I, telling Horus that he would not move. Would not allow him to finish me, regardless of how I told him to leave. I would not die forever: if this was the price to be paid for bringing Horus back to his senses, leaving him to lead the Imperium to greater glory than it had ever known, I would gladly pay it. But Ollanius would not move, and Horus struck him down. That instant…it was the one that showed me that my son was lost forever."

Taylor didn't speak, waiting for The Emperor to finish.

"I had thought he was possessed by the Ruinous Powers. But Khorne would have killed physically, Nurgle with rot, Slaanesh with pleasures innumerable and terrible and Tzeentch with mutation or warpfire. Horus slew Ollanius by flaying him alive, not slowly, not savouring it, but in a single instant of agony. And then he laughed and kicked the body aside and I understood, from that instant of cruelty- so very human cruelty- that he was not possessed. That my death would not bring him back to himself, that I would not return to a glorious Imperium but to a horror. And so I steeled myself and rose again. All of my rage, my grief, my sorrow, my hate, turned upon Horus, once my favoured son, destroying him so utterly that even the Ruinous Powers could not bring him back, even with all the dark might they wield. I had won…but I had fallen, never to rise again."

Taylor frowned, still not understanding the point that the Emperor was driving at. What relevance did this have to her facing the Endbringers? The Emperor was not yet finished, however.

"I thought that I could make hard decisions. That I was able of it. But then, facing Horus, I could not make the difficult choice to stop him. I failed, and because of that the Imperium was plunged into a nightmare of ten thousand years that never ended. Power cannot insulate you from making hard choices, Taylor, it merely defers them. I do not want to see you fall into the same trap, to see this world fall to ruin because you could not bring yourself to put aside your fears. I want you to succeed, Taylor. Ask yourself: do you really want the same?"

Taylor shook her head silently, glaring at the table in front of her and clenching her fists so tightly that she could feel her nails beginning to cut into her palms.

'You really think that I- we- would perish in battle with the Endbringers? That we really cannot make a difference?'

"Do not be obtuse, Taylor. You would see it, if you but took the time to look. Our strongest opponent so far has been Lung, a foe we faced in hubris. Even at the height of our powers so far we barely defeated Lung, and he did not come close to the reported power he showed in his battle against the Leviathan. And even then, Lung did not win. He lasted longer than any other, but in the end Kyushu sank beneath the waves and Leviathan left, unscathed. Do you really believe that we could do better?"

Taylor took a deep breath and forced herself to unclench her fists.

'No.' she admitted, soft and grudging. She shook her head, trying to calm down and think. The Emperor was right, she knew. She honestly hadn't been considering the sheer difference in power between the Capes of Brockton Bay and the Endbringers. She had been certain that she could make a difference but now, the words of the Emperor still ringing through her mind, she realised the folly of it. She wasn't some normal Cape, at the height of her powers after a short time and with only experience to increase her skill. She was weak now, but with time- years, decades maybe, but in time- she would be stronger than any cape could dream of being. Strong enough to shatter planets and tear the very fabric of reality.

Almost certainly strong enough to obliterate the Endbringers just as they obliterated heroes and villains who fought them now.

But even then…Taylor felt a wrenching in her chest, a scraping, clawing sensation of guilt and nausea at the thought that other capes might die because she wasn't there. Vista, Kid Win, the other Wards. Glory. Even Dauntless and the other members of the Protectorate who she knew and who might, in time, be called friends.

She had never really contemplated that aspect of her powers before. Oh, she had been aware of it- that she wouldn't really grow old, wouldn't die like the rest- but she had never truly considered what it would mean. Taylor leaned forwards slightly, anticipatory grief settling in her stomach with a sick weight, horror coming to rest on her shoulders like a thick, cold cloak.

Wallowing in angst didn't last. The coldness of despair was displaced by a wave of strength and reassurance, settling into place as the Emperor brought his presence to bear again.

"Taylor." He said, his voice gentler than before. She bowed her head, taking a deep breath again before a tiny smile touched her expression.

'I know. I just…hadn't really thought of what it would mean. How did you ever stand it?'

A considering pause, though a brief one.

"I would say that it very much depended upon the perpetual. Some of us isolated ourselves, locking ourselves away and refusing to become attached, seeing humans as mere…pets. Tools. But for many of us…no matter how long you live, a year is a year. A lifetime of friendship is a lifetime worth, more than worth the grief afterwards, no matter how it may not feel so. And as technology progressed, lifespans increased. Of course, you may feel differently."

'Better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all?'

"Something like that."

Taylor shrugged her shoulders, the phantom sensation of comfort dissipating from her frame. Oh, she could still feel the presence of the Emperor, but he wasn't actively asserting himself anymore. Probably a good thing, as she had no idea how much independent power he had, or if he was piggybacking on her own extremely limited abilities, or if it was simply a psychological effect. Whatever. She didn't have time to angst.

'Alright.'

Even in her head the voice was very quiet, solemn. She didn't like to say it, but it had to be done. She felt the Emperor turn his attention to her, questioning.

'Alright. I promise, I won't go after the Endbringers. I won't seek them out until we're strong enough. But if one comes- if one comes here, I won't hide in the shadows like a coward.'

"I suppose that is all I can ask." The Emperor conceded. He was quiet for a moment before speaking again.

"Trite as it is to say- this may not have been a pleasant decision, Taylor, but it was the right one."

'I hate making the right decision. Just once I'd like easy decisions and right decisions to not be mutually exclusive.'

"I can't say that I disagree."

For all her confidence, Taylor didn't exactly want her first test of her biomancy powers to be a live fire test against Coils mercenaries- who were, by all accounts, highly professional and dangerous. Instead she went out a little earlier, intending to find a Merchant to practice on. She had wanted to find out what the gang was doing anyway. She very much doubted that they had simply broken up with the death of Squealer and Skidmark, after all.

Which was why she was currently hiding outside a derelict looking apartment building that she knew had formerly been used as a drugs lab by the Merchants. If they were smart, they would have moved out, abandoned every place that had once been theirs. On the other hand, if they had been smart they probably wouldn't be Merchants in the first place. But, assuming that the gang hadn't immediately broken apart and devolved into infighting, they might be ripe for a takeover. And the Merchants had enough manpower that, in the hands of someone not as drug-addled as Skidmark, they could be quite a nuisance. That was something she'd prefer to avoid, and so she had made her way to this dingy, abandoned building. It was dusk, and her black and grey armour and clothing blended into the encroaching darkness well as she slipped across the street to the door. She pressed a hand against the door, noting with mild amusement that it only appeared to be a decaying wooden door. Behind it was steel, and the lock looked solid. Maybe the Merchants weren't so stupid after all. Still, it didn't make too much difference.

Taylor carefully twisted the knob on her left gauntlet, increasing the power draw until her gauntlet was letting out that soft, dangerous hum that indicated it was at nigh full power. Fortunately, while the stun effect didn't work all around the gauntlet- in order to be low enough power to avoid killing people the size of the field was reduced to a small area around the knuckles- at this level of power the armour-melting field expanded to surround her whole fist. Very slowly she pressed her fingers against the door, letting the field vaporise the wood and metal bit by bit until she had reached her hand through the door and closed it around the lock. The lock offered no more resistance than the door and Taylor withdrew her hand, powering down the gauntlet before opening the door. The field was simply too dangerous to be swinging around without a care. If she accidentally cut her leg off with her own gauntlet she'd never live it down, she mused with morbid amusement as she crept into the building. The layout of the building was much like others she had seen: a brief corridor with a single room off it, stairs to the side leading upwards. This one, however, had the extra accoutrements of neglect: a healthy dose of rust, plenty of cobwebs and a distinct smell of damp that made Taylor wrinkle her nose. Damp and…urine. How typical. She swallowed the urge to grimace before she started up the stairs, moving slowly and keeping her feet close to the wall in hopes of minimising any noise. She could hear a low buzz of conversation above her, but wasn't sure if there could be some sort of guard. She reached the first floor.

'It smells even worse up here.' She complained mentally as she gently tested the first door. It swung open with a soft creak that made her freeze and strain her ears for any sound indicating that she had been detected, but there were no shouts or cries afterwards. She shook her head at the sheep sloppiness of it before peering into the small apartment room. The walls had been knocked down, and a single, rusty bedframe held a thin mattress and a few sheets, more brown that white now. Stained mattresses were scattered across the floor, and a collapsed sofa sat against a wall.

'This is no way to live.' Taylor commented. The Emperor made a non-comital noise.

"Poverty will always exist." He replied, though his no longer monotone voice held a touch of sympathy among the disdain. Taylor shook her head, backing away to look at the other apartments on the floor. They were all much the same: poorly furnished, one scattered with syringes and other drug paraphernalia. Much as she would have expected from the Merchants, admittedly. She returned to the stairs and started up the next flight.

The next flight was empty too, and much the same as the first. The mumblings of conversation were louder though. Taylor paused at the bottom of the stairs to stretch out her powers, searching for the Merchants. She pressed her power just enough to cover the building, disregarding the scurrying insects and small mammals. Four Merchants, she found, all male. She picked the one that seemed least fuddled as her target and moved up the last set of stairs, flexing her arms in a final stretch before she took her staff in both hands. All the Merchants were in a single room and she moved to the door in silence. The laughter was loud enough for her to hear it clearly as she stood outside the door. Taylor smiled thinly before she drew back her boot and kicked the decaying door off its hinges with a single crashing blow, darting into the room before the dust had even settled. The Merchants were caught utterly off guard.

Taylor caught two of them close together, taking one with a sharp blow to the head before she spun her staff and rammed the end into the second Merchants sternum. Electricity crackled briefly before the man went down and Taylor sprang towards the next. The third was just rising when Taylor swept his legs from beneath him and dropped the stunning end of the staff onto the man. The last had risen, less drugged than the others and consequently more coordinated. Taylor took a moment to glance around, check on the three she had already put down. The first was standing again, shaking his head in confusion, so she hefted her staff before flinging it in a sharp motion. The staff thudded into the mans stomach, doubling him over and shocking him as well before she turned back to her target. He had pulled a knife, holding it downwards in his hand- icepicking, Taylor had heard the style called- and was quite clearly nerving himself up to rush at her.

"Maybe you should just go and lie down in the corner." Taylor suggested, mockingly. The Merchant shook his head, eyes fixing on her for a moment before he yelled something that was probably derogatory and charged right at her. Taylor sighed, shifting and reaching out a hand to snag a chair that was lying next to her. It was one of those cheap plastic and aluminium chairs, but it was plenty effective when she hooked a hand around it and spun it at the Merchants legs. He squawked, awkwardly dodging and taking his attention off her for a moment. Taylor seized the chance, darting forwards and pushing his knife hand wide, giving her an opening. The Merchant squawked, slapping ineffectually at her armoured shoulder with his free hand, but she ignored him in favour of slamming her fist into the shoulder of his knife hand. The blade fell and Taylor twisted his arm, hooking a boot behind his foot and shoving him away. The Merchant fell, twisting and scrabbling away. Taylor followed at a casual stride.

"You really should give up." She advised. The Merchant lurched to his feet, spinning on his heel and swinging a wild blow. Taylor leaned back, watching it whisk uselessly past her helmet before she returned a heavy blow to the chest, sending the man staggering.

"Seriously. You're just going to get hurt."

"Fuck you!"

The Merchant rallied one last time, launching himself at her head first. Taylor sidestepped, slipping a fist past his sloppily raised guard and catching him in the stomach. As he doubled over in pain she calmly caught an arm and twisted it behind his back before pressing her splayed hand to the back of his skull. This close she was easily able to leverage her powers even through her glove and gauntlet. Altering his brain chemistry to send him suddenly into unconsciousness was child's play.

'Alright, work me through this again.' She said as she left her chosen target and made sure to tie up the others, binding arms and legs with strips torn from their tattered jackets and stacking them in a corner.

"It is relatively simple. Though our telepathic abilities are still greatly reduced, it is possible to alter the brain chemistry to create a drug that will temporarily put the victim into a trance state, making them extremely vulnerable to psychic persuasion. Alternatively, we could carry out more extensive modifications that will make them natively produce a truth serum, but the additional changes that would be required to produce the effect without killing the victim are time consuming."

'First option, then.'

Taylor crouched over the Merchant she had selected, placing her hands on his skull and concentrating her powers. The Emperor aided her, giving the whole thing a near-ghostly feel for her as her powers were manipulated by another, something that was almost an out of body experience. Taylor paid attention however: it was entirely possible that she would need to do this herself at some time and it was far less stressful to learn like this than to have the collected knowledge of the Emperor dumped into her memories.

It didn't take long to finish the alterations. Taylor left the Merchant for a few minutes in order to allow the changes to take effect, using the time to poke around the apartment and see if there was anything worth taking. The only thing she found was a small amount of cash- disappointing but not unexpected, she supposed. She returned to the Merchant, lifting him by his coat and dragging him to a sofa. It would be better to hold off on the interrogation style tactics, better to not risk breaking the trance. She woke the man with a brief application of psychic power, jogging his mind into wakefulness, though even that minor application was hard. Taylor couldn't wait for her powers to return properly. She hadn't realised how useful they were before she lost them

"Whu- wha'? Where m'I?" the Merchant slurred, barely conscious. Good enough. Taylor called on her power, mentally pushing the man to be honest. It was easier than she had expected: his mind was like putty at the moment.

"Hey. Hey, I need you to stay awake and tell me about the Merchants." She said, her gentle tone masking the persuasive force she was adding to her voice. The man stirred, blinking muzzily at her.

"Merchants?"

"Yeah, Merchants. Your friends, remember? I need to know who's leading you now."

"Leadin'? Oh, leadin'. Uh…Mark."

"Mark?"

That was not exactly promising, Taylor thought. Mark could be anyone. It might not even be right, might be some random Merchant who had taken over two or three of his buddies.

"Yeah. We all wen' to see who was gonna be boss after Skids bit it, 'n this guy turned up. Said he was the boss now. Killed a coupa guys to dem- demma- show it."

Taylor took it back. That sounded more promising.

"Was he a cape?" she asked. The Merchant wobbled his head.

"I- I dunno. He was all dressed up, skinny guy. Had this big bruiser with him, and a smaller one. They were capes. Told us to lay low, keep doin' what we were doin'."

And wasn't that just interesting? Whoever had taken over the Merchants had, in defiance of the usual way one went about that sort of thing, kept it quiet. Taylor put the thought aside for the moment, continuing the questioning in order to search out any Merchant hideouts the man knew of. Once that was done, satisfied that she had tested the efficacy of her technique, Taylor put him back to sleep. It was an easy task to return his brain chemistry to normal- though this time she did it without the Emperors help, as a test- and Taylor left the Merchants unconscious, aware that the one she had questioned would awake- albeit with only very fuzzy memories past her fight with him- and free the others.

'Mark, eh? That's not a usual Parahuman name, hero or villain.'

"True as that is, we must consider the other option. That it was not Mark the name, rather being Marque. As I recall there used to be a parahuman villain of significant power named Marquis in the area, did there not?"

'Some kind of reference, maybe trying to build on the reputation Marquis still has? Though if that were the case I would have expected something larger in scale. Hiding isn't conducive to building a reputation.'

"It is one of the key things in using a group as a patsy, though."

'That's true. Using the Merchants as a scapegoat or distraction though, that isn't really the style of the ABB or Empire. A new villain maybe? Or the obvious.'

"Yes, using the Merchants as a distraction would seem very much in line with the methods Coil seems to prefer. Though the presence of parahumans is strange given that Coil has not demonstrated any parahuman presence in his ranks. Though, as he hired the Undersiders through a middleman, perhaps he is doing the same with the Merchants. A middleman as a face for the organisation, to provide him with a source of cannon fodder."

'I hope that isn't the case.'

"Oh?"

'Yeah. Building up cannon fodder usually implies that there's a war about to start. Coil's smart and sneaky enough as it is: I really don't want to be facing him if he has the initiative.'

"So, what are we doing here?" Glory asked. She kept her voice down: it was just after dusk and they were perched on a rooftop. Glory had enough experience to know that something had to be up.

"According to some information I received, some smugglers are going to be making a delivery to Coil near here in about half an hour. I thought I might need some backup on it, you were my first choice." Taylor replied quietly. Glory nodded, eyes narrowing in thought.

"I guess you can't tell me the source?"

Taylor shook her head, causing Glory to nod.

"Yeah, thought so. But you trust whoever it is, otherwise we wouldn't be here. You got a connection to the Protectorate ready to go?"

Taylor wordlessly held up her phone, pointing to it. She had Dauntless on fast-dial already. Glory nodded approvingly.

"Good. Not that I think a bunch of mercs and smugglers can take us down but, y'know, better safe than sorry."

"As I've learned more times than I would like over the past few months. Anyway, I don't want to call in the Protectorate for something that might not be happening."

Taylor hesitated, shrugged.

"Plus, I'd like to get my hands on a couple of the rifles so I can take them apart and rebuild my equipment and I'm not sure any of the PRT or Protectorate guys would let me do that."

"I can't imagine why they wouldn't trust you with high powered weaponry." Glory replied, but she was smiling as she said it. Taylor pouted behind her mask- something of a wasted expression, she realised a moment after making it.

"You say that like I'm not trustworthy."

Glory gave her a smiling shrug.

"It's your tendency to be a loose cannon, Circ."

"I'm not a loose cannon." Taylor protested mildly.

"I'm a loose…siege catapult."

"Pratchett?" Glory asked, eyeing her with amusement. Taylor gave her a head-tilt of curiosity and she shrugged.

"My sister likes to read them." Glory explained. Taylor briefly tried to wrap her head around the sulky, dour Panacea liking Terry Pratchett books before shrugging it away. Maybe Panacea was different when not around annoying patients. Glory shook her head.

"So, how exactly are we going to do this?" she asked. Taylor nodded thoughtfully, putting her serious face on.

"The meeting is taking place in a warehouse- well, more of a boathouse. As far as I can guess the plan is to bring the stuff in a smaller boat, nice and quiet, into the building and then take it away. I doubt there'll be very many of them so I'd like a chance to drop in and take out as many as possible quietly, before you come in. Something goes wrong or they're stuck together I'll signal and you can come in all shock and awe."

Glory drifted slightly in the air, glancing in the direction of the warehouse they had been talking about.

"How are you going to signal me?" she asked. Taylor thought about it for a moment before producing her phone and holding it up.

"I'll ring you, leave my phone on. You should be more or less able to hear, right? You hear screaming you come in guns blazing."

Glory frowned.

"I don't know if that's a good idea, Circ. I mean, what if I don't hear it in time? Or if you get spotted? Coils men aren't like the others, they know what they're doing." She said quietly. Taylor frowned as she realised that Glory was honestly making a good point.

"You're right. But what other choice do we have? Either we just make an attack and hope to get them all or we try to time it and risk bursting in at a bad time."

Glory nodded at that, a slight frown rippling across her face as she thought. Taylor gave it some thought as well before finding a suggestion.

"Maybe we can combine the two. There's more than one way to get into the warehouse after all, so maybe if one of us creates a distraction the other can make a surprise attack." She offered. Glory still didn't look entirely convinced, but she seemed to like that idea more than the first one.

"I'm probably better at being a distraction," Glory said, "So how do you want to do this?"

Taylor glanced at the boathouse again, sizing it up and sketching out a mental plan.

"I'll go around the back, give me ten minutes to sneak in. You come through the doors once the meet's started- I'll leave my phone on like I first planned but I'll speak to you to let you know the time. Once they're all distracted I'll jump them, take down as many as I can and you can join in however you want."

Glory Girl murmured an agreement and settled down on the roof to wait, so Taylor wasted no more time in leaving the roof and moving towards the warehouse. Flexing her powers, she identified that there were half a dozen people in the building and so she paused in an alleyway, running through her options and deciding that her tried and tested 'notice-me-not- aura would probably be the best option. It was, fortunately, still within her abilities: it acted more upon the subconscious than anything else and therefore required little power to build and maintain. Still, she was careful in applying it- Glory had been right when she said that Coils mercenaries were some of the more dangerous men in the city. Once Taylor felt secure in her ability to be unnoticed she resumed her movement, creeping around to the side of the warehouse and eyeing it up.

The building was derelict, as might be expected, and the small windows set along the top of the wall were mostly broken. That was probably her way in, Taylor thought, unless she could find some entrance along the bottom. She was reasonably sure that her aura would cause the mercenaries to ignore her climbing through the window if she was seen, but reasonably sure was the sort of thing that caused trouble. She scouted along the bottom of the warehouse in hope of an alternative: she was in luck. Near the very edge of the dock, the warehouse had begun to wear away. The gap thus created was small- too small for Taylor, in all honesty- but it was mainly blocked by a few stubborn beams. A quick application of her gauntlets to the top of the beams quickly freed them to be dragged away and quietly laid down and Taylor was able to squirm through the gap into the dim light of the warehouse.

'I count six men.'

"That is my count as well. Three on guard, two guarding the last who is clearly the emissary here. They seem well organised."

'And well equipped to boot.'

The mercenaries reminded Taylor of the PRT troopers that she had seen- not necessarily a good thing, if they were as organised and trained. Each of them wore black- black trousers, boots and long-sleeved tops- with plates of armour, also matte black, at the joints. Similarly, black and angular plates covered the breast and back, each of them also wearing a helmet that covered the top of their heads. Dark visors extended from the helmet to cover the eyes, with dark masks clinging to the lower half of their faces. Each had a microphone attached to the helmet.

'The classic faceless goon look. All those eighties movies would be proud. Although, do you think we should invest in some comms technology? We could build it right into the helmet.'

"I think we could do that with twentieth century technology, never mind fortieth millennium. Hmm…the armour is unlikely to be as good as our own, but that doesn't mean it's useless. If we can get behind them the neck is exposed enough, but I would advise blows at unplated areas with our staff or gauntlets. Stun them quickly and don't give them a chance to organise."

'Yeah, you don't need to tell me twice.' Taylor agreed, eyeing the weapons they had. Each man- well, men and women, since one was slimmer and shorter than the rest and so presumably female- carried a high tech looking rifle. Taylor would admit, the laser rifles looked fancy and all, but she preferred Imperium laser tech. Not only was it more pleasing aesthetically, but it was robust enough to be used as a bludgeon in dire need-she very much doubted that the Tinkertech equipment could claim the same. Regardless, she had to assume that the weapons were just as deadly as anything she could make and therefore capable of burning through her armour.

A twinge of concern for Glory reared its head at that, but Taylor quashed it. She couldn't afford pessimism.

In addition to the rifles, every mercenary carried a handgun- Taylor couldn't tell if they were laser or not. The slimmer mercenary, the one who seemed to be in the position of leader if their relaxed stance in the centre of the room was any indicator, carried two. Most of the other carried knives as well, but Taylor reckoned that those were more of an afterthought. She settled herself in the shadows near her entryway, content to wait and observe until the smugglers got here. Glory was probably dying for some action, she mused with a smile as she idly charted the way the mercenaries were patrolling. They probably would have noticed her were it not for her protective aura, she noted with absent approval. They were completely silent as well. Well disciplined. Well, even if she failed to find out any more information she had enough to make a better assessment of Coils mercenaries. She was quite impressed, all things considered.

She judged that she had been waiting for about five minutes before her ears picked up the faint swishing of water and a muffled grunting. Taylor watched with amusement as a boat drifted into the warehouse, moving with steady strokes of oars until it bumped against the concrete ramp that led from the warehouse into Brockton Bay. It was a motorboat, a reasonably large one too, but the engine had been turned off in the name of stealth. Taylor watched as the rowers climbed out, following a big man in a heavy coat. He had a bristling moustache and a broad, good natured face that was tanned dark with the sun, but Taylor thought him dangerous. The men who had been rowing clambered out behind him, each one carrying a laser rifle just like the mercenaries, though they lacked the uniforms. Taylor made a quick headcount- four, and the big man. That made eleven total. Eleven on two were not her favourite odds, but she thought they could manage. She opened her phone- already connected to Glory- and brought it up to her mask, speaking very quietly and hoping she could be heard. Once again the unfortunate issue of attempting to use a mobile through her helmet presented itself, another point towards trying to integrate communications into the helmet.

"Glory? There's eleven of them, meeting now. Start the distraction any time." Taylor said quietly, hoping Glory had heard her. She disconnected the call, belatedly realising that that in itself was probably a fair signal, and coiled her legs underneath her, ready for action. She'd take down the smugglers first, she decided. They were closer and more vulnerable. The only thing now was to wait. Wait until Glory-

Glory kicked open the door and floated in, smiling widely.

"Hi guys! What're you doing, something evil?"

Taylor blinked at the entrance, though her surprise didn't stop her from rising to a crouch and starting to sneak forwards.

'Given that entrance…do you think that we might be rubbing off on her?' Taylor commented.

"It probably isn't impossible. It must be our natural charisma, showing those around us the proper way to act. Just think of how much of an influence we can have on the younger ones."

'That actually doesn't reassure me, given all the crazy stuff we do. You're terrible at reassuring me, you know that?'

"It's a gift. You should pay attention though; your friend is speaking again."

"Now, I get that I can't just come bursting in here and beat you all up. But hey, that doesn't mean I can't just wander in and join an innocent gathering of friendly citizens, right?"

That was true, actually. Taylor generally got away with hitting first because she didn't really turn the gang members she faced into the police, and because no criminal had so far been stupid enough to go to the police and tell them that they had been attacked by a hero while just hanging around, keeping a count of their laundered money and drugs. But in this case Taylor and Glory wanted to hand in the mercenaries and most of the weapons, which meant that it was better, legality-wise, if they weren't the ones to start the fight. Hopefully one of this bunch would be twitchy enough to start shooting, though if not…maybe she could dredge up enough power to have a little bit of mental influence. Taylor frowned slightly at the thought that her telepathy was so much weaker than her biomancy, resolving to talk to the Emperor about it. Later, of course, since she had the feeling that things were about to heat up too much for any conversation beyond cheesy quips and puns.

The big smuggler scoffed at Glory.

"You don't have any authority here, hero." He said. Taylor couldn't see his expression from her position, but she was fairly sure he was sneering. Glory shrugged.

"I mean, you say that- and it might be true, yeah- but this all looks pretty suspicious. You're all doing the armed criminal look, I mean. But I guess if there's nothing going on you won't mind me taking a look in those crates?"

Glory hovered closer to the man, who shifted his stance. Coils mercenaries had done much the same thing, though Taylor suspected that they were unlikely to be the ones to start firing. The smugglers guards, on the other hand, were already looking twitchy. Glory shrugged again and reached into a pocket, producing her mobile.

"In fact, why don't I just give the Protectorate a call and see if they can send someone to make sure nothing bad's happening here? I mean, if you're innocent you've got nothing to fear, right?"

That had probably been the last straw, Taylor surmised from the way the man stiffened.

"There's only one of you, hero. You've made a mistake coming here!"

His hand went for the gun on his waist. The slimmer mercenary brought a hand up, a clearly feminine voice issuing from behind her mask.

"She doesn't work alone!"

Glory pushed off the ground into a backwards flip. Taylor threw her staff like a javelin and launched herself at the smugglers and everything devolved into chaos.

Taylor caught the two smugglers closest to her completely off guard, her fists slamming into them and putting them down with jolts of electricity. Her staff had landed true, sending the big smuggler spasming to the ground, though she didn't think there had been enough contact to knock him out. A hand to the temple of a third smuggler, man down and she turned on the last without taking a breath, burying a fist in his torso and shocking him into unconsciousness.

Glory flipped past, red bolts tracing past her for a moment before Taylor heard a thump and the muffled cry of pain.

The big smuggler came back to his feet and came at her like a freight train, unarmed. Taylor went to meet him without hesitation, ducking the first haymaker and throwing three quick blows into his side. An elbow glanced off her shoulder, turned by the plating before she stepped into him, dragging his arm over her shoulder and wrenching. The man flipped over her shoulder and landed hard on his back. Taylor brought the heel of her boot down into his sternum, leaving him gasping for breath as she picked up her staff and planted it on his chest. Electricity crackled and the man arced briefly before going limp. Smugglers down, now for the mercenaries.

One of the mercenaries was down, lying in a crumpled heap in a corner. Glory had a second in her grasp, holding the man in front of her as a shield as she hovered while the others were scattered about, all of them moving to flank Glory. Taylor picked a target: she wanted to leave the leader for last, but the others were fair game. She moved quickly, dashing at the closest mercenary. The man was fast: he turned and brought his rifle up as she approached but she was moving too fast. Taylor crashed into him, abandoning subtlety in order to get the rifle away from him. The both fell, rolled, coming to their feet. The mercenary had lost his rifle in the scramble and went for his pistol.

That was a mistake. Taylor shifted, bringing her staff whipping down to his arm before snapping it back up to his jaw. The man staggered, arms flailing wildly for a moment before Taylor kicked his legs from under him and planted the stun end of her staff in the small gap his breastplate left at the top of his chest.

'Alright. That makes it two on three.'

"Circ! Look out!"

Taylor moved on instinct with Glory's shout, flinging herself sideways and forwards in a hasty diagonal roll. A crimson beam scorched past her shoulder, barely missing her head, while a second hit her in the chest. Her chestplate held, though a sensation of intense heat briefly radiated from the spot and earned a curse from her. She came out of her roll just in time to see Glory fling her hostage at one of the three remaining mercenaries and dive at a second. Taylor herself snapped her attention to the one who had fired at her, the dual-wielding leader. Taylor ran at her, zig-zagging as she went to try and avoid any incoming fire. The Emperor spoke rapidly as she did so.

"In my experience anyone who carries two pistols is either more concerned with looks than function and will be a pushover or has the reflexes and experience to make it work: that type is dangerous. Either way, get close and try to win quickly, I don't know how much our armour can take or if she will realise that you aren't entirely armoured."

Given that the mercenary came to meet her, Taylor was fairly sure which of the two archetypes she fitted into. The mercenary closed fast, spinning her guns.

'It's like an action movie, what the fuck?'

"Don't take your eyes off her!"

The mercenary spun into a sudden roundhouse kick that caught Taylor off guard, the boot whipping towards her skull. Taylor skidded to a halt, catching the blow on her vambrace but it staggered her and the handguns came up towards her face. Swearing in internal panic she swung her arm across, knocking one gun aside with her staff and twisting desperately.

The laser beam scorched past her face but the mercenary had overextended. Taylor grabbed her wrist, snarling as she dragged, swinging the woman around and flinging her several feet away. The woman twisted and came back to her feet, just in time for Taylor to get in her face, staff thrust forwards like a spear. The mercenary brought her right arm up to bat it aside, Taylor shifting her weight to bend her arm and throw her elbow forwards but her opponent met her forearm to forearm, aborting the strike as the other hand came up with the second handgun. Taylor grabbed the woman's wrist with her free hand, keeping the gun out of her face and then they were grappling and Taylor's augmented strength was enough to tell, she could see the grimace on the mercenary's face. The mercenary brought a boot up, somehow getting a grip on Taylor's shin guard before she pushed off the ground and drove a knee into the side of Taylor's thigh.

Taylor headbutted her.

Something broke as Taylors helmet met the mercenary's face and Taylor dropped her staff, driving the edge of her hand into her opponents neck a moment before she released her grip on the woman's wrist and grabbed her by the sides of the chestplate. It was an effort to lift the mercenary off the ground, but it was only for a moment and Taylor leveraged the mercenary's unstable position to swing her around and slam her onto the concrete. Both guns went skittering away at the impact, the mercenary flailing in a panic but Taylor simply took the blows on her armour, shrugging them off before she drove her fist into her opponents face. The mercenary choked in pain, still flailing, but Taylor simply hooked her by the breastplate, lifting her slightly from the ground before landing a second blow that left the woman limp and stunned. From there it was a simple matter to give her a final push into unconsciousness with just a flutter of biomantic power and Taylor could stand again, taking a deep breath.

"Wow," Glory said, from her position above a cluster of fallen mercenaries, "That was pretty brutal."

"Hand to hand combat is hard when you aren't a Brute." Taylor responded dryly. Well, she supposed that she was technically a Brute, but she wasn't really above what was naturally humanly possible. Not yet, anyway. Give her a few months, maybe a year.

"That's all of them, I think." Taylor added. She looked down at her chest, raising a finger to prod at the dark scorch mark on her armour. A few flakes of soot peeled away and she scowled under her mask. Yet another bloody breastplate damaged- at least it was minor.

"So, you want to tie these guys up and grab a few crates before we call the Protectorate?" Glory asked. Taylor nodded absently, walking across to the boat. It was stacked with long, narrow cases and Taylor wasted no time in picking up a crowbar and popping one of them open.

"Five rifles in this one," She announced, making a quick count, "And ten boxes. Fifty rifles? That's quite the supply."

"Is it? How many men does Coil even have?"

"Can't be more than a hundred. Even the ABB and Empire struggle to put together more than a couple of hundred, and most of them aren't the sort you'd trust to be properly equipped."

"I guess that's true, but Coil is a sneaky bastard. Could be plenty of mercenaries hanging around, or maybe he just wants to have plenty of spares. Either way, it's a good thing, right? Means you can grab a couple without looking too suspicious."

Glory paused thoughtfully.

"You think they'll notice?"

Taylor shrugged, closing the lid on the box she had opened.

"I daresay. But from what Piggot said- reading between the lines, they're willing to turn a blind eye to quite a few indiscretions so long as I'm not too obvious about it. A few missing rifles from a smugglers run shouldn't raise too many eyebrows."

Glory shrugged in response as Taylor lifted the top two boxes with a grunt of effort, nodding in appreciation as Glory flew over and casually took them from her.

"Only two?"

"I'm not greedy. Besides, the longer we take the fishier it'll look- can you put those on the roof we were scoping this place from?"

"No problem."

Glory took flight again, Taylor retrieving her staff and busying herself in ensuring that the smugglers and mercenaries were tied up and unconscious.

'Do you think I should just question the leader in front of Glory? Can I trust her?'

"You have to trust someone at some point, Taylor. Besides that, do you trust her to guard your back in battle?"

As was his occasional tendency, the reply that the Emperor gave was more cryptic than it was helpful. As she dragged the prisoners to a corner she mused on it.

'I suppose that she hasn't given me any reason to distrust her. And that power-copier excuse seems to be sort of holding up. I'll just have to phrase it carefully, make sure it has very obvious limits and then never break them around other people. Make me look safe.'

"The best lies have a core of truth."

'Did you get that from a fortune cookie?'

"Wisdom is wisdom, no matter the source. Your friend has returned, by the way."

Taylor turned to see Glory alight on the ground, next to the mercenary commander.

"So…any particular reason that you left this one here?" asked the white-clad Hero. Taylor thought it over as she walked towards Glory before, reluctantly, making her choice.

"Yes, there is. It's because- well, you know how there was that whole 'Circaetus is a power copier' thing going around?"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, well…it kind of turns out that I can manipulate body chemistry. I don't have many things I can do, but one of them is…I can sort've alter someone's hormones to temporarily produce a truth serum inside their own body."

Glory Girl looked at her, looked down at the body, looked back to Taylor.

"Truth serum. We talking, y'know, Veritaserum or something?"

Taylor wiggled her hand from side to side.

"Not quite as potent but yeah, you've got the gist of it. Only lasts a couple of minutes though."

"Dare I ask how you know that?"

"I tested it on myself." Taylor smoothly lied. Glory blinked at her.

"That sounds pretty risky. Don't you have a secret identity to keep?"

Taylor feigned embarrassment.

"Yeah, I realised that shortly after I'd done it. Luckily my Dad didn't ask any revealing questions."

She shook her head and changed the subject, as though hastily trying to get away from her own recklessness.

"But anyway, I thought that this one might know some stuff about Coil. And given that- well, given some stuff he's done, I'd like to know more about him."

Glory looked like she was deep in thought- Taylor let her think. If her friend didn't agree with it, she might have to let it go, she reluctantly conceded. Which would be a bloody nuisance, but not as bad as turning Glory against her she supposed.

"Alright. Let's do this quickly, before I contact the Protectorate." Glory announced. Taylor wasted a moment staring at her before shaking her head. Glory gave her a smile.

"Hey, we're friends. I trust you, you know?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I know. Alright, I've just gotta make physical contact, but it shouldn't take long to do."

Glory backed off, allowing Taylor to pull off a gauntlet and press her fingers against the neck of the mercenary, pulling down the scarf to provide access. Of course, she didn't actually need to do that, but it would be better to hide the entirety of this power. Even from someone she actually trusted.

It was the work of a moment to make the needed alterations and haul the mercenary into a sitting position. Taylor lightly slapped the woman on the cheek, using it to hide a brief leverage of power. At her right shoulder she heard a faint scuff of boots on concrete: a quick glance over the shoulder showed her that Glory had landed and was leaning in, an expression of curiosity on her face.

"Hey. You awake there?" Taylor asked.

"Yeah." The mercenary murmured, her voice holding the sleepy quality that Taylor had expected.

"Good. Good…now then, can you tell me why you were here?"

"Picking…picking up some stuff for the boss. Spares and replacements."

That meshed with what Taylor already knew, so the serum must be working right. Just a quick check to make sure that the mercenary didn't have some kind of meditative ability to resist the serum.

"Ok. So, you work for Coil?"

"Yeah."

"Do you know where his base is?"

"No."

"No?" Glory whispered from behind her. Taylor frowned.

"You don't know where the base of the guy you work for is?"

"No."

Taylor thought quickly. It was strange that this would be the case, but then again everything she knew about Coil suggested that he was incredibly cautious and preferred to work through middlemen and cut-outs. In that case it might make sense that most of his mercenaries would have no idea about the location of his base.

"So how do you get your orders?" she asked. The mercenary replied obediently.

"Our base commander receives them and gives them to us." She said, her voice slurring slightly. Taylor focused, manually tweaking the serum levels before the woman passed out. This hadn't happened with the Merchant.

"It may be an individual reaction. It can happen on occasion."

'So we're on a tighter time limit than I thought.'

"We can delay her unconsciousness. But yes, that seems to be the case."

"Where is your base?" Glory Girl asked from behind Taylor, slightly surprising her. It was the next question that she had been about to ask anyway, so she simply listened, memorising the location that was given. Once the description was done she took over again.

"Are there any security measures that I would need to be aware of?" she asked.

Oh yes, there were. Guards, cameras, gas reserves that could flood the base, a self-destruct device, Coil was going all out on the James Bond supervillain shtick. It might be amusing were she not aware that he was also a kidnapper who just loved to blackmail capes into working for him. So much for the Unwritten Rules.

"Damn, that's a lot of stuff." Glory whispered from behind her. Taylor nodded.

"What do you know about Coil himself?" Taylor asked. The mercenary was losing consciousness already, she knew. The woman's head was lolling loosely, sleep clearly overtaking her, but Taylor was able to keep her awake just long enough.

"He…dunno. He hardly says anythin'. Never shows up. But I heard that…he showed some guys…flipped a coin ten times and got heads every time."

Taylor could tell that if she kept pushing she was at risk of giving the woman brain damage, so she let her go, letting the woman slump to the ground.

"Is she gonna be alright?" Glory asked. Taylor nodded.

"It'll fade pretty quickly, and the serum acts as an amnesiac. She won't remember anything past her fight with me."

Glory nodded.

"You want me to ring the Protectorate?"

"Please. I'll take this one over to the rest."

Taylor moved away, dragging the woman and quickly reversing the alterations she had made to the mercenary as Glory opened her phone and lifted it up. Now she just had to wait…and then find some way to get the rifles to her lair…and then find a way to deal with Coil. Alright, so maybe things were more complicated that she thought. But she could manage anyway. She usually did.

"They're on their way." Glory said, putting her phone away and walking across to Taylor. The white-dressed heroine paused, standing opposite Taylor.

"So…why Coil?"

"Why Coil?" Taylor repeated. Glory nodded.

"Why are you so interested in going after Coil? He always flies low, I wouldn't have thought that you would be that interested."

Taylor hesitated, thinking before deciding that she might as well admit it.

"I- I spoke to someone who works for him." She said, after checking that there was no-one else in hearing range.

"They told me that he was the one behind Dinah Alcott's kidnapping."

Glory left the ground in surprise, hovering.

"Dinah Alcott? The Mayors niece?"

"Is she? But yeah. The Undersiders hitting the bank was a distraction, I think. I don't know why he wanted Dinah, but I'm not about to just look away from that."

Glory was frowning.

"I guess this is the point when I should ask about your source?" she asked quietly. Taylor simply tilted her head, waiting. Glory shook her head and continued.

"But you wouldn't tell me, because secrets are easier to keep when there's only one of you. Okay. Coil took Dinah, so you're going after him when you can. But-why would he take her?"

Taylor put her hands in her pockets, leaning her staff against her shoulder.

"Well- a few reasons that I could think of. Best case scenario, Coil wants to blackmail the Mayor for something and she was a convenient piece. Worse option, she's a Parahuman. My- my source told me that Coil has no qualms about blackmailing and forcing parahumans to work for him. Worst option, Coil wants her because she's a young girl and…"

Taylor left that thought hanging. Glory shuddered.

"Let's hope it's the first one." She muttered. Another head shake.

"That merc said that Coil once flipped a coin ten times and got heads every time. You think that's his power?"

"Some kind of probability manipulation? Could be. Might be a nuisance- though I guess that sort of power probably doesn't lend itself to a straight brawl. Unless he can get constant lucky hits or something? Don't know. But yeah, I intend to keep going after Coil. Someone has to."

"Well, you know you can call me if you need to. I'm always happy to turn up and help."

Taylor nodded, letting them lapse into silence until Glory spoke again.

"So- the fundraiser that's coming up."

Taylor tilted her head again, waiting. Glory cleared her throat.

"Are you going?"

Taylor shrugged.

"Wasn't going to. But now you're going to ask me to, aren't you?"

"Eh…"

Taylor pulled a hand from her pocket long enough to wave it in a 'get on with it' motion.

"I kinda need a wingman."

"A wingman?" Taylor asked, amused. Glory nodded.

"Yeah. I mean, I thought that you would be there anyway, since you were the one who took down Bakuda and Lung, but I want to, you know."

"Spend time with Gallant rather than being forced to talk to all the stuffy politicians?" Taylor completed. Glory shrugged.

"Yeah, pretty much."

Taylor sighed, letting Glory wait for a few minutes.

'I suppose we do need to start building links with the politicians, like you suggested.'

"I am rarely wrong when it comes to thigs like that."

Taylor forbore to get into that conversation, instead nodding to Glory.

"Alright, alright. I guess if you really need a wingman."

Glory beamed, sliding across the room and wrapping an arm around Taylor. Taylor blinked in surprise as the half-hug lifted her off the ground, her armour creaking a little under the pressure.

"Uh, Glory-"

"What? Oh! Sorry."

"Yeah, it's alright." Taylor said, landing back on the ground. She cocked her head as she heard faint sirens, the incoming sign of their reinforcements.

"And here come the heavies." She said. Glory tilted her own head, nodding.

"Yep. Hey, Circ? You don't really want to go to this ting, do you?"

"Not especially." Taylor admitted. Glory nodded quietly. Taylor glanced at her, shrugged.

"But hey, I couldn't leave you to go it all alone."

Glory laughed.

"You're a good friend, Circ."

Taylor grinned under her mask.

"Glory, I'm the best."

Taylor dreamed.

Once again she faced the mercenaries, once again she fought and defeated the leader as Glory faced the others. And then it changed.

Some instinct screamed warning and Taylor moved, aborting her final blow and throwing herself aside. Not a moment too soon, as the ground where she had stood cratered under the blow of some great beast, a lizardlike creature that stood on four clawed feet, spiked tail lashing behind it and muzzle filled with gleaming fangs. Behind it came three others, all in red and black uniforms.

"Who the fuck are you?" Taylor demanded, spinning to her feet and snatching up her staff. One of the red and black clad figures made a bow, a finger tilting his top hat and revealing his skull-like mask.

"I am Trickster. We, are the Travellers. And I'm afraid we've been brought here to stop you."

The creature lunged, fangs seeking and claws flailing but Taylor had its measure. The butt of her staff rammed solidly into it's throat merely a moment before she brought the staff around in a crushing blow to the hinge of the jaw, knocking the creature back as she lunged at the others. She closed on one of them, a woman who looked prepared to fight. Taylor leapt in, exchanging quick blows with the woman- she was good, but Taylor was better and quickly closing ground. From the corner of her eye Taylor saw Glory toss aside the last mercenary and dive towards the creature, fist cocked for a brutal blow that would end it before-

The blow hit Taylor like a wrecking ball, white hot pain sudden searing her insides as she was hurled through the air, ribs screaming in protest and armour cracking. She landed with an impact that knocked the staff from her hand and made her ribs burn like red hot pokers were being driven through her, not understanding.

"Circ!"

Glory, suddenly where Taylor had stood a moment before, was transfixed with shock and horror for an instant before a look of utter fury distorted her features.

"You!" she roared, spinning and lunging at Trickster. Taylor rolled over, coughing and gasping, every breath sending icicles of agony lancing through her chest. Fractured or broken ribs, some part of her noted absently, possibly punctured lungs. No. She was breathing, her lungs must still be fine, she muzzily denied as she fought her way to her feet, dragging on the agony and feeding it into her power just to stand. Glory was swinging at Trickster, unbalanced by her rage and he was avoiding her if only barely and Taylor just needed to get into the fight because-

"Now!"

Trickster was replaced by a woman in black and red an instant before an inferno engulfed the heroine. Taylor stared in horror, pain pushed aside and forgotten as a scream came from the fire, a dark figure twisting and turning before-

The fire went out and Glory was revealed, no longer white. Flesh seared black and bloody crimson sloughed off bones that were themselves charred black, an awful scarecrow figure that stumbled and reached out a single, beseeching hand, the scream fading into a grating, rasping nothingness as Taylor's friend fell, burned beyond recognition and even as Taylor tried to deny it she remembered the crimson flash of a laser a mere instant before the fire had begun, striking out at Victoria like a deadly, stealthy serpent.

Taylor stood, her rasping breath suddenly loud in the silence as she called upon her powers, washing away the agony of drawing too strongly from the Warp with the awful pain of loss and the terrible, unutterable fury that brought might to her bones.

Trickster looked at her with horror for but an instant.

Taylor crossed the ground between her and the Traveller woman in a single empowered leap, her fist coming back. The woman vanished but Taylor cared not: her fist crushed the skull of the mercenary leader with a single blow, her armour and helm painted with the blood of the guilty. Taylor turned her gaze to the Travellers, her rage turned icy.

They would all die.

The fire wielder brought her hands up, panic evident in her stance and a sun blossomed between her palms an instant before Taylor brought up the gun she had snatched from the mercenary and opened fire. Lasers spat across space and there was a lurching as she was suddenly where the Traveller had been but Taylor smiled.

She brought up her other hand and let the flash grenade she had stolen from the mercenary go off.

Trickster teleported instinctively, but he was not Taylor's target.

The unknown Traveller, the one Taylor had not yet seen act, died as a laser bolt burned through her mask and boiled her brain inside her skull and Taylor took a deep, deep breath, smelling the stink of burning flesh and letting it feed her fury, let it steel her resolve. She had been kind, had been fair, and this was what it brought her. Well, no more.

The clawed hand that smashed into her elbow brought her attention back. She staggered, the sudden pain blossoming in her arm and more blood spraying her coat, but this time it was her own, white bone briefly showing through the rip in her coat before it was obscured by the wash of blood. Taylor snapped her whole body around, feeding the pain into the greater pain of her powers and revelling in it.

"Ah, a volunteer." She grated, her voice echoing and distorting oddly. She moved suddenly, twisting to avoid a rapid series of slashes. Her own counter blow was precisely located, tearing off an arm before she moved, ducking a desperate counterblow and driving her fist through the spine of the creature. She left it howling as she rushed towards the sunmaker, reaching out with her powers to Trickster even as she did so because even if it killed her she had them back for a moment and-

The miniature sun claimed a second victim, Trickster screaming just as Glory had screamed as the ravenous fire feasted on his flesh and cracked through the bones to devour the marrow, consuming blood and fat and muscle until he too was left naught but a smoking, torn skeleton, a terrible testament to utter power.

Taylor laughed, wild and exultant. She could feel blood pouring down her face, down her chin, soaking into her mask and salty-copper on her tongue and her vision was reddened by the bleeding eyes but still she laughed as she advanced upon the last Traveller, the woman shaking and horrified. Taylor moved slowly, no need to hurry, this one she wanted to savour.

"N-no. No! This- this isn't-"

The woman was barely making sense. Taylor ignored it as she kept walking, the pain now a completely consuming companion. She should not be moving, she dimly comprehended, but she did. She would allow no less, and even as her power ruined her flesh her will seized that power and forced it to carry her onwards. The Traveller turned, wide and terrified eyes locking onto Taylor an instant before another sun flared into being between shaking fingers.

Taylor waved a hand and a vacuum extinguished the fire, shattering and bloodying the fingers an instant before Taylor gestured and the Traveller was dragged towards her.

"No- No! Please!"

Taylor ignored the pleas. What did the pathetic mewlings of such a creature mean to her?

"Nonono, please, we just- we just wanted to go home! We just wanted to go home!"

The sobbing, keening pleading inspired nothing but aggravation as Taylor dragged the Traveller to her, bringing her sailing through the air.

The woman's jaw snapped under the blow Taylor delivered before she waved, forcing the Traveller to her knees and standing over her like some terrible, triumphant goddess of vengeance.

Taylor spoke no words as she tore the woman's heart from her chest and let the body fall, the conflagration of hate and rage and pain inside her abating only a little. Coil,she realised. Coil had done this. Coil had killed Glory, had forced Taylor to kill. And for that, Coil would burn.

And if Brockton Bay defended him? Then it would burn too.

Taylor woke with a barely stifled scream, hurling herself from her bed with a sudden violence and landing on her feet, heart pumping furiously and blood thundering in her ears.

"What the fuck was that?" she exclaimed, breath unsteady and rapid. It had been- she closed her eyes and forced her mind away from the terrible rage that had gripped her, caught her in it's icy grip.

"A vision." The Emperor stated grimly, his voice hard and determined. Taylor leaned against the wall, working hard to control her breathing before it sped up any further.

'The fuck kind of vision? That didn't fucking happen, it can't fucking happen, we've already moved past that!'

"And yet we saw it." The Emperor said, still grim, though his presence and voice were already working to sooth her. She hadn't heard him in the dream- vision- she realised. It disturbed her more than she thought.

'Yeah, but of the past? An alternate past? And-"

Taylor refused to speak of what had happened. It couldn't happen. And, though she hated to admit it, she was frightened. Would it really take such a little thing to set her off?

"The death of a friend is not a small thing. But you are mistaken. We have dreamed of an alternate past before."

'When- oh. When we dreamed of Dinah Alcott. When we…when we interfered with a plan of Coils…" Taylor realised.

"Yes."

Which really left only one question.

'What the fuck kind of power does Coil have, that he could make our visions do that?'

Oh hey, it's a thing. A cliffhangar thingy, almost.

If anybody is wondering why the Travellers went for lethal force, it was because they didn't expect it to be lethal on Glory Girl and then, when Taylor went postal, they didn't really see any other choice. If the Travellers seem out of character, it's partly because things were messed up and partly because I'm hastily writing this in order to get it out before I move house and have no Internet for most of a month, sorry.

As always, reviews are very welcome and I hope you enjoyed it.